Late at night, inside a certain Japanese residence, all the lights had already been turned off. Everything was pitch-black, so dark that one could not see one's own fingers. Yet within this darkness, a sneaky figure was groping his way through the hallway. Even though he could not see at all, he skillfully avoided the obstacles and reached the living room.
Just as he tried to feel around for something on the cabinet, a gust of wind from beside him made him crouch without hesitation. He lowered his voice and shouted in terror, "Stop!"
"Are you trying to kill me!?"
"Andō? It's already this late. Why are you sneaking around the living room?"
The one who answered him was a questioning female voice. Naturally, in Andō's knowledge, only this woman could swing a baseball bat so swiftly—his older sister, Andō Yuri.
"Click."
After she turned on the lights, Andō unsurprisingly saw his sister in pink pajamas holding a metal baseball bat, radiating a cold gleam. Had his reaction been any slower just now, he would probably be lying in a hospital by now.
This woman, named Andō Yuri, showed not the slightest guilt over nearly taking out her own younger brother. Instead, she looked confused as to why he had appeared in the living room at this hour.
Andō Shū walked to the nearby kitchen, filled a cup with cold water from the tap, drank it in one gulp, and vaguely explained, "I felt a little thirsty~ Came to drink some water."
Andō Yuri placed the baseball bat back under the sofa, then sat down and said disdainfully, "No one drinks water in their own home without even turning on the lights."
After being exposed, Andō Shū glanced at the nearby clock. Seeing that it was already close to two in the morning, he sighed and chose to confess.
"There's just a late-night TV program I care about and want to watch. I'll go back to sleep after watching it."
"You're already a third-year high school student, right? And you still have school tomorrow."
Andō Yuri narrowed her eyes as she looked at her younger brother.
"It's only half an hour. If I don't watch it, I might not be able to sleep all night."
"Excuse. How is that different from saying, 'If I don't rob someone, I won't have food to eat'?"
"I get it~ I get it~ I admit defeat, okay! If Yuri-nee pretends nothing happened today, then I'm willing to give you this week's allowance."
Seeing the time on the clock, Andō Shū grew increasingly anxious. With no other choice, he used his ultimate move and surrendered.
But the more anxious he looked, the more Andō Yuri refused to let him off. A smile appeared at the corner of her mouth as she raised three fingers and said directly, "Three months!"
This person! Is she a demon!?
Andō Shū gritted his teeth. He had already waited a week. The entire week, he had been thinking about the later plot development of 'Puella Magi Madoka Magica.' If the work was clearly already airing on TV but he could not watch it, he estimated he would go crazy. Now the television was right in front of him, yet he was powerless.
"Two weeks!"
"One month!"
"Half a month! That's my bottom line."
The muscles on Andō Shū's face twitched. He wished he could smack his own sister across the face right now.
"Deal!"
Andō Yuri giggled as she moved aside. Standing up, she gestured for Andō Shū to go ahead and teased, "Now both the television and the soft sofa belong to you. If that still isn't enough, I can help give you my pudding from the refrigerator, too. But! You! Must! Remember! Remember to prepare 5,000 yen before noon tomorrow."
—Utterly shameless!
With a dark expression, Andō Shū turned on the television and lowered his voice.
"I want the pudding. And now, Yuri-nee, please shut your mouth and go prepare it. If you wake Mother or Father, this deal is canceled!"
"Yes, I'll go prepare a midnight snack for my dear little brother right away."
······
The familiar yet unfamiliar OP song sounded from the television. Unlike the light and cheerful melody of the first five episodes, every lyric paired with the visuals made people feel a deep sorrow. Rather than calling it an OP, it was more like Homura Akemi's character theme song. The OP seemed to tell a tragic story from her perspective.
"(The warmth of our hearts that we shared)
(I held it gently and carefully as I walked)
(Within a wish without an answer)
(Words change the future)
(The dream I always saw when I was young is still far from me)
······
(Even if the vow I made is painful and I fall)
(To protect your heart)
(I will stay by your side)."
"Anime again? You've really been into anime lately! And judging from this opening, isn't this completely a girls' anime? Little brother, you really disappoint me. I don't remember raising you into such a useless guy."
Andō Yuri placed her legs on the table, eating the cake she had casually taken from the refrigerator while commenting.
Andō Shū completely ignored her and focused on watching the anime's development.
Continuing from Episode 6 of 'Puella Magi Madoka Magica,' the anime began with high-intensity scenes. Walpurgis Night materialized in reality, becoming an upside-down puppet hanging in midair. No matter how hard Madoka Kaname or Sayaka Miki fought, those strange, abstract familiars kept appearing one after another like ants pouring out of a nest.
The truth behind magical girls' existence, Homura Akemi's bitterly struggling fate, the magical girls dying one after another, until finally the giant puppet manifested by Walpurgis Night embraced the entire Earth.
"Hey, hey~ A total wipeout ending?"
Andō Yuri's mouth opened into an O shape. Although she had not watched the previous content and found the plot rather confusing, the various grand scenes in this episode still shocked her considerably. Since when did anime burn this much budget? And the setting seemed very exciting too.
She, who had no interest in anime, became greatly interested in 'Puella Magi Madoka Magica' as well. What kind of anime was this, to have such a plot development?
After Episode 7 finished airing, Andō Shū's heart remained unsettled for a long time. Under such a twisted setting, could Madoka Kaname and the others, as magical girls, really reach a good ending?
He had a deep impression of every character in 'Puella Magi Madoka Magica,' and he had also looked forward to them having a complete ending like Takamachi Nanoha. But Kyubey, this cute-looking creature, shattered his fantasy. The truth spoken from its mouth was even more despair-inducing.
Magical girls were no longer righteous messengers inheriting a magical kingdom, and their mission was no longer to defeat villains who tried to conquer the world through childish methods.
Magical girls were merely products created under a certain system. Their greatest opponent was themselves. Yet just like humans growing old, they could only helplessly watch themselves gradually sink into despair in the name of hope, transforming into witches who spread despair, and then being defeated by the next magical girl.
Nor could such actions simply be labeled evil. Advanced aliens used emotion-conversion technology to magnify various intense human emotions and convert them into entropy, maintaining the balance of energy in the universe.
Such a divine development was unprecedented in the history of animation.