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Chapter Text

Puella Magi Madoka Magica was presumably created by the four Puella Magi of the Magica Quartet not to be confused with the five Puella Magi of the magical Holy Quintet. All characters and concepts made by them and other such organizations are their own.

So, this idea came to me when I rewatched Rebellion the same day a friend of mine showed me the two classic James Bond movies Moonraker (1979) and Diamonds are Forever (1971). These two movies, what I have been led to believe are the pinnacle of what makes James Bond appealing to viewers and possibly even the best James Bond movies out there (especially Moonraker) now represent the bulk of my exposure to the James Bond franchise, but fear not dear readers, because I can fill in gaps in my knowledge with supplementary material from Spy Hard, Austin Powers, and the animated tv show Archer. If this fails to provide enough ideas, there is adjacent material like Metal Gear Panic, the live action Pink Panther, Phineas and Ferb, and of course Spy X Family. I pray to the muses, and especially Thalia, that I can reach the levels of heart pounding spy thriller embodied by Moonraker. To this end, if it is not already evident, I will be trying to write this story mostly straight faced.

But why would the Madoka Magica movie Rebellion inspire this? At the end of Rebellion, the discerning viewer will recall that Sayaka makes a very specific comment about her being an International Girl of Mystery. I heard that line and decided to run with it. What if Sayaka was actually an International Girl of Mystery while also still being the Sayaka Miki we see in canon complete with her inner Oktavia? Is she the only person who has a secret identity they do not want revealed? I do not just mean poor Homura being Homucifer whose existence like Sayaka's magical girl existence must always be some form of suffering. See if you can guess what each character secretly is. I will try to sprinkle in hints for all the little twist reveals I have planned. I will also try to avoid OCs and OOC interactions as much as possible as long as possible without compromising the story I am telling, but for obvious reasons a character like Spy Sayaka or Spyaka will not always be a 1 to 1 match for canon Sayaka. So, without further ado, strap into your gondola that is actually a submarine and prepare to battle magical girls, assassins, and magical girl assassins, because this is Sayaka Miki: International Girl of Mystery!

Sayaka blinked slowly as she stared at Homura Akemi. She felt angry, scared, confused, and she just knew Akemi was the cause. That damned transfer… something. Sayaka's head hurt and she blinked again. Akemi was gone, almost like magic, but that was not possible. There had to be a rational explanation for what she had just seen. Possibly jet lag or a lack of sleep from the last few weeks. She could also be a little hungover from the bottle of wine she shared with her roommate the night before after they had both gotten in late, a bottle of wine that Sayaka had pilfered from her nemesis, the ever enigmatic Miss White during Sayaka's last mission.

There was also the possibility that she had been drugged, which could be a precursor to an attack.

Heart beating faster, Sayaka blinked again, trying to force herself back to her senses. She took in her surroundings. She was standing on an ornamental bridge over one of the streams that ran by Mitakihara middle school. She could not remember setting foot on the bridge, yet here she was.

A familiar underclass girl with white hair ran past her towards the school. Sayaka was sure she knew the girl from somewhere. Maybe she had read over a file on her at some point? The girl met up with an underclass boy and girl. Sayaka might have followed them with her eyes if she still was not so out of it.

She was so out of it that she almost missed a familiar voice calling "Hey Sayaka," Kyousuke and Hitomi had approached her, reaching barely two meters away and Sayaka had not noticed until one of them had literally called out her name. "How are you doing?" Kyousuke asked.

Sayaka stared at them with wide eyes. Hitomi must have seen something, perhaps dark circles, because she said, "Good morning Sayaka, sleep well?"

No, is what Sayaka thought, but what she said instead after a suspiciously obvious moment's hesitation was "Yeah." There was something overwhelmingly sad about seeing Kyousuke and Hitomi so close together. Sayaka decided, when she noticed tears forming in her eyes, that some of the alcohol from the night before was probably still in her system. She turned away for a moment to hide her expression.

"Sorry," Sayaka tried to cover her slip up. This really was not her best moment, but she did not want to make either of her friends feel bad, especially not this early in the morning. It was already bad enough that Sayaka had to hide so much of her life from her friends already, so what were a few unresolved feelings of shame, unrequited love, and regret.

Hitomi was usually aware enough of other people to pick up on an obvious attempt to change the direction of the conversation, and courteous enough to follow through, so Sayaka decided to use that and bring the discussion to something happier and maybe protect her friends from Sayaka's own emotional issues. "Hey guys, how's it going? What's up?"

"Are you okay Sayaka?" Asked Kyousuke, unfortunately as oblivious as always and as always unable to take a hint. Sayaka wished the best of luck to Hitomi in dealing with him.

"Yeah, I'm fine, it's just, I don't know, I guess when I saw you guys… and heard you both say good morning again, I guess… I got super happy." Tears and similar extreme shows of emotion can come from being happy, so you better not blame yourself, Hitomi, and you better not let my mistake ruin both your days, Kyousuke. "That's all."

Hitomi seemed to relax a little, though there remained a slight tension in her body, "Oh, Sayaka, sometimes you say the most mysterious things."

Sayaka welcomed the conversational segue Hitomi gave her. She could feel her old bravado returning from the strange fugue she was in, and linking her arms behind her head said, "Yep, that's me, the original international girl of mystery." If only the two knew how true that was. If only they knew.

Sayaka paused for a moment. Something was off. She was faintly aware of a strange metal ring on her finger, something that had not been there the day before. She would have to investigate this later. Hopefully she had not gotten so drunk that she proposed to her roommate, or received a proposition from her roommate. That would be awkward in the extreme.

Sayaka tabled the suspicious ring and focused on the day ahead. She even laughed at her own joke, it had been funny, at least to her, and she said, "Come on you two, let's get to class. Today's the day Madoka comes back." And Sayaka would not let an attempted drugging or more likely being a little drunk and hungover stop her from reuniting with her best and oldest friend, especially not when said friend was also her most recent mission.

The Kaname family of four had been gone from Japan for three whole years, leaving under mysterious and improbable circumstances. The situation was exacerbated by Junko Kaname being in upper management for a firm deemed vital for national defense that had three years ago and with little warning opened up a second headquarters in the United States.

Something must have been happening behind the scenes. There was a reason Sayaka had been approached and eventually recruited roughly three years ago by the Public Security Intelligence Agency, Japan's internal intelligence services and there was a reason why now that the Kanames were returning she in particular was tasked to take up this new assignment. Sayaka was not sure if she was more excited about seeing her old friend again or scared of what she might discover.

Spy X Magica X Spy X Magica X Spy

"...that you must never date men who insist they can't eat eggs unless they are half-boiled." said the teacher at the front of the classroom.

Sayaka appeared to be idly doodling in her notebook, but in reality she was decrypting the coded message hidden in her teacher's words. "Eggs" was a reference to rotten eggs as in potential traitors. The words "can't eat" meant that no harm could come to the Kaname family. The words "must never date" was actually meant almost like reverse psychology, indicating to get so close to the target that you could only be closer if you were dating. Lastly, "half-boiled" specified that this job could not be half assed or only half completed.

Each and every member of the Kaname family would either be entirely exonerated or entirely condemned. Any dirt found on the family could only be beneficial. Nothing Sayaka was hearing was any different from what the secret email she received had told her, but in this business there was sometimes a need for redundancy in case one of your modes of communication was ever compromised by the enemy and the higher ups could not afford to reveal that they knew their conversations on that particular channel were being monitored.

Sayaka's homeroom teacher Kazuko Saotome was an undercover agent like Sayaka, but unlike Sayaka, she did not know which of her students was in the nation's service. She did not need to know who was picking up the files and equipment from the dead drops around the school, so she was kept in the dark. Such was the way of espionage professionals.

"And boys," she said seeming to direct her attention to one poor boy in the front of the room, a young man named Nakazawa who Saotome probably thought was the intended recipient of her messages, "you'd better not grow up so petty as to fuss over how your eggs are done, okay?" meaning use whatever methods the agent deems necessary without any limit or restriction other than of course the previously stated avoid outright harming the targets. Sayaka really hoped she would not have to resort to kidnapping to get the answers she needed. She hated the idea of kidnapping her friends and was thankful the plan to kidnap Hitomi to check her family for Yakuza ties never got off the ground.

"Now that that's out of the way, let's welcome our new transfer student! Come on in, Kaname-san!"

Every single head in the class turned towards the door as Madoka Kaname entered the room. The girl had changed quite a lot over the last three years, at least physically, but for some reason, to Sayaka's eyes she seemed to have not changed a day.

Sayaka assumed this was due to the occasional internet calls between the two and the photos of each of the Kanames that had been included in her mission dossier.

Madoka stiffly walked to the front of the class before shyly saying "Urn… It's nice to meet you. My name is Kaname Madoka. Mom's… My mother's company assigned her to work overseas, so my whole family lived in the U.S. for three years. We finally came back to Mitakihara City last week, so I'll be in class with you starting today. I um… it's a pleasure to meet you!" Madoka ended her speech with a slightly awkward bow.

Three years in the United States did not seem to have done much for the girl's already limited confidence. For some reason, something about the entire scene felt off to Sayaka. Something in her gut was screaming at her that something was very wrong and Sayaka had learned to trust her gut. She reached into her bag and pulled out one of the weapons that she kept on her at all times, a gadget disguised as a TI-84 graphing calculator. In reality it was a pocket computer and mobile phone that could also discharge electricity from one end like a taser. The best part about the calculator was that to anyone not familiar with the device they would only see a regular calculator capable of all of the normal functions for the device.

Sayaka held the weapon under her desk and waited for anything to set off her hard earned danger sense.

She did her best to discreetly search the faces of her classmates for any that also seemed on edge, a task made difficult by having to look out the corner of her eye and by her sitting in the third row of five and in the second column from the window out of six. She was in the same row as Kyuske who was on the opposite side of the room, and she could see that he was frowning, but he did not seem tense. The frown was likely due to seeing their old friend as a stuttering mess.

Sayaka looked out of the corner of her eye towards the girl sitting to her left between herself and the window. Kyoko Sakura, Sayaka's roommate and occasional drinking buddy, a girl who had never met Madoka before, had a finger to her chin and a thoughtful expression on her face with her lips in a perfectly flat line and her eyes focused on Madoka. Everyone else that Sayaka could see was either smiling or looking bored. The normally bored and anti-social Kyoko taking an interest like this worried Sayaka. Worse, Sayaka was sure she saw out of the corner of her eye, the girl's shoulders hunched ever so slightly more than usual. Kyoko was tense, her body drawn in as if to make herself a smaller target.

Kyoko Sakura and Sayaka had an understanding. Neither would ask where the other went late at night or why the other might disappear for days on end or where the other's money and occasional injuries were coming from. They both covered for each other. They both offered an ear when the other needed someone to listen who would not ask too many questions or go to the police. They both never actually said what their supposed part time jobs really were.

The Public Security Intelligence Agency had very little information on the other girl, and all of that was only about her family's unusual turn from ill fortune to good fortune. That was unsurprising since Sayaka and her comrades in the agency assumed the girl was just a small-time criminal though probably not Yakuza since Sayaka had seen Kyoko's body when the girl changed and could guarantee there were no tattoos anywhere.

The criminality made sense in context since Kyoko's family had a period where they struggled to put food on the table. It was a period of time where Kyoko readily admitted she had to resort to petty theft. Then the family started receiving suspicious though small anonymous donations. Sayaka strongly suspected that Kyoko was the source of these donations. There was some kind of estrangement in the family, part of the reason Kyoko was living with Sayaka. From the times Kyoko brought Sayaka to the church where her family lived, Sayaka could clearly see that the girl's family loved her dearly, especially her sister, but they did not seem to love her work and would always get awkward when any reference to her work was made, even when they thought Sayaka was not listening and even if they still kept taking the money.

Sayaka may have longed for justice and righteousness, but she had learned to compromise her morals in the name of protecting her country. She could understand doing the same in the name of protecting one's family. If Sayaka was being honest with herself, she would happily steal from those sufficiently well off if she saw Momo Sakura starving. The little redhead was too sweet and wholesome not to.

Seeing Kyoko tense was not good, because a small-time criminal, former and possibly still active thief could and probably should have a good head on their shoulders for when there was danger nearby. If Kyoko was tense then Sayaka was not imagining things. Something about the situation was very off. She gripped her weapon tighter.

"Since Miss Kaname hasn't gone to school in Japan for a while," said Saotome, "I'm counting on all of you to help her out."

Madoka was assigned the seat in the approximate middle of the room, just beside Hitomi who sat directly behind Sayaka. This would make it a little more difficult for Sayaka to monitor Madoka, but Saotome did not know which of her students was an agent and could not change up the seating of the entire class just for a transfer student without drawing unwanted attention to that student. If the Kanames were involved in something, there was no point in tipping off potential rivals, at least not until the agency knew just what the Kanames were involved in.

There was no guarantee that Sayaka was the only spy in her class. She already knew her roommate led a double life. If there were three people, including the teacher already known to have double lives in the class, there was always the possibility of one or two more. Sayaka was especially suspicious of the weird emo girl Homura Akemi who sat in the back of the room and who may have done something unknown to Sayaka earlier that day. Sayaka hated having her back to a potential rival, but there was nothing she could do without drawing attention to herself.

On the bright side, Madoka would get to sit with their childhood friend Hitomi. Sayaka would just have to settle for casting glances around the classroom making it look like she was eyeing Kyousuke a boy she was known to have a crush on when really she was eyeing the door, and pretending to look out the window or at the clock as if she were bored as a way to gather information on potential threats. No obvious snipers outside the window. That was always good.

Sayaka did not calm down. Madoka had done well in English class. Nobody showed any unusual interest in the girl as far as Sayaka could see, at least nothing that could not be explained with prior connection to the girl from before she went to America or by normal curiosity.

That changed during lunch.

Hope you are enjoying the ride, and let me know your thoughts! I am especially interested in hearing what your expectations are for a Post Rebellion Spy AU.

Chapter Text

A number of the girls were crowding around Madoka asking her about her time in America with one girl commenting on Madoka's cuteness. Sayaka made a mental note that that girl was likely gay just in case she was ever feeling a little lonely after a particularly stressful mission. Hitomi had gone to the bathroom and Sayaka was trying to decide on how she wanted to approach her old friend, especially since her friend was starting to look overwhelmed. Maybe Sayaka could sweep in and play the hero, one of her favorite roles to play. Madoka would then feel grateful for the save and Sayaka could use that to get into the other girl's house where she could start planting bugs to monitor the Kanames. That was when Homura Akemi, a girl who Sayaka was certain had never met Madoka before in her life, approached the girl.

"Everyone, you'll tire Kaname-san out, bombarding her with questions like that. You should give her a moment." Sayaka agreed, but she had the strangest suspicion that Akemi was doing exactly what Sayaka had been considering doing and playing the hero to get Madoka's gratitude. The girls departed in a hurry, likely scared off by the admittedly intimidating emo girl while Akemi introduced herself. Then Akemi said, "May I call you Madoka?"

Akemi was definitely playing a similar game to the one that Sayaka had been considering. Nobody got to manipulate her friends except for her! Sayaka considered stepping in, but that would just make her appear overly antagonistic and ultimately Akemi was not the target. Madoka was and it was up to Sayaka to prove that they were not involved in any kind of espionage plot.

The situation became even worse. Akemi leveraged Madoka's gratitude and inability to say no to get the other girl to follow her, presumably to show her the school. Sayaka may not have been a genius, but she did not need to be a genius to know that Akemi was trying to get Madoka alone.

Sayaka waited a few moments watching the direction they went in through the windows of the classroom and then after giving the two enough of a head start, set out after the two.

Akemi seemed to be leading Madoka in the direction of the nurse's office. When Sayaka saw this, she slowed her pace so that if either were to look back they would not see her, but she could still get occasional glimpses of the two mixed in with the crowds through windows along the path, though only because she knew exactly where the two were going. Sayaka knew there was an often abandoned hallway along that path to the nurse's and she stopped just outside of it.

Sayaka seemed to have arrived just in time. In the glass lined hall, a bridge that connected two parts of the building, she could hear the two speaking, though Madoka's voice was too quiet to make out any words. Then strange lights erupted out of the hall. Sayaka was sure she saw stars, nebulas, and galaxies. The view tugged at something inside herself, something in the abyssal ocean that she somehow just knew was her soul. In that familiar light, something inside Sayaka woke up, but the spy forced herself to stay focused on her mission. Madoka was depending on Sayaka to prove the girl had no connection to foreign agents. It was her purpose to protect Madoka.

Suddenly the light show shifted to show the beautiful night sky like it would be seen from the countryside away from the city, like Sayaka had seen it on one of her trips into Siberia. Whatever projector one of the two was carrying must have changed what it was displaying. There was no other explanation for what Sayaka was seeing, but why would Akemi be showing Madoka some kind of slide show animations? Was she trying to impress the girl? Did Akemi have a background with graphic design?

Something must have happened as Madoka cried out, "Homura-chan?" So they were now both calling each other by their first names. "H-Hey! What…?" Sayaka had to stop herself from charging into the hall and killing Akemi. The only reasons she did not were that her friend would probably not appreciate witnessing an execution and without more information there was no way to know just what was happening. For all Sayaka knew Akemi could have just had a nervous breakdown, though Sayaka found that less likely than the possibility of Akemi attacking her friend.

Sayaka was just taking off her wrist watch which also had a small camera in it with a tiny screen for looking around corners without being noticed when she heard a choked sob, just barely audible. It was not the sound of Madoka crying. Sayaka guessed Akemi was actually having some kind of breakdown and she assumed this was the reason for Madoka's alarming reaction. After a moment's thought however, Sayaka's paranoia told her the more likely situation was Akemi was only faking having a breakdown to play on Madoka's nurturing side.

Between the white knighting earlier, the artistic show Akemi just put on, and now the usually cold girl showing a sensitive, vulnerable side, Akemi would have Madoka willing to say yes to whatever scheme the girl proposed. Sayaka was not sure if she was more disgusted or more jealous that Akemi pulled all this crap before she could. At least Sayaka had the excuse of trying to protect her friend.

Sayaka was so lost in her own thoughts that she missed whatever the girl said next and only realized her blunder when the night sky image disappeared. While she was mentally kicking herself, she heard Akemi say, just on the edge of hearing, "Kaname Madoka, do you treasure this world?" Speaking from experience, Sayaka knew that nothing good came of that line of questioning. This was actually one of Sayaka's rival Miss White's favorite lines and was even on the brochures and business cards for her mercenary company known to the intelligence service as The Grey Army. "Do you consider stability and order more important than desire?" And now Akemi was going to try to make the sale's pitch on why freedom and rights are wrong and strong man dictatorships are the way to go.

Sayaka had heard enough petty dictators make the same speech before and even had the pleasure of putting one in the ground. To be fair to Akemi, Sayaka had also used these exact same rationalizations to justify her own actions and those of the agency, but she had never lost sight of her goal of helping and protecting her friends.

"Well, I… Um…" said Madoka, which was about what Sayaka would expect from anyone suddenly confronted with this line of questioning, "I-I do treasure it. I guess I do think it's kind of bad to break rules because you feel like it." Sayaka agreed, but she was also experienced and self aware enough to see that the rules were not always just and that they did not always protect people from agents like herself. She knew she was held accountable by almost nobody and she knew some agents abused this power. She also knew that governments were far from the only wolves out in the forest with their agents prowling about.

"I see… Then I suppose someday, you will become my enemy as well…" said Akemi. Sayaka's mouth dropped. She had expected Akemi to try to get Madoka on board with whatever nefarious organization she was a part of, although she definitely thought Akemi was moving too fast to actually be successful with a recruitment pitch, but instead Akemi was testing Madoka. More than that, Sayaka now knew just what Akemi was! She was not a spy, or at least not for a rival world government; she was an anarchist!

On top of this Akemi might have just alienated Madoka when she let her true beliefs show like that, but before Sayaka started celebrating her new rival basically backing out of the race, she would first see how this ended. Unfortunately for Sayaka, Akemi's next words were the opposite of an admission of defeat, "But I don't care. Because even then, I will continue to wish for a world in which you will be happy." Yep, definitely an anarchist and possibly a violent one. Sayaka felt like a balance between the two extremes was necessary, but she was not going to bring that up with Akemi. Better to use her new knowledge of the girl to her advantage.

"H-Homura-chan, um…" Madoka clearly did not know how to take this strange confession.

"They really do look better on you after all." said Akemi. Sayaka had absolutely no context for this remark until she saw Madoka hurrying away as fast as she could while remaining polite, but now with red ribbons in her hair. The poor girl did not even notice that Sayaka was there.

Akemi who stepped out from the hallway that the two had been talking in did notice Sayaka. Their eyes met. Almost too fast for the human eye to see, Akemi was on top of Sayaka pinning the girl against the wall. "You were listening to our conversation." It was not a question, "What do you think you know?"

It was then that Akemi noticed the hand on her chest as well as something poking against her stomach. Sayaka may not have been able to think fast enough to keep up with the swiftness of the attack, but she did not need to be able to think quickly when she had three years of training. Akemi had Sayaka's TI-84 pressed to her abdomen. At the press of a button Akemi would be electrocuted and Sayaka could then easily push the other girl away. A little known fact was that you could touch somebody who is being tasered and not be tasered yourself.

Akemi looked down at the TI-84 calculator and then into Sayaka's eyes. In an utterly deadpan voice she said, "You better not be about to say something stupid like, 'Your days are numbered'."

Sayaka paused. She had been about to say something like that. Thinking for a moment, she instead said "Do anything to Madoka and there will be no limit to your suffering."

Akemi blinked, opening and closing her mouth, then said, "We don't cover limits for another two weeks." Akemi paused for a brief moment seemingly in thought, "You read ahead? No… Who are you and what have you done with Sayaka Miki?" Akemi actually sounded scared.

Sayaka was slightly hurt that the other girl thought so little of her, that the idea of her reading ahead was so anathema that the other girl immediately assumed Sayaka had been replaced with a double. She had once been replaced by a double, but that was not the point. Also, Sayaka was a little confused because she was actually a relatively high scorer in their classes, nowhere near Akemi's level, but definitely not as bad as Akemi made her out to be.

Sayaka even had to deliberately get problems wrong to avoid standing out too much. Above average was fine, but do as well as Akemi and you only draw attention to yourself, not that she had any hope of matching the prodigy in front of her. Hitomi with her army of tutors was still only second or third best in each of their classes.

Still, Sayaka could not let this slight to her honor go completely unanswered or at least she could get away with responding without jeopardizing her mission, "For your information I do study."

Akemi seemed to think about this for a very long moment, her face twitching through a variety of barely noticeable micro expressions, "Ah, Shizuki is making you study and she is the one reading ahead. It all makes sense now."

Sayaka considered agreeing, but if she did and Akemi found out the truth, the situation could get even more nasty. "Actually Kyoko is my usual study buddy since the only class I am having any difficulty in is literature. Hitomi and I used to practice English together, but usually we just hang out or talk about music and stuff."

"But, you and Kyoko are thugs. I would expect you both to struggle to even pass your classes, much less… nevermind. I suppose this is just a strange byproduct of your codependency on each other."

Sayaka was rather hurt. She was never quite an honors student, especially when she also now had to get problems wrong on purpose, but her cover was not nearly as bad as Akemi made her out to be, and Kyoko actually had some subjects she was genuinely talented at.

Sayaka thought for a moment. She did not really care that much about defending her honor. Well she kind of did, maybe a little more than she should, but not as much as she did about defending Kyoko's honor. Thinking about what she was about to do, she felt she could defend her friend without endangering the mission or revealing information that was not already readily available. The fact that revealing this information would also confuse Akemi was also a useful bonus. Keeping your opponents off balance was usually a good thing, often denying them the initiative or even helping them to make mistakes.

"Hey, Kyoko's is only average in math and science." technically she was actually struggling just to be average in math and as a result of that her science grades were perfectly average, but neither was actually bad or even that concerning and the goal was to get Akemi to question everything which would hopefully increase Sayaka's chances of leaving this encounter alive. Afterall, Akemi had to know that checking the other student's class rankings would be relatively easy meaning lying about them would serve very little purpose, especially a lie about being average.

The only slightly better than average score in literature was not something Sayaka was proud of. She and Kyoko both wanted to be much better than average, so they had an arrangement. She had started helping the other girl with her math studies and in exchange received help on the classical literature with its weird premodern kanjis that she really did not have enough time to learn about.

Sayaka continued, "She is above average in every other class and second best in the class in both literature and English. She is even better than Hitomi, and in any other year group Kyoko would actually be top of the class in those subjects." There was no need to mention who the highest scorer was. Akemi's academic and physical abilities were as incredible as her lack of ability in socializing and making friends. "The girl has even been learning latin on the side. Soon she'll be fluent in that, at which point she'll basically be trilingual."

Akemi leaned back slightly with a tiny flicker of what might have been horror on her normally expressionless face, "No! This can't be! How does removing Madoka from the equation make the two of you actually… competent in school. Madoka's presence should make everything around her better!"

Sayaka blinked, trying to process the weird statements from the girl in front of her. It occurred to Sayaka that the other girl really did not know that Sayaka was an operative with a hidden agenda. An agent with a hidden agenda would rarely be described as a thug who was struggling to pass basic middle school classes unless that was their cover. Given how much Akemi brought up Kyoko and Hitomi, she probably thought Sayaka was just a regular classmate and that Sayaka was only interested in Madoka, because they were old friends or because Sayaka was nosy.

This meant that even though the two were literally on the verge of trying to kill each other at the start of this conversation, Sayaka's cover was far from being blown, in fact her cover might even be better since any suspicious actions she took could be reinterpreted in whatever weird demented light that the girl in front of her viewed the world through. This meant Sayaka, so long as she thought through her actions to make sure they matched this narrative, could probably do whatever she wanted. Even better, Sayaka might even be able to play this girl just like this girl was playing Madoka.

Sayaka smiled at the thought, "I guess Madoka is just really distracting."

Akemi stared off after where the pink haired girl had gone, "She is, she really is."

Akemi definitely was not an agent then. Instead, Akemi was a stalker. This especially made sense with how the other girl was not hiding her talents the way someone trying not to be noticed would. Sayaka would still need to keep an eye on her, in fact she might need to keep even more of an eye on her given how deeply infatuated the girl seemed to be with Madoka. Sayaka eyed the other girl who seemed lost in thought. Akemi's deep infatuation was hard to explain. The only reasonable explanation that Sayaka had for the other girl's behavior and apparent preparations was that this was not the first time that Akemi had met Madoka.

Akemi snapped Sayaka out of her thoughts, "I've figured it out, Kyoko's dad is alive isn't he?"

Sayaka blinked at the other girl, "Yes, yes he is. In fact most people at this school have parents who are still alive." So, Akemi might also be more unhinged than she thought. She was not just a stalker, but maybe something more like a creepy yandere stalker like in the cartoons Sayaka used to watch and sometimes still watched with Kyoko when the two had some of their rare free time together.

Akemi seemed to forget about the girl she was currently pinning to the wall as she muttered to herself, "He must be helping Kyoko with her homework."

Sayaka thought about how it was not that simple since while Kyoko was currently learning latin from her father and because of her upbringing also had a good grasp on English with her only problem being that some of her word choices were more than a little antiquated due to literally being straight from the king james bible, the help of Kyoko's father would not explain Kyoko's interest and competence in classical japanese literature. Sayaka had seen some of the few books Kyoko owned and actually read that were not shounen manga and some of them were very old like the girl's copies of The Bansenshukai, The Book of the Five Rings, some books on Shinto Spiritualism, and multiple collections of death poems. The most recently written book on the other girl's tiny bookshelf that did not include pictures would probably be a biography of Hattori Hanzo that was written a few decades ago.

What Sayaka said however was, "She does call her family most nights if she doesn't go to visit them in person, so it would explain a lot." Sayaka saw no reason to disabuse this girl of her mistaken perceptions of the world any further, at least not yet.

Akemi nodded then looked back at Sayaka, "So, I take it that because you can't just play with your friends or run off to the mall with them as often, that you have been having a lot more time to study."

"Yep, life has been boring with Madoka away." A lie, but one that Akemi would happily eat up. Sayaka honestly did not stress about or even get that bored with homework anymore. Homework stops being as stressful when you are fighting for your life on a weekly basis and sometimes the tranquil normal life can be a refreshing change of pace. Whenever time became a concern for the spy, she also knew ways to cut corners without having her grades slip below what was expected to maintain her cover.

"You are lucky you are only bored by her absence, because I lost my reason to live when she went away." said Akemi confirming both that she had met Madoka before and that she was a creepy yandere stalker. Sayaka was also pretty sure she was not supposed to be hearing this, but the other girl was probably more than a little emotionally vulnerable given that she was just reunited with her reason to live who then basically ran away from her.

Sayaka unfortunately had some experience with creepy yandere girls like this from having to deal with Miss White's yandere henchwoman, a weird chuuni girl named Miss Black who liked running around with an eye patch and maid outfit while carrying out her mistress's evil bidding, evil bidding that usually involved sniper rifles and metal claws.

Hopefully that experience would pay off here. Maybe a little prompting would get the other girl to open up even more, "But Madoka is back now."

Akemi got a crazed look in her eyes, "Yes, she is real, she is alive, and she is back, and you're not going to take her away from me." Akemi once doubted that Madoka was real and alive? Sayaka supposed that was weird, but might be useful later.

"Why on Earth would I be trying to take her away from you?" Aside from the obvious about Akemi being slightly unhinged.

"You overheard our conversation didn't you? You heard how she'll go back if given the chance and…" Akemi was peering deep into Sayaka's eyes. Sayaka's danger sense was blaring. "You remember something don't you?"

Need to calm the girl down a little, "I don't think her family is going back to America anytime soon. They bought a house and everything, so I am pretty sure they're here to stay for at least a few years no matter what Madoka thinks on the matter."

"Don't play dumb with me." growled Akemi.

"I'm not playing at anything. I don't see how anything I could say or do to her would make her go away." Sayaka tried to smile in a disarming fashion. She hoped it worked. Funnily enough she actually could get the Kaname's kicked out of the country, locked up, or even killed, but Akemi definitely did not need to know about any of that.

"You don't?" asked Akemi. It looked like she was examining Sayaka's face for signs of a lie, "You actually believe that, don't you, hmmm… and you have never been good at lying." said the girl who barely spoke with anyone in their class to the espionage professional.

Sayaka pushed gently against Akemi's chest, never having taken her hand away, while smiling at the girl to try and get herself free and hopefully finish diffusing the situation when Akemi suddenly put a hand on Sayaka's shoulder and pushed. The other girl was surprisingly strong and Sayaka found herself bent slightly backwards, her hand still on Akemi's chest with the back of Sayaka's head pressed against the wall. Akemi leaned over her quietly growling in her ear, "If you do tell Madoka anything that you know would make her leave, I will destroy you and everything and everyone you hold dear," Out of the corner of her eye Sayaka could see a twisted smile on the other girl's face as the girl growled these words in her ear. Sayaka just smiled up at the girl, ignoring the pain in her back and shoulder as well as the other girl's hot breath against her cheek.

There was a clattering sound as something landed on the floor just a few feet away from the two. They both looked over to see a shocked Hitomi and Kyousuke staring at them.

Hitomi appeared to have tears in her eyes, her lunchbox fallen on the floor spilling out a mix of artistically arranged fluffy white kinmemai rice, red algae like would be used in sushi, a single boiled quail egg appearing almost indistinguishable from a chicken egg, and what only a very discerning eye would recognize as otoro. Apparently, Hitomi had asked her chefs to make her something resembling a normal student's lunch, likely so the other girls would not stare at her or whisper as much about her behind her back. Without saying a word Hitomi ran off down the hall.

Sayaka looked back at Akemi who looked back at Sayaka. The two quickly realized the position they were in with a furiously blushing Akemi leaping away and Sayaka ducking out from under the other girl's arm.

"I do not have any of those sorts of feelings for Sayaka Miki. I was just warning her to not get between me and Madoka." said Akemi to Kyousuke who was glancing between where Hitomi was running down the hall and then back to the two girls who had just disentangled themselves. He looked torn, unsure of what to do next.

Kyousuke was saved from having to make a choice between going after his girlfriend or interrogating the two girls when Hitomi ran into the girl's bathroom at the far end. He turned his full attention to the two. "Some warning huh. I swear, I thought this sort of thing only happened in anime." said Kyousuke with reddening cheeks, "Sayaka, aren't you dating Kyoko? How would she feel if she knew… you know?"

"Woah, Kyoko and I are not dating! Also, Akemi was the one pinning me against the wall. I had no say in this." said Sayaka happily throwing Akemi under the bus. Hopefully word of this would reach Madoka and thereby protect the girl just a little from her rather aggressive stalker.

Kyousuke turned his gaze onto Akemi. "I had to make sure she didn't see, hear, or think anything she wasn't supposed to!" said Akemi, "Why am I explaining myself to you? Out of my way." and with that Akemi stalked off her face morphing into a cold mask.

"So, that was all Akemi?"

"Yep."

"I guess she wasn't denying it, but I know I saw you… smiling up at her… while she was…um… growling." he coughed and looked away, "Should we report Akemi?"

Sayaka was tempted to say yes, but she would rather keep that option in reserve, at least for now. Leaving Akemi on the loose would only be a danger to Madoka if the girl was not already going to be under basically twenty four hour surveillance. Leaving the girl on the loose also allowed Sayaka to justify sticking to Madoka whenever she had free time, "Not yet. There is not much we can say since it would just be our word against hers, and I wasn't hurt anyway."

"And you're sure you're okay?"

"Yeah."

Kyuoske nodded and went to walk down the hall that Hitomi went down with Sayaka following, "So," said Kyousuke after a few steps, "You and Kyoko aren't dating?"

"No?" said Sayaka, sounding a little unsure of this herself. Was Kyoko going around claiming to be her girlfriend. Surely she would have told Sayaka if she was, if only so Sayaka could help keep the ruse going.

"But, you two live together and do so much together, and you're both constantly brushing off Hitomi and I, especially in the evening to go out and do stuff together. How is that not dating?"

Sayaka coughed at the excuses she and Kyoko would both sometimes use when one or both needed time away from their friends and studying to do their secret part time jobs. "We're just doing those things as friends."

"So, she won't be upset if you and Akemi have…um… anymore interrogation sessions?"

"Upset? No way or I don't think so at least."

Kyousuke stopped, "Look, I didn't want to be the one to tell you this, but she might be upset if she hears about what Akemi did."

"Huh?"

"I am actually really good at noticing when people have feelings for someone, and I think Kyoko has a crush on you."

"You are good at noticing when a person has feelings for someone?" Sayaka asked. It was only after she said these words that she noted the small amount of anger that had slipped in. Oops, looks like her mask slipped a bit, but she really could not believe this guy sometimes.

"I am," said Kyousuke unfazed by her outburst, or more likely, at least in Sayaka's mind, incapable of catching onto the anger or what it implied about Sayaka's own feelings towards Kyousuke .

Sayaka let out a sigh and looked towards the girl's bathroom that they now stood in front of. She could point out some things to Kyousuke that he missed or she could go comfort her friend who was probably convinced Sayaka was going to Hell or something equally stupid. Somehow dealing with Hitomi's surprisingly intense homophobia was still somehow better than dealing with Kyousuke the feelings guro. Sometimes Sayaka really hated these people she fought so hard to protect.

What is Hitomi's deal? Will Kyousuke catch on to Sayaka's feelings for him? Find out next time on The Spyaka That Loved Meki! We are now at the end of the movie, so everything from here will be new material. Hope you enjoyed and let me know your thoughts.

Next chapter will be coming soon, but I will try to update Beltane Is The New Samhain first

Chapter Text

I sadly had to add in an OC to be the music teacher/conductor of the middle schooler orchestra. This OC of course will also be overpowered and the best of the best at what they do, but unfortunately only their students understand their misunderstood genius. So sad that as an extremely minor background character, they will never get their chance to shine.

Sayaka fiddled with the mysterious ring on her finger as she entered the bathroom to find Hitomi staring into the mirror. Hitomi's hands were folded in front of her and she appeared to be going through some kind of breathing exercises.

"Akemi and I didn't actually do anything dirty, nor are we ever going to. Akemi and I definitely didn't kiss, so you don't have to worry about me not being pure for our wedding night." Sayaka tried to joke to lighten the mood.

Apparently she said the wrong thing because Hitomi's response to her words was to choke back a quiet sob.

"This is about a lot more than the possibility that I was with a girl, isn't it."

"It is, and it is not." said Hitomi, not looking at Sayaka.

"Worried that I'm destined to go to hell, because I'm bisexual?"

Hitomi snorted, "You wouldn't be alone if that were the case." Sayaka's breath caught. Did Hitomi just… "Yes. There are some things I have not told either you or Madoka for fear of endangering our friendship, but I can't stay silent any longer, not when my true thoughts slip through in seemingly the worst ways possible. I hope you will forgive me and I hope you will also forgive me if I will deny I ever said these words to you. Do you understand Sayaka?"

Sayaka could see Hitomi's eyes flicker to her reflection in the mirror, so she nodded. She did not trust herself to speak.

"What do you think about love, Sayaka?"

"I am guessing you want me to say something more than love is love regardless of things like gender?"

"Yes, I would like you to say something more than that."

Sayaka thought about the boy she both loved and hated right now who was waiting outside of the bathroom, "Love is something painful, and I don't think I need to explain why. I think it's supposed to be wonderful, but at least on the romantic front, I've not gotten to have the wonderful side yet." Sayaka had charmed girls and boys alike in her time in the field, often the children of targets or targets themselves, but had never had the chance to pursue anything meaningful.

"I thought as much. Would I be correct in saying that you never told Kyousuke your feelings for him even though I all but begged you to do this because you did not think it would work out?"

"It definitely could never work out. I'm… trying to be happy for you."

"Sort of like how I would be trying to be happy for you if you did take action. Are you familiar with Goethe's book Sorrows of Young Werther?"

"I know it's European because of Goethe. That's the guy who wrote Faust, right?" said Sayaka.

"It is, and he is. It is about a man who is in love with a woman who is the fiance of his best friend. He wants to be happy for them, for both of them, because he loves them both dearly. He wants to be with them both and cannot bring himself to hate either of them, but he is trapped on the outside. In the end he kills himself."

"I'm not a suicide risk, and you're not going to get out of talking about your feelings by bringing up obscure European literature."

"It's not that obscure, but I see that I can't get out of finally revealing this." Hitomi took a breath and Sayaka could see the girl's eyes closing in the mirror, "Sayaka, what you feel for Kyousuke, the pain, the regret, right down to believing, no, knowing that your love could never happen, that is what I feel for… a girl."

Sayaka did not bother asking why Hitomi did not think a relationship with a girl would work out. She could easily guess what Hitomi's conservative leaning parents would think of the idea of the heir to their suspiciously too successful business empire being in a same sex relationship, and they were all living in Japan which did not help.

"If I may be completely honest with you Sayaka," Sayaka could see in the mirror a tear sliding down Hitomi's cheek, "I expected to be like Werther. Every day I am able to be with Kyousuke, even with all of the problems he brings to a relationship - that I understood I would be taking on when I asked him out - I am ultimately grateful that something in your life is keeping you from pursuing romance, something you have not been able to share with the rest of us."

Well, Sayaka was pretty sure that Hitomi was rubbing salt in her wounds even if there was likely no malice behind the action. Still, hearing this made it a little harder to be sympathetic to the other girl.

Hitomi continued, "I hate myself for being glad that the outcome is the one where you are suffering like this, Know that I am suffering just as much, that there is someone I also wish I could say 'I love you' to and mean a kind of love that girls can't have for each other, but I never will be able to. Girls can't love girls, or at least… this girl can't."

Sayaka considered commenting, but she was also afraid to talk now that Hitomi was finally opening up. One wrong word and Sayaka might never know what Hitomi was about to share.

"I also feel, and I recognize this may not be intentional on the part of Goethe, that perhaps Werther loved not just Charlotte romantically, but Albert as well. To me in reading it, I felt like the pain he felt was the pain you are feeling right now, but doubled. It is no wonder he killed himself." Hitomi turned her head away from the mirror, but Sayaka had definitely seen the tears on her face. Hitomi's next words were barely above a whisper as if she was having trouble speaking the thoughts aloud, "I expected to be like Werther. I understand if you hate me, if you are disgusted with me. I just could not keep these thoughts to myself any longer in light of the problems they are causing."

"Why would I hate or be disgusted by you?"

"I have seen the girl I like changing. I have slept over at her house. I have slept in the same bed as her even if that was before I reached puberty and discovered my forbidden desires."

"So what?" Sayaka knew there were other girls who might be angry, afraid, anxious, or disgusted. Sayaka felt pity, sorrow, and anger not at her friend, but for her friend.

"The what is what if I was admiring this girl in ways that girls can't be allowed to admire other girls? I tried not to, but my mental fortitude is not always what it ought to be."

"And if the girl you liked was checking you out as well?"

Hitomi made a noise like "eep". Sayaka would have laughed, but managed to cut herself off when Hitomi said with actual anger in her voice,, "Do not tease me, Sayaka, please. This hurts."

"Sorry Hitomi, still what I said may or may not be true. Knowing that, do you now hate or are disgusted by this girl you love?"

Hitomi shook her head.

"Then Hitomi, I don't think this girl minds if you are checking her out. And I bet she has a pretty great bod, too, with abs like a cheese grater," Sayaka gestured towards her own extremely well muscled abs even if Hitomi could no longer see the gesture, "I might even want to check her out if I could figure out who this mysterious girl you are talking about is."

Hitomi snorted, "I think I am more interested in her forearms or perhaps her handsome face, like that of a knight out of a fairytale." Sayaka was a little unsure how to feel about being described as handsome in this way. She knew she looked a little boyish, especially with her preferred haircut, and her handsome face had even allowed her to pose as boys from time to time, so there were perks, but there were also times she wished she could be as beautiful as Hitomi.

"And I take it that you would be playing the beautiful princess."

"Naturally." Even turned away from her, Sayaka could tell Hitomi had turned her nose up and straightened her back slightly as she said this, an impressive feat considering her posture already seemed impeccable beforehand.

"Sounds just like those games of pretend we used to play."

Sayaka could not see the other girl's expression but she was sure Hitomi was smiling even if it was probably a sad smile. "I'm sure it is just a coincidence and that I am definitely not kept up at night by imagining new versions of those games we played." Then Hitomi quickly added, "And no I am not telling you any details." Sayaka giggled at that and she could tell Hitomi was smiling. The smile vanished a moment later and in a quiet voice Hitomi asked, "But does this knight love her princess the same way that her princess loves her?"

Sayaka shook her head, saw that HIotmi could not see the gesture, and thought about how to respond, "She loves her princess, but… this knight is not like Werther, still if the knight did not have quests and errantry to keep her from romance and if the princess was not being courted by someone else, then I think the knight would be open to trying out dating. After all, isn't dating supposed to be for both those already in love and those thinking they might be able to fall in love with each other?"

"It is. It is a shame then that their dates and their love will have to be consigned to the realm of fairy tales. The life of a real life princess is not always a kind one, and I have noticed that knights in real life do not seem to always live happy lives either." Hitomi took a breath. She was still facing away from Sayaka, but she seemed a little more relaxed, "A part of me is glad this knight is not like Werther. I do not think I could handle even just the possibility of losing somebody I love so dearly." Sayaka did not have the heart to tell Hitomi about the work she did every week. So long as Hitomi could be relatively safe and happy, Sayaka could face a hundred Miss Whites with all her mercenaries or a thousand yandere stalkers. Hitomi tilted her head and Sayaka could see that she was now being watched in the mirror again. "Thank you, Sayaka, for listening to me… and… for not hating me."

"What are friends for?" Sayaka turned a wicked grin towards the mirror, "Not that I know what you're talking about of course. Who is this knight girl? If she's not good enough for you, I'm going to have to beat her up!" To emphasize this Sayaka assumed a martial arts stance she had learned from her training though she spread her limbs out just a little to make it look ridiculous.

Hitomi giggled and turned to face her. "You're not doing it right. Here, your knee needs to be in a little bit more and your arm…" And Hitomi proceeded to use her hands to fix Sayaka's posture to what the spy already knew it should have been. Sayaka was not sure if the intimacy was intentional or not, so she did her best to keep from blushing.

"At this rate, I have to wonder if the princess really needs a knight to protect her."

"I do not think she does, but the thought still means so much to me." Hitomi stopped in front of Sayaka, and smiled as she examined Sayaka's now corrected stance. "I would offer to teach you a few moves, but I am not sure that the bathroom is a good place to be learning in."

"It provides an extra incentive not to let yourself be tossed on the floor, but since I am the one who would probably end up tossed on the floor," after all she could not show off any of the skills she knew or she might blow her cover, "I think I'll need to get a rain check on those lessons."

Hitomi gave a small nod, "Kyousuke is probably worried, too. Of course, if you ever want any lessons and don't mind if I am the one giving them, I would be happy to make time for us."

"Let me know what times would work for you and we'll see about it." Sayaka was not against having an excuse for knowing some martial arts in case a situation arose where she needed to use them in front of someone.

As the two emerged from the bathroom, Kyousuke approached from where he had been leaning against the wall. "Everything okay?"

Hitomi nodded, "It is now." she looked at Sayaka and the spy could easily tell her friend was wanting to say something to her.

"Something you want to say?" Now that this whole business was sorted, Sayaka had a target to hunt down.

Hitomi looked to Kyousuke and then back to Sayaka, "The orchestra will be having one final rehearsal before our big performance at the Grand Mitakihara Concert Hall and the practice will be after school today. It would mean a lot to both of us if you came to the practice. Having you there to listen to the music we create, it…" Hitomi seemed at a loss for words. Sayaka could only assume the girl's confession had really done a number on her.

Kyousuke's hand found Hitomi's, "Having you there is what makes our music magical to us. When I play and see you there, see the music alive in your emotions and expressions, I know why I play. In those moments, I know I at least feel things I can't even put words to." Sayaka wanted to say yes, but she had a mission. Kyousuke must have seen this in her face, "I know you've been really busy. You haven't been able to make it to any of the practices in the last month. If you can't come I understand. We're still going to make sure you have a ticket to the big performance either way. It won't be a problem."

Sayaka did not have the heart to tell him why she had been avoiding watching the practices for the last month and due to her mission could not tell them that this time was different. "So long as I am free, definitely. I need to check in with Madoka, though."

"Why not invite her to the practice? I'm sure Kanata-Sensei wouldn't mind another student in the audience so long as she keeps quiet."

Sayaka smiled. This was an excellent opportunity to wow Madoka and play on the ties of friendship and nostalgia between her and the whole group. "I'll do that!"

First Madoka feels welcomed back by her friends by being invited to the performance and before long she is inviting all of them over to the new house, and once that happens, Sayaka could plant a few bugs and uncover any nefarious secrets. Sayaka inwardly sighed at the lengths she was going to to protect her friends. Ironic that to protect them, she should also have to attack them even if only in this clandestine manner. At least she would be the only person listening in on her bugs and not anyone else at the Agency.

Sayaka bid her friends farewell and went on the hunt for Madoka.

Spy X Magica X Spy X Magica X Spy

Sayaka found Madoka with only five minutes left to the lunch hour. The pink haired girl was sitting up on the roof eating her lunch alone. Sayaka felt there was something familiar about the sight and about it happening in this location in particular, that she could not put her finger on. She could hardly remember eating up here across the year and a half she had been at Mitakihara Junior High and she definitely had not seen Madoka eating on any roofs as students could not access the roof of the middle school she and Madoka had gone to.

Her body subtly tensed. She just knew something was wrong with this sense of familiarity. Perhaps what was familiar to her was a mysterious sense of danger, afterall she was very familiar with both mystery and danger.

She disguised a glance behind her as her taking in the sight of the city before turning towards Madoka. With only five minutes and a sense of familiarity with something unknown she was on a timer, which Sayaka felt was a disturbingly common experience for the girl. At least this time, the fate of the world did not hang in the balance.

"Hey Madoka, long time, no see."

"Sayaka!" Madoka stood up and pulled Sayaka into a hug. Sayaka froze. Was getting Madoka's trust really going to be as easy as just walking up and saying hi? She shook her head. Just because Madoka seemed to remember and continue to value what they used to have did not mean that Sayaka could slack off or afford to make a mistake. She had to keep up this level of intimacy until she was in Madoka's house and able to plant the bugs and even then proving no involvement with foreign organizations was harder than proving involvement and could take months or even years of surveillance.

Sayaka returned the hug for just long enough to convey how much she missed her old friend before pushing the girl back to arm's length "You don't look like you've changed a day."

Madoka pouted. Oops, wrong thing to say, "I've had a few growth spurts since we were eleven!"

"Well, obviously," said Sayaka, forcing a laugh after the mistake she just made. "And I'm sure you've grown in other ways and had all kinds of incredible adventures." Madoka was about to respond when Sayaka held up a hand, "Drat! Lunch is about to end! Madoka, would you happen to be free after school today?" And now she had the excuse she would need to invite Madoka to watch the orchestra's performance.

Madoka pulled at her phone, "I completely lost track of time!"

"It's alright, so after school?"

"Yes, I was actually planning to go to the mall to do some clothes shopping, because you, know growth spurt, and with the move, it just didn't make sense to get a bunch of new clothes in the States if we were just going to have to put them in boxes to move anyway."

Sayaka was torn. Here was an opportunity to get Madoka alone, but on the other hand she hated blowing off Hitomi and to a lesser extent Kyousuke after the heart to heart earlier, "Would you mind waiting just an hour and a half so Hitomi and Kyousuke can join us? They're in the orchestra and have one last practice session before a big concert, and I know that they would love to see you again." What are you doing Sayaka! This is a mistake.

"I can do that. I could wait in the library. I'm sure I'll find something to read!" There was definitely a note of desperation in the other girl's voice. Was she lonely and afraid of alienating her old friends?

"You could do that, or you could wait in the auditorium seating where the orchestra is practicing. I'm sure it will mean a lot to Hitomi and Kyousuke to see you there."

Madoka seemed to glow at Sayaka's words, "Really? I can? They will?"

"Yep!"

"Oh, but I don't know the first thing about classical music."

"It's fine. You don't need to know a bunch of trivia or music theory to appreciate music." Not that that stopped Sayaka from learning everything she could even if she lacked the time to learn to play an instrument herself.

"True." Madoka seemed to think for a moment, "Oh, Sayaka, since we're already planning to make this a group outing, would it be alright if I invited another friend to join us?"

Sayaka was certain Madoka meant Akemi seeing as she did not see anyone else interact with the girl successfully, and she would have heard if anyone sitting around Madoka had spoken to the girl. Hitomi did speak to Madoka once or twice, but other than that, everyone else waited until the lunch hour. Sayaka considered saying no, but if she did that she might alienate Madoka. Even if Madoka quickly forgave her, she might avoid inviting Sayaka to any outings that Madoka had with Akemi. In that case, both Sayaka's mission to investigate the Kaname's and Sayaka's desire to protect her friend from a creepy yandere would both be in jeopardy. Even if she told Madoka about Akemi's strange behavior, she doubted Madoka would stop associating with the girl. Her friend was simply too kind and nurturing for her own good. "Yeah, you can bring your friend."

"Thank you! Well, I'm not sure if I should call her my friend just yet, but… well… she seemed so lonely, and I want to be friends with her. She seems really special somehow." Akemi was definitely something special.

"I look forward to meeting her, any friend of yours is a friend of mine!"

Spy X Magica X Spy X Magica X Spy

At the sound of the bell, Madoka and Sayaka hurried back to the classroom. With a minute left before their next class started, Sayaka invited Kyousuke and Hitomi to join in the group outing to the mall, which they were both happy to accept, while Madoka asked Akemi if she would join them in watching the orchestra practice. Akemi unsurprisingly agreed.

The next class, algebra began and Akemi unsurprisingly took every opportunity to show off for Madoka. Sayaka could not see Madoka from where she sat, but she warred with herself whether she should potentially break her cover and show off. She also wondered if she even had a chance of showing up Homura Akemi. The girl was like a machine, as if she had already done these equations a thousand times before.

The truth was, Sayaka was not holding back that much academic talent. There just was not much room for that much extra studying with her busy schedule, so she focused on what could be useful and important for her work.

Class after class progressed just like Algebra. Thankfully, Akemi had long since been banned from answering more than three questions each class, so Sayaka still had a chance to shine and she took it by answering at least one question in each class, especially if they were relatively hard ones, just to make sure Madoka noticed.

When physical education rolled around, Akemi made sure to beat all of her previous records just for Madoka. Sayaka felt comfortable showing off her full potential in this sphere since her cover was the athletic tomboy who had a, not so secret, secret passion for music. Again, Sayaka had no hope of beating Akemi, but she did not have to beat the girl, she just needed to beat everybody else. Then her not so secret, secret weapon would win her the day.

Sayaka had one big advantage over Akemi. Sayaka could approach and interact with Madoka on a much more intimate level. Sayaka may be a less impressive student and athlete, but she could make herself a more impressive friend, so she did just that. When she could get away with it, Sayaka offered to help Madoka, though only if she had reason to believe the girl might be struggling with some task. Sayaka did not want to come off as patronizing.

Madoka's dossier had included copies of her grades since Kindergarten so Sayaka also had the advantage of knowing where Madoka might struggle before Madoka even set foot back on Japanese soil. A few well placed words and the right encouragement here and there and Sayaka's offers for help would not only avoid being patronizing, but hopefully endear the girl to her old friend who would seem not only concerned but also convinced that Madoka had the potential for growth and success. Sayaka really hoped the act worked and Madoka bought it all.

Oh, the things Sayaka did to protect her friends!

Eventually the school day ended and the students in the orchestra went to retrieve their instruments while Sayaka, Madoka, and Akemi all found seats in the auditorium not too far from the front with Madoka sitting in the middle. Kyosuke shot Sayaka a questioning look with a meaningful glance towards Akemi as he stepped out onto stage holding his violin. Armed now as he was he made even the drab school uniform look resplendent as he lowered his bow to the strings to tune his instrument.

Up on the stage other students did the same and then waited for the conductor Kanata-Sensei to arrive. The minutes ticked on by, with no sign of Kanata-Sensei. The students in the orchestra started to look bored. A number of strings and woodwinds were pulling out their phones and by the way the drummers were hunched over with their hands hidden behind their drums, Sayaka guessed they were on their phones now too. The low hum of chatter that was present in most groups of unattended teenagers became louder and louder.

This would be fine. Kanata-Sensei was never late before, but everything was fine. That is until Sayaka saw Madoka yawning and Sayaka could see Madoka's eyes drifting towards Akemi. Sayaka had to do something.

Sayaka looked around and saw the conductor's baton was sitting on the same stand as the conductor's score. Sayaka could just barely make out the marks on the pages, but to her surprise she felt she understood everything perfectly and understood exactly what the conductor and musicians should be doing at each part.

It would be a risk, but she had seen the early rehearsals, no doubt the source of her certainty. The orchestra had, after all, been preparing for this performance months before Hitomi had confessed to Kyosuke.

Sayaka had a slim chance of not making a complete fool of herself and at the same time impressing Madoka, but even if Sayaka did make a complete fool of herself she would at least entertain Madoka and so long as Kanata-Sensei was not there to see anything, Sayaka could always disappear back into the seating.

She decided if she could not play the hero, the knight of the story doing the impressive deeds, as Akemi was gunning for that role, maybe she could at least play the part of the jester.

Sayaka knew what she had to do. She stood up, drawing Madoka's attention to her. "Don't mind me. I'm just going to do something crazy and stupid."

Akemi groaned almost too quietly to be heard, "Not again. What's she going to do this time?" Sayaka ignored Akemi's strange comment.

Madoka meanwhile watched transfixed. The reverse psychology followed by a strong hook would keep Madoka's focus on Sayaka at least until the other girl died of second hand embarrassment.

Sayaka knew this was stupid, that she was taking a risk with her cover and the mission. At the same time, this could also put Madoka's opinion of Sayaka right where it needed to be to get Sayaka into the other girl's house. She could protect Madoka and clear Madoka of suspicion.

Before she could back out, she made herself stride up to the stand holding the score. Kyosuke and Hitomi looked at her with curiosity and in the latters case, mounting horror poorly concealed by a forced calm.

Kyosuke's violin would open up the piece. She only needed him to go along. So long as Kyosuke started at her signal, all of the performers would play their parts. They already knew their part. Sayaka just had to give them their queues. But, if Kyosuke did not accept her instructions to start the piece then she would have stood awkwardly up here for nothing and Madoka would get bored. She needed Kyosuke to accept her lead.

Sayaka put all her nervousness and she was loath to admit terror aside and called to mind memories of happiness, teasing, and goofing off. With these memories at the forefront of her mind she flashed Kyosuke her cockiest, most confident smirk.

He raised a questioning eyebrow.

Sayaka picked up the baton, but held it so that only the musicians on his side of the orchestra could see her holding it.

She raised a questioning eyebrow.

Her heart did not dare to beat as she waited for her friend's response.

Kyosuke hesitantly nodded.

She was in! Her grin was much wider and more chaotic now and Kyosuke's face soon matched her own. Sayaka could see Hitomi shaking her head, but when Sayaka looked at the girl, Hitomi was already positioning her hands over the keyboard of the piano in front of her. Hitomi was in as well and was now looking at Sayaka expectantly.

Now time to see if she could actually play the part of a conductor of an entire orchestra. She drew in a breath and schooled her features as she muttered to herself "I suppose you could say, it's time to face the music."

She lifted her hands, the baton held high and gave Kyosuke the signal to start. As the melody began, the students who had been on their phones or chatting turned their attention first to Kyosuke and then to Sayaka holding the conductor's baton. After a moment there was silence save for the siren song of Kyosuke's violin as the whole orchestra returned their hands to their instruments.

Sayaka felt herself falling into an abyss like trance, floating as if on water, sinking into a sea of music. All that existed in her vision was the musical score. All the players were nothing but familiars in her mind, mere silhouettes of their former selves.

She felt her heart soar. Something inside of her was swimming like a mermaid in an ocean of music. There was only the music. Her baton moved like a sword cutting through the air to command her minions to play their part in her symphony.

As the music, her music, reached its crescendo she felt alive and dead, her lips turned up into a mad skull like grin and there were tears in her eyes of loss and ecstasy. She felt she could laugh at the thrill. Some part of her mind, was alive with the thrill, the adrenaline rush of a snowmobile chase on the outskirts of Moscow, the heart pounding intensity of bullets flying by her head in Pyongyang, the weightlessness of jumping out of an airplane over the Himalayas, and the ache in her muscles and bones of wrestling an adolescent tiger in the jungles of Vietnam or maybe she had been in Laos at the time. That had been one wild weekend.

As quickly as it started the battle high of commanding her orchestra began to fade as the performance reached its end after what felt like minutes, but what might have been close to an hour later, and color seemed to return all at once to the world.

The only reason she was able to remain on her feet was through her three brutal years of training and espionage work. To collapse was to show weakness. To show weakness was to die. She maintained perfect composure, at least on the outside. Hopefully she had not screwed that performance up too badly. She thought the music sounded fine, but it was very hard to tell at the moment as something inside of her seemed to have woken up, if only for a moment.

There was clapping behind her. First one pair of hands and then another and then the orchestra were joining in. Almost as if she were in a play on the third production of the day, tired, but not able to show it, Sayaka acted out her part. She had been trained to be adaptable and to play on what others perceived her to be, so she bowed almost comically to the orchestra and then turned towards the audience to gauge Madoka's reaction as she bowed with an exaggerated flourish to them.

Madoka was standing up and clapping. She was clapping very enthusiastically, so Sayaka's plan was a success, and Madoka had even started squeezing through the seats towards the aisle with Akemi on her heels. Akemi was clapping too, more politely, but there was something particularly nasty about the forced smile on the girl's face.

Sayaka would have tried to puzzle through that look that was sending alarm bells through her head when her eyes locked on a third clapping figure, the conductor, Kanata-Sensei, wearing a face mask with some tissues sticking out of her suit jacket's pocket, was giving a standing ovation from a seat right beside the door.

Sayaka felt someone grab her arm from behind and felt something wet on her cheek. Suddenly a little more aware of herself from the surprise physical contact, she turned to a blushing Hitomi who was standing very stiffly, "As congratulations, it is acceptable for a girl to kiss even another girl on the cheek. I never knew you were keeping such an incredible talent secret."

Sayaka without even thinking said with her typical roguish grin, "Maybe I was keeping that talent a secret so I could reveal it at the perfect moment in order to impress someone."

Almost immediately Sayaka regretted her words, looking away from her friend in shame. She did not want to lead Hitomi on. Maybe if Sayaka was not caught up in a near constant deadly game of cat and mouse, she could have an actual meaningful relationship outside the string of casual flings and broken hearts that she had left across the globe along with a trail of blown up buildings and vehicles.

Sayaka could see that Hitomi, whose face had now transitioned from the shade of Madoka's hair to the shade of Kyoko's, had not seen Sayaka's look of shame and regret. Hitomi, her eyes locked on her hands which were playing with the hem of her skirt, whispered just barely loud enough for Sayaka to hear, "Well you certainly impressed someone."

"Holy crap, Sayaka! You've been holding out on us!" said a loud male voice from beside her and she felt a sudden force on her back that only years of training alowed her to roll with and keep her footing. That pat on the back was harder than it should have been! "That was awesome!" said Kyosuke his other hand holding his violin and bow. "We've got to do that again sometime."

"Sure," said Sayaka.

"I am glad you agree." said Kanata-Sensei who had by now made her way down the aisle with Madoka and Akemi not far behind, "Looks like it was a good idea to let your friend sit in on the practices, Mister Kamijo and Miss Shizuki. I now know who to go to to substitute the next time I get sick."

"You were incredible Sayaka!" said Madoka, her voice now reaching the heights of normal volumes in her excitement. Unfortunately for her, her exclamation drew the attention of everyone around her and with a small "Eeep!" she hid behind Akemi.

Akemi stepped forward with her sinister looking smile. Sayaka met Akemi's smile with one of her own. Akemi waited for Kanata and Kyosuke to start up a conversation while Hitomi was trying to surreptitiously scoot away from Sayaka and towards Madoka before Akemi leaned forwards.

Whispering past clenched teeth, so quiet Sayaka had to strain her ears to hear, Akemi said, "You are playing a very dangerous game, Sayaka Miki."

Sayaka knew the threatening look in Akemi's eyes. In that moment she recognized the eyes of a killer. Now the choice. She could back down, stop trying to impress Madoka, stop trying to compete with Akemi, and she would probably still be able to achieve her mission of securing Madoka's trust enough to enter her home and spy on her family for a few weeks or however long it took to gather the intel. Her mission would likely be fine while she might even endanger it by getting caught in a game of one-upmanship with Akemi, trying to see who could out-wow Madoka. Madoka might even get weirded out by all of the attention from the two's back and forth. The girl was shy afterall.

Sayaka could recognize she was at least a little competitive. She also really liked the way Madoka was beaming at her from behind Akemi and the way that Hitomi and Kyosuke both shot looks of respect, awe, and in Hitomi's case maybe something else at her. It felt good. With her signature roguish grin, Sayaka's tongue, with its long practice of getting her both in and out of trouble moved, saying words she had said at least a hundred times before, "I like to live dangerously."

Rather than a glare and a threat, or cry of bring it on, or the fake smile morphing into a genuine smile of a nemesis finally faced with a worthy rival, instead Akemi's face sank to a look of sheer exasperation and her whispered voice dripped with both defeat and frustration, "Yes, you do, and I do not think there is a single person in this entire universe more painfully aware of the fact that Sayaka Miki likes to live dangerously."

Well that was uncalled for! Akemi hardly ever even talked to her.

"So," said Kyosuke, rejoining them with a smile, "Ready for the mall?"

Hope you all enjoyed and let me know your thoughts! Tune in next time for the set up for our first major action scene. I want to get this right with the whole process of introducing the audience to an elaborate and hopefully interesting and over the top set piece that can then be turned into quirky and exciting spy on spy violence, with chases, trickery, and/or traps. The next chapter will probably only be the set up for the fight and for some of the more mysterious mysteries that this story has already alluded to, all of this against the backdrop of Homura and Sayaka's rivalry. Poor Madoka is in for one hell of a time, and Kyosuke and Hitomi are not going to be leaving unscathed! OH NO!

You haven't seen the last of me!

Chapter Text

So, this mall section might be three parts before it's finished, but I'll do my best to make it so that it is never boring. Hope you enjoy!

The Mitakihara Midtown Mall was a massive and breathtaking structure, a veritable temple to the twin gods of consumerism and leisure. The building itself was for the most part divided into four levels and built in the ultra modern surrealist style that defined the rest of the city. The architectural design like so much of the rest of the city seemed intended to evoke feelings of smallness, isolation, and otherworldliness.

The repeating patterns in the design of many buildings would sometimes appear to morph and distort as the pattern disappeared into the distance. Many parts of buildings had seemingly impossible shapes and structures like stairways that seem to connect with themselves or even appear upside down or sideways from a distance.

The overall effect was like stepping into an M.C. Escher painting or perhaps living inside of a mirror tunnel that stretches on towards an unsettling green infinity. All of this was of course an illusion carefully crafted by cleverly hiding the landings for stairways, placing fake stairways in odd places, putting windows with fake sunlight streaming through in the middle of the building, setting up mirrors at the ends of hallways, and other such contrivances. The most controversial of all of the design decisions had to be the amount of space used for parts of any of the building as the builders had tried to create as many massive cavernous spaces as possible to reinforce those feelings of smallness, all of this in a country where space in cities was usually at a premium.

Still, compared to the local middle school, the design of the Mall was honestly rather subdued. Why the schools of Mitakihara received such special attention was a mystery known only to the building ordinance committee and education committee. Even Sayaka did not know the full story behind that mystery, but what she did know, was that the money to pay for these many extravagances largely came from five sources: eccentric elites like the Shizukis, the various lobbying groups for artists, architects, philosophers, and construction workers, the tourists craving experiences that could fill them with existential dread, multiple known or suspected cults and secret societies, and of course the secret projects of various world governments doing their own version of the CIA's MK Ultra.

Sayaka felt somewhat conflicted about the latter especially after that time last year when Ms. Saotome was asked by the agency to discreetly bring in some special "baked goods" to share with the whole school, and Sayaka was given explicit instructions from the director not to eat any. That had been one very interesting school day and part of the reason Sayaka never ate or drank anything from HQ that she had not prepared herself. The experience was definitely a reminder not to so much as touch anything left lying around in the breakroom, especially nothing with the words "eat me" or "drink me" attached as if the food and drink were straight out of Alice and Wonderland. The reference to Alice and Wonderland was probably intentional given both the eccentricities of some of her colleagues, especially two of her three youngest coworkers, and also given what sorts of trippy experiences she might have if she made the mistake of eating or drinking anything.

All of this was to say that going to the mall in Mitakihara was quite the experience even before one stepped foot inside a store. The structure was tall and long and narrow with staircases between the four floors with an even taller bulbous section around the food court.

As Sayaka set foot inside the mall entering through the food court entrance with Hitomi, Kyousuke, Madoka, and Madoka's stalker Akemi she pushed aside the unimportant thoughts on the social experiment that was Mitakihara to focus on the more immediate and far more important concern regarding the fate of her home, making sure Madoka had a good time at the mall.

"So Madoka, you're looking for some new clothes right?" said Sayaka. She definitely did not want the group to only be focused on getting Madoka's clothes. She wanted the group to get distracted having fun, looking at or buying anything interesting, and gorging themselves on treats, but Sayaka also did not want Madoka panicking about her inability to speak up and tell the others about her needs. Madoka would not be having much fun or relaxing and letting her guard down if she was internally panicking every time she saw a store selling clothing only for the group to walk past it, so better to get this topic out of the way now and then encourage distractions when they were on their way.

"Yes." said Madoka in a quiet voice. She fidgeted and looked down at her feet, more than a little uncomfortable with the eyes of everyone in the group now on her. Madoka's time in the US really had not done the girl any favors for her self confidence.

"And I imagine you're on a budget right?" Sayaka asked.

"Yes." said Madoka, somehow managing to make her voice even quieter.

Just as Sayaka had suspected. The Kanames may have brought in a lot of money, or at least Junko Kaname did, but Sayaka had studied the family's credit card purchases in preparation for her mission. Those purchases painted a picture of a perhaps not frugal, but definitely not wasteful family. Sayaka could have lived without seeing what some of Junko and Tomohisa's purchases were. She was not sure she would ever be able to look at the two the same way again and somehow doubted that the married couple wanted their daughter's childhood friend to be aware of exactly what the two got up to in the privacy of their own home.

"Well there's a really nice and affordable department store that I think has a sale going on." Sayaka knew it was perfect for Madoka's budget and spending history, "It's on the opposite side of the mall from here." There was a reason why Sayaka had led the group to enter through the food court.

"I would not want to force Madoka to walk across the entire mall." said Akemi, her attention never having left Madoka, "And this should be a special occasion to commemorate your return to Mitakihara, and your reunion with your old friends. Allow me to cover the costs of your clothes. It will be my treat and an apology for my little emotional breakdown in the hallway during lunch."

So that was how this was going to be. Two can play at that game Akemi.

"Well," said Madoka, fidgeting and looking like she wanted to say no, so badly. Everyone was looking at the girl.

"Please," said Akemi grinning like a cat playing with her food, "It would mean the world to me if I could do something to make it up to you for my earlier outburst. I would feel so much better." Akemi seemed to know some of the right buttons to push with Madoka, Sayaka would give her that, and Sayaka was sure this was Akemi getting back at Sayaka for wowing Madoka with the orchestral performance.

Sayaka still did not know where she had gotten that particular skill from. She had many skills that one would not expect from a teenager, skills that were useful when one worked in espionage, but conducting an orchestra was not one of them. That skill was as new to her as the strange ring she had on her finger, a mystery that she planned to solve when she got the chance, probably when she got home that evening. Sayaka would not normally trust any strange or mysterious object like the ring, but she felt it was important somehow. There was something about the strange ring, and she did not want to take the risk of taking it off and losing it. She felt like losing it would be a very bad idea.

"Okay." said Madoka, giving in with yet another one word response.

"Then follow me. I know a wonderful clothing store that is not far from the food court."

There was nothing to do, but follow along and plan her next move, but Sayaka would find a way to get Madoka's attention back onto her. She would not be outdone by Akemi Homura, not when Akemi was so unhinged and so obviously had nefarious plans for Madoka. Sayaka would protect her old friend with everything she had, every resource the agency had given her while still leaving Akemi to draw attention onto herself and off of Sayaka and her plotting. It was the least she could do if she was also going to spy on her friend, but only because she needed to clear her friend's name.

Sayaka had a vague idea of all her classmates' spending habits and Akemi spent very little paying for most things in cash. The girl was, if she remembered correctly, an orphan and ward of the state. All of this put together made Sayaka doubt that Akemi could do more than double whatever Madoka's starting budget was without breaking the bank. Madoka would however feel indebted to Akemi even if she might resent being spoiled in this manner, and Madoka's opinion of Akemi and even her trust of the other girl would likely go up. Human psychology was like that. Worse, Madoka would potentially be reminded of Akemi every time she put on the clothes Akemi bought for her. Sayaka would not be surprised if Akemi also intended the new clothing to serve as a way of marking her territory.

That was all fine. Two could play at that game and Sayaka had far more money at her disposal than Akemi should have and could pass all her expenditures off as being a result of the part time job she officially had which would add an element of self sacrifice to her own spending. There was even a kernel of truth to the self-sacrifice angle as she was putting herself at risk by making use of her agency assets. Miss White's goons were always looking for any sign of agency members, and were especially interested in finding and removing Sayaka.

Sayaka checked her wallet. She had two agency credit cards on her, one for expenses that the world was allowed to know existed and one for expenses that were strictly under the table. Both also had tiny explosives built into them incase they ever needed to be destroyed without leaving any evidence in case she ever needed to give up her wallet to maintain her cover, an innovation proposed and developed by the very young prodigal trio back at HQ in one of the rare instances of them all successfully working together without getting into a fight.

"And we're here." said Akemi after leading the group into an out of the way corner of the store near a maintenance hallway and bathroom and stopping next to the last place in the mall that Sayaka had expected an orphaned ward of the state to go to buy clothes. Sayaka felt horror in her gut that she quickly hid and glanced around to see the other's reactions. Hitomi had a look of shock on her face, no doubt recognizing the store. Kyousuke did not seem to care and kept glancing at exits and every passerby, his eyes lingering on anyone even slightly suspicious, seemingly on guard against potential threats. "Welcome Madoka," said Homura, "to Illuminated Designer Fashions, the very best clothing store in all Mitakihara, at least for our age group."

The pure white triangular facade of the store loomed in front of them like the entrance to a temple, with carved bronze pillars on either side of the glass doorway. Both columns jutted out from the wall and were each topped with engraved pomegranates. The column on the left had a star dotted dark blue sphere on top of its pomegranate and the column on the right was topped with an archaic globe. The gold colored top of the triangular facade was disconnected from the lower portion, hovering right over golden letters proclaiming the name of the store, and held a large white eye in the center.

Akemi seemed to glance in confusion at the decorations before shrugging and schooling her features. "They seem to have redecorated since the last time I was here."

Sayaka knew this to be the lie that it was, just a very clumsy effort to make Akemi look rich and possibly popular, too. Sayaka knew the storefront had looked like this for at least the last ten years, and she believed Madoka did not care about if her friends were wealthy or not which made the whole attempt by Akemi a wasted effort, and more importantly an opportunity for Sayaka to strike back

"You must not have been back to the mall then since you were very small then." said Sayaka, "I can't even remember a time when this store didn't have the funny pyramid decorations." she looked at Madoka and fought to keep her grin from becoming shark-like, "Madoka, you remember this place having the weird pyramid shape, don't you? We used to come to the mall all the time."

"I do, but it's also…off somehow." said Madoka for the first time since they arrived saying more than a few words. "It feels like they used to have a different storefront with a big plain silver rectangle and big black letters over the top." Homura nodded at that.

That was weird. Sayaka would have to remember that detail in case it ever became important.

"Sayaka is right." said Hitomi looking at Madoka and Homura with some confusion. "Whenever my family has gone here, and we've been going since I was little, it's always had that pyramid shape with the pillars and the eye like an American dollar."

"You're probably right." said Madoka in a quiet voice. The poor girl was just giving up. If the girl was this conflict averse that she would give up on something that she clearly remembered being different without a fight, how would she react to Sayaka and Homura's competition?

Not for the first time Sayaka was having doubts about challenging the yandere, but at the same time challenging the yandere had just given Sayaka a golden opportunity. She pulled out her phone and sent a quick text to HQ and then used the motion of putting her phone away to hide her pulling out an ear piece.

She pretended to fix her hair clip as she slid the little earpiece with its tiny speaker and microphone into place. "Agent Small, do you read me?" she muttered, hiding her speech by pretending to yawn behind her hand. She could get away with speaking out loud once or twice with the yawning trick, but after that people might start asking questions.

"Agent Miki." said the voice in her ear. The voice was distorted to try to mask the identity of the speaker, but sounded like it came from a prepubescent girl meaning one of the three interns, "Agent Inventor speaking. Agent Small ate one of the cupcakes in the breakroom and it's all Nemu's fault. I mean Agent Storyteller's fault." Agent Small due to her cheerful and helpful attitude was normally one of the agents assigned to handle calls from the field. HQ must be understaffed today if they were putting Agent Inventor on the line.

Agent Inventor continued, "You said in your text that you wanted to know what kinds of clothing to get for your friend Madoka and that you are at Illuminated Designer Fashions. I guess tap the earpiece once for yes."

Sayaka did that while keeping an eye on the group that had just entered the store. Madoka was having a silent panic attack after seeing the price tag on a jacket on a table near the front. She had probably just realized that she could spend her entire clothing budget at this store and if she was very lucky, walk away with a single outfit.

"So, based on Madoka Kaname's cookies and her search history, your friend wants to be a magical girl, either that or a cat. She might also have an interest in wearing boys' clothing, wait that's for toddlers. The family computer seems to have also been used to look up some lingerie items. It was in incognito, but the ip address is the same. How are you even supposed to wear that tail? Oh! Ouch! Ah… but that one was probably Junko Kaname since the time stamp was 2am on what would have been a school night. On the plus side, there's a gift idea for the happy married couple if you ever need to bribe or blackmail them."

Sayaka cleared her throat, trying to get Agent Inventor back on task. She saw Kyosuke glance at her. "Something caught in my throat."

"So your best bet is to find something shiny or frilly enough to be part of a magical girl outfit, probably in pink, white, or red or just find something with cats on it. I'll have Nemu go through their online catalog for items while I hack, I mean, use the backdoor we put into the mall security system last year to see if I can use the cameras to find the aisles with the clothing you want in them."

Hitomi was at the front of the group with Akemi. The two had finally convinced Madoka that it was okay for Madoka to pick something out and then the two immediately picked out clothing for the other girl and were now ushering her towards the changing rooms. Kyosuke was at the back of their group where he seemed to be keeping an eye on the entrance. "Kyosuke want to help me find some clothes for Madoka to try on?"

"Sounds like fun." He did not sound enthusiastic, quite the opposite, but that was fine. Helping her only had to be more fun than waiting for Madoka to change into the outfits that Hitomi and Homura had picked out.

"We're going to go explore." she told the other two girls who were standing awkwardly outside the changing room. Hitomi was trying to get Akemi to talk to her, but Akemi kept giving the other girl one word answers.

Akemi just waved her hand while keeping her eyes fixed unblinking on the closed changing room door. That was not creepy at all.

Hitomi glanced between Akemi, the changing room, Kyosuke, and Sayaka. She looked very conflicted. Hitomi had picked out the outfit Madoka was currently trying on. At last she gave Sayaka a sad smile, "Have fun, but not too much fun."

As Sayaka and Kyosuke went off on the hunt Kyosuke asked, "What does she mean by too much fun? We're just looking at clothing."

Sayaka knew. Kyosuke did not. Big surprise there and better keep things as they are. Time to make an awkward joke to hide her screaming inside! "Probably just worried we proletariat will act uncouth and get kicked out or we'll rub our poorness off on all these bougie clothes and lower their value or something." She shot him her best roguish smile.

"That does sound like the kind of thing the bourgeoisie pigs would be worried about." Sayaka just looked at the boy. Kyosuke looked a little panicked as if he had made some kind of social faux pas, "I mean hypothetically speaking."

"Uh, Mr. Marx, is everything going alright between you and Hitomi?"

Kyosuke now looked confused, "Yes, why wouldn't it be?"

"Her family aren't upper middle class, that is to say bourgeoisie, because they are instead upper class landed aristocracy in all but name. They basically run this town and possibly even the crime in this town, too. They are more the quote on quote capitalist pigs than a bunch of lawyers and middle managers will ever be."

Kyosuke waved his hands around wildly, "Hitomi's not like that. She's good, kind, and hard working and cares about everyone around the globe no matter their class."

"So she's 'not like the rest.' She's 'one of the good ones'." Sayaka did finger air quotes for, 'not like the rest' and 'one of the good ones'.

"Exactly!" said Kyosuke. "Though I don't know what the deal is with the finger quotes."

"Just help me find something for Madoka. Based on what I remember of her from before she moved away, we're looking for anything with a cat or that a magical girl might wear. We want the colors pink, white, and red."

"Wouldn't she have grown out of her magical girl phase though? It's been years since we were all watching Sailor Moon together." but Kyosuke did start paying as much attention to the clothing on display as he was to the front entrance. Thinking about those happy innocent days before the gun fights, betrayals, alcohol, and loose men and women really got Sayaka thinking. Specifically, she was thinking about if Luna, the mascot cat from Sailor Moon was part of the reason Madoka was so interested in cats. It would make a certain amount of sense.

Sayaka briefly reflected that she should probably be having deeper reflections about her life and her stolen innocence than just thinking about where her middle school friend's interest in cat's came from, but Sayaka liked the life she had now. She was happy that Mister Mikuni saw her potential and recruited her, something about reminding the retired politician of his own daughter who was middle school age now, but homeschooled due to the big scandal.

"And we're in, as if there was ever any doubt," said Agent Inventor. "And I can see you are in aisle Gamma. Agent Storyteller has given me a list of clothing items, and it looks like some of the pink frilly items are in aisle Beta, so one aisle over." Sayaka resisted the urge to say she knew her Greek alphabet. She had learned it for that time she had to pose as a frat boy in the United States to bring down a drug smuggling ring.

"Let's try the next aisle." said Sayaka leading Kyosuke further in. Part of Sayaka was happy to be basically alone with the boy in the mall. If she closed her eyes she could almost pretend that they were doing this as a couple, finding clothes to try on maybe with her showing Kyosuke just how good she looks in a suit. With her boyish features she might even have better odds of inducing a gay awakening than Agent Inventor's failed gay bomb idea.

She imagined getting to dress Kyosuke up and see his reaction to the different outfits she would try on, except that Kyosuke did not really want to be here. He kept glancing at the exit after all. He was not even being subtle about it. She gets to spend her time with her crush and she was spending that time with her seeing his faults more than his many redeeming qualities.

And there was that little tiny hurdle of him already being in a relationship.

Normally that would just be a tiny hurdle. She had certainly seduced more than one trophy wife in order to get information about the woman's husband, half the time a husband who was involved in one of Miss's White's for the greater good style evil schemes. That would just be a tiny hurdle except that Kyosuke was dating her friend Hitomi, her friend who for the most part was always there for her and always willing to forgive her and knew when to ask questions and when to let Sayaka keep her secrets.

On top of all that, Sayaka really had no clue how to have a healthy, normal, stable relationship. Open and honest communication just did not exist in her world except between the core members of the agency. Even Miss Saotome was not trusted enough to know the names of her fellow spies. Sayaka was, but only because she was in too deep.

And Sayaka still did not know how to feel about Hitomi's confession other than that her life right now just would not make any long term relationship possible.

She was in too deep.

Her friends did not deserve to get dragged into something this dangerous. If they knew, they would be in even greater danger than they were already.

Focus on the present!

"Here, let's bring these to Madoka for her to try on." Sayaka picked out a few items on hangers that looked vaguely magical girl themed.

One was a pink, yellow, and white dress that looked like something a princess would wear with poofy shoulders and a bodice with vertical segments in different fabrics and with plenty of frills and ruffles. For some reason the colors called out to Sayaka as just being right on Madoka even though yellow had not been one of the colors mentioned in the report.

Sayaka had learned to trust her gut with all the fights she had been in. Plenty of that trusting her gut had kept her alive with only a few dozen scars scattered across her body. Sayaka's gut was also telling her that the princess dress's skirt was wrong since it hung loosely to the knees in three layers with pink on yellow on white.

In addition to the princess looking dress she also grabbed two other dresses. The first was a white and pink dress that looked like it belonged on a ballerina with a wide poofy skirt that looked to be somewhere between a tutu and a ball gown with matching white poofy sleeves. The second was a white sleeveless dress that looked like something between a bridal gown and what a fantasy princess might wear. The front portion of the skirt only went down to the mid thigh with the back portion flaring out and hanging down to ankle level. To go with the three dresses she also grabbed a pair of white gloves and a pair of pink gloves for Madoka to try on. She figured Madoka already owned white stockings for school that she could wear with the dresses to complete the magical girl look.

Like with the princess dress, the other two dresses each called out to Sayaka in their own way. The skirt on the not quite a ballerina dress seemed almost right somehow while the white bridal dress princess dress seemed right in its own weird way.

She did not question it. She would ask Madoka for the girl's opinion and if the girl liked the dresses then Madoka would be getting them.

But Akemi would still be buying them… unless Sayaka bought them for Madoka first.

But Akemi would not be expecting Sayaka to have access to an untraceable Swiss bank account full of a mixture of taxpayer yen, money stolen from criminals, and money gained through criminal activity. She would save the credit card linked to slightly more legally obtained money for another day.

Sayaka smirked as she started brainstorming how to distract Akemi so that the girl would not be able to buy the clothing for Madoka before Sayaka could, and she knew Akemi's weakness was Madoka.

Sayaka arrived to see Madoka looking very embarrassed as she stepped out of the changing room wearing a black and purple outfit that Sayaka was guessing came from Akemi as Hitomi was nowhere to be seen, "Hey Madoka, try these out."

Akemi looked at the clothing in Sayaka's hands and her forehead creased. She looked worried for some reason, like really worried as in her whole world might end in the next few seconds.

Madoka took the pink, yellow, and white princess dress and held it up in front of herself. Homura's face shifted into a pained grimace like looking at a dying loved one. "I love this! It looks like a magical girl costume!" Looks like Agent Storyteller's information was accurate. No surprise there.

Akemi's face for some reason had gone deathly pale. She seemed to sway slightly on her feet.

"I thought you might like that. You would make an awesome magical girl." said Sayaka putting her arm around Madoka's shoulder to try and get a little oxytocin and physical manipulation flowing.

Akemi shook herself, "What are the other dresses you picked out, Miki?" She sounded a mixture of worried and hopeful like nothing Sayaka could pick out would be worse than a magical girl outfit. She was probably just embarrassed by her crush still being into Magical girls at her age.

Sayaka lifted up the tutu looking dress. Madoka's face lit up, "This looks even more like a magical girl outfit! Thank you Sayaka."

Akemi pulled the third dress out of Sayaka's hands and held it up, "What about this one Madoka?" Akemi asked, not even looking at the dress as she spoke. She looked at the white fantasy wedding dress looking thing and Akemi seemed if anything more horrified. She honestly looked like she wanted to burn the dress she was holding or maybe tear it apart with her bear hands. Akemi was probably just embarrassed at the thought of suggesting a wedding dress to her crush!

Perfect! Akemi would be so off balance now and Sayaka had not even planned that!

"Wow, this looks like something that a goddess would wear!" said Madoka. Akemi was somehow getting paler. Did she need medical attention or was she just imagining worshiping her crush as a goddess?

Not Sayaka's problem!

Sayaka showed Madoka the white gloves that could go with it, "These are so perfect Sayaka!"

Akemi was glaring at Sayaka. Jealous much?

"Go ahead and try them on Madoka," said Akemi through clenched teeth.

The moment that Madoka was in the changing booth Akemi was pinning Sayaka against the wall by the changing rooms.

"You know what you're doing Miki!" Akemi quietly growled.

Sayaka was ready for the yandere girl and whispered back, "Yep, I'm making her happy, but I'm not taking her away from you."

"No you are not. I sacrificed too much to get here."

"Just take care of her. Promise me?" Misdirection on what Sayaka's motives were. The perfect move!

"Oh, I promise I'll continue to take very good care of her." Really creepy!

"Back off Homura." Sayaka looked over Akemi's shoulder to see who had spoken. It was Kyosuke. His legs positioned as if he were about to charge and his hands at his sides, but elbows bent like he was ready to grab someone, like he was ready to grab Aekmi.

Hitomi stepped out of a nearby aisle holding some designer jeans over one arm and a white blouse in the other. Sayaka had to resist smirking at the designer jeans. If only Hitomi knew what Agent Inventor had thought about doing and what the rival spy agencies had already done when it came to designer genes. Probably a good thing Agent Small had talked Agent Inventor out of that particular plan.

Hitomi stepped towards where Akemi had Sayaka pinned to the wall, her expression turning very cold and dangerous. She crossed her arms imperiously and glared.

Akemi glanced at Kyosuke and HItomi. Sayaka could not see the girl's expression from where she was at.

"This is the second time! You say you don't have feelings for Sayaka, but you still keep on doing this Akemi, and I think I finally get it." said Kyosuke, "Sometimes, I want to slam Sayaka up against a wall really hard, too, though I don't know why or what I'd do after. There's just something about her face I guess."

Wait, Akemi was nodding?! "She has one of those faces." said Akemi, sounding like she was saying Sayaka had a very punchable face!

You traitor Kyosuke!

"I know right!" said Kyosuke, "I knew I wasn't the only one who saw it! There's just something about her face that is just so quirky and adorable like you just need to pinch her cheeks!" Wait! Kyosuke! Dangerous territory! Dangerous territory!

Hitomi's eyes had left Akemi and her face turned from glaring stone to rapidly paling horror.

Kyosuke, the oblivious idiot that he was, continued, "And her body, too! That perfect athletic build where you just want to run your hands down her sculpted muscles. She's like a goddess, but not like one of those wimpy ones. And don't get me wrong, Hitomi here's pretty athletic too and she looks alright, but Sayaka, damn, what do they feed you girl?"

He did not just compare Sayaka to his girlfriend like that! He did not just basically call her a goddess! Some people would not be the jealous or overly sensitive type. Sayaka figured Hitomi normally would not be… probably. Hitomi's situation and the fact that Kyosuke was saying these things about Sayaka probably made these extenuating circumstances, like seriously extenuating circumstances!

Several expressions passed over Hiotmi's face in a matter of heartbeats, probably broken hearted heartbeats. There was realization, then betrayal, mortification, agreement with her eyes going up and down Sayaka's frame with Hitomi making a very appreciative noise, offense as she looked down at her own frame pinching her belly and her bicep, a not insignificant amount of rage directed in Kyosuke's direction, and lastly she settled on something made of ice and cold. This cold look passed from Kyosuke to Sayaka completely ignoring Akemi's presence.

On the plus side, Sayaka thought, it seemed like the feelings guro that Sayaka now hated that she had a crush on definitely had feelings for her.

Akemi released Sayaka and moved to put distance between herself and the other three offering her own look of mortification at Kyosuke and what he inadvertently implied about Akemi, "I am not getting in the middle of this mess! For the last time, I don't have any feelings for Sayaka or any of you. I never have and I never will. The only person I'm interested in and will ever be interested in is Madoka."

Sayaka saw a certain pair of feet visible underneath the changing room door shift at the declaration.

And now Akemi turned and looked between each of them, "And I don't know which of you I should be more upset with for this utter failure at communication." she gestured between all three of them, "But I'll be damned, well damned again, if I let your… whatever this is," she gestured at all three of them, "hurt Madoka. Why do love triangles always have to end in despair or death? It is possible to share you know! Polyamory is a thing that plenty of less mature people than yourselves have made work."

"Why is she talking about polyamory and love triangles?" asked Kyosuke. He looked utterly lost after Akemi's minor breakdown.

"I hate that I'm incapable of completely giving up," said Akemi "like mentally there is something important broken in me. I'll see you all at the check out." and then she stormed off muttering something about a 'mortal world's witch'? Or maybe she said 'bitch'? It was probably the latter.

Hitomi was silently shifting her cold look between Kyosuke and Sayaka. Sayaka got the message or messages.

Hitomi had basically hinted earlier she might have killed herself if she could not have either Sayaka or Kyosuke. The look she was giving the two was among other things a threat. Sayaka figured Hitomi might try to make Sayaka wish she was dead if she stole Kyosuke out from under her.

"I've got it!" said Kyosuke, "The key to unraveling this mystery is the love triangle. One of you two must have a crush on Madoka!"

Sayaka put her head in her hands and groaned. She could see by peeking through her fingers that Hitomi was mirroring her expression.

"Both of you, seriously?! Well, I won't judge you. She's kind of nice in a quiet nerdy sort of way and if you want to pursue her Hitomi, I won't stop you or break up with you over it. And none of you need to worry about me getting interested in Madoka. I don't have the time for any more than one relationship on top of violin, school, and my… family responsibilities."

The last one was not ominous at all.

Sayaka had to remind herself not to start plotting. She only plotted against her friends if it was to clear them of suspicions that other people already have, not to investigate her own suspicions or draw suspicion onto them.

Her friends having a double life was only a problem if the agency told her it was a problem. What the agency did not know could hurt them…probably. Still Sayaka wanted to put her friends first.

No spying on friends unless it was for their own good! Even if those friends were idiots who were oblivious to the feelings of others and their own feelings, too. Sayaka really wished she and Kyosuke did not both have reasons for not being able to pursue a relationship together.

Kyosuke was not done, "For Homura to think Sayaka is in a love triangle, Homura probably thinks that Sayaka is dating Kyoko even though she's apparently not, but that is an easy mistake to make and Kyoko probably does have feelings for Sayaka,"

Hitomi's next look in Sayaka's direction gained just a hint of a possessive edge. There was something dangerous in that look like when she had seen Akemi pinning Sayaka to the wall.

And Sayaka was sure that Madoka in her changing room had heard every last word.

Great! Just great! And they had not even reached the checkout yet.

Chapter Text

They left Illuminated Designer Fashions with an entire new wardrobe of vaguely divine or magical girl themed clothes for Madoka all bought by a nervous and frustrated Akemi.

Even if there was now no longer a point in heading to the clothes store across the mall, Sayaka would not let them leave the mall, not until she had sufficiently reignited her friendship with Madoka and then grown it to a level where she would be trusted in the Kaname household. She could not afford to admit defeat. The future of her friend and her friend's whole family could depend on Sayaka getting proof of their innocence.

Madoka had been very flustered after coming out of the changing room and had only gotten more flustered and even monosyllabic after Akemi paid for everything.

Akemi as with her previously observed spending patterns paid for everything with cash. That was a lot of cash! Did she have an illegal side job? That would explain how Akemi had literally thousands of dollars to spend on someone else's wardrobe upgrade.

Sayaka directed Agent Storyteller and Agent inventor to look into it later. Even if Akemi was working an illicit job she still should not have much money left over after the clothing purchase allowing Sayaka to now take the lead on spoiling Madoka.

It was easy to suggest visiting the music store after finishing up at Illuminated Designer Fashions with Sayaka surreptitiously picking up one of the store's brochures for their online catalogue called Spartacus just in case Madoka hit a growth spurt in the coming months.

With Kyosuke and Hitomi both being musicians, Madoka wanting the group's focus to be on someone else after she was showered with so much attention earlier, and Akemi going with whatever Madoka decided, there were no objections to Sayaka's proposal.

There was one objection from Kyosuke to the nearly unanimous decision to make the infuriatingly oblivious boy who had been smitten with her all along carry all of the bags from Designers with the boy talking about fair distribution of labor or something. Madoka was the only person who even tried to speak up for him, but after overhearing the argument while in the changing room and then getting a new and expensive wardrobe she was back to being the timid wallflower she was when she had to introduce herself in front of the class.

This worked to Sayaka's advantage since it would make Madoka unable to reject overtures of friendship and there would be a lot of opportunities for that on the way to the music store. The store was not quite on the opposite side of the mall, but it was somewhat far away and up a floor.

Along the way to the stairs Sayaka made sure to run off to an overpriced frozen treats stand selling kakigori. With a little help from her fellow agents checking purchase histories and her own observations of her friends and classmates at lunch she selected a lemon syrup topped shaved ice for Hitomi, melon for Madoka, pumpkin for Akemi, cherry for Kyosuke, and one rasberry one for herself.

The plan was to use the presentation of an unprompted and spontaneous gift of food to implant in Madoka's mind the idea of Sayaka being caring, sensitive, and generous. This would be reinforced by Sayaka seeming to either guess or remember what flavor everyone likes which would also create the image of Sayaka being empathetic, considerate, and maybe even smart as well.

Not making a big deal out of the gesture, just being utterly relaxed and casual about it, and most importantly not singling Madoka out this time would make Madoka feel like she was just another person in a close knit friend group, ignoring of course that Akemi was part of that group and not Sayaka's friend.

This all together would then make Sayaka spoiling Madoka while singling her out all the more effective later! Between establishing a new goal for the group that everyone was on board with and then providing for the needs of the whole group, Sayaka would seem like a natural leader in Madoka's eyes. Having entered through the food court members of their group might have also been subliminally made hungry by the scent and sight of food, so Sayaka would really be providing for a need and was likely to be thanked and praised by members of the group and for more than just remembering or guessing what flavors each person liked not even knowing that Sayaka deliberately manufactured that need with the intention of exploiting it. This way when Sayaka finally gave Madoka special attention she would make Madoka feel extra special, because she would already be looking up to Sayaka.

That was the plan and step one almost went off without issue.

Sayaka had just come back with the orders of syrupy shaved ice passing Kyosuke and Madoka theirs, with both giving her happy smiles and thanks, when she saw something that made her pause. Out of the corner of her eye there was a middle aged man in a brown leather trench coat with the collar pulled up and an old fashioned brown fedora. He was smoking and he pulled out his cigarette and met Sayaka's eyes over the the top of his popped collar. The man winked and then gestured with his head towards a nearby bathroom.

Sayaka was so distracted that she hardly noticed as Hitomi said, "Oh, my favorite, thank you Sayaka." and approached to take her kakigori at the same time that Akemi glared at the melon topped kakigori.

"Your welcome Hitomi." Sayaka said trying to not seem distracted as she watched as the man in brown was approached by mall security. "For you, Akemi," she handed Akemi the melon flavored one before turning to hand Hitomi her's.

Akemi forced her way forward to whisper in Sayaka's ear earning her a suspicious look from Kyosuke. "Interesting that you know what Madoka and I's preferred flavors are, especially mine since you supposedly have never seen me eating it. You remember something, don't try to deny it. You know quite a few things that it should be impossible for you to know and if you say or do the wrong thing, I will silence you permanently."

Sayaka, who was already off balance from trying to keep an eye on the man in brown who was being confronted by mall security, was a little shocked by Akemi's whispering. It was all the sorts of things she had had whispered to her before in her line of work and not even that different from Akemi's usual crazy yandere speech to her, but… well Akemi's words included a lot of things that were often whispered right before knives or guns were drawn by one of the parties and bullets started flying. Acting on her hard won instincts she tried to get away from the threat… and stumbled into the reaching Hitomi and spilled Hitomi's lemon kakigori all over the girl's top.

Sayaka was mortified! Hitomi was covered in cold lemon juice and the syrup probably stained everything! It definitely got everywhere! Oh crap Sayaka really screwed up! Hitomi was going to be mad at her, well more mad what with the whole risk of her boyfriend abandoning her for Sayaka even the clueless boy ever figured out his own feelings towards her, and Madoka was going to think that Sayaka was clumsy and awkward and would not want to be friends with her anymore and then Madoka and her whole family would be arrested by the Japanese secret police!

Then Hitomi laughed. "You don't have to look so panicked. It's okay it happens." Hitomi gave Sayaka one of her calm and gentle smiles which felt even more calming and gentle now knowing what Hitomi thought of her.

Oh, good! Things might still be salvageable. Just have to laugh it off.

"Sorry Hitomi. I was distracted. You can be rather distracting sometimes." Sayaka shot the other girl her best heart meltingly roguish grin then realized what she just said and how painful that might feel to hear given what Hitomi had confessed to her earlier.

Hitomi's laugh quickly morphed into a glare, but she was blushing, so mixed victory and defeat? Pyrrhic victory? Well that would only be the case if Sayaka paid for this victory later which might end up happening.

Quick, damage control!

"Here, let me help you get cleaned up." Sayaka said gesturing towards the bathroom where she would also be meeting with a certain suspiciously dressed man. Said man was busy extinguishing his cigarette under the watchful eye of mall security and shooting a glare at a nearby no smoking sign. Sayaka caught the man's eyes and inclined her head a fraction of an inch.

"Um, sure. I would like that." said Hitomi. When had the girl's blush intensified and why was she somehow glaring even harder at Sayaka.

"You can change into one of my outfits." said Madoka. She reached over to the bags that Kyosuke was carrying and got out a white sleeveless fantasy princess looking dress. "We're about the same size right?"

"Thank you, Madoka. You are so sweet." said Hitomi, dropping her glare to smile at the other girl. Madoka for some reason looked away. The girl really had lost a lot of her self esteem while in America.

Hitomi took the change of clothes with one arm and took Sayaka's arm with her other, pulling Sayaka close to her and even leaning her head on Sayaka's shoulder. "Even if some things are impossible, I intend to enjoy what I can get." she hissed into Sayaka's ear.

"What about Kyosuke?" Sayaka asked.

"What about him? You heard him give his support and approval and it is not like he will notice anyway. Afterall he hasn't noticed what he so obviously feels for you now has he?"

Sayaka glanced over her shoulder to see Madoka still refusing to look in their direction, Akemi looking frustrated and just done with everything, and Kyosuke who was smiling somewhat vacantly at them though Sayaka noticed his eyes did roam around a bit including landing on the man in brown and on the mall security guard who was now watching their group.

"He is a little oblivious sometimes, but we love him anyway. Don't worry I won't take him away from you even if he confesses his feelings to me." Sayaka said with a sad smile. She was not even making a sacrifice, not when the choice might as well be out of her hands. She could not drag her friends into her awful world by dating them. It was already dangerous for them just being her friends.

"You better not. You already gave up that chance." Hitomi said, but it sounded more defeated than angry. She sighed. "Let's just pretend everything is right in the world and that princesses and knights don't have such complicated lives." she looked towards Sayaka's face looking into her eyes. There was something in Hitomi's eyes, something desperate and… Sayaka could only call it a mix of shame and self loathing. "Please, it's a selfish request, but could you pretend that we are… for me."

Sayaka glanced down to the lemon syrup and ice soaked Hitomi who was now pleading with her and could only nod. Hitomi looked so pitiful like this, so far removed from her usual strong and reserved self. The ice had started melting and mixing with the syrup to form lemon juice that soaked her all the way through.

They went into the women's room arm and arm Sayaka now also holding Hitomi's hand in her own as Hitomi leaned her head on Sayaka's shoulder and as the man in brown went into the men's room. He would wait for Sayaka. Sayaka could swear she heard Akemi saying "About bloody time." a peak over her shoulder as they stepped out of sight and she saw Akemi's eyes on the two of them. Too bad for Akemi that this was not going to last forever and probably would not continue after leaving the mall.

Sayaka and Hitomi went to the sink. Hitomi passed over the dress from Madoka and then started stripping, not caring that Sayaka could see her.

Nope, that was wrong. Hitomi was making a show of it emphasizing her surprisingly well developed muscles on her arms and abdomen, her lithe tigerlike form, the half dozen scars that dotted that form drawing attention to her navel and chest, the way that her bra… Sayaka cleared her throat looking away while holding out the clothes from Madoka. In the mirror, out of the corner of her eye Sayaka saw Hitomi smirk, a mischievous look that was even more perfect since it was coming from the prim, proper, and perfect honors student. The perfect good girl definitely had a bad side though what was with those scars? Whatever. Sayaka had more, a lot more, and was proud of most of them though it was not a competition. If it was a competition though Sayaka would win it.

Sayaka handed over some wet paper towels. She needed to get her mind off being in close proximity to a pretty girl who was into her and who she might be into herself so she defaulted to what she did when such situations happened in the field, she focused on her mission. Sayaka did not like the idea of dragging the people she cared about down into her sordid line of work, but she now found herself with a new opportunity and with the man in brown nearby there could be new complications as well. Dragging her friends down just a little tiny bit could not hurt that much right, could not have any real consequences, right? "I know that we should be enjoying our time together, but Akemi's interest in Madoka is really bothering me."

"Oh yes. It is a little unsettling." said Hitomi which they both knew was an understatement.

"Could you, I don't know?" Sayaka was doing her best not to look in Hitoimi's direction. "Keep an eye on Madoka, make sure Akemi isn't able to love bomb her or otherwise make her feel indebted to Akemi."

"A little late for that isn't it?" asked Hitomi, gesturing towards the dress with one hand as she used the other to wipe off juice with the wet paper towels. Sayaka could see it all in the mirror.

"Well then we'll just have to try and counterbalance that." said Sayaka, "If everyone is spoiling her then nobody is or something like that."

"Getting everyone those treats was a good start. I'm sorry if I ruined your plans by being so distracting." said Hitomi, sending Sayaka's reflection a wink. Sayaka cleared her throat again and could feel her face heat up. That had not been her proudest moment as an agent. She could see Hitomi's reflection in the mirror grin even though they both knew Akemi was the real source of the spill.

"I will see what I can do." said Hitomi, "I suppose I can try spoiling Madoka the way that Homura is. However much funds Homura has, I have more. Well unless she has been secretly stealing from me." A thoughtful look flashed across Hitomi's face and there was even a brief flash of anger and annoyance, but then she shrugged and it disappeared, "Probably wasn't her." Had somebody robbed Hitomi's family?

"I can give you suggestions on things Madoka might like." said Sayaka. She could not say she had access to Madoka's whole family's entire internet histories, but what she could say was, "I remember a lot of things she used to like and I heard her mention some other things as well." The last part was just a convenient lie.

"Sounds like we have a plan then." said Hitomi as she started pulling on the white sleeveless dress, her uniform sitting on the counter. The dress looked like it would take a few minutes for Hitomi to get into. She gave Sayaka a sad smile, "It would be going too far to ask for your help with this."

"Probably. The knight and the princess can't ever truly be together." What Sayaka did not add was that she did not want to drag Hitomi any more into her work than she was already by helping Sayaka with Akemi and Madoka, and she definitely did not want to add that she needed time to meet with a certain man the next bathroom over. "If you'll excuse me, I'll leave you to complete your changing."

Hitomi gave her a sad smile and a nod.

Sayaka walked towards the other bathroom, having to walk by the entrance to the bathrooms again. Sayaka peeked over at the group outside. Kyosuke gave her a weird look when she kept going. Madoka and Akemi were talking about something or rather Akemi was trying to talk to Madoka and Madoka was having trouble responding. The two were also finishing off their kakigoris with Kyosuke's already finished and in a nearby trash can. The security guard was still there, probably keeping watch for when the man in brown came out to make sure he was not going to keep on smoking.

Sayaka entered the men's room.

Mister Mikuni dressed all in brown leather, his collar popped up and his hat tilted down to cover his eyes leaned against a stall by the urinals. A high school aged boy gave him and Sayaka, who was still dressed in her school uniform, a weird look before leaving, not even bothering to wash his hands, a bad idea with all of the biological superweapons that had escaped containment over the years, but he could not know that.

"Miki san, let's talk" Hisaomi Mikuni in a similar voice and inflection to how Ms. White would say it. Sayaka had once upon a time almost been tempted to see this similarity in speech as an illustration of how the shadow leader of the liberal world order contrasted with the shadow leader of the authoritarian world order. Her work had hardened her though. Their agency was small and relatively unimportant outside of Japan, and on the world stage they were almost irrelevant when put beside the machinations of the CIA and MI6, and she knew that all three agencies were only champions of freedom and democracy when it was convenient. She knew that better than most with some of the work that she had done.

Likewise for all of the horrors she had seen enacted by Ms. White's and Ms. Black's Shades Of Grey Mercenary Group or The Grey Army as they were more commonly known… well the group was only slightly worse than the infamous Blackwater and that group was US. 2007 was not that long ago and that was not their only crime though Sayaka supposed they were called Academi now after their recent acquisition.

It also did not help that The Grey Army was as enigmatic as their leader. Nobody knew Ms. White's agenda. Nobody in the agency had spoken more than a dozen sentences to the strange and mysterious woman who always knew too much and nobody had seen her blonde head for more than a few minutes when foiling any of her evil schemes.

Mister Mikuni waved her over to the urinals, "So that if anyone comes in they don't realize we're having a secret meeting." he said in a quiet voice. He stood in front of the urinal with his hands resting on the front of his trousers and with a sigh Sayaka took the one next to him in a similar posture not that she had the equipment to use the thing. Agent inventor had made a high tech gadget, but the less said about that the better. That was the incident that led to them putting parental controls on Agent Inventor's work computer.

"Those white dresses you got for your friend, I should get something like that for my daughter. She'd love it." he said, his voice sounding cheerful and carefree, "Maybe pick up some more baking supplies from the cake store and a new suit for her girlfriend while I'm at it. Any recommendations for the suit since you're always wearing them?"

"Huh?" This was not what she was expecting from Mister Mikuni, but he could be scatterbrained sometimes. He had suffered some kind of head injury early on while combating that conspiracy that got him kicked from political office on bogus corruption charges. It was a very good thing his daughter and his daughter's girlfriend Kirika something or other were there to help take care of the man. "I can give you some suggestions, but uh… why the breach of protocol with the whole contacting me in person while I am out on a mission, sir?"

"Can't trust anyone in the agency right now. Had to meet in person as soon as possible and damn the consequences." he said, suddenly all business. "We have a mole and they are feeding the information to the damn Greys."

"Shit. What's the sitrep sir? How bad?" That would explain why Ms. White always seemed one step ahead of them. There had even been wild speculation that the dangerous woman had some means of seeing the future. Agent Inventor had suggested some kind of computer program and then suggested trying to build it themselves, but the computation and data requirements were way outside of their budget. A mole made a lot more sense than sci-fi technology worthy of a centuries more advanced civilization that had gone to the stars.

"Bad enough that they already know about the Kanames. Our own mole said Ms. White was planning an op to capture the youngest one, but we don't know the why or how. Worse, Ms. White is planning to set up a distraction to help hide the attempt using an attempt on a politician's life. We don't know which one, only that they are using their plant in the North Korean spy network to get the damn commies to do their dirty work for them and that the attempt is going to be made while the politicians are watching the Mitakihara Middle School Orchestra's big performance this weekend."

That was Kyosuke and Hitomi's performance! It looked like she would be making it there after all.

"Naturally," continued Mister Mikuni. "We can't let either of these happen. I'm trusting you to watch over the Kaname girl in addition to completing your investigation of the family. It definitely does not look good for them that Ms. White has taken notice of them. We need to know what brought the Kanames back to Japan and how it's important enough that Ms. White wants to take a hostage. Whatever Ms. White has planned, she is willing to kill to get it done and I would hate to know what vile things she would do to the probably innocent Kaname girl. I'm also trusting you to keep our politicians safe meaning you will have to somehow find your way into that performance. I don't care how you do it, just do it. Intercepted communications suggest that the assassin might be hiding either among the orchestra or backstage so do whatever you have to do to get as close to that area as possible. Understand?"

"Yes sir!" said Sayaka with a perfect salute still facing the urinal in front of her. She had to make sure she did a Japanese style salute due to how many times she had had to infiltrate other militaries.

"Good, now tell me about what kind of suit I should get for my daughter's girlfriend." The two spoke for a few minutes after that with Sayaka asking for more details and giving advice about different brands and makes and what worked best for getting blood out, not that that would be an issue for this Kirika girl.

Mister Mikuni and Sayaka even laughed about how Mister Mikuni had been able to keep his daughter in the dark for years about what his new job was and how whenever she would ask about his day at work he would manage to make their actual work sound like a boring office job. It was a little risky but Sayaka was glad that Mister Mikuni could sort of dodge having to lie to everyone around him about what he was doing by presenting it all as boring office work and she doubted that Oriko and her girlfriend would be able to pose any security risk to Japan or its interests abroad. Oriko was on track to grow up to be a boring, perfectly ordinary baker anyway.

Sayaka had asked for a picture of Mister Mikuni's daughter's girlfriend to get an idea of what kind of suits she would look best in, but Mister Mikuni thought that information was too sensitive to discuss in a public bathroom which was fair enough.

Mister Mikuni left first to make sure that the two would not be seen together.

"So, we've got a mole," said Agent Storyteller in her ear.

Shit the earpiece was on this whole time!

"At least we know it can't be Agent Storyteller or Small," said Agent Inventor. "I put bugs onto both of them a few months ago."

"You did what?" There were the sounds of a fight that Sayaka chose to ignore. She had her friends to get back to.

She stepped out of the men's room. It seemed Hitomi was still finishing getting that dress on. Kyosuke was looking at her. "Why were you in the men's room?"

What would be a good excuse? "Sometimes I feel a little like a guy. You know?"

Kyosuke nodded. Then he looked her up and down in a way that Sayaka could not miss and wished he had done a month ago before going out with Hitomi. "I can definitely see you as a guy." Those words might have bothered her except for the blush creeping over his cheeks and that she had gone undercover as a boy so many times. She just had one of those faces.

Madoka was nodding and Akemi was sighing and saying something under her breath like "dozens of timelines and all it would have taken." but that was not important.

What was important was that the security guard had not gone away when Mister Mikuni had. The guard was trying to not be obvious, but Sayaka was pretty sure he was looking at them.

There was a nonzero chance he was more than just mall security. There was a nonzero chance that Ms. White or at least her Grey Army agents were not going to wait until the concert. Initiative was a valuable trait in NATO style soldiers and Sayaka knew the Grey Army recruited its share of Japanese and Americans. A glance back at the group showed Kyosuke and Akemi had noticed the unexpected attention as well. The two were frowning.

"Looks like that security guard is watching us." Sayaka said in a whisper, intending the message for Agents Inventor and Storyteller. It did not matter if Kyosuke or even Akemi heard it since they had already noticed and Madoka was too far away to overhear.

"You think it might be one of the Greys?" asked Agent Storyteller over the sounds of Agent Inventor making 'Ow' noises.

Sayaka made an affirmative humming noise, something that would not reveal anything to the people in the mall with her.

"Done," said Hitomi, striding from the bathroom and looking more radiant than usual. She had even taken a minute to style her green hair into a bun so that it exposed her neck.

Sayaka may have gasped and she was sure that Kyosuke did as well, the security guard momentarily forgotten. It was fine since Akemi was still watching him. Madoka might have also made a similar appreciative noise.

Hitomi gave Sayaka a small nod, likely an indication that she was going to try and protect Madoka from Akemi and then strode towards the group. She handed Sayaka her lemon juice stained clothes, her fingers lingering on Sayaka's and then took Kyosuke's arm that was not holding the bags in her own and then took Madoka's as well with her other arm. Madoka let out a little squeak.

Sayaka fought down her sense of jealousy. She could see Akemi doing the same. Sayaka was about to grab Madoka's other arm, but in an eye blink Akemi got there first. That should have been impossible for Akemi to move that quickly, but maybe Sayaka's eyes were just playing tricks on her.

"So," growled Akemi from where she seemed to be clinging to a blushing Madoka's arm for dear life, "The music store."

Sayaka took Kyosuke's side, but could not hold his hand because he was still being punished with carrying the bags and she was still left carrying Hitomi's uniform still covered in lemon juice. The group took an escalator that was right by the entrance of a big department store which resulted in them forming an awkward chain with Akemi and Madoka at the front followed by Hitomi, then Kyosuke with the bags and finally Sayaka, the first four still connected together since Akemi refused to let go forcing Hitomi to match the other girl.

When they made a sharp turn at the top of the escalator, Sayaka took the opportunity to subtly glance back at the mall security guy. He was walking towards an elevator opposite their escalator and talking on his phone. Sayaka saw him turn to glance in their direction. She looked back to see Kyosuke peering out of the corner of his eyes, his pupils also pointed down towards the lower level. Kyosuke shot Sayaka a mostly vacant grin, but there was just a hint of worry there.

Sayaka glanced at the others to see if anyone else had noticed. Akemi was too focused on Madoka and Hitomi was focusing on Akemi. There were still faint streaks of lemon juice on the other girl's now bare shoulders and arms that glinted in the sunlight. Still Hitomi looked regal dressed as she was now.

The five formed their little chain again with Sayaka squished against the wall and unable to keep an eye on what was going on on the floor below. They passed the arcade. They should come back to that after the music store. It would be an opportunity for Sayaka to impress Madoka with all of her incredible skills and not just her DDR skills from all of the times that Kyoko had dragged her out here. More importantly it would also lead to Madoka having a good time. Dopamine like that could be quite addicting and would lead to Madoka coming back to Sayaka for more in much the same way that some of the other agencies around the world were or had been involved in the sale of addictive substances.

It would also be a convenient place to deal with their unwanted pursuers if it looked like they were going to do more than just watch. There was a laser tag area in the back that connected to the empty parts of the mall where construction and renovations were taking place.

The group passed by a few more storefronts including a tanning salon. Would Madoka want to go there? Sayaka glanced at Madoka trying to get a read on her, the other girl now lit up by shining UV lights from the open tanning beds. Madoka appeared to have gotten plenty of sun in California so she probably would not be interested. Sayaka could check with Inventor and Storyteller later.

Something caught Sayaka's eye.

There was something on Hitomi's arm. Two streaks from what must have been the lemon juice ran down her pale shoulder to her forearms and where the combination of lemon juice and UV light touched Sayaka could have sworn she saw designs and patterns up and down the girl's entire upper arm, some looking like a fish tail and the curve of a woman's body, what might have been a sword, and among these what looked like elaborately drawn numbers, the numbers 8 and 3 with a large space between them bare of lemon juice. Sayaka did not want to know what that was about and did her best to ignore it.

She was not investigating her friends, well except for Madoka and only to protect Madoka. And anyways it was probably just Hitomi drawing on her arm in invisible ink so that her parents would not get upset with her for drawing on herself. That is what Sayaka told herself anyway.

"Oh that's so cute!" Madoka said, pointing to a nearby window display, "I've always wanted a stuffed animal that was so big I could sleep on it! I almost got a giant bear and banana that were on sale a few years ago, but we were going to move to California the next month so…" Sayaka looked and saw it was a toy store and Madoka was pointing at a giant stuffed cat with red and white fur. A glance back at Madoka showed a horrified Akemi hanging off of Madoka's arm. Was Akemi embarrassed?

Good!

Sayaka outwardly shrugged, but inwardly she was cheering. "Let's go in and take a look." said Sayaka, "The music store will still be there." and anything that can be done to put some distance between Akemi and Madoka has to be done. A glance at Hitomi and Sayaka was sure the other girl was having similar thoughts. Time to embarrass Akemi.

As they entered the toy store, the human chain breaking apart, Kyosuke leaned towards Sayaka, "You don't think this is a little… um… that we're a little… you know, too old to be in here, do you?"

"It'll be fine. Teenagers come in here all the time." said Sayaka.

"Uh huh," said Kyosuke looking in the direction of a ten or so year old girl with white hair who was looking at a giant stuffed worm and holding a stuffed block of cheese with a face on it. The girl seemed familiar. Had Sayaka seen that girl earlier today? Whatever. Probably not important.

The girl was staring with wide yellow eyes at their group with a look of absolute terror before hiding behind a shelf of stuffed animals.

"Yeah, teenagers come in here all the time." said Kyosuke looking where the kid had hidden.

Sayaka shrugged and turned her attention back to Madoka. Hitomi was leading Madoka around and asking Madoka for her opinion on all of the stuffed animals.

After a few minutes of this, with Akemi unfortunately regaining her composure and not budging from where she clung to Madoka, they reached the giant stuffed cat. Madoka hugged the cat, "Oh, Homura, Hitomi, isn't it just the cutest thing ever?"

Akemi looked like she was going to puke. Hitomi grinned, "Oh yes Madoka it is very cute. Don't you agree, Homura?"

Akemi with what must have been a great force of will nodded her head.

"Too bad that it costs so much. My allowance is big but I could never in a million years save up enough for this." said Madoka, "I guess this is goodbye adorable giant cat."

Wow, Madoka had been much more vocal since coming in here. Apparently all that was needed to bring Madoka out of her shell were a bunch of cute things. Maybe they should visit the pet store later.

Sayaka glanced at the price tag on the cat. Yeah, that was a lot.

Hitomi took a look at it as well before turning back to Madoka, "You're worth it Madoka," and then she picked up the giant cat and started awkwardly walking with it towards the checkout.

"What! You can't buy that! It's tens of thousands of yen."

"You're my friend Madoka and I want to welcome you back home properly," said Hitomi, "Don't worry. You don't owe me anything. Your friendship and your smile are enough."

Madoka made quiet eep noises but just like that she was back to her shy timid self.

Akemi hung back. She whispered so quietly that Sayaka had to lean in, "I know you're behind this Sayaka Miki. I know what you are trying to accomplish. Whatever you remember, whatever you think you know, you don't. You don't know! You don't have the full picture. You don't know how miserable she was!" She cast a last shuddering look towards the cat and then of all things grabbed the hand that Sayaka was not using to hold Hitomi's clothes. Sayaka could have broken the hold, but she did not. "Please, I am begging you," and Akemi now gave Sayaka a very pleading, desperate look, Sayaka was reminded of Hitomi on their way to the bathroom, "Let Madoka have her happiness. Stop trying to break this illusion that keeps her safe."

Illusion that keeps her safe? What was Akemi on about? What do you think you know Homura Akemi about the illusions and delusions of your society? Not as much as Sayaka, but possibly more than Akemi should be allowed to know. Either that or Akemi was a crazy conspiracy theorist in addition to being a crazy yandere.

"I don't understand. What are you talking about?" asked Sayaka also in a whisper.

Kyosuke was standing a few feet away looking at their joined hands with a raised eyebrow. With a sad shake of his head he muttered what might have been, "Some people just aren't aware of their feelings"

"Madoka! She was miserable before. She hated it."

"What did you do to her that she hated?" Sayaka asked. Now it was her turn to growl. She was tempted to pin Akemi against something but all of the nearby surfaces were covered in stuffed animals.

"Nothing! I'm just trying to save and protect her. That's why I've done everything. That's all I've been doing for years! If you can remember anything, at least remember that! Please, remember my eternal devotion to her!" Akemi whisper shouted. It was still quiet enough though that Sayaka had to lean in to hear it. There was a wetness in Akemi's eyes and a fragileness, a sort of vulnerability to her demeanor.

Sayaka was really getting a clear picture now. Akemi developed her unhealthy obsession with Madoka years ago, before Madoka moved to California and may have stalked Madoka online during the girl's time in the US. Akemi then decided that Madoka was upset with her life in California, upset with being back in Mitakihara, or both. Seeing Madoka reduced to a timid wallflower that morning probably did not help. Akemi could not stand the object of her obsession being like this and was trying to help in her own messed up way.

"I also don't like Madoka being upset. That's why I'm doing this, why I've been doing everything." said Sayaka. She would not add that she was very concerned about the yandere stalker girl. These sorts of girls were only supposed to exist in anime!

"You're trying to take her happiness away from her." said Akemi, "Trying to force her to bear burdens she does not want and should not be forced to carry."

"I'm pretty sure Kyosuke and I are going to be the ones carrying all the burdens here." said Sayaka gesturing between herself and Kyosuke, "But if you're volunteering…" Sayaka looked up, "Hey Madoka, Akemi here wants to help relieve you of your burdens. I think she wants to help you carry your new cat plushie."

"Um, you don't have to." said Madoka, her voice almost as quiet as Akemi's whisper shouting and barely reaching them.

Akemi glared at Sayaka, "This is not over."

Looking out the store front window Sayaka could see the mall cop from earlier, but now he was joined by another three mall security guys who were each wearing sunglasses. The three were big and strong, possibly ex-military and they were trying to look like they were not watching the entrance to the toy store. "No, I suppose it's not."

Looking back towards Akemi, Sayaka saw she had noticed as well.

Opsec has gone down the toilet both in my fiction and IRL.

The Wagner Group would not be founded until 2014 with the fighting in the Donbas (this story takes place in 2013) or else Sayaka would mention them in her thoughts on The Shades Of Grey Mercenary Group. Sayaka would definitely have thoughts on a mercenary group named after a composer with the intention of invoking connections to the Nazis. Wagner is of course worse than both the fictional Grey Army and the very real Blackwater.

The kakigori syrup flavors for Madoka, Homura, and Sayaka were chosen based on their lines in the Cake Song. Good thing Mami is not part of the story yet or she would be getting a cheese flavored one…

More content is on the way, but this felt like the best stopping point for now. I have not forgotten about Beltane Is The New Samhain, but I am currently editing and posting chapters for my Post Rebellion Madoka Magica Harry Potter crossover that I hope you all will enjoy as well as the next chapter for my Worm Song of Ice and Fire crossover.