She tilted her head to the heavens at a forty-five-degree angle.
Her long black hair draped over her neck and cascaded down her snow-white back, the ends brushing against the bedsheets and Su Mo's hand.
After nearly a hundred loops, Homura Akemi was no longer the timid country girl she once was. But the emotional impact etched into her heart from before still made her chest feel warm even now.
Homura was the type who was better at dealing with malice.
Faced with pure, unadulterated kindness, her defenses were still paper-thin, even after a hundred loops.
What's more, compared to the hundred loops that had ended in failure, this was the only time someone had helped her deal with those scumbags.
Therefore, despite noticing the strangeness of Su Mo's sudden appearance and having questions about this new timeline, Homura's eyes flickered, her expression as cold as frost, but her gaze towards Su Mo and Madoka on the bed was as gentle as water.
Walpurgisnacht has not yet arrived. To protect him and Madoka... I must be wary of Kyubey, and the witches that could harm them.
Like a veteran soldier returning to the city, Homura felt there were too many dangers outside, and her identity was not suitable for exposure.
So, rather than stay with Su Mo, it was better to leave and protect them from the shadows. Otherwise, it would be bad if Kyubey discovered her weakness.
"Kyubey..." Thinking of that name, Homura's eyes turned cold, and she seemed to grit her teeth.
It was all that thing's fault.
That thing was what harmed Madoka, driving a child like her into despair.
If it weren't for it, she wouldn't have had to loop a hundred times to no avail, nor would she have to leave without a word now that she had finally found a family that would accept her.
Thinking of this, Homura looked down at Su Mo. To wield the power of a magical girl, she couldn't live with him. To protect him, she couldn't put down that power. Between the two, she naturally chose to protect.
"I'm sorry, Big Brother Su Mo! I have something I must do."
A flash of resolve crossed her eyes. Homura studied Su Mo's face intently, as if to commit it to memory. In the end, she even reached out, wanting to touch him, to confirm that warmth one more time.
But her slender fingers hovered over Su Mo's cheek for several minutes before she finally pulled her hand back.
Then, with grim determination, she got up, turned, and opened the window.
The thin, soft nightgown on her body was replaced in the blink of an eye with a set of casual clothes from the room.
Besides the nightgown, Su Mo had prepared dozens of outfits for her, all of which were softer and more form-fitting than anything she'd had in her hundred loops.
Under the moonlight, Homura leaped from the second-floor window, landing lightly on the roof of Madoka's house next door. With superhuman agility, she sped off in a certain direction.
And in the room she left behind, Su Mo's eyes opened at some unknown point, his pupils reflecting the silhouette of the long, black-haired girl.
"Homura Akemi after a hundred loops... Is this timeline the one most suitable for me?"
Under the moonlight, the room was silent, save for the occasional happy mumble from the dreaming Madoka.
---||---
A dozen minutes later, dozens of kilometers away.
Following the memories in her mind, the Homura who had returned from her loops quickly found an abandoned factory. Places like this were often gathering spots for cultists, and it was her destination.
"That man took Big Brother Su Mo's money. They're definitely having a meeting here!"
Based on Homura's past experience, although the deal was supposed to be a one-time transaction, with her sold to Su Mo and them washing their hands of it, they would never be that clean.
Just like in her loops, even after severing their father-daughter relationship, cultists would repeatedly come looking for her. These people were drawn to profit like flies to filth.
In the first few loops, it was Madoka who helped drive them away. In the later loops, she dealt with these scumbags herself.
A magical girl's power might not guarantee victory against a witch, but against a familiar, or humans who couldn't even defeat a familiar, it was an overwhelming advantage.
Homura would not show mercy just because they were ordinary people.
One, because the actions of these scumbags deserved no one's tolerance.
Two, because if she didn't clean them up now, these dark individuals would sooner or later become the minions of a witch.
In the past, leaving them alone wouldn't have caused much trouble. On the stage of magical girls and witches, ordinary cultists didn't even qualify as background characters. But now, Su Mo was involved.
Homura herself didn't care, but what if they went after Su Mo?
Even if Su Mo had immense wealth and power, in Homura's eyes, he was someone who needed protection. Human life was too fragile.
Even a prime minister could be taken out by a single ordinary person, let alone anyone else.
"If you must blame someone, blame yourselves for messing with Big Brother Su Mo," she whispered. Without hesitation, Homura materialized a small, round shield on her left hand with her magic, pulled a gun from within it, and crashed through the second-floor window of the factory.
"Your time is u—"
Her grand declaration was cut short. Looking at the scene before her, Homura was momentarily stunned, finding it strange.
Based on her previous experience, at this time, these cultists should be either sleeping, holding a meeting, or dividing their spoils.
The man had just extorted the ring from Su Mo, so he had surely turned it over. With their greedy nature, they would never stop at a single gold ring but would inevitably demand more.
Homura had come to prevent this, but she never expected the situation to be completely different from what she had imagined.
The second-floor meeting room was indeed full of people, but it was far quieter than she had expected. After all, dead men tell no tales.
Yes, the room before her was filled almost entirely with the corpses of cultists. Not just inside the room, but even spilling out into the hallway.
Death by blunt force trauma to the head, death by sharp objects piercing the torso, death by suffocation, death by gunshot to the brain... All sorts of common and uncommon causes of death were present, with almost no repetition.
"What happened here?" A trace of confusion flashed through Homura's mind.
She was no longer the useless country girl she once was. Even faced with a room full of corpses, her expression didn't waver. Seriously, compared to the despair of being unable to save the person most important to you, what are a few dead bodies?
Not only that, but by examining the scene, she accurately identified the killers. It was the dead themselves.
Don't misunderstand. She didn't mean they died by suicide, but by homicide—specifically, internal strife.
For some reason, everyone in this organization had suddenly turned on each other, killing one another.
And often, just as they killed one person, they were killed by an ally standing right beside them. The melee spared almost no one.
It was normal for cultists to turn on each other; they were fair-weather friends to begin with. But for them to turn on each other to the point of wiping out the entire organization was still strangely rare.
"No presence of a witch or familiar..." A despair-spreading witch could indeed make these people lose their minds.
However, witches usually lured their victims into their lairs or used seals to harvest despair. With her magical girl powers, she saw no such influence.
But if this was a natural event, the outcome of no survivors was far too unnatural.
Given the cowardice of these scumbags, what kind of temptation would drive them to fight to the last man, even when facing near-total annihilation?
As Homura pondered this, her gaze swept across the office desk, and she finally noticed a golden ring, perfectly preserved and even enshrined in a crystal box.
"Is that the ring Big Brother Su Mo gave away?"
After a slight pause, Homura noticed a familiar, frail figure lying before the ring, a look of excitement frozen on its dead face, its hands reaching for the ring.
Father? No, I should say 'that man' now.
The corpse before her had once been her father.
Homura had witnessed his end dozens of times. Sometimes he died of greed, sometimes he survived through cowardice, and sometimes he integrated into the cult and became one of them.
Frankly, she no longer had any feelings for this despicable person. Seeing his corpse, at most, she would just think, "This guy's luck ran out this time."
But now, through this man's body, Homura finally noticed the strangeness of the many corpses at the scene. They didn't seem to be killing each other randomly, but were fighting over a certain item.
And this precious item they fought over... the last few to die, even with fatal wounds in their backs, had their eyes fixed on the desk.
Previously, she had thought they were glaring at the cult leader, but now it seemed they were staring at this ring.
Could it be that the culprit behind the entire cult's infighting was this ring?
The thought suddenly popped into Homura's mind. But she quickly shook her head. Su Mo was neither a magical girl nor a witch. How could he possess such power?
Out of a sense of protectiveness, even though she sensed something suspicious, Homura didn't want to dig deeper. After some thought, she finally reached out and took the golden ring back.
If the ring was fine, it should be returned to Su Mo. If there was a problem with the ring, she had a strange feeling it wouldn't harm her.
Just as she pocketed the ring, double-checked the scene, and prepared to leave, a cheerful ringtone suddenly sounded.
Homura was taken aback. Only then did she remember she had a phone, one of the basic daily necessities Su Mo had given her yesterday. It was in the pocket of her casual clothes, and she hadn't expected to bring it with her.
She had already resolved to leave, but seeing Su Mo's name on the screen, Homura hesitated for a moment before answering. "...Hello, Big Brother Su Mo."
Homura spoke in a slightly hesitant, almost guilty tone, as if she had done something wrong. As a newly adopted sister and daughter, she had stayed out all night on the very first day.
Even though she had resolved to protect Su Mo from the shadows and had a legitimate reason as a magical girl, she still felt a lack of confidence.
She couldn't help it. Su Mo had been so good to her. Even if she was leaving, she didn't want to leave him with too bad of an impression.
Given her actions, if Su Mo wanted to scold her, no matter how powerful she was now, she could only listen meekly. When you care too much about someone, you unknowingly become incredibly weak.
"It's a bit late."
Unexpectedly, Su Mo didn't scold her directly, but his calm tone still put immense pressure on Homura.
"Yes," she said, clutching the phone nervously and nodding hesitantly.
"Report in next time you go out," Su Mo said again.
Here, Homura wanted to say there would be no next time. To protect Su Mo and keep him out of Kyubey's sight, she had already decided to leave.
However, the words she had been brewing for so long were impossible to say under Su Mo's aura.
Even though she had looped a hundred times and wouldn't waver in the face of the cruelest scenes, right now she was like a little girl who had done something wrong, lacking even the courage to retort.
All she could do was nod obediently. "Yes."
After nodding, Homura realized she had said the wrong thing.
At this rate, wouldn't she have to go back? Although returning to that warm home was her greatest wish, could she sacrifice their safety for a little happiness before Walpurgisnacht was resolved and Su Mo and Madoka's safety was secured?
No, of course not!
"N-No... th-that is, Big Brother Su Mo, I have something to tell you. I-I..." Homura quickly corrected herself.
No matter how hard it was to say, no matter how reluctant she was, no matter if it would cause Su Mo to misunderstand, for his safety, she had to leave. "I might not be coming back!"
Gritting her teeth, Homura personally cut off her own hope. It was precisely because it was the home she longed for that she couldn't bring danger there.
However, just as she said this, Su Mo on the other end said something else.
"A white, talking animal suddenly appeared at home. It calls itself Kyubey. Is it your pet?"
"?!"
Hearing this, Homura's eyes widened, and her face instantly turned pale.
What did Su Mo just say? Kyubey?