294/She Has A Mission

She Has A Mission
Date of Scene:	14 August 2015
Location:	Plot Room #1
Synopsis:	Mamoru Chiba vists Homura Akemi in her WPS office, and asks difficult questions. He gets an honest answer. Homura will stop at nothing to save Madoka, no matter how many sins she commits or hearts she breaks, but is that really the right path to take?
Cast of Characters:	Homura Akemi, Mamoru Chiba

---

Homura Akemi has posed:
Homura Akemi's office isn't hard to find, if someone knows to look for her. She's listed under the "special interests" department, and her job title is listed as "Consultant, Securty, etc.". Who knows what the 'etc.' is. Considering that it's WPS it might be better not to ask.

Homura Akemi's office is spacious and huge. It's not quite a CEO office, but as the most veteran Puella Magi on WPS's payroll she gets a number of perks. One wall is just a huge glass window overlooking the city of Mitakihara, the Infinity University buildings towering off in the distance. Homura's desk itself is made out of solid wood, looks heavy and ornate, and is covered in what looks like a giant monitor. There's a picture frame on her desk. It's turned face down.

There are a few potted plants in various corners of the office. Opposite the window, hanging from the wall, is a large gunrack. Most of the guns are for show, but it leaves very little doubt as to what her job here is, or where her interests lie. On another table, far from her desk, is her own personal coffeemaker, complete with mugs and a few flavors of coffee packets.

Homura herself is looking out the window, reaching out and touching the glass. She's notably watching Infinity from afar. She's counting the floors, trying to figure out where her class is. The class that Madoka is probably still taking right now.

When she hears a knock, she immediately turns around, long black hair waving behind her. "Come in, please." She invites the visitor, not suspecting who it might be.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
The door opens, letting in a Mamoru who's considerably more subdued than he was at the bake sale. He's wearing a lightweight summer suit with no tie and a pair of sunglasses that he takes off as soon as the door's shut behind him, and he takes off his shoes and leaves them neatly beside the door.

Pocketing the sunglasses, stands a few feet into Homura's office and across the expanse of desk from her, thumbs loosely hooked in his pockets, stance relaxed, and burns almost completely faded. "Yo," he says mildly, lifting his eyebrows. "We have stuff to talk about, I think. You busy?"

Homura Akemi has posed:
Homura watches as Mamoru Chiba walks through her door, and she politely smiles. "Hello, Mamo-kun." She's caught, for a moment, between wanting to be informal because friend and very formal because professional. Well, its her office and the two of them are alone, so she goes for the former.

"Right, we do, don't we?" Homura gestures towards a few comfortable looking office chairs that are strewn around her office. "Would you like a seat? Coffee, maybe?"

Homura fills a coffe mug for herself (and one for Mamoru if he asks) and walks over to sit behind her desk.

"What did you want to talk to me about?"

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"Coffee is always, ALWAYS welcome," says Mamoru, offering a crooked little grin as payment for it. He folds himself into one of the comfortable-looking seats and takes the offered coffee from Homura. And then he does that guy thing, the one where there's slouching and one ankle crossed over the other knee and elbow on chair arm and fingers propping tilted head up.

"First, I don't know if I'm allowed to call you Homu-chan." He leans just his head forward slightly, giving a mock intent look but laying off it immediately. "So tell me not to if I shouldn't. Second," he lifts his coffee and sips it, probably not coincidentally choosing that as the moment to pause, "I'd like to help minimize the antagonism between you and Kyou-chan, but I do ultimately understand it's none of my business and I cannot, will not, get between you. You've both done things I can't pardon because I'm not Madoka-chan, but not being able to pardon things doesn't mean I'm not still your friend, doesn't mean I won't have your back in unrelated matters."

Finally, Mamoru makes a sour face and hides behind his coffee mug, sighing. "Your drama, in other words, pisses me off and I'm not taking sides. Just for the record."

Then he straightens in the chair somewhat, sitting in such a way that he can hold his mug in both hands, look down at it. "Please don't forget the things you needed to or wanted to talk to /me/ about, if you had any-- but the third thing I think you'll like even less." He looks back up and his expression is serious and intent, and it's got an ache behind it, behind his eyes. "I saw some very unsettling things when I was trying to keep Madoka-chan from panicking at the paint-witch fight and I'd like to ask you about her henshin. Given what I know about your powers costing you, I'd help you keep her from making a wish anyway. Given what else I saw, anyone who wants to stay alive should help you keep her from making a wish. Can't you just get that girl a barrier jacket or something so she stops feeling helpless?"

Homura Akemi has posed:
"I'll allow you to call me that," says Homura. She's allowing Mamoru to. He has Permission. The language is very specifically chosen. "I suppose I should ask you how you'd like to be addressed. I could scale back and call you Chiba-san, but that's a bit stiff."

Homura takes a sip of her coffee, hearing out the rest of what Mamoru says. She actually waits for him to completely finish the rest before commenting further. Homura gives Mamoru an intense look as Madoka's henshin is mentioned, and then looks away.

A timestop hides what happens when she loses her composure. As far as Mamoru can probably tell, she's just sat there and didn't react.

"Well... Sakura-san. Oh Sakura-san. You know, if she'd stop attacking me I'd stop attacking her. It's true that I antagonize her a bit, and I'm not going to pretend that it's all in good fun. We've nearly killed each other a few times. However, the simple fact of the matter is that she is prideful and territorial and I doubt she'll ever back down until her pride can be satisfied."

"You know what Nagisa-chan said the other day?" says Homura, flatly. "After I told her that Kyouko got a hand on one of Miss White's altered Grief Seeds, Nagisa-chan just threw her hands up and said 'We're doomed!'" Homura sets her mug down on a coaster, placing her elbows on the table and locking her fingers together.

"This isn't some little spat or quarrel. Kyouko is a threat. To me, to other Puella Magi... to anyone she sees as being in her way. Our lives are on the line here, and I'm not gonna just lie down and let her kill me just because she feels like it. As long as she fights, I'll have to fight back, and I don't really have any choice in the matter."

Homura's tone turns a little sharp at the end of that, but she sighs and her tone relaxes afterwards.

"One day she'll calm down. One day, if we both survive, we'll be good friends. However, in the here and now, she is a clear enemy. If I didn't know what I know, I'd consider myself stupid for not just killing her like any other youma."

Homura leans back in her chair, crossing her arms. "... but it's not that simple. No, I have to endure her pride long enough for her to realize that it doesn't get her anywhere. As for her argument with Miss White, well... that's between them."

Homura stops talking after that. She pauses for a very long moment before moving onto the next topic. "I'm sorry, but Madoka," no honorific, "is very difficult for me to talk about, especially in relation to her wish... but it's not just her henshin that's the problem. I have... considered getting her a device like what Miss White uses, and I think it would suit her well, but such things aren't easy to come by. Even if I had one there are rules about compatability and... so on. It's complicated."

"Basically, any attempt to get Madoka a device would require Madoka's direct cooperation. For any other henshin, I imagine it'd be the same." Homura pauses for a moment and then adds, "... and well, my primary resource on that would be Miss White. Madoka would probably stand against WPS and Miss White's other friends. I can't just ask her 'hey, want a potentially powerful new enemy to fight?' It's not that simple."

Homura pointedly stares at Mamoru at this point, focusing directly on him. "I want to know what you saw. I don't know /how/ you could've gotten images like that from Madoka since nothing like that should've ever happened, but I want to know what exactly you're asking about."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Homura can lose her composure in a timestop and maintain her masks that way; she's so polished, so perfect about it on the outside, even when she's not, quite, even when there are pieces she lets through that the adept can pick up.

Mamoru doesn't have that expensive luxury. His mask's been crafted and polished since the first time he woke up, a perfect and pleasant and interested thing, engaged and calm, polite and non-judgemental.

It's only his eyes that give him away, and when he's locked down as tightly as he gets by about the middle of Homura's answer, even those take the practice of someone who's had the chance to read him at length. Like Homura. And as ever, reading his eyes in that much depth will reveal no guile, no malice, not even fear--

--just the conviction of someone who thinks a bleeding heart isn't a disadvantage, but a duty, and the same things she's seen in him from the start. Equal parts compassion and analysis.

He's silent up until the very end, when Homura makes her demand.

Then, maddeningly, he relaxes back into his chair and sips some more of Homura's coffee. "Mamoru-kun, Mamo-kun, they're welcome from you." Emphasis equal to her permission.

Another sip, and he cradles his coffee in both hands again. "I can try to find her an alternate source of power; White-chan is all for protecting her, but Riventon's gone after her more than once. She feels helpless, she feels like a liability. I know exactly how that feels, and that white rabbit cat thing is practically stalking her, and given you shotgun it every time you see it talking to her, it's not hard to connect the dots, there. Finding her another way to help people, I feel, is as important as making sure she has people to talk to about the horrible things she sees now."

That last wasn't quite... pointed, per se, but it was absolutely meaningful, and it was said just over the rim of the coffee mug, blue eyes focused on Homura's face.

Mamoru Chiba, with his careless expression and ruffled black hair with the determined cowlick, his uncannily pretty eyes and refined features and graceful motions, occasionally carries in his bearing the weight of an ancient regality that wears the implication of authority like a mantle. This is one of those times.

His eyes are kind. He sits up and puts his coffee down on the desk.

"I'm asking how long you've known Madoka Kaname. I'm asking who you are. I'm asking what else you're trying to prevent. And I'm reminding you that what images you saw from me aren't things that could possibly have happened, either, and aren't things that I remember, either." Mamoru's hands fold loosely in front of him, elbows on the arms of the chair. "I'm not expecting answers, and I won't tell anyone else anything I've seen or anything I know about you, or about her, or about the other girls. I'm also not telling you anything else here and now, since even saying this much in this place is, I feel, a dangerous game."

Homura Akemi has posed:
As Homura hears Mamoru out, her face is a cold stone gaze. She's not angry or offended. She couldn't be mad at Mamoru, at least not for long. However, she is /serious/. This is a life or death matter. No... to Homura, it's more important than even that.

Even after he finishes, Homura considers. Could she trust Mamoru with the truth? No one else wanted to believe her, but weren't things different this time?

... Of course she could trust him. It's not really a question. Whether he believed was up to him.

"I never really did tell you what my wish was did I? I don't think I've told anyone, this time around, the wish that I traded my soul for."

Homura Akemi pushes away from her desk and stands up. She walks over to the window, looking again at the Infinity Towers. Her hands are clasped behind her back. "Madoka was once a good friend of mine. She was kind to me at school when I was just a shy, weak little girl, and saved my life from a Witch when one tried to lure me into its deathtrap. She was a Puella Magi before I was, working alongside Mami-san to protect Mitakihara from evil. She was my hero. She was kind, sweet, and powerful... but she wasn't powerful enough to stop what eventually happened to her."

Homura's eyes gaze towards Madoka's classroom, or at least where Homura thinks it is. It's not as if she can see her from here, but she can imagine her working hard and trying to catch up. "She met a Witch that no Puella Magi could defeat by herself. You might have heard me mention the name before. Walpurgisnacht."

Homura looks down and away. Her gut clenches and words leave her. It takes her a moment to find them again. "I watched it happen. Mami-san died first. Madoka knew she couldn't win, but that didn't stop her from trying. She knew what would happen if she fought, but she also knew that Walpurgisnacht had to be stopped or a lot of other people would die, too."

Homura's hand covers her face. A sob escapes. She didn't hide behind a frozen second this time. "You'd never know it by looking at her now, but she really is a wonderful person. Kyubey approached me after she died, and I wished for the power to travel back in time and protect Madoka, just like she protected me."

Homura takes a moment to recollect herself. "So that's who I am. I've gone back in time, over and over, trying to help her, to protect her. In the end I realized that the only way I could ever truly save her is if she never makes a contract to begin with. If that means she needs to find some other way to be a magical girl, then fine, but I'll never let that Kyubey have her."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
She's seen him this serious before. He makes her laugh, for sure, but under everything, this is always who he is. Whoever Mamoru Chiba is, whoever Tuxedo Kamen is, no matter what he thinks or feels or acts like in any given moment, no matter what masks he wears, he's always this.

The full focus of his attention is on Homura Akemi, and it's a powerful thing, a thing that hears and listens and sees, a thing that resonates. When she says 'this time around', the mask of pleasantry and politeness falls away and all that's left is the attention, wide and warm. He's still and silent, watching.

When the girl looks away, struggling for words, his focus is such that he feels it alongside her, and the words she says freeze him, because what she's describing is a prophecy and the fear of another's recollection all at once, one that's so familiar it's like ice through his heart-- and his hands are locked tight in front of him, white-knuckled, but still he doesn't move.

She breaks in front of him, not hiding, and still he doesn't move: he'd give her what he could, but this is hers-- and then 'looking at her now', and there's the rush of the memory of Madoka destroyed in the middle of destruction, and the taste of now, of lately, of these days -- her agonizing fear and helplessness and despair in the face of things she can't stop, that she can't begin to try to help with.

When Homura finishes, collected and resolved, Mamoru's lips are thin and white.

He stands up.

He walks silently around her desk and comes to stand beside her, looking out the window at the place where they all three of them go to school, where the mundane demands attention and procedure, where life carries on even when they're not there.

"She's only okay," he says in a low tone, everything about him tense and still riding out the intensity of the preceding moments, "if she can help. She's only happy if she can protect, just like you wanted to do for her. She's only alive if she can do something, anything, to stave off the darkness and have faith that she can make things work out."

He's still beside her, but he glances down at her hand and offers his, ungloved. "She asked me if you were a good person. I told her that you were. I believe that you are, even if you've forgotten some of the details along the way. And I believe that all these hells you've gone through, that you've resolutely weathered over and over, will be worth it when we find her another way to be what she died for -- a way that won't kill her. A way that will let her live, in every way she needs to. Will you let me help?"

Homura Akemi has posed:
Homura's eyes dart towards Mamoru as he stands beside her. She almost seems startled. Maybe she is. She's so used to her story getting rejected, or not being believed, that she almost expected something harsher... but not from Mamoru Chiba. Her decision to trust has been validated, for once.

She smiles, for a moment, but it passes as he goes on. He might be able to see it on her face. Has she been too controlling? Too restrictive? It's true that Homura was just trying to stop something terrible from happening to her, but to think that she's not okay like she is now...

Homura glances at the offered hand. She knows what comes of touching him unexpectedly, but at this moment he's offering. She trusts Mamoru. If she didn't, she wouldn't allow him anywhere near Madoka, but this is a very sensitive topic.

Her voice is tense. At times it almost seems to crack. "I don't know what to do. I mean... I can't go back in time anymore. Someone or something is stopping me. If I mess up now, that's it! I don't get a second chance."

She wipes her tears away with her sleeve before continuing. "... it's too late to keep her away from the fight. She's seen how bad things are. Sooner or later, she'll be looking for a way to help, and knowing her she won't be afraid to sacrifice herself if she feels it's necessary. If there's a way that she can not only survive, but be happy, then..."

Homura takes the offered hand, squeezing it gently. "... please, if you can help me, if you can help /her/... please."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
The smile kicks at his empathy briefly because he knows she won't like it, but his conscience is clear, even as he continues and Homura's expression falls.

When she takes Mamoru's hand, there's no flash of foreign knowledge, dream, or memory; there's no alien feeling, there's no horror and no feedback. There's just calm, rock-solid strength of will, still and steady peace, warmth and quiet. It's an aura, a presence, but it's not pushed on her: it's only there for her to take if she wants it.

"We'll figure it out. You're not alone, okay? She's worth it, and I understand. Believe me, I understand," he says, squeezing her hand. "She's already looking for a way to help, and that weird-looking bastard's already trying to get at her, and she came so close in that paint fight-- Homu-chan, she came so close. And she talked to me about wishes. And you're right about her and sacrifices. But I think I managed to make her think, a little bit, about how much it would hurt the people she wants to save if she died for them."

Because the idiot boy has zero self-awareness about this.

"The only way to protect someone who wants to protect everyone is to stand with them, to shore them up, to help them instead of stopping them. So that's what we'll do. I'll start asking for origin stories, okay? And I know White-san has her fingers in all kinds of magic-- don't take them, just keep your eyes peeled, see what kinds there are. Learn as much as you can. We'll keep comparing notes. And in the meantime, we figure out how you want to tell Madoka a story."

Homura Akemi has posed:
Homura feels the presence. She accepts it, to an extent, but only so far. She has to stand on her own, she's feels a very strong need to be independant, to not have to rely upon anyone. Yet, Mamoru's strength is welcomed. Her opinion of him, as her feelings might betray, is a bit higher than she might indicate. There's a reason why /he/ is allowed to call her Homura-chan and others aren't.

"I know you understand. I knew from the moment you threw yourself into harm's way just so that girl wouldn't be hurt. I don't know her or what your relationship to her is, but I /do/ know the kinds of feelings that would lead you to do that." Homura smiles up at him, wiping a tear away. "We're two of a kind like that. I guess that's part of why I trust you."

Homura listens as Mamoru talks about how to protect someone who wants to protect everyone. It's hard to tell what she thinks about it. Maybe she doesn't know herself yet. "I used to fight by her side. It never really helped. Puella Magi fight amongst each other a lot, and no matter how much we tried to avoid it we really couldn't. There was always something. If she does become a magical girl, then of course I'll back her up, but that's not going to be enough."

Homura sags visibly. "If there was an easy way, I would've found it by now... but a lot of this magic is new to me. It wasn't in previous timelines. Maybe I'll find something. I'll keep looking."

Her head tilts at the last comment, and she looks back up to Mamoru. "What do you mean, tell her a story?"

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
That's why the matter's not forced, and that's why Mamoru didn't try to comfort her when she was overcome, telling her story to him. Sometimes it's enough to know there's someone there-- even when it's your fight, your responsibility, your burden. So he's still there, and he holds Homura's hand, and he listens.

Finally, he's looking down at her again, and his eyebrows lift. "You're older now, you're stronger, you know so much more. You've spent a lot of time afraid, trading hope piece by piece for grim resolve, because you've been alone. But even if you can't stop fighting with the other Puella Magi, you told me a long time ago that you needed help for when Walpurgisnacht came."

He pauses, and he looks at Homura, a tired but teasing light behind his eyes. "Finding that help? Great idea. You were making a lot of headway. But then you got involved in *this*, and you forgot that strength isn't raw power but help in numbers, and help comes from allies, and allies don't come from doing terrible things. So, work on the 'friends' idea again."

He clears his throat and looks up and away. "By telling Madoka a story, I mean-- you're going to tell her why you don't want her to become a Puella Magi, and you're going to tell her that there are other ways to get magic, and you're going to tell her that you and I need her help finding her one. If you need help framing it, I can do that too, but it has to come from you. She needs your trust, and she needs your truth, and with everything she's seen, she'll believe you."

Homura Akemi has posed:
Homura Akemi frowns. She's older and tougher now, yeah... maybe that would make a difference. She's also been forced to learn things that would make her less dangerous to other teammates. It's true that if she were to work with a team again, she would certainly handle things differently.

Still, after so many disappointments and betrayals, trusting is hard. Even some of her current friends might turn out to be betrayals. "It's not like Kyouko-san would've been my friend either way... but... Nagisa-chan wont cooperate with me as long as I'm with WPS."

"It's funny, isn't it? I thought this would be nice for us. I thought I was doing something that would benefit us all. It really didn't work out that way." Homura shakes her head. "I'm worried about Miss White. I'm worried about what she'll /do/, to herself as much as to other people. She doesn't know the powers she's messing with, and I doubt it'd stop her even if she did."

Homura sighs. "Fixing things with everyone else means stabbing Miss White in the back, and even if I do that it wont gaurantee that it'll make everything alright. That's not something I can just /do/... even if she's terrible sometimes."

On the subject of Madoka, Homura says, "I'd like to explain things to her, but something always gets in the way. I think if she just knows what to do, like if she just knows what the full story is, she'd make the right choice. It's just... usually... by the time she figures it out she's already past the point of no return... but I'd like to tell her. I really would. There's a lot we need to talk about."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"I won't stab her in the back either, even though I know what she rationalizes, what you rationalize-- I'm not asking you to do that. I still think we can make it stop. We just need to buy time until we see the right opportunity," Mamoru says firmly. "And we make mistakes, and when we do, most of us don't ever have takebacks anyway. You have the benefit of knowing a lot of what NOT to do, and that's a priceless advantage."

Still holding Homura's hand, Mamoru turns to face her properly and reaches for the other one, too. "You know what Madoka told me? She told me it'll be okay. And do you know why I believe her? Because if we believe her, and we're all backing that up, then it really will be okay. We just can't lose sight of that. It's not just us that are worried about White-san, and it's not just us that want something nice for a change."

His eyes are warm and clear, the blue of the Earth's oceans, honest and old and young, all at once. "Hang in there, Homu-chan. It'll all come together, and we'll find a way to make things work. Especially if Madoka-chan is helping."

Homura Akemi has posed:
Homura looks up at Mamoru's eyes as her other hand is taken. Madoka said it'd be okay? She looks away for a moment as he tells her that. Homura knows full well what /her/ definition of 'okay' is. She can't accept it. Madoka wants to help everyone, but Homura won't stand up and defend a world that treats Madoka like a sacrificial lamb. She deserves more than that. If Destiny demands Madoka's blood, then Destiny will be Homura's enemy.

Still, her eyes go back to Mamoru's, deep violet eyes showing pain, but behind it is a fierceness that is almost scary. For Mamoru, specifically, there is trust, and the hints of something else.

Still, it's hard not to be fatalistic. Can she really think that everything will be okay, when time and time again it's been proven to very much not be?

No, Homura knows that isn't hopeless. She has to. If she truly thought that there was no way out, she wouldn't still be fighting.

A smile returns to her lips. "We'll figure it out, right? The solution may not be obvious, but that doesn't mean there isn't one... and Madoka, I know she'll want to help people. That's just the way she is, and the way she's always been."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
It is kind of like unironically saying 'I'm a leaf on the wind' isn't it. Mamoru doesn't miss the unexpected reaction, and he's just heard what's happened to Madoka over and over, and he holds in a sigh and just squeezes Homura's hands.

When she looks back at him, hands held as they are, he can't help but feel the pain too, and her fierceness and trust are met with resolve. Her last words, and her smile, earn a firm nod. "And she'll be able to do it, and you'll be able to save her. This time, there are so many people to help keeping tragedy from repeating itself. We'll figure it out."

Then the older boy grins and finally releases her hands. "And then you guys'll be able to have fun finally. God. Listen," he says, patting down his pockets and coming up with an envelope, which he holds out to Homura, "some rep gave me these tickets to a concert next week, you should go with Madoka. It's on a night I've got a prior committment, so I can't use them-- but it's Yoko Kanno, it'll be amazing."

Homura Akemi has posed:
"Yeah... this time." If Homura can just keep Madoka from dying at Walpurgisnacht, if she can just keep Kriemhild Gretchen from existing, and if she can just keep Madoka from wanting to wish her friends back to life... It's something she has to force herself to believe. She knows what happens when a magical girl loses hope, but she's still just forcing it.

Still... the fact that the Puella Magi aren't alone anymore... it /does/ change things. The fact that a whole month has passed and they aren't all dead yet proves that things are different.

Yet a part of her wont feel safe until she's standing on top Walpurgis's corpse, with Madoka by her side.

Homura releases his hands as he pulls away, and then tilts her head. Fun? "Tickets?" She accepts them, looking at the envelope, then smiling somewhat teasingly as she says, "How did you know I liked Yoko Kanno?"

Two tickets. Homura would actually like to take Madoka somewhere. "I never really know what to make of Madoka, every time I reset. She's been my mentor, my friend, my charge. She's been close and she's been distant. There were some timelines where I barely even said a few words to her. She's always been important to me, but whether or not she even knows my name always changes..."

"I'll ask her. I'd like that. I think she would, too."

Homura will have to keep these tickets somewhere safe. Spending time with Madoka would be nice...

"Maybe one day I'll return the favor. If you ever decide which girl you like more."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Mamoru laughs. "Who doesn't like Yoko Kanno? Come on." Then he smiles warmly, sticking his hands in his pockets, listening.

Until that last line, and abruptly he's blushing fiercely. "You know," he sputters defensively, "Sailor Moon came to my *apartment*, and she brought a cake she made for me. I didn't even know she knew who I was! And she doesn't know I'm Tuxedo Kamen-- so maybe I'm not the only one you should be giving guff, here!"

There's a pause, and he turns even redder. He leans in and whispers fiercely, "And that cake is a secret don't tell ANYONE."

Like if he were a few years younger he'd totally stomp a foot.

He coughs a little and turns away, backing off, trying to play it cool, then glances over his shoulder. "But Usagi-chan visited me in the clinic the day before you came and got me. Anyway, I-- gotta go. Be somewhere else. Now. See you soon."

There is, after all, no recovering from that-- and he has to go blow off some steam before he lets himself brood over the Harrowing History of Homura.

Mamoru Chiba gathers his scraps of remaining dignity and... leaves.

And opens the door a second later to rapidly collect his shoes before closing the door again.

Homura Akemi has posed:
Homura blinks in surprise at the cake story, and then has to stifle a laugh. "She brought you a cake? To your apartment? Sounds serious."

Homura takes a moment to try to sort out this strangeness. Mamoru likes both Moon and Usagi. Usagi likes Mamoru. Moon likes both Kamen and Mamoru but doesn't know they're the same person. Her brain tries to sort it out for a minute before saying 'yeah no I'm not thinking anymore bye'.

Mamoru goes to leave, and Homura says, "See you around, Mamo-kun." A moment after he leaves, she shouts through the door, "Don't forget your shoes!"