Mamoru's phone buzzes a few hours after sunset one night, a couple days after he rescued Kyouko from the ruins of that WPS warehouse. It's a text message. It just says "it kyou, cn wee takl?" Look, she's never had a cellphone before, she's bad at texting. She actually just picked up a super-cheap track phone at the convinience story because.. well, it seemed like a smart thing to do. Without her magic, she's not nearly as confident in her ability to protect herself. Oh, she's no pushover and she knows it, but she can't summon her spear and stab people on a whim anymore and.. well, it kinda makes her nervous.
Unfortunately for Kyouko, this means that Mamoru can text her shitposts at three in the morning whenever he wants.
Mamoru TXT: yeah i'm home if you want to drop by. or i can meet you wherever, idc
Mamoru TXT: wait isnt 'can we talk' a dangerous text
The next text is... well, it's a text. But Mamoru can hear it in Kyouko's wry and sarcastic voice: "yeah im breakkin up wit u". She doesn't send anything else.
About half an hour later, there's a knock on Mamoru's door. It may come as a bit of a surprise to find Kyouko standing there, since when she's visited in the past, she's just sort of appeared on the balcony, like a low-rent Batman. Not today. She's standing there in the hallway at his door, looking.. well, more or less like a normal girl.
She even has.. changed her clothes. She's wearing a red pullover hoodie, and jeans.
There's this involuntary freeze-and-suspicious-head-turn when Mamoru opens the door and looks down, so that he's not actually turned away but is giving Kyouko hella side-eye. But he relaxes fractionally, moving back and stepping aside, then gesturing theatrically for her to enter.
He does not insult her by reminding her to take her shoes off unless she actually doesn't take them off.
"Yo. I was making dinner, so I made extra," he says, padding in ahead of the redhead and letting her shut the door. Indeed, the place smells like some kind of yogurt curry, and also coffee because when does it not smell like coffee. Mamoru himself is just in dark jeans and an untucked button-down; some documentary is paused on the widescreen; the balcony door's open and letting in the night air. The curtains flutter.
Kyouko does, actually, remember to take her shoes off. She was raised in Japan, you know, even if she has spent the last few years living in a ruin. Barefoot, she follows Mamoru into the apartment, her hands in the pockets of the hoodie. Unusually, she is not actually snacking on anything, at the moment.
"Thanks." She says, when he mentions having made extra food. She walks over to whatever table he has and pulls out a chair to sit. "And.. thanks for the other day, too. You really saved my bacon." She says this simply, without embellishment, or shyness or awkwardness. Just, thanks, you saved my life.
"No problem," Mamoru says, glancing back at Kyouko as he says it, letting it stand for both. And it really isn't: she's seen that kind of thing from him enough times at this point that it's obvious he means it.
It's the kitchen-- there are enough other rooms, and bigger, but there's a table in the kitchen and it's a bright place, cheery and warm if overly organized and cleaner than normal people kitchens. The table's a metal folding thing with a formica top, god knows where from, but he's a hipster so probably someplace too expensive for what it is.
The high-schooler takes stoneware out of the oven, then, setting it on the stove and dishing bowls out while he says things. Things like, "You scared me to death," and "I'm glad you're okay."
It's really quiet in the apartment. It's a still place, airy and large and primarily empty; it's an interstitial place, existing somehow between the pages of a book, between conversations, between time spent with other people. And the television's paused, and the city's far below, and the silence isn't awkward.
The boy puts the bowls on the table, curry and rice, then goes to fish a couple of cans of soda from the fridge. "...are you okay?" he asks mildly.
Kyouko kinda waves off a lot of those statements Mamoru makes, as she watches him pulling food out and dishing things up, responding with "Uh huh" and "I know, I'm sorry" and all the sorts of things you're supposed to say in those situations.
When he finally comes back over to her though, and asks the simplest question, she gives him a wry smile. She certainly /looks/ okay, at least compared to the last time he saw her. There's no blood, and her color is good. "That depends on what you mean by okay."
She hesitates a moment, as if trying to decide what she should tell him, but finally she just shrugs. "I.. haven't been able to henshin since.. since that night. It just doesn't work." She holds up the finger with her Soul Gem ring- the crack is visible even in this form, running through the center of the gem. "I guess I broke it."
She laughs softly. "So in that case, no, I'm not okay. I'm not Puella Magi Kyouko anymore. I'm just Kyouko. And that means figuring out a few things."
She glances up at him again. "But y'know, it's funny. It's almost like.. like a weight has been lifted. Like I'm seein' things more clearly than I have in a while. I'm honestly not sure if I'm less okay, or if I'm maybe more ok than I was before."
Did the older boy really just lose a little color in his face, there? Seeing the crack still there on the ring. The fact that she can't henshin. But the crack--
He puts the sodas down pretty quickly, then sits down, making himself listen and stay present instead of going into analytical and planning overdrive.
They're our phylacteries.
He pops open the top on his soda and murmurs a vague itadakimasu, then puts his spoon in his bowl but doesn't start eating yet. Maybe his stomach hurts. "You realize I'm going to do everything I can think of to help until you tell me to cut it out, right?" he finally says, looking at Kyouko's face again instead of anywhere else.
"I mean, I'm glad you're seeing things more clearly. I'm glad a weight has been lifted. The way you were rolling along..." But he shakes his head. "Remember when I said I got caught in a labyrinth? It was because someone'd just gotten done taking all my magic and I couldn't henshin. So-- for the love of god. I'm sorry, I'm still worried. Just tell me you already thought about that and I'll back off and listen to anything and everything else you want to say."
Kyouko's lips twist to the side slightly at the look on Mamoru's face when she tells him the details of her condition. She knows that he must be worried for her, and she doesn't like that. She's enough of a hardass even now, in arguably her most pathetic state, that she doesn't want people fluttering about her. She makes a terrible invalid.
"Look, I appreciate the help, alright? I wouldn't be here without you an' that's the truth. But seriously, I'm good."
"I ain't stupid, Mamoru. I'm not gonna run off and try to fight a Witch like this. I'm.. well. I guess I'm done with that. That's what I mean.. like a weight is lifted. I was so worried about.. about being strong, about being the best. About protecting my territory, and about getting revenge and now it's just like.. it's all gone. It doesn't matter. I can't do /any/ of it anymore. It's outta reach."
Some girls would despair over this- would be depressed. This exact situation would likely spell doom for many Puella. But for Kyouko it's.. well, it's freeing. It's scary, and sad, but it's also /a relief./ "I guess I still need to find a way to get a Grief Seed evey now and again. This thing might not work, but its still /there/ which means I gotta keep it cleansed." She waves the Soul Gem ring.
"Maybe Mami can help with that, I dunno. I probably won't need much if I can't use magic. But really.. I'm not gonna try and go fight a Witch, or anything or anybody else. I already talked to Akemi-san, and I sent a message to Miss White. I told 'em I'm out. It's over." She shrugs. "I guess I lose."
Oddly, she doesn't sound too sad about that.
And all that reassurance -- actually reassures the hell out of Mamoru. He visibly relaxes, and he actually starts eating halfway through. He's clearly listening, though, not dismissing any of it, and he has the grace to look a little sheepish: he's as horrible a 'patient' as she is.
At the very end of it, he actually laughs. "You did a bunch of stupid things that could easily have gotten you killed, you probably would've died if you didn't do half the stupid things you were doing, and yet-- you're out of the game and you're still alive. Sounds more like you won, Kyou-chan."
He drinks some of his soda, sets it down, and adds, "Mami-san will help for sure, if you ask her. I think Akemi-san would too, though I can understand avoiding her like the plague. If I end up with any, they're yours. I don't think you really have to worry on that front. The more interesting question is--"
Here, Mamoru grins, puts an elbow on the table and his chin in his hand, and asks, "What are you going to do now?"
Kyouko can't help but grin a little bit in return as she sees Mamoru's expression when he asks what she's going to do now. She actually squirms a little bit in her seat, as if slightly uncomfortable. "I.. dunno. It's exciting, isn't it? In a way. Like.. before my plan was all set out for me. Fight Witches, get Grief Seeds. But now it's almost like.. I could do anything."
She shakes her head then. "But that's not really true. I mean.. I'm a Middle School dropout. I got no money, noplace to live." She shrugs her shoulders. "I tell you what, I ain't goin' back to school. That ship's sailed. I was thinkin'.." She hesitates again.
"Well, theres this little convinience store down the street. Little old lady runs the place by herself, and I've noticed a Help Wanted sign in the window. I was thinkin' of trying that. In fact, I went in and talked to her today, and she said she'd take me."
"'Course, I hadda lie about my age so.. so that's what I wanted to talk to you about." She turns her eyes to him again, looking hopeful. "Can you.. do you know anybody where like.. I mean, I need to get some papers. Fake ones. That say I'm at least sixteen."
"School hasn't necessarily sailed. You have a future, like you said -- one that's more than Witches and grief seeds." Of course Mamoru can't let 'school? nah' slide. It's Mamoru. "Yeah, you're a couple of years behind, but there's ways to deal with that. I do what are basically cram-session classes once a week with a bunch of kids you don't know, so no one would have to know, and I can probably get you caught up to your grade level in a year. And it's only one afternoon a week."
He's basically eating while she's talking, and drinking soda in between what he's saying when he's talking. It's pretty convenient. Also, the curry doesn't suck.
"In the meantime, a job is a great idea. If you need an address, you can list mine for now, or maybe Mami's if she's down for that. I probably know some people who can help out with varying levels of fake documentation-- I'll have to do some checking around, and I probably won't be able to get you anything until a week from now, but it shouldn't be a big deal."
"Yeah yeah." Kyouko dismisses all that talk about school with a wave of her hand. She's not doing that, but she knows better than to argue with Mamoru about it right now. She needs his help, after all.
She seems to finally remember that there's food in front of her. Odd, for her, that she hadn't thought of that earlier, but. She picks up her spoon and digs in. "Mmf.. s'good." She compliments the chef, as he speaks again, and takes a drink of the soda as well.
When he mentions the fake documents, she nods her head. "Okay.. I think I can last until then." She says, flashing him a real, genuine smile of thanks.. "I also need to think about a real place to live.."
And so a little while passes, while she eats and talks. Eventually, she gets up and goes to the door, having cleaned her plate. "Thanks, Mamoru, again. Y'know, for everything." She says. "I'll check back about the papers in a week." And then she's going out the door and back to.. well, her ruined church. But maybe not for much longer.