Madoka...
...Madoka?
Madoka heard the voice again and again, and slowly regained consciousness.
Her eyes were still closed. However, even with her eyes closed, she knew
what was happening around her. She was being held by the person calling
her name.
Madoka?
The voice called her name again. It seemed worried. Madoka suddenly felt
the urge to snort at that, but held back. Then, with her eyes still closed,
she said:
"_Baka!_ What kind of esper are you? You sure took your time appearing!"
Then she opened her eyes.
"Madoka!" Kyosuke held her close to him. "Madoka! Madoka!"
Just then, beside Madoka, Hikaru regained consciousness.
"Kasuga-senpai!"
"_Uh-oh!_ Hikaru-chan!"
Kyosuke and Madoka hurriedly separated from each other.
"Oh, no!"
Wasting no time, Kyosuke sent his consciousness out into Hikaru. She blinked
for a moment, then went to sleep again.
"Forgive me, Hikaru-chan."
"Hold on a moment, Kyosuke. You haven't been using those super powers
of yours on other girls, have you?"
"Don't be silly, Madoka," Kyosuke said.
Anita and Shuri still lay sprawling on the steps where they had fallen.
But the three tigers were gone.
As if he had read her thoughts, Kyosuke said, "I convinced them to
give up pursuit of your oh-so-delicious flesh."
"Where did you put them?"
"They didn't seem to want to behave, so I put them in the museum."
"In the museum?" Madoka looked at the museum in front of Quetzalcoatl's
Pyramid.
"That's right. We'd better make a sign saying, 'check for wild animals
before you open the doors.'"
Madoka ran down the stone steps to where Shuri was. Someone had bandaged
her neck where the blood had spat out from. It must have been Kyosuke.
"The wound wasn't as deep as we had thought," he said. "She'll
be okay as soon as the blood stops."
"I wonder."
"Mm?"
"I hope she'll be able to really recover from all of this."
"She will," Kyosuke said knowingly.
Madoka was instantly suspicious of his tone. "What do you mean?"
"She's learned a lot about herself. What's good about herself...and
what's bad. That's why she was able to come here tonight. She'll be okay."
After he finished speaking, Kyosuke groaned with pain. "She'll recover
faster than me."
"I see," Madoka said.
"What? What are you talking about?"
"You two must have gotten along really well together. I understand
everything now."
"It's not like that!"
Madoka just laughed loudly.
"Well," Kyosuke said, "what do we do with Anita Brussel?"
"Oh, leave that to me."
"What?"
"I asked Papa to come to New York earlier. I'm going to make sure he
clears everything up with the police."
"Ah, I see. Your scary father was backing you up all this time."
Madoka grabbed Kyosuke by his jacket and pulled him to her. "That's
right, Kyosuke Kasuga-kun. And if you don't watch out..."
"I get it, I get it."
Madoka suddenly smiled widely, and pressed her lips to Kyosuke's. Kyosuke
pulled Madoka to him roughly.
Above them, the full moon was shining, almost as if nothing had happened
there tonight. The great moon was just looking down on the comings and goings
of the humans below, just as it had for thousands of years, even before
the time that humans knew how to make legends.
THE END