She's already late for school. Homura runs at top speed - and of course she has a test today, which she never realized until this moment. She hasn't studied.

(It's still better than the dreams where she runs into battle, just a moment too late, just in time to see her best and only friend falling-

How many times has that happened? How many times has she relived it in nightmares?)

By the time she rushes into the school, breathless to the alarm of her classmates who are used to her calm punctuality, she wants nothing more than to sink into her seat. But then their confusion turns to laughter. Homura very, very slowly reaches up to her head...

... and runs her fingers along the headband with cat ears Madoka talked her into wearing as a costume when she spent the night. She pulls and tugs and yanks at it, but it won't come off no matter what she does. She frowns uncomfortably. Madoka, a pink-haired girl with pigtails sitting just nearby, gives her a sympathetic smile and will probably use the lunch period to tell her it's alright.

So much for the cool Homura.