Chapter 968: The Storm is Coming

"Hey, didn't I hear yesterday that Sayaka's friend was planning to confess to that guy Kamijou Kyousuke this afternoon? How come I didn't see it?"

After school in the afternoon, Sakura Kyoko hid in the shadows, watching Shizuki Hitomi in the distance, a trace of doubt in her eyes.

Shizuki Hitomi sat by the window, watching Kamijou Kyousuke chatting with a group of friends in the distance, and finally let out a soft sigh. After calming down, she realized that she still lacked much understanding of Kamijou Kyousuke. Under these circumstances, thinking back to Sayaka's secret devotion to Kamijou Kyousuke, she sighed softly again, then turned and left.

"Is it about to happen?" Sakura Kyoko looked at Shizuki Hitomi, then glanced at Sayaka, who was hiding in the shadows watching Shizuki Hitomi, a look of gravity involuntarily appearing in her eyes.

Although Sayaka's appearance last night seemed to show she had moved past the fact that her friend wanted to confess to her crush, she still felt uneasy in her heart; after all, Sayaka's personality really made her unable to rest easy.

She had snuck to this place specifically so that if any abnormal situation occurred with Sayaka, she could notify Lingyun in time or intervene herself.

"Eh, eh eh, why did she leave?" Watching Shizuki Hitomi walk out of the school, a look of astonishment involuntarily appeared on Sakura Kyoko's face. "Isn't she supposed to go confess to that person named Kamijou Kyousuke? Why is she just leaving like this?"

"What is Hitomi doing?" Hiding behind a large tree, Sayaka watched Shizuki Hitomi leaving the school grounds with some confusion, a trace of bewilderment in her eyes.

From Shizuki Hitomi's attitude yesterday, it was clear that Shizuki Hitomi was absolutely serious. If she hadn't confessed to Kamijou Kyousuke today, Shizuki Hitomi definitely would have taken action, but what was this situation now? Judging by the direction Shizuki Hitomi was walking, she was clearly heading home! Could something have happened during this time that made Shizuki Hitomi give up her idea of confessing to Kamijou Kyousuke?

All sorts of strange thoughts flashed through Sayaka's mind, but in the end, she suppressed all of them. After all, she couldn't just run up to Shizuki Hitomi and ask her why she wasn't going to confess to Kamijou Kyousuke.

Thinking of this, Sayaka also let out a long sigh of relief. Perhaps it was because Lingyun had given her a heads-up beforehand, and coupled with the many things she had experienced during this time, the shadow of Kamijou Kyousuke in her heart had faded significantly.

At this moment, even if some ill-intentioned person appeared before her, wanting to use Kamijou Kyousuke as a trigger to make Sayaka fall into a mental breakdown, it should be an impossible task.

Meanwhile, in the faculty office.

"Hmm, the weather these past few days seems to have become a bit abnormal!" Lingyun said, looking at the distant sky.

In the distance, the previously clear sky had, at some point, developed patches of dark clouds, partially obscuring the horizon.

Beside him, Akemi Homura wiped the sweat from her forehead, looking at the distant sky, a trace of gravity in her eyes as well.

"This is a sign of the arrival of Walpurgisnacht!" Akemi Homura looked at those dark clouds, a look of gravity involuntarily appearing in her eyes.

Thinking of Walpurgisnacht, Akemi Homura couldn't help but clench her fists; after all, the countless difficult Cycles she had experienced all came to an abrupt end before Walpurgisnacht. Walpurgisnacht had left a huge shadow in her heart. If she wanted to completely shake off this shadow, she had to defeat Walpurgisnacht and break this endless Cycle.

This time, Akemi Homura knew she had achieved things that were impossible in previous Cycles. Not only had no Magical Girls been lost, but a powerful existence like Lingyun had even appeared by her side; she believed that this time, she would definitely be able to break this sorrowful Cycle.

Most importantly, during this time she had been following Tokisaki Kurumi to learn how to control her time abilities. Although Tokisaki Kurumi sometimes seemed to have a bit of a twisted sense of humor, she had to admit that Tokisaki Kurumi's strength was indeed not something she could compare to; the more she learned by Tokisaki Kurumi's side, the more she could feel the gap between herself and Tokisaki Kurumi.

"Have you noticed that as Walpurgisnacht approaches, the sand in the Hourglass in your hand is getting less and less?" Tokisaki Kurumi pointed to her Hourglass and said.

Akemi Homura looked at the Hourglass on her Arm Shield, a look of gravity involuntarily appearing in her eyes. Only after Tokisaki Kurumi's reminder did she realize that her time ability had a limit; as long as all the sand in the Hourglass fell to the bottom, she would be unable to use her time ability. To use her time ability again, there was only one method, and that was to turn the Hourglass over. And turning the Hourglass over meant she would return to one month ago once again.

"It really is a death loop!" Realizing this, Akemi Homura couldn't help but let out a bitter laugh. No wonder she had been unable to defeat Walpurgisnacht in all her previous Cycles; her most powerful ability couldn't even be used. How could a Magical Girl without Magic be a match for Walpurgisnacht?

But now it was different. Akemi Homura looked at the Arm Shield in her hand; inside the Arm Shield, at some point, grains of silver sand had appeared. These grains of sand were the condensation of Akemi Homura's own time power, and also proof of her hard training during this time.

"Main body, I discovered something very interesting!" Tokisaki Kurumi's shadow twisted violently, and then a Kurumi clone emerged from the shadow.

"What interesting thing?" Tokisaki Kurumi looked at her clone.

"Didn't you ask me to keep an eye on that little girl named Shizuki Hitomi before? Did something happen over there?" Tokisaki Kurumi asked.

"Didn't that little girl say she was going to confess to someone named Kamijou Kyousuke this afternoon? But now that little girl didn't go to confess, but went home instead!" the Kurumi clone said.

"Went home?" Hearing the Kurumi clone say this, a look of surprise involuntarily appeared on Akemi Homura's face.

In Akemi Homura's memory, in all previous Cycles, Shizuki Hitomi had always successfully confessed to Kamijou Kyousuke, and then the two of them were happily together. How come this Cycle had become different?

Thinking of this, Akemi Homura couldn't help but cast her gaze toward Lingyun. She was certain that it must have been Lingyun who did something in secret to cause such a change.

Feeling Akemi Homura's gaze, Lingyun showed her a smile, though he had no intention of revealing what exactly he had done.

Since Lingyun wouldn't say, Akemi Homura had no intention of pressing him. Regardless, the final result was that Sayaka was safe and Kaname Madoka wouldn't be sad, so she was relieved. As for Kamijou Kyousuke or whatever, she didn't care about him at all.