[Video]

[stealsyourheart]

Kaito waves at everyone, Aoko's dove Aoi sitting on his shoulder.

"So! Things have been pretty crap here, yeah? On earth, we have a thing that's becoming popular now where criminals don't get remembered, because they don't deserve the publicity, but the victims do. So like. A-Qing. Remember her name. Yeah?"

He claps, and Aoi vanishes in a shower of confetti.

"But enough of the gloom. I figure most of us could do with a bit of cheering up."

He snaps his fingers, and a deck of cards appears in his hands.

"Hi, I'm Kaito Kuroba, Magician! Ladies and Gentlemen, Robots and Aliens and Assorted Beings! I'd like to invite you to my magic show."

A flick, and the cards turn into an origami rose.

"My Beautiful Assistant will be played by Glorfindel-san, who is a good sport. I can't promise you a Las Vegas style show with all the bells and whistles, but I bet I can still entertain you! I'll put it on in the Cinema Car in about a week."

He bows and the rose turns into Aoi, who flutters back to his shoulder.

"See you all there!"

Comments

[stealsyourheart]

I'll do my best, Madoka-chan!

[happyends]

Don't worry, I know you will. Thank you for being sweet enough to want to cheer everyone up..

[ Since they sure could use it right now. ]

[stealsyourheart]

Eh, you know how it goes. Sometimes, you need to find reasons to smile, right?

[happyends]

Right, I think so too.. A-And.. it's not a bad thing to wish for some happy or fun things again even after something bad has happened, is it?

[ Yes, she has to ask. Because Madoka is so, so, so bad at thinking of herself or her own needs over the general good. It feel selfish to want to be able to not be sad when something so bad has happened. ]

[stealsyourheart]

I don't think so. It's no good to be sad all the time, you know?

[happyends]

Yes. And I feel bad too when I see everyone being so sad..

[ Especially since it feels hard to cheer people up when the topic is so serious. ]

I'd rather see everyone smiling instead. But I know that's got to be difficult for a lot of people right now.

[stealsyourheart]

Well, bad things make people sad, but I figure... doesn't mean we can't cheer each other up! We don't all have to smile, but it'd be nice if people would feel just a bit better, right?

[happyends]

Right.. Maybe we can just aim some effort at the people who want to feel a bit better.

[ Well, surely anyone would want to feel better. But Madoka thinks maybe some people might still find it too inappropriate to feel that way so soon after everything, and she wouldn't want to hurt or offend those people! ]

[stealsyourheart]

Well, it's a free train. People can come if they want, or stay away if they prefer.

[ Yes, we are grouchy with the two assholes harauging him for trying to help out ]

[happyends]

[ Grouchy? What's that? Madoka is pretty sure the whole state of grouchiness just doesn't exist! Only flowers and sparkles and positivity here! ]

Well..

[ She pauses, hesitating to admit something. But she trusts Kaito. He's nice. He wouldn't judge her. So Madoka slowly says: ]

I, um.. I just really don't like it when people get all angry or start shouting over the ICPs.. But surely people wouldn't get that worked up over this, right..?

[stealsyourheart]

[ He snorts ]

Apparently they do. [ He says flatly ]

But since the lady in question has yet to say anything, I'm going to go ahead and do my own thing.

[happyends]

The lady.. you mean A-Qing?

[ Madoka hasn't met her yet, but still. ]

.. Do you know her already, Kaito-kun? I'm sure she'd be happy to have a friend as good as you during this difficult time..

[stealsyourheart]

Uh huh. [ He shrugs ]

I think I met her once. But I dunno. S'far as I know, no one's seen her since, y'know?

[happyends]

[ Madoka pauses, then frowns a little. Mostly since she's thinking, but also since what she's thinking about isn't exactly anything fun or nice.. ]

No one..? That doesn't sound good.. [ Especially considering what happened. ] Do you think she might feel like she has no one to reach out to..? I-.. I can imagine she must be scared, if that kind of thing happened even though she hasn't been on the train for long..

[stealsyourheart]

No one that I know of.

[ He shrugs ] And since I'm apparently not even allowed to mention her name... who knows if anyone has, or what she actually thinks.

[happyends]

[ Slightly quietly: ]

I.. I don't think it's bad to mention her name..

[ But Madoka doesn't think too highly of her own opinion, hence why she says it so weakly. ]

You were just trying to do something nice. Um.. Even if there might be others who don't appreciate that.. I do.

[stealsyourheart]

Thanks, Madoka-chan.

[ He grins at her ]

I don't think so either, but clearly, she's a damsel with dragons who disagree, so...