MHGA Chapter 379 – The Hunters' Base and Homura
"Madoka, are you really okay going to school alone?"
As Madoka was about to leave for school, her stay-at-home dad—holding her little brother in his arms—looked at her with concern.
"I'll be fine," Madoka reassured her father. "Last time was just a little accident."
After finally persuading her family, Madoka set off on the road to school.
And on the way, she ran into her friends Sayaka—who had visible dark circles under her eyes and looked absolutely exhausted—and a completely normal-looking Hitomi.
"Sayaka, you look really tired. Are you okay?" Madoka asked with concern.
"I… I'm fine, just been a bit busy lately…" Sayaka patted her cheeks. "I actually feel really motivated right now!"
After some chatting, Madoka walked to school with the two of them. But as soon as she entered the classroom, she saw Homura Akemi—who also had faint dark circles under her eyes.
Upon seeing Madoka enter, Homura immediately stood up and walked toward her, ready to greet her.
But she had barely managed to say "Morning" when her body suddenly gave out and she collapsed forward—only to be caught by Madoka.
Startled, Madoka quickly realized that Homura had just… fallen asleep.
Apparently, after meeting with Kairo Retsu yesterday, Homura had spent the entire night busy with preparations concerning the Witches.
Madoka, worried, gently woke her up and helped her back to her seat.
Madoka truly wished she could help, but at the moment, she didn't have any real combat power to speak of.
If anything, she only had the beginner-grade Defender Bow she received upon becoming a Hunter.
Maybe… during lunch break, she could go check on the Gathering Hub.
Madoka thought about this to herself.
Though she couldn't do much now, if something happened in the future, she wanted to be ready—and to be able to help others however she could.
But for now, it was best to focus on class.
As expected, during the lessons that followed, both Sayaka and Homura—having stayed up far too late—fell asleep in class.
However, when the teacher called on Homura to answer a question, she—having already heard this same material countless times—responded without hesitation and flawlessly answered.
Sayaka, on the other hand… was not so lucky.
When the teacher called on her, she failed to answer and ended up being sent to stand outside, feeling a little wronged.
She even cast a pitiful glance back into the classroom—at Hibiki Tachibana.
They all went home late… so why does Hibiki look totally fine? Do Hunters have some kind of insane constitution or something…?
Madoka watched all this unfold with a helpless smile. Then, during lunch break, she apologized to Hitomi and Sayaka for not joining them for lunch, and instead took Homura with her to a quiet corner of the school grounds.
"Homura… do you want to check out the Gathering Hub with me?" Madoka mustered her courage and asked.
Homura's pupils widened slightly. "I… I can go too?"
"Yeah," Madoka explained with a gentle smile. "Hunters can temporarily bring people with them as Handlers into the Gathering Hub. I… I know you've done a lot for me, Homura, but I also want you to feel a bit more at ease."
Madoka took Homura's hand in hers. "I want to show you where I've been… so you can feel more reassured."
"…!"
Homura froze for a moment after hearing that—and then, her entire spirit lifted.
Madoka wants me to feel reassured!
"Okay!" Homura replied without hesitation. "I'll go! When do we leave?!"
"Right now's fine."
Madoka smiled brightly at Homura's response, then took her hand, and the two of them used the system panel to return to the Gathering Hub.
From Homura's perspective, in just the blink of an eye, she had left Mitakihara Middle School and arrived in an expansive open space.
A massive gate loomed before her, exuding a primal, wild aesthetic.
All around, upright-walking Felynes were bustling about. Homura even spotted some of them carrying hunks of fresh meat several times larger than she was.
Not only that, near the water's edge in the distance, a few Felynes were fishing. After a strenuous tug on their lines, they hauled up a fish easily over two meters long—almost three.
"This is… the Hunters' Gathering Hub?" Homura's eyes widened.
She felt an inexplicable sense of comfort just standing here. Even her magical energy seemed to be restoring itself naturally.
As she followed Madoka into the base, Homura saw even more.
Some of the Felynes she'd already met yesterday—those dressed like craftsmen—were transporting large mechanical parts. Homura recognized those as components meant for the fortress that would be built inside the Witch's Barrier.
Elsewhere, a Felyne with a bandana and a massive Great Sword on its back slowly drew its blade from the corpse of a Rathalos. A sharp flash of steel sliced through the air, cleanly separating monster parts from the body. The prime meat from the Rathalos was immediately rushed toward the kitchen…
In short, to Homura, this place was utterly wondrous.
"This is the Hunters' base," Madoka introduced. "I'm heading to see Granny Felyne—she's usually in the kitchen around this time… Let's go take a look."
Homura reflexively nodded and followed Madoka toward the canteen. But before they entered, she already heard some raucous shouting from inside.
"…?"
Cautiously, Homura glanced at the noisy scene—
Four people were playing cards… with their faces covered in sticky notes.
"Hey—Aqua!!"
Kazuma was angrily pulling at Aqua's cheeks. "We were both farmers! Why did you use a bomb on me?! Shirou was the landlord!!"
"RNG… this is the curse of the Goddess of RNG…"
Rakuro—wearing a Blue Yian Kut-Ku hood—had his entire mask covered in densely packed sticky notes, clearly the biggest loser in this game of Dou Dizhu.
"Uh… looks like I won?" Shirou Emiya said sheepishly, scratching his head with only half his face covered in sticky notes.
Homura Akemi fell silent.
Why… are these Hunters…
Playing cards?
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