The Different Story: Episode 7
The beginning of Episode 7 opens up with a continuation of Sayaka and Mami’s conversation from Episode 6, starting with several flashbacks to Sayaka’s wish for Kyousuke (with similar scenes from the anime). The next flashback then changes to Sayaka and Mami fighting the dessert witch Charlotte (in her second form), with Sayaka saving Mami from being eaten. The following flashback then changes again to Sayaka remembering how happy she is for Kyousuke and as a magical girl now, she can save everyone in their town as a hero. It then changes to Sayaka meeting up with Hitomi similar to the anime with her confessing to Sayaka that she also has feelings for Kyousuke. After some time, Sayaka is talking to Kyousuke on the phone asking if he is free to meet up and talk, but he turns her down as he is busy at the moment. She tells him it’s really important and to just listen to her at least. Another flashback starts with Sayaka, Madoka, and Hitomi walking together to school, where Hitomi tells them that she is giving up some of her after school lessons for time to study for her entrance exams. Sayaka commends her for taking so many lessons until now without complaints and Sayaka says she was on the verge of forgetting the homework that was due today. Madoka tells her that exams are next year and that it isn’t that far off anymore. Madoka asks Hitomi if studying and taking her remaining lessons is tough, and Hitomi answers that it is and that she might’ve been neglecting them (hinting that Sayaka may be neglecting her own work). It then cuts to Sayaka’s thoughts on how she can tell Kyousuke here and now her feelings before Hitomi, but she starts to think about what will happen to her job as a magical girl if they started going out. She wonders if Mami would continue on without her and that everything would be okay, but thinks how selfish that would be. Sayaka snaps out of her thoughts to Kyousuke on the phone asking her what’s wrong and what was it she wanted to talk about. Sayaka bushes it off as nothing and tells him to keep working on practicing the violin before exams. Another flashback is shown with Hitomi talking to Sayaka, saying that she will wait one more day before telling Kyousuke her feelings. In that time, Hitomi tells Sayaka to decide on telling Kyousuke her feelings or not. The scene changes to Sayaka walking in the city recalling her destiny as a magical girl to defeat witches and save people, and that she shouldn’t be wasting her time on anything else. She catches sight of Hitomi walking by and looks back only to find her gone. Sayaka thinks at first she must’ve been seeing things, but remembers that Hitomi should be at one of her lessons today at this time, and that she doesn’t feel like talking to her right now.
The flashbacks end, and the present starts up again with Sayaka telling Mami that she’s bad for letting Hitomi go like that. Mami doesn’t think it makes her a bad person as Sayaka wasn’t exactly sure if she did see Hitomi and that she couldn’t tell if she was under a witch’s kiss either, but in the end Hitomi was saved. Sayaka states that if she didn’t, Hitomi would be dead. She goes on to state that she’s all talk as she has been depending on someone else and that she’s no help when needed. Mami tells her that relying on friends is not a bad thing and that on top of it, Sayaka had saved her plenty of times before. Sayaka interrupts her and asks why Mami is so nice to her and never gets angry at her for what she’s done. She says she’s happy that Mami is always there for her, but feels that it can be a little painful sometimes as well. She tells Mami that that’s the reason why she wants to stop teaming up with her, as if Mami keeps being nice to her, she’ll never be able to return the favor. And adds that from the start, she doesn’t feel that she’s up to par with Mami, as she’s not prepared for her duty as a magical girl like her and that incident made her realize that. Sayaka asks how Mami could team up with a magical girl like her who could put her life in danger. Mami tries to tell her what she thinks, but Sayaka goes on and says that if Mami says that she’d still team up with her in spite of that, she’d be disappointed in her. Mami is speechless as Sayaka tells her that she’ll let Madoka know as well and that she’ll leave her in Mami’s hands as she feels she can’t protect her either. Sayaka runs off, tearing up as she apologizes to Mami.
The next scene begins with Kyoko watching Mami and Madoka searching for a witch from above, confirming that she was right that Sayaka is a lost cause. Homura suddenly appears behind her and asks Kyoko if she ever considered teaming up with Mami and Sayaka as she was thinking of making Mami an ally since she owed her a favor the other day. Kyoko answers that she never said anything about teaming up, but Homura states it was a waste of time as Kyoko had said something to Mami beforehand. Kyoko denies this, and Homura tells her she is free to do as she pleases so long as her attitude doesn’t stand in the way of their goals. Kyoko tells her to shut up and thinks she’s trying to start a fight, but Homura only wanted to let her know it’s a weakness of hers. Kyoko walks off in a huff, and tells Homura that if she has enough time to lecture her, she should be hunting witches instead. After Kyoko leaves, Homura thinks about how she should abandon her high expectations of her.
The next scene begins at school, with Sayaka not feeling too well during P.E. and Madoka offers to help her, but Sayaka states she just wants to rest for a bit alone, concerning Madoka. After class, Madoka confronts Sayaka on the roof and asks for her to be with Mami again, as she can see that Sayaka has been hurting a lot since that day and that it’s hard on her as well to see this happen. Sayaka says that when she’s around all she does is bring Mami down, and Madoka suggests that she could stay by her side but Sayaka says she can’t as Madoka doesn’t understand. She states that she’s nothing but a jerk that would abandon a friend in a fight and asks why someone would trust their life to someone like her. Madoka believes that she gets in their way because she has yet to make the contract and thinks she should become a magical girl as well, but Sayaka suddenly stands up and Madoka asks her what’s wrong. Kyousuke appears up on the rooftop looking for Sayaka with something to give to her as a thanks for helping him out a lot while he was in the hospital. He apologizes for taking so long and offers her a small gift, but Sayaka states that he doesn’t have to thank her for it. She goes on to say that he should instead be spending his time with Hitomi, but Madoka (unable to bear watching Sayaka do this to herself) jumps into the conversation and tells Kyousuke the truth about how his hands were healed by Sayaka (to her dismay). Kyousuke seems skeptical, but Madoka tells him that it may not be easy to understand but that Sayaka has risked her life for the miracle for him. Sayaka appears downtrodden that Madoka would tell him this, but Madoka tearfully states she didn’t want to see her get hurt anymore. Kyousuke asks Sayaka what this is all about, and Sayaka decides that she will tell him but to give her one more day to sort everything out first. She decides to leave school early and asks Madoka to tell the teachers for her. Madoka apologizes for telling Kyousuke, but Sayaka tells her it’s okay and that she’s glad Madoka was doing it for her sake and thanks her. The episode ends with a shot of Kyubey in the shadows watching them as Sayaka states she will see them tomorrow.