The machine-gun-mounted turreted unmanned artillery emplacement erupted in fire.
It wound the magazine, pulled the electronic trigger lock.
A deafening gunshot echoed through the night ruins as the sight locked onto the girl —at that instant.

“Eeeh! Strawberry♥Whip!”

The barrel was severed.

Peering into the cut surface was a mirror-like glint.
The incision was so sharp that if the cut edges were aligned, it might even appear uncut. Such was the precision and sharpness of the strike.
It sliced through.
Once.
Twice.
Three, four, five times.
　The turret collapsed into fragments.
Along with the concrete structure supporting it.
Shredded to pieces —accomplished by a single ‘thread’ bearing a pink phosphorescent glow.

“Bwoosh!”

The girl—【Strawberry Pink】—retracted the deployed thread into her glove while flying over the collapsing building. Merely by thinking.
It was 【Magic】.
　A thread completely controlled by M-particles.
A single line, sharp and swift, severing everything it touched.

【M-Type 65 Monofilament Whip】—without the pink phosphorescence, it was a thread so fine it could scarcely be caught at the edge of one’s vision.

“【Pink】!”
“Ah! 【Purple】! You had me worried, you know?!”
“If you were worried, why didn’t you stop destroying the building?! I’d have been buried alive!”

The flying pink twin-tailed girl… Strawberry Pink was addressed by a dust-covered girl.

“And that monofilament whip is forbidden too!
You could get sliced to death just by touching it!!　This time! There are hostages, you know!?”

A black ponytail.
A suit that didn’t quite suit her body, which looked about fifteen.
A girl who possessed both an innocent aura and a mature charm simultaneously.
Her codename was [Viola Purple]. Her real name was Shizuki Fuyumi.
She looked a year or two older than Strawberry Pink, a composed girl.

“I thought you were dead when the connection dropped… I mean, you can kill dead people as much as you like, right?”
“…Well, all the hostages died in that explosion just now!”
“Ah, I see?”
“Don’t look so pleased! They’re important Japanese citizens!”

Strawberry Pink scratched her cheek, looking embarrassed.

“But but, as long as Purple’s safe, that’s fine, right? There are citizens a dime a dozen…”
“Don’t get complacent just because you’re using [Magic]! Every word of this conversation is being recorded by HQ!”
“Aye aye.”

Free thought was forbidden.
For a girl who could reduce an entire building to splinters merely by thinking, it was only natural.

　That was precisely why Strawberry Pink cherished the time she could use [Magic]… She loved her job. The time she was permitted to think.
The time she could fly freely through the sky, as she pleased, as she wished.
How utterly wonderful that was.
Because she could gaze at the stars and think they were beautiful.
She could see the twinkling lights of skyscrapers and recall Christmas illuminations.

　The lights streaming through the city.
The headlights overflowing the streets.
All of it was beautiful, shining brightly, even the M-Particle’s ominous phosphorescence seemed like that day’s illuminations…

“Pink.”
“Huh? What? Oh right, the cause of the explosion…”
“【Recollection】 is forbidden. I’ll recommend increasing your medication when we get back.”
“Gwaaah!”

Purple gave a wry smile at Strawberry Pink, who let out a croak like a frog being strangled.
Viola Purple was Strawberry Pink’s senior.
Lately, she’d been assigned not just to magical girl missions, but also as a negotiator handling hostage release procedures with terrorists.
The suit still looked awkward on her, but it would soon suit her perfectly.
She was becoming an adult.
　Having all her M-Particles removed, she could think freely, converse freely, grow into an adult… Strawberry Pink watched Viola Purple’s wry smile, finding her mature appearance both enviable and a little lonely, yet thrilling.

Explosion.

Leaving behind beautiful memories, Viola Purple’s flesh scattered in all directions.
　Fragments of the ruined building, torn to shreds, assaulted them with the blast.

There was no way for humans to prevent it.
No way for humans forbidden to use 【Magic】.

The magical cyberware dress covering her body blocked every impact with its circulating M-particles, protecting the magical girl’s soft, childlike body to the end.
　That is why the girls can walk through the blast.
Adults clad in mere suits possess no magic.

「……」

Strawberry Pink gazed at the source of the blast.
Her lips did not tremble.
Her shoulders did not tremble.
Fear had been excised at the outset. Longing for home, yearning, loneliness – all had undergone excision surgery long ago and did not exist within Strawberry Pink. The emotionally charged conversations these girls share are merely… managed, inorganic imaginings… inorganic things, patching up what they’ve lost with mere imagination.

That is precisely why Strawberry Pink’s eyes do not waver.
Her lips correctly identify the perceived threat and log it.

――――【Witch】