The magic cyberdeck’s wand pierces the heart-shaped Magus Engine.
Black and peach phosphorescent energy surges backwards.
An operational sound akin to a girl’s scream pierces Strawberry Pink’s ears.

Turrets resembling a school of fish target Strawberry Pink —yet their movements lack vigour. Naturally.
　Now that they were within striking distance.
Targeting Strawberry Pink was tantamount to targeting their own heart.

“■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■!!!”
“Shut up…!”

The magical cyber deck unfolds.
Heart-shaped ornaments emit light.
Peach-coloured light flows into the witch’s heart, the Magus Engine.

　Hacking.

The Magus Engine is, quite literally, the magical girl’s heart.
Magical cyberware that generates M-Particles, enhances affinity with the magical girl, and enables free operation. Precisely because it is the crystallisation of advanced technology, it possesses vulnerabilities.

No matter how much the M-Particles protect the skin.
No matter how much the M-Particles block fatal wounds.
If the heart is hacked, the M-Particles cease operation.
　The witch becomes killable.

“No… way! This…! Don’t you get cocky, old model!
This is me! 【Strawberry Pink】! Magical Girl 【Strawberry Pink】!
My hacking grades were bottom of the class, but —I’m not losing to some twenty-year-old, outdated security system!”

And so it came to pass.
　Pink light corroded the witch’s black Magus Engine.

Ultra-high-speed calculations burned Strawberry Pink’s brain. Hacking via M-particles at such velocity equated to a battle of wits, placing immense strain on the brain.
Blood trickled down Strawberry Pink’s pale cheeks.
Her star-speckled pink eyes clouded over.

　Victory.

The moment she was certain.
Black light surged back.

“――!?”

M-particles transmit thought.
To wield weapons at will, one must convey intent.
The ability to manipulate devices freely through thought alone is identical in meaning to transmitting thought to the device.

The witch’s overflowing M-particles.

“Bloody hell —I’m being swallowed!”

That was the thought of the Pisces Witch.

A warm home.

“…Ah.”

The fire in the hearth burns.

“Escape sequence—error. Forced awakening—error. Reinforcement request—error. Error. Error.”

I’m sitting in the chair before the fireplace.
It’s my favourite chair.
Leaning forward makes it creak and tilt. Leaning back does the same. I used to love how my view would swing like a swing, and I’d sit playing like that all season long.

“Stop it.”

Daddy told me it happened because the legs were bent.
He was a cabinetmaker and often made toys like this for me.

“No.”

At Christmas time, Daddy became terribly busy.
Though he was a cabinetmaker, he was also skilled at making wooden toys, so he had plenty of such work.
I asked Daddy for one too.
He must have been absolutely swamped.

“You’re—”

That night was no different.
A night when we’d decorated the Christmas tree before the fireplace, its ornaments glistening in the reflected firelight.

“You’re not my daddy!”

Daddy died.
The chair burned.
Our home was gone.
My city, Moscow, vanished in flames.

“A-aaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

　As her thoughts returned, the M-Particles circulated reflexively.
The flames were repelled, protecting her young, soft skin.

But.

“—Don’t forget, my dear. My dear junior.”

The witch’s Magus Engine had ceased.

The jet-black mask cracked. The black dress vanished into the flames.
The fate of a magical girl whose Magus Engine had stopped —a witch’s end— was predetermined. Her heart had stopped. It had to be so.
Blood trickled from the corner of her mouth.
The Magus Engine crackled and sparked, flickering within her chest.
The witch with the shattered mask —the Pisces Witch— smiled at Strawberry Pink with eyes that had lost their light.

“【Flashbacks】 are forbidden.”

　Silver hair.
Frosty white skin.
Translucent, sapphire eyes like an ice castle.

“…Isn’t that terribly sad?”

The Pisces Witch died.
Viola Purple’s corpse was recovered.
Another Day, the usual night; Another Run, the usual job, concluded in an atmosphere utterly indistinguishable from any other.