It was the first time Momotsuki Haruka had ever applied for permission to go out.

It had been five years since Momotsuki Haruka became a magical girl… since she was taken in by the organisation and had a Magus Engine implanted in her heart… when she was eight years old. Since then, she had never left the organisation’s premises for anything other than missions. The training facility called the 【School】, the medical wing with its examination rooms – everything was within the organisation’s grounds, so there had been no need.

　When her request for leave was granted without a hitch, Momozuki Haruka vaguely thought, “Is that all there is to it?” and sipped her strawberry milk to shake off the thought.
Then, for the first time in her life, she boarded a ferry alone.

The city.
Magus City Tokyo.
　A floating city built atop Tokyo Bay, which had become a crater during the Third World War. The skyscrapers on the water, arranged to fit perfectly within the crater’s circular shape, had a long tower housing government offices at their centre, casting a shadow like a sundial.
The morning sun sparkled on the water’s surface.
Seabirds flew overhead.
The sea breeze caressing her skin reminded Momotsuki Haruka of the season.

　It was summer.
The ferry connecting Tokyo and the Kantō region was crowded with families.

“Hey, Dad, isn’t Tokyo full of bad people?
Are you sure it’s safe?”
“It’s fine. The magical girls protect us. And I’ll protect you too.”

　Such a conversation reached her ears.
Haruka Momotsuki pulled the hood of her pink parka deep over her head and joined the queue at the vending machine to stifle unnecessary thoughts. Her turn came.
She intended to buy strawberry milk.
She knew how to use a vending machine. It was her first time out alone, but she knew that much as common sense. Just tap the device and press the button.
Beep.

　She stretched her finger.
It didn’t reach.

“……”

She stood on tiptoe.
It didn’t reach.

“…………”

She jumped up and down.
It grazed the button.
She couldn’t press it.

“……………….”

She had to stop these thoughts.
But the strawberry milk she’d brought had already been drunk.
　The place I’m stretching my finger towards now —the top shelf of the vending machine —is out of reach for Momotsuki Haruka’s fingers.

“Ah…”

It’s no good.
Something is no good.
Something wells up in my tear ducts.
An incomprehensible sensation. An emotion. I’ve never felt anything like this before—

“Here you go.”
“Ah!”

　Beep.

Clatter.
The strawberry milk PET bottle fell.
Not the usual paper carton she drank from, but a 150ml one packed full.
As Momozuki Haruka stood there dazed —someone picked it up and handed it to her.

“Mm?”

Momozuki Haruka looked at the owner of that hand.
A girl.
Pretty.
And familiar.

“You wanted it, didn’t you? Here. Don’t cry.”

It reflected in her vision, blurred by tears that had formed unnoticed.
On the deck. Silver hair, sparkling in the sunlight.
A white dress, swaying in the wind.
A straw hat.
A girl, slightly taller than Momotsuki Haruka.

Her eyes were clear as an ice castle, azure blue—

“—The Pisces Witch…?”
“?”

The girl tilting her head bore an uncanny resemblance to the witch I had slain just the other day.