Episode 9: A Promise
“Are you really, really sure you can get home by yourself!?”
“I told you, I’m not alone.”
“Are you absolutely, positively sure!?”
“I called a car to come and get me.”
“Are you absolutely, positively, really, really sure!?!?”
“You’re so persistent! Sere!!”
The sun had dipped below the horizon, and night had fallen over the communal cemetery.
Under the light of a streetlamp, Sere sat on a bench with a disgruntled expression, tidying up the rubbish… the empty packet of crisps and the plastic cola bottle.
“B-but I’m worried about you, little sister…!”
“I’m not your little sister, Sere.”
“I am your big sister.”
“No, you’re not.”
The silver-haired girl gave an awkward smile, as though to say, So you’ve figured me out.
From Momotsuki Haruka’s perspective, this was quite a nuisance. She couldn’t be grateful enough for Sere showing her the way, covering the money she was short of for the cola, and guiding her all the way to the memorial when she’d been unable to take the bus.
But a big sister was another matter.
A sister was someone related to you by blood.
Momotsuki Haruka no longer had any living blood relatives.
And even if they were sisters by some other bond… they were only a year or two apart in age. Sere’s expression grew resolute, as though that was more than enough.
“…Haaaah! If! If anything! Happens! You have to contact me here!”
“Your device’s contact address? I don’t need that…”
“Just do it! I’m adding you! I’ll send it over!”
Sere fiddled with her clamshell communicator.
A thought-communication notification appeared:
Contact added: [Serebryanyi Adamov]
Hacking detected
Set as emergency contact
Added to important persons list
“Don’t just casually hack me!”
“Heheh! Your security’s wide open, Haru-chan… Hey, why don’t I stay with you until your car arrives after all? I’m just really, really worried…”
“You’ve got things to do, too, don’t you, Sere?”
“I DO, BUT…!”
“Waaah!” Sere wailed dramatically.
Thought was forbidden.
Haruka had no strawberry milk to suppress feelings like what a nuisance or you’re so noisy. She simply waited for someone from the [Organisation] to come and collect her… and, for some reason, Momotsuki Haruka hated the thought.
The black car that came to collect her at the end of a mission.
There was something about it…
“Are you really, really sure? Are you really going to be okay?”
She didn’t want this girl to see it.
A girl who loved taking care of others.
A girl who couldn’t ignore a child jumping in front of a vending machine.
A strange girl who would go along with that child without a second thought.
A girl who laughed often.
Who really, truly laughed a lot.
A girl with an expressive face, an ordinary girl.
“…Just go, Sere. You’ve got someone waiting for you, don’t you?”
“U-ughhhh…!”
“I’ll be fine.”
“You’re saying that, when you didn’t even know how to take the bus by yourself!?”
“Ghh… I-I’ll be fine! If I get into trouble again, I’ll call you!”
“You promised!”
With a firm squeeze.
Sere’s cool hands closed tightly around Momotsuki Haruka’s left hand.
“A promise! If you start feeling miserable, if you don’t understand what’s happening, or if you find yourself in danger…
You must contact me!
All right!?”
“…Yeah.”
“Good! It’s settled, then! …See you!”
Sere patted her on the head.
For some reason, the corners of Haruka’s eyes grew hot.
Momotsuki Haruka wanted strawberry milk.
Reluctantly, Sere walked away, turning back again and again to look at Haruka.
The black car emerged from the shadows.
Perhaps she’d noticed that Haruka’s ride had arrived, because Sere’s face suddenly lit up.
And so, they waved goodbye to each other, and parted ways.
＊
A bar.
Somewhere among the skyscrapers of Magus City Tokyo.
High up on one of the towers, in a place where the floating city could be seen through the windows.
“…You’re late, Adamov. What have you been doing all this time?”
“Private business. Don’t ask.”
The silver-haired girl, [Serebryanyi Adamov], swept back her long hair and brushed aside the question from the person who had arrived before her.
The other person swirled a glass.
A spherical ice cube danced in the whisky.
As the sunken city darkened beyond the skyscraper windows, only the light reflected in the glass remained.
“Hey, Adamov…”
“Save the lecture for later. We’re in trouble if we don’t hurry, aren’t we?”
“You do understand, at least.”
With a sigh, the other person continued.
“If you understand that, then get here sooner. I only prepared all this because you insisted, and we were about to lose the whole opportunity in another ten-odd minutes.”
“…I’m sorry, all right?”
“I’m only a guide mascot. Unless the magical girl player makes a move, I can’t do anything. We don’t have the power to fight magical girls ourselves…”
“I said I was sorry! Just hurry up and give it to me! Where is she?”
“…Right.”
The other person snapped their fingers.
The skyscraper window transformed into a monitor. A magic cyberdeck. Not a miniature version, but a machine that merely used M-particles.
The screen displayed a map of Magus City Tokyo.
And a moving point marked with a strawberry pattern.
“The target will be leaving Tokyo in another ten-odd minutes.”
“…Then…”
“Yes. We need to make our move, and quickly.”
The other person raised the glass to their lips.
*
“[Strawberry Pink] has to be killed here.”