"Thank you for your patronage!"

Rocky squealed with delight sucking on the fruit-flavored ice pop as they exited the convenience store. Kari tore open the plastic tip with her teeth and nibbled on the frozen cherry goodness. Refreshing as it was, nothing was going to stop the sun from shining, but it served as some small comfort under the oppressive heat. She could practically see the heatwaves in front of her.

Two more remained in the plastic bag meant for herself and Makina. Hopefully neither of them melted by the time she got to school. Even if they did, at least her friend had something cold to drink.

"Mmmm! Humans sure love to put sugar on everything. The trauma of the wasabi pea is finally disappearing~" the anthem remarked, sucking the plastic tube so much that it wrinkled up. He frowned, realizing that it had gone empty and glanced at Kari for seconds.

"No dice, fur ball. The last two are for me and Makina." Kari tightened her grip on the plastic bag to show she wouldn't budge.

"You're always thinking of that girl, aren't you? You even have a cabinet full of those nasty peas just for her," he said.

"We've been friends for a long time. I'm just used to handling her is all. If I don't stock up, she…"

Kari trailed off seeing Makina at the shoe lockers, accompanied by none other than Tetsuo. He was propped up on a crutch from the side of his missing right leg. They looked to be in conversation. Makina laughed at every little thing that came out of his mouth and pinched her uniform's skirt as she did, a habit that meant she was forcing herself.

"Hey! Look who got discharged from the hospital," Makina said as Kari entered the school building.

Two weeks after the incident, Tetsuo was already up and walking. Well, sort of walking. Modern medicine sure was something else, too bad it couldn't bring his leg back.

Too bad he wasn't injured for a much longer period.

"Doctors said it was a clean cut, so they sewed my leg shut and pumped me full of pain killers. I got lucky compared to others." Tetsuo scowled at his misfortune, topped only by those who didn't survive.

"Sorry about your brother." Kari was just pulling words out to say.

In all honesty, she didn't care one bit about Gouda or Tetsuo. It sucked that Chie bit the dust since she was kind of cool, but there was no itching sensation in Kari's chest unless she thought about Makina in their place.

"Yeah. He died protecting Chie. Good thing you two weren't there. If you were, I wouldn't mind protecting the girl I liked," he said to Makina in particular, who shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other and leaned away from him.

It became so quiet that nails on chalkboard would have been a preferable alternative. Kari raised the plastic bag in her hand, purposefully wrinkling it to make noise.

"I bought some ice pops from the store. It's not going to bring them back, but at least it'll curb this damn heat." She offered one to Tetsuo and Makina.

"Aren't you a saint?" Her friend grinned.

Kari wanted to share it with Makina, but she had enough sensibility not to be rude to a guy who had lost a family member. It was just an ice pop after all. However, while Makina opened hers with ease, Tetsuo struggled to open the tip with the crutch under his shoulder.

"Here, I'll do it for you." Makina ripped open the top with her teeth and handed it back to him.

"Oh, thank you! You're the best!" he exclaimed.

That little exchange ticked Kari off. The guy was missing a leg, not fingers. He should have opened it easily.

The bell signalling the start of classes rang while they were idling around. Kari was about to head upstairs to their class until she realized Makina lagged behind with Tetsuo.

"What's the hold up? We're going to be late," she warned her friend.

"You go on ahead. I'm going to help Tetsuo to his class first. Can you tell our teacher I'll be there in a bit?" Makina asked.

Kari swallowed the urge to protest and watched them disappear into the west wing of the building towards Tetsuo's class.

"Uhm… Your friend is really considerate!" Rocky quipped.

"Shut up. Get in the bag." She snatched the anthem out of the air and zipped him inside her book bag.

Makina showed up twenty minutes after class began. Never had Kari kept her eyes on the door for as long as she did than today. When her friend came through, the relief was like a cool drink to a parched throat.

"What took you so long?" Kari whispered.

"Sorry. Tetsuo was being slow. He isn't used to using a crutch yet," she answered.

Fortunately, the rest of school passed by peacefully without Tetsuo's intrusion. He couldn't come upstairs on crutches even if he wanted to. Kari and Makina had lunch together in class to avoid running into him in the cafeteria. However, she seemed more distracted with her phone than usual.

It couldn't be Tetsuo, could it?

When school ended at last and the somber atmosphere from the previous day had dissipated, the students' true colors revealed themselves appearing no less sympathetic to their dead classmates. The glass vase and flowers were tended to by the class rep, who would rather head home than continue the chore. Friends of the deceased quickly moved onto the next social circles.

Kari and Makina included.

"Minato!" Kari shouted to her otaku friend when they crossed paths in the hall. "New burger place downtown. Get your ass in gear."

"You can text me or do a library voice instead of shouting, you know that?" he remarked, fishing wax from his ear.

"Then you're going to pretend you didn't read the text or hear us later," Makina countered.

"As much as I'd like to clog my arteries, I made plans with the manga club to goto Akiba after school. My pre-orders of pin-up posters of Flare came in, so I'm going to pick 'em up," he said.

Makina grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and stared him dead in the eyes.

"What about the Candy poster?" she asked desperately.

"That's in, too. You guys want to come with us?" His offer was met with silence. She let go of him. Neither she nor Kari were particularly interested in going back to where they were almost killed.

"Think we're good off going to Akiba for a while," Kari said.

"Don't hold back on those burgers on my account!"

They split from Minato on the first floor. If it was just her and Makina, that was fine, too.

Unfortunately…

Makina's face clouded over when they got to the shoe lockers. Downstairs where Kari had found Tetsuo with Makina in the morning, he was waiting for them at the very same spot.

"What's this about burgers? You gotta count me in, too! I need to put on some pounds after losing some," Tetsuo joked, wiggling his stump of a leg.

"Sorry. It's just going to be all girl's talk. You wouldn't be interested," she said, walking past him.

He tapped his crutch obnoxiously against the metal lockers, drawing attention directly to the three of them. Students who were passing by threw awkward glances them, and others lingered around to see what the commotion was about.

"You guys go ahead then. I just thought hanging out with friends would keep my mind off the shit that happened. Guess I'll head home…" Tetsuo hobbled past her laboriously. He paused at the door, reached into his pocket for his phone, and cursed under his breath when he accidentally dropped it.

Makina raced to his aid, picking up the phone for him. She turned to face Kari and asked, "Letting him come along shouldn't be a problem, don't you think?"

"I guess not." Kari gritted her teeth and relented.

The fast food place Kari had in mind was an extension of a new chain that opened recently in the U.S, an off-shoot of their more gourmet burger restaurant. But fast food. It was the first of its kind in Japan. Their aim was to serve authentic American burgers across the pacific.

Magical girl Flare even endorsed it after her trip to the States, and that likely propelled its popularity back here in Japan. The place even had a life-sized cardboard cutout of her holding their signature burger to attract customers.

Right through the door, they were bombarded with adverts and music she was involved in. She even had a toy line dedicated to creating action figures of her, freely given to customers who purchased a large meal.

"People really do like magical girls, huh? And I thought I was a fanatic about Candy," Makina remarked as they took the last available table in the restaurant.

"Well, yeah. They're practically idols. I heard Jade and Candy recently signed onto a recording label. Flare though— that babe's got everything from style, looks, money, fame— she deserves it for being a superhero," Tetsuo said.

Makina and I gawked at him, floored by the impassioned praise he'd given Flare.

"That's a heap of flattery when Ja— when they were late to the party that Friday." Kari grimaced, then felt a sharp pain from Makina elbowing her ribs.

He shrugged. "I mean, yeah I wished they came sooner to help, but there's only three of them in Japan. Can't expect them to be everywhere at once."

Something about this kid bothered her to no end. Tetsuo didn't appear the least bit sad that his brother was dead.

"Kari, can you order for me what you're having? I need to… water the flowers." Makina disappeared into the ladies' room in a rush.

It became a hundred times more awkward sitting alone with Tetsuo. He was perusing the menu, blissfully playing ignorant that he had intruded in their outing. The little act back at school fooled Makina, but Kari wouldn't be swayed.

"Man, if you can burn holes into someone just by staring I'd be swiss cheese." Tetsuo put the menu down to look Kari in the eyes.

"What's your game?" Kari asked.

"No one's playing games. I'm serious about Makina, you know?" he answered.

She wanted so much to kick his injury and watch him scream in agony on the ground. Lucky for him, a waitress came by to take their orders.

"I seriously doubt that," Kari began after the waitress left. "Chase after other girls, but leave Makina alone."

"Oh, I get it. You're also into her. Makina's fair game, and she's her own person. I have no hard feelings if she doesn't choose me, but if she does…" He forgoed finishing his sentence and smirked instead.

If Makina chooses Tetsuo?

Some time ago that possibility was inconceivable. Kari never would have considered that would ever happen. She still shouldn't. After all, no one was closer to Makina than her.

Then why?

Why, why, why, why did it feel like Makina might slip away from me? Kari asked herself.

Tetsuo's parents came to pick him up after they had eaten. The burgers tasted bland. Or maybe Kari was too lost in thought from what he said to taste anything. She wanted to retch.

Until today, she never thought Makina could be taken away from her.

Even as Makina clung to her arm as they walked home, it brought little comfort and reassurance. What more did she need? This should be enough, but it wasn't.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Kari— oh?"

At the intersection of a quiet block where they usually split ways, their arms pulled taut as Makina was about to leave. Kari hadn't realized her grip on her friend was tighter than usual. She let go, and her arm snapped to the side.

"Sorry, I got lost in thought," Kari said.

Makina approached with a worried expression. "You've been spacing out a lot since friday. Is it because you turned into a magical girl?"

"Gee. I thought that couldn't be more obvious," she answered, glancing left and right to make sure no one else overheard.

Without another word or question about Kari's circumstances, her friend pulled them into a bear hug. She took several deep breaths, taking in Makina's peach-scented shampoo. It was nice, calming, she wished they could stay like this forever.

When Makina at last pulled away, she had a goofy smile on her face. "No time to feel down in the dumps. It's our last summer of high school. Let's make sure to live it up, 'kay?"

Kari returned the smile and nodded.

"Now let Rocky out so I can hug him, too." Makina folded her arms.

"Tch."

She unzipped her book bag to let Rocky out at last.

"Is this… what freedom… looks like?" he asked, struggling for air.

"Freedom's across the Pacific. Good luck." Kari chuckled.

Makina scooped the rabbit into her arms and squeezed.

"Ah, man… I'd be a magical girl just to have a cute anthem," she said, then saw Rocky's eyes glistening wet when they parted. "What's wrong?!"

"Oh, nothing. Just thinking how much better my life would be as your anthem. I have this barbarian in… stead— ufuuoh!" Rocky squeaked as Kari clamped a hand down on his entire head.

"What was that about a barbarian?" she asked menacingly.

"I… I meant to say princess… me stupid. Human language… hard…" he managed to croak out.

"Play nice. Or I really will take Rocky away from you!" Makina waved as she left.

After losing sight of Makina disappearing around the corner, she received a text not ten seconds later, telling her to 'cheer up! ♥️♥️♥️♥️'. Extra emphasis on the heart emotes.

Today would have been a good day if it wasn't for a certain someone. Maybe they should have taken Minato up on his offer to head down to Akiba.

If Tetsuo wasn't around, huh...

"Say, killing a human being wouldn't give me points, would it?" she asked Rocky.

He stopped waving where Makina had turned the corner and froze, then turned to Kari with his mouth agape.

"Points from… humans?"

Kari smirked and began to walk ahead of him in the direction of home. "Relax. It was just a joke."

"O-Oh! Hahaha! Sometimes your face looks so serious, it's hard for me to tell," he said, wiping the sweat from his brow.