Bright lights illuminated the faces of the people passing through the shopping center.
During the afternoon, Mitakihara’s large shopping mall was filled with young couples who had finished work, along with middle school and high school students coming and going after classes.
Madoka Kaname, Sayaka Miki, and Hitomi Shizuki, three close friends attending the same school, naturally joined the crowds of students heading to the shopping mall together.
Although they called it a shopping trip, the three girls didn’t actually have anything in particular they wanted to buy.
The shopping center, located relatively close to Mitakihara Middle School, was more like a regular gathering place for the three friends.
And when it came to finding somewhere they could comfortably sit down, eat, and chat…
“I’d like a fries and hot dog combo, and an extra Deluxe Strawberry Parfait, please.”
“Certainly. Please wait at the pickup counter on your right.”
The cheerful Sayaka Miki quickly collected her tray and headed toward the table Madoka had reserved, setting it down in front of her.
Sayaka Miki: “Alright! Now it’s time to celebrate Madoka successfully joining a club! Let’s have a toast! I even spent my precious allowance on this super-expensive parfait!”
The blue-haired girl lifted the parfait from her tray and held it toward Madoka.
Madoka Kaname: “Ehh~ You really don’t have to make such a big deal out of it.”
The adorable, petite girl instinctively felt a little embarrassed by such an elaborate celebration.
Sayaka Miki: “How could we not make a big deal out of it? Madoka, you’ve been hesitating about this for ages! Now that you’ve finally made up your mind, well, well…”
She raised a finger and wagged it from side to side, adopting an exaggeratedly thoughtful expression.
“Maybe someday we’ll all be reading manga drawn by you, and we’ll have to start calling you Sensei!”
The three girls had noticed Makoto Tsukimi’s club recruitment announcement long ago.
At the time, Sayaka Miki and Hitomi Shizuki had observed that Madoka frequently glanced toward the announcement board on their way home from school.
Naturally, Sayaka had taken it upon herself to thoroughly investigate the matter.
The process was fairly straightforward.
The following morning, she chased Madoka around school, caught her in a hug, and began tickling her while demanding an explanation.
Hitomi usually stood nearby, watching the entire spectacle with a smile.
And so, amid the playful teasing of her friends, Madoka eventually revealed some of her thoughts.
She wanted to try drawing some of the ideas she had imagined in her mind.
Or, to be more precise—
Sayaka Miki: “So our little Madoka wants to shine too, huh?”
The tomboyish girl teased her, resting one hand on her hip.
Madoka Kaname: “Just a little bit, I guess. Mom, Sayaka, and Hitomi are all so amazing. I want to become amazing too.”
Scooping up a spoonful of the strawberry parfait in front of her, the petite girl displayed the same longing to be admired and recognized that many girls her age experienced.
Madoka’s mother, Junko Kaname, was a rather exceptional career woman.
Madoka often saw her mother returning home late at night, having drunk too much during company social engagements.
Whenever that happened, Junko would ramble on about various frustrations from work.
Her father, Tomohisa Kaname, who was a full-time homemaker, would help her mother inside from the entrance.
He would bring her water to help her sober up while patiently listening to her complaints about the foolish superiors at her workplace.
Yet despite all her grumbling, Madoka knew that her mother genuinely loved her job.
Junko enjoyed the sense of accomplishment that came from overcoming difficulties.
She loved watching the work she devoted herself to gradually take shape and reach completion.
She wasn’t doing it simply to achieve some particular objective, nor was she desperately chasing extraordinary accomplishments.
If one had to make a comparison, it was rather like rock climbing.
The purpose of rock climbing wasn’t necessarily to reach the summit itself.
What mattered was the experience of climbing.
For Madoka’s mother, the way she currently lived her life was itself a dream she was actively pursuing.
She loved what she did.
She devoted herself wholeheartedly to her work, pouring her enthusiasm into it, overcoming difficulties, breaking through obstacles, and constantly moving forward.
And what Madoka’s father loved most was precisely that side of her mother.
Madoka loved that side of her mother too.
Someone worthy of respect.
Someone she could proudly admire. Get faster updates on g.com.
Someone who seemed to shine with her own brilliant light.
Perhaps influenced by her family, Madoka also wanted to find something she could dedicate herself to.
She greatly admired people who had discovered something they genuinely loved and could spend their lives pursuing it.
People for whom the very act of doing what they loved was their dream.
She wanted to become someone like that.
Not because she wanted to accomplish some grand objective.
She simply wanted to run.
Being able to race forward along a path one sincerely wished to follow was, in itself, something worth celebrating.
Sayaka Miki: “Oh, right! So what made you suddenly decide to go through with it today, Madoka? You hadn’t made up your mind before going over there, had you?”
As she asked this question, the blue-haired girl casually helped herself to another spoonful of strawberry parfait from Madoka’s bowl.
Madoka Kaname: “About that… Could I keep it a secret?”
She raised her head slightly and looked at Sayaka and Hitomi, who were both staring at her.
After all, the drawings she had handed to Makoto depicted a girl with supernatural powers, modeled after Sayaka herself.
Even Madoka would feel embarrassed admitting something like that directly in front of her best friend.
And as for why she had acted so impulsively at the time…
Madoka had actually known about the NicoNico danmaku website for quite a long time.
Watching people freely expressing their thoughts and sharing their creations on the site, she had always dreamed of drawing something herself, uploading it, and sharing it with everyone.
She wanted to become someone who could shine like those creators.
Yet that desire had remained nothing more than a thought.
She constantly hesitated, never quite managing to take the first step.
Until she overheard Makoto muttering to himself.
That was when she discovered that he was the owner of the website and that he intended to sell it.
At that moment, she had felt somewhat dazed.
Because of her own hesitation, something wonderful was about to come to an end before she had ever done anything.
Even the timid Madoka didn’t know where she had found the courage.
For perhaps the first time in her life, she had unexpectedly reached out, grabbed Makoto’s hand, and asked him not to shut down the website.
And perhaps it was precisely because she had nearly allowed something beautiful to disappear before her eyes through her own indecision that she reacted so decisively after hearing Makoto’s words.
She immediately turned around and filled out the club membership application.
Just like that, the girl’s determination had taken shape.
“I get it now! So you’ve developed a crush on that weirdo Makoto Tsukimi, haven’t you?”
Sayaka waved her spoon back and forth as she delivered her analysis, looking every bit like a self-proclaimed expert on romance.
“Now that I think about it, everything from earlier makes sense! No wonder you wanted to go over and ask him about his relationship with the transfer student all by yourself!”
The tomboyish girl nodded as though she had solved a great mystery.
Then she looked at Madoka with a mischievous grin.
Sayaka Miki: “Madoka, don’t tell me you suddenly submitted your club application today because you felt threatened after discovering that the new transfer student had some kind of connection with that weirdo Makoto?”
Hitomi Shizuki: “A love triangle?!”
The elegant young lady dramatically covered her mouth, looking as though she had just heard an earth-shattering revelation.
However, faced with the gazes of her two best friends, Madoka shook her head with an extremely serious expression.
Madoka Kaname: “That’s not it.”
She answered earnestly.
“Tsukimi and I don’t know each other very well.”
“But compared to someone like me, Tsukimi, who works so seriously on the things he loves, really seems to shine.”
“It would be such a shame if everything someone that dedicated wanted to accomplish ended up falling apart, wouldn’t it?”
Now that she had already made her decision, the pink-haired girl no longer felt particularly embarrassed about expressing her thoughts.
She raised her head and looked firmly at Sayaka.
Seeing Madoka answer so seriously, Hitomi and Sayaka exchanged glances across the table.
Sayaka immediately reached out and grabbed Hitomi’s arm.
“I was only joking earlier, but Madoka seems really serious about this.”
“If she’s serious, then we definitely need to investigate this Makoto Tsukimi properly. Sayaka, I’ll leave everything related to school to you.”
“Got it! In that case, Hitomi, I’ll leave gathering information about Makoto’s home address and things like that to you.”
“No problem.”
The two girls continued discussing their plans as though they were about to finalize an entire investigation.
And this time, Madoka finally became a little flustered.
“Wait, no, I…”
She raised her hand, about to explain herself.
But then she saw Sayaka and Hitomi turning toward her simultaneously, their eyes sparkling with amusement.
Madoka Kaname: “…”
Naturally, she immediately realized that her two friends were deliberately teasing her.
Sayaka Miki: “Madoka is supposed to become my wife! How could she possibly fall for some boy?! That’s absolutely unacceptable!!!”
The outgoing blue-haired girl nodded solemnly, acting as though she were making an entirely serious declaration.
Madoka Kaname: “I don’t want that!”
The petite pink-haired girl raised her hands toward her best friend in protest.
Sayaka Miki: “Heh-heh~ I’m afraid that’s not up to you, Madoka!”
Sayaka immediately stood up, switched seats, and sat down beside Madoka.
Curling her fingers like claws, the blue-haired girl pounced toward Madoka and began tickling her under the arms.
The girls’ cheerful laughter echoed throughout the area.
Hitomi Shizuki: “How wonderful. I wish I could be as decisive as Madoka.”
The elegant young lady watched the scene and sighed softly.
In Hitomi’s eyes, although Madoka usually appeared timid and hesitant, whenever she carefully considered something and arrived at an important decision, she could become unexpectedly resolute.
Bzz, bzz~ Bzz, bzz~
Just as Hitomi was quietly reflecting on this, the phone alarm she had previously set began vibrating.
She took her flip phone out of her pocket.
The scheduled alarm had gone off.
Hitomi Shizuki: “Oh, it looks like it’s already time. I’m sorry, but I have to leave first.”
She stood up while speaking and began gathering the rubbish on the table onto her tray.
Sayaka Miki: “So what’s on the schedule today? Piano? Traditional Japanese dance? Flower arranging?”
Hitomi Shizuki: “Tea ceremony practice. My entrance examinations are coming up soon, and I honestly don’t know whether I’ll be able to keep everything going.”
Picking up her tray, the young lady waved goodbye to the two girls beside her.
Sayaka Miki: “Uwaaah~ It’s times like these that make me really glad I was born into an ordinary middle-class family.”
The blue-haired girl muttered this little complaint under her breath.
With Hitomi’s departure, the gathering of the three friends naturally came to an end.
Sayaka Miki: “Madoka, are you going to look around the shopping mall next?”
Madoka Kaname: “Mm-hmm. Tsukimi just sent me a list of recommended drawing reference books and art supplies.”
“I’m planning to check their prices at the shops first, then ask Mom for the money when I get home.”
Sayaka Miki: “Oh, I see! Well then, see you tomorrow!”
Still sitting at the table, Sayaka waved goodbye to Madoka and Hitomi.
Just like countless other groups of classmates after school, the three close friends went their separate ways after spending some time together.
Each headed home or off to pursue their own activities and responsibilities.
But wasn’t that a wonderful thing?
Sayaka Miki: “Alright! Now I’ve got a mission of my own to take care of.”
Patting her cheeks, Sayaka watched the other two girls disappear into the distance before slowly rising from her seat.
Her voice carried seriousness and excitement.
And beneath those emotions was a peculiar sense of responsibility, as though she had just taken on an important duty.