"Fire Punch!"
With a swing of her fiery fist, Fla, the magical girl of fire, sent flas swirling around her hand, consuming the relentless snowstorm. The snowstorm, which had painted the world white, began to lose its vigor under the heat of her flas.
Having subdued the storm, Fla panted heavily, muttering curses under her breath about the employer who had called her out at such a late hour.
"Ugh—! What kind of job calls soone out at this hour?! Especially when all buses and taxis have stopped running!"
─If you hate it that much, why not just stay ho?
"Do you think I can, you bastard?!"
Fla swung her fist again, lting the snowstorm that bore down on her. After hours of battling, she finally managed to reach the destination her employer had summoned her to—the most dazzling fortress of the capitalist kingdom, the Evilus Building, showcasing the might of the Evilus Empire.
"Damn it... This place was ridiculously hard to find..."
Of course, it was no surprise. The night was so overwheld by the snowstorm that visibility was nonexistent. Even soone like Fla, blazing her way forward, couldn’t easily locate a specific building amidst the chaos.
Especially not with a smartphone that was utterly useless—its navigation and internet functions completely down.
"Scientist! Where are you?!"
Passing through the first floor buried in snow, lting her way forward, Fla glanced down at her smartphone as it suddenly buzzed with an alert. For so reason, while the phone remained cut off from the outside world, it began receiving ssages within the building. The internet and news seed inaccessible, but—
[Take the elevator to the 55th floor.]
Following Eight’s instructions, Fla stepped into the elevator. Upon arriving at the headquarters of the villain organization, she froze montarily. It struck her that as a magical girl, it might not be appropriate to march so boldly into a villain’s lair.
Then again, she thought bitterly, what was the point of worrying about that now, having already sold both her body and soul to the Evil Scientist? Her conscience might have been nagging at her, but there was no denying the fact.
"Ah, Fla, you’re here already? That was quick."
"...Didn’t you tell to get here as fast as possible?"
"True, but I didn’t expect you to arrive this quickly. I knew calling you was the right choice."
Eight smiled warmly as he spoke. Fla knew all too well how much darkness lay behind that seemingly kind smile—how he pushed people into the depths of despair while wearing it.
After all, wasn’t he the one who had taken her friends hostage, binding her with a leash?
"...So, what do you want?"
"I need you to do sothing for , Fla. You encountered the snowstorm on your way here, didn’t you? How was it?"
"Cold. Annoying as hell. Made want to just burn it all away..."
"Exactly."
"What?"
As Fla tilted her head in confusion, Eight smiled, pointing at her.
"We’re heading into that snowstorm. And we’re going to get rid of it entirely."
"...By 'we,' you an...?"
"Of course, I an you, Fla."
With a bright smile plastered across his face, Eight looked at her.
Fla thought to herself: Yeah, this bastard really is a villain.
[Scientist? Is that you? Don’t worry about things here. We have plenty of capable people.]
"In that case, I’ll prioritize ending this situation over rescuing the boss."
[Do so. You have my personal permission.]
The mont the boss gave his cheeky approval, the connection began to falter. Shortly afterward, the screen filled with static, and the video feed disappeared entirely.
Checking the final footage sent by the satellite, I saw that the planet was once again being swallowed by the snowstorm. The brief mont of reprieve granted by the dragon was ending. I rose from my seat.
"Let’s go."
"...Why did the internet suddenly work earlier?"
"A kind dragon cleared the snow for us. But the storm won’t stop—it only lted for a mont."
At the sa ti, it beca clear that even a powerful being like a dragon couldn’t permanently dispel the snowstorm. My hypothesis gained further credibility: this phenonon couldn’t be stopped by brute force alone.
I retrieved the winter gear I had stashed in the wardrobe and layered up, then followed Fla out of the building. Fwoosh! Flas erupted from her, lting the mounds of snow as she forged a path forward.
I’d rather send soone else in my place...
Unfortunately, that wasn’t an option. What needed to be done required using a forbidden technology. And besides, Fla could only protect one person from the storm at a ti.
So, I had no choice but to go myself.
Whiiiiish—!
"Ah!"
The sharp, icy wind grazed my earlobe, slicing my dehydrated skin in an instant. Startled by my cry of pain, Fla glanced back and shuddered at the sight of my frostbitten, bleeding earlobe.
"Damn it... Why are you so fragile...?"
"I’m fine. Let’s keep going."
"If we keep going like this, you’re just going to freeze to death. Ugh, fine. Get on."
Crouching down, Fla gestured impatiently for to climb onto her back. Hesitating for a mont at the absurdity of a grown man being carried by a high schooler, I felt another blast of icy wind and realized this wasn’t the ti for pride. I climbed on.
Though the sight of an adult being carried piggyback by a teenager was ridiculous, there wasn’t any real problem. Fla was a magical girl, after all, and magical girls didn’t just have extraordinary magical abilities—they were also physically superior to normal humans.
Carrying like a large doll, Fla sprinted forward. Whenever the biting wind roared, I instinctively clung tightly to her back. Her body, as if housing so kind of internal furnace, radiated an unnatural warmth.
"Huff, huff—"
"Stop blowing into my ear!"
"Sorry, I’m just so cold..."
Despite her warmth, the supernatural cold of this near-apocalyptic phenonon was unbearable. I buried my face into her nape, seeking refuge from the cold.
Breathing in her faint scent, I endured the journey until we finally arrived at our destination: the transmission tower in E City, a colossal structure responsible for broadcasting signals across the region.
"The communications are down anyway. Why are we here?"
"Just get inside—"
Dragging her along, I entered the tower, pointing at its entirely frozen machinery.
"Now, lt it."
"...You’re treating like a tool."
Muttering complaints, Fla set to work lting the ice. As I watched the tower gradually return to functionality, I noticed the snowstorm in the distance, swirling like a massive typhoon and barreling toward us.
The storm seed to understand my intent and was closing in, as if determined to stop .
"Shit—that thing’s unstoppable..."
"Hold it back."
"If I do that, we’ll both freeze to death."
"Do it anyway. We’re dead if we don’t."
"Damn it..."
Looking as if she’d been handed an unreasonable task by a ruthless employer, Fla unleashed her flas against the typhoon-sized blizzard. But even the greatest superhumans are powerless before the majesty of nature.
The snowstorm paid no heed to her efforts, continuing its march toward us, intent on freezing us solid.
"Sorry, but you’re too late."
According to my hypothesis, the snowstorm wasn’t a natural phenonon.
Nor was it entirely artificial. Strictly speaking, it was both.
It was the archetype of a weather anomaly—a manifestation of humanity’s collective imagination of "extre weather."
It wouldn’t disappear simply by eliminating a few people or clearing away so snow. It would regenerate endlessly.
The solution was simple:
Change humanity’s unconscious perception, and it will vanish too.
Vrrrrrm—!
The battery I’d brought from the lab powered the tower. The blizzard tried to disrupt the signal, but it wouldn’t be enough to block the powerful electromagnetic waves that would soon be transmitted into space.
Once those waves reached a satellite, they would link with others, broadcasting across the entire planet.
A signal capable of altering perception, unavoidable for anyone on Earth.
"Greetings, people of Terra."
─Whoooooooosh...!
"This is an announcent from the Earth Union."
Let’s end this.
"Climate change is a hoax."
At that mont, my voice echoed across the entire planet.
Snow began to fall from the sky.
Not the raging storm of before, but light, gentle flakes.
Realizing the plan had succeeded, I held out my hand, catching a snowflake as I thought to myself:
So, real winter has finally co.
Winter had co.
My first winter, shared with the people of this other world.
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