"Fire Punch!"

With a swing of her fiery fist, Flame, the magical girl of fire, sent flames 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 flames.

Having subdued the storm, Flame 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 someone out at this hour?! Especially when all buses and taxis have stopped running!"
─If you hate it that much, why not just stay home?
"Do you think I can, you bastard?!"

Flame swung her fist again, melting 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 overwhelmed by the snowstorm that visibility was nonexistent. Even someone like Flame, 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, melting her way forward, Flame glanced down at her smartphone as it suddenly buzzed with an alert. For some reason, while the phone remained cut off from the outside world, it began receiving messages within the building. The internet and news seemed inaccessible, but—

[Take the elevator to the 55th floor.]

Following Eight’s instructions, Flame stepped into the elevator. Upon arriving at the headquarters of the villain organization, she froze momentarily. 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, Flame, you’re here already? That was quick."
"…Didn’t you tell me 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. Flame 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 something for me, Flame. You encountered the snowstorm on your way here, didn’t you? How was it?"
"Cold. Annoying as hell. Made me want to just burn it all away…"
"Exactly."
"What?"

As Flame 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 mean…?"
"Of course, I mean you, Flame."

With a bright smile plastered across his face, Eight looked at her.

Flame 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 moment 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 moment 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 melted for a moment."

At the same time, it became clear that even a powerful being like a dragon couldn’t permanently dispel the snowstorm. My hypothesis gained further credibility: this phenomenon couldn’t be stopped by brute force alone.

I retrieved the winter gear I had stashed in the wardrobe and layered up, then followed Flame out of the building. Fwoosh! Flames erupted from her, melting the mounds of snow as she forged a path forward.

I’d rather send someone else in my place…

Unfortunately, that wasn’t an option. What needed to be done required using a forbidden technology. And besides, Flame could only protect one person from the storm at a time.

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, Flame 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, Flame gestured impatiently for me to climb onto her back. Hesitating for a moment 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 time 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. Flame 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 me like a large doll, Flame sprinted forward. Whenever the biting wind roared, I instinctively clung tightly to her back. Her body, as if housing some 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 phenomenon 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, melt it."
"…You’re treating me like a tool."

Muttering complaints, Flame set to work melting 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 seemed to understand my intent and was closing in, as if determined to stop me.

"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, Flame unleashed her flames 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 phenomenon.
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 "extreme weather."

It wouldn’t disappear simply by eliminating a few people or clearing away some 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 announcement from the Earth Union."

Let’s end this.

"Climate change is a hoax."

At that moment, 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 come.

Winter had come.
My first winter, shared with the people of this other world.