Salomea stood, occasionally getting on her tiptoes to see the parade over the crowd of people in front of her.  behind her stood her father and mother, happy just to see their children enjoying themselves.  To Salomea's left stood her brother, tall enough to peer over the crowd, and to her left, her younger sister who was almost as tall as Salomea.  Salomea was happy.  Her brother, having graduated high school and moved out of the house to attend college, had come back to visit for Constitution Day.  He hadn't seen him since making her wish, and she didn't know if it was because of her wish or simply because of him moving out, maturing, and subsequently missing home, that her brother seemed...nicer.  Since his return, he had payed attention to her thoughts and opinions instead of dismissing her so easily as he used to.  In fact, her sister was also much less bratty, but maybe that was because she was about to graduate middle school and was maturing.  Come to think of it, Salomea was recently nominated and elected to the position of vice president for the student council at her school, and strangely enough, her authority was being respected.  She wasn't sure if her wish would have tangible results, but it had produced in spades.  She smiled to herself considering how Kyubey had practically bullied her into making a wish.  He had hounded her for a little more than a year, told her of witches and familiars and how her inaction could lead to the death and suffering of innocents.  He had conveniently failed to mention that there were other magical girls out there who did a plenty fine job without her, something she discovered in her first few attempts at witch-hunting.  She had been rather fortunate that she had met others so early; she doubted that she had the ability to take on those witches by herself.  By the time she had to face a witch alone, she had a concrete enough idea of what she was supposed to do.  Granted, not all of the other Magical Girls had been exactly helpful, some were downright rude, but their being present created a safety net for Salomea.

Salomea felt her Soul Gem in her pocket.  It was giving her that sensation that there was a witch nearby.  She hadn't fought a witch in a while, there was no point; other magical girls could do it, and do a better job, she'd only get in their way, probably.  [color=a187be]"This is fine,"[/color] she told herself with a twinge of irresponsibility and guilt, [color=a187be]"I'm just here to enjoy the parade."[/color]  She thought about her wish again.  She could have asked for anything, and as much as her wish was selfish, it was ultimately harmless.  It wasn't like she had wished for revenge against people who had bullied her in the past.  She had improved her standard of living without being greedy.  People say, 'be careful what you wish for,' but Salomea was confident that her wish was simple enough to not have any negative repercussions.

She had no idea the familiar was barreling in her direction.