Madoka had taken up fishing as a hobby recently, not really having anything to do with her friends being gone for the summer. She would collect a large bucket of water, and every fish she caught would only leave the water for a few seconds before going right back in.

She liked to watch them swim and swirl in the water, and eventually she would lower the bucket back down under the waves and let the fish swim out. On one such occasion, the bucket would hit something with a hollow clang.

The bucket would rise out of the water with a none-too-happy mermaid underneath it. Madoka was shocked to say the least, and would back away while holding her fishing pole in front of her as if it were some kind of sword. The mermaid couldn’t help but laugh, and her angry mood would dissipate after she saw that the fish she’d seen get carried away were back in the water.

“You’re kinder than most fisherman, but how about you just don’t pull my friends out of the water with a metal hook at all? They don’t like it.” Madoka would nod and bow her head in apology, and the mermaid felt an overwhelming desire to hug her. “Come over here~"

She would embrace Madoka for a brief moment, her body warm despite her home being beneath the cold waves. "It’s just… It’s summer and I don’t have anything to do.” Madoka would explain, and Sayaka would nod. “Swimming would probably be better, plus we can hang out together!”

And so their summer would be spent swimming and playing around, the two developing a close bond. With fall would come both chilly winds and school, but Madoka didn’t want to part with Sayaka. “It’s okay, I think this is what’s called a ‘summer love’?"

That didn’t make Madoka happy at all. "Those are… u-uhm, famous for starting and ending quickly.” Sayaka would blink, shaking her head and putting up her hands to calm her. “That’s not what I meant, I guess that’s wrong. What I meant was that we would see eachother in the summer only."

That didn’t make Madoka happy either, and eventually Sayaka would tell her to lean closer. "I could always just make you into a mermaid too, but you’d have to leave everything behind.” Madoka would take a little while to think about it, sitting with her legs dangling off the pier.