"I never would have thought that a Magical Girl would actually be an arms thief... If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I absolutely wouldn't have believed it."
As she drove, Yugiri Ayano sighed helplessly, while Duanmu Huai merely shrugged.
"Indeed. Normally, it really would be hard to imagine..."
Duanmu Huai had already heard the whole story from Yugiri Ayano. Not long ago, a large quantity of weapons had gone missing from a nearby military base, including extremely dangerous weapons like RPGs and land mines. Naturally, the authorities had been highly alarmed and demanded a thorough investigation. In fact, both DA and AAA had received notices requesting their assistance. AAA, however, hadn't taken the matter particularly seriously, since the Devil Possessed they usually dealt with generally didn't use weapons.
If Akemi Homura hadn't confessed, Yugiri Ayano would never have suspected this.
And yet... it turned out that the arms theft case that had forced superior officers to resign and sent dozens of unlucky people before a military tribunal had actually been the work of a Magical Girl.
Akemi Homura's motive was simple enough. Her abilities were extremely powerful, but they had no offensive capability, so she needed weapons to destroy Witches and their familiars. At first, Akemi Homura had chosen to make her own explosives, but her companions later complained that having them suddenly explode right in front of them was terrifying. That was why she had started using military weapons as her means of fighting.
At first, Akemi Homura had only secretly stolen firearms from gangsters. Later, she grew bolder and went straight to stealing from military bases.
The reason she had been able to steal so extensively without being discovered was simple. Akemi Homura's innate ability was Time Stop—and the shield she gained after transforming was