Claw Mark

This elderly female director looked to be around sixty. Her features were sharply defined, her gaze keen, with a few wrinkles at the corners of her eyes and across her cheeks. Her expression was stern yet amiable.

She wore a dark brown wool coat, her graying blonde hair neatly combed back. She looked quite capable as she watched Lin Yun with a smile.

A Westerner?

Lin Yun had his suspicions, but he did not voice them. Instead, he nodded calmly. "Hello, Director. How should I address you?"

"Just call me Moss. Titles are all nominal."

The woman spoke evenly. "Please, have a seat. I believe we will have much in common to discuss."

Following her lead, Lin Yun sat in the chair before the desk. He let out a breath, then looked up. "I did not come here today for anything else. I need the truth."

"The Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau knows many truths the public does not. Which one do you seek?"

Moss swept one hand to the side in an inviting gesture. "Perhaps we could first discuss your circumstances?"

"Your bureau should have already investigated my circumstances, so I will not go into excessive detail."

Lin Yun nodded, deliberately letting some tension creep into his voice before getting straight to the point. "At the funeral two years ago, I met a young woman. She told me that my wife had actually been a Magical Girl."

"After that, I began sorting through my wife's belongings and found a secret diary among them. It did indeed record her life as a Magical Girl. And according to what was written in that diary, she had already sensed some hidden danger before her death."

Three parts of that account were true, seven parts false. Only the information he knew was real; the way he had obtained it was entirely fabricated. To keep the other party from doubting him, Lin Yun made his actions match his words as closely as possible, maintaining eye contact with Moss to convey the sincerity of his feelings.

"I am just an ordinary person. Faced with supernatural beings like that, there was nothing I could do. I could only treat it as a calamity that had befallen us from nowhere. Even though I knew there was another reason behind her death, I had no power to investigate it. The only thing I could do was follow her last wishes and raise our child properly."

He stared fixedly into Moss's eyes. "But... you already know that I noticed it by chance. Even my child has become a Magical Girl."

"My wife died because she became a Magical Girl. What about my child? I cannot predict what awaits her. If something were to happen to her too... I am sorry, but just thinking about that future makes me feel suffocated."

"So I must ask you. I believe I have the right to know: who exactly was the murderer? And can you protect my daughter?"

After saying all that in one breath, he exhaled deeply and lowered his eyes. "I am sorry. I may be a little emotional."

He did not expect to deceive her entirely with lies, so most of what he had said was how he truly felt. The only difference was that the real him did not believe the Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau could protect his daughter. He had already chosen to take matters into his own hands.

"...I am sorry to make you revisit such painful memories."

After hearing him out, Moss closed her eyes. After a moment of contemplation, she spoke. "As for the culprit who killed your wife, that is precisely why I wished to meet you alone. Mr. Lin Yun, husband of Miss Cherry Blossom."

"Why?" Lin Yun sensed the unusual implication in her words.

Moss kept her eyes closed, her expression somewhat grave. "Because this is only my own conjecture, something inconvenient to say outside private circumstances. To the public—and especially within the Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau—what I am about to say runs deeply contrary to our principles and ideals."

"What do you mean?" Lin Yun's gaze sharpened slightly.

Opening her eyes, Moss folded her hands on the desk, interlocking her fingers. "...Mr. Lin Yun, do you believe that every Magical Girl in this world represents justice and fights to protect people?"

"...Is that not so?"

Her words caught Lin Yun off guard, raising a trace of vigilance within him. "If Magical Girls had not stepped forward, ordinary people could never live so easily."

Though he refuted her aloud, he had another answer in his heart. It was simply not something "Lin Yun" had any reason to know.

"I dearly wish that were true. That is precisely why the Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau was established. But clearly, the reality is not so."

Moss did not suspect anything. Sitting upright, she looked at Lin Yun. "Magical Girls fight to protect others primarily because of the emotional inclinations born from their real-world relationships, and more importantly because of the Kingdom's management and restraints. In truth, if a Magical Girl abandoned morality and conscience and dared to defy the Kingdom, she could absolutely turn that destructive power upon humans—even upon her own companions."

"...That is hard to believe," Lin Yun echoed.

"Yes, it is hard to believe, but it is reasonable."

Moss nodded. "And for that very reason, there are rebels among Magical Girls, even defectors."

"Magical Girls who break free of the Magic Kingdom's restraints, use their powers to commit evil, harm others, seize power, and indulge in wrongdoing without restraint—such Magical Girls exist."

"In recent years, a group of such Magical Girls has gathered together. While secretly opposing the Kingdom, they have also been plotting toward certain goals. For some unknown reason, they can even travel alongside Aberrant Beasts. They are like Aberrant Beasts... no, they are more dangerous. They are beings that must be avoided."

"And based on some of their characteristics, as well as what they call themselves, this group of defected Magical Girls is known as 'Claw Mark.'"

Those words were what truly surprised Lin Yun.

He already knew what Moss had said before that. Defecting Magical Girls did exist within the Magic Kingdom, but as far as he knew, such Magical Girls would be marked as wanted by the Kingdom. Most were pursued and captured by investigation teams, and few succeeded in escaping.

As for their numbers being great enough to form an organization, or even travel alongside Aberrant Beasts, that was completely unheard of. "Claw Mark" was a term he had never heard before. He had never known such a group existed.

So he appropriately revealed his confusion and asked, "My wife's diary never mentioned that name."

Moss shook her head. "Because they have only appeared in recent years. Even I learned of them only through a few coincidences. It is perfectly normal for Miss Cherry Blossom's early diaries not to contain any record of them."

"You mean my wife's death was very likely..." Lin Yun frowned.

"I believe Miss Cherry Blossom's death was connected to Claw Mark. According to her contact, Miss Cherry Blossom was a Magical Girl with many years of combat experience and formidable strength. Theoretically, if an Aberrant Beast appeared that even she could not defeat, it would have destroyed Fangting City long ago."

Lin Yun knew all too well what Moss was saying.

As a Magical Girl, Anya had been powerful enough to deal with ordinary Aberrant Beasts effortlessly. She often went into battle alone; otherwise, she could not have guarded Fangting City for over twenty years with such ease.

And if the strange state of Fangting City truly had been caused by this Magical Girl group called Claw Mark, then it would explain everything.

Yet there were still things he did not understand, such as this.

"Then why are you telling me this?"

Looking at Moss, Lin Yun slowly asked, "If there truly is a risk in saying these things, why tell an ordinary person like me?"

"...I told you already, we would have much in common to discuss. Because when I see you, I cannot help but think of my former self."

Moss's expression remained gentle, yet an indescribable loneliness filled her words:

"My daughter was also a Magical Girl, while she was still alive."