About Becoming a Magical Girl

And she looked somewhat familiar.

"Excuse me, are you..."

Before Yukina could react, the girl extended a hand toward her.

"You're Shiomi Yukina, right? Judging by your reaction, I didn't mistake you for someone else. I'll skip the pleasantries, so let me get straight to the point—I can get you out of here. Do you want to come? If you do..."

The hooded girl lightly pressed a fingertip to her lips, revealing half of her rosy mouth.

"Then follow me without drawing attention."

As though afraid of losing her, Yukina clung closely to the hooded girl's footsteps.

The hooded girl seemed very familiar with this place. They weaved through the crowd and soon arrived at a partitioned area.

"This is it."

The girl stopped, her gaze wandering as though she were searching for something.

Yukina looked around.

This was clearly an obvious partitioned area, yet strangely, no one was here. Was there really no one, or was it...

"Um... what should I call you?"

"What to call me? Ah... that. You don't need to know."

The girl did not turn around.

"Can we really get out from here?"

"We can."

"Why... are you helping me...?"

"Well, I suppose it's because I admire you."

"Huh...?"

"Please stay quiet. If we attract troublemakers, we won't be able to leave."

The girl glanced back, and Yukina immediately shut her mouth.

At that moment, the hooded girl walked straight toward the wall. There was a port embedded in it, nearly impossible to spot without looking carefully.

The hooded girl took out an interface panel, connected a cable to the port, and rapidly tapped the panel a few times. With a tremor beneath their feet, the wall suddenly slid apart to both sides, revealing a pitch-black space.

It was a dark passage, illuminated only by faint, murky lights.

A chilly breeze swept over her, and Yukina shuddered.

"When shelters are built, aside from the entrances and exits, an emergency passage leading to the surface is also left behind. Of course, this passage isn't easy to find, and ordinary people can't open it either."

The hooded girl explained to herself.

"Keep going through here, and you'll reach the surface. Let me see... this passage should connect directly to the inside of Central Sports Arena. What do you think? In an emergency, a sports arena is a pretty good place too, right?"

"The sports arena..."

Yukina's eyes flickered, and she looked at the girl again.

The girl suddenly smiled.

"I'll stay behind to close this door. If you're leaving, then hurry. Oh, right, take this."

It was a card.

"You can use this to open the door on the other side."

"Th-thank you... I still don't know your name, but if I ever get the chance, please let me repay you properly..."

Yukina bowed in thanks.

The other girl did not react much, merely watching her quietly.

"If fate allows it, we'll meet again."

"Then, thank you again!"

Yukina pressed her lips together, bowed to her once more in gratitude, then stepped into the pitch-black passage.

Coldness rushed over her.

"Oh, right."

Behind her came the grinding of machinery, along with the girl's voice.

"That Butterfly Hairpin, please... use it well. Try trusting your instincts... if it's you, then..."

"Huh?"

Yukina turned around, but the massive iron door had already shut completely, taking all the light with it.

What had she said at the end?

The Butterfly Hairpin?

Butterfly... Yukina instinctively reached into her pocket. The only Butterfly Hairpin she had on her was...

This hairpin filled her with a burning impulse from the depths of her heart whenever she touched it. That was why, as if possessed, Yukina had not thrown it away. As though it had some kind of magic, she wanted to keep it.

The Butterfly Hairpin that girl mentioned... could it be... this one?

This hairpin engraved with "Fifina"... had it been deliberately placed in her pocket? Then who exactly was that girl...?

Normally, Yukina would have had countless doubts, but right now, she could only cast them all aside.

Yukina pressed her lips together and took a deep breath to steel herself. After hesitating for a moment, she took the hairpin into her hand, turned on her phone's flashlight, hugged her arms, and turned toward the cold darkness.

The chill in the air gradually faded. The faint light behind her grew ever more distant as Yukina used her phone's flashlight to keep walking down the passage.

She arrived before a massive iron door over twice as tall as a person. A protruding control slot was set into the wall beside it, apparently an authentication terminal. Yukina took out the card the girl had given her and lightly swiped it across the reader. The iron door suddenly let out a piercing screech, then slowly opened.

Before her lay flight after flight of stairs. Once she climbed them, her view suddenly opened up.

This was... inside the stadium, near the outer side of the central hall. At the same time, it was also at the very center of the Erosion Disaster.

Yukina's heart nearly leaped into her throat. A massive black shadow descended from above, and with a shrill howl, swept over her head in a wave of scorching heat. The violent gust knocked Yukina to the ground.

Fortunately, the Erosion Entity was not targeting Yukina. She lay prone on the ground, her shoulders trembling as she watched the enormous black shadow fly away. Enduring the pain of her scrapes, Yukina picked up the Butterfly Hairpin she had dropped and climbed to her feet.

For some reason, holding this hairpin made her feel as though she had courage.

She raised her head.

At the end of the sky stood a gigantic floating island that blotted out the heavens. Countless eagle-like black shadows filled the air. It was a suffocating sight, like the depths of the ocean. In the center of her vision were three people opposing that utterly overwhelming force—the Agents.

Among those three, Yukina spotted at once the beautiful, petite figure darting and running through the air as though she were dancing.

Magical Girl Avenil.

Avenil did not seem to notice Yukina. All her attention was focused on the Erosion Entities. She leaped and soared like a brilliant meteor, and wherever she went, everything was pierced by her starlight and scattered into flying motes. In the distance, two others wielded their respective weapons, stubbornly resisting the attacks of those black shadows.

They protected the crowd at the far end of the arena, the people who had not yet managed to evacuate, and fought against the Corruption filling the sky.

Was this what an Agent's job was...?

It was a battle that risked their lives, so it was impossible not to be afraid. Yukina asked herself whether she could do it if it were her... and she probably could not...

"Miss Avenil..."

Yukina recalled what Shinomiyami Nami had said.

If it was "for something important," then she was the same. Until now, if there was anything that could give her courage... her brother was surely indispensable.

Although the distance between her and her brother had grown so great since then, to Yukina, he was irreplaceable—the family member she could never let go of.

Now it was her turn to reach out her hand to him.

A massive black shadow flew overhead. Yukina gritted her teeth and held her breath. After determining her direction, she stuck close to the wall and carefully moved forward.

This way led to the eastern hall, which connected to the staff passage. The upper floor there was where employees rested and worked. She did not know why her brother had entered the staff passage, and she was concerned about it, but thanks to that, she had a possible location to search for him.

She went upstairs along the staircase, searching room by room while calling her brother's phone.

Somewhere, a faintly familiar ringtone sounded.

"Brother!?"

Yukina nervously clutched her chest and rushed to the third floor. The faint ringtone suddenly became clear.

She sprinted toward the sound. Soon, following it, she arrived outside a room with a sign that read "Performance Preparation Room."

Without thinking, she pushed open the door.

The door was unlocked and opened at once. But what came into view was not the figure she had longed to see, but rather—a pitch-black monster that nearly filled the entire room, as though it had crawled out of a swamp.

"Erosion Entity."

Yukina froze.

Yukina's face turned pale. Her mouth hung open as she desperately squeezed her chest, yet she could not breathe.

Erosion Entity—

That terrifying term flashed through her mind. Countless horrifying memories flooded her chest in an instant, and Yukina stood before the room, her entire body frozen in place.

Her phone's ringtone circled through the air, more piercing than ever. At the same time, it stirred the black monster wandering inside the room. It took a step toward the sound, then stiffly turned its head like rotten wood being snapped. Its lifeless, terrifying eyes mechanically shifted toward Yukina.

The instinctive dread nearly stopped Yukina's breathing in that instant, but before running away, the first thing she thought of was her brother.

Her brother's phone was here, inside this room where an Erosion Entity was...

Her brother had been here just over ten minutes ago, but now...

Yukina pressed hard against her heart, wanting to turn and run. Yet the moment she barely moved her stiff legs, she fell backward and dropped to her knees.

Tears flowed down her face helplessly.

The swamp-like monster slowly turned around. Yukina breathed heavily, repeatedly calling out the reliable figure that had once brought her warmth.

"Brother..."

She called to him through her tears, crying out at the top of her lungs.

"Bro..."

How long had it been since she had cried like that...? The last time had been on Avenil's shoulder.

The swamp monster dragged filthy traces behind it.

Brother...

Yukina panted heavily, her face flushed.

By the time she noticed, the hairpin in her hand had already become searing hot, as though it would burn straight through her palm.

It felt as though all the blood in her body had been drained away, then burned to ashes.

So hot.

An unbidden impulse gradually filled her. The burning heat from her palm evaporated her tears, while the violently surging pain and swelling impact nearly burst her heart apart.

At that moment, her consciousness drifted away.

Without realizing it, Yukina slowly lifted her gaze, and her pupils turned blood-red.

Scorching light ignited in her palm and wrapped around her whole body in an instant. Blinding silver radiance filled her vision in a heartbeat, and a violent tearing sound descended in that same moment.

"Aaaaahhh—!!"

That dazzling pillar of silver light descended in an instant without warning.

Outside the arena, everyone saw the dazzling silver pillar that nearly pierced straight through the entire sky. The silver beam almost reached the heavens, tearing through the clouds like a river of stars pouring down from the sky, brilliant and resplendent.

"Awakening Synchronization?"

Avenil withdrew her spear and pierced Crow's skull with a single strike. Amid scattering stardust, Avenil flipped aside to evade the oncoming attack and retreated onto the steel framework.