About Becoming a Magical Girl Chapter 21

"Huh?"

A delicate, gentle voice abruptly broke the silence. Yukina turned around and met the gaze of the girl who had entered her field of vision.

The girl held a silver spear and stood outside the door, her ribbon fluttering in the breeze. She radiated a heart-stirring beauty and purity utterly at odds with this shattered landscape.

Yukina could even make out the star-shaped earring on her left ear.

"Spacing out on a battlefield can really get you killed. Even if it's your First Synchronization, you should be about ready to wake up from 'that,' shouldn't you?"

A light breeze swept through the girl's hair, and her crimson eyes stared coldly at Yukina through the strands. If the girl herself was as warm as the blazing sun after rain, then her gaze was like moonlight on a winter night, enough to send chills down one's spine.

"Miss Efnir...?"

Yukina stood there in a daze.

In an instant, she remembered everything—the reason she had come here, and everything that had just happened...

She had come here to find her brother, but... the phone calling out forlornly for its owner, the chaotic ground, the Erosion Entity like a black mire...

Her brother... was dead.

He would never appear before her again.

Her heart felt hollow. The bow slipped from her hands, her vision blurred, and warm tears ran from the corners of her eyes. Yukina sank numbly to her knees as scene after scene from her memories flooded her mind, becoming sorrowful heartbeats that battered against her chest.

She blankly picked up the phone that had fallen to the ground and tried to dial again, only to discover that it was completely broken and could no longer be used.

Her brother had bought this phone for her. It had been her birthday present that year.

Her vision blurred with tears, and salt spread across the corners of her mouth.

If only it had been her heart that broke instead of the phone.

"Big... Brother..."

Yukina bit her lip hard. A sob escaped her throat, and she could no longer suppress her crying. It burst forth like a collapsed dam.

In the quiet air, her sobs sounded especially piercing.

Meanwhile—

"..."

Efnir said nothing as she stared intently at the girl kneeling on the ground and crying, her brows knitting slightly.

"What's going on...?"

Shinomiyami Nami had the same question.

When Efnir arrived, she saw neither the expected ambush nor any other enemies. The only living being here was the girl kneeling on the ground before her. The girl held an ice-blue bow in her hands, Fifina's exclusive Order Weapon. Without question, the impostor who had triggered the Order Storm was the crying girl before them.

Of course, as an agent, making a rash judgment without further observation in a situation like this would be utterly incompetent.

But for that very reason, Efnir neither attacked immediately nor let down her guard.

Efnir had heard the girl call her "Miss Efnir" loud and clear. The other girl clearly knew her. As an agent idol, being recognized was nothing strange, yet something still felt deeply off.

Efnir raised her spear. Glass shards cracked beneath her feet as she approached the girl.

The girl remained kneeling where she was, covering her face as she cried, seemingly completely unaware of Efnir's actions.

"Efnir, please be careful..."

Shinomiyami Nami's worried voice came through the earpiece.

Efnir said nothing. She raised the spear one-handed, and its silver glint tore through the air in an instant. The spearhead passed precisely through the crook of the girl's arm and came to rest against her throat.

The crying stopped abruptly.

Efnir narrowed her eyes slightly and used the spearhead to lift the girl's chin, revealing a face streaked with tears.

Beneath her tear-dampened aqua-blue hair, the girl stared blankly at Efnir.

The shock in her eyes was undisguised.

Efnir met the girl's gaze coldly.

"You actually exposed an opening just like that, without even trying to struggle... Did you come here specifically to die? Do you know your life is hanging by a thread?"

"M-Miss Efnir... what are you saying...?"

The girl's voice trembled. Efnir could not tell whether it was from crying, fear—

Or something else.

"Hand it over."

"W-What...?"

The girl trembled as she looked up, her eyes dim as she shook her head in panic.

"I-I don't know what you're talk—"

Efnir's gaze instantly turned cold.

Hiss—

The icy spearhead drove straight forward another inch, leaving a crimson mark on the girl's neck. It was neither too deep nor too shallow, just enough to pierce her skin, but the bone-chilling cold of the spearhead had already burrowed deep into the girl's heart.

Drip—

A drop of blood slid down her snowy neck, blooming into a vivid red flower across the front of her clothes.

"Hand it over, or I'll kill you."

Yukina stared blankly upward, looking desperately at the girl she admired. The pain and cold at her neck seemed to seep through her blood and stab into her heart.

Her chest hurt as if it were about to split apart.

She could barely breathe.

What was all this? She did not understand any of it... Today, she had already lost her brother. Was she going to lose Efnir too?

A faint scent of mango still lingered in the air.

Why had it turned out like this...

Her father and mother... had both abandoned her. She had done nothing wrong. Now, her brother was gone, and even Efnir had completely cast her aside.

She had not even properly apologized yet. She had always tried so hard.

She had finally seen the tiniest glimmer of hope, only for it to be crushed to dust.

The people she admired, the people she loved, had all left.

She still knew nothing, had tried nothing, had done nothing wrong, had left nothing behind, yet everything had turned away from her.

Clack—

The phone slipped from her palm and hit the ground. Yukina's crying turned from choked sobs to soundless weeping. Her tears lingered beneath Efnir's cold gaze as her shoulders shook again and again.

Efnir noticed the pale blue phone.

It looked familiar.

"Pick up the phone and give it to me."

Yukina bit her lip hard and did as she was told, handing the phone to Efnir.

Efnir took the phone into her hand.

Though the screen was shattered, it still retained the warmth of the girl's palm. It was covered in a faint layer of dust and signs of use. A "Magical Girl Avenil" phone charm hung from it, and there was a distinct scratch to the right of the charging port from where it had been dropped once.

This... was clearly Yukina's phone.

But why was her little sister's phone here? In the preparation room?

A fierce, inexplicable palpitation enveloped Efnir. She clenched the phone tightly and swept a cold glance over the girl.

"Where did this phone come from?"

With tears in her eyes, Yukina looked up at Efnir's question.

Efnir's icy gaze nearly pierced through her.

In Efnir's eyes, she saw agitation, unease, and fear.

"I asked you, where did this phone come from?!"

Yukina shuddered all over at Efnir's demand and the spear that was nearly piercing her throat.

How she wished Efnir would crouch down and give her a hug, just as she had when they first met.

There was nothing left...

Her brother was gone. Efnir was gone. Now, she did not even have a shoulder to lean on.

No matter how hard Yukina tried, she could not understand why the gentle Efnir had made such a complete reversal in her attitude toward her, nor why Efnir was asking these questions.

Faced with Efnir's questioning, she could only answer.

"My brother... bought it for me..."

That was not what Efnir had asked, but... upon hearing Yukina's answer, nothing else mattered anymore—the girl was Yukina. That was the answer Efnir had received.

The two looked at each other in silence, but Yukina saw the layers of coldness peel away from Efnir's eyes. All that remained were boundless grief and resolve, along with tenderness and heartache.

The killing intent enveloping Yukina suddenly receded like the tide, and with it came her tears. She choked back sobs and tried to wipe them away, but the more she wiped, the more they poured forth.

Only her crying remained in the air.

The two stayed silent for a long time before Efnir suddenly withdrew her spear.

"You..."

As though it took all her strength, she finally forced out the word.

"Are... Yukina?"

Yukina looked at Efnir and slowly nodded.

Then, to her astonishment, Efnir suddenly bent down before her.

And gave her a long-awaited hug.

"I'm sorry..."

Yukina stared wide-eyed, completely at a loss.

Intertwined

"Efnir! Please calm down... We still can't confirm that she really is Yukina herself, and Yukina isn't a Compatible Candidate, is she? That alone is especially suspicious..."

Shinomiyami Nami's voice came through the earpiece.

Efnir held the sobbing Yukina tightly, feeling as though countless sharp blades had pierced her heart. A suffocating sensation like being torn apart clogged her chest.

Her thoughts became a complete mess, and even breathing became extraordinarily difficult.

Yukina... should not have been here...

But then again, if there was anyone in this city who could Synchronize with Fifina and appear as Fifina, that person could only be Yukina.

Because Yukina was an Absolute Compatible Candidate.

This was Efnir's secret, a secret even Shinomiyami Nami did not know—a secret entrusted to Efnir's care.

Efnir released Yukina. Yukina had stopped crying, but she still sniffled, head lowered as she knelt there like a withered leaf. Her face was deathly pale, and she sat in silent stillness.

Seeing Yukina like this, Efnir felt as though something had twisted into a knot inside her heart.

Just now, she had almost killed Yukina with her own hands...

The future tragedy she had nearly caused sent chills through Efnir. She had sworn to protect Yukina, yet her own negligence had still placed Yukina in danger.

Efnir took a deep breath and forcibly suppressed the turmoil in her heart. She crouched before Yukina and gazed deeply at the girl before her. Her face was covered in tear tracks, and her long aqua-blue hair was damp with tears, clinging to her cheeks.

As though she were about to sink into the deep sea.

Efnir raised her hand and gently wiped away the tears from the corners of Yukina's eyes, along with the bloodstain on her neck.

"Yukina..."