About Becoming a Magical Girl

"That's right. This file is one of the primary targets."

"Who else knows about this file?"

Efnir stared straight at the girl.

The girl stared back at her.

The two fell silent for a moment, then the girl suddenly revealed an inscrutable smile.

"I know what you're thinking, Miss Efnir. You're thinking of killing me to silence me, aren't you? But please, calm down a little. Since I got my hands on something like this, how could I possibly have kept only one copy? This file has already been sent back. You're too late."

Efnir narrowed her eyes and raised her spear, aiming it at the girl's heart.

"Please wait!"

The girl panicked and raised her nearly broken left hand. She looked fearfully at the spear tip before her, took a deep breath, forced herself to remain calm, and spoke quickly.

"Don't kill me yet, Miss Efnir. Let's make a deal."

The girl leaned to one side in pain, carefully studying Efnir's utterly icy eyes as she pressed her lips together.

"What I showed you was only a portion of what I kept. I secretly made several copies of that file and uploaded them online with scheduled transmission settings, so killing me now won't do you any good!"

The girl paused, then added,

"The deal is this—you let me leave here safely, and in exchange, I'll keep your secret shut away. You can stay here and keep playing house with your little sister, or find another way out and leave early. Either way, those people's 'plan' has only just begun, so they won't come knocking immediately. And I'll leave this city without a sound. I absolutely won't cause you any trouble. What do you think? Of course, you can choose not to believe me, or use your authority to immediately lock down every server terminal in the city, trace the clues one by one, and delete everything. The choice is yours."

The girl twisted her lips into a smile as she met Efnir's gaze.

"Personally, I really hope you'll accept these terms. I don't want to end my life as a 'discarded pawn.' Besides, there are things I still have to do... Of course, that's a secret. I'll only tell you if you agree."

The place Efnir longed for... was not the future, but a place called "the past."

Childhood dreams became cold and narrow with age. Efnir liked watching over her sister as she had back then, guarding everything simple yet happy.

But...

In this world that was collapsing more with each passing day, protecting even one person was harder than she had imagined. Even if she never took her eyes off her for a single moment, her vows would soon crack.

Efnir had understood that deeply a long time ago.

So, she chose to run away...

As she watched the people around her fall one after another, Efnir would find herself grateful amid endless pain—at least it wasn't Yukina who had died.

But...

That shameful sense of relief brought pain with it.

Countless times, Efnir had wondered what she was supposed to do to protect someone.

What, exactly, was right, and what was wrong?

That question had troubled her for a long time, and she had never found an answer.

Efnir gripped her spear tightly. Only after a long silence did she slowly speak.

"So this is what you meant when you said 'you and I are alike'?"

"You finally understand?"

A faint smile appeared at the girl's lips.

"I started thinking that the moment I saw that file. You really are a fascinating person... You fight as an agent on one hand, while hiding your little sister's identity on the other. What is it? You want to 'protect' everyone else, but can't find the balance, right? If destroying this city could save your sister, would you try it?"

A trace of anticipation surfaced in the girl's eyes. She looked at Efnir and struggled to prop herself up. The bone-deep pain had drained all strength from her body; even such a simple movement left her gasping for breath.

"Well, well... I'm joking. Anyway, back to the point—have you made up your mind? If you let me go, I'll leave right away. I absolutely won't cause you any trouble, and I won't let anyone see me. I'll leave this city, and we'll never meet again..."

"I would want to try."

Efnir interrupted her.

The girl froze, looking at Efnir in surprise.

"What did you say...?"

"If destroying the city could save my sister, then I really would want to try. But... no matter what, I would never do that, because my sister wouldn't want it. If someone as pathetic as you could understand that, you'd realize that you and I aren't alike at all."

Efnir lowered her gaze. The sharpness had vanished from her eyes, replaced by a profound resolve.

The girl looked somewhat stunned.

Efnir continued.

"So no—I will never let you leave here."

"Huh? Are you serious?! Even if your identity and your sister's secret get exposed, that doesn't matter? You'd go this far just to make sure I don't get away? Don't tell me you're stupid enough to think you'll be blessed after your secret is exposed?"

The girl furrowed her brows tightly and looked up in disbelief.

"Do you know what everyone else in this city will think? They'll only think you sheltered your sister, that she ran from the duty that should have been hers. Then public opinion will spiral out of control, and all your sacrifices and efforts will be ignored and vilified. The people you protected will curse the sister you cherish and push her onto the battlefield. And people like us will set our sights on her, constantly thinking of ways to get her and use her."

The girl questioned her loudly.

"You should have felt it by now, shouldn't you? What the norm is in this withered, rotten world."

"How I choose is none of your business. Don't use your pathetic theories to presume you understand other people."

Efnir withdrew her spear and looked expressionlessly at the girl.

"The world I see is different from yours. Though there is endless despair and darkness, hope and light have never disappeared—you see only blackness and filth through those polluted eyes of yours. You're just running away, judging everyone by yourself and believing everyone is as pathetic as you are. Something like that is surely beyond the understanding of your pitiful, narrow-minded gaze, isn't it?"

The girl looked straight up at Efnir, somewhat surprised. After a long silence, she suddenly spoke.

"...Then... will you kill me?"

"Not now."

Efnir said.

"But I definitely won't let you off like this either... You don't think that, after everything that's happened, you—the only lead—can simply leave unharmed, do you? Let me tell you something too..."

Efnir stared coldly at the girl, enunciating every word.

"You and those people behind you should have prepared yourselves to be exterminated the moment you set your sights on my sister. Through you, I'll find those people behind you and pierce their hearts... I won't let a single one go!"

Efnir crouched down until she was level with the girl, gripping her spear beneath its tip with one hand. The cold gleam reflected deep in the girl's eyes.

"This is a declaration of war."

Calm

Running away was a shameful yet helpless choice.

Because she did not have enough strength to resist, because she feared her recklessness would bring misfortune to Yukina, because she was terrified after witnessing the predetermined fate of agents.

For Efnir, that was probably it.

In the end, Efnir still did not understand whether running away was resistance against fate or a compromise with it.

But there was one thing that was clear, one thing she would never yield on: Efnir had to protect her sister.

"If anyone sets their sights on Yukina, I will kill them. Without mercy."

Efnir fixed her gaze on the Apostle girl, every word firm and forceful.

The girl froze.

"Is that so... I see... How enviable, to be able to say something like that so seriously... Well, allow me to take back what I said before. In any case, I understand deeply now that you will never let me go..."

The girl sighed and leaned back.

"My path ends here... How sad..."

The girl struggled to raise her hand. Silver light flashed, and the armored skirt around her body scattered into stardust, transforming into a silver-white ring in her palm.

As though all her strength had been drained away at once, her entire body slumped in an instant, and her face turned deathly pale.

The girl laboriously raised her head to look at Efnir, breathing weakly.

"This... is my 'Sacred Relic.' Well, what you call a 'Beacon'... Anyway, I surrender. Can you stop pointing that thing at me now?"

Efnir pulled back her spear. Its tip trembled slightly as she thrust and flicked it upward, precisely sending the ring flying from the girl's palm and into her own hand.

She lowered her gaze to look at the object in her palm.

The "Sacred Relic" the girl spoke of was a silver-white ring. Unlike the "Beacons" used by the Orderkeepers, no characters or markings were engraved upon it. It bore slight signs of wear, felt cold to the touch, and the fluctuations it gave off felt different to Efnir from every Beacon used by the Orderkeepers.

"A 'Sacred Relic,' huh..."

Although Efnir did not know much about the Ruins, this was clearly not something produced by the Orderkeepers.

If Shinomiyami Nami was right and Apostles were actually agents too, then this so-called Sacred Relic was really a Beacon. There should not have been any difference.

What exactly was different...?

"Did 'those people' give this to you?"

"Mm."

The girl nodded.

"A product of the Ruins?"

"Even if... you ask me... something like that isn't within my reach..."

"You really don't know anything, do you? Is your head filled with cement?"

"Huh!? You..."

The girl used all her strength to prop herself up, but upon seeing Efnir's gaze, she swallowed the words that had reached her lips.

"I advise you not to try anything strange. Next, you'll be detained and interrogated. Behave yourself."

Efnir clenched the ring, gave the weakened girl one last look, then connected the communication line.

"This is Efnir. Can anyone hear me?"

In the distance loomed the heavy Whale, like a black cloud, its dark smoke spreading through the sky like ink in water.

Piercing alarms rang out from all across the streets.

Outside the venue, two Special Disaster Division operation squads had gathered. As emergency response units, they remained within the disaster zone on standby for any sudden developments.

Compared to the sports venue at the center of the disaster zone, this was a relatively safe location.

Several armored vehicles were parked beside concealed buildings. Team members guided several injured civilians who had become separated from the evacuation force over here, and they boarded one of the vehicles before leaving for the outer perimeter.

Canary stood atop a building, holding her weapon in one hand as she looked toward the venue.

Yukina clenched her fingers tightly and sat silently inside a vehicle, leaning her head out to look toward the venue.

Battles were raging both inside the venue and in the sky. On one side were Efnir and the Apostle; on the other were Ayse, two other agents, and the Erosion Entity.

Ayse's battle was already nearing its end. Surrounded by three agents, the Whale—seemingly without any attacks suited to its massive frame—was being hemmed in and could not escape immediately.

As for the battle between Efnir and the Apostle inside the venue, it had already fallen silent.

From the explosions that had initially swept across half the venue to the eerie silence now, Yukina's heart had remained clenched tight.

Energy response monitoring data retrieved by Orderkeeper headquarters indicated that Efnir was still alive, but since she had been out of contact for more than three minutes, they could not determine the current situation.

Bang—

The heavy sound of something landing startled Yukina. She looked up and saw Canary crouching atop a swaying streetlamp, her face dark and unusually gloomy.

Yukina pushed open the door and got out. Somewhat worried, she walked beneath the streetlamp and asked Canary,

"Miss Canary, is Miss Efnir... okay?"

"Eek? Little Yukina, why did you come out... Hah—"

Canary jumped down from the streetlamp and came to Yukina's side.