About Becoming a Magical Girl

"Get inside the car already. Efnir told me to make sure I kept an eye on you."

"Eh? Miss Efnir, she..."

Canary spread her hands and sighed helplessly.

"Unfortunately, I can't see it clearly."

"I see..."

Yukina lowered her head.

Canary repeatedly looked the girl before her up and down.

So this was Efnir's younger sister.

She shifted her gaze to the distant sky.

"Come to think of it, little Yukina, your full name is 'Shiomi Yukina,' right?"

"Y-Yes... Miss Canary already knew?"

"Haha, I'd heard of you... Maybe we've even chatted on SNS before."

"Eh? So that's how it is... Which one were you...?"

Yukina said in surprise.

"That..."

Canary pressed a finger to her lips in a shushing gesture and gave a sly smile.

"My ID is a secret for now!"

"Um... Miss Canary, what exactly is a 'Beacon'?"

"Eek? Why do you know about that?"

Canary seemed rather startled, while Yukina stood there hesitantly.

"I just heard Miss Efnir mention it."

"Is that so..."

Canary frowned, looking at Yukina with some hesitation.

She knew about Efnir and Yukina's "sibling" relationship. Among Xijing City's Agents, it was no secret.

But everyone also knew that Efnir had no intention of revealing her identity.

So by rights, Yukina was still an "ordinary civilian." Agents were not supposed to disclose any information to "ordinary civilians"; that was a rule within the Orderkeepers.

"Sorry, I can't explain something like that to you either."

Canary leaned close to Yukina and spoke softly.

"But since Efnir mentioned it to you, you should ask her about it. I can't just explain it to you on my own."

"I see..."

Yukina nodded and fell silent.

Changes

Ever since leaving the venue, Yukina had been recalling everything that had happened after she left the shelter to search for her brother at this sports venue: the attack by the Erosion Entity, and her reunion with Efnir.

If the pain of losing her brother and being abandoned by Efnir had overwhelmed her judgment at the time, then now... she had regained her composure, and all the details she had failed to notice came rushing back.

But no matter how much Yukina thought about it, she could not understand what had happened to her then.

That strange impulse had nearly stripped her of all ability to think.

Ever since Efnir left, an inexplicable feeling had arisen in her heart... as though she had lost something. For no reason at all, Yukina thought of that hairpin.

Ever since the hairpin had appeared in her pocket, it seemed to have been filled with an unsettling sense of wrongness that she could not ignore.

"Fifina." Those characters were engraved on the hairpin. Efnir had mentioned them several times. Yukina could no longer quite remember what Efnir had told her then, but she knew it was the codename of Efnir's partner, Fifina.

And when she faced that enormous, viscous Erosion Entity, what had that white light been? How had the Erosion Entity vanished? What had happened to her body? And what was that longbow that had appeared in her hands?

Questions upon questions troubled her.

That Butterfly Hairpin had taken her somewhere mysterious. Later, she closed her eyes and tried several more times, but she could no longer feel that same transformation.

When Yukina followed Efnir away, she never saw the bow again either, as if it had left together with the Butterfly Hairpin.

"Come to think of it, I wonder how Efnir is doing now. She suddenly went offline, and there hasn't been any news since."

Canary looked toward the end of the street. Her voice was soft and sounded somewhat dejected.

"Though, I really want to go inside the venue and fight alongside Efnir. As long as I could be of some help..."

Yukina stood beside her, her gaze passing Canary and settling on the venue at the edge of her vision.

The thoughts in her heart became increasingly tangled amid repeated hesitation and uncertainty.

Yukina silently lowered her head and looked at her palm.

"But we Agents are soldiers too. I have to follow orders. Acting on my own without receiving orders would be distrust toward the commander and irresponsibility toward my comrades. I absolutely cannot do something like that. So, little Yukina, my current mission is to protect you and support this temporary guard post. We'll wait here for Efnir and Ayse to return in triumph."

Canary kept talking.

Unlike Yukina, who truly was not good at talking to people, she was quite chatty. While carrying out her guard duty, she would bring up topics from time to time.

She glanced at Yukina and suddenly smiled.

"Well, anyway, little Yukina, you don't need to worry no matter what. And Efnir definitely won't lose either. Def-i-nite-ly!"

Yukina remained silent.

Of course, Efnir was strong, but even the strongest person had problems she could not solve alone.

If only I could help her.

But as Canary said, everyone here would only become a burden to Efnir if they rushed over recklessly, just like Yukina had when she rashly ran into the venue earlier.

"Little Yukina, look at this."

Canary suddenly clenched her fist with a swish and assumed a stance.

"—Ha!"

With a sudden low shout, Canary stepped forward and threw a punch. Her fist cut through the air with a faint whistle, and the scattered leaves on the ground were swept up in an instant.

Yukina was startled by the sudden gust of pressure as well.

"That's amazing..."

Yukina came back to herself and looked in surprise at the dead leaves blown away.

"Mm-hm!"

Canary smiled proudly and relaxed her stance.

"That's the move Efnir used just now—the one where she went 'Hya!' and punched that Apostle flying! But even with the exact same move, it feels completely different when someone else uses it. Damn, she was seriously so cool! I want to learn it too... I wonder when I'll be able to master hand-to-hand combat to that extent..."

"Miss Canary, you're already incredibly strong... It's truly the kind of power I wouldn't have believed without seeing it myself."

Yukina praised her enviously.

There had once been a time when Yukina had wanted to become an Agent too, but she did not have the "aptitude."

"But it's nowhere near enough! My goal is Efnir. Well... even in simulated battles, I can't even touch her..."

Canary's shoulders suddenly slumped, and she looked utterly dispirited.

Yukina quietly watched Canary, feeling an uncontrollable flutter in her heart.

Whenever she heard Efnir's name, it felt as though a feather were softly brushing against her heart. A light, ticklish sensation spread through her entire body along her veins.

Unable to endure that impulse, Yukina cautiously spoke.

"Miss Efnir... is she really that strong...?"

"Yes, if I wanted to beat her..."

Canary gave it some thought.

"No matter how I think about it, there's no hope at all. None whatsoever... Listen, don't let her usual soft and sweet appearance fool you. During training, she's practically a demon. Probably the kind that... makes the poor trainees lose their appetite for three days!"

"Miss Efnir... was an instructor?"

"That's what you focused on!!? Damn... Well, whatever... I guess so... In a sense, you could say that..."

Canary imagined what it would be like if Efnir served as an instructor, then inexplicably sighed.

"Because we Agents can't really use normal combat training. Setting aside how varied the targets we face in battle are, every one of us uses different weapons too. Group training always leaves something out or gets something wrong. There aren't many of us anyway, so we're completely separate from the Special Operations Agency. Aside from essential training, what we do most often is practical combat drills... Basically, it's exhausting..."

Yukina only half understood.

Information related to Agents was classified. Even though many people in this city had come into contact with Agents, much of the information about them was strictly confidential. Very little had made its way online, and ordinary people knew even less.

So when Canary talked about these things, Yukina could not join in at all.

Though she wanted to know more about Efnir, this was already the limit for someone who was completely bad at making conversation.

"I-Is that so..."

Yukina gave a stiff smile, her eyes lowered. She pressed her lips together and suddenly thought of many things.

Differences in warmth between people created distance.

"I... really don't know Miss Efnir very well..."

The words slipped quietly from her lips.

They were completely from two different worlds.

"Did you say something, little Yukina?"

"I want to know more, more about Miss Efnir..."

"Is that so?"

Canary looked at Yukina suspiciously.

Future

Since it was a topic related to Efnir, it was only natural that Yukina would be interested.

Canary nodded without thinking much of it.

"I see!... Well, fine, no problem."

Canary put on an old-fashioned air and planted her hands on her hips with great solemnity.

"Anyway, talking to you makes me feel relaxed, little Yukina. If you don't mind, I'll just talk on my own. So... you know about that, right?"

Once she started talking, she immediately became chatty. Counting on her fingers, she spoke thoughtfully.

"Agents sometimes form partnerships. Efnir's partner is Fifina. Among us Agents, beginners team up with an experienced senior to hunt isolated Erosion Entities Beyond the Boundary, deal with Erosion Disasters in the city, and so on. The rest of the time, we also conduct combat drills between Agents and anti-personnel training. That's preparation for occasionally helping deal with terrorist attacks too, though of course we generally aren't assigned those kinds of missions..."

Agents would sometimes take action against human criminals, but that was limited to a few situations, such as street fights or chasing robbers. If they encountered criminals with firearms, the police and military usually handled them.

After all, Agents were at a disadvantage against soldiers armed with modern weapons. Aside from their lack of experience in fighting people and the humanitarian concerns involved, it was more because modern weapons posed a threat to Agents—ordinary handguns could not easily injure an Agent, but larger-caliber firearms could still prove difficult to deal with.

Bullets were ineffective against Erosion Entities, but they could deal their full damage to Agents. Even with handguns, an Agent would be injured after taking several shots if she did not evade at all. When fighting armed criminals, Agents could easily be surrounded due to their numerical disadvantage, and that was extremely dangerous for them.

Agents were valuable combat power against Erosion Disasters. Losing them in battles involving modern weapons would undoubtedly be a massive loss, so the Orderkeepers had strict regulations in this regard and did not permit Agents to casually interfere in duties outside their role.

"Anyway, these drills are also part of training our ability to react on the spot, sustain combat, and control our strength. Erosion Entities are far too unpredictable, so we never know what kind of enemy we'll face next time. It would be terrible if we died because of one moment of carelessness..."

"People can die..."