About Becoming a Magical Girl

Yukina murmured.

"Dying... it feels so cruel... If someone died in battle like that, their friends and family would be heartbroken, wouldn't they...? Aren't you afraid, Miss Canary?"

"Of course I'm afraid... At first, I was terrified. But there was nothing I could do about it, right? Because this is our fate... That's why I've worked so hard all this time to avoid dying so easily. But after becoming an agent, I gradually came to understand that fate is something you're meant to take into your own hands. Only after becoming an agent did I gain the power to fight against fate. That feeling of having control over myself fascinates me... Even if I might die in battle, if I were given another chance to choose, I'd still choose this path without hesitation."

Canary smiled and opened her palm.

"And besides... if I work just a little harder, maybe neither I nor the people these hands can save will have to feel sad. No matter what, I won't just let myself die so easily. I've always worked toward that goal, too. I mean, I haven't even had a boyfriend yet. I don't want my cute youth to end that simply."

"Miss Canary... You sound amazing, and you seem really young too..."

"Oh my... I let that slip, didn't I?"

Canary covered her mouth with a giggle and waved her hand.

"They say I'm among the more talented ones, you know. I can't compare to your idol, Efnir, but! But! I'm younger than my senior, and that's a huge advantage! I'm a little older than little Yukina, but I'm definitely nowhere near Senior Efnir's advanced age. Ehehe~ But I can't tell you my exact age. That's a girl's—se, cret,~"

"So Miss Efnir really is older than us..."

"That's right, and not by just a little!"

"Um..."

Suddenly remembering what Shinomiyami Nami had said, Yukina hesitantly spoke up.

"If that's the case... Miss Efnir is so mature, so could it be that she's already... already married?"

"Huh? Married?"

Canary froze at the question. The image of Efnir walking arm in arm with some man she didn't know surfaced in her mind, and after a while, she burst into giggles.

"It's hard to imagine what a wedding for someone like Senior would even look like..."

Yukina also instinctively pictured Efnir standing before her in a wedding dress as white as snow.

Her cheeks grew hot without her realizing it.

"Well, Senior Efnir is older than me, but she's not old enough to become a leftover woman if she doesn't get married. If anything, she's always given off the feeling that she's absolutely the type who'd never fall in love... I remember she only entered university last year. Back then, I had only just started high school. More than a year has passed, and Senior Efnir is still the same. So many people have pursued her, and she turned every one of them down."

"Eep?"

Yukina covered her mouth in surprise.

If that was the case, wasn't Efnir about the same age as her brother?

Thinking of it that way, she suddenly felt much closer to her.

"Well, there are actually several colleagues younger than me, probably cute juniors around your age... Sigh... Never mind, let's not talk about that."

Canary took a deep breath, leaned against the car door, and looked up at the sky.

Seeing that Canary didn't seem inclined to continue, Yukina let out a small sigh of relief and quietly stayed by her side.

Just then, Canary suddenly raised a hand to her earpiece.

"Is that Senior Efnir? This is Canary. Senior, are you all right?"

Hearing the name she cared about, Yukina instinctively looked up at Canary.

Canary seemed to be communicating with Efnir. An inexplicable tension made Yukina hold her breath.

"Yes... There's no problem here. Mm, the Special Disaster Division has personnel stationed with me. Then I'll relay the follow-up arrangements for you. Senior, please go support Ayse!"

After saying that, Canary cut off the communication. She turned to Yukina, her expression settling into something serious.

"It seems the Apostle has already been subdued. Little Yukina, this disaster will probably be over soon. Until then, we can't let our guard down."

"Miss Efnir is all right!?"

"She's fine. She's very strong, after all."

Yukina finally felt at ease.

"Anyway, just wait a little longer. Senior will come over here once the battle is over."

After Efnir defeated the Apostle girl, she supported Ayse and wiped out Crow and Whale in one stroke.

"So this is finally over. In the end, Whale was so huge, yet it was dealt with even more easily than Crow. Well, it was still exhausting..."

Because the Whale-type Erosion Entity itself did not possess aggression befitting its size, the final battle had not been particularly difficult.

"We have you to thank for this, Ayse. Thanks to your efforts, we had more leeway to redeploy our forces. The casualties this time were lighter than usual, and that was inseparable from your contribution."

Efnir said.

"Th-That's because Senior and Canary are amazing. I couldn't have done it..."

Ayse shyly waved her hands.

"Get some proper rest after we return."

Efnir looked at Ayse's arm. The bloodstains had already dried; they were from the wound she had suffered when the Apostle ambushed her.

"I will~"

Ayse tilted her head with a smile, let out a long breath, bent down, and sat atop the steel framework of the venue's roof, gazing at the stardust scattering overhead.

After Whale disappeared, the scorching sunlight spread over them once again.

"Come to think of it... looking at it like this, this city is actually pretty beautiful. It would be nice if it could always stay this way. A world without Erosion Entities, where no one needed to fight... The world before Corruption descended must have been far more wonderful than it is now..."

"Yeah, it was probably captivating..."

Beside her, Efnir crouched down. The spear in her hand slowly dissolved into starlight.

"If none of this existed... Or rather, if everything were to end, what would you want to do, Ayse?"

"What would I want to do?"

Ayse turned her head toward Efnir.

A breeze brushed against her cheek, carrying the distinctive warmth of an afternoon wind.

Efnir looked somewhere far away. Her silver hair had been dyed a beautiful orange by the sunlight, and the warm midday wind lifted her strands.

Stardust danced and clouds bloomed in brilliant colors. Efnir resembled a serene fairy from a painting. For no reason at all, Ayse felt a stir in her heart and awkwardly looked away.

"Um... what do you mean, Senior?"

"Dreams, perhaps?"

"I'd still go back to school... probably?"

"Does Ayse like school?"

"Not really... I'm happy that I get to see my classmates every day, but the teachers are always nagging, and there's endless homework... Well, it's not as if school has ever demanded anything from me..."

Ayse put on a thoughtful expression, then sighed as though giving up.

"Anyway, Senior asked, but I've never really thought about things like that. I just think that if we didn't have to face death and parting... that kind of world would be so dazzling... In a world like that, even a slightly boring life would surely be captivating..."

She turned back, looked carefully at Efnir, and asked hesitantly.

"Then... if it were you, Senior, what would you do?"

Hospital

"I don't know either..."

Efnir lowered her gaze thoughtfully.

"I once thought it would be nice to learn pastry-making and become a pastry chef. Later, I thought it might be nice to find an easy job. It would be even better if I had more money than I could spend, at least enough to buy endless desserts."

"Eep? It's all for desserts?"

"Without desserts, I'll turn into a withered, rotten branch."

Ayse blinked awkwardly.

Efnir liked sweets. That was the little secret Shinomiyami Nami had told her, but Ayse had never had the chance to verify it, nor had she imagined just how devoted Efnir was to desserts.

It seemed her sweet tooth was a serious condition.

And besides...

"Senior Efnir, aren't you going to continue being an idol?"

"I won't. Well... I'm actually not very good at dealing with that sort of thing."

Efnir broke into a smile and shook her head.

"Ayse, tell me... If one day you discovered that someone you deeply respected and admired wasn't actually as wonderful as you imagined, how would you react?"

"Of course I'd be disappointed."

"Is that so..."

"But maybe it wouldn't be a big deal."

"Why?"

Ayse thought for a moment.

"The reason is simple. Why did I admire her in the first place? That's what I should really care about. If I was drawn to her temperament, then maybe I'd overlook her other qualities, like if she had bad grades or was actually a delinquent girl..."

"A delinquent girl..."

"N-No, no, no! Of course, of course! It doesn't necessarily have to be a girl! I-I was just giving an example!"

Ayse hurriedly waved her hands.

"Anyway, everyone sees things from a different perspective, so we can't just jump to conclusions. If we don't actually try, then of course there's no way to know!"

"Is that so?"

Efnir raised a hand, shielding the sunlight as she spread her fingers.

Heat spread across her palm, and light leaked through the gaps between her fingers. Once the sun was hidden, her vision was filled with white clouds and an azure sky.

Only within the Inner Boundary could one see scenery like this.

"Ayse, afterward, I'll have to ask you and Canary to return and report to headquarters."

"Eep? Senior, aren't you coming back? Is it because of the handover work?"

"Something like that."

Below the venue, Special Disaster Division vehicles and personnel had already arrived.

The Apostle girl had surrendered her Sacred Relic and disarmed herself, but they still could not afford to lower their guard. Without a scan to confirm it, they could not rule out the possibility that she was carrying other lethal weapons. Thus, when Efnir took over the battle against the Whale-type Erosion Entity, she had handed the girl over to two other agents to watch.

Afterward, under headquarters' orders, Efnir would hand the Apostle girl over to the Special Disaster Division. She would be detained as a valuable lead and source of intelligence for the investigation into the unknown organization she belonged to, awaiting investigation and interrogation.

"But there's also something important that I absolutely have to do."

Efnir stood up, took a deep breath, and cast her gaze toward the distant horizon.

For Ayse, the battle here was over.

But for Efnir, many things were only just beginning.

If everything the Apostle girl had said was true, then this was not the time for Efnir to stop and rest.

If the secret she had protected all this time was going to be exposed, if Yukina was going to learn all of this...

Then Efnir hoped she could confess it to her in person.

Perhaps Yukina would be disappointed or at a loss, but no matter what, Efnir would accept everything about her.

Only her hand—Efnir would never let it go.

"I see... Then please rest assured, Senior. Leave the combat report for headquarters to Canary and me!"

"Then thank you both."