About Becoming a Magical Girl

United Hospital, Inpatient Department, Special Monitoring Ward—

Ding-dong.

The elevator doors slowly parted to either side. Bright lights met her eyes as Yukina stepped out with unease in her heart, lightly twitching her nose.

The pungent smell of disinfectant washed over her, and the scent lingering in the air made her uncomfortable.

This was the Special Monitoring Ward, a dedicated area jointly operated by United Hospital, the military, and the city government. After the great disaster five days ago, it had become the medical division of the Orderkeepers. Security here was strict. Without the access card Canary had given her, she would never have been able to come here.

There were not many people in sight. Compared to the noisy lobby downstairs, Yukina's first impression of this place was that it was quiet and desolate.

Nurses and doctors hurried past, speaking softly to one another while carrying clipboards and medicine. Every now and then, someone would glance her way.

Yukina shrank her neck.

Honestly, Yukina was not used to the atmosphere of hospitals. That oppressive feeling made her uncomfortable.

"Why did Miss Efnir ask me to come here...?"

Yukina muttered to herself, unable to shake the unease in her heart.

If Efnir had brought her here to fulfill her earlier promise, did that mean her brother was in one of the wards here?

But... why here...?

It had been the same before. Why had her brother entered the staff passage? Who was the girl beside him? What exactly had this brother of hers, who always came home injured, been hiding from her...?

More than resentment, Yukina wanted to see her brother right now.

She only hoped he was safe.

Yukina did not dare let her imagination run any further. She quickly walked up to the nurses' station.

She clutched her phone with its shattered screen and glanced around.

For some reason, there were not even any windows in this area. The air was circulated through the ventilation system, and all she could see around her were snow-white walls and white tiles, carrying the unique chill of a hospital.

Yukina pressed her lips together and hesitantly searched for the signs.

"Excuse me, are you Miss Shiomi?"

A nurse suddenly appeared in front of her and asked.

"Huh? Y-yes..."

Yukina carefully lowered her voice, and the other woman greeted her with a kind smile.

"Miss Efnir asked you to come, correct?"

"Um... y-yes...!"

"Then please follow me."

The nurse's attitude was extremely friendly and gentle, which made Yukina nervous for a moment.

The nurse walked ahead, heading straight toward the end of the corridor and leading Yukina to a ward.

She raised her eyes and saw the name Fengling Shiyin neatly written on the plaque outside the door.

It was not her brother's name...

Rather shamefully, Yukina felt a trace of relief rise in her heart, only for it to be immediately swallowed by confusion. Could this be Miss Efnir's real name? Was Miss Efnir injured?

"Miss Efnir is waiting for you. Please go in."

"Thank you for showing me the way..."

With that, the nurse gave a slight smile and left.

Yukina stood hesitantly before the ward, her emotions rising and falling. The smell of disinfectant made it difficult for her to breathe.

Watching the nurse disappear around the corner, Yukina secretly pinched the hem of her clothes and wiped a few stains against it. Then she hurriedly tidied herself from her hair to her collar to the cuffs of her pants before pulling up her sleeve and sniffing it.

It carried a faint scent of sweat.

Yukina's expression immediately turned awkward, and she became even more hesitant.

She should have brought some perfume with her.

Yukina drooped her shoulders in dejection. She pressed her lips together, hesitated for a long while, and finally raised her hand.

Knock, knock—

"E-excuse me... is Miss Efnir here?"

36, Choice

"Is that Yukina? Come in."

A delicate, pleasant voice came from inside. Yukina paused, then gently pushed open the door.

It was a private ward. Unlike the sealed, oppressive environment outside, a huge floor-to-ceiling panoramic window faced the room. A corner of sunlight spilled in from outside, and from here, Xijing City's bustling downtown could be seen. The white room carried a faint chill, while the air was filled with the light scent of disinfectant and an unknown flower fragrance.

From Yukina's angle, she could just see a corner of the white hospital bed and some unfamiliar white flowers placed by the wall.

Yukina shifted her gaze and looked at the girl sitting beside the bed—Efnir.

Efnir had her back to Yukina at the moment, seemingly watching the person on the bed. Her silver-white hair draped over her shoulders like moonlight, like a waterfall, capturing Yukina's gaze.

They had only suddenly grown closer today.

That was all.

Yet simply looking at her like this, it felt as though Yukina's heartbeat was being drawn along by her, cheering and leaping with joy.

She wanted to rush over and hug her.

The sudden urge made Yukina's cheeks burn.

"Don't be so reserved. Come over here."

"S-sorry to intrude..."

Coming back to her senses, Yukina hurriedly looked away, closed the door behind her, and carefully walked past the entrance.

The full layout of the ward came into view.

The panoramic window occupied half the room. The hospital bed stood farther inside at the center, surrounded by various unfamiliar instruments. Several bouquets sat on a table to one side, some already beginning to wilt. Yukina also noticed a violin case half-hidden behind a flower basket.

The owner of this ward was probably a violin enthusiast. She must have had quite a few friends too; that much was clear from the number and freshness of the bouquets.

Yukina shifted her gaze and saw the person lying on the bed. She was a delicate, quiet-looking girl.

But...

She was completely different from what Yukina had imagined. The girl lying in the bed had her eyes tightly shut, and her right sleeve hung empty. She... had lost her right hand. Like a doll wrapped in pale white bandages, she lay sleeping quietly.

Yukina stared at the girl, covering her mouth, startled.

"Miss Efnir, she..."

Yukina's eyes trembled. She did not know what the sudden wave of unease in her heart meant.

"She is Fengling Shiyin."

Efnir's voice was soft, like fallen leaves in autumn, landing in Yukina's heart.

Fengling Shiyin. The name on the door was as beautiful as the girl herself.

Yukina studied Fengling Shiyin, but Efnir's next words left her stunned.

"Well, you might not know her by that name, but you should recognize her codename. She is Fifina... During the battle five days ago, she was severely wounded and ultimately went into shock from excessive blood loss. There are still no signs of her waking up. The doctors said she might never wake up again for the rest of her life..."

"Huh? She is... Miss Fifina?"

Yukina had been completely unprepared for this sudden revelation. Her eyes widened as she froze.

Of course Yukina knew about the massive Erosion Disaster five days ago. It had been all over the internet, but the specific details had never been released. She never would have imagined that this girl named Fengling Shiyin was Fifina.

Yukina stood there blankly. Her lips moved, but she suddenly could not say anything.

She was Fifina, Efnir's partner.

When exactly... had things become like this...?

No wonder...

No wonder Efnir had looked at her that way back then.

Something suddenly seemed to clench around her heart. Yukina looked at the sleeping girl on the bed and instinctively looked away.

Yukina suddenly felt that perhaps she should not have come here.

"You don't need to make that sad expression. As long as there is fighting, there will be casualties. That is only natural..."

Efnir lowered her gaze and spoke softly. Her calm tone made the air feel oppressive and heavy.

"For Shiyin, perhaps she had prepared herself to face this day long ago. Her efforts saved thousands of lives. I think she must have fought until the very end for that moment. Now, as Fifina, she has reached her end. I wondered whether I should take this opportunity to let her rest... If we agents go too long without Resonance with a Beacon, we gradually lose ourselves. Whether it is our memories or this power, everything will slowly return to zero. Perhaps by the time she wakes up, all of this will have become a dream..."

A Butterfly Hairpin lay quietly in Efnir's palm. As though hiding from something, she kept her face obscured behind the silver hair that hung down.

"But still... the one who cannot let go is me. Shiyin lost her parents long ago. I only learned that recently. For her, perhaps there is no longer anywhere to return to or anyone to rely on. She once had a wish—to keep playing the violin. She practiced with whatever time she had left each day and even won awards at school. She was such a hardworking girl. And yet..."

Efnir spoke in a calm tone Yukina could not understand, her head lowered quietly.

"Miss Efnir..."

Seeing Efnir like this, Yukina did not know what to do. The hand she had raised fell again.

Efnir... looked so lonely... It felt as though her heart were being tightly squeezed.

But if she suddenly hugged her at a time like this, it would probably only disgust her... Her relationship with Efnir probably had not reached the point where she could take such liberties.

In the end, the restless feelings in her heart settled down.

"Um... Miss Efnir... are you okay?"

"I'm fine. And... just call me Efnir. We don't need to be so formal with each other."

"Um... okay..."

Yukina had nowhere to put her hands as she looked uneasily at the girl on the bed.

On television and online, she occasionally heard reports of agents being injured or dying in the line of duty, usually announced alongside disaster reports. Back then, those casualties had merely been numbers passing through her mind... This was the first time Yukina had encountered something like this so closely.

She pressed her lips together and could not help thinking.

Would the person lying here one day become Efnir...?

The thought circled in her chest, clogging her throat like cotton and making Yukina feel suffocated.

"Does this... happen often?"

"Perhaps. That is probably what it means to be an agent."

Efnir took a deep breath and spoke slowly.

"The average service period for agents is only one year and eight months. This figure comes from statistics on the service records of all retired or deceased agents in the Human Alliance. Of the samples, forty-nine percent ended their service through death in the line of duty, thirty-three percent through disappearance, and the remainder were forced into retirement due to severe psychological or physical trauma."

Yukina widened her eyes and said nothing.

She did not know whether she should speak at a time like this, or what she should say if she did. If an outsider like her brought up such topics, it would feel far too heavy.

But why was Efnir suddenly telling her these things? No matter how slow Yukina might be, she had more or less realized that Efnir was revealing confidential information. None of it was something that could be casually told to others.

Yukina did not consider herself special.

Was it because of that hug?

Or perhaps...

That hairpin.

What exactly did Efnir want to tell her?

Questions lingered in her heart and would not fade. Neither of them spoke, and the air sank into silence.

The room echoed with the monotonous, indifferent beeping of the monitoring device. The IV bottle was connected to a long soft tube, its needle inserted into Fengling Shiyin's left arm.