About Becoming a Magical Girl

"I saw it."

Masaki Hina sighed, propping her chin on her hand as she leaned against the desk, her gaze wandering around the room.

"That 'Apostle' was really strong... If an enemy like her appears again, you're probably the only one on our side who can subdue her."

"The Special Disaster Division could do it too."

"No! Those crude people would definitely kill the target! What would be the point if we couldn't capture such a valuable source of information alive?"

"Let me remind you: people like her are our enemies, and there are plenty stronger than her. If we aim to capture them alive rather than kill them, we might be the ones who die."

"It's just a hypothetical, a hypothetical..."

Faced with Efnir's cold gaze, Masaki Hina could only pout.

"Besides, you should have noticed by now. There are their people within our organization. Since six days ago, we've been played for fools the entire time... If we keep holding our ground and waiting, we might fall into their next trap. But the information we have is extremely limited—practically nonexistent. We need to know what they actually want, and what mission the person behind that girl gave her."

Efnir said.

"She's our only lead right now. Progress will probably be slow... But I remembered something interesting. That self-proclaimed Apostle had been doing everything she could to drive a wedge between me and the organization from beginning to end, as though it would bring her tremendous benefit. That bothered me. So based on that, I have an idea worth trying."

"What idea? If you don't mind, tell me?"

"Well, something like waiting for the hare by a tree stump, or fishing—since she wants to drive a wedge between me and the organization, I can play along and lure the snake from its hole. I had no intention of putting on a show for her, but since things have come to this, acting naturally isn't impossible. This time, I came to your office in Exile Form. If we use that as an opportunity, others will find it easy to believe it. If word gets out that 'you and I had an argument,' even just a little, plenty of busybodies will flock over. And perhaps 'that person' will be among them."

"I see, so that's why you look like this..."

Masaki Hina looked thoughtful, but then gave Efnir a suspicious look.

"Hey, wait, why are you calling it 'acting naturally'!?"

"Because I did seriously consider it—wiping you all out and leaving this city with Yukina. But after thinking about it, there didn't seem to be anywhere to go, and my little sister probably wouldn't want to see me like that. So I gave up."

"What????"

Masaki Hina's expression immediately became spectacular.

She sprang to her feet indignantly, pointed at Efnir, and spoke with great force but insufficient volume.

"Huh?? You actually thought about it!? And the only reasons you gave up were 'nowhere to go' and 'my sister wouldn't want it'!? Was the friendship we've had for a whole year sold out just like that!? Even if it was for your sister, you're way too heartless! Are you a siscon???"

"Then... explain to me what exactly was going on with that file."

Not backing down in the slightest, Efnir stood up as well and replied sharply.

"Why was there still a record in the organization of something that was supposed to have been destroyed? And why was it deliberately hidden from me? If you can give me an explanation that satisfies me on this matter, I won't pursue it any further."

The moment Efnir finished speaking, Masaki Hina was at a loss for words. She slowly sat back down and gave an awkward smile.

"Well..."

"Forget it. I don't want to hear it. I doubt you can say anything meaningful anyway."

Efnir shot Masaki Hina an irritated glare.

"All this time, whether it was about myself or my little sister, I kept things from you on my own. I'll apologize to you for that here... But I'm sure you've hidden plenty from me too. As far as this matter goes, we're even. Neither of us owes the other anything, and neither of us gets to hold the other hostage."

"Mm... I should be the one apologizing..."

With things having reached this point, Masaki Hina put away her joking expression. She lowered her eyelashes, pressed her lips together, and sighed.

"Your sister's file really was scheduled for destruction. But you know how things are now—humanity is gradually running out of options. So we didn't want to miss even the slightest hope. If you died, this city would lose its greatest trump card against the Erosion Entities. We needed someone strong enough to uphold people's confidence and lead them forward, so..."

"Enough! That's the end of this. Don't say any more."

Efnir impatiently cut Masaki Hina off.

If Efnir had been in Masaki Hina's position, she would have done the same thing—to ensure that after Yanase Naoto, who was Efnir, died, another powerful combatant could step in and fill the gap. But understanding it was one thing; agreeing with it was another.

That was what it meant to have different positions.

Efnir remained expressionless. Masaki Hina silently watched her, then lowered her head as well.

The two were silent for a moment before Efnir spoke again.

"Then let's return to the previous matter..."

"Mm..."

Masaki Hina nodded.

"Then... let me tell you about the results of our investigation."

"Is it about those parasites nesting inside us?"

"That's right. These people are lurking around us, and they're extremely dangerous. What's more troublesome is that we have no idea when they might suddenly jump out and stab us in the back... So I immediately deployed people to investigate and search for them. But in the end, we were still one step too late..."

"What happened?"

"They died."

Masaki Hina pouted, sighed, and gloomily stared at the indoor plants beside her.

"We followed the trail of the identity verification Trace, but all we found were a few corpses. These people were the actual executors. We don't know how they managed to manipulate the Boundary Stele without catching my attention, but now that they're dead, we can't uncover any more information. And we don't know whether they were coerced or abandoned. In any case, the trail has gone cold again."

"I see..."

"But don't worry about it. Today was only the preliminary investigation. We may find some other valuable information later. I'll let you know then."

Efnir nodded in agreement.

Rather, if Masaki Hina could expose the people planted by their opponent in just one afternoon, Efnir would be the first to suspect that Masaki Hina was an undercover agent.

"I also have a piece of information to provide about this. My little sister told me—after Nami sent her to the shelter, a mysterious girl approached her on her own. According to my sister, that mysterious person opened a hidden passage there and let her through. That was how she managed to leave the shelter."

"A hidden passage? I never granted authorization to open it. How could she access it?"

"I'm confused too, but just as the Boundary Stele's program was altered, they may have been able to bypass you and tamper with the shelter as well... In any case, there were three points in time when suspicious people appeared: the person who handed 'Fifina' to my sister at the venue that morning, the person near the venue's preparation room at noon who used my phone to send my sister a message, and the person at the shelter at noon who opened the passage for my sister. They should have appeared in the surveillance footage from those times. Unfortunately, whoever used my phone to send the message left no fingerprints. But I think we can review and screen the surveillance footage from both the shelter and the venue. If we're lucky, we can capture images of their appearances, and perhaps even learn how she bypassed your authority to operate the system."

"Alright. Thanks for telling me. I'll have someone handle it shortly."

Masaki Hina nodded readily, but then raised another question.

"But come to think of it, all these people seem to have their eyes on your little sister... I don't mean anything by it. It's just that their intentions are still unclear, so I think you should keep a closer eye on your sister for a while."

"Mm... Don't worry. I'll stay by her side at all times."

Yukina alone was the most important, no matter what.

New Plan

Efnir looked away, paused, and changed the subject.

"Then on the other side, has there been any progress in the interrogation and investigation of the 'Apostle' being held by the Special Disaster Division?"

"That person? Unfortunately, we still haven't received any reliable answers..."

Masaki Hina said.

"You know that the headquarters is being rebuilt, so we can't hold her here. If we want to learn anything, we have to ask the Special Disaster Division for support. But you know how it is between us and them. On one hand, we cooperate and coexist, but on the other, we're dissatisfied with each other and constantly pushing one another out. They usually won't make things difficult for us over something this major, but over the past six days, we Orderkeepers have messed up three times in a row. The Special Disaster Division has been very blunt about their dissatisfaction in front of me."

By the end, Masaki Hina simply collapsed onto the desk and began sighing like a decrepit old woman near death.

"You said it yourself just now—we have a mole in our organization. The Special Disaster Division has guessed that too, and the result is... they no longer intend to give us information so easily. In short, it's a crisis of trust..."

Efnir fell silent.

What Masaki Hina said was true. The Special Disaster Division and the Orderkeepers Organization needed to assist and support each other, dividing their duties to most effectively prevent casualties and property losses. Neither could carry out the mission of fighting back against Erosion Entities independently of the other.

The Orderkeepers Organization and the Special Disaster Division were two halves of one whole.

But precisely because they were so closely connected while belonging to different institutions, they had different priorities in certain matters and decisions, and those differences eventually became disagreements.

When disagreements happened often enough, a subtle distance formed.

If the shared enemy had kept their conflicts from openly erupting until now, then the appearance of a mole within the Orderkeepers Organization had created a Fracture between the Orderkeepers and the Special Disaster Division, because they could no longer place absolute trust in one another.

"But."

Masaki Hina suddenly twirled a lock of hair around her fingertip and said,

"The Special Disaster Division said that if it's you, they're willing to share information."

"Me??"

This time, Efnir was the confused one.

"That's right. You, Efnir."

Masaki Hina casually twisted her hair between her fingers and put on a serious expression.

"Don't underestimate the reputation you've built up in this city, Magical Girl."

"Stop. I understand. At worst, I'll go there tomorrow."

Even now, Efnir still felt strangely about that title. Not wanting Masaki Hina to continue, she interrupted her.

After a pause, she added,

"But even so, you must do your best to keep pace with the Special Disaster Division. I didn't spare that person's life so you could play house at your leisure. You'd better pry something out of her as soon as possible."

"Oh, right. Speaking of that, there's actually something else I want to ask you to help with."

"What is it?"

"Do you remember Maesakagawa? The small town that was destroyed six days ago..."

Efnir's gaze shifted slightly.

"...I remember. It was destroyed, and that Apostle started plotting against me from there. Even now, my abdomen still aches faintly. I remember it all very clearly."

"Hey, your expression is terrifying..."

Masaki Hina instinctively sat up straighter.

"Well, I was actually going to talk about something else... You know Maesakagawa was one of Xijing City's most important food-producing bases. It was unfortunate for it to suffer such severe destruction this time, and its fall directly caused the city's projected food production for this year to decline by twenty-seven percent compared to last year. We've already urgently begun planting additional short-term crops elsewhere to mitigate the disaster's effects, but that can only serve as an emergency measure, so..."

"So you're already planning a recapture operation?"

"That's right."

"If you're saying you need my help with operations Beyond the Boundary and the operation to reclaim the Maesakagawa Fallen Zone, I don't think I'll agree so easily."

Without even thinking, Efnir voiced her reservations. She took a deep breath and looked Masaki Hina directly in the eye.

"Xijing City is currently beset by troubles both within and without, yet our agents' combat strength is severely insufficient. Several major disasters in succession have placed tremendous pressure on this city. At a time when everyone is so unsettled, I don't think there's anything wrong with postponing the operation to reclaim lost territory. Even if we let all those crops rot there, that would still be better than sacrificing the last of our living forces. Besides, Qinglan is also..."

Efnir trailed off and sighed.

When Qinglan was still around, operations Beyond the Boundary were usually led by Efnir and Qinglan together. Based on information left behind from that era or mission details assigned from above, their task was to explore Fallen Zones Beyond the Boundary. Their main purpose was to search for usable natural resources or other habitable land, though they occasionally escorted people or equipment.

Experienced combat personnel were indispensable in every exploration Beyond the Boundary.

Clearly, Xijing City was stretched thin specifically in terms of manpower, so Efnir believed it was not suitable to conduct operations Beyond the Boundary.

"I understand your concerns, Efnir, but we have an excellent opportunity now."

Masaki Hina smiled calmly, turned around in her chair, and took a document from the computer beside her.

She pushed the document toward Efnir.

Efnir reached out, took it, and flipped through it briefly.

"This is a copied document from the Human Alliance Command Headquarters? That's rare. I thought our city had already been abandoned..."

Under the immense White Hole Erosion, human society had long since completely collapsed. When "that era" reached its end, the shared community of human destiny—the Human Alliance—was born.

Just as its name implied, the Human Alliance united the few remaining nations of humanity at the time, representing humanity's final resistance and hope. It could be said that the Human Alliance was a remnant of that distant age. In Efnir's understanding, there was now little interaction between humanity's urban settlements. Though the Human Alliance was nominally the ultimate governing body, cities were in practice almost entirely autonomous. Usually, only neighboring cities had any contact with each other.

The major cities were nominally accountable to the Human Alliance, but Efnir had never truly felt that reality.

Indeed, to Efnir, the Human Alliance only made its presence known when it occasionally issued investigation missions or public notices. At all other times, it might as well not have existed.

"That's too harsh! I was sent from there to take up this post, you know! Even if you're only pretending, at least act like you're filled with gratitude!"

Masaki Hina complained at Efnir in dissatisfaction, but then, unusually, she sighed and fell silent.

Efnir glanced at her without saying anything.

Human Alliance Central Province—that was where Masaki Hina's hometown was located.

Last year, the former commander of Xijing City's Orderkeepers died in battle, leaving the organization leaderless. That was when Masaki Hina was dispatched by the Human Alliance—as Xijing City's new commander.