About Becoming a Magical Girl

Efnir reclined diagonally on her bedroom bed, letting the soft velvet rise around her and envelop her body.

Holding her tablet, she idly swiped her fingers across the screen.

After leaving the organization, Efnir would occasionally pick up her tablet and refresh the information posted online.

Although Masaki Hina had said that if another Erosion Disaster or accident that could not be easily resolved occurred in Xijing City during Efnir's vacation, she would definitely contact Efnir immediately and explain the situation.

At that point, Efnir would return to her post and do her job.

Between plans, vacation, and other people's lives, the latter was undoubtedly the most important and fundamental.

But Efnir could not help feeling somewhat worried.

And besides...

How to confess everything she had been hiding all along also troubled her.

Her heart was in a mess, carrying a sensation like weightlessness.

Knock knock—

There was suddenly a knock at the door.

"Sis, are you still awake?"

It was Yukina's voice. Efnir hurriedly tossed aside her tablet and opened the door.

Yukina was still wearing that smoky-purple slip dress, hugging a pillow in her arms. From where Efnir stood facing her at the open door, she could directly see Yukina's fair, delicate neck and the soft curves faintly visible beneath the smooth hollow of her collarbone.

A pleasant fragrance filled the air. Efnir awkwardly looked away, not quite daring to look at Yukina, and asked instead.

"So Yukina, you're still awake... Is something wrong?"

"I... it's nothing... I just..."

Yukina lowered her lashes, her voice soft.

"Can I come sit in your room for a while, Sis? I can't sleep..."

"Huh?"

Yukina sat on the edge of the bed, clutching her pillow tightly to her chest. Her lovely feet extended from beneath her dress, her toes curling now and then.

Right now, she was in Efnir's bedroom, sitting on Efnir's bed.

A sudden flutter in her heart had made her come over with her pillow without thinking.

Yet she had unexpectedly not been turned away.

It all felt a little unbelievable.

When was the last time she had been in someone else's bedroom...? Yukina could no longer remember clearly.

She had always been withdrawn and quiet, with few friends since childhood.

When she was younger, she often went to "her brother's" room to play, and sometimes she would unknowingly fall asleep on "her brother's" bed.

But since moving into this apartment, this was Yukina's first time entering her sister's room.

They had suddenly moved into this apartment a little over a year ago. Thinking back on it now, Yukina realized that Efnir had gradually become well-known around that time too.

The overhead light was a bright white that did not quite suit a bedroom. The walls were spotless, and not a trace of dust had gathered on the floor. The air carried a faint, clear sweetness, like that of some slightly ripened fruit, mingled with the subtle scent of Efnir's body wash.

A bookshelf crammed with books, a clean and tidy desk, a small aloe plant, and a half-open, empty wardrobe.

Less than half of this small room's space was utilized. Its simple furnishings felt comfortable and relaxing, yet also conveyed emptiness and monotony.

Just like the impression "Yanase Naoto" gave people.

This was Efnir's bedroom, every corner overflowing with Efnir's presence.

Yukina quietly drew back her gaze, her heart pounding wildly.

So... being alone in the bedroom of someone she liked was even more nerve-racking than she had imagined.

But...

The person she had fallen for was her own sister.

Yukina lowered her lashes and buried her chin in the soft pillow, hiding nearly half of her clean little face.

"Sis..."

She spoke softly.

"...Aren't you going to sleep yet?"

"Well, I still have something to do."

Efnir sat with her back to Yukina in front of the computer, her fingers resting over the keyboard. She turned to glance at the clock.

"It's already midnight... If you're tired, Yukina, you should get some rest early. You have classes at school tomorrow."

As she said this, Efnir turned back to look at her, but quickly turned away again with obvious awkwardness.

"I can't sleep..."

Yukina murmured thickly into the pillow, her gaze unconsciously sticking to Efnir's back.

Since there did not seem to be any women's pajamas in the house, Efnir was wearing the men's clothes she usually wore. But precisely because of that, the view of Efnir's chest was remarkably unobstructed.

And somehow, it added a subtle hint of allure.

Although they had interacted normally every day before this, the atmosphere between them now was entirely different.

The feeling was strange.

50, Tranquility

"Sis, can I stay here until you decide to go to sleep?"

Yukina lowered her head and asked.

At first, Yukina had not been used to it, but now she had unconsciously begun calling Efnir Sis. What had once been deliberate was gradually becoming a little more natural.

Maybe... somewhere deep down, she had already begun to compromise.

But what exactly was it?

"Um..."

Efnir hesitated slightly.

"But I might go to sleep a little late..."

"I don't mind. If I get tired, I'll sleep on my own."

"Then... don't stay up too late."

"Mm."

Yukina lowered her gaze, turning slightly sideways as she leaned against the headboard.

"You too, Sis... Don't stay up too late."

"Okay."

The air settled once more, filled with the rhythmic tapping of keys.

Yukina listened in silence, lost in thought.

Yukina was actually very tired, so exhausted that her body felt like it was about to fall apart. Yet she simply could not sleep. Leaning like this made her waist feel a little awkward, but her neck was much more comfortable.

Her thoughts boiled within her.

She had unconsciously stepped into Efnir's room and ended up alone with Efnir... She had never even imagined something like this before.

She liked Efnir.

It was romantic affection, but... this person was also her sister. If she allowed these feelings to ferment, would she not ultimately walk down a path with no possible outcome?

Yukina sighed softly. Her gaze wandered aimlessly around the room before finally falling on the pillow by the headboard.

That was Efnir's pillow.

A very clean, utterly un-cute white pillow. It suited that person perfectly.

The middle of the pillow was slightly sunken, and the sheet behind it bore fresh indentations and wrinkles. Yukina remembered that before she had entered, Efnir seemed to have been lying there the whole time.

Behind her was the spot where her sister had just slept.

Yukina stared at it fixedly, then instinctively reached out and gently laid her palm over it.

The pillow was soft, made of pure cotton. Since its owner had been gone for a while, it seemed to retain none of her body warmth. The real texture traveled from Yukina's palm straight into her heart.

Before she knew it, she had grown to nearly the same height as her sister.

If she and her sister lay facing each other, would their gazes meet just as their toes happened to touch?

Palm against palm, lips against lips—every inch of their bodies could be touched by the other's skin, sharing and accepting each other's warmth.

Those thoughts quietly arose and immediately occupied Yukina's mind.

Sure enough, love could not be hidden. As long as she came into contact with that person's presence, her imagination would inevitably run wild.

An unfamiliar flutter spread through her heart, climbing up Yukina's neck and cheeks.

Her breathing grew hot.

The soft tapping of keys still echoed through the air. Yukina carefully lifted her gaze toward Efnir's back.

Efnir had not noticed her.

Yukina swallowed with her dry throat.

As if possessed, Yukina quietly lay down like a thief, resting diagonally on Efnir's pillow.

It smells so nice...

Efnir's pleasant scent was suddenly squeezed out from the cotton stuffing, its clean fragrance lingering around Yukina's ears and nose, intertwining with her breath and hair like layer upon layer of snowflakes wrapping around her.

Yukina felt dazed.

It was as though she had returned to that time, resting against Efnir's shoulder and breathing in the scent of her hair.

Like a warm spring breeze blowing toward her, as though every cell in her body had been brushed by lush green leaves, Yukina felt a peace she had never known before.

In her own room, her heart had been filled with tension, fluttering anticipation, unease, anxiety, and hesitation. These indescribable emotions fermented inside her, tearing at her heart.

But immersed in Efnir's presence, all those thoughts were suddenly swept away.

Her tense body gradually relaxed.

The fatigue accumulated over the day surged into her mind all at once, creeping through every inch of muscle.

Unable to resist, Yukina gently closed her eyes.

Before long, she fell deeply asleep.

"I'm sorry. Although it's rather late now, there is something I have to confess and apologize for here, at this moment."

"This concerns me and my younger sister. I hid it for a long time, and I kept running away from it..."

"Actually..."

It was plain and straightforward, without elaborate emotional language or embellishment. She merely recounted her situation in a conversational tone, skillfully directing the potential blade of public opinion at herself.

Efnir had not foolishly revealed her and Yukina's true identities. In just a few hundred words, she briefly explained what she had concealed regarding the "Absolute Compatible Candidate," then apologized at the end.

Though somewhat hasty and sparse, this "letter of confession" was complete at last.

Efnir reviewed it one final time and found no typos. Then she copied the edited text into her personal status field, hesitated for a moment, and finally pressed Enter to update her account status.