About Becoming a Magical Girl Chapter 45

She hurriedly tugged at Yukina's sleeve, only to suddenly notice that Yukina seemed a little unnatural. Facing the beautiful young woman, Yukina stood up.

"Big sis..."

Hearing Yukina's words, Kanade Kotone froze as well.

"B-Big sis...?"

Kanade Kotone looked carefully at Yukina, then raised her gaze toward the beautiful young woman walking over.

56, Yanase Naoko

"You must be Kanade, right? It's nice to meet you. I'm Shiomi Yukina's older sister."

Efnir smiled at Kanade Kotone, flawlessly concealing her own awkwardness. Her ability to perform under pressure as an idol was on full display.

Yukina, standing beside them, wore a strange expression.

Anyone could tell she had made that up on the spot. She had probably said the same thing to the teachers when she came to school, hadn't she?

Kanade Kotone stared at Efnir and Yukina for a long while before finally replying in a stammering whisper.

"H-Hello, Big Sis..."

She's so pretty, so pretty, so pretty! She's not inferior to Shiomi at all!

Kanade Kotone was utterly dazzled.

Why had Shiomi Yukina never mentioned having such a beautiful older sister? Oh, no, that wasn't right. She had mentioned it this morning—she seemed to have said something about an older sister...

Then Kanade Kotone remembered the incredibly expensive car she had seen that morning.

—Beautiful, rich, young. That was Kanade Kotone's first impression of Efnir.

Deep down, Kanade Kotone fiercely scolded the silent Yukina.

She had always felt that she did not know Shiomi Yukina well enough, but now it seemed that Yukina's family was indeed anything but ordinary...

"...Her condition is unusual. It doesn't seem to be an injury caused solely by a volleyball impact. Since she was hit in the jaw, I can't be sure whether there are any hidden injuries. It would be better to give her a full-body examination."

The school nurse said.

Efnir nodded as well.

"In that case, let me take her to the hospital. That would be better. I'll cover the expenses."

"That would be wonderful, but we still need her father's consent."

The school nurse paused, then suddenly sighed.

"This child's father is very busy. We called him this afternoon, but he never came. He doesn't seem easy to talk to either. In any case, if you're willing, I can give you his phone number."

"That's fine. I'll speak with her father myself."

"Then please wait a moment. I'll prepare a temporary leave application for you. You only need to sign it."

Once they had the application, all that remained was to take Kanade to the hospital.

At that moment, Yukina suddenly grabbed Efnir's hand.

"Big Sis, there's something I want to ask you... about some things that have been happening to me..."

Efnir and Yukina came to the courtyard. It was class time, and there was no one else around.

"You mean you've felt... abnormalities in your body?"

Efnir did not quite understand Yukina's blunt description and frowned as she thought.

According to Yukina, she had realized that morning that her body seemed to be undergoing some kind of change. Her five senses and physical abilities were rapidly rising, as though sprinting up a mountain.

Yukina had not adapted to those changes, so she had failed to control her strength and injured Kanade Kotone.

Efnir gently closed her eyes. When she opened them again, her pupils had turned a beautiful crimson.

She raised her head and searched between the school buildings. Before long, she found Yukina's classroom.

"Yukina, can you see your classroom?"

"Yes. Very clearly."

"Then on the bulletin board on the wall of the corridor to the left of your classroom, what is the second character on the second line of the second paragraph of the main text on the second poster?"

"Study."

Correct.

Efnir blinked, and her eyes returned to normal. When she looked at the bulletin board again, she could no longer make out any of the words.

She frowned, rare concern showing in her eyes.

To be honest, Efnir was not entirely without guesses regarding the strange things Yukina had described. In fact, after Efnir became an Agent, she had gone through a similar period herself, often crushing teacups or breaking doorframes because she could not control her strength.

Many Agents had experienced this. It was the result of their bodies being unable to adapt to a sudden surge in power.

It was like trying to thread a needle through thick gloves.

But the difference was that after others ended Synchronization, the power in their bodies quickly faded. Neither the enhancement of their five senses nor the changes in their physical strength remained. Yet Yukina was now displaying abilities no weaker than an Agent's without being in a synchronized state.

It was Efnir's first time hearing of such a situation.

If there was anything different about Yukina compared to everyone else, the only possibility was that she was an "Absolute Compatible Candidate."

But because this concerned Yukina, Efnir could not jump to conclusions.

"..."

Efnir's troubled expression was impossible to miss, and Yukina asked softly.

"Could it be... that even you don't know, Big Sis?"

"I've never seen a case like yours, but I'm not completely without leads."

Efnir paused, then asked.

"When did these changes begin?"

"I don't know when they started. I didn't feel like this yesterday. I first noticed it during class today, around... ten or eleven."

"Other than these physical changes, have you felt anything else?"

"No..."

Yukina shook her head, then paused again.

"No, actually, I've felt a little tightness in my chest. It started this morning and hasn't improved at all, but I'm not sure whether it's related. Maybe I just didn't rest well last night..."

Efnir carefully observed Yukina. From Efnir's perspective, there was not the slightest sign of Synchronization on Yukina's body.

Besides, "Fifina" was still in her own hands.

"Yukina, don't move."

Before Yukina could react, Efnir suddenly brushed aside her hair, lowered her lashes slightly, and leaned close to Yukina's cheek.

"Huh?"

Yukina froze for a moment and instinctively raised her hands to brace against Efnir's shoulders, but she could not stop Efnir from drawing closer.

Efnir reached out and gently swept aside Yukina's hair. Then their foreheads touched.

Cool and soft, with a pleasant scent brushing past her nose, Yukina blanked out.

"Her body temperature really is a little abnormal..."

Only after about a breath did Efnir lift her head and look seriously at Yukina.

"Let's go to the hospital. We need to consult an expert about this. We can also have Kanade Kotone examined while we're there."

"Okay."

Yukina's cheeks reddened. She lowered her head in flustered embarrassment and answered softly, unwilling to meet Efnir's eyes.

To take Kanade out of school, they needed consent from both the school and Kanade's guardian.

Efnir called Kanade Kotone's father. The call ended after only a few brief words.

Efnir could not say for certain what kind of person Kanade Kotone's father was, but without a doubt, her first impression of him could not have been worse.

His daughter had been injured, yet he showed no concern whatsoever.

Even when called, all she received was a flat, dry nasal response.

"Mm."

—It was as though her father only knew how to say that one word.

"Kanade's mother seems to have passed away several years ago. After that, her father seemed to become a different person. He often stopped coming home too. Apparently, he wasn't like that before."

Yukina said softly.

"That's what the teachers told me. Kanade herself doesn't talk about these things much..."

"I see..."

Efnir sighed. She had no standing to pry into someone else's family affairs, so all she could do was watch from the sidelines.

"Then you two should get along well."

Efnir expressionlessly put down her phone and took a deep breath.

Families like that did exist from time to time.

With disasters occurring so frequently, human society had long been riddled with holes. Though this world's survivors were still alive, their hearts were steadily warping in distorted directions.

People who had always worked hard to live and smile were suddenly discovered to have killed themselves at home.

They lived and worked intact like machines, but when they broke, it happened without warning, in an instant. The final cause might have been nothing more than a single broken gear.

Countless others chose to sink into depravity.

Efnir had once pursued a criminal to the place where he lived. Abandoned underground parking garages and unfinished buildings were where he often lurked. There lived wretched people who survived on alcohol and low-grade powder, so decayed that they were horrifying, like wandering corpses.

In a sense, those people were becoming monsters.

What White Hole Erosion brought was not merely infection and mutation of the flesh. It did the same to the heart and mind.

Efnir drove Yukina and Kanade Kotone to the Special Monitoring Ward of United Hospital's inpatient department. Familiar with the place, she quickly found Nishizaki Yuki and asked the outstanding young doctor to give Kanade Kotone a full-body examination.

Kanade Kotone was so nervous throughout the process that she did not say a word.

A beautiful and gentle young woman, a private car expensive enough to make her teeth ache, and a personal physician bearing the title of an academic giant.

It was Kanade Kotone's first time having such an experience, and it once again ignited her intense curiosity about Efnir.

"It's nothing serious. She just needs rest and proper recovery, but..."

Nishizaki Yuki put down the examination report with a puzzled expression, tapping the cigarette case in her hand against the desk again and again.

"I'm curious. What kind of volleyball could leave someone like this?"

"That's also the answer I want you to find for me."

The Special Monitoring Ward of United Hospital's inpatient department—many people knew that it had once been a specialized area jointly established and used by United Hospital, the military, and the city government. But few knew that, at one point, it had undertaken a research project involving Numbered Subjects infected by Corruption.

In other words, the predecessor of the Special Monitoring Ward had actually been a Numbered Subjects research institution, existing as a secret organization unrecognized by human society.

The so-called Numbered Subjects was actually a term left over from the old era.