About Becoming a Magical Girl

"Is this Yukina's?"

Efnir frowned.

"I remember... during the last checkup, it really was only a little over seven percent. I don't know why, either."

Yukina answered without lying.

To ensure unified and effective management of infected people, city residents were required to undergo annual Corruption rate examinations and statistical registration. This was one area in which every city enforced the rules with exceptional strictness.

Efnir remembered that Yukina had been attacked by an Erosion Entity a year ago. Her Corruption rate had therefore reached seven percent long ago, and it had remained stable at that level without changing for a very long time.

"I tested it twice. There's no problem—this is Yukina's actual result. As for why her Corruption rate rose, or when it rose, I have no idea. Yukina herself doesn't seem to have any clues either."

Nishizaki Yuki glanced at Yukina before continuing.

"But there's no use dwelling on that now. Efnir, you know that generally speaking, a Corruption rate below five percent is considered relatively normal. Anything over ten percent requires vigilance."

If it exceeded fifty percent, there was an extremely high risk of transforming into Dregs. The person would need to be isolated and closely monitored. Once their bodily functions were found to be rapidly deteriorating and they turned into Dregs, they would be executed immediately. In the distant past, such people had been called "Numbered Subjects."

After the Human Alliance perfected and gradually implemented the Boundary Stele system and cities were established, the term "Numbered Subjects" was abolished.

But the Numbered Subjects had not vanished entirely. Their numbers had merely fallen to the point where they no longer posed a major threat, becoming manageable research subjects. They were gathered in specialized institutions for containment, where researchers continued tirelessly studying them in hopes of finding other means to resist Corruption.

Within the Human Alliance's Central Province, quite a few laboratories researching these people still remained.

"Your sister's condition clearly can't be taken lightly, but there's no need to worry too much either. She's undergone Synchronization, so she can be considered half an Agent. As long as you pay closer attention from now on, it shouldn't be a problem."

Nishizaki Yuki said.

Fracture

Corruption rate was a standard index used to measure the degree of human mutation. Being attacked and infected by Erosion Entities, inhaling air mutated by Erosion Entities during disasters, or leaving the city for Fallen Zones Beyond the Boundary that lacked the protection of Boundary Steles and being exposed to White Hole Erosion—all of these could cause one's Corruption rate to rise.

And once a Corruption rate rose, it would never decrease.

Except for Agents. Agents possessed power sufficient to resist Corruption. Even if they were infected during battle, as long as they had not completely fallen into Dregs, given enough time to recuperate, the Corruption rate within their bodies would gradually decline to a safe range.

If Yukina had been an ordinary person, a Corruption rate of over ten percent would indeed have been cause for vigilance. But for an Agent, even twenty or thirty percent was commonplace.

Shiina Rin, Furan, was one such case. She had exhausted herself in battle, lost her Synchronization, and been attacked by an Erosion Entity, resulting in a Corruption rate exceeding sixty percent.

She was currently still recuperating in this hospital. Her room was upstairs.

By comparison, Yukina's Corruption rate of just over ten percent would return to normal in one or two weeks. Nishizaki Yuki had seen many cases like Yukina's and knew that Agents were not afraid of infection at this level. That was why she had not appeared overly concerned.

"Could it be because she was attacked by an Erosion Entity before Synchronization...?"

Efnir knitted her brows tightly and gripped Yukina's hand.

Yukina had told her that when she went to the lounge looking for her "brother," she had encountered a strangely shaped Erosion Entity. Yukina had no memory of what happened afterward, and when she regained consciousness, that huge creature had completely disappeared.

The first Synchronization would inevitably cause mental confusion. Perhaps Yukina had been attacked by the Erosion Entity before that and had accidentally triggered Synchronization. It was only natural that she had no memory of it.

"My guess is similar to yours, so don't worry too much. She just needs proper rest, and she'll recover soon enough."

"Mm... no matter what, I'll protect her."

She neither accepted nor rejected Nishizaki Yuki's reassurance.

Perhaps from Nishizaki Yuki's perspective, as someone who often dealt with heavily corrupted Agents, a Corruption rate of just over ten percent naturally would not concern her. But to Efnir, Yukina was her only sister. A rate of over ten percent was already more than twenty percent beyond the safety line. The closer Yukina came to fifty, the more dangerous it became. Efnir would not place her hopes on luck.

Good fortune could not keep coming forever. Entrusting one's hopes to luck was an extremely unreliable thing. If Yukina were hurt due to her own negligence, Efnir would never forgive herself.

Nishizaki Yuki seemed to read Efnir's thoughts from her eyes. She shook her head and sighed.

She had known Efnir for over a year. She was a medical support worker, while Efnir was a frontline combatant. Though they had never stood shoulder to shoulder on the battlefield, they could still be called comrades. Through repeated interactions, they had entrusted one another with absolute trust. Without a doubt, they were both important friends to each other.

But only today, after seeing the confession posted publicly on Efnir's account, did she suddenly realize that perhaps she did not understand Efnir as well as she had imagined.

Perhaps Efnir did not understand her, either.

An inexplicable feeling churned in her chest. It was hard for her to describe, yet undeniably real.

"Is there any other method?"

Efnir's voice interrupted Nishizaki Yuki's thoughts.

She paused, then answered.

"There are some, but Efnir, you know these methods all carry considerable risks. Given Yukina's condition, I think it would be better not to take chances... If you want an absolutely foolproof conservative treatment plan, that will probably be difficult. As far as I know, even those people in Central Province can't manage it."

Humanity's research into Corruption had never stopped, but even so, no method existed to reduce an ordinary person's Corruption rate.

It was an unsolvable crisis humanity had faced all along.

Only Agents were different. But speeding up their body's natural removal of Corruption would inevitably come at an enormous cost. Other than extreme cases like Shiina Rin's, few people chose to do so.

Efnir naturally understood this as well. She lowered her gaze, remained silent for a moment, then sighed.

"So all we can do is wait..."

Efnir was not good at waiting, because waiting meant time passing. It meant accidents arriving without warning. It meant placing hope in passivity, like handing one's fate over to someone else. Without a doubt, it was powerless and helpless.

But now, she had no other choice.

Nishizaki Yuki was an extremely authoritative physician and one of the top researchers here. She was fully informed of the latest developments in every field of academic research. Efnir had no reason to doubt her words.

"Big sister."

At that moment, Yukina spoke softly. Efnir turned her head and met a pair of clear eyes.

Yukina was looking at her. Her lips pressed together before she smiled faintly.

"Don't worry about me. I'm fine."

A soft touch brushed the back of her hand as Yukina's fingertips carefully curled around Efnir's hands.

She took a quiet breath and reviewed the words she had prepared.

"My Corruption rate only went up a little. I'll recover soon. Didn't you ask me to think about whether I should accept Fifina and become an Agent? If that's the case..."

"It's fine to think more carefully about that matter."

Efnir interrupted Yukina and squeezed her hand in return.

"You've undergone Resonance once, and there's still surplus Order Force in your body. You can't mobilize it without a Beacon, but simply using it to clear the Corruption in your body is more than enough. You don't need to make a decision about that right away."

Yukina froze for a moment. She wanted to say something, but seeing that Efnir seemed unwilling to discuss it further, she swallowed her words.

Nishizaki Yuki took in Efnir and Yukina's respective expressions.

After knowing Efnir for so long, she understood her friend's personality well. No matter what choice Yukina made, it would hurt Efnir. Unable to calmly let Yukina take that step, Efnir instead chose to take a step back herself.

Of course, Efnir was not a weak person accustomed to retreating. On the contrary, among Xijing City's Agents, she was unquestionably the foremost. Whenever Erosion Disasters struck, she had always been the one standing at the very front.

In the past, Nishizaki Yuki had often wondered why Efnir differed from other Agents.

In truth, Agents all carried severe psychological trauma to varying degrees. They were no different from soldiers withdrawn from battlefields.

To bury or heal this "hidden ailment," Nishizaki Yuki and the other psychologists did everything they could to provide them with counseling and treatment.

But... battle would not stop. Those wounds would only continue corroding the Agents' hearts, evolving into Fractures and becoming the final straw that broke them during high-intensity combat.

Most people who could not endure it made mistakes in battle due to unstable mental states and died in the line of duty before their heartstrings snapped completely.

The few who survived with severe injuries also lost the strength to fight again and retired from being Agents.

As for those who remained, their Fractures still existed. But their minds would gradually develop something akin to "self-protection" or "numbing." Unconsciously, they reinforced this defense against their Fractures. To outsiders, they seemed no different from ordinary people, but as the physician responsible for these girls, Nishizaki Yuki would never overlook the details others ignored.

The most direct and obvious example was Fengling Shiyin, Fifina, whose deep infatuation with and admiration for Efnir resembled affection and obsession in outsiders' eyes. That feeling could not simply be summed up by the word "love," but it undeniably existed.

Similar cases included Uzuki Saori, Lily, and Shiina Rin, Furan. They were both orphans who had come from the same welfare home, and after meeting, they had never been apart. Nishizaki Yuki had clearly seen their attachment to each other in their eyes. Thus, after Shiina Rin was infected, the organization had deliberately, or perhaps casually, transferred Uzuki Saori's deployment missions to other Agents. This was also the recommendation Nishizaki Yuki and the other physicians had made.

For these Agents, perhaps those close to them were simply more likely to become the people they depended on.

But Efnir was different. Nishizaki Yuki had never discovered Efnir's Fracture. She was brave and optimistic, powerful and rational. Nothing seemed capable of becoming an obstacle or shackle for her.

So outside of work, whenever she had free time, Nishizaki Yuki often sought Efnir out to chat, quietly listening as she spoke of her sister. As a physician, Nishizaki Yuki needed to carefully watch over the mental state of this strongest Agent, and that was how they became friends.

But Efnir today was very unusual, as though she had become a different person. Especially when Shiomi Yukina was involved, the invincible Efnir was nowhere to be seen.

Nishizaki Yuki keenly noticed that faint, concealed abnormality. At last, she realized that this was where Efnir's Fracture lay—her sister, Shiomi Yukina.

It was intuition, yet not merely intuition.

Just as she had quietly accompanied Efnir all this time and watched Efnir smile as she proudly spoke of her sister, perhaps Efnir's concern for Yukina had slowly changed at some point without her noticing. It had become something Efnir was unwilling to face. Efnir herself was merely deceiving herself and avoiding it.

Past Events

It was not that Efnir had no Fracture. The key lay with her younger sister, Shiomi Yukina. Otherwise, Efnir's abnormal behavior could not be explained.

The more Nishizaki Yuki considered it, the more certain she became of this guess.

Lowering her gaze silently, Nishizaki Yuki felt both moved and excited that she had finally taken another step toward understanding Efnir. Yet she also felt an indescribable sense of loss.

The strange feeling surprised her. Unwilling to think too deeply about it, she pulled out a cigarette and lit it. Blue smoke curled upward in strands, only to be scattered by the cool breeze from the air conditioner.

Efnir and Yukina said something else, but Nishizaki Yuki did not deliberately listen. Then Efnir looked over at her. Seeing that she was smoking again, Efnir's gaze wavered slightly, but she said nothing.

"By the way, Efnir, aside from the change in Yukina's Corruption rate, you must have discovered something else, right?"

The unease in her heart would not fade, but this was not the time for wild thoughts. After a brief silence, Nishizaki Yuki suddenly asked.

"There was also a change in her Order Force level."

Nishizaki Yuki tapped off the burnt ash and took another document from beside her.

"Yes. For a prospective Agent undergoing First Synchronization, her data is a little too exceptional."

"Could this be the reason? Something like uncontrollable Resonance?"

"I don't think so. There are no signs that Yukina used a Beacon."

Nishizaki Yuki denied it.

"Besides, that isn't what I wanted to say. Explaining Yukina's abnormalities based on that alone wouldn't be sufficiently convincing. Agents with high compatibility do indeed have higher Order Force retention rates. There are precedents for this. Efnir, I heard that your compatibility with Ephnel is exceptionally high. I wonder if my guess is correct. That should also have been one of the reasons they ultimately made an exception and chose you to become Ephnel."

Generally speaking, one's compatibility had to reach a certain level before they were qualified to become an Agent. Most Agents in Xijing City had roughly similar compatibility levels. Apart from them, the only special cases were Qinglan and Efnir. Qinglan's was extremely low, while Efnir's was extremely high. They were two entirely different extremes.

Compatibility was an index that measured an eligible person's "talent" for serving as an Agent. The higher one's compatibility, the more freely one could mobilize Order Force. For example, Efnir could concentrate Order Force in a specific part of her body and greatly enhance it. Few others could do this—or rather, no one could control it as effortlessly as Efnir.

It was an innate difference that could not be overcome through effort alone. Just as only some people possessed the qualifications to become Agents, it was unfair in a sense.

"...You could say that."

Efnir did not deny it.

At that moment, Efnir's phone suddenly vibrated. Someone was calling.

Efnir took out her phone and glanced at it, then froze slightly before speaking to Nishizaki Yuki.

"Sorry, Yuki. Excuse me for a moment."

"Go ahead."

Holding her phone, Efnir pushed open the door and left.

Once in the corridor, Efnir found a quiet corner and answered the call.

"Hello?"

A warm, pleasant female voice came from the other end. It was a voice that Efnir and Yukina had once known extremely well.

Efnir pressed her lips together and lowered her voice.

"Mom."

The moment Yanase Naoto's voice was heard, delighted laughter came from the other end.

In this fragmented era, several countries had been divided by region under the Human Alliance. Efnir's parents had left this city—and this continent—long ago, traveling to the other side of the ocean.

Two years had passed in the blink of an eye. They spoke on the phone two or three times every month. Just as Efnir missed them, they missed their son and adopted daughter dearly.