About Becoming a Magical Girl

"Is this Yukina's?"

Efnir frowned.

"I remember... the last time I was tested, it 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, residents living in cities were required to undergo and record annual Corruption Rate examinations. Every city enforced this matter with particular strictness.

Efnir remembered that Yukina had been attacked by an Erosion Entity a year ago, so her Corruption Rate had long since reached seven percent. It had remained stable at that level ever since, without changing for a long time.

"I tested it twice. There's no mistake; this is Yukina's actual result. As for why her Corruption Rate rose or when it rose, I don't know. Yukina herself doesn't seem to have any clue either."

Nishizaki Yuki glanced at Yukina before continuing.

"But there's no use dwelling on that right now. Efnir, you know that generally speaking, a Corruption Rate below five percent is considered relatively normal. Once it exceeds ten percent, caution is necessary."

If it exceeded fifty percent, there was an extremely high risk of turning into Dregs. They 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 dropped to a level where they no longer posed a major threat, becoming controllable research subjects. They were confined in specialized institutions, where researchers continued tirelessly studying them in hopes of finding other ways to resist Corruption.

Within the Human Alliance's Central Province, quite a few laboratories dedicated to 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 more attention from now on, it won't be a problem."

Nishizaki Yuki said.

Fracture

The Corruption Rate was the standard index used to measure the degree of Mutation in the human body. Being attacked and infected by Erosion Entities, inhaling air mutated by Erosion Entities during a disaster, or leaving the city for Fallen Zones Beyond the Boundary without 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 the Corruption Rate rose, it would never decrease.

Except for Agents. Agents possessed the power to resist Corruption. Even if they were infected in battle, as long as they had not completely fallen into Dregs, given sufficient time to recuperate, the Corruption Rate in their bodies would gradually fall back into the safe range.

If Yukina had been an ordinary person, a Corruption Rate in the teens would indeed have warranted caution. But for an Agent, even a number slightly higher—twenty or even thirty percent—was commonplace.

Shiina Rin, Furan, was one such case. She had exhausted herself in battle, lost Synchronization, and was attacked by an Erosion Entity, leaving her Corruption Rate above sixty percent.

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

By comparison, Yukina's Corruption Rate in the teens would only need one or two weeks to return to normal. Nishizaki Yuki had seen many cases like Yukina's and knew that Agents did not fear infections of this level. That was why she did not appear overly concerned.

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

Efnir furrowed her brow and tightly grasped Yukina's hand.

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

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

"My guess is similar to yours, so don't worry too much. All she needs is proper rest, and she'll recover quickly."

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

She neither accepted nor rejected Nishizaki Yuki's reassurance.

Perhaps from Nishizaki Yuki's perspective, having frequently dealt with highly corrupted Agents, she naturally would not worry about a Corruption Rate in the teens. But to Efnir, Yukina was her only younger sister. A Corruption Rate in the teens had already exceeded twenty percent of the safety threshold. The closer Yukina got to fifty, the more danger she would be in. Efnir would not place her hopes on luck.

Good fortune could not keep descending forever. Entrusting one's hopes to luck was incredibly unreliable. If Yukina was harmed because of 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 together on a battlefield, they could still be considered comrades. Through their repeated interactions, they had built absolute trust in each other. Without a doubt, they were both important friends to one another.

But it was not until today, after seeing the confession Efnir had posted publicly on her account, that Nishizaki Yuki suddenly realized she did not understand Efnir as well as she had imagined.

Perhaps Efnir did not understand her either.

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

"Is there any other way?"

Efnir's voice interrupted Nishizaki Yuki's thoughts.

She paused before answering.

"There are some, but Efnir, you know those methods all carry considerable risks. Given Yukina's condition, I don't think taking risks is a good idea... If you want a completely foolproof conservative treatment plan, that'll 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, there was no method capable of lowering a person's Corruption Rate.

It was an unsolvable crisis humanity had faced all along.

Only Agents were special. But accelerating their bodies' self-cleansing of Corruption would certainly come at a tremendous cost. Except in extreme cases like Shiina Rin's, Furan's, few people would choose 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 could arrive without warning. It meant placing hope in passivity, like handing one's fate over to someone else. Without question, it was powerless and helpless.

But at this point, she had no other choice.

Nishizaki Yuki was an exceptionally authoritative physician and one of the top researchers here. She was fully informed about 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. She pressed her lips together and smiled gently.

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

A soft touch landed on the back of her hand as Yukina's fingertips cautiously climbed over Efnir's hands.

She took a light breath and recalled the words she had prepared.

"My Corruption Rate only rose a little. I'll recover soon. Didn't you tell me to consider whether I should accept Fifina and become an Agent? In that case..."

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

Efnir interrupted Yukina and clasped her hand in return.

"You underwent Resonance once, and there's surplus Order Force left in your body. Without a Beacon, you can't mobilize it, but simply borrowing it to clear the Corruption from your body is more than enough. You don't need to make that decision immediately."

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

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

Having spent so much time with Efnir, she knew her friend's personality well. To Efnir, no matter what choice Yukina made, it would hurt her. She could not calmly let Yukina take that step, so Efnir chose to step back herself.

Of course, Efnir was not someone weak who habitually retreated. On the contrary, among Xijing City's Agents, Efnir was the undisputed leader. Whenever an Erosion Disaster struck, she was always the one standing at the very front.

Nishizaki Yuki had wondered before why Efnir differed from the other Agents.

In truth, every Agent had more or less suffered severe psychological trauma. They were no different from soldiers who had withdrawn from the battlefield.

To fill or heal these hidden ailments, Nishizaki Yuki and the other therapists did everything they could to provide psychological counseling and treatment.

But... battle would not stop. Such trauma would only continuously erode the Agents' hearts, evolving into Fractures and becoming the final straw that broke them during intense combat.

Most of those who could not endure would die in battle due to mistakes caused by emotional instability before their mental strings snapped completely.

The few who survived 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 emotional numbness. Their Defense Line against Fractures would unconsciously strengthen. To outsiders, they looked no different from ordinary people, but Nishizaki Yuki, as these girls' physician, would never overlook details others ignored.

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

Similar cases included Uzuki Saori, Lily, and Shiina Rin, Furan. Both were orphans who had come from an orphanage, and after meeting, they had never been apart. Nishizaki Yuki had clearly seen their attachment to one another in their eyes. So after Shiina Rin was infected, the organization had intentionally or unintentionally reassigned Uzuki Saori's deployment missions to other Agents. This was also the advice Nishizaki Yuki and the other physicians had given.

For these Agents, perhaps those close to them were naturally likely to become the people they relied upon.

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 to her.

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

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

Nishizaki Yuki keenly sensed that subtle abnormality. At last, she realized it. This was where Efnir's Fracture lay—her younger sister, Shiomi Yukina.

It was both intuition and not intuition.

Just as she had quietly stayed by Efnir's side all this time, watching Efnir smile and proudly show off her sister, perhaps Efnir's concern for Yukina had already slowly changed at some unknown point, becoming something Efnir did not wish to face. Efnir herself was merely deceiving herself and running away from it.

The Past

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

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

She silently lowered her gaze. While she felt moved and exhilarated at finally taking another step toward understanding Efnir, she also felt an indescribable sense of loss.

This strange feeling surprised her. Unwilling to think too much about it, she took out a cigarette and lit it. Blue smoke curled into threads, gradually rising before being 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 toward her. Seeing that she was smoking again, Efnir's gaze wavered slightly, but she said nothing.

"By the way, Efnir, apart from the change in Yukina's Corruption Rate, you should have discovered something else, right?"

The worry in her heart would not fade, but now 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 away the burned ash from her cigarette and took another document from beside her.

"That's right. For a prospective Agent undergoing First Synchronization, her data is a little too extraordinary."

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

"I don't think so. Yukina shows no Trace of having used a Beacon."

Nishizaki Yuki denied it.

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

Generally speaking, one's Adaptation Rating had to reach a certain level to qualify as an Agent. Most Xijing City Agents had roughly similar Adaptation Ratings. 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 completely different extremes.

The Adaptation Rating was an index measuring an Eligible person's talent for serving as an Agent. The higher it was, the more freely they could command Order Force. For example, Efnir could concentrate Order Force in a particular part of her body and dramatically increase its enhancement level. Others rarely could do this, or rather, no one could wield it as naturally as Efnir did.

It was an innate difference that hard work alone could not make up for, just as only some people possessed the qualifications to become Agents. In a sense, it was deeply unfair.

"...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. She froze slightly, then said to Nishizaki Yuki.

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

"Go ahead."

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

When she reached 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 Efnir and Yukina had once known extremely well.

Efnir pressed her lips together and lowered her voice.

"Mom."

Upon hearing Yanase Naoto's voice, delighted laughter immediately sounded from the other end.

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

Two years had passed in a flash. They spoke on the phone two or three times every month. Just as Efnir missed them, they deeply missed their son and adopted daughter.