"Naoto, do you miss Mom?"
A voice full of laughter came from the other end.
Efnir sighed.
Miss her as she did, Efnir still could not get used to her mother's blunt questioning. Her mother asked that every single time.
"Mom, did you call just to ask that...?"
"Hehe, of course not."
The other party was still amused by Efnir's reaction, her laughter never fading in the slightest, with none of the urgency one might expect from using such an exorbitantly expensive cross-regional communication line.
Signals could not penetrate areas affected by White Hole Erosion, so long-distance communication could only be achieved through primitive means. As a result, there were very few long-distance lines left, and their prices were enough to deter anyone. Yet the Yanase couple apparently could still afford them.
"Actually, I called to tell you a surprise."
"A surprise?"
The voice on the other end suddenly turned serious. Efnir tilted her head in confusion, only to hear the other side finally break into uncontrollable laughter.
"Your dad and I are back in Xijing!"
"Back... in Xijing!?"
Efnir was startled.
But just as she was about to be happy, she suddenly realized a problem.
Was she Yanase Naoto, or was she Efnir? She could conceal her identity from others, but what was she supposed to do about her parents?
Meanwhile, Yukina still did not know that her uncle and aunt were about to arrive in Xijing City.
Yukina had remained silent the whole time, as though she had something to say but did not know how to begin.
Nishizaki Yuki lit another cigarette. Glancing at the somewhat uneasy Yukina, she got up and rummaged through a drawer before finally pulling out a bottle of fruit juice.
"Here. Your sister brought this to me once when I went to see her perform. She said you liked drinking it."
"Ah? Th-thank you..."
Yukina hurriedly accepted the drink with both hands.
"You don't need to be so nervous."
Nishizaki Yuki sat down beside Yukina, stubbed out her cigarette, and smiled.
"Do you want to become an agent?"
Yukina did not know why Nishizaki Yuki had suddenly asked that. She simply answered honestly.
"I do."
Nishizaki Yuki suddenly teased her.
"Do you really? You're actually doing it because of your sister, aren't you?"
Her thoughts having been exposed at once, Yukina gave an embarrassed smile.
"Well... ever since I was little, I've wanted to stand by my sister's side and be with her, but... I never knew what I was supposed to do... And my sister seems very unwilling to let me."
"She doesn't want you to get hurt, so she doesn't want you entering such a dangerous profession."
"I-I understand... That's just the kind of person my sister is..."
Seeing Yukina's dejected expression, Nishizaki Yuki did not comfort her. Instead, she changed the subject.
"Actually, just as your sister said, becoming an agent is not something that happens overnight. Besides the body's adaptability to Order Force, carefully considering and understanding your own resolve is also an extremely important part of becoming an agent. If you want to walk the same path as your sister, then her advice will be your signpost."
She glanced at Yukina and continued.
"But since you've chosen to move forward, trusting your own judgment and choices will also be a path you must take. When you feel lost, take a look beneath your feet. I think that, compared to what you want to do, not regretting what you do is just as important."
With that, Nishizaki Yuki smiled faintly and returned to her office chair.
Yukina did not say anything right away, and Nishizaki Yuki did not mind.
Though this might have seemed like meddling in the affairs of the two sisters, it was also what Nishizaki Yuki wanted to say to Efnir and herself.
At that moment, Yukina's voice suddenly rang out.
"Um... Miss Nishizaki, there's something I've been wondering about."
"Hmm?"
Nishizaki Yuki looked at Yukina.
"What is it? If I know the answer, I'll tell you."
"It's about my sister."
Yukina hesitantly pressed her lips together, as if struggling with herself.
She asked,
"You said just now that my sister was exceptionally chosen as 'Ephnel.' Does that mean the original 'Ephnel' wasn't actually my sister?"
Since this concerned Efnir's past, Yukina showed great interest. Her eyes widened with curiosity, afraid of missing a single word.
Nishizaki Yuki froze for a moment.
"Your sister never told you?"
"No..."
Yukina shook her head with a trace of sadness on her face.
"She doesn't really tell me about herself..."
"I see..."
Nishizaki Yuki knew Efnir's personality as well, so she did not ask further.
"That's right."
Nishizaki Yuki paused, shifting her gaze away thoughtfully as she spoke.
"As far as I know, before your sister was chosen in the end, there really was someone else who was 'Ephnel.'"
Nishizaki Yuki glanced at the tightly shut door, hesitated for a moment, then continued.
"Neither your sister nor the organization has disclosed this information, but if I'm not mistaken, the original Eligible was probably... you."
"Me?"
Yukina stared blankly.
"Sorry... Your sister probably hasn't told you about any of this yet. But you would likely learn about it sooner or later. I imagine that declaration your sister issued carried that meaning too... She isn't a reckless person."
Seeing Yukina's expression become complicated, Nishizaki Yuki smiled.
"Of course, it's only my guess. I'm only ninety percent sure. But at this point, all it takes is a little thought to understand roughly what happened. It isn't really something worth hiding. Back then, it was probably a secret very few people knew."
Nishizaki Yuki's words carried another meaning.
Because Efnir had issued that letter of confession, combined with the information Nishizaki Yuki knew, it became easy to guess the identity of the mysterious former "Ephnel."
Yet there were still many things she did not understand. For instance, why had the organization yielded to Efnir? An "Eligible with an exceptionally high Adaptation Rating" alone could never have made the organization keep silent, unless something else had been concealed...
But Nishizaki Yuki trusted Efnir. If Efnir did not want to say anything about it, she would not ask.
"Then... what exactly was it that injured my sister back then?"
Yukina asked softly.
Eligible
"Then... what exactly was it that injured my sister back then?"
Yukina asked softly.
"This... I don't know either. By the time I was transferred to Xijing City, your sister was already a qualified agent. She wasn't as formidable as she is now, though."
Seeing that Efnir had not returned yet, Nishizaki Yuki was happy to keep chatting with Yukina. She brushed aside her thoughts and sank into her memories.
"The first time your sister made an impression on me was actually because of her appearance. You know, she's the kind of person you can't take your eyes off."
Nishizaki Yuki said it without changing expression, but Yukina was taken aback, her little face reddening slightly.
"Then I learned who she was. During work, I would deliberately or unconsciously pay attention to her, and only then did I discover that your sister's Adaptation Rating with 'Ephnel' was astonishingly high. She had the highest Adaptation Rating of any agent I had ever seen. And as far as I knew, she had been seriously injured at the time. If she had been in normal condition, she probably could have done even better."
Nishizaki Yuki spoke with admiration.
Efnir's ability to go from a stumbling novice agent to the chief agent who could stand on her own in less than two years was inseparable from her extremely high Adaptation Rating.
"Ah, sorry, I got a little off topic. I just suddenly remembered those old days..."
Nishizaki Yuki shook her head, but Yukina did not look displeased. On the contrary, she seemed rather excited.
"N-no, it's fine. I really want to know what my sister was like before, too..."
At that moment, the office door was suddenly pushed open, and Yukina covered her mouth like a startled little rabbit.
Efnir walked in from behind the door. Unlike when she had left, she now looked completely wilted.
"Yukina, we may need to go to United Airport. Your uncle and aunt are back..."
Kanade Kotone, supported by Yukina, arrived in front of the elevator. Efnir was speaking with Nishizaki Yuki by the corridor.
The numbers on the LCD display began climbing from 1 as the elevator slowly ascended.
Yukina looked around, and the sound of Efnir and Nishizaki Yuki talking drifted over from around the corner.
"...As for the assessment of Yukina's condition... the conclusions inferred from the data alone differ greatly from the facts we have seen, and they are too arbitrary. To reach a convincing result, we still need more experiments and theoretical support. The help I can provide this time is very limited."
"No, thank you very much for this, Yuki."
"I didn't help much. Oh, here, this is for you."
Yukina curiously poked her head out and saw Nishizaki Yuki handing Efnir a document.
Nishizaki Yuki was nearly twenty centimeters taller than Efnir. Wearing a white lab coat, she looked even more slender. Standing beside her, Efnir, whose height looked rather worrying by comparison, resembled an immature middle school child.
Though neither of them cared, the sight struck Yukina as strangely subtle.
Watching the medical staff and researchers occasionally pass through her field of vision, a bizarre image suddenly flashed through Yukina's mind.
—Efnir wore a pink-and-white nurse uniform, delicate as a willow branch and lovely as a flower, with an ethereal beauty. The slit along her thigh ran nearly to her waist, exposing her snow-white skin and that slender tie which, with a single gentle tug, would make the tender flower bud completely lose its last restraint.
Yukina's little face grew hot, and she quickly pulled her head back.
Meanwhile, Efnir had no idea of the image Yukina held of her. She was discussing Yukina's situation with Nishizaki Yuki.
"These are Yukina's examination reports. I need to give them to you before you leave, and then... please listen to me."
Efnir reached out and took them, silently pressing her lips together as her brows furrowed.
Nishizaki Yuki skillfully pulled out a cigarette and lit it.
"I entered the database and checked the test records you left behind back then, then made a preliminary comparison with Yukina's. The result was—an extremely high degree of consistency."
After a pause, she continued.
"Clearly, this is not due to blood relations or coincidence. It is because both of you are Eligible with sufficiently high Adaptation Ratings. But the difference is that you, Efnir, are only compatible with 'Ephnel,' while Yukina possesses notably outstanding compatibility with every type of Beacon. Of course, her Adaptation Ratings are not identical for every Beacon; there are differences. Her highest rating is not inferior to yours in the slightest. Based on that, I retrieved other files from the archives for comparison, and the final result was no different."
In other words, Yukina's compatibility levels also varied from one Beacon to another.
Efnir briefly flipped through the documents in her hands. Many of them contained notes written by Nishizaki Yuki.
"My original understanding of an Absolute Compatible Candidate was that it referred to a special case with remarkably elevated compatibility."
Like an ideal master key, one key could open every lock.
"The organization's researchers initially thought so too."
Before you continue