According to the on-site report from the search and rescue personnel at the time, a large number of battle traces were found near Whale's initial landing site, along with the Beacons of Qinglan and Flying Swallow.
Because neither of their bodies had been found, the search for them was still ongoing.
But clearly, there was little hope.
Unless a miracle happened.
Miracles were hoped for precisely because they never came. Nothing changed easily just because people wished for it. To Efnir, the increasingly clear end felt far more real than such an ethereal wish as a miracle.
Since it was a battle that staked everything, dying at any time would not have been surprising. Efnir understood that well.
She gently pressed the wound at her waist with her fingertips. The pain had eased considerably, and there were no visible external injuries.
It had to be said that an agent's recovery ability far surpassed that of ordinary people, and Efnir's was far stronger than that of other agents.
At that moment, a faint rustling sound came from outside the bedroom door.
Yukina must have gotten up.
Since it was not a workday, Efnir had not gotten up early to prepare breakfast.
"Whew..."
At that thought, Efnir took a deep breath, drawing the morning chill into her chest and cutting off her thoughts.
Most of her drowsiness had faded as well. She took off her pajamas, went to the wardrobe, and pulled chest-binding cloth and a wig from a hidden compartment.
After some quick grooming.
She combed her hair neatly and tucked it beneath the wig.
The bandages around her waist were completely concealed, while the fullness of her chest was tightly pressed beneath loose clothing, leaving nothing noticeable. In an instant, she had changed from Efnir into Yanase Naoto—a boy who would be praised more for being delicate-looking than handsome.
If only she had an Adam's apple, the disguise would have been perfect.
After clearing her throat, Efnir deliberately lowered her voice and pushed open the door.
The moment she entered the living room, Efnir saw Shiomi Yukina walking past her with a commuter bag in hand.
Yukina wore a light blue dress today. Her hair had clearly been carefully styled, and she had delicate light makeup on her face. Her youthful aura was impossible to miss. Like the only brilliant starlight in the sky, simply being there stole Efnir's entire field of vision.
At that moment, Yukina had a piece of bread in her mouth as she scrolled through something on her phone, a faint smile on her lips.
She seemed very happy.
"Morning, Yukina."
Efnir greeted Yukina.
"Morning..."
Yukina answered with an entirely natural expression, as though she did not care at all that Efnir had stood her up a few days ago.
But even if Yukina did not say it, Efnir could see the fleeting gloom in the depths of her eyes.
Being this kind of brother was a failure in its own way... Efnir sighed inwardly, but her expression revealed nothing. She neither forced a smile nor let the disappointment in her heart show on her face.
"Going out?"
"Mm..."
"I'll make you breakfast now."
"No need. This is enough."
Yukina's voice sank like fallen autumn leaves. She did not stop in front of Efnir, naturally looked away, carried her bag to the entryway without a word, and crouched down to change her shoes.
Efnir could not bring herself to say anything else. She watched Yukina's back until Yukina left the house, and there were no further words exchanged between them.
She stared at the tightly shut door, pursed her lips, and dragged herself to the bathroom.
She began washing up.
These past few days, her younger sister's attitude toward her had remained as lukewarm as ever, but Efnir could still hear a trace of distance and rejection in the subtle changes in Yukina's tone.
The reason was naturally connected to Efnir standing her up again that day.
And because of that, Efnir could not defend herself.
She had to fight as "Efnir," and for the time being, that was something that had to be kept secret from Yukina—because of the secret surrounding Yukina, Efnir did not want her sister getting involved with this side of things no matter what.
Under such circumstances, excuses had become powerless. "There was something important I had to do"—if she did not explain it clearly, that was completely the kind of excuse used to fool children. It would probably only make Yukina resent her more, wouldn't it?
It was not as though Efnir did not feel helpless and disappointed by the change in Yukina's attitude toward her, but whenever she wanted to do something, she had no idea where to begin.
But compared with worrying endlessly, there was something else that concerned Efnir even more right now...
—Yukina's outfit today was a little unusual.
Yukina was relatively reserved by nature, yet today she had boldly tried a style she would normally never wear. She had carefully applied light makeup, and her hair had been meticulously arranged. Yukina was already extraordinarily beautiful ordinarily, but now she was even more impossible to look away from.
And then there was the smile Efnir had caught a glimpse of on Yukina's face.
As though she were anticipating something, it was an expression rarely seen on Yukina's face after a long time.
Something She Was Willing to Do
Today was the weekend. It was hard to imagine that Yukina had changed into this outfit to attend some student council event. She rarely dressed herself up deliberately, and if there was something important enough to make her care this much, Efnir truly could not guess what it was at the moment.
Could it be... she was meeting someone?
A boyfriend?
Even though she did not want to, Efnir involuntarily began thinking in that direction, and then felt an indescribable sense of loss—as if a pearl she had carefully hidden away had suddenly been taken by someone. The thought that her younger sister had already fallen for someone without her knowing anything about it left Efnir with a bitter feeling in her heart.
She did not even know what she was so upset about. Wasn't it perfectly normal for girls of this age to experience the stirrings of youth? Especially Yukina. Someone as outstanding as her would surely attract countless eyes, and the person she liked must surely be an exceptional junior who could bring her happiness.
Someone completely beyond comparison to an inadequate "brother" like her.
Efnir sighed softly. She splashed cold water over her face, opened her eyes, and stared blankly into the mirror in a daze.
If she wanted to, she could contact the Orderkeepers and have someone watch Yukina without relaxing for even a moment, ensuring that every single thing she did was reported to her at all times.
But...
For "siblings," such an approach was undoubtedly crossing the line too far, wasn't it? It would undoubtedly be repulsive and disgusting.
But since she was her brother... what exactly was the right thing to do? Efnir could no longer tell.
Just then, her phone rang.
Efnir wiped her face carelessly, took out her phone, and saw the caller ID: "Shinomiyami Nami."
Shinomiyami Nami was the manager and assistant of "Magical Girl Avenil."
That was her public identity.
In reality, Shinomiyami Nami was also Efnir's combat liaison, handling multiple responsibilities. She was an outstanding talent selected from the Special Operations Unit and appointed by the organization to remain by Efnir's side.
During the large-scale disaster several days ago, Shinomiyami Nami had been injured while protecting the commander during the retreat, and she had only been discharged from the hospital yesterday.
Shinomiyami Nami was a serious and focused person, but because of their disguised identities, although Efnir got along fairly well with her, she had not had much private contact with her while acting as Yanase Naoto.
But since it was her calling, Efnir could more or less guess the reason.
A performance and fan meeting for the agent "Magical Girl Avenil" had been scheduled for today. Shinomiyami Nami had already confirmed the additional performance program with her several times, so this call was probably about that as well.
Morale was low after the disaster. This was exactly the time when "Magical Girl Avenil," as both hero and spokesperson, needed to be active. Though it was only a simple performance event, it was the perfect opportunity to coincide with the Orderkeepers' press conference. Because Qinglan had gone missing, Efnir, the most senior of the remaining agents, had to take over Qinglan's vacant role and attend the conference as the agents' representative. That had already been part of the plan for this performance event.
In short, after various matters, once Efnir's body had recovered, her leisurely time was more or less over.
Efnir took her phone to her room, locked the door, and only then pressed the answer button.
Shinomiyami Nami's overly exaggerated voice came through from the other end.
"Efnir! You finally answered! I missed you so much! You left without saying a word last night and left me all alone in an empty—"
Beep—
Efnir hung up without hesitation.
Take that back. Shinomiyami Nami was actually an utterly scatterbrained lunatic. "Serious and focused"? Compared to her flaws, those qualities were as insignificant as sesame seeds beside a watermelon.
Less than two seconds later, the phone rang again.
Efnir silently sighed and answered it.
"Waaah... Why did you hang up on me..."
"Can you... talk normally?"
"No! You hung up on me! You must have found some other gir—"
Beep—
Efnir hung up again and took a deep breath.
Shinomiyami Nami's working state at Orderkeeper Headquarters and her state as a responsible manager were complete opposites. Shinomiyami Nami explained it as "changing my persona for work," but in any case, Efnir was truly terrible at dealing with Shinomiyami Nami's scatterbrained manager persona. That woman always said misleading things with an utterly unconcerned expression, then skillfully put on an innocent look.
Efnir only felt a headache coming on.
She had heard that the organizer of the Fan Club had unfortunately been injured in this disaster, so the offline event had a new person in charge this time.
No matter what... she could only hope the new person in charge was not someone as unreliable as Shinomiyami Nami.
The event venue had been chosen as the largest open-air stadium in Xijing City.
Efnir arrived outside the venue by car. It was still far from opening time, yet the place was already packed with people.
At first, when Efnir had embarked on the path of becoming a spokesperson for the Orderkeepers Organization, her work had not simply been about giving performances and earning income. More often, she promoted the work of the Orderkeepers Organization and its agents. As the strongest agent in Xijing City, Efnir carried enough weight to speak as a spokesperson.
The income from promotional events resembling performances did not ultimately go into Efnir's—or the Orderkeepers Organization's—pockets. Most of it was invested by the Orderkeepers Organization into the city construction fund, while the remainder was retained as operating funds. Though Efnir received a considerable amount of money, most of it was merely various subsidies for agents.
But in the end, Efnir's work did resemble that of an idol in some ways. As a result, many people saw Efnir as an agent idol—"Magical Girl Avenil." And thanks to the careful management of Shinomiyami Nami, Efnir's popularity in Xijing City far exceeded that of popular idols. She even had many fans in other cities, and every performance event always brought a surge of people.
"Please do not crowd! Prepare your admission tickets and personal identification in advance, and line up to enter in an orderly manner!"
Security personnel maintained order, but even they could do nothing about a place so densely packed.
Efnir sighed.
Though she had long grown used to it, Efnir still felt somewhat conflicted about being an idol.
She did not really like being watched.
She did not know how to describe it... but she always had the illusion of being pushed forward. Watched by countless pairs of eyes, the burning emotions held within those gazes made it easy to lose one's direction.
The wishes of others, the expectations she carried, would be magnified without limit beneath such gazes.
If you don't fight, it's betrayal. It's murder.
That feeling would slowly grow.
Given enough time, it would become suffocating.
If she had to put it into words, Efnir had occasionally thought that "Efnir" was merely an image that had been created. This era needed a hero like that; Yanase Naoto simply happened to be the one playing the part.
So if she truly did not want to do it, giving up would not matter.
But someone had to play "Efnir." If Yanase Naoto did not do it, someone else would take her place and continue fighting as an agent.
Between choosing "dragging out an existence while watching others die" and "dying herself"... finding a balance was difficult. Efnir probably still leaned toward the slightly more cowardly choice.
But if she had to choose between "Shiomi Yukina dying" and "Yanase Naoto dying," Efnir would choose the latter without hesitation.
"Efnir"... that codename should have belonged to Yukina, not Naoto.
Yukina was the one the Orderkeepers had chosen, and compared to Yanase Naoto, she was also the more responsible one.
Unlike Efnir, who had become an Eligible halfway through, Yukina had been born highly compatible with the Order Force. But many things had happened, and in the end, her younger sister's fate had fallen onto Efnir's shoulders.
And she had accepted it willingly.
Because Shiomi Yukina was her younger sister, she was willing to do it—that was all there was to it. People were always swayed by selfish emotions; it had nothing to do with luck or misfortune. Some things would always run contrary to one's original intentions. In any case, by now, Efnir had no regrets about it.
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