Code Red (2)
"How's your body holding up? And you, Dr. Heo—are you all right?"
"Of course I'm all right, Section Chief Oh! I personally... khack."
"I'm not too bad."
The attending physician who'd been checking her over in the hospital room took a faceful of something hurled his way and staggered. Oh Yun-seo smiled wryly at the all-too-familiar sight and approached the girl lying in the bed.
"You're still hurting, though."
"...Yeah."
Oh Yun-seo's smile turned bitter as she took in the body wrapped in layer upon layer of bandages.
This high school girl, who now looked like any ordinary teenager with her black hair let down, was none other than the S-Rank Magical Girl Aria—and one of the Republic of Korea's Management Bureau's most active collaborators.
"Nngh... don't make it sound so easy. The internal ruptures were severe. Without a Magical Girl's unique regenerative ability, she would have died on the spot."
He peeled the fainted mascot off his face—not that he could see it—and approached with a dry cough. The gravity in his voice silenced her as well.
Dr. Heo Seung-hoon. He was the most renowned Magical Girl researcher and physician in the country. Aria's enthusiastic cooperation had certainly helped, but without his treatment, a recovery this fast would have been impossible.
"What about her? Takilas."
"That's... we still haven't found her."
At Aria's attempt to change the subject, Oh Yun-seo dropped her gaze and muttered the words without strength.
She had no face left to show anyone. Without the Bureau Director's approval, there was almost nothing she could do on her own.
"That girl..."
"She's in danger. She's going to die. I'm certain of it."
Aria said it without a shred of doubt. Oh Yun-seo bit her lip.
Because by any reasonable measure, she was right.
"I saw the footage the police side slipped us. That girl's arm—they smashed it good. Even with proper treatment, it'll take a long time."
"...There's no way other Magical Girls aren't watching that."
Aria nodded at Dr. Heo's words. It was common sense among their kind. Magical Girls often banded together—but just as often, they turned on one another.
Twenty years, by the calendar. Magical Girls who had once been innocent had grown older, worn down into jaded adults.
The moment it went beyond mere Performance Points or the pursuit of justice—the moment their own power and vested interests entered the picture—reality turned savage. Which meant killing off a rival was something they could do without a second thought. Especially when that rival was a fellow Magical Girl with no legal protection to fall back on—and an injured one, at that.
"Lulu! What company is she with? Can they protect her?"
"Eek! I-I think I've heard of a doll mascot before... but it wouldn't be a big operation."
Aria summoned her mascot. The winged, steamed-bun-like creature eyed Aria's fists with open wariness as she scrambled to think.
"Probably a small company called Lana Land. But their headquarters isn't even on the Korean Peninsula... I have no idea why they suddenly dropped in here."
"So that's bad news."
She clicked her tongue, frowning. Ordinarily, the most reliable protection came from Magical Girls of the same company. The company itself had every reason to protect its Magical Girls—they were company property, after all. Even this building, where she was hospitalized in complete secrecy, was being guarded by a Magical Girl from the same company.
"Eun-seo. You really want to save that girl, don't you."
"...I just think everyone deserves a chance."
Oh Yun-seo, who had been listening in silence, stroked her hair with a look of pride.
"So they can wash away their sins. Like I did."
"You didn't do anything wrong."
Oh Yun-seo pulled the downcast girl into an embrace. Their relationship was a special one. It was Oh Yun-seo who had first persuaded Aria—real name Ha Eun-seo—to defect to the Management Bureau. That achievement had earned her recognition, and she had risen to become the Bureau's youngest-ever Policy Section Chief.
"Still, rushing over here like this... I take it you and the Director don't quite see eye to eye, Section Chief Oh?"
"I won't deny it."
Oh Yun-seo nodded at Dr. Heo's observation as he watched the two of them.
"Please help me, Doctor. Until Eun-seo recovers, I at least want to track down where that girl is."
"All right. Though I am a little worried."
Dr. Heo nodded easily—then shook his head in the same breath.
"That girl... from a doctor's standpoint, she might be a difficult case."
"She's just a child."
"...Is she, though?"
He smiled wryly and shrugged. Oh Yun-seo was resolute, but Aria, still held in her arms, went rigid at his words.
A kid? Not a chance. That girl was going easy on me.
In her first clash with Code Red—with Takilas—she had already felt a wall. Not merely a wall of skill, but something that ran far deeper. The madness lurking in those blood-red eyes that had grinned at her didn't lose out to any Kaijin or lunatic she had ever seen.
Is it even possible for a girl like that to repent?
She bit her lip. That power—a bottomless abyss, darkness itself. For the first time since Oh Yun-seo had persuaded her to recognize her own sins and turn herself in, her convictions wavered.
"So where do you plan to start? You can't even borrow the Bureau's resources."
"Hah. We find her real face, of course."
Already preparing to leave, Oh Yun-seo answered Dr. Heo's challenge with total certainty.
"We've already got plenty of leads. We just need to find a kid with an injured arm."
"If she's operating in secret, the way we are."
"...That's unlikely, but."
Of course the plan wasn't airtight. Still, judging that speed was what mattered most, Oh Yun-seo hurried from the room.
"Section Chief Oh never slacks off, does she."
"The Section Chief tried to help kids like me, too."
"Well, more research samples never hurt from where I'm sitting."
"...You do realize I make up a pretty big share of that research, right? Anyway, when do I get discharged?"
Aria glared at Dr. Heo as he snickered. The only reason he had become an authority on Magical Girls in the first place was because she had actively submitted to physical examinations and experiments.
"By tomorrow, daily life shouldn't be a problem. But no field work for a while. If those wounds rupture internally, they'll be a nightmare to treat."
"Tomorrow..."
She clicked her tongue under her breath. Lulu covering her face with her wings at the news that they'd have to sit out for a few days was just the bonus round.
"Our Performance Points... for days... then the company ranking..."
"Shut it, Lulu."
"But!"
"You wanna get hit again?"
Early morning. Aria crossed the crowded hospital lobby with Lulu perched on her head. She was planning to go home after being discharged.
"A-anyway. Let's just stay out of that crazy rookie's business from now on. I know how this goes. Nothing good comes from getting mixed up with that psycho!"
"...She might be suffering on the inside too, you know."
"You don't actually think that, though, do you?"
"..."
She had nothing to say. Because Lulu's point was true. No matter how she turned it over, the rookie she'd met—Takilas—hadn't shown any of the gloom typical of Magical Girls who'd gone down a dark path.
Still, murder is off-limits. Like me... she can definitely get help.
She shook her head, forcing the thought away. This wasn't idle meddling or some pointless obsession. She was doing this because she'd been through it herself. All the more so because she believed she'd found the true path after meeting Oh Yun-seo.
"K-Kaijin!!"
"Aaaagh! Run!! Get out of here!!"
But just as she was about to step out of the hospital, the peaceful building plunged into panic. Screams erupted, and in the same instant a massive impact from outside shattered the first-floor windows in a cascading crash of glass.
"This is...!"
"G-get out of the way!"
A hulking, muscle-bound monster had appeared in the parking lot. Aria's eyes went wide.
The natural enemies of Magical Girls, appearing alongside them—Kaijin. Their purposes varied. But by far the most common goal—and the method of achieving it—was slaughter.
"But!"
"Didn't you hear Baldy Doctor?! He said you need to rest for a while!"
Lulu flapped her wings and bit down on Aria's sleeve, tugging her back. Dr. Heo really had told her not to fight, and her eyes wavered. But there was an enemy right in front of her. People were dying. Standing still was almost impossible.
"Aaargh!"
"A Magical Girl!"
Then someone dropped from the sky and drove a blue spear down into the Kaijin that had been tearing a car apart, about to slaughter the people below.
"Hena..."
A Magical Girl from the same company, who'd been standing by to protect her. Having landed the first strike, her comrade immediately recovered the spear, took aim at the enemy, and launched herself forward.
"Crap, this thing's rank is way too high!"
But even with the advantage of the opening blow, her comrade staggered under the enraged Kaijin's roar, then took a flying fist that knocked the spear from her hands and sent her tumbling through the air into a nearby car.
The Kaijin's already twisted face crumpled further as it roared.
I'LL! KILL! YOU!
Green energy began to condense in the creature's gaping maw. Seeing that, Aria moved on instinct to transform.
"Let go, Lulu! Hena's going to die!"
"N-no! Is that body even yours?! That body belongs to the companyyy!"
Lulu clamped down on the Connector and stubbornly held on.
"Ah..."
She knew she was too late. But the blast never reached her comrade.
"Ghk..."
Black shadows unfurled, and a dark uniform draped over her shoulders billowed in their wake. The voice was insolent—and the power rolling off her was every bit as arrogant as the tone, vast and overwhelming.
A red-eyed girl who had, before anyone noticed, flooded the entire parking lot with writhing shadow now stood with a black-booted foot crushing the Kaijin's head into the pavement.