Bloody Visitor

Translated by LyraDhani

Edited by LyraDhani

The one who appeared with an obviously bad injury was a girl whom Inaba and the other staff of the Countermeasure Headquarters knew well–Hagakure Sakura.

“Wha, Hagakure-san?! What in the world is that injury…?”

When Inaba asked her that, Hagakure made a puzzled face and said, “Didn’t Hitsugi-san contact you? Did we have a misunderstanding?” She nodded her head.

“Hitsugi-san? What do you mean?”

“Well, to make a long story short, when I happened to meet Hitsugi-san at the sea, we were attacked by a flower-shaped Demonic Beast. Fortunately, Hitsugi-san and I were safe, but a girl who knows Hitsugi-san was injured. …I come to the Countermeasure Headquarters to discuss something about her injuries, but are you guys actually busy?”

Saying that, Hagakure’s face clouded with anxiety.

Inaba didn’t know how she ended up meeting Hitsugi by chance, but she understood why she came here. She let out a small sigh and approached Hagakure, opening her mouth.

“In other words, Hagakure-san was present at the scene of the damage too.”

“Huh? What do you mean I was there ‘too’?”

Inaba briefly explained the situation to Hagakure who didn’t understand the situation. “I can’t believe there are so many other victims…” she muttered. Then she quietly raised her head, looked straight at Inaba, and opened her mouth.

“Um, if there is anything I can do to help, please let me know. –Oh, and I wanted to give this to Inaba-san.”

Gently, Hagakure put her hand into her blood-darkened pocket and held out a small black object in front of Inaba.

“It is the seed of the Demonic Beast. I was so pathetic that I couldn’t avoid one shot and it hit me. I thought it would be bad to throw it away, so I brought it with me.”

Everyone was at a loss for words when Hagakure said that in a slightly embarrassed manner.

…Looking at her closely, a small hole could be seen on the left side of the hoodie. It was probably shot there. But then why was the seed still here?

“Is this the seed you were talking about? I heard it hurt like hell if you take them out but were you okay?”

“Ah. Well, it hurt a little bit, but not that much because I took it out right away. The injury is also sewn up with threads, so don’t worry about it.”

–Inaba felt a little horrified when Hagakure told them so with a smile on her face. Even an ordinary Magical Girl could die out of shock, but the way she said it with a face like it was nothing at all was too distorted. Perhaps it was because she looked so normal in times like these that Inaba felt this way.

Inaba shook her head slightly to shake off her thoughts. –Anyway, now that the seeds were in their hand, a breakthrough had been made. Now it would be important to have Sobi analyze the seeds and think about the next move.

“Thank you very much, Hagakure-san. I really appreciate your help.”

Saying this, Inaba received the seed through a handkerchief so as not to directly touch the seeds, just in case, and handed the seed to Sobi.

“Please analyze the seed as soon as possible, Sobi-san. –And Mibu-san, please take Hagakure-san to the infirmary. Even if her wound is covered up, I’m not sure if she’s been treated properly… Also, I think you should change your clothes if you can. That outfit is a little provocative.”

As she said this, she looked at Hagakure’s outfit. The blood spread on her hoodie has almost dried and turned a darker color, but her arm was still slightly red. Even if she wasn’t that concerned about it, she should get proper medical attention.

… Additionally, Inaba couldn’t help but notice the white legs that had been unreservedly exposed since a few minutes ago. The person herself said that she was at the sea, so she probably came here without changing out of her swimsuit.

Inaba was happy that she was too concerned about the time loss to change, but the staff members were starting to get restless, wondering whether they should point out that she was wearing a swimsuit. She really hoped that she would change her clothes soon, as it was a sight for sore eyes in a good way.

Then Hagakure tilted her head as if she didn’t understand her words, and muttered curiously, “Provocative…?” She slowly looked down and stared at herself, then stopped moving. After a few seconds of silence, her face suddenly turned red and she put her hands together to cover her legs.

“No, this is because I was at the beach just now!! But I was in a hurry!! …I’m embarrassed, please forget it…”

Hagakure shouted those words in confusion as her face turned red and hid her legs. She had apparently been so distracted by the incident that had occurred in front of her that she had forgotten her appearance. It was a rare sight for Hagakure who was usually calm and composed.

While Inaba was wondering what to say to Hagakure who was miserably confused, Mibu quickly stepped forward and grabbed Hagakure’s hand.

“Yes, yes, let’s go to the infirmary quickly. It’s okay, it’s cute. It looks good on you.”

“Oh, stop teasing me…! Ugh, I’m sorry to bother you. I’ll be back after I finish my treatment…!”

Then, Hagakure, who was dragged out by Mibu, left the Countermeasure Headquarters after saying that. It was a moment like a storm.

“Did anyone take a picture of that?”

“We don’t have time for that right now, you idiot. I don’t have time to take out my cell phone.”

“There are surveillance cameras in this room, so I’ll pull some pictures from them later. We’ll all watch it together after this case is solved.”

“Well, if you think about the aftermath, even if we stay up all night, it will be three days at the earliest before we can watch the video. I’m going to do my best to keep the company alive until then…”

The staff members were talking lightly after Hagakure left, but looking at their hands that didn’t stop working, they seemed to understand the priority of things. It was only natural.

When Inaba shrugged her shoulders, Sobi opened her mouth with a giggle.

“Fufu, Hagakure-san can make such that kind of face. It was a little surprising.”

“She’s always so serious. She must have been embarrassed to be seen dressed so carefreely. –So, do you think you can analyze it from the seed?”

When Inaba asked this, Sobi quietly closed her eyes as she wrapped her hands around the seed as if she was praying, and said.

“I sense several currents of power. It’s not that I can’t trace them, but there are more of them than I thought. …Can you bring up a map of Japan, enlarged as large as possible? I’ll check out the places where I felt the power.”

“I understand. I will have it prepared immediately.”

After Inaba instructed the staff to prepare an enlarged map and asked Sobi to continue with the analysis, she looked at her computer, which was displaying a variety of reports.

–The current number of victims was approximately 300. As far as they had been able to confirm, half of them were Magical Girl candidates. Considering the number of candidates in Japan as a whole, this was an unusual ratio. –In other words, this was an attack with a clear intention.

However, Inaba thought. An irregularity that slipped through the barrier. The insidiousness of the attack that aimed at them. A seed that had been adjusted so that it couldn’t be removed from the body. Unlike the Irregulars until now, this one seemed to know everything about their situation on earth perfectly.

Has the Demonic Beast grown up? Or does it have the guidance of a third party–a God or a human being-who knows the parts of them that they don’t want to be poked at? It was still just a guess, but it might be better to consider the worst-case scenario and make a move.

As Inaba was pondering this, a new report arrived with a small ping. Looking at the report, Inaba moaned.

“…Has a dead victim finally appeared?”

The first reported death was an eight-year-old girl. She was walking with her older sister when she was unluckily got hit by two bullets and was rushed to the hospital, where she quickly weakened and died. In other words, the seeds of the Demonic Beast continued to suck up the host’s power until they died. This was much worse than the Mistletoe.

Inaba lowered her eyes in mourning and clenched her right hand into a fist in front of her chest.

“The number of deaths is probably going to increase in the future. It’s going to be a race against time.”

–Will they find a way to deal with the seeds first? Or will the victims die first? The worst death race has already begun.