A blaring alarm. Sounds of lone footsteps echoing through empty halls. Distant people screaming in terror. The tinkling of magical sparkles. Something on the wind, speeding through the hallways. Lone footsteps. Flames in the breeze. Then, many heavy boots moving in a group. Bellowed commands, announcing their presence. Starlight Police Department, here to secure the scene. Late as always.

  Robin undid her transformation and returned to being Alicia Messier. Her anti-materiel rifle wand disintegrated into light particles last. She averted her gaze from Riot Rhapsody, whose piercing stare remained on her unwaveringly. "What was that, Alicia?"

  She didn't respond and continued to look away. A magical girl with such powerful unique magic could not have hidden herself from the public's eye. If she were registered, that was. Clearly, she didn't awaken just now and had plenty of practice with her weapon. In other words, there was a reason she hid her identity and never fought against monsters or criminals before.

  "I see, so that was why you felt so approachable," Riot Rhapsody muttered to herself with a wry smile. Then, she noticed movement to her right and glanced over to find Raven standing up from behind the rink boards. Had she been here all along, too? Any normal human would have been bleeding from their ears after all the metal from her guitar wand. Was she a magical girl, too?

  Before she could call out to her, a figure shot into the hall from one of the exits. A gray trench coat fluttered in the air. Six small, kite-shaped objects floated behind it, resembling detached wings. They scattered light particles into the surrounding air. A gloved hand rested on a soft-brimmed hat, holding it in place. The other gripped a large-caliber revolver.

  Braided brown hair, piercing green eyes that glowed from within. A red bowtie on a dress shirt. Black suspenders holding a high-waist gray striped skirt in place. Dark stockings and black heels completed the look of a private eye from a century ago. There was nobody in Starlight City who didn't recognize her. The highest-ranking independent magical girl, the number nine on the billboards: Sweet Cipher.

  Her inquisitive gaze swept the hall and took in the magic signatures everywhere. "Where is the monster?"

  "I defeated it," responded Riot Rhapsody in the abrasive tone she employed with anybody outside her friends.

  Alicia stared at her in surprise. Was she covering for her?

  "That felt like a Catastrophe-Class," Sweet Cipher commented. Her tone was level. No implications, only an observation.

  "I have no idea. If it was, it was pretty weak," said the magical girl of metal music with a look aside. She glanced at Alicia and Raven. A fact the detective didn't miss.

  But she didn't comment and only floated around the hall to take in the details of the aftermath. Nine dead, a few grievously wounded in dire need of medical attention. All of their ears were bleeding. A side effect of Riot Rhapsody using her full power. A rare occurrence. Maybe her rank, twenty-second, wasn't just from her popularity as a musician. Maybe she really did have the power to take on a Catastrophe-Class by herself.

  Two more magical girls barged into the hall from opposite entrances, ready for combat. One carried a flaming greatsword, the other wielded a recurve bow. Their unique wands. When they noticed the absence of a threat and Sweet Cipher already floating above the broken ice rink, they lowered their weapons in confusion.

  Steelbrand and Heartshot. Ranks forty-one and thirty-six. The former was usually stationed in the Coalworks District, since she was associated with the Starlight Enterprises subsidiary, Starlight Steel. She was here on her day off. The latter was the main cover girl for Maison de Velours, the largest cosmetic corporation in the world. She had been on the bottom floor, promoting her associate's newest product line.

  "What, Sweet Cipher already finished the fight?" Steelbrand shook her head and dematerialized her flaming greatsword.

  "We should be glad that she took care of it," said Heartshot with a sigh. Her bow disappeared into light particles, and she relaxed visibly.

  Raven had been aware of their presence in the building. Nightingale kept up to date with the magical girls whose schedules were only a simple hack away. Individuals who were either employed as workers, like Steelbrand, or appeared in public often, like Heartshot. She didn't consider either of them difficult to deal with, if it were to come to a confrontation.

  The dangerous one was Sweet Cipher. She was an unknown factor. Clearly, she was an ammunition-type magic girl. But there were only a handful of reports of her ever discharging that large-caliber revolver. And each time only once. Being in the top ten meant she had some special power that stood out among the hundreds of competitors in the city. As an independent, no less.

  "Where is security?" Sweet Cipher asked with a frown.

  "They were right behind us. But you know how it is," said Steelbrand with a shrug.

  "There are casualties." She glared at the fiery magical girl for her flippant attitude.

  "Uh-" Steelbrand froze. Heartshot shook her head and walked around the outside of the ice rink toward where the ace detective pointed. She glanced at Alicia and then Raven, an eyebrow raised. Those two looked surprisingly unharmed, considering the state of this place.

  Before she reached the destroyed exit, a mix of Everleaf Center security and Starlight City police entered the hall from every doorway. They wore protective gear and carried submachine guns, but realized immediately that the threat had disappeared. Immediately, they secured the perimeter and performed first aid on the wounded while calling for paramedics. A few noticed Raven and Alicia, two apparent civilians, and approached them.

  "Are you wounded? If you can walk, please come with us," the police officers inquired. Alicia and Raven exchanged a quick glance and complied with nods. The most important part right now was to get away from Sweet Cipher. She had an uncanny ability to seek out criminals.

  To their surprise, the magical girl in question didn't stop them and merely watched as they were guided toward the nearest exit. She narrowed her eyes, then turned away to speak to Riot Rhapsody. "You did well in dealing with this random emergence. I'd like to hear the details."

  Alicia turned her head and met her gaze. Sweet Cipher was not looking her way; that was her opportunity. She gestured that she would text her later. Raven furrowed her brow but said nothing. This was truly the worst-case scenario. If the police detained them for questioning, and Sweet Cipher joined them, she would likely find out their identity. They had to get out somehow and disappear into the city.

  Paramedics soon swarmed the hallways, and one came to check on them as they waited in the main hall outside the sports center. They were cleared to go within moments. Starlight City was used to monster attacks, so civilians were rarely kept for questioning. It would only clog up the system if every single one had to deliver a statement. Before the police realized that they could be persons of special interest, they had to slip out by mixing in with the other unharmed people.

  Raven quickly found their escape route. She took Alicia's hand and pulled her along. The young girl followed obediently. She knew she had messed up by showing her transformation. At least only Riot Rhapsody had witnessed it. But there could be cameras overlooking the ice rink, so they had to contact Nightingale fast before anybody looked at the tapes.

  They blended in with the other civilians leaving by the escalators and headed downstairs to the underground garage. Raven took the opportunity to make a call. Nightingale picked up almost immediately. "It's me. See the news."

  "I saw. Neri woke me up," came the response.

  "We really need a hot bath after this," Raven said with an amused sniff. That was code to request immediate scrubbing of security footage. Their communications were secure, but the people around her could overhear their conversation.

  "Understood, I'm already on it," responded Nightingale.

  "Thank you. See you soon." With these words, she cut the connection and glanced at Alicia. She had her head lowered in shame even now. It seemed that things went wrong whenever they met in person.

  The masses of people started dwindling as they spread out across the underground garage's many floors. Finally, the two girls reached their car. When the doors closed, the world outside seemed to disappear. There was only the rustling of clothes, then silence. For a moment, all they could hear was each other's breathing.

  "I'm sorry," Alicia said quietly.

  "No, it's not your fault," Raven responded. The green-haired girl looked up in surprise and noticed a hand coming forward. She patted her head with a wry smile. "You wanted to protect a friend. That's admirable."

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  Alicia opened and closed her mouth. She was flabbergasted by Raven's kindness; she had expected a scolding, or worse, disappointed silence. Instead, her hand was warm, her touch filled with gentleness. But a moment later, she remembered their situation. "Still, now they know about me. They'll find out about you, too."

  "Nightingale will do something about it."

  "But Ronja-"

  "Let's trust her. She didn't reveal your identity to Sweet Cipher."

  Elizabeth "Betty" Cline, better known as Sweet Cipher, was an ace detective who stood only for justice. She couldn't be persuaded, she couldn't be bought. Many had tried; none could make the mistake of trying again. She exposed corruption within the SLPD and the corporations alike. Her fame and power as a magical girl protected her from retaliation. If not for her straight-laced personality, Raven would have tried to recruit her to her cause. But in Betty's eyes, murder was never justified. Not even when it targeted people who evaded the law through corruption.

  The cars of other visitors passed them by one after another. There was already a queue at the ticket gate. Raven started the car and drove out of the parking space. She noticed Alicia taking out her phone from the corner of her eye. "Don't send a message yet. Wait until she's out of there."

  Alicia stopped and nodded. Her mind was in turmoil, but Raven seemed to be on top of things. She had already thought of everything. Now, all that remained was to pray that Ronja didn't expose them. The Starlight Dynamics Heist was the day after tomorrow. If the corporations started watching them now, it would all come to nothing.

  "It'll be my fault if the mission fails." If not for her trying to mend things with Raven by using an outing with Ronja as a pretext at such a critical time, none of this would have happened. She had risked everything out of her selfishness. The possibly once-in-a-lifetime opportunity this Sunday could come to naught because of this.

  "Nobody could have foreseen that random emergence." It was incredibly rare for monsters to materialize indoors like that. The fact that it practically dropped on their heads could only be chalked up to bad luck. "Now I have a pretty good gauge of your power, too. I'll be able to put you to good use."

  Indeed, she had never seen Robin face a magical monster before. Being able to kill a Catastrophe-Class in only four attacks was a feat only a handful of magical girls could boast of. Shooting at mundanely protected humans and vehicles had not been a good measure of her true skill. With this firepower on overwatch, she could face lower-ranked magical girls without having to transform.

  Alicia blinked. Was this Raven's way of looking out for her? She turned away and covered her face with her fluffy hair. That was why she fell in love with her in the first place. Despite her stoic, stone-faced self, she was such a kind person.

  She resolved to help bring her final goal to fruition. And then, she would pull her back from the edge. They would get their happy ending. No matter what.

  "Who were those two?" Sweet Cipher inquired. She stood a good head shorter than Riot Rhapsody, but her presence was overwhelming.

  "Random civilians." A clear lie.

  "Two random civilians so close to the battle without a single wound. They could hear quite well for people whose eardrums should have been shattered." Those were implications now. Sweet Cipher looked aside and glanced around again. The magic permeating this space was incredibly dense, so it was difficult to discern the different signatures. But she spotted where Riot Rhapsody had transformed.

  And on the other side of the shattered ice rink was another spot where a magical girl had transformed.

  "What are you trying to say?"

  "I'm just curious who the other magical girl was. Where did she go?"

  Riot Rhapsody stared at Sweet Cipher. She suppressed the urge to smile at how easy she was to read. Then, her eyes shifted left and right, glancing at Steelbrand and Heartshot. They were busy talking to the police and couldn't hear their conversation. Nobody was within earshot of their quiet exchange.

  "Maybe it was one of those two girls just now? Or someone else who already left before I arrived?" She asked, almost as if only speaking to herself. But Riot Rhapsody's reactions told her everything her silence tried to hide. "We'll review the security footage either way."

  Sweet Cipher knew a handful of magical girls who avoided the limelight and remained anonymous, using their powers only to protect their neighborhood when official law enforcement arrived too late. Since this individual's transformation signature was unknown to her, there would be one more she had to acquaint herself with.

  "Are we done here?" Riot Rhapsody growled.

  "Yeah. Go and give your report," said Sweet Cipher. Her expression softened into a smile. "You might get a promotion."

  The magical girl of metal music turned away with a frown. She undid her transformation as she walked away and clicked her tongue. Sweet Cipher was a good person, but she didn't like the way she seemed to see through everything. Clearly, Alicia wanted to keep her identity as a magical girl secret, so who was she to reveal it?

  A police officer came over to take her statement. She stole a glance at her phone, but there were no messages. Alicia had much explaining to do.

  Sweet Cipher walked around and took a closer look at the magic that had been shot around the ice rink. The monster's energy was clearly that of a Catastrophe-Class, named so for its existence being akin to a catastrophe. Back when magical girls were scarce, the emergence of one led to untold destruction. An entire block had been leveled on one occasion, leaving over three hundred dead.

  And yet, it wasn't even the highest category. Betty had been too young to remember when the first and only Apocalypse-Class descended upon Starlight City. Only the combined might of the top ten magical girls of the time could finally bring it down. A memorial park stood where it had brought down multiple buildings and claimed the lives of over seven thousand people, here in the Aurora District.

  Broken boards in two places. One had Riot Rhapsody's magic particles all over it. The Catastrophe-Class must have sent her flying through it. The other was smashed inward, into the ice rink. And the magic signature looked very different. An explosion. The shape on the ground outside suggested the magical girl had been crouched or even prone. Perhaps some kind of magic cannon with a large muzzle discharge.

  She continued to pace around, observing every minute detail in the hall with her magical eyes. To others, it would look like she was only looking intently, but none of them could fathom the amount of information she gathered from doing so. And thus, she found a small hole in the wall, just below where it met the ceiling. A magic bullet and traces of the monster's energy. A shot had pierced through the Catastrophe-Class and then the wall beyond. Very powerful magic. In her mind, she downgraded the cannon to a smaller caliber with more piercing power.

  She made a lap around the outside of the rink and came upon where a stray shot had claimed nearly a dozen lives. The rainbow hue of the magic residue showed that it came from the monster. The paramedics had already carried off the wounded, but the dead were left here for now, covered in black sheets.

  Her eyes inadvertently flicked over to Ronja Ikonen. If she had not been here right when it emerged, there would have been far more shredded bodies. Even if an unidentified magical girl helped her, she deserved recognition for this incident. That was the essence of being a magical girl: Laying one's life on the line to protect those who could not fight for themselves.

  Sweet Cipher had almost completed her lap when she noticed a hint of magic unlike any other in the hall. It was only in a single spot, a pair of footprints, barely standing out from the background residue scattered by the two transformations and the Catastrophe-Class's emergence. She crouched next to it and stared at it closely. Her eyes dried from the cold air, and it started to hurt. But her mind was racing.

  She had seen this pattern and color before. Two weeks ago. Surrounded by death and destruction.

  The Raytronics Financial Center attacker.

  "Get me the security footage!" Sweet Cipher jumped up and yelled at the SLPD sergeant across the hall. All eyes were on her as she flew over the ice rink toward him. "Now!"

  Despite being a slender young girl, her glare and presence intimidated the man who stood almost three heads taller than her. He asked the officers he had sent to the security room over his radio. The answer he received was devastating. "Nothing. It looks like they weren't recording for the past hour."

  "Damn!" Sweet Cipher was furious. She would have given the command to lock down the building, but by now, many witnesses had already left the premises. It would be impossible to find the culprit. Still, she had a pretty good idea who those magical footprints belonged to. She flew over and landed before Ronja. "Who were the two unharmed random civilians you so obviously knew?"

  "I have no idea what you-" she began, but her gaze fell toward Sweet Cipher's hand. It was hovering over her revolver. "I don't know."

  "Don't lie to me now. This matter concerns many lives." She could tell that there was a hint of truth in Ronja's statement, but that wasn't enough.

  "I only met them once before today. I don't know anything about them."

  "Which one transformed?"

  "What-"

  "Which of the two is the magical girl who helped you?"

  Ronja stared at Sweet Cipher in confusion. If this was such a grave matter, why was she talking to her quietly instead of enlisting the help of the police? Still, she could see the urgency in her glowing green eyes. "Alicia. The one with green hair in the school uniform. The other one is called Raven."

  "Do you have their contact information?"

  "Only Alicia's... but what is this about?"

  "If you consider them friends, I won't involve you further." Sweet Cipher lowered her hand from her weapon and turned away. "I'll handle this myself."

  With these words, she walked past the perplexed sergeant and officers and left the hall with her hat pulled deep into her face. Ronja blinked. The ace detective was as inscrutable as always. Was the identity of an unknown magical girl such a big issue? Sweet Cipher, of all people, should prefer more independents like her. Maybe she wanted to get to her before the corporations did.

  No, Ronja couldn't ever hope to discern the ace detective's thinking process. Someone who regularly solved complex cases even the best minds of the SLPD were stumped by was not for her to figure out. She took out her phone. Still no messages. "Please, I need to know, Alicia..."

  Sweet Cipher closely scanned the exit that Raven and Alicia took, but found no traces of magic. Her instincts told her that Raven was the RFC Bomber. But all the evidence surrounding her was circumstantial, perhaps even coincidental. The absence of any more footprints only muddied things further. The one in the Raytronics Financial Center had left a clear trail. Here, there was only a single pair of footprints in a single spot.

  But the security footage being manipulated showed there was more at work here. If the RFC Bomber was trying to lay low after the attack, she wouldn't have come to such a public place just to have her hacker delete any video evidence of her. No, they had deleted the footage only because she was about to get exposed.

  Everything pointed to Raven. But who was she? A magical girl powerful enough to kill Railroad should have been discovered by the corporations long ago. Someone like that couldn't have awakened only recently, either, and required plenty of practice. That couldn't have gone unnoticed for long. Then again, this Alicia girl, who helped Riot Rhapsody take down a Catastrophe-Class, was also incredibly powerful. Where had she been hiding all this time, honing her abilities?

  Something in Sweet Cipher's mind clicked. A magical girl with a gun that could punch through a Catastrophe-Class and concrete. A shooter with an anti-material rifle that downed the hovercar above the Raytronics Financial Center. Her presence in the same location as the RFC Bomber's footprints connected the dots.

  She had her main suspects. All she needed was clear evidence. And the ever-elusive motive.

  The time of contemplation was over. She would have to make use of some of her connections to get to the bottom of this.