In the original story, Shizuka Kurosawa was a key supporting character.
Beyond her role as a middle school teacher and a high-ranking member of the Dark Erosion, she held an identity known to few; only Gen Hoshino and the leader had the authority to know.
Ten years ago, Shizuka Kurosawa was a member of the Magical Girl League and a genius Magical Girl, reaching the S-rank in less than a year to become one of the organization’s top combatants.
Being a Magical Girl is a high-risk profession, requiring one to fight Magic Beasts to the death while guarding against the conspiracies of villains. While being an S-rank Magical Girl sounds impressive, they are the most prone to injury and have the highest mortality rates.
There is no other reason for this than their magic being too blinding; despite their power, they become easy targets, leading to a high probability of injury.
Very few live to adulthood, let alone reach retirement like Shizuka.
Perhaps it was her specific affinity, but the powerful healing properties of her water-based magic allowed her to cheat death countless times.
However, as time passed and she aged, her resonance with her Heart Gem weakened.
She slowly began to lose her S-rank power, eventually falling to A-rank, with the trend continuing downward.
The Magical Girl League began to hint frequently that she should hand over her gem for the organization to recycle.
In other words, it was time for her to retire.
Shizuka was unwilling to have her gem and identity—which had accompanied her for years—stripped away because of the emergence of new Magical Girls; she refused to surrender the stone.
At that time, she even considered charging into a swarm of Magic Beasts to go out in a blaze of glory, thinking death on the battlefield was better than forced retirement.
Ultimately, the Magical Girl League took action.
Much like they did when modifying the memories of civilians, they altered Shizuka’s mind, forcing her to surrender the gem, forget everything related to Magical Girls, and move far away.
But the leader of the Dark Erosion would never pass up such an opportunity.
He restored Shizuka’s original consciousness without changing a single thing.
He promised her that in exchange for providing a small amount of information to the Dark Erosion, she would receive massive rewards and could even continue her life as a Magical Girl.
“Do not do anything foolish, Shizuka Kurosawa. This gem is worth far more than your life.”
Recalling the words she heard just before her memories were altered, the memory of the Magical Girl League’s heartless betrayal pierced her heart.
However, these were not the final reasons she joined her former enemies; it was the words of Lord Nightshade.
“Magical Girls protect the world, but who protects them?”
“Admit it. The Magical Girl League has never treated these girls as living human beings; they are treated as tools for maintaining a false peace, to be discarded cruelly once they lack utility.”
“Join us. Everything you do is meaningful. You are not a bad person, nor a traitor. You are simply joining us in revealing the true face of the Magical Girl League, allowing those ignorant girls who are being used and manipulated to reclaim a happy and wonderful life.”
Once a person finds a suitable justification for themselves, it is not strange for them to do anything.
And thus, the executive “Sherry” was born.
Gen Hoshino felt that since this person would eventually join the villains, it was better to bring her under his wing early to ensure his subsequent plans went smoothly.
According to the original plot, Shizuka’s mother would fall ill with an incurable disease this year.
Desperate, Shizuka would turn to the Magical Girl League to ask for the return of her water-based magic gem, which possessed powerful healing abilities.
Naturally, this would be impossible.
After being rejected, she could only watch her mother pass away.
Driven by extreme hatred, she would join the Dark Erosion and become the executive known as the “Queen of Discipline.”
With the help of the Dark Erosion, she would kill the successor of her gem and reclaim it.
From then on, Shizuka’s personality changed drastically.
She became obsessed with torturing others.
Because she possessed powerful healing abilities, she would torture people until they were on the verge of death, heal them, and then start a new round of torture.
The Magical Girls she captured usually wished for death but could not find it, eventually suffering a total mental collapse and becoming walking corpses.
Fortunately, Gen Hoshino had risen through the ranks of the Dark Erosion quickly, becoming Shizuka’s superior and placing her in the intelligence department, giving her no chance to showcase her talent for interrogation and discipline.
Through his maneuvering, Shizuka’s mother received timely treatment, and the successor to her gem remained unharmed.
It was a happy ending for all.
At this moment, what puzzled Gen was why Shizuka would have any connection to the older brother of Hikari Hoshino.
One was an Otaku, the other was a teacher; the two should have had absolutely no interaction.
Furthermore, she had just replied to his email saying “I guarantee the mission will be completed as soon as possible,” and immediately followed up with a friend request. What was she trying to do?
Gen had not ordered her to investigate him.
After a moment of thought, Gen tapped “Accept.”
The other party seemed to be waiting by the phone, as a message came through instantly.
“Hello, I am Shizuka Kurosawa, the head teacher of Hikari Hoshino. Are you Hikari’s brother, Gen Hoshino?”
Gen replied: “Hello, Teacher. I am Hikari’s brother. Has something happened to my sister at school?”
“That is a long story. Tomorrow is the weekend; do you have any free time? Let’s meet and talk in person.”
Something was wrong. Extremely wrong.
Gen acutely sensed the anomaly and said: “Teacher, please just be direct. What exactly happened to my sister? Can you tell me as soon as possible? I am very worried about her!”
On the other side, Shizuka Kurosawa stared at her phone screen with interest, her eyes full of joy, as if a hunter had found satisfactory prey.
’Oh my, what a responsible older brother.’
This was good news.
The more he cared about his sister, the easier he would be to manipulate.
“The problems occurring with your sister cannot be explained in a few words. Let’s set a time to meet. I will explain her recent behavior in detail then. If we, as the adults in her life, do not handle this in time, there could be very serious consequences.”
After some back and forth, Gen still could not figure out what was going on in Shizuka’s mind, so he eventually agreed.
“Alright, Teacher. Where shall we meet tomorrow?”
She had finally taken the bait.
A subtle smirk curled the corners of Shizuka’s mouth: “Eight PM tomorrow night. I will wait for you in VIP room 1 at ‘Rose Kiss.'”
Rose Kiss?
Gen was even more confused.
Although he had never been there, he had heard plenty about it.
It was a famous restaurant in Tamayura Town specifically for dating couples.
After finishing the chat and thinking it over, Gen reached a conclusion: Shizuka intended to start with the family of a Magical Girl, and since he was the brother of a newly minted S-rank Magical Girl, he was the primary target.
Even so, Gen was not afraid at all, or rather, he didn’t take it to heart.
They had worked together for quite some time, and the only impression Shizuka had left on him in that period was: big chest, no brain.
Without his help, the probability of Shizuka completing any plan on her own was infinitely close to zero.
Meanwhile, at home after work, Shizuka was preparing for their date tomorrow night.
She opened her wardrobe, looked at the overflowing collection of various styles of alluring lingerie, and fell into a dilemma.
’Which one should I wear tomorrow?’