Name: Hoshino Hikari
Age: 14
Residence: 168 Tamayura-cho, L City
School: Chiba Middle School
Personality: Cheerful, lively, and highly charismatic; has excellent interpersonal relationships at school and is very popular.
Interests: Ice cream, pink plush toys, and anything that glitters or shines.
Ability Attribute: Light
Magic Power: S
Casting Range: S
Casting Speed: S
Magic Reserves (Current): A
Growth Potential: S
Threat Level: SSS
Comprehensive Evaluation: Except for magic reserves, all attributes of the target are at the peak.
However, as a newly awakened magical girl, her combat techniques and mindset are still immature.
It is recommended to take action against her immediately at any cost and crush her during the initial stage of her growth.
If left to grow, she will undoubtedly become the organization’s most terrifying enemy in the future!
—
In the clean and tidy bedroom, the teenage boy sat at his computer desk.
Looking at the contents of the email on the screen, he subconsciously massaged his forehead, looking as though he had encountered a thorny problem.
Because he was the older brother of the newly awakened strongest magical girl, Hoshino Hikari, and his name was Hoshino Gen.
Hoshino Gen tilted his head back to look at the ceiling and sighed: “It was bound to happen eventually…”
One year ago, Hoshino Gen had been playing a visual novel called “End: Magical Girls of Despair,” a story where the Magical Girl Alliance is infiltrated and destroyed by a genocidal villain organization, eventually causing everyone to fall into darkness.
Under a series of schemes by the villain organization, the most pure and innocent magical girl in the alliance sank into desire, the most optimistic and natural one chose to end her own life, and the one most devoted to love and peace chose to personally unleash a magic capable of destroying the world.
So-called tragedy is taking beautiful things and tearing them to pieces for others to see. Hoshino Gen had just recovered from the shock and was preparing to start his second playthrough when he realized he had transmigrated.
He had become Hoshino Gen, the older brother of one of the magical girl protagonists in the game, Hoshino Hikari.
Originally, this character was an inconsequential mob character without even a face; he had nothing to do with the main storyline and only played a major role by giving Hoshino Hikari a hard push toward darkness, revealing the truth about her background to her.
Hoshino Hikari was not the biological daughter of the Hoshino family, but was adopted from an orphanage, though she had been too young at the time to realize it.
After the most talented light-attribute magical girl in history fully turned to the dark side, she unleashed a Despair Death Ray that destroyed half of the entire planet.
The cutscene viewed while playing that part of the plot was extremely brutal.
The imagery still gave Hoshino Gen lingering fears even from behind the screen, let alone the fact that he had now transmigrated into this very world.
They were called magical girls, but in truth, they were all troubled children, each with their own personality flaws, otherwise they wouldn’t have been broken by the villains one by one.
Hoshino Gen was not a person who would wait for death.
Upon realizing he had transmigrated into the game world, he immediately took action.
First, in this world’s worldview, those who possessed substantial power were magical girls, and the gender requirements were extremely strict.
Hoshino Gen’s plan to become a magical boy and suppress all enemies in the world failed.
After countless attempts, Hoshino Gen discovered that to join the Magical Girl Alliance, being a girl and having magical power were hard requirements; otherwise, he wouldn’t even get a chance to communicate.
How cold and chilling, when will we magical boys finally be able to stand tall?
But as the saying goes, as long as your resolve doesn’t slide, there are always more solutions than problems.
Over this past year, Hoshino Gen first maxed out his sister’s affection level, then kept trying to establish connections with the other magical girls, all while gathering clues about the villain organization “Dark Corrosion” and joining it.
Hoshino Gen’s train of thought was simple: since he could not become a member of the righteous side, he would become a villain.
This way, when he executed plans himself, he would have plenty of room to maneuver, thereby achieving a goal of saving the nation through an indirect path.
By providing them with precautions in advance, he might be able to pull them back from the edge of the cliff.
Joining Dark Corrosion was much easier than joining the Magical Girl Alliance.
Relying on his knowledge of the plot from his first playthrough and combining it with realistic acting, Hoshino Gen leaked intelligence to the magical girls while simultaneously providing information to the organization, using the magical girls to farm his performance metrics in a sustainable, cyclical manner.
Hoshino Gen’s position within “Dark Corrosion” rose rapidly.
In less than a year, he went from a grunt to an executive, his status in the organization second only to the leader.
But Hoshino Gen knew that everything he had done was just laying the groundwork; the true protagonist had yet to appear.
Finally, as an executive, he received intelligence today regarding the newly awakened genius magical girl, Hoshino Hikari.
The true test had just begun from this moment.
Hoshino Gen closed his eyes and leaned back in his chair, as if thinking about something.
Not long after, the computer screen in front of him suddenly went black, and then a dark red mask appeared.
“Nightmare, you have disappointed me.”
The dark red mask on the screen actually began to speak, its cold, raspy voice giving off a feeling of falling into an ice cellar.
“Nightmare” was the codename Hoshino Gen used within the organization, and the red mask speaking was the leader of Dark Corrosion.
The leader of Dark Corrosion was extremely mysterious; no one knew his actual identity, and not even a soul had ever seen him in person.
All executives, without exception, called him “Leader.”
Even Hoshino Gen, who had finished the first playthrough, did not know; the specific identity would likely not be revealed until the second playthrough.
“With your insight, you should have long since realized that the sister under your own roof would become a magical girl. Why didn’t you inform the organization in advance?”
“Could it be that in your heart, your sister has already outweighed your loyalty to the organization?!”
Facing the leader’s rebuke, Hoshino Gen slowly stood up, placed his right fist against his left chest, and replied in a resonant, firm tone: “Of course not, Leader. My loyalty to the organization is as clear as the sun and the moon!”
“I need an explanation,” the leader said.
Hoshino Gen remained expressionless: “Leader, before that, I would like to ask you one question—is the source of a magical girl’s power truly a heart that desires to protect?”
The leader replied: “Naturally. The stronger the power of the heart, the greater the magic they can unleash.”
A hint of a villainous, wicked smile curled the corners of Hoshino Gen’s mouth: “What if I could cause a crack to appear in this heart of protection?”
“What exactly are you trying to say?”
The leader asked, confused.
Hoshino Gen poked the block castle he had set up on the computer desk earlier with his finger.
The castle only wobbled slightly.
“Leader, I feel our organization’s previous direction in targeting magical girls was wrong. Blindly applying pressure from the outside only encourages them to huddle together for warmth, deepening their friendship and bonds, which actually makes their strength increase.”
“And your point is?”
“True disintegration always begins from within.”
Hoshino Gen pulled a block from the castle and gave it a light push with his finger.
Unlike the previous result, the entire castle collapsed with a loud crash, and the blocks scattered all over the place.
“My sister, Hoshino Hikari, with her talent, will soon become a backbone of the Magical Girl Alliance. No one will ever suspect that she is a pawn I have planted inside the alliance.”
“Leader, please believe in my capability. It won’t be long before I can use my sister to plant seeds of suspicion and doubt in their hearts. By then, the entire Magical Girl Alliance will fall apart without a single attack…”
The leader hesitated for a moment, then continued to ask: “Is this truly feasible?”
“Leader, you may not know this, but I had actually discovered my sister’s aptitude for being a magical girl long ago. The reason I didn’t say anything was because ever since I joined the organization, I have been continuously farming her affection. In her heart, I am the big brother most worthy of trust, and her reliance on me has reached the point of total obedience.”
“With the level of trust she has in me, having her act as a pawn I’ve planted in the Magical Girl Alliance is more than enough.”
Silence.
A long silence followed.
Perhaps the leader felt that what Hoshino Gen said made sense, or perhaps the loyal “strategist” persona Hoshino Gen had built for himself in the organization for so long had taken effect; the leader finally agreed.
Having achieved the first step, Hoshino Gen let out a silent sigh of relief.
[Plan Success.jpg]
“This secret operation is under your full authority. You may allocate the organization’s resources as you see fit, but do not tell anyone else, not even your fellow executives.”
“Understood!”
The excitement was overflowing on Hoshino Gen’s face; he looked as if he was rolling up his sleeves and eager for action.
However, the leader suddenly changed the topic and said: “One month. I am only giving you one month. If I do not see any results within a month… I will take action personally.”
“Rest assured, Leader. I stake my loyalty to the organization on the fact that Nightmare will definitely show you results!”
As he spoke, Hoshino Gen once again performed the action of clenching his right fist and placing it against his left chest.
Dark Corrosion did not have this set of actions before; it was something Hoshino Gen had designed specifically for the people of Dark Corrosion after he joined the organization.
When performing the action, they would simultaneously shout: “Offer your heart to Dark Corrosion!”
The momentum was quite impressive.
After this set of actions was highly praised by the leader, it quickly spread throughout Dark Corrosion and had become something like a greeting ritual for the organization.
As the dark red mask vanished, the computer screen returned to normal, and Hoshino Gen began to tidy up the room.
Whew, after laying the groundwork for so long, the difficult first step has finally been taken.
Next comes the even more difficult second step.
Hoshino Gen looked out the window; it was pitch black.
According to the plot of the first playthrough, today was the first night of Hoshino Hikari becoming a magical girl.
She would have been fighting monsters for a long time and would be coming home very late.
Hoshino Gen walked to the living room, put the pre-prepared food into the food warmer, then turned off all the lights in the house, and returned to the sofa in the living room.
He concealed himself in the darkness, waiting for his sister’s return.
After an unknown amount of time, a slight sound came from the doorway.
It was the sound of a key being inserted into the lock and the doorknob being slowly turned.
A little light spilled in from outside the door, and one could see a petite figure walking in on tiptoes, carefully locking the door again.
Her movements suggested she wanted to sneak back to her own room.
Suddenly, with a snap!
The lights were turned on.
The entire living room became as bright as day, and the girl’s movements froze in place.
“Why are you coming back so late?”
Hoshino Gen asked with an ashen face.