Laughter spilled from the cabin. Outside, the duel of the two Akanos burned down to embers.

“This is the last one!”

Akano Shouha slid her slender blade back into the carcass of her greatsword. Heat bled like molten sunset, flushing the broad steel red, jets of steam flaring to either side.

[Are you ready?]

The voice of the Demon God bound to her sword rose like a chorus from a hearth.

“Born ready!”

Demon Gods—creatures from old European hedgerow tales. Phoenix claimed there were seventy-two, uneven in power, each with a conceptual trick tucked in its sleeve.

Months ago, Shouha had gone to Europe to find a new grindstone. Bandits hemmed her in; her Mind Energy was sealed; defeat closed in like winter dusk. An old man appeared within her fire-forged sword.

He called himself a gentle bard. His authority was songcraft. Her journey hooked him; he offered a hand, to keep her story walking—

—She later learned he was a closet otaku who slipped into TVs to binge little-girl anime. His “reason” for showing up was, yeah, “this girl screams kirakira Magical Girl.” The transformation calls and skill shouts? That was him, voice-acting his heart out.

Phoenix spoke in a voice that sounded young and ancient at once, like a flute threaded through an old bell.

[I dislike bad ends. Let’s save everyone in one breath.]

“What are you, Gauss now?” Shouha couldn’t help laughing. “Please.”

[With pleasure, my lady.]

Fire washed the air. Two silhouettes overlapped like twin reflections in a river.

Shouha raised the greatsword.

[Final Vent Phoenix!]

“Revelation!”

A light brighter than the sun tore open the field like dawn over ice.

The awakened Flame of Resurrection spread as phoenix wings, then split into burning meteors that rained against Starmark’s armor.

Fire rolled across Akano Souu’s skin like a warm tide and didn’t harm a hair. It peeled her from cold steel, then vanished. The split metal, teased by residual heat, crawled back into place and healed into rugged scars.

Shouha flew and caught her sister, then popped the Stellar Crown off her head.

The pale-blue mechanical halo flickered twice and died. It looked harmless as a trinket, yet it linked to one of only three war-grade mechs in human history. Control it, and you hold a nation’s nuclear trigger.

After all, Demon God Xeno had been missing for decades, and the Sky-Thunder A Zeus still stood watch on the far-away Causal Horizon.

…

Starmark went dead. The anti-grav cut out. It slammed down, shaking all of Old Tokyo Harbor like a drum.

[Win☆and☆done!]

[The Chubu flagship mech is down! Victory goes to the Crimson Field Group!]

They looked up. Old Tokyo Harbor lay flattened, like a garden stripped by storm.

They had shot some missiles from the sky earlier, but more they simply dodged. Shells don’t vanish; they chewed this curated ruin to clean bones.

Luck held. Both sides ran fast; drones handled the front-line feed. Casualties should be very low. Chubu would eat the bill, though.

Not like they were paying it.

“Mmm…”

Akano Souu groaned and opened her eyes.

The first thing she saw was a childish yet steadfast profile, a peach-soft face set like stone. Then twin ponytails, tossing like twin banners.

“Magical Girl…?”

“You’re awake.” The Magical Girl smiled at her, gentle as a lantern in rain. “You’re safe. Let’s go home.”

“Home…”

How did she know where Souu lived?

If this person meant to haul her back to the Akano main house just because of her surname, Souu needed to bolt. And if she wasn’t connected, how did she know Souu was Akano?

“Who are you—”

And then it clicked. This woman had to be the ringer her jerk brother called in.

He ran off for years. Played carefree. Dated around. Worse—he was with a girl who looked younger than Souu. Unforgivable.

“Do you have a phone? I’m calling the cops.”

“Eh?! Call them for what?”

“To have them arrest that sex criminal!”

“Sex crim—what? Did someone hurt you?!”

“No! But he humiliated me!”

Shouha had no idea what her sister was talking about. She dropped beside Luciferin.

She waited and waited. The two didn’t come out. Unease tugged like wind before rain; their mother weighed on her mind. Shouha murmured a goodbye to the hulking slab of steel and flew out of the Special Zone.

“Um, thank you for saving me. How should I address you…?”

“Uh… ahem.”

Shouha had her lie prepped, awkward and neat. One puzzled look from her sister, and the words jammed in her throat like a peach pit.

“I’m… Magical Girl Phoenix. A wandering hero.”

Souu nodded and sank against her, as if she’d found the lee side of a cliff.

After a long beat, she whispered, “Hey, Phoenix. Did I do wrong? I did everything I could. More than I thought I could. I used people’s kindness. I lied. I stole. I let a mech rampage. I did so many bad things I never dared imagine. And I still failed. My mom… is she just supposed to die?”

“She won’t die. I’ll cure her.”

Shouha’s voice was steady, a stake in the ground.

“…Can I call you big sis Phoenix?”

Shouha froze, mid-breath.

“W-why?”

“When the data stream swallowed me, I saw you fly in to save me. It was blurry, but, um… you looked cool. Like, really cool…”

Denied as Akano Souu’s brother a heartbeat ago. Now offered big-sis Phoenix in the next. Shouha had never played the identity card and she was lost. She dodged instead.

“Don’t you have a brother? Don’t you want him? He’s back in Japan, and he’s working for the family too, same as you.”

“That guy can do whatever he wants.”

“…”

Then Souu remembered. This Phoenix was the ringer big brother dragged in. Maybe even a future sister-in-law. Bad idea to badmouth him to her face.

“I-if he’ll get on hands and knees for the six years he dumped on us and apologize to Mom and me… maybe I could forgive him… No, he has to write a ten-thousand-word self-critique and read it out loud… No, not enough. He has to do all the housework for at least three years… He has no idea how hard it’s been for Mom and me…”

Her voice trailed off, like rain thinning on tile. Her head tipped against Shouha’s chest. She slipped back into sleep.

…

…

After settling her mother and sister, Akano climbed to the roof of their little house.

This was a lonely corner of the Crimson Field domain. Folks rarely came. With the main house lining up for reincarnation, it felt like an island cut from the world.

Yekase dropped beside her, light as a leaf.

“Did you tell your sister?”

“She knocked out cold. No chance.”

“How is your mother?”

The warm smile Shouha wore for her sister faded like sunset. She only shook her head.

“Not hopeless. Phoenix says the Flame of Resurrection has more in it. But it won’t bloom just because I sit by her side. Time is precious.”

“You still have to go.”

“Yeah. She’s frail. I can’t leave her alone at home. And I can’t haul her around. I know it sounds irresponsible…”

The world went dim. Something landed on her head. She pulled it off. Yekase’s straw hat. A pair of dark red dragon horns stitched on like a joke.

“A wanderer needs shade. I don’t have a cowboy hat. Make do.”

“…”

“The Akano I know is upbeat, upright, brave, and careful. Red Ranger of the Beast King Squadron. That face doesn’t suit you.”

“But I’ve already—”

“In this, I’m your senior, so here’s advice. Name, status, flesh—just clothing. Hormones and weather will push and pull you. You’re human, with dignity. Not a beast run by genes and chemistry. The final say sits with your will. With your soul.”

Yekase patted her shoulder and breezed past whatever she and Ivaris had done inside that mech mid-battle, then went solemn again.

“Until you choose to change, don’t let others change you. Same as before: I believe in your justice. I hope you’ll believe in the me who believes in you. Then go do what you think is right.”

…

“I understand.”

Yekase nodded, snapped her fingers, and said, “As for your family difficulties, I happen to have a small assist…”

Shouha waited for her to pull a rabbit from thin air. A whoosh cracked above. Wind shoved her bangs across her eyes.

She tucked her hair behind her ear and looked up—

A helicopter drifted down toward the roof like a steel hawk.

“What a hole-in-the-hills dump. Took me forever to find. Damp, sunless, moldy. The Crimson Field family stuck you here? Not getting sick would be the miracle.” Chubu Risa leaned out of the cabin.

She jumped when the skids were still five or six meters up. Her sneakers clicked twice. Bottle-cap thrusters popped from the insoles, checked her fall, and she landed on the roof in a clean arc.

“You’re the big boss of Crimson Field?”

“Eh?”

“Let’s talk business.”