Mahou Shoujo Ikusei Keikaku - Volume 4 - Chapter 6

A Cherna Christmas

This story is set just a little before the game in Magical Girl Raising Project: Restart begins.

A person needs only one thing to become a magical girl: magical potential. Although traits such as intelligence, kindness, courage, self-restraint, endurance, and strength of heart are all next in line, they are not necessary for being chosen.

To put it another way, as long as they are possessed of the vaguely defined, numerically inexpressible trait called magical potential, then anyone can gain powers. Age, sex, and race are no barrier. And though very rare, it’s possible to overcome even greater hurdles…

Takanaka Butchers sold two different kinds of croquettes. The normal ones were a hundred yen each. The burned or broken or duds were fifty yen each. They had started selling these fifty-yen croquettes ever since the owners’ son had returned from Tokyo to work in the shop, and the chronically broke students and low-wage office workers appreciated them. They called the normal ones the “fancy croquettes,” while the duds were the “normal croquettes,” and they preferred buying the latter. Takanaka Butchers’ croquettes were cheap, tasted good, didn’t skimp on the meat, and had batter that was fried up nice and crispy, and most of all, they were large.

Lately, there had been days with no duds, and some customers bought the fancy croquettes with heavy hearts, even as they commented on the improving skills of the owner’s son. So in that sense, Tomoki Tatehara was lucky for getting ahold of six fifty-yen croquettes.

But Tomoki didn’t feel lucky. Sitting on the swing at the park, he likened himself to the middle-aged office worker who couldn’t tell his family he’d been laid off and so just kept on going to the park, pretending he was at work.

It all started with Tomoki’s big sister. She was supposed to come straight home after her club time was over, but she had been an hour late. And Tomoki knew why. Baseball. His sister wasn’t playing—no, she’d stopped to watch a casual game on the way home from her school.

When Tomoki’s sister had started middle school, she’d developed an interest in watching baseball games. He figured it was probably due to the influence of someone at her school. She’d never said a word about the sport before then. At least, not to Tomoki.

In his opinion, when his sister had started middle school, she’d looked like an elementary school kid who’d put on a middle school uniform by mistake. He’d even been worried that such a gangly girl might end up getting bullied. But thinking about it now, the concern seemed unnecessary.

Tomoki’s sister did not play baseball. She only ever watched. She was such an athletically disinclined person, and for as long as he could remember, she’d always been the type to cite reading as her hobby, so he had no idea what was going on in her mind now. And to Tomoki, this habit of hers was an incredible bother.

The two of them had promised they would take turns watching the house, but now his sister’s late returns had wasted Tomoki’s weekend. Thinking he might just barely make it if he left right away, he’d pedaled his bicycle as fast as he could and arrived at the game shop thirty minutes late. The card tournament had already begun, and his friends seemed to be having a great time dishing out and taking damage.

—But there was a special card they would be handing out that day for the winners only!

Winter vacation had only just begun. This was beyond a bad start to the holiday. And it was all that uggo’s fault! Ugly, ugly, ugly, ugly!

But cursing his sister in his head was not going to turn back time.

It wasn’t like it was his friends’ fault, nor the shop’s, but continuing to watch the card tournament had grated on his nerves. So Tomoki had thrown his leg over his bicycle and gone back the way he’d come. Irritated as he was at wasting his time on this pointlessness, his cycling got more aggressive until his handlebar caught on a telephone pole and almost knocked him over, which only upset him even more.

That was when he noticed the smell of croquettes wafting out from Takanaka Butchers. Sunday afternoon was the time when growing children were hungriest. Going to look, he saw there was a whole stack of normal croquettes beside the fancy croquettes.

Tomoki still had the money for the tournament entry fee in his wallet. Stress eating might make him feel better. It had been a long time since he’d last had croquettes from Takanaka Butchers, too. If he were to miss out now, he didn’t know when the normal croquettes might be up for sale again.

These thoughts floated through his mind one after another, and before he knew it, he’d bought six of them and was sitting in the park, holding the brown, oil-stained wrapping paper in his hands. The year was nearing its end already, and it was the second day of winter vacation.

It was cold out, of course. Tomoki knew he’d be warmer if he went home to eat the croquettes, but he was also thinking, Why do I have to look at my sister’s face while I eat? Just thinking about her pisses me off. He would eat them all before he went home.

His friends would be playing that card game right about now. Maybe they’d noticed Tomoki wasn’t there. He could easily imagine their dumb comments: “Oh yeah, so what happened to Tatehara today?”

Augh, I’m so, so mad!

He forcefully ripped open the wax paper, opened his jaw up as far as it would go, and was about to bite into a croquette when, right before his upper and lower teeth met, he heard a great noise. Heavy, loud, and shuddering, like it was coming from deep within the bowels of the earth. It was the sound of a stomach rumbling.

It wasn’t his stomach. He might be hungry, but he didn’t make such big, bearlike sounds. Tomoki stopped before he took his bite, slowly pulled the croquette away from his mouth, and examined the park.

A slide. Swings. Iron bars. The jungle gym. Then he looked up and found it—someone squatting on top of the streetlamp. There was no mistaking it. It was a person. And the top of that streetlamp was fifteen feet up.

The figure hopped down and landed without a sound. Tomoki stared hard. It was a girl. She must have been around the same age as his sister, perhaps a little closer to high school–age. Her getup being what it was, he didn’t really have a clue.

Her outfit looked fluffy and soft, with round ears coming out of her head. Printed on her shoulders were symbols indicating “no cats.” It looked like she was wearing a mouse costume suit. But her face was exposed. Seeing it, Tomoki took a step backward. It wasn’t that her appearance was scary, and she wasn’t anyone he recognized. She was frighteningly beautiful. Strands of faint pink hair slipped out from her headpiece, fluttering in the breeze. A big white bag dangled from the grasp of her right hand. It was like Santa Claus’s sack.

There was strength in her eyes. She didn’t even blink as she stared at Tomoki—at what was in his hands.

Noticing her gaze, Tomoki looked down at his hands to see that in his right was a croquette, and in his left were the rest of them, wrapped in paper. He glanced over at the girl, lifting the croquettes and tilting his head. The girl nodded vigorously a bunch of times, staring intensely at the food. When Tomoki timidly offered out the croquette in his hand, the girl approached him to bite into it. She bit the hand that held it, too, and Tomoki yelped.

“It just smelled so good, Cherna figured it had to be yummy. And then when Cherna did eat it, it really was that good.” The girl had scarfed down Tomoki’s croquette in the blink of an eye, then snatched away the wrapping paper, devoured the rest inside, and bowed her head at the dazed boy in thanks.

Tomoki gave the girl a sidelong glance. She was now sitting on the bench, rubbing her stomach in satisfaction. He’d long forgotten the pain in his hand.

“Cherna’s got a good nose, and it never makes mistakes!”

“Um… So your name is Cherna?”

“Cherna is Cherna. Who’re you?”

“I’m Tomoki Tatehara.” She was probably older than him, so he tried his best to act polite. But he really didn’t know what sort of person she was. Was Cherna her first name? Was it one of those “unique” names parents were giving their kids these days? Wait, maybe she wasn’t even Japanese. Something about her face suggested that might be the case. “Cherna” might not even be her real name, anyway. It could be a character name or an entertainer’s stage name.

Looking at her outfit once again, he thought she seemed like some kind of store mascot or a comedian or some unique pop idol or something. Definitely the type who’d have a stage name.

“Cherna was so hungry. So that stuff was yummy.”

“Oh, uh-huh. Really?”

“But Cherna isn’t the only one hungry.”

“Oh, really?”

“Cherna’s whole family is hungry.” And then Cherna began to explain. A lot of her language sounded rather off, making Tomoki think that perhaps “Cherna” wasn’t a stage name after all and that she was actually a foreigner.

Cherna had a family. She had grown up with her friends in the same hometown, but they were now scattered all over Japan. A strong leader had the responsibility of supporting a big family, so as the strongest one of all, Cherna had the responsibility of supporting the biggest group, she said.

“Family.” She used the English word. She was gathering food from all over Japan in order to support her large family. So she had a huge clan? She’d struggled through a lot? These details didn’t convince him, but neither did she appear to be lying, bragging, or deluded.

“So the special day is coming.”

“Special day?”

“On that day, the leader has to go around visiting everyone in the family to give them presents, you know. They have to have presents that are way, way better than normal stuff, or they won’t be the leader anymore.”

So…Christmas? Or was this like New Year’s money? He got the feeling it could be either.

“And so…” Cherna took Tomoki’s hand and squeezed it. Even in the cold, wintry wind, he could feel its faint but certain warmth and the soft, silky smoothness of her skin. Tomoki’s heart rate shot up. Blood rushed to his head. “Cherna’s looking for tasty things.”

Still holding his hand, she broke into a run. She was sprinting so hard that Tomoki wasn’t just following after her—she was dragging him.

“H-hey! Stop, stop!”

And she did. The momentum carried him forward until Cherna caught him. Her body was far softer than the palm of her hand had been. “Why stop?”

Before her softness could send him into a total trance, Tomoki shook himself out of it. “You’re looking for good food? So where are you going to go?”

“Cherna wants more of those things from before. ’Cause those were good. So tell me where to get them.”

“Uh…well, I don’t have any more money.”

“Why not?”

“‘Why not’?”

She gave him a surprised look. “You’re an adult, Tomoki. You’ve got to pull it together.”

“No, I’m not an adult. I’m a kid. I’m still in elementary school.”

“Huh?! You’re a kid?!” Again, she seemed surprised. Tomoki felt sorry, somehow, for failing to meet her expectations, but this was clearly her fault for believing he was an adult. Objectively speaking, he was very clearly an elementary school kid.

“Oh…you’re a kid… So you don’t have any more of those tasty things?”

“Well, no. I don’t.”

“Oh well, then. Let’s look for something else.”

Before the Huh? could even cross his mind, Cherna took his hand and pulled him along.

After Cherna found out Tomoki was a child who couldn’t offer her any more croquettes, he had assumed he’d be relieved of his duty. He’d felt rather strange about it, even reluctant to part with her, but he had figured they would part ways. Once he was home, he’d tell his sister about how he’d met this really unbelievable girl.

But for some reason, Tomoki was still with Cherna.

“So are there any convenience stores or family restaurants around?” she asked.

“I know where some are, but do you have money?”

“So which is better: sneaking in, or digging through the trash?”

“Uh…both are bad.”

“They are?”

“Yes.”

“Oh…’cause these are supposed to be special presents, so it can’t just be the usual stuff, right? That’s it, right?”

“Yeah…let’s just leave it at that.”

“Cherna took a survey. Asking what everyone wants.”

“So how did people respond?”

“They said they want to try cat meat and stuff.”

“That’s…a little, uh…”

“Oh, and there was one who wants to slice up the Musician.”

“What does that mean?”

“One of the kids in Cherna’s family lives in a hospital and said a ‘inpatient’ has been saying that. Cherna doesn’t really understand what that means, either. Do you know, Tomoki?”

“I have no clue.”

“Um…why’re you getting undressed?”

“All that running made Cherna sweaty, so Cherna was thinking a swim would be nice.”

“In this cold?”

“Oh yeah. Cherna doesn’t have any fur right now. It’d be really cold for sure, huh?”

“Yeah, well, probably.”

“You’re so smart, Tomoki.”

“…Thank you.”

“Hide!”

“What’s wrong, Cherna?”

“Look at that person.”

“That old lady? The one with the rose corsage?”

“She’s super-scary. You’ve got to watch out for her.”

“She’s scary?”

“Cherna knows you can’t fight people who have flowers on them. Cherna doesn’t really remember why, but Cherna’s got this feeling that something really serious happened.”

“Um, I don’t really get it, but all right.”

“Oh yeah, so why’re you dressed up like that, Cherna?”

“Shhh! You’re not allowed to ask that!”

“Huh…? Why not?”

“If you try to figure out Cherna’s identity, you’ll get erased!”

“Huh? Uh…huh? A-all right.”

“Hey, where are you going?”

“That guy said he’ll give me something if I come with him.”

“Y-you can’t go off with some stranger because he said that! Cherna! Hey! I said you can’t go with him! Officer! Officeeer!”

They searched all over town, Cherna dragging Tomoki the whole way. Each time Cherna tried to do something inappropriate, Tomoki desperately tried to stop her. But even if she hadn’t been doing anything, her appearance alone would have called attention. Her behavior just made her stand out all the more. The two of them might well be the talk of the town by the next day.

They visited all sorts of places, but they couldn’t get their hands on the food Cherna wanted in the normal way. The reason was simple: Neither of them had the cash they needed. In the end, the two of them returned to the park where they had first met. In silence, they sat down on the bench together.

The sky was already growing dark. It seemed to have gotten a little colder, too. Was that just in Tomoki’s head, or was it actually chillier? Probably both. It was starting to get him down.

Feeling like he’d wasted all his time, he sat underneath the cold sky and wondered what he’d just been doing. Then he looked beside him to see Cherna hanging her head. Though the light had grown dim, Tomoki could see a sparkling flow of something from her eyes.

He panicked. “A-are you okay?”

“Maybe Cherna won’t be able to find any presents…” Cherna was only about the same age as his sister, maybe a little older, but she was desperately trying to support her starving family. Crying, she bore the weight of her own helplessness. Even after he had witnessed her innocence and slight excess of determination, now she was crying.

This…hits really hard.

That streak of tears was like a knife to Tomoki’s heart.

Cherna was crying. Something hot and thick welled up inside him, from the pit of his stomach, and he couldn’t put it into words. A voice was yelling at him, What are you doing? And then, This isn’t the time for that!

As if urged by some call, Tomoki stood. “Please wait here. I’ll come back right away.”

He threw his leg over his bicycle and pedaled away as hard as he could. It didn’t take him long to arrive at his house.

Tossing his bicycle aside at the front door, he ripped off his shoes and headed for the kitchen. This wasn’t the time to be worried about trivial things like his parents getting mad. He pulled a garbage bag out of the drawer and started yanking food out of the fridge, freezer, and cupboards, stuffing it all in.

“…What are you doing?” he heard his sister say from behind him, but that didn’t matter right now.

He packed it in.

“Hey. What are you doing?”

Pack it in. Pack it in.

“Hey, Tomoki.”

“Don’t stop me. I need food.”

“Mom and Dad are gonna yell at you.”

“I don’t care if they get mad.” Tomoki shook off his sister, who was still trying to stop him. It was almost New Year’s, but there were hungry kids out there. And there was a girl running around trying to find some food to give them as presents. What was so wrong about doing what he could for them?

Loudly shouting all this at her, Tomoki continued to stuff food into the bag, then he tied it off. He had one and a half forty-five-liter bags. It wasn’t a lot, but this was the most he could do right now. Slinging it over his shoulder, he turned around to go take it to Cherna, only to see his sister carrying even more than he was.

“Sis…?”

“Urk…t-take this, too.” She dropped the mountain of food before Tomoki with a thud. There was so much, he’d probably need five or six forty-five liter bags for it.

“What is this, sis?”

“I don’t really know what’s going on here, but if there are people in trouble, then I can’t just do nothing, right?”

“There’s, like, spiny lobster and a whole roast piglet in there, too, uh… Where did you get all this?”

“Don’t worry about that. Go on. You have to hurry and take this to them.”

“Yeah…thanks!”

How many years had it been since he’d last thanked his sister for anything? It may have been the first time he could recall that he’d felt so good about thanking someone. The two of them scooped up the food and shoved it onto the bicycle trailer their grandfather normally used for yard work. It made the trailer heavy, but the weight made him glad.

“Wow…wow!” The moment Cherna saw the mountain of food nearly overflowing from the plastic bags, she jumped for joy, breaking into a smile as she opened the closest bag and bit into a whole roasted turkey.

“Hold on! You can’t eat that, Cherna! You have to take it to everyone!”

“Oh yeah, yeah. Whoops. It just looked so good.” Cherna tied up the sack again, and then she hooked each bag in the bicycle trailer onto her fingers. The weight dangling from her fingers had to be enormous, but she didn’t seem to struggle with it at all. She was overjoyed, and a beaming smile lit up her face. “Thank you, Tomoki!”

“Oh, it’s no big deal.”

“Once you grow up, I’ll let you into my family!”

“Ah-ha-ha. Thank you.”

“Let’s make babies and raise them together!” Cherna nimbly jumped from the top of the wall to a roof as if the weight were nothing. And then, with a bright grin at Tomoki, she waved and disappeared beyond the roof.

“…Babies?”

He was starting to think that final remark had been something outrageous.

Seeing the baffling situation in her bedroom, Anna knit her brows.

She was sure she’d locked the window, but for some reason, it was now cracked open. What’s more, lying in the cage of her beloved pet hamster—its name was Tama—was an object she had no memory of putting there, and Tama was nibbling furiously away at it. What on earth is this? she wondered, opening the cage and pulling it out, only to find it was the head of a Japanese spiny lobster.

“Pourquoi?” she asked, but no answer came.

Anna loved Japanese culture. For many years, her friends had been calling her a weeaboo. Her obsession was so extreme that when she had been chosen as a magical girl, she had instantly picked out an ultra-Japanese name and an aesthetic based on a Japanese shrine maiden. But even Anna wouldn’t give spiny lobster, a staple of high-end Japanese cuisine, to a hamster as food. There shouldn’t have been any of it anywhere in the house in the first place.

Had a robber come in and left behind a spiny lobster head? No way.

“Has Père Noël come to give me a present, since I’ve been a good girl?”

Inside its cage, Tama squeaked.