Bonus Short Stories
Side: Yurika
To most anyone, Yurika appeared to be an utterly carefree creature. But even she got serious from time to time... and now was one of those times.
“Jeez, Yurika. At least try to do the work you get from Folsaria instead of just letting it pile up.”
“Paperwork just isn’t what magical girls do!”
Yurika was presently working on a write-up with tears in her eyes. She was the only Rainbow agent who’d gone to Forthorthe, so all the follow-up paperwork had fallen squarely on her shoulders.
“Satomi-san, what happened when we fell from orbit to Planet Alaia again?”
“Well, you cried and screamed the whole way down.”
“I can’t write that in my report!”
“And then you kept crying when we got there because you were afraid of wolves.”
“I need something that doesn’t involve me crying!”
Yurika’s memory was terrible, so she was consulting with Koutarou about various events as she worked on her reports. There was so much she didn’t remember that virtually a third of what she wrote down was straight from his mouth. As she faithfully recorded his account, however, she began to grow uneasy.
“Satomi-san... you’re not just pulling my leg because I can’t remember, are you?”
Koutarou was known to joke around on occasion. And it was one thing for him to tease Yurika casually... but if she recorded it in a report, it would be in writing forever.
“What do you think?” he countered.
At that, Yurika fell pensively silent and stared at Koutarou’s face. What would he really do at a time like this?
“I don’t think you’d make any silly jokes over something so serious,” she eventually answered with a confident smile.
Koutarou wasn’t the type to kid when Yurika was doing something important—she knew that better than anyone. She also knew he understood just how important her work as a magical girl was to her, so she couldn’t imagine that he was lying or joking around now.
“You’re exactly right. Now, I’ll let you in on something as a little bonus for getting that right.”
“What?”
“Remember how I told you nata de coco is made the other day?”
“By fermenting coconut water, right?”
“That was a lie.”
“Whaaaaaaaat?! But I already told all my friends that!”
Really, Koutarou’s behavior was far more nuanced than Yurika realized. In truth, he would crack jokes like this and fix snacks whenever he could see that she was tired or overworking herself. Whenever she needed a break, you could say.
“I’m just kidding. You really do make it by fermenting coconut water.”
“Which is it?! Auuugh!”
Yurika tossed a cookie in her mouth and sulkily got back to working on her report. Thanks to Koutarou’s pick-me-up, she was going a little faster now. After another two hours or so, she was finally done.
“Yeah, I think this should be good enough.”
Koutarou looked over her work for her. Her handwriting was a little difficult to read, but the content of her reports was solid. If anything, this gave him a much better understanding of the work she was always doing. He wanted to praise her for it.
“Phew... I can’t believe I managed to finish,” she sighed with a relieved smile.
“Good work, Yurika,” he said, handing the papers back to her.
He didn’t just mean about the reports, either. He was talking about everything she’d done for him and the team in Forthorthe. A lot of her efforts were behind the scenes, so to speak, so he wanted to make sure she got the appreciation she deserved.
“Ooh, yeah. Right there. That feels good.”
“You’re surprisingly stiff, you know?”
“It’s ’cause I’m not used to working like that...”
“That’s your own fault, isn’t it?”
“Heeheehee...”
Koutarou had offered to reward Yurika with a shoulder massage, and she’d happily accepted. The two of them would continue chatting away and joking around with each other for a while yet.
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