Magia Record Mirrors Story Valentine Message ~The Memories are Pale Black~
The following is a summary posted on 4chan's /pmmm/ general by Rikosis.
Part One
The intro is the "Kuro Blanco meets Kuroe" scene from the anime, where Kuroe refuses to give Kuro Blanco a grief seed - ending with Kuro Blanco hoping she doesn't become a witch...
Puella Care rolls into Takarazaki City sometime after Arc 2. They try to set up shop, but magical girls avoid them - eventually, they're able to talk to one, who explains that Coordinators have a bad rep in these parts. In Kamihama City, word has gotten out about their home Coordinator - how she hosts quiz competitions where losers are forced to labor for her underground; she changes magical girl outfits at her whim, creates horrific food, and, in one case from a certain meguca hailing from Takarazaki, when said meguca went to visit the Coordinator for the first time, she was ordered to strip!
So Puella Care has to shore up their reputation - Livia can't do it because of her sinister sex appeal, and Yozuru can't do it because she's too darkly cool - but Sudachi is perfect! Yozuru is concerned about having Sudachi do this, given Sudachi's past complex over being impure and evil, Livia and Sudachi explain that Sudachi has made remarkable strides. It's important for Sudachi to stretch out of her comfort zone, and Sudachi is gung ho. So Livia gets her dolled up and sends her off to recruit people to Puella Care!
As adorable as Sudachi is, though, girls are still scared of Coordinators; if anything, the girls tell sweet Sudachi to escape while she can. Sudachi tries to no avail, but eventually, she has a genius idea - Livia taught Sudachi how to use her "change your mind/emotion swapping" magic. Sudachi can cast that on the girls she meets to give them positive feelings regarding Coordinators! Puella Care will get their business, and Livia and Yozuru will lavish praise on Sudachi - nothing can go wrong!
Livia and Yozuru, meanwhile, notice a Witch lurking around Takarazaki; not wanting Sudachi to get hurt, they go on the hunt. They're evaded at every turn, however. By assisting a Takarazaki meguca, they get more details - this Witch has been around for months now; she's very powerful and elusive, dodging all attacks and escaping meguca invasions.But she's also never harmed a magical girl, or even damaged the city. It's an odd mystery to chew on, so Livia and Yozuru return to their home base to work out a strategy...
Only to come home to a massive line of new customers waiting for them. They're pleased but also very confused as to how Sudachi was so successful. Sudachi shortly comes home, brimming with pride, and explains how she used her magic to solve things. Livia is horrified, but does not blame Sudachi for doing this; she's just a kid, and loves Livia and Yozuru so much that she'll do whatever it takes to help them out here; to Livia, the blame for this lies squarely on her own shoulders.
She sadly tells Sudachi that they have to revert all of the magic, and once they do, the Takarazaki megucas despise the Coordinators more than ever before, cursing at them and fleeing - leaving Sudachi a storm of guilt and confusion as Part 1 comes to a close.
Part Two
Part 2 of the event opens to another flashback with Kuro Blanco again. She keeps returning to the Takarazaki train station where this story began, looking for the stranger she met in the prologue. That person seemed like someone Kuro could team up with, even though Kuro herself is a weakling and she can't fight alone. She never finds that person, but she keeps trying. Days go by, and Kuroe's soul gem turns murkier and murkier - until one day, she senses a magic signature...!
Back to Puella Care's situation. in a flashback, we see how they've cured the Takarazaki megucas of Sudachi's magic. After Sudachi apologizes to the girls, who curse Puella Care in turn, Livia sends them all on their way. Most of the girls flee, but one NPC stays behind.
She explains that she has a request: her boyfriend dumped her last week, not long before Valentine's, for always being so gloomy. The girl asks if Sudachi could erase that memory. Livia explains that no, Sudachi doesn't have such a convenient power - she can only change thoughts and emotions. But even if the girl wanted Sudachi to weaken her feelings towards her boyfriend instead, Livia wouldn't accept that job. She doesn't want the girl to use magic as a crutch; "you can't change yourself if you rely on magic like that."
Sudachi is cut deeply. Livia stammers, trying to explain that she wasn't trying to condemn Sudachi's powers, but alas, it doesn't make Sudachi feel any better. The next day, Livia tries encouraging Sudachi to go out and be their ambassador again, but no one has their heart in it anymore.
In the present, Sudachi is back in the city to recruit new customers for Puella Care, but after one girl approaches, poor Sudachi flees. Hiding out, she ruminates - even if she could convey her words, she can't change their reputation on her own. If the girls from the other day already started spreading word about what happened before, then if anything, Sudachi has ruined things even more.
She moves on from the city center to a local park, but still can't get into the swing of things. She spots an army of ants on the move. She admires ants for their ability to carry loads far bigger than themselves...but she also spots one ant that's fallen out of line with its friends. Its senses must be broken, and Sudachi relates to it - it's just like how she can't talk. Or like a squirrel with a broken front tooth, a pig that can't get fat no matter how it eats, a smartphone with a smashed screen, a magical girl who can't use her own magic...a creature who can't do what it was born to do. Just when she had started to be happy with her magic, thinking she could use it for good...
Well, she decides to move on again. It's noon, and time for lunch. She leaves, but not before helping reunite the little ant with its friends.
At the train station, Sudachi is greeted with an announcement that the next train to Kamihama will soon depart. Sudachi, without thinking, hurries to buy a ticket, even though Livia had given her the money for lunch. But all Sudachi can imagine is seeing her friends again - she fantasizes about Mikage getting tickets to Minagi Sea from Nayupapa, and she and Sudachi going there with Nayuta and Lavi and they'll have a fun and happy day together.
But then she thinks of the consequences. Livia and Yozuru would surely be disappointed if she comes home with no customers for them, or maybe they don't have any expectations anymore after what happened the other day. After all, Livia and Yozuru were out hunting the renegade Witch - surely because they didn't trust that Sudachi could handle it herself. They sent her out on this wild goose chase, on this job she's incapable of completing, because they didn't want her to get in the way.
Yes - nothing is expected of Sudachi. So if she runs away to Kamihama for the day...if she just says she's sorry, she'll probably be forgiven. Besides, all of this is Livia's fault, really, for tasking Sudachi with a job she's not suited for. And even one of those girls she met earlier said Sudachi is a good girl who should get away from Puella Care.
Sudachi snaps out of it. What the heck is she saying?! Livia isn't to blame for this! And she's gotta get back to work. Except Sudachi has already passed through the ticket gate. She's already on the platform, so... She tries telling herself, well, that's how it is, there's nothing more to it than that.
But she thinks back to Livia's words some more - how Livia told her that using her magic in this way violates human dignity; how you can't truly change by relying on magic like that. She thinks back to her past, too - how her magic was acquired through such a horrific wish, how she felt so disgusted at first, until Livia became her teacher, and helped teach her how to use that magic. For the longest time, Sudachi, wracked by guilt, had thought of her magic as disgusting and wrong, but when she first heard Livia explain Sudachi's personal magic for the first time, she felt something other than disgust.
We jump to Livia and Yozuru's Witch hunt. Their investigation has hit a wall; they're unable to gather more information than they already have, especially with the local megucas being wary of them. Even magical girls they haven't met are steering clear of them - Yozuru suspects word of the incident yesterday has already spread. Laying all that out, Livia sighs. Yozuru asks if she's tired; when Livia dodges the question, Yozuru says she's lying. Livia tries reminding her that overlooking lies can be a kindness, before they start talking about Sudachi.
From what Yozuru infers, she knows that kind people who feel guilty often say things they don't intend, and quickly come to regret their words. Livia says that's true, and applauds Yozuru for being able to make those connections now. Livia explains she herself is guilty for what she did to Sudachi - she forced Sudachi into a role she wasn't fit to do, which pushed Sudachi too hard and backed her into a corner. Now, all their efforts have gone to naught, and in forcing Sudachi out to advertise again today, Livia thinks she's screwed up even more, and doesn't know what she should do next.
Yozuru stays quiet for a second, and Livia talks a little more - she knows Sudachi is a kind, considerate girl. She regrets having killed so many people because of her wish, and resented the magic she got from it, which is why Livia was so stunned that Sudachi abused it as she did, without a trace of guilt, or thinking through the consequences or implications of what she was doing.
At this, Yozuru interrupts. She reflects on the Arc 2 finale, in the bad timeline when Livia taught her students their personal magic. Yozuru's power was to "cut out one's heart", and she explains she's never felt guilty for having that power, and therefore has never hated it. Rather, she was pleased that it would be of use to execute Livia's strategy. Sudachi, on the other hand, was disgusted by her magic, but in hearing Livia teach her how it could be useful, Sudachi must've been happy in the same way Yozuru was: proud to be of use to her loved ones. Yozuru muses that perhaps she was able to identify that happiness in Sudachi because Yozuru's own conscience is clear of guilt.
It clicks for Livia, and Yozuru puts it in words: Sudachi wants to make herself be happy with her magic. She found this opportunity to make it good and useful, so she leapt at it without thinking twice. They talk more about how Sudachi is very sensitive, and with Livia paving over Sudachi's efforts like that, Sudachi must be feeling much more than mere disappointment right now. So they need to find Sudachi, pronto!
They start on the search, with no idea where Sudachi could be by now, and happen to bump into San and Miyuri. They explain they were both hanging out with Himena in Kamihama just this morning, and when they returned to Takarazaki at noon, they saw Sudachi on the other side of the platform, waiting for the train to Kamihama! Livia and Yozuru freak out, and after getting directions from San, they bolt to the train station. San screams after them, saying they saw Sudachi at noon, she's gotta be long gone by now!
Livia and Yozuru hurry to the station's platform (which is the same platform as where Kuro Blanco awaits her stranger in the prologue sequences). There's no sign of Sudachi at first, and Yozuru points out again that Sudachi was only here at noon. But they hear a familiar fumu! A station manager is relieved, explaining how Sudachi has been on the platform for hours, getting on and off the train before it left. The staff got worried, so they kept her in the staff room until they could figure out what was going on. Livia and Yozuru thank the staff member (who acknowledges them as Sudachi's guardians) profusely and turn to Sudachi.
After an awkward silence, Sudachi pipes up with an apology, and Livia thanks her for staying. Sudachi explains how she wanted to run away, how she kept thinking spitefully that she should just go and the Coordinators should just go out of business...but every time she tried to get on one of those trains...she kept thinking of Livia and Yozuru, and couldn't bring herself to leave. Livia says if anything, all of this was Livia's own fault, and she thanks her again for staying.
As they are planning to go home, Sudachi is struck by a sudden realization. Like a good mystery novel, all the seemingly random pieces set up throughout the story begin to fall in place. (I'm not going to transcribe all the hints, but basically, Sudachi recognizes that for their mystery Witch, when Puella Care encountered it on their first day here in the first node of the event, Sudachi had sensed two magical signatures.) She realizes a long time ago, she felt those two very same signatures upon this very platform! One belongs to a Witch and the other to a mysterious meguca.
Sudachi thinks back to another encounter with a Witch and meguca she had earlier, and realizes what's going on. She tries to explain to Livia and Yozuru - but the Witch, Slave of Anima, gets them first.
On the one hand, Livia's thrilled that they found the Witch; on the other hand, there's still so much they don't understand! Still, Livia orders her and Sudachi and Yozuru to run before the Witch herself emerges. But as Sudachi anticipates, she feels two traces of magic within this Labyrinth. She turns to Yozuru, requesting her to shout out whatever Sudachi tells her. And Yozuru does, calling out to the magical girl within - saying she and Sudachi had met at this platform months ago, and says she knows the magical girl has been carrying out these attacks. Sudachi wants to apologize, asking if she had done something to make the girl do this?
Out from the Labyrinth comes Kuro Blanco! Livia is boggled, and at her questioning, the girl confirms that she's been the one attacking from the Witch's shadow, so that she could protect it. Kuro claims its her fault that she created this Witch, and now feels the need to protect her - which she's been trying to do without causing any harm to the city or to other megucas.
In a flashback, Sudachi thinks back to the Kuro sequence at the start of this half, where Kuro's soul gem was going black. Earlier, Sudachi had ended up in Takarazaki City that day as part of their Coordination work (she wasn't supposed to go to Takarazaki, but she she fell asleep on the train) - where she happened to bump into Kuro.
Sudachi, communicating through notes on her phone, asks if the girl has a Grief Seed; the girl has just one, but she refuses to use it. She wants to give it to the person who helped her way back when. she finally got a Grief Seed all by herself, by taking down a weak Witch. But if she bumps into that person again, and she doesn't have a Grief Seed, that person will be disappointed in her, thinking she's still weak
Sudachi is shocked to hear all this - doesn't Kuro realize what will happen if her Soul Gem goes black?! But she can't tell her that... And Kuro continues, explaining how the person who rescued her, surely, she's all that Kuro is pretending to be, and surely, they will meet again here very soon.
Just then, Slave of Anima shows up again, which makes Sudachi even more pressed to save Kuro. She tries forcing a Grief Seed into Kuro's hands, but Kuro lashes out, saying if she takes this favor, then nothing has changed; she's still weak! Sudachi didn't want Kuro to get killed, so she tries Coordinating her instead, even though she's a newbie who might screw things up and even as Kuro tries shoving her out of the way...before suddenly stopping and saying you know what, she really could use that Grief Seed now.
Back in the present, in retrospect, Sudachi realizes that although she didn't know her personal magic at the time, she must've accidentally cast it on Kuro in the process of Coordinating. But given Sudachi's state of mind at the time - avoiding people, thinking it was more important to be independent than to rely on others, she warped Kuro's mind with her own emotions, erasing Kuro's dependency on the stranger and erasing her hope in humans and her expectations of others.
But that leaves them all with the question: Why is Kuro protecting this Witch all of a sudden? After some pondering, Puella Care basically concludes that in erasing Kuro's hope in humans, Kuro's hope for the Witch (that fighting the Witch would reunite her with the person she'd been waiting for) was all that remained, but she didn't know what she was hoping for because of all of her other overwritten feelings.
With all this laid out, Kuro is flummoxed. She can't quite swallow that this is what's going on here, but Livia says they have a way to prove it: have Sudachi use her magic again, and see if she can reverse Kuro's feelings.
But talking is not a free action; while they were all talking, the Witch emerged from the Labyrinth's heart and now starts attacking! Yozuru and Livia hold off the Witch, while Sudachi successfully casts her magic on Kuro again and reverses everything. Kuro is back to being herself, knowing for herself now that she has no reason to guard the Witch - and also realizes the follies of her dependence on the stranger, calling it "a secondary addiction."
Livia is relieved things are fixed now, and orders everyone to escape - but Kuro says no, she knows this Witch by heart. She's strong now - and they can beat it! In fact, in just one shot, Kuro takes down the Witch and the Labyrinth, and all's well that ends well
After a quiet night in Takarazaki, the next day, no customers arrive at Puella Care's shop, so they decide to have a debriefing meeting instead. Yozuru states that they all really botched things here. Livia talks about her part in things - how she irresponsibly put everything on Sudachi's shoulders, and also warded Sudachi away from the Witch investigation when she was crucial to solving it. Sudachi also says she was wrong for using her magic irresponsibly like that. And even though Sudachi "solved" the Witch problem, she also ended up being responsible for the whole thing to begin with.
The trio sits glumly, but Livia pulls herself together and asks - so what'll they do next? They can't just sit around and feel sorry for themselves. Sudachi says she still doesn't like her magic...so from now on, she'll think carefully before using it. Livia praises her, saying if Sudachi had said "I'll never use it again!", she would've scolded her.
Sudachi teasingly grumbles about having a boss who plays mind games with her staff. But Livia says there's another good thing that came out of this hot mess - Sudachi was given the opportunity to run away, but ultimately chose not to.
Someone knocks on their door. It's Kuro Blanco, here for a Coordination! Puella Care is shocked - Kuro is arguably their biggest victim yet, but she's here like all that was nothing? Kuro giggles, and says no, she wasn't their victim - she was saved by them! Before receiving Sudachi's magic, Kuro had believed she was helpless on her own; arbitrarily giving up on her own capabilities, and making herself fully dependent on a total stranger.
But with Sudachi's magic, she was forced to live on her own - and realized she could stand on her own two feet. Without that magic, who knows what would've happened to her? So Sudachi's magic is something that allowed her to face something she couldn't otherwise - a wonderful magic that helps people realize their true potential. (So perhaps people can truly change themselves through this magic after all!)
Sudachi lights up, and Livia tells her that she'll take their first job here in Takarazaki, then. As the story comes to a close, we see the event CG with Sudachi Coordinating Kuro. Kuro confirms Sudachi's name, and wonders, "Why couldn't I ask such a simple question back then...?" At Sudachi's fumu, Kuro says she's talking about something else.
And oh yeah - she hasn't introduced herself yet! Her name is: And then the event ends.