Magia Record Story Mitama's Special Training - Kaede Episode
Part One
Kaede finds herself near a construction site. As she looks around, she sees a garden with her name on it although she doesn't see the construction of any buildings near them. She sees some people nearby and recognizes them as her friends Momoko and Rena. She calls them over to her. Both Rena and Momoko explain they're here to help Kaede harvest her garden. Rena brags about how many she helped pick as Momoko compliments Kaede on her Garden. Kaede picks up a meter-long carrot as Rena shows her the octagonal tomatoes. When Momoko mentions the round cucumbers, Kaede figures this must be a dream. As they continue to pick vegetables, Kaede is certain that this must be a dream since many of the plants they are working with couldn't possibly exist in real life. She turns to Momoko and asks her where the cream puff tree is. Momoko stares for a moment before telling her they were the first thing they harvested and shows her a basket full of cream puffs. Rena shows her the eclairs and puddings she was able to harvest as well. As Kaede enjoys her dream and tries to think of something else to conjure, Momoko says they're out of time. Rena points behind her and Kaede turns to find that the building has been finished being constructed. Rena says that now that the apartment complex has been built, the vegetable garden is finished. Momoko also looks sad, saying that nothing can grow if it's surrounded by all these buildings. Kaede remembers how this all happened before when Kyubey appears.
Part Two
Kaede remembers how important the small garden was for her family. She remembers her father describing the new 38 story building to her mother and lamenting that it will cut off all sunlight to their garden once it's built. Her mother turns to Kaede and tells her she's not sure if they'll be able to keep their small garden going. Now filled with hopelessness and despair, Kyubey appears before her and offers her a contract to become a magical girl in exchange for any wish she may have. Kaede blurts, "That apartment building! I want it gone!" Kyubey asks which building she's referring to. Kaede corrects herself and says the building hasn't been built yet. She then says, "I want you to make it so they never started building the building they're building...!" This is how she was able to protect her family's garden.
As Kaede finishes reminiscing, she remembers that she was dreaming. She thinks everything will be okay if she makes her wish to Kyubey again but she finds that Momoko and Rena have disappeared. She hears a voice that accuses her of always changing things to suit her. She asks who's there and turns to find a shadowy version of herself standing next to her. The shadow tells her it's okay to run away if she's uncomfortable. The shadow introduces itself as Kaede's other self. Kaede insists this is all just a dream, but the shadow assures her this is not a dream from here on.
Kaede finds herself transported to a cloudy void. Kaede asks where they are as her shadow explains that this void is also a part of Kaede, deep inside of her. Kaede admits she doesn't understand. The shadow says that's okay and not to think too deeply about the reason they're meeting like this. Just like in her dreams where Kaede can do whatever she liked, the shadow wants Kaede to continue living by doing whatever she pleases. Kaede repeats what the shadow said. The shadow Nods it head, excitedly saying she can do as she likes and whenever things get inconvenient she can always just run away until she can get back on the easy path. When Kaede tries to argue, the shadow assures her it's fine since she's best at living her life like that.
Part Three
The shadow believes it's best to live a life of ease and change things to suit herself. She reminds Kaede that she made her wish to stop the construction of an apartment building without worrying about what would happen to the people that were supposed to end up living there. In order to make life more convenient for her, she changed her surroundings to protect her garden. The shadow recalls a time when Momoko had told Kaede that Rena didn't want her on their team. Before she could explain further, Kaede had taken it upon herself to run away instead as Momoko called out to her.
The shadow says her reason was because she was slowing them down and that it was too hard so she gave up and ran away. Talking to people is too difficult, so it's much better to just distance yourself and run away. Kaede, who had remained silent until now, tries to tell the shadow she's wrong. She reminds her of the time at school when she had to run at the school marathon. She could have easily won the marathon if she had actually tried, but she didn't want the attention so she purposefully held back. Running the marathon would have been too much effort. Even when she studies she just gives up when she gets to a hard problem. She skips it and goes straight for the easy ones. Kaede tries to protest but can't get her words out. The shadow tells her that it's fine, since that's just the kind of person she is at her core: she cares about herself and doesn't want to get hurt. She fits her surroundings to herself and if they don't fit then she just runs away. The shadow wants Kaede to be more true to herself, and if she finds something that's not to her liking then she should run away and find a new comfy place to stay.
She should keep running until she finds a place of her own, where she belongs. It's the only way she can live. The shadow will do whatever it takes to find a place where she belongs, and then it reaches reach her hand out towards her. It tells Kaede that together they can be free, and if things go wrong then they'll just run away and be free again. The shadow repeatedly chants "Run away to free myself" as it fades from view. It's last two words, then last word, echo repeatedly as it vanishes.
The shadow returns to view as Kaede says she thinks she understands. The shadow reaches its hand out to Kaede. Kaede agrees to take its hand so they can go, but first she wants to talk to it. She says that she thinks what was said of her was true, that she's weak and useless. When she was offered a contract, she jumped right in without thinking about it first. As for Momoko and Rena, she had run away immediately rather than work through the situation with the others because she was scared to face them. However, she had later gone back and asserted herself and found a place for herself on that team. The shadow asks if it wouldn't be easier to run away and find other friends that are easier to get along with. Kaede insists she wants to stay here because she has other important friends as well as her mind flashes to the various members of Team Mikazuki. Even if she's a weak person, she still wants to be there for everyone. So she asks her shadow if together, they can make her a better person little by little. The shadow agrees, but tells Kaede that it will remain where it is, watching her from the garden of her heart to see if the choice to move forward rather than run away was the right choice. As Kaede awakens, she can hear the voice of her shadow urging her to move forward firmly.
Kaede finds herself at Mitama's place. Kaede asks where she is. Mitama is surprised to find that Kaede doesn't remember what happened. During their battle with a Witch, Kaede had blacked out and Momoko had brought her there. Kaede remembers that they had been asked by Yachiyo to help investigate Rumors, and had been tasked with the rumor of the break-up stairway. On their way home, they had been accosted by a Witch and its Familiars. Momoko and Rena had transformed right away so they could fight, but Kaede had hesitated in transforming and was caught off guard by a Familiar. Rena had cried out but a Familiar used her distraction to its advantage and attacked Rena. At that moment, Kaede had recalled the time that Momoko had also been hurt by a Witch because of a mistake she had made. Kaede believed she was as useless now as she was then, and it was then that Momoko and Rena had noticed that Kaede's soul gem had turned pitch black with impurities and then Kaede lost consciousness.
Mitama explains to Kaede that Rena and Momoko had gone on ahead to hunt down the Witch. Kaede remembers her shadow self urging her to run away when things get tough, but Kaede doesn't want to run away anymore. She wants to stay here and help protect her important friends. She asks if it's okay for her to go, but Mitama points out that her Soul Gem has already been purified. Mitama assures her it's fine and had adjusted her Soul Gem while she was at it. Kaede asks if it's really okay as she stares at her Soul Gem, but Mitama smiles and says she'll put it on their tab. As Kaede heads off, Mitama thinks of the Witch she saw deep within Kaede's memories and knows that Kaede will be okay with Momoko and Rena by her side.
External Links
- Episode 1 Youtube Recording (JP) (Subtitled)
- Episode 2 Youtube Recording (JP) (Subtitled)
- Episode 3 Youtube Recording (JP) (Subtitled)