|
[Continued from Chiharu's magical girl story]
Shizuka, Chiharu, and Sunao begin in a grocery store, scrutinizing the task that lays before them...before Shizuka cracks and insists she can't do it. All she has to do is purchase a few things at the store - a chore any kid can do - but the crowd is overwhelming and intimidates her. No one can blame her, considering her upbringing; Sunao notes that store is so packed due to a special showcase of new products at the store.
Chiharu figures there are other ways they can help Shizuka get used to the city, like trying new food, and proposes ice cream. Sunao cottons on to the fact Chiharu's motivation is more about getting the ice cream itself, but it's true that it'll be a new experience for Shizuka, and that it'll be less scary for Shizuka. After Sunao explains ice cream to Shizuka, Chiharu comes back with their treats and demonstrates how to eat it. Shizuka instantly falls in love with it, and gobbles it down as fast as she can, getting brain freeze in the process - who knew something so sweet could be so painful, too?
On their way home, Shizuka knows her mom will give her the same old lecture about visiting the city all over again when she finds out what Shizuka did, with warnings about preparing herself and so on. Shizuka wonders if the other girls ever got advice about visiting Kamihama from their own parents. Chiharu says her parents advised her not to waste money and not to go after strangers, while Sunao confesses that she hasn't actually explained anything about her excursions to her parents. This throws Shizuka for a loop - it's important for her parents to know these things. Plus, Sunao is very obedient to her parents; normally, she'd be the first to tell everything to her family. Still, she doesn't force Sunao to do anything, but does advise she tell her parents as soon as she can.
The girls head into Charu's house. Chiharu's mom greets them, then asks Sunao about what they should do with the daidaikko, a fruit unique to the village. The village has harvested a surplus, more than they can eat or store, and don't want it to go to waste. Sunao thinks of the village's plan to become a tourist site (thanks to Chiharu's efforts in her magical girl story), and says as part of it, they can sell daidaikko as souvenirs. Unfortunately, they still have a way to go before they can truly open the village for business - the roads leading into the settlement need major overhauls. In the meantime, they could sell the fruit outside of the village, but that would require lots of negotiations and contracts, and will still be impeded by the transportation issue. Only Diviners have the capability of easily moving between the city and the village, after all...
Which makes them the perfect candidate for one villager's idea. He's just returned home from one of the other towns (Chiharu's mom explains that since the village needs money, they've sent villagers out to get jobs to earn money and bring back goods the village needs). While in town, the man befriended some townsfolk who fell in love with the daidaikko, and one of them works for a grocery store that would like to exhibit the product in a special showcase of its own. The problem, though, is that the supermarket's schedule is booked for a while - the only possible opportunities do the showcase are the next two days.
Given the transportation issues can't be resolved in such a short span of time, Chiharu's mom vetoes the plan, but Shizuka and Chiharu point out how the three of them can run the exhibition instead. As Diviners, they can transport the daidaikko easily, and it's a strong method of helping Shizuka adapt to the city. While Sunao is hesitant, since Chiharu and Shizuka are all for it, she decides to join in, too. Chiharu's mother also isn't fond of the plan, given that the trio is still in middle school, but Chiharu insists they have to do this to help the village. Chiharu's mother finally agrees, but wants permission from the store and from Sunao and Shizuka's parents to go through with the plan.
Sunao goes to her parents' house, with Chiharu and Shizuka following her; Sunao wants to lie and say she got permission without telling her parents anything, and the other two protest. They stop their debate once they enter Sunao's house, and Sunao's mother happily greets Shizuka and Chiharu, then lays into Sunao for being late, even though Sunao said she'd come home early. She fusses and behaves like a helicopter parent, demanding to know the details of Sunao's whereabouts and doings, and yanks out every detail until Sunao confesses all the details about the product exhibition.
Sunao's mother gets even worse, worrying about the girls going without a chaperone, about middle schoolers working part-time, let alone carrying heavy loads down to the town, the fact that they won't come home until it's dark out, whether the town is safe or not...the list goes on and on, and in the midst of it, Sunao asks Shizuka and Chiharu to excuse themselves. She assures them she'll convince her parents to let her go, though the negotiation will probably go on long into the night. Shizuka and Chiharu do so, and once outside, discuss just how protective and anxious Sunao's mother is. Shizuka wonders if that's how Sunao's parents have always been, or if there was incident that made them that way...
As promised, Sunao convinces her parents, and Part 2 opens with the trio at the store. Their grocery store mentor helps them divide the tasks - Shizuka immediately volunteers for cashier, Chiharu goes for stocking the shelves, and Sunao decides on customer service. They all go out to practice their duties before the store opens, and poor Shizuka has failed miserably - she couldn't operate the cash register correctly even once. There's not enough time for her to learn it before the store opens, and she's worried. Sunao seems on edge, too - she has her phone in a death grip, and explains she received a call from her mother saying her parents would be coming tomorrow to see the product exhibtion. Chiharu and Shizuka realize they're doomed; if they botch the exhibition and word gets back to the village, Shizuka will likely be forbidden from going to the city. All they can right now, however, is try to survive the first day.
They do so...but barely. Shizuka gets into endless shenanigans involving the cash register, while Chiharu constantly gets distracted by the whiff of malice in the stocking area. Sunao gets caught up in an old granny's endless stories about her family, and doesn't have the heart to cut her off. Once they close up shop, they worry about what will happen tomorrow. Shizuka points out that her parents seemed very anxious the other day; Sunao explains that's always the case. Shizuka suggests Sunao just stand up for herself and tell them not to come tomorrow, but Sunao knows that would only freak them out even more. Shizuka notes that while it's natural for parents to worry about their kids, her mom seemed too worried - and that finally gets Sunao to confess what's going on, which marks the first time she's discussed her wish with Charu and Shizuka.
Sunao lived an ordinary, happy life as the dutiful daughter to her loving parents. One day, however, her parents went alone to a place Sunao had never heard of: the Tokime Village. Once home, her parents are unusually grim and quiet, and reticent to speak around Sunao...at least, before the questions begin.
Soon, they constantly prodded Sunao with questions every single day, about whether there was anything she was worried about or if she was having problems with school. While Sunao dismissed it as the usual concern that comes from parents, the questions become repetitive and unending. Ironically, they end up tearing her apart from the inside out - she's anxious over whether she did something horribly wrong to make them act this way, but couldn't think of anything she did, or how she could stop them. On the brink of a breakdown, however, a certain someone comes slinking by: Kyubey.
After Kyubey gives his spiel, Sunao asks him what would happen if she wished to make her parents' worries disappear. Kyubey admits the wish would come true, but asks her in turn what precise worries she would like to absolve. After all, humans worry about all kinds of things - and getting rid of their current problems may not turn out the way she hopes. Still, Sunao is convinced her parents' worries must center on her, and that eliminating those concerns will turn them back to normal. Given that, she wishes to erase the worries her parents have concerning her.
Sure enough, things don't go the way she wants. In becoming a Diviner, her parents were shocked at first, but adapted to the situation remarkably quickly thanks to her wish, and they go back to being a loving family. But soon their anxieties change: now it's about Sunao going out and fighting witches, the threat of her getting killed, and so on. She erased their initial set of worries, but that only led to other things for them to freak out about. Sunao learned of the Tokime tradition shortly after, and realized that her parents had changed so suddenly after their trip because they were terrified of her becoming a Diviner. Sunao explains her parents are now always upset over her. She just knows her parents are afraid she'll ruin things again, but Chiharu says that's not true - it's not that she ruined anything, but that they want her to be safe.
Sunao vents some more, but at the end of it, Shizuka asks her what Sunao is going to do about it. Things can't abide if they go on the way they are now. Sunao feels helpless, but Shizuka points out that she does have an option: she needs to earn her parents' trust. So tomorrow, they need to ensure the exhibition goes off without a hitch. In her voiced line, Sunao wonders if there's anyone out there who's made the same wish she has.
While Sunao isn't convinced that such a plan will work - she doesn't think her parents are worried about Shizuka and Chiharu, just Sunao causing trouble again - Chiharu and Shizuka reassure her that they'll work together to convince her parents. After all, together, they were able to blow open Mikoshiba's schemes. Sunao finally agrees to the plan. For once, she feels like with Shizuka and Chiharu by her side, she can now truly resolve her parents' fears.
The next morning, the Tokimes find new resolve in seizing the day. The day nearly goes south a few times, as Shizuka accidentally causes an issue with the register after a hot streak of success, and Chiharu loses concentration because of the permeation of malice in the air, and Sunao becomes the verbal punching bag for a persnickety customer...and to top things off, while all this is happening, Sunao's parents enter the store.
But things turn around once Shizuka is removed from register duty. While wandering the store, her leadership and strategic mind kick into gear, and she advises the store clerks on methods to quickly rearrange the store, which make it and the daidaikko more appealing and accessible to customers. She's nearly foiled by a customer approaching her for help, but Sunao diverts the customer her way, freeing Shizuka. Finally, Shizuka is able to convince the store clerks to let Chiharu free from shelving duty, explaining that Chiharu has a good nose, to put it one way - if they leave her free to run her own business, it'll pay diviends. And as for Sunao, she has the clerks leave her to handle customer service; despite how bad things may look and the kneejerk instinct to get her out of trouble, she's an excellent listener and a strong person. Shizuka is convinced that if they leave Sunao to it, she'll be able to make even the worst customers feel better, and leave the clerks open to handle their other duties.
From there, things go off on all sixes - Chiharu finds the source of malice in the store comes from a shoplifter who keeps coming back, and proudly nabs him in the act. Meanwhile, Sunao's efforts pay off - word has already spread about how kind and helpful she is, drawing tons and tons of customers into the store, with special courtesy of the granny she helped the other day spreading the word about Sunao and the daidaikko.
The product exhibition is a smash success as a result of their efforts. Chiharu and Shizuka praise Sunao up and down - much of the success is thanks to her. Even her parents commend her efforts; their appearance surprises Sunao, who had been so focused on her work that she had no idea they were in the store.
Once things settle down, her parents apologize for their behavior. In watching her, they realized they failed to recognize Sunao as the young woman she's growing up to be - she was more than capable of handling herself, and they had absolutely no reason to worry. Looking back, they understand now that they should have told Sunao the truth from the beginning; that way, they could have worked together to ensure the worst never came to pass.
Apologies go around between Sunao and her parents, and then she turns to thank Shizuka and Chiharu. It's because of them that she can be confident now, and that she could reassure her parents. With that settled, she asks that her parents allow her to visit Kamihama City. She'll spend many of her days there, and knows they'll worry - but she has Chiharu and Shizuka by her side now. And because of that, she knows she'll be okay.
|
