Magia Record Story It's Okay to Be Clumsy

The following is a summary posted on 4chan's /pmmm/ general by Summary Anon.

Riko is the daughter of a Take Out Place (Bento Shop) and is liked as a local mascot by the public. However, she is pretty clumsy and had a hard time learning how to cook no matter how hard she tries. She has an Onee-san who is a regular at her place, a kind, gentle lady who is also a good cook. She is the aspiration of Riko who has just became an elder sister. They are very close and both look forward to one day when Riko can cook with her.

One day, Riko was inside a place that looked like the inside of a bento. There she met Kyubey who had been missing from Kamihama for a long time. Kyubey informs her that she is trapped inside a witch barrier and will have to find and beat the witch to escape. Kyubey joins Riko and acts as an adviser, telling her not to fall into despair nor be afraid as it will taint her soul gem, affecting her ability to fight and might even cause her death. Kyubey tells her to inform him if she has any problems, but the hard working and stubborn Riko claims she is all right despite the fact she is not.

The witch attacks Riko both physically and mentally, making her watch memories of her clumsiness which is her weakness. Her mother tries teaching her how to cook. It was the first lesson, learning to cut food. Riko cuts herself too many times; enough times that her mother kindly tells her not to be too impatient: they have enough time and she can learn when she grows older. But that hurts Riko since she sees herself as a failure.

As she progresses, the witch shows her another memory: Riko had cut herself during cooking class in school and is ridiculed by her classmates since they cannot believe the daughter of a bento shop cannot even use a knife properly. One child even mocked her, saying that she will cook everyone and should stay away from her.

The witch even begins to create rhymes to mock Riko of her clumsiness and failures, causing the poor girl to break and not even Kyubey can convince her to calm down. Riko shrinks as a result of her soul gem being tainted.

Kyubey chases after Riko, but before he can catch up, Riko sees a shadow of herself holding the cooking knife for children that onee-san gave to her as a present. She tries desperately to stop her shadow from killing onee-san to no avail, and she is assaulted by illusions of her family and friends ridiculing her for being clumsy and a failure. The witch even tells her that she will use her memories to make good food.

Just as she is about to break, she remembers how she received the present: onee-san knows about Riko's resolve and her clumsiness, so she sent a recipe and a letter to encourage her to take it slow and learn at her own pace. She tells her people love her parents' cooking for the heart and patience they put in, and she should remember that heart is as important as the speed to learn.

This gives Riko the resolve to stand up, and Kyubey arrives just in time and tells her to get on his back. Riko fights as a Kyubey rider and fights off the familiars. Once she reaches her shadow, she agrees with her that she is slow and clumsy, but that is not an excuse to run away from her problems. She exclaims that she will take it step by step and learn, eventually reaching her goal as a good sister. Her shadow smiles contently and tell Riko that she will be watching over her and she disappears after the battle.

Riko returns to her normal size, crushing Kyubey. However, she is grateful for his help, though Kyubey thinks it is wonderful that she can rise above her fears.

They finally find the witch and are able to defeat it with some advice from Kyubey. She tells the witch that her memories, good and bad are not her food and she will not let it use it to spread curse and misfortune.

After defeating the witch, Riko is still stuck, and she acknowledges that she is inside her mind. Kyubey affirms her observation. Despite this, Kyubey praises Riko for rising above her fears and defeating the witch, but Riko thinks she would not have been able to do so without Kyubey.

Kyubey informs Riko that he is her image of what she believes he is, and Riko is sad that he will disappear as she leave this place. However, Kyubey comforts her and says he will always be with her. Riko asks if she will see him again, and he replies again with he is always with her, and they bid a fond farewell.

Riko wakes up in Mitama's shop with Manaka watching over her. She finally brakes down in tears and cries hard in Mitama's arms, and she gently comforts the girl with a gentle hug. After cooling down, they introduce themselves to each other, and Riko tells them her tale.

Mitama first smiles gently and says the Kyubey inside her is truly a kind knight in shining armor, and then praises Riko for being a tough kid since she is able to rise up against her fears and defeat her witch in the center of her mind. However, she also informs Riko she is lucky since Manaka also defeated the witch's physical form as well.

Manaka apologizes to Riko for opening her bag so that she can give her her precious cooking knife to hold onto, but Riko thanks Manaka instead since it gave her the resolve to fight.

After making sure she is all right, Riko left to continue her trip to onee-san's place (she is attacked on the way). Mitama wonders if Manaka can help Riko, but the latter thinks Riko will be able to excel even without her help, saying that it is a chef's hunch.

The story ends with Riko determined to progress at her own pace to become the good sister in her dream.