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 and figures it to be her family's garden since her wish was to stop the construction of an apartment building 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 then begin to talk about how many vegetables they were able to harvest from Kaede's garden, describing the giant carrots and tomatoes they were able to gather. While she is confused at first, Kaede believes she may be in a dream. As they continue to pick vegetables, Kaede is certain that this must be a dream since Rena is acting so friendly and 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 points out the tree over by their first harvest and Kaede marvels at the size of the cream puffs. Rena shows her the eclairs and puddings she was able to harvest as well. As Kaede enjoys her dream, 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 build, the vegetable garden is over. Momoko also looks sad, saying that nothing can grow if it's surrounded by all these buildings. Just then, 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 out about the apartment building and how she wants it gone. Kyubey asks which building she's referring to. Kaede corrects herself and says the building hasn't been built yet. She then wishes that the apartment complex that is going to be built never gets constructed. 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 ok since she had made her wish to Kyubey but she finds that Momoko and Rena have disappeared. She hears a voice that tells her it's ok if she changes 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 ok to run away if things aren't going her way. The shadow introduces itself as Kaede's other self. Kaede insists this is all just a dream, but the shadow assures her this is no dream.

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 ok and not to think too deeply about the reason they're meeting like this. Just like in her dreams where Kaede can do as she pleases, the shadow wants to support Kaede in doing whatever she likes. Kaede asks if that's what she likes. The shadow agrees, saying she can do as she likes and whenever things get inconvenient she can always just run away.

Part Three

The shadow believes it has chosen a life of convenience even at the cost of others. It explains that it chose to live how it wants by making a wish to stop the construction of an apartment building without worrying about the people that were destined to live 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 that confronting the situation would have been too much trouble so she chose to run away instead since it was easier for her. She reminds her of the time at school when she had to run in a race. She had wanted to run away then, and at the end of the day she hadn't stood out in the race and it had become a painful event for her. It's always easier for her to just run away from anything that's too hard. Kaede tries to protest but can't get her words out. The shadow tells her that's ok, since that's just the kind of person she is at her core: someone who is always looking for the easy way out. 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. That is the kind of person the shadow wants her to be more like. Run away, and if she finds something not to her liking then she should run away again until she finds a place of comfort. She should keep running until she finds a place of her own. And should Kaede find herself in that kind of situation again, the shadow asks that she remember her and reach her hand out towards her since they are both one and the same. The shadow repeatedly chants to her to run away and escape freely as it fades from view. It begins to chant to Kaede to free herself.

As the shadow returns to view, Kaede says she thinks she understands. The shadow reaches its hand out to Kaede. Kaede says she wants to talk a bit first. She says that she thinks what was said of her was true, that she's weak and cowardly. 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. However, she had later gone back and asserted herself and found a place for herself on that team. Now she doesn't just want to run away to her home because now she has two places she can call home. The shadow asks if Kaede is having an easier time of it because she has friends, and then urges her to run away again. Kaede says she won't since she wants to stay where she is because now she has several important friends. 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 fainted and Momoko had brought her there. Kaede remembers that they had been asked by Yachiyo to help investigate Rumors. They had been tasked with the rumor of the break-up stairway and on their way hom ethey 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 leaped in to take the blow for Kaede. Kaede remembers Momoko's voice calling out to her, but Kaede was too busy blaming herself for being weak and dragging the team down. They noticed that Kaede's soul gem had turned pitch black with impurities and then she 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 keep running when things get tough, but Kaede doesn't want to run away anymore. She wants to stay here and help her important friends. She asks if it's ok for her to go, but Mitama points out that her soul gem has already been purified. After all the favors Momoko has done for her, Mitama had adjusted Kaede's soul gem as thanks. As Kaede heads off, Mitama thinks of the Witch she saw deep within Kaede's memories.