Magia Record Story Newbie Maid Carefree Kanagi
The following is a summary posted on 4chan's /pmmm/ general by Summary Anon.
Part 1
Kanagi used to work at the vegetable corner of the supermarket, being popular with the costumers, her boss and her colleagues for being knowledgeable, quick-witted and having a very positive and hard working attitude. This is her last day though since she has found a better job with good pay. Though sad to let her go, her boss and colleagues understand her circumstances and wish her well and give her a send off party.
Returning home, we see her dad who apologizes that she has to work so hard since he is in no condition to work full-time (according to her my-room lines, her dad use to work in a metal factory, so it might be due to injury). Kanagi consoles her dad and says that she is gifted with a great father and little brother.
Her new job is at the maid Cafe in the West of the city and she manages to fit in and became popular with the boss (an okama, or man with the mind of a woman) and her colleagues for her quick-wits, adaptability and very good working attitude. Her boss asks her to try working on the floor instead of the kitchen since they lack hands. Kanagi was uncertain at first but changes her mind when she see how much her pay raises if she takes the offer. However, she is pretty bad at it since she is blunt and frank. Even after some tips from her senior worker, she couldn't really get it and accidentally scared Seika and made her lose consciousness when the trio visited the cafe and she thought Seika was playing a staring game with her.
Her boss and senior think she might not be fit for serving, but Kanagi asks for a chance to improve since she really needs the increased pay and the extra time off to feed her family and hunt witches. Her boss is willing to give her a week. If she improves enough, she can stay on the floor and get the high pay, if not she goes back to the kitchen. Both he and her senior advise her to reflect on what she lacks and to improve on it.
Kanagi goes to a park and sits on the swing to reflect, talking to herself. This caught the attention of Karin who is just freshly inspired by a maid manga and wants to draw something from it. She recognizes Kanagi as the Boss of the East and claims any Puella Magi with a career longer than a year knows her, but she manages to overcome her surprise and frankly asks Kanagi what is bothering her and offers to help. Kanagi narrates her situation, and Karin claims she can help, though in return she wants to observe Kanagi when she is working for some artistic flair. Kanagi welcomes the help and is given the aforementioned manga to learn from it. Karin also advises Kanagi to learn to draw since she needs that skill working in a maid cafe. Kanagi studied the manga intensely and realized it is a maid detective manga, though she learned much from the maid serving the main character since she thinks they are alike.
With this, Kanagi's serving skills improve greatly and slowly became popular with costumers for her straight-laced military style of serving guests. Karin, who is there to get inspiration, also gives hints when needed which lets Kanagi know what time to draw stuff on the omelette rice. Her improvement is shown when Aimi and Natsuki visit as the former thinks men like maids and wanted to research to please Hayato-kun, her crush. Kanagi served them flawlessly, drawing a pom-pom and writing Hayato's name for the duo respectively. She also controlled the situation when Aimi gets lost in her world and acted out her dream conversation with Hayato in public by praising her for having a good friend and a good crush. In addition, with the signal from Karin, she strikes her pose as seen in the 3* Memoria and actually lets the girls feel less embarrassed as she made it seem that such actions are normal in the cafe. (Karin's signal was a lucky one since she intended Kanagi to pose as per her manga).
Her boss and senior worker are very satisfied with her improvement, though the boss thinks she is still lacking in one area, but confident she will eventually learn it. As she improves, Kanagi also begins to slowly find happiness in making people happy and smiles naturally as shown when she sees Karin's bright smile as she gets great inspiration from seeing Kanagi work. The first half ends with the boss telling Kanagi there is one last test she must pass before she can secure a place on the floor.
Part 2
On the day of the test, while Kanagi is able to make Konomi who entered the restaurant by mistake feel comfortable by taking note of her interest in herbal tea, she scares the poor girl who ran for the exit when she offered to play arm wrestling to make her relax more. Naturally, she failed the test. While the kitchen crew and the floor crew loved the fact that she is back in the kitchen, Kanagi felt that she has caught where she went wrong. The master is happy that she is still reflecting on her mistakes, and tells her to do so until she is satisfied. Kanagi understood that the Master is telling her not to run from her mistakes, so she decides to seek out Konomi to ask her where she went wrong.
She found Konomi working at the flower shop. After stating her business, Konomi apologizes to Kanagi for judging her by rumors of being the boss of the East. She explained that she entered the shop by mistake and was frightened by Kanagi's presence, but now she can understand her careful serving since she tried to calm her down by talking about her favorite herb tea and playing games. Though she thinks she does not fit in with the atmosphere and will not visit again, she thinks Kanagi is natural as a waitress and should work on improving herself.
At the park, Kanagi realized she was not being professional enough and underestimated her job. She should take note of her customer's feelings and work to make them feel comfortable. However, she thinks it is too late for everything. This is where Karin enters the picture and tells Kanagi that her senpai once taught her growth comes if one learns from their mistakes, and that there is nothing known as too late. Convinced by Karin, Kanagi decides to ask for another chance and requests Karin for aid. Kanagi asks for one more chance after analyzing her mistakes in front of the master. Being satisfied with her reflection, the master gives her one last chance. Kanagi takes it as a challenge to serve the Danchi trio to make up for her mistake. The master accepts.
After giving a call to Karin, she approaches Seika and Leila and invites them to visit again. Seeing how Seika has turned into a nervous wreck, Seika answers they will decide in two days. She also tells Karin that Seika is just nervous and not angry, and that Mito has already moved away.
On the actual day, Leila and Mito are surprised by Kanagi's improvement and are having fun, although Seika is still nervous and stiff as usual. They explained to Kanagi that Seika visited for field work since her class is going to start a Maid Cafe for cultural festival. They admit that they were disappointed during the first visit, but Kanagi took it in stride since she admits she failed that time. Seika speaks up slowly with kind encouragement from Kanagi and says she looked up to her confidence and straight-forward style, but that also made her lose self-confidence. Kanagi gently points to her senior who did the love trick perfectly and says while she respect her senior, there is no way she can replicate that and tells Seika she should find a style that mostly suits her instead.
The three have a great time and Seika expresses that they would love to visit again. They then take a picture together without showing their faces (Kanagi is worried it will attract unwanted attention since she is well-known) and she passes the test with flying colors. Since then, she has worked there and became very popular with both male and female customers, while continuing her policy of not taking photos that show her face. The story ends with her thanking Karin and in turn helping her who has forgotten her own manga as she spends her time helping Kanagi.