Magia Record Story The Legendary Story of the Paper Mulberry Leaf ~The Swaying Feeling, Once Again Fascinating~

Story

Part 1

One day, in the approach to Tanabata, Yachiyo bumps into Tsuruno on a day when school is out. As it turns out, Yachiyo's latest job entails her performing in a recorded drama with Sayu-Sayu that will be screened on the night of the festival, and later broadcast online. Tsuruno, however, recalls Yachiyo's dire performance in Karin's Halloween play, and realizes Yachiyo must be incredibly nervous about this production, too - so she decides to join Yachiyo, and Yachiyo welcomes it.

They find Ria and Mayu are assisting with makeup and costume work on the set. Yachiyo recognizes Ria, calls her by name(!), and praises her for her makeup work and asks for tips from her - which makes Ria drop the rival act and bask in internally fangirling for a moment. With so many magical girls gathered on set, though, Yachiyo gets a bit anxious, recalling the incident in Rondo of Oblivion and how several magical girls making a movie, with their magic powers (intentionally and accidentally) involved, rapidly turned into a disaster. Tsuruno tells her not to fear - if anything happens, they've got the Mightiest Magical Girl on their side, and she'll do whatever it takes for her Master!

Tsuruno soon wins over everyone on the production team with her exuberance and cheer, just as coincidentally, the play's co-star had to drop out of the production. The director, realizing that Tsuruno is perfectly suited for that role, asks Tsuruno to take it on instead. The notion of starring with Yachiyo wins over Tsuruno, and she eagerly accepts her new role.

The play is a sort of fairy tale historical drama about an ancient Mizuna legend. Long ago, in the midst of a punishing famine, a selfish lord extracted a huge tax from the people so he could spend it on his luxuries. Two girls with incredible martial arts skills, named Tsuyu and Chizuru, came to befriend each other despite their families' bitter rivalry that makes their relationship a forbidden one. While their personalities and philosophies were polar opposites, they both connected through their compassion and heartbreak from the suffering of their people, and decided to join forces to punish the evil lord. Yachiyo plays the role of the ice queen with a heart of gold, Tsuyu, while Tsuruno is the cheerful and impetuous Chizuru, and Sayuki plays the Magpie, who seems to be Tsuyu's pet who helps bring the two of them together (and is also a convenient mascot for the play).

During the script reading, however, everyone soon realizes that Yachiyo's skills are still horrible. During a break, Yachiyo confides that she's actually been approached for many acting jobs, but has turned them all down because she's not comfortable with them and knows she's a poor actress - but this time, the director begged her to take on the role, even if she flops it. Yachiyo has also realized she can get more and better opportunities if she can expand her repetoire, and vows to see this through to the end - and Tsuruno promises in turn that she'll be by Yachiyo's side every step of the way.

Ria, however, upon seeing her idol botching her way the script, seems to be in shock. What's worse, the filmmakers seem to be pretending not to notice how terrible Yachiyo is, and is instead trying to work around it by taking away her lines - and for Ria, this will not stand.

After the reading, Ria confronts Yachiyo and Tsuruno on their way out, saying that she's giving Yachiyo an acting bootcamp. After all, she's doing Yachiyo's makeup, and doesn't want Yachiyo's performance to drag down Ria's work with it - and besides, since Ria has declared Yachiyo her rival, if Yachiyo performs badly, then that reflects poorly on Ria's reputation as well. Yachiyo accepts her own, and while Sayuki and Tsuruno are doing great at their roles, they vow to join their practices and work hard as well!

At home, while Yachiyo is reviewing the script (much to Mikazuki's confusion over what she's up to), Tsuruno explains the whole Mizuna fairy tale to the rest of Mikazuki. Felicia doesn't seem too interested until Tsuruno confirms there are fight scenes in it. See, at one point Tsuyu and Chizuru give up on each other, and while of course, they do get back together, they only do so after an epic swordfight! And then Felicia is raring to go watch the movie. Tsuruno also explains that the day Tsuyu and Chizuru teamed up to take down the evil lord was the same day as Tanabata, which is why the show will be screened on that night - and she also explains that people in Kamihama actually entrust their wishes to Tsuyu and Chizuru. The "paper mulberry leaf" mentioned in the show/event title comes from the tradition to write wishes on mulberry leaves before people used wishing paper.

Over the next week or so, Yachiyo is drilled on acting with both a professional coach and with Ria's guidance. After some painful performances (and brutal honesty from Felicia), Yachiyo eventually executes her lines perfectly. Ria is relieved, saying to herself, "This is the Yachiyo I’ve been wanting to see..."

While Yachiyo has a long way to go to truly suit her role, she's at least no longer delivering her lines with all the passion of cardboard. Riding on that high, the girls take a lunch break one day, courtesy of Manaka and Tsumugi's preparation for the food stall they'll be running. There, Yachiyo broaches a question to Ria about one of the scenes. Yachiyo is struggling with the motivations of Tsuyu at one point - the part where she and Chizuru hold hands after they have their epic fight. Yachiyo can't understand how Tsuyu could have such a change of heart in that moment - only for Ria to refuse to answer, saying answering that question for Yachiyo would defeat the point of acting to begin with. They're soon distracted by Tsuruno feeding Yachiyo, Sayuki getting excited and wolfing down food to get amped up for acting - and Mayu is just happy to see everyone enjoying themselves.

The next day, after a good rehearsal, Yachiyo continues going to others for advice, gradually improving her performance, though it means Yachiyo isn't actually understanding the role for herself. Some people talk behind her back - it seems unusual for Yachiyo to be working with others so closely when she has a storied reputation for being a cold lone wolf; some think she's only asking questions out of a certain sense of humility or respect, given she's not used to working as an actress. The gossip makes Ria bristle.

At the end of that day, Yachiyo goes back to Ria to talk more about the scene she was struggling with. As she asks, Ria begins flashing back to her memories of Yachiyo - how she spent her childhood idolizing her, wondering how someone could be so cute and yet so cool, realizing it's because she's always so proud and confident in the work she does, and Ria aspiring to be just like her...and now, having seen Yachiyo seem so lost, nervous and unsure of herself is straining Ria's understanding of her... And finally, Ria can't take it anymore and blows up at her idol, screaming, "You're not the real Yachiyo!" Everyone is thrown for a loop, unsure of how to respond or what to do - Mayu, however, realizes exactly what's gotten into Ria: the idealized image of the woman she had for so long adored and aspired to be has been brutally shattered. Now, Ria's world is crashing down around her, and Ria is not taking it well at all...

External Links

• Part 1 translation script by Antimony and bigscarythings
• Part 2 translation script by Antimony and bigscarythings