A Witch, a Boxed Lunch, and an Expression of Love
Tsubame Murota, age nineteen, had a domestic fantasy:
The husband forgets his lunch, and when the wife realizes, she rushes after him.
“Oh, thanks. I almost had to go without lunch,” the husband would say.
“Geez,” the wife would reply. “Keep your scatterbrained tendencies here at home, at least.”
After that little exchange, they’d trade a quick kiss and say good-bye. You’d see these scenes from time to time in fiction, but Tsubame didn’t know whether any couples actually had them in real life. Nonetheless, the fantastical nature of the scenario was immensely enticing; she wanted to give that kind of exchange a try herself someday if she ever had the opportunity.
She knew it was out of character. But being a magical girl was out of character for Tsubame to begin with, so a little domestic fantasy wasn’t that big a deal—probably. Not like she could help it; Tsubame loved sweets and magical girls, though she was too embarrassed to admit that to anyone.
And then an opportunity came. With an election coming up, her husband, a government official, was furiously busy with office work and miscellaneous tasks. His mornings were frenzied, and he frequently arrived at the office as early as five in the morning—quite the opposite of what you might expect from a bureaucrat—then he was worked to the bone, eventually returning home in the evening. Perhaps being so busy was what made Tsubame’s husband, who was normally so annoyingly conscientious, forget the lunch she had packed for him on the table before going to work.
Tsubame didn’t notice he’d forgotten it until five minutes after his departure. She’d put her heart and soul into this delicious lunch—even made the meatballs from scratch—and felt momentarily indignant to have it ignored, before reconsidering: Maybe this is a chance to make my dreams a reality?
Her husband, Shouichi, rode his bicycle to work. He’d saved up his wages from a part-time job as a student to buy a road bike that was pretty fast after all the tweaks he’d made to it. He knew the route to the office well enough to arrive at work within fifteen minutes.
If Tsubame had been a normal housewife, she would’ve had trouble catching up to him, even by car. But Tsubame was not a normal housewife. She was a magical girl—and a bewitching one at that.
Tsubame transformed into Top Speed, and with the boxed lunch in her right hand and her magical broomstick Rapid Swallow in her left, she leaped through the apartment window. Rapid Swallow was faster than a jet fighter, never mind a car.
Plus, Top Speed knew the area like the back of her hand. She hadn’t raced through these streets for nothing. She could predict Shouichi’s bike route, too.
She rose high in the air, then flew off. Not many people would see her out and about at this time of day.
Her enhanced magical-girl vision found Shouichi riding his bicycle down below, so she circled ahead of him and landed her broom. Then, after heading into an alleyway to avoid being seen, she detransformed back into Tsubame Murota and checked how far away he was—just far enough. She didn’t want to pop up too close and cause him to topple off his bicycle in shock.
So she stepped out at just the right moment with the lunch box in hand and called, “Heeey! You forgot your lunch!” as naturally as possible, as if it were perfectly normal that she’d gotten ahead of him.
“…How’d you catch up with me?” Shouichi asked her.
“Oh, I managed somehow. Have a nice day at work!” After handing over the lunch, she sucked in a breath, leaned in close, then gave him a quick peck on the lips before darting back into the alley. She knew her face was red. She was shy with this stuff to begin with, but she still didn’t want him seeing her blushing. Even as she did all this, she knew this sort of thing wasn’t her style.
Imagining her husband’s look of confusion, Top Speed couldn’t help but grin.
Despite the embarrassment, she was basically satisfied. Maybe next time, I’ll try kissing him out the door without the lunch box, Top Speed thought as she flew back home.
Watching the witch jet away through the sky on a broomstick, Shouichi set back off on his route to work and put his feet on the pedals. But still, he wondered…
How can Tsubame think she’s not giving herself away?
He’d seen Tsubame turn into a witch and go out on a broomstick many times before. She had to be one of the magical girls everyone in town had been talking about lately. Her transformation had come as a shock when he’d first seen it about a month ago, but as a student, he’d watched a foreign TV show involving the exact same situation, so maybe that was why he’d gotten used to it so quickly.
It seemed like Tsubame was trying to keep her magical-girl identity a secret, so he wasn’t going to say anything. Shouichi wasn’t that mean. He did sometimes get the urge to tease her, since she reacted so cutely when he gave her a hard time, but he was rational enough to restrain himself.
Tsubame had always been a bit spacey. Shouichi didn’t know exactly what she was up to, but she seemed like she was enjoying herself, so it was all good. Besides, Shouichi was enjoying himself quite a lot, too.
The sensation of the kiss still lingered on his lips. This kind of send-off, so uncharacteristic of Tsubame, wasn’t bad at all. Shouichi started pedaling again.
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