18 Magical Girl Eats Dinner

Author: Kumanano
Raw: https://ncode.syosetu.com/n7313mj/18/
Translator: Lilia v4
Editor: Yuriko AYA

I go into the refrigerator to make a meal.
It’s cold, of course, so I cover my body with mana and protect myself from the cold.
There are ingredients I know, and ingredients I’ve never seen.
When I go farther in, there’s another door, and when I open it, chunks of meat are lined up.
This place is frozen, like a freezer.
I close the door.
I don’t know what kind of meat it is, of course, so I’m scared to use it.
There was bread, so I decide to cook mainly with vegetables I know.

“This, and this, should be all right.”

For now I take the ingredients I know and head for the kitchen.
I checked while cleaning: if you press a button, water comes out.
And there’s something like a stove; I already confirmed that when you press a button no fire comes out, but the frying pan gets hot.
There’s no electricity, so I don’t think it’s an electric stove. How is it heating the frying pan?
Incidentally, my house had a gas stove.
I also checked the seasonings in the kitchen.
Salt, sugar, flavorings, something like sauce—there were all kinds.
No soy sauce or miso, of course.
Well, with this much I can cook.
And I make a simple meal.

“This should be about enough.”

The food is done, but Sarche hasn’t come back.
Is the tidying still not finished?
And Kumayuru and Kumakyuu aren’t here either.
Where did they go?
I leave the house and head for the archive I made next door.
When I go in, in the center of the room, using Kumayuru and Kumakyuu as a backrest, Sarche is reading a book.

“What are you doing?”
“Yuna!? Um, this is…”

She was reading. In other words, it isn’t put away.
The books are left on the floor, just as Kumayuru and Kumakyuu carried them.

“And here I made dinner.”
“Eh, dinner?”
“Kumayuru, Kumakyuu, what are you doing being sofas!”
“Kuun.”
“No dinner for all three of you!”

I point and declare it.

“Wait a minute.”
“Kuuun.”

When I leave the building, all three of them follow, apologizing.
I went to the trouble of making dinner, so this time I decide to forgive them.
Wasting ingredients isn’t good.

“The sun really has gone down before I knew it.”

Coming out of the archive building, Sarche notices the sun has set.

“You were reading in a place that dark and didn’t notice?”
“When I concentrate, I don’t notice.”
“Haa.”

She’s hopeless.
I already knew that from the state of that house.

“We’ll have to get lights so you can read at night too.”

That’s how much she likes books, I think.
The books I read are manga. And novels posted on free sites, about that much.
Isekai fantasy, villainess stories where they redo their lives, that kind of novel.
And cookbooks, maybe?
Thinking that, I go into the house.
Sarche, Kumayuru, and Kumakyuu follow me into the house.

“Wow. The inside of the house has gotten clean. And the food looks delicious too.”

Compared to the first time I came in, it’s a world of difference.
There’s nothing. I put away the books and the cloth things, but the tools are still left outside.
I’ll tidy the tools tomorrow.

“All three of you, wash your hands and then sit at the table.”

As they’re told, Sarche, Kumayuru, and Kumakyuu wash their hands.
Kumayuru and Kumakyuu are used to it; they wash their hands and wipe them with a towel.
The towel is clean from being washed.

“When we eat, make sure you get small.”
“Kuuun.”

Kumayuru and Kumakyuu get small and sit in chairs.
Sarche is surprised at that sight.

“The bears got small.”
“Bears get that small.”
“No they don’t!”

Even in another world, bears apparently don’t get small.
For now I explain that my bears are special.

“Come to think of it, they understood not only your words, but mine too. Strange bears.”

Sarche looks at Kumayuru and Kumakyuu as if puzzled.
But she doesn’t ask any more than that, and looks at the food on the table.
The food I made is lined up on the table.

“It really does look delicious.”
“I hope it suits your taste.”

And she eats the food I made as if it’s delicious.
I can’t make food for Dad anymore.
Sarche eating it as if it’s delicious makes me a little glad.

“So, what will you do from now on? If you have nowhere to go, you can stay here.”

If this is another world like in manga and anime, there’s no one to rely on. Forget relying on someone—I don’t even have anyone I know.
To live, you need food, clothing, and shelter.
Until now Dad provided food, clothing, and shelter, but Dad is gone.
There’s no one to rely on.

“Before I answer, there are all kinds of things I want to ask. Will you answer without asking me anything? Even if it’s something anyone would know.”

Sarche looks at me steadily, then agrees.

“All right. I won’t ask anything, and I’ll answer what I can answer. Is that all right?”
“Thank you.”

One way or another, she’s a kind person.
She brought a suspicious stranger like me to her house, and she doesn’t get angry even when I clean on my own.

“Sarche, you were using magic, right? Just to check, can people besides you use magic too?”
“The definition of that question is vague, so it’s hard to answer, but yes, there are.”
“The definition of the question?”
“Because I don’t know what degree of magic you mean.”
“What degree?”
“What do you mean by magic?”
“That’s…”

Even if you ask me to define magic, I’m stuck.

“Things like making fire or water out of nowhere, or defeating enemies with mana?”
“That’s what’s vague. First, if magic of this degree is enough, quite a lot of people can use it.”

Sarche says that, raises her index finger, and a fire about the size of a candle flame appears at the fingertip.

“But if it’s people who can make this bigger, the number goes down.”

This time she opens her palm, and a flame about the size of a baseball floats above it.

“So if it’s a small fire, even ordinary people can do it?”
“Not everyone. It depends on the mana they have.”
“Does everyone have mana?”
“They have about enough mana to operate magic tools.”

Magic tools.
There’s nothing like that in the original world.
Ordinary people can’t even put out a fire the size of a candle flame.
I already knew, but this is a different world from the one I lived in.
I lean back in the chair and look at the ceiling.
A bright orb is lighting it.

“What principle does that light shine by?”
“It’s a magic stone.”

A word that only comes up in fantasy manga and novels.
In other words, it isn’t electricity.
Then is the stove heating with a magic stone too?

“Anything else you want to ask?”

I shake my head.
That’s enough.
I only wanted to recognize again that this isn’t Earth.

“Then may I ask something too? Of course, you don’t have to say anything you can’t answer.”
“If it’s something I can answer.”

There are more things I can’t answer.

“I’ll ask again, but where did you come from?”
“……”

I think a little.
I look at the woman in front of me.
We’ve only just met, a few hours, but I want to believe her.
If I’m betrayed, I can just run.

“…If I said I came from another world, would you believe me?”
“I can’t believe it, but from the way you act, I think I have no choice but to. The things you asked are things even children know.”

I didn’t know things even children know.

“And I didn’t know a single one of the place names you asked at the start. I do have a fair amount of knowledge, you know.”

There were huge numbers of books.

“But did you really come from another world?”

She asks as if confirming.

“I can’t believe it either, but it seems so.”
“Is there a way to go back to the original world?”
“I don’t know. And even if I went back to the original world…”

I have nowhere I belong in the original world.
I hid Father’s corpse, and I went missing too.
Besides, I amplified my mana, exploded, and should have died.
Kumayuru and Kumakyuu press against me, looking worried.
Even if I went back to the original world, the Cat God might attack me. If that happens I’ll be killed.
Kumayuru and Kumakyuu would protect me, get hurt, and might die again.
I never want to see Kumayuru and Kumakyuu die again.
I hug Kumayuru and Kumakyuu.
My family is only Kumayuru and Kumakyuu.
And more than anything, if that wasn’t a dream, my parents wished for me to live in this world.
…I have nowhere I belong in that world.
I decide.

“Even if there were a way to go back, I won’t. I’ll live here with Kumayuru and Kumakyuu.”
“Then I won’t ask anything more.”

Sarche smiles at me.