Kiki's Delivery Service: Azure Seas and a Month of Misunderstandings - The Town of Rumors and a Bedridden Best Friend

Even after waking, yesterday's failure hadn't disappeared. Kiki lay in bed, staring at the ceiling. Through the small attic window, the morning light streamed in thin and pale. Normally she would have sprung up and taken a deep breath, but today her body felt heavy. The area around her chest was cold. (*Tonbo's letter… what have I done?*) Beside her pillow, Jiji was licking his front paw. His black fur gleamed in the morning sun, glossy and sleek. Seeing that Kiki wasn't getting up, Jiji slowly swished his tail. "How long are you gonna sleep? The bakery's been open for ages already." "…Yeah. I know." Kiki got up and slipped her arms through the sleeves of her purple dress. But she couldn't hum a tune the way she usually did. When she looked in the mirror, her large brown eyes seemed just a little duller than usual. —The witch's rite of independence. A tradition that, upon turning thirteen, a witch must live on her own for one year in an unfamiliar town. Her mother had told her: "Magic is the wings of the heart. If you lose confidence, you won't be able to fly." Kiki picked up her broom. The ash-wood handle bore several scratches from the days when her mother had used it. Straddling this broom and soaring through the sky was Kiki's one and only magic. But yesterday, she had failed spectacularly with that magic. The letter entrusted to her by Tonbo—an important letter he'd asked her to deliver to a girl living in Partia before he became a sailor. The early-autumn Rusha wind had snatched it away. The letter had snagged on the top of the clock tower, and the torn fragments had been scattered all across town. "Today, I have to get that letter back." Kiki gripped her broom tightly. Jiji spoke quietly. "Breakfast first. You know what they say—you can't fight on an empty stomach." ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ When she went downstairs to the first floor of Gütiokipänja Bakery, the wonderful smell of freshly baked bread filled the air. Osono was behind the counter, slicing a large loaf. The twenty-six-year-old proprietress had flour on her apron, as always. "Oh, Kiki, perfect timing. I've got some bread I need delivered to the harbor market." Osono held out a paper bag as she spoke. But seeing Kiki's face, her hands stopped. "…What's the matter? You look down." "…It's just… about yesterday." Kiki answered in a small voice. Osono looked like she wanted to say something, but in the end, she just nodded. Taking the paper bag, Kiki mounted her broom. She was still thinking about the letter. The stationery still caught at the top of the clock tower. If she didn't get it back, Tonbo's feelings would never reach their destination. (*As a delivery girl, I have to see this through, no matter what.*) Kiki rose into the sky. The wind was strong. The early-autumn Rusha wind was so capricious that even a witch's broom wobbled. The scent of salt from the sea reached deep into her nose. On her way to the market, she passed over Central Square. That was when— Laughter flew into Kiki's ears. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ In front of the fountain in Central Square. The stone fountain was a meeting place for the townspeople, and there was always someone loitering around it. The sound of water murmured softly—it was the heart of Koriko. This morning, five or six women had gathered. All of them had shopping baskets and were sitting on the edge of the fountain. At their center was a woman of about forty named Carla. Carla was the biggest gossip in town, famous for her loud, carrying voice. "Hey, hey, look at this!" What Carla was holding was a scrap of paper. Looking down from the sky, Kiki's heart lurched. That was—a fragment of the letter. Pale blue stationery. No doubt, one of the pieces scattered by the wind yesterday. Carla began to read the scrap aloud in a theatrical voice. "'To my dear you—before I become a sailor, there's something I absolutely have to tell you'—it says!" Shrill voices rose from around the fountain. "Oh my! Isn't this written by that boy, Tonbo?" "Yes, yes! They say he asked someone at the harbor tavern to deliver the letter! He asked for it to be delivered secretly, but apparently that witch girl scattered it everywhere!" "The witch girl—you mean that little squirt?" "That's the one! The flying delivery girl! And they say the wind just blew the letter right out of her hands!" The women laughed loudly. On her broom, Kiki's body went rigid. Her face burned hot. (*Stop it…*) But Carla didn't stop. "'Just remembering your smile warms my heart. For a long time now, I've—'" "Eeeee! What is this! Isn't it way too romantic!?" "Huh. For a sailor, he's got a way with words." The area around the fountain had become a cauldron of laughter. Women on their way home from shopping stopped in their tracks, and the crowd of onlookers swelled larger and larger. The rumor fed on itself, growing more and more embellished. "Tonbo—that's the boy with the reddish-brown hair, right?" "Yes, yes! The apprentice at the Perene Shipping Guild!" "A brat like that writing love letters! Times have changed, I tell ya!" The port town of Koriko was a closed community. The ties of the Shipping Guild were strong, and word of who knew whom spread instantly. So a romantic scandal was the highest form of entertainment. Kiki couldn't bear it any longer. She sent her broom into a steep dive. "Please, stop!!" Landing in front of the fountain, Kiki shouted desperately. Breathing hard, her shoulders heaving, she reached out her hand. "That—that's a letter I'm supposed to deliver! Please give it back!" Carla looked at Kiki and grinned. "Oh, if it isn't the little witch. Hey, hey—you're the one who scattered it, right? This letter." "No—the wind—" "A delivery girl who couldn't deliver? That's hilarious!" The women around her snickered. Tears welled up in Kiki's eyes. Deep in her chest, a sharp, tight pain. (*That's not true… I wanted to deliver it properly…*) But the words wouldn't come. Waving the scrap of paper, Carla continued. "Well, thanks to you, today's been fun. A sailor apprentice's love letter—perfect material for tavern talk!" The onlookers burst into laughter. Kiki couldn't stand there any longer. Clutching her broom, she fled into the sky. The wind was cold. She desperately held back the tears that threatened to spill. (*It's my fault… Everyone's laughing at my failure…*) ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ After delivering the bread to the market, Kiki headed straight for the clock tower. The Koriko Clock Tower was a thirty-five-meter stone tower that rose above the town's Central Square. Built about fifty years ago, it was the symbol of the city. At the very top was a spire, where a weather vane spun round and round. And on that spire—the rest of Tonbo's letter was still caught. The envelope was torn, and about half of the stationery inside peeked out. It fluttered precariously in the wind. "This time, I'm getting it." Kiki gripped her broom. Little by little, she gained altitude. As she drew closer to the clock tower, the wind grew stronger. The air currents around the tower were turbulent, making her broom wobble. (*A little more… just a little more…*) She came close enough that she could almost reach out and grab it. That was when— "Hey, youuuuu!!!" An incredible roar came from below. When Kiki looked down, Old Man Ino, the caretaker of the clock tower, was standing there brandishing a long broom. The seventy-two-year-old man was hard of hearing, but his eyes were abnormally sharp. His bald head was bright red, and he was absolutely fuming. "You again, little witch! I told you not to come near my clock tower!" "But—the letter—" "Shut it! The clock tower is delicate! What if your magic broom scratches it!?" Old Man Ino held his broom like a spear and began chasing Kiki around. In the old man's mind, the memory of the clock tower's mechanism being broken in a storm fifty years ago was still vivid. Ever since then, he had protected the clock tower with an almost obsessive devotion. "Get down! Get down, I say! Or I'll run you out of this town!" "Run me out…!?" Kiki panicked. (*If I get run out of town, my rite of independence…!*) By witch tradition, she had to live for a full year in the town she first chose. If she was driven out midway, she couldn't become a full-fledged witch. On the verge of tears, Kiki turned her broom around. "I-I'm sorry…!" Pulling away from the clock tower, Kiki fled on her broom. The wind was cold. The tears were about to fall. (*I still haven't gotten the letter… I failed again…*) ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ When she returned to Gütiokipänja Bakery, something inside was different from usual. Osono, who should have been at the counter, wasn't there. Instead, the sound of sobbing came from the back of the shop. Kiki felt a stir of unease in her chest. "Osono…?" Peeking into the back room, she saw Osono sitting beside the bed. Lying in the bed was Mimosa. Her small, fourteen-year-old body trembled faintly beneath the quilt. Mimosa—the bakery's poster girl and Osono's little sister in all but blood. Her bright chestnut hair was plastered to her forehead with sweat, and her honey-colored eyes, usually brimming with emotion, were now closed. Her face was bright red, and her breathing was labored. "Osono, Mimosa is… what happened?" Osono turned around. The face of the usually cheerful proprietress was now tense. "She came down with a fever this morning. Until just a little while ago, she was delirious, moaning 'Tonbo… Tonbo…'" Kiki's breath caught. Mimosa had admired Tonbo. For a long time, she had followed him with her eyes whenever he came to the bakery, wanting to talk to him but never finding the courage, always fidgeting and stammering, "But, but…" And now—a rumor that this Tonbo might have a girlfriend. "When she found out there was someone the letter was meant for, that girl's dreams were shattered." Osono's voice was quiet. But that quietness pierced Kiki's heart all the more. "Kiki. You need to do something about this. Until we know Tonbo's true feelings, Mimosa probably won't get better." Kiki was at a loss for words. Her knees trembled. (*It's my fault… because I scattered the letter…*) She looked at Mimosa's sleeping face. Pure, dreamy—the first friend Kiki had made after coming to Koriko. And now that girl was suffering with a high fever. Kiki fled from the room. She raced up to the attic and collapsed onto her bed. Jiji quietly came close. "Jiji… I'm the worst witch ever. I ruined Tonbo's letter, and I hurt Mimosa…" The tears overflowed. Pressing her face into the pillow, she cried, stifling her sobs. Without a word, Jiji rubbed his head against Kiki's back. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ After that, Kiki ran all over town. Trying desperately to get the letter back, she attempted to sneak in through the clock tower's back entrance, and went around asking sailors at the harbor, "Do you have the key to the clock tower?" But wherever she went, the result was the same. "The key to the clock tower? Ask Old Man Ino." "That old man's stubborn, you know." "There's no way to persuade him." Everyone just said these things with a wry smile. As evening approached, Kiki walked toward the harbor. The Seagull Tavern—the bar where the sailors of the Perene Shipping Guild gathered. It was also the place where she had received the letter from Tonbo the day before. As she drew near, she heard laughter from inside. "Hey, lover-boy! What kind of beauty's the girl you wrote to!?" "Show us a picture! She's from Partia, right!?" Her heart pounding, Kiki peered through the window. Inside the Seagull Tavern. Hulking sailors surrounded the counter. With fried sardines and harbor ale in front of them, everyone was in high spirits. At their center—was Tonbo. The thirteen-year-old boy, his reddish-brown curly hair a mess, was shouting with a bright red face. "Cut it out! It's not

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Episode 2

Name: Kiki's Delivery Service: Azure Seas and a Month of Misunderstandings
Author: Novelia

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