Epi.10-EX: Her First Anime

Finishing a few videos, Misaki scrolled down the screen.
Suddenly, Shinobu pointed and asked, “What is this?”

On the thumbnail of the video ahead, a girl dressed in a cute costume was shown smiling.

“This is anime.”

“Anime…?”

“The ones until now were filmed from real things, but this one is drawings that move.”
Seeing how unfamiliar the term sounded to her, Misaki added a brief explanation.

“Drawings move!? I want to see it!”
Misaki narrowed her eyes at Shinobu, whose eyes were sparkling.

“Of course, that’s fine.”

In the video that played, the cute girls transformed, used magic with flashy effects, and struck their signature poses—an opening sequence that was visually enjoyable.

In the calm moment, seeing Shinobu’s profile as she enjoyed herself, a quiet happiness welled up in Misaki.

The daily lives of cute girls, the unsettling enemies that appear, the dazzling transformation scenes.

And now, on the screen, the magical girl was fighting with a desperate expression.
Shinobu’s hands watching it seemed to tighten with tension.

Overcoming this absolute pinch is the thrill of works like this.

And then, that moment arrived.

Misaki doubted her eyes and let out an “Eh?”, while Shinobu gave a tiny scream—“Hih!”—and fainted.

“Hey! Shinobu!”

She tried to wake Shinobu, but of course she could not touch her.
When she shifted her gaze to the screen—there, a creepy monster was lifting the motionless magical girl.

“…What is this…?”

Misaki closed the video along with its window.

That night, when Misaki told Yuka about what had happened, Yuka burst out laughing.

“Come on, Misaki-san. That anime looks cute, but it’s the one everyone says is seriously messed up because it has way too many gory scenes.”

Misaki apologized to Shinobu, saying, “I really didn’t know, I’m sorry.”

“Misaki-san is not at fault… but anime is scary…”
Saying that, Shinobu went to sit in the corner of the room, hugging her knees.

“I guess I need to check things beforehand from now on…”
Misaki sighed as she regretted it.

“No, that’s being overprotective…”
Yuka muttered in exasperation.