50. Magical Mari: The Movie
50. Magical Mari: The Movie
Nikolai immediately began work on the Magical Mari feature film.
A film with no magical girls, starring only Lirpin and Cled, was a bit bewildering, but fortunately there was a movie he could use as a reference.
But the moment he began structuring the scenario, lore already revealed in Magical Mari tripped him up.
Lirpin and Cled were not ordinary spirits.
In fact, whether classifying them as spirits was even correct was itself a problem.
They had been born from Heart Gems, and had no homeland of their own, so strictly speaking, there was no concept of a "Land of the Mascots."
This left them without a clear setting in which to take an active role.
Couldn't they just be active inside Hetairo Academy?
That would wreck the narrative.
Why would the mascots take center stage at Hetairo Academy, where magical girls were already a constant presence?
Therefore, for plausibility, the place where they operated absolutely had to be completely wild—devoid of both humans and magical girls.
So the setting that naturally came to mind was a place with only wild animals and spirits.
"Then couldn't we just use the Spring of Spirits, where lots of spirits gather, or the World Tree's forest as the backdrop?"
My suggestion was immediately shot down by Nicol.
"That won't work."
"Why? Bad guys come to the spring or the forest, Lirpin and Cled save the day, and they get acknowledged by the Great Mother and the spirits. Simple as that. It's as classic as it gets."
"It is classic, but how are we supposed to film it? Let's say we replace the forest with a set. Then how do we procure that many spirits?"
Spirits were universally sensitive and insular.
But to advocate for the spirits, it wasn't that they were arrogant and had vile personalities like elves—there was an understandable reason.
Spirits were born to live their entire lives for the one they contracted with, and they considered living that way a virtue.
Moreover, this wasn't a culture among spirits—it was an instinct that had been with them since birth.
It was an instinct etched into their genes, like a sled dog's love of pulling sleds.
For the sake of their future contractors, they were deeply hostile to anyone they had “not yet” contracted with.
Of course, once a contract was formed, no one was more devoted than they were, as if their earlier coldness had never existed. Before that, however, they were so unapproachable that even speaking to them was difficult.
"Just to shoot one movie, I can't go contracting with that many spirits. Including the extras who'd appear in the film, it'd easily be hundreds."
"Then we just film without contracts."
"Take uncontracted spirits and shoot with them? Do you have any idea what they'd do to me?"
Spirits not yet contracted were more dangerous than an unleashed predator.
Nicol knew the story of the woodcutter who, thanks to the whims of uncontracted forest spirits, wandered the woods for sixty years and emerged an old man, so he had no desire to work with such dangerous creatures.
"On top of that, we'd be bringing Ceres and Kylie's spirits along. They'd really give us a warm welcome."
Spirits had jealousy, too.
Spirits who hadn't formed contracts didn't much like those who had.
The feeling of a freelancer watching a friend who's landed a job, you could say.
Not hostile, but an awkward relationship.
Then an outsider named Nikolai arrived...
It'd be a relief if they didn't start hurling fireballs the moment they saw him.
But that thought was refuted by me in turn.
"Ask my future sister-in-law."
"Huh? Boss, you had a younger brother?"
"No, I mean your girlfriend."
"Ash? What's she got to do with this?"
The Ash I meant was that succubus actress who'd slipped Nikolai her contact info last time.
Apparently, after that day, things went well and the two had started dating.
At first, she'd only given him her contact information because his face was her type and she thought they might meet once after filming.
But before they could even meet, during the John 0 shoot, Peter (Nicol) had single-handedly swapped between the avatars of Taylor, the sommelier, and the chef and filmed it all in one take—and seeing how incredibly cool that was, she'd slammed a confession right into the middle of the set.
Initially, Peter had turned down the confession, saying he wanted to focus on his acting, but that very image—of a man wanting to devote himself purely to his work—made her fall even deeper.
Watching that unfold awakened the matchmaking fiends among the staff. (I was among them, too.)
First, we changed her backstory from a female assassin who’d joined the Marquis solely for money into a tragic mercenary who’d joined him to pay for her beloved’s surgery.
And who played that beloved, needless to say.
Nikolai grumbled but immersed himself in the role, and he got so immersed that after filming ended, he mistook Ash for his real lover—and so they became an actual couple.
Whether in my previous life or this one, when actors worked closely together, sparks could fly—and sometimes lips met too.
Ah, I got sidetracked, but anyway—filming in a forest of spirits was more than feasible with her help.
"Aren't succubi and spirits mortal enemies?"
"Why do you think they're enemies?"
"Well, long ago, an executive of the Demon Lord's Castle was a succubus, and because of the history where she infiltrated the forest and massacred spirits...?"
"Then let me ask you. Back then, out of all the many, many executives, why was a succubus specifically sent?"
"Uh... I'm not really sure about that..."
"You answered it yourself. You didn't say 'invasion'—you said 'infiltration.'"
Spirits were fundamentally sensitive. As such, the number of beings in the world who could infiltrate the Forest of Spirits could be counted on one hand.
Except for succubi.
"Succubi can charm other races. I’ve found the effect is especially strong on humans and spirits."
"You can't be telling Ash to commit a crime—"
"Hey, even I might stop at nothing for a film, but I'm not that bad."
"You weren't?"
"..."
I felt like we'd had a similar conversation before. Why was my reputation around the studio so strange?
I was about to feel sad for a moment, then shook my head to brush off the useless thought and continued my explanation.
"Hear me out to the end. Originally, charm works better between beings who are biologically closer, you know? For example, you—who are you more attracted to, an octopus beast-woman or a human woman?"
"Uh..."
"...Don't tell me both?"
"Ahem."
Wow. I thought he just had broad tastes, but he really was an equal-opportunity horndog.
"Sorry. I wasn't trying to judge your tastes. What I’m saying is that people generally gravitate toward races biologically close to their own. It’s similar with succubi. They can charm any race, but they’re far more effective on races closer to them by blood."
And they excelled at charming humans and spirits.
What did that imply?
"I've heard that the succubus race traces its lineage from hybrids of dark spirits and humans."
"What does that have to do with this situation?"
"Spirits are fundamentally endlessly friendly toward other spirits. Even if they're from a different forest or spring, they'll accept them as a member of the forest the day they arrive. And that goodwill extends even to the spirits' descendants or their spouses."
There was a reason elves came and went in the spirits' forests as if they owned the place.
"Oh, then me too?"
"Take your girlfriend with you. They’ll gladly agree to be cast."
"Thank you, Boss!"
The moment he heard me, Nicol immediately began writing the story.
With the location decided and the model already in place, he had nothing holding him back.
After he had written without pause for several dozen minutes, his pen finally stopped for a short break.
He took a sip of the tea before him, leaned back in his chair, and suddenly asked me a question as if something had occurred to him.
"Boss. But you said 'spouse,' right?"
"Ah, you mean the spirits' spouses?"
"Yeah. According to the phrasing 'the spouse, too, is special,' that spouse would be a different race by the spirits' standards, right?"
"Right?"
"So spirits marry other races, too?"
"Of course. In fact, when you talk about a spirit's marriage, it only refers to marriage with another race. Spirits are born alone from nature and don't marry each other."
"Aha. But there's something I'm curious about... Ah! This is purely out of curiosity, so don't get the wrong idea!"
"I won't get the wrong idea, so ask."
"Well... the size..."
"Size?"
I wondered for a moment what Nikolai was getting at, then soon realized what he meant.
"Ah. Don't worry, it isn't what you're imagining. Spirits are fundamentally made of mana, so they can change their size as long as they have enough of it. When they grow, they can reach the size of the Blue Fairy from Pinocchio, so stop imagining anything weird."
"Aha. Then their appearance...?"
"Ah. Their appearance doesn't change."
"...I'm asking just in case, but... never mind. Forget I asked."
"It's just the two of us in this room anyway, so go ahead and ask."
"Ugh... Fine. I'm asking this purely out of innocent curiosity, but—as I understand it, spirits don't have a concept of growth, right? They're born either as adults or as children, that's how they come into existence, right?"
"Right?"
"Then do spirits born with a child's appearance get married too?"
Hearing his question, I dropped my gaze to the documents.
And instead of giving a clear answer, I chose to phrase it a little more vaguely.
"Well... the world has its share of varied tastes."
"Ah."
A silence hung over the office.
Another innocent modern man was disappointed by the other world yet again.
What a deeply sinful world.