Table of Contents Cover Color Illustrations Prologue Chujo Shiina Wants to Run Away The Magic App Not Enough Attendance Days! Let’s Visit a Magical Realm Afterword Bonus Food Glossary and Recipes! About J-Novel Club Copyright Prologue Pa-pop! With a bang, confetti and streamers went flying everywhere. A cheerful melody began to play. Dancers in extravagant costumes threw themselves onto the stage, their long tails tracing lovely arcs as they whirled. Welcome, welcome, welcome all! To wonderland! A fantasy! Worlds of dreams that span dimensions! Adventures and miracles! It’s Amagi Brilliant Park! It’s Amagi Brilliant Park! Let’s all sing and dance together! Let’s all smile and laugh and play! Call to them and they will come! Who’ll be first? It’s Macaron! Let’s all call to Macaron! Fairy of Music, Macaron! “Rooon!” One of the park’s headliner mascots, Macaron, the Fairy of Music, appeared, as if launched upwards from underneath the stage. He landed neatly, then immediately launched into a bagpipe solo. As his thrilling performance ended, more dancers took to the stage. Who’ll be next? It’s Tiramii! Let’s all call to Tiramii! Fairy of Flowers, Tiramii! “Miiii!” Tiramii, the Fairy of Flowers, appeared. Like Macaron, he flew up from beneath the stage, spun end-over-end, and landed neatly. He twirled his silk hat and performed some magic tricks, producing one beautiful bouquet after another. Then, as he swung his cape with a flourish, a flurry of fireworks burst in the background. Even more dancers took the stage. Sorcerer’s Hill is full of fun! Come and smile with everyone! Everybody join the gang! Rabbida! Nyathan! Wanipii! Bargen! They’ve all come here just for you! More and more mascots appeared and joined the line of dancers. The cheerful music reached its apex. Oh? Oh? Aren’t we missing something? That’s right! There’s no sweets at all! Let’s all call to Moffle, now! Fairy of Sweets... Moffle! “Moffu!” Moffle appeared on a tall pedestal at the back of the stage. He was silhouetted by a massive firework that burst into glints of shining light, which fizzed off in all directions. The dancers gasped in wonder. It was an entrance befitting the park’s headliner mascot. That was all well and good, except... one of the sparks had set Moffle’s chef’s whites ablaze. “Moffu, moffu!” Had he even noticed? Moffle took a running leap off the platform, bounded off a hidden trampoline and did a sharp flip in midair. It was all according to plan, but the rapid motion had only caused the fire on his costume to spread. “Mooooffu!” Ah, yes. He had noticed. He crashed to the stage, now trailing flames. The park’s headliner mascot had become a rampaging ball of fire, and all the while, the cheerful music continued to blare. The dancers stopped dancing and ran away in terror. Moffle knocked over giant “talking flower” props, then plowed into a speaker, which released a screech of feedback. The confetti and streamers scattered around the stage just added fuel to the growing inferno. “H-Hey, it’s hot! It’s hot!” Moffle squealed. “Someone! Someone!” “Don’t move!” someone in the ensemble shouted. “Hold still! Bring a blanket!” “Fire team! Fire team!” Wanipii yelled. “Where are you, pii?! Fire team!” The whimsical display of wonder was now a crucible of tragedy; the panicked staff rushed the stage with fire extinguishers, which they unleashed in force. Soon, the area was awash in foul-smelling white smoke. Five minutes after things were settled— “—which is why I told you, no fireworks!” Kanie Seiya yelled to the dejected- looking cast. He had joined in the fire-fighting efforts, so his acting manager’s uniform was bleached white with flame retardant. “At least it was only a rehearsal, but... what if it had been a real performance?! I’ve invited the media, you know! We’d have rubbernecker reports all over the Internet! Then they’d be deleted from YouTube, and we’d have the world laughing at us over LiveLeak instead!” “Hmm... that might be good advertising in its own way, ron...” Macaron, dressed in his own wrecked stage attire, whispered. “I’ve heard of videos catching fire on the Internet, but nothing like this, mii!” Tiramii, also dressed in a tattered stage costume, snickered. “This isn’t funny!” Seiya fumed. “The show is coming up, you know! If we screw this up, it’s going to have a huge impact on our visitor count for Golden Week and after. This is April’s do-or-die moment! Don’t you get that?!” The show—A (AmaBri) Fight Begins! The Moffle that Fell to Earth!—was to be Golden Week’s hottest event, conducted on the park’s large central stage. It was the centerpiece of their renovations for the new fiscal year. Amagi Brilliant Park (the AmaBri in question) had never held a show on a scale like this before. They had done routine song-and-dance numbers on the stage, but those were unambitious; they never lasted longer than ten minutes. This show would be a huge upscale from their prior performances. It would be a whole 50 minutes long, with almost all of the cast in attendance. They’d written a new script and new music, and prepared new costumes and props. Even before advertising expenses, the budget had been enormous, but Seiya hadn’t hesitated; he knew how important this live show was. It was the best way to get word out about the new AmaBri. “Look at us,” it would say. “This year’s park is like never before. Amagi Brilliant Park has been reborn!” But if that was going to happen, they had to genuinely wow the viewers. He couldn’t let them go home feeling ambivalent; guests had to get home from the park and immediately tell their friends and family: “It was awesome!” As in any age, word of mouth was crucial. So if that was the purpose of the live show, then—“We can’t have our headliner mascot setting the stage on fire!” “Look, I know... why you’re nervous, Seiya,” Moffle said. He seemed to have made it back from the infirmary. His patissier’s outfit was blackened and charred, while his fur was stained white from the (frankly alarming) amount of flame retardant that had been sprayed on him. He seemed to have trouble keeping his footing, perhaps due to the psychological trauma of the event. “But we need the fireworks, fumo. They’re a must-have for delighting an audience; always have been. They’re the portal from a humdrum daily life to a world of the wondrous and spectacular. You need them if you want to grab the guests’ attention and hold it.” “You said that at the meeting, too. But you saw what it’s led to.” “C-Come on, now...” Moffle protested. “I’ve been through bloodbaths worse than that before.” What kind of bloodbaths, exactly? Seiya wondered. You’re an amusement park mascot... “Besides, this was a learning experience,” the mascot continued. “Now we know that we need to make my costume and the surrounding props fireproof, fumo. That ought to be enough to prevent a repeat.” “Hmmm...” He couldn’t deny that Moffle had a point. But at the same time, Seiya was the acting manager. He was one making the decisions, and if forced to choose between artistry and safety, safety was going to win out every time. But... even so... “I agree with Moffle, ron. We need to go all-out on this,” Macaron added. “So do I, mii. Catching the problem in rehearsal was a lucky break, if you ask mii,” Tiramii added. “I agree too, mog. Don’t worry, we’ll work out all the dangerous parts in time for the big opening.” “Yeah, and you just can’t beat flashiness, nell.” “If the guests’ll enjoy it, we oughta try to make it happen, don’cha think?” Taramo, Dornell, and Wrenchy-kun—representatives of various backstage departments—weighed in respectively. “Hmm...” Seiya pondered. If they were that insistent about it, then maybe he should just trust them and take the risk? “...In that case, I want you to work out every possible risk and your proposed countermeasure. I expect a report from each department on my desk by 9:00 tomorrow morning. If I still have cold feet after that, we cut the dangerous elements. Can you do that?” “Of course,” they chorused. Before, Seiya thought, they all would have tried to avoid responsibility. But now the eyes of these strange, super-deformed creatures shone with determination. “Good,” he decided. “Then let’s tidy up and get back to rehearsal.” Seiya watched the resumed rehearsal from the audience seats. The cheerful music washed over him. There were no fireworks this time, so Moffle remained non-combusted, and he gave a hard-hitting performance befitting the star he was. “Kanie-kun.” Carrying a file case at her side, Sento Isuzu took a seat next to Seiya. “Wrenchy-kun told me what happened. It must have been awful.” “It very nearly ended in tragedy,” he admitted. “But I’m glad they’re enthusiastic, at least.” He had meant to sound nonchalant about it, but Isuzu stared into his face and responded: “Are you all right?” “What do you mean?” “Well... You haven’t told anyone about the new attendance number yet, have you?” She was referring to something that had happened during the sale of the second park.