"So the order is a rabbit?"

The little girl looked really happy; this had to be the joy of youth. She took his hand with a smile and raised it as far as her little arms could reach. "I know! I will use a spell you!"

Such a nice child, who worried over an old man like that. Lovely, orange hair and purple eyes...

Wait a second!

. .

He woke up with a startled sound, which had Chino become attentive immediately. His granddaughter quickly put aside her pliers and left the bottleship she was working on. However, he did not manage to calm his shaking body or close his mouth before the girl reached him.

"What happened, grandfather?"

Her voice was as calm as always; something he had been worrying about often in the past, but now it did a good job at calming his nerves for now. There was no one else around anyway, so she could speak with him openly... who else would have believed that her grandpa was a rabbit? Had become a rabbit...

"Chino! I know it! I remember now!"

He jumped up and down while the stoic girl just tilted her head in confusion. "It was Cocoa! I just remembered!"

This did not bring Chino's expression to change, though. She carefully put a hand on the fluffy head of the rabbit that was him before gently pushing him back onto her blanket. "Calm down, grandfather. I do not understand you. What did Cocoa-san do? Did she break more of our tableware?"

He shook himself to sign her no.

"Did she cuddle you too much again?"

Another round of shaking.

"Did she take Rize-san's model gun and posed in front of the mirror again?"

Another... wait. "What?"

He did not even hear about the last one. What was wrong with this girl?

However, Chino just waved it off and tilted her head again, her deep blue eyes still filled with confusion. "What else did she do?"

So she really did not understand, even when it was so obvious. The old man started to jump up and down again. "This! Me! That I'm a rabbit! Cocoa enchanted me back then!"

Now understanding began to enter her expression... mixed with surprise. "Cocoa-san? But... she was never here, was she?"

"Of course was! That was almost fifteen years ago!"

He continued his jumping. It seemed as if his granddaughter just did not want to understand how important this was. Still, she was at least thinking about it, all the while looking at the ground with her brows furrowed slightly; a moment later, her gaze went towards the door to the hallway. "So... Cocoa-san is a Magical Girl?"

The older girl's cheerful tapping could be heard on the other side; whatever she was doing right now... actually, he did not really want to know. The old man just exchanged a glance with the blunette; both of them shivered a moment later, when realisation dawned upon them and had their expressions become horrified. If this girl of all people had magical powers... what would become of their beautiful hometown?

.

. . .

.

For Cocoa-san to be a Magical Girl... but she is so scatterbrained and clumsy...

Not to speak of her 'Little Sister'-complex... could a girl like this really...

"What are you thinking about, Chino?"

The sudden voice had her flinch slightly before hiding behind the tray in her hand... at least so far that she could just look over it. Her coworker paid no attention to the rather usual antic and continued to look at her. However, Rize's gaze wandered over to the person Chino had been thinking about a moment later; thankfully, Cocoa was busy serving a customer and had not yet noticed them looking.

"Is something wrong with her?"

Chino just shook her head and tried to think of an idea about what to do. Just telling the older girl what her grandfather told her... did not sound like a good idea. For one because she did not want someone outside of her family know; additionally, it was just unbelievable. She would not have believed it herself, had it not been for the voice of her grandfather coming out of their pet rabbit. Who sat on the stoic girl's head as usual.

Rize-san will never, ever believe me... but what should I tell her?

There was no good excuse... so she only had one choice.
"It is nothing, Rize-san. I just thought that she was acting strange for a moment."

Hoping that the athletic girl was too unworldly to notice her white lie. Seeing that she often failed to have ordinary common sense, chances were good for that. However, the slight shadow of doubt in Rize's eyes already told her that she might not have been convincing enough. Still, Chino hoped...

"Oh, if it's just that..."

With that, the high-schooler turned to the side and leaned at the wall. "You're lucky to be still in Middle School, Chino... I do not even have the time to imagine stuff like that. School takes its toll on me."

Right, she heard Syaro complaining about having not the slightest bit of free time with all the homework and her part-timing. Seeing that the blonde was the only one attending the same school as Rize, the same should go for the latter. On the other hand..."

"This might be because it is an elite school. Cocoa-san seems to be alright."

The moment she said it, a thought sparked through Chino's head: what if Cocoa learned by using magic and had so little stress because of that?

Thankfully, her surprised expression remained unseen because her coworker greeted a new customer and went over to take his order immediately.

I really hope that it's not like that... but as it stands, I can't rule it out.

"Chiiino-chan! What are you thinking about?"

The cheerful voice had the middle-schooler return to reality once again; she turned her head towards her housemate, who stood on the other side of the counter with a tray in her hands. She quickly put the ordered coffee and bread onto it while returning her blank gaze. Just not get noticed...

"Nothing."
"Okay, if you say so."

She was given another cheerful smile before Cocoa wandered off again. This had been a close call, but it was alright. Still, the question of what to do remained unanswered...

I should think about it later. Even if Cocoa-san is a Magical Girl, she won't just start casting spells for no reason. Not even she is this careless.

On the other hand... if the older girl actually had magic... would she not have tried to show off with it in front of her and her classmates? She loved being admired by the younger ones after all...

.

.

.

The thought was never finished. Chino just put it aside and concentrated on her work. So when the last customers had left Rabbit House, the three girls were exhaustedly sitting together on one of the windowed tables. Cocoa was sprawled over the table and even the youngest of the three had to support her head.

"We rarely have that many customers..."

It was impressive to think about how many people they served. At the same time, the fourteen-year-old was happy to see her family's business continuing to go so well.

"Yeah, you are right, Chino."

Each of them had a cup of coffee in front of herself and took a sip once in a while. Right now, Rize took a slightly larger one after agreeing with her; following that, she put down the cup with a sigh. "Everything is so exhausting as of late... I almost wish to be a little bird. I could fly around without any stress. No responsibilities..."

Now this brought the girl both Chino's and Cocoa's attention. However, the former was mostly surprised about hearing this from the athletic girl to begin with. Rize rarely complained about anything... okay, this might also be because of her military-like upbringing.

The other high-schooler was a bit more shocked than her, though. "What?! But if you were a bird, we couldn't ever do anything together!"

And then she threw herself at the oldest girl's shoulder. "I don't want that!"

Rize leaned back in surprise and tried to free her arm from the sudden, tight grip. "Whoa, calm down, Cocoa I just meant that I would like to relax a bit. Besides... it's not like I could not fly by or something like that, right?"

The last part came a bit more reluctant than the beginning. However, Chino severely disliked the direction all of this was heading. Her grandfather seemed to think something similar, considering that she could feel him shaking on her head.

Cocoa... just sat there and appeared to be pondering. The silence after Rize's statement remained for a few seconds, then she started beaming at the athletic girl as she usually did all the time. "Okay! If you want to be a bird, I cast a spell on you! Onee-chan always loved that... come in, give me your hand!"

So while one high-schooler held out her lithe fingers and the other eyed her with a mixture of surprise and confusion, Tippy made a jump on her head. The furball landed as softly as he always did... but he was definitely as shocked as his granddaughter.

"Quick, Chino, you have to do something! This must not repeat itself!"

However he managed to whisper and ranting at the same time. More or less. The middle-schooler had her eyes dart around, looking for something to use or to do. Rize gave in by now and was extending her hand; that was when Chino realised the only thing in reach she could use to be her cup. Understanding what she had to do, the girl sighed inwardly and blushed out of embarassment before even doing anything.

For Rize-san! Banzai!

. . .

At least it sounded interesting what Cocoa was intending to do. She behaved as always, which made Chino's statement from before sound a bit strange. However, the seventeen-year-old did not think much into it; it would be rude to pry if her younger friend did not want to talk about what was on her mind.

"Alright."

The orange-haired girl in front of her threw another happy smile around while holding onto Rize's hand with both of hers. "Ready, set..."

She moved the offered hand up and down with every word, but stopped over the splashing of liquid. Both high-schoolers turned their heads, looking at the youngest at the table in surprise; she sat there with her cheeks beat-red while looking down at her uniform. Coffee was running down from the chest-area and towards the skirt.

What the... Chino?

Before she could voice this question however, her coworker cried out something that had her pause in shock: "Cocoa-onee-chan! Help me!"

It was not Cocoa acting strange!

This realisation came rather late, seeing that said girl had already jumped to her feet upon noticing Chino's accident... but when the term "Onee-chan" reached her mind, she started to beam with joy and jumped her self-proclaimed little sister. "Chino-chan!"

Now they were both full of coffee. The younger girl was still red-faced and... was that a tear in her eye?

Rize was not sure and this was not even important right now. She got to her feet as well and

"Now is not the time, Cocoa. Go wash up, both of you... I clean that up."

"Oh, right!"

. . .

He observed the three teenagers with an internal sigh. Chino at least tried to be calm... but with Cocoa pulling her arm, this was hardly possible.

Well done, Chino. You saved Rize from waking up as a raven or something one day. I salute your sacrifice.

Well... he would salute, had he still arms. This had definitely been a sacrifice; one just needed to look at how the poor girl was dragged towards their flat.

"Come on, Chino-chan! Let's take a bath!"

Yes, a sacrifice indeed.

Before the two girls reached the door in the back of the room however, a loud bang had them stop. The old man... rabbit turned around in surprise as well. There she stood, Ujimatsu Chiya; a friend of the girls and... inheritor to Rabbit House's old rival, Ama Usa An. She looked a bit desparate with how she stood in the door frame.

Upon noticing Cocoa, the brunette quickly ran into the room and closed the door behind her. "Cocoa-chan! I'm stuck, please let me see your homework!"

Her teary question made it clear that this was urgent... however, her classmate just looked back in shock. "We had homework?!"

This explained a lot.

So much for 'has no problems in school'...

.

. .

. . .

. . . .

This is my personal favourite out of the four written so far. That is why I uploaded it as the last part of my backlog.

Sadly, I never know when a new idea presents itself, so I can not tell when -or if- another chapter will be uploaded. Therefore, this will be the last one for a while I will change this project's status to "Complete" for the time being, seeing that this concludes the amount of stories I wanted to share here originally anyway.