[Original Fairy Tale] Professor Mason and Cherry the Squirrel (1) (10 episodes in total)

The postman was so stunned that he completely forgot about his delivery work, standing there with his mouth agape, just staring at Mason—that eccentric man—walking along happily with a small, cute chipmunk.

It was no wonder the postman was so surprised.
Mason was a man who had never once said thank you or done anything for anyone, no matter how kind they were to him.

Furthermore, he lied without a second thought.
Just the other day, when someone from the next town asked him for directions, he pointed in the opposite direction on purpose, and then laughed out loud as he watched the person run to the police box, saying they were lost.

When he picked up a ball thrown by a child, he threw it back with all his might, so hard that the child couldn't possibly catch it.

Because Mason was so mean, none of the neighbors wanted anything to do with him.

The postman knew Mason well, so he couldn't believe that he was actually walking around with a cute animal.

"Why is there a chipmunk with him?"
He muttered that to himself without thinking.
Then, the woman who had received the letter tilted her head as well.

"He probably just invented another 'machine to make friends with animals,' right? I hear he's always working on strange inventions. Well, I don't want to have anything to do with a person like that. No matter what he invents, I'm not interested."
The woman closed the door after saying just that.
"Inventions... huh."

The postman had indeed heard rumors several times that Mason was working on various inventions.
Mason lived all by himself in a small house in the woods.

He took advantage of the fact that he wouldn't bother anyone even if he kept the lights on late at night, and he was obsessed with his inventions.
Every one of his inventions was amazing.

There was a robot that would decide on and prepare Mason's dinner.

There was a machine that would hang up and fold Mason's clothes.
There was a pillow that would wake Mason up at a set time every morning and even give him a massage.
However, no one other than Mason had ever actually used any of those inventions.

That was because Mason only made inventions for himself to use.

He didn't think even a little bit about being useful to anyone else.
How did a Mason like that become friends with that chipmunk?

Did he really invent a 'machine to make friends with animals'?

And even so, why would he make such a thing?
The more the postman thought about it, the less he understood.

Besides, there was one more strange thing about Mason.

Whenever the postman went to deliver mail to Mason's house, he would always notice new televisions, refrigerators, and vacuum cleaners catching his eye.

Mason didn't seem to be shopping at the local appliance store often, and no one had ever seen a delivery truck carrying large items parked in front of Mason's house.

Yet, large, new things kept appearing one after another, so all the neighbors were curious and spread various rumors.

"Those must all be bulky trash. He's just collecting parts for his inventions."

Some people said that, while others said,
"He's good at refurbishing old things. I wonder if he'd make our vacuum cleaner new?"
Some even said,
"It's like they're just popping out of nowhere...!"

They said it with a creepy tone.
The postman thought that they couldn't really be popping out of nowhere.
However, one day, when the postman went to Mason's house to deliver mail as usual, his eyes were glued to the scene when he saw Mason take a bite of a bright red apple that had just popped out of a large machine in his room.

Mason had long since noticed that the postman was secretly watching him from the window.

Mason hadn't intended to say that his invention had just succeeded or ask, 'Do you want to try it?', but seeing the postman looking so interested, he thought,

(Maybe it wouldn't be bad to show off my invention to someone for once.)

So, he said,

"Hey, don't just stand there, come on in."
With that, he let the postman into the room.
The postman entered the room timidly, feeling nervous that he might be scolded for peeking.


To be continued

Click here for part 2♪