Delivery Person Roruko No. 2, Episode 2.5: "Nigoru and Kororukkuru"

Episode 2.5: "Nigoru and Kororukkuru"

Sunday morning.
Roruko was wrapped in her futon in a room with the curtains still drawn, looking at her smartphone.

"Hmm... Nigokoro...? Oh, a new episode is out."

She muttered in a sleepy voice and played the anime from the notification.
On the screen, the fluffy Nigoru and the scurrying Kororukkuru were running around.

"...They can't catch up, can they?"

Laughing, Roruko tilted her smartphone.
As she continued to look at related posts about the anime on X, her eyes stopped.

"...Wait, merchandise is out? Starting today?"

A Kororukkuru keychain, a Nigoru plushie, a limited set—
Below the product images were the words "In-store sales available."

Roruko was silent for a few seconds, then slowly got out of bed.

"...Guess I'll go."

* * *

In front of the anime shop register.
Roruko left the register, dangling a pink character bag.

A Nigoru plushie. A Kororukkuru keychain.
They were all cuter than she had imagined, so she couldn't help but reach for them.

"...I bought a bit too much."

On the way back to the station, she muttered that and looked up.
She wasn't great with crowds. But somehow, her steps felt light.

* * *

Back in her room, she lined up the plushies on her bed. The Nigoru keychain had been sold out.

"Ah, man..."

She didn't attach anything to her phone case, just placed the plushie by her pillow and stared at it intently.

A plump form.
Round eyes. A face that looked like it didn't talk much.

"...I mean, doesn't it look like No. 2?"

I muttered to myself, not really speaking to anyone. I tried holding the plushie upside down, then tipping it on its side.
I tried holding the plushie upside down, then tipping it on its side.

"...Ah, so that's why."

"It wasn't that scary from the start. ...Is it because of this face?"

I fell silent for a moment.
I lay down next to the plushie, staring up at the ceiling.

And then—I found myself smiling.

Afterword

This episode, "Nigoru and Kororukkuru," was originally based on a short story depicting the "world of the picture book itself," which was included in the behind-the-scenes visual collection for Episode 1.

"Nigoru and Kororukkuru," which appears in the story, is set as a popular children's picture book that was adapted into an anime, and Roruko has loved this work since she was a child. Even now, she occasionally watches the anime and collects the merchandise.

This time, I composed all the illustrations in a picture book style so as not to break the worldview and atmosphere. The tone is slightly different from the main story, but it is also an episode where I felt I could depict a "true side of Roruko" precisely because of that.

I actually struggled quite a bit with whether to incorporate this episode into the main story or treat it as a sub-episode. However, it was a story I wanted to quietly insert before Episode 3 as foreshadowing for "that interaction" that will be depicted later.

I secretly hope that one day "Nigoru and Kororukkuru" will truly be adapted into an anime, and that the gals in Harajuku will walk around with Nigoru keychains attached to their bags.

※This work is fiction.

The characters, organizations, place names, and events that appear are unrelated to any real ones. Additionally, while some depictions are inspired by the posts and activities of real X (formerly Twitter) users, there is no connection to any specific individual or organization, and the content is constructed based on creative fiction.