Heart Delivery: #007 The Over-Delivered Letter
The sign read as follows.
“The duration of emotional magic is a maximum of 15 minutes.”
“If effects exceeding this are confirmed, recovery procedures will be performed.”
……But we know.
Sometimes, feelings that were supposed to have been “delivered” can end up cornering the recipient's heart.
That is why today's delivery is not about delivering something.
It is about going to gently untangle “over-delivered feelings.”
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Today's Prescription
――
〈Blue Sky Syrup〉
Effect:
Gives you time to gently re-embrace the “self that has been trying too hard.”
Side effect:
Your tear ducts may loosen (premonition: a warm, fuzzy feeling deep in your chest).
The client was a young woman.
She said that a few weeks ago, she had sent “encouragement magic” through the two of us.
“I think the letter was delivered. ……But he seems to have broken down.”
“Broken down?”
“He keeps running, every single day, faster than anyone else.”
“But his eyes aren't smiling.”
“...Perhaps he is ‘trying too hard.’”
Mina nodded quietly.
“It was delivered too much, wasn't it—the magic of the letter.”
Luna opened the previous record.
What she had packed into the bottle was the pure feeling of “You can do it.”
“You didn't mean any harm, did you?”
“Of course not. ……I just wanted to support him.”
Luna lowered her eyes and muttered.
“Sometimes, when you intend to support someone, you end up pushing them too hard from behind, don't you.”
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The two headed to the city's athletic field.
There, the young man was still running, just as he had been since early morning.
“...He has the look of someone who has received it.”
Luna muttered.
His eyes were unfocused, his legs moving purely out of obligation.
He looked like a machine moving solely on “someone else's expectations.”
Keeping their distance, the two quietly prepared a small bottle.
“This time, let's not make it magic for encouragement, but magic that tells him ‘it's okay to rest.’”
When Mina gently touched the bottle, a pale light-blue liquid appeared inside.
It was the feeling of “being able to stop and rest with peace of mind.”
“What are the side effects?”
“He might shed a few tears. Also, he might ‘fall asleep.’”
“That's perfect.”
◆
The two quietly placed the small bottle on the young man's bench.
On the cap was a small, handwritten label that read, “For when you're tired.”
Only the ribbon fluttering in the wind indicated their presence.
At first, the young man pretended not to notice it.
But on the third lap, his pace slowed slightly near the bench.
On the fourth lap, his gaze slid over the bottle.
And on the fifth lap.
He stopped in front of the bench.
He reached out as if to drink water, and gently gripped the small bottle.
There was no sound of it opening.
But, in the wind,
the light blue inside the bottle shimmered faintly.
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15 minutes later, the two had left the field.
Sept chirped quietly.
“Hey, Luna.”
“Yeah?”
“‘Being delivered’ and ‘being a good thing’ are different, aren't they.”
“Yeah.”
“Encouragement, love—I don't think it's about the ‘amount.’”
“Finding the right balance might be harder than magic.”
Mina nodded.
“Sept, make a note of this.”
“That untangling over-delivered feelings felt more like magic than delivering them.”
Sept curled his tail once and blinked quietly.
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Record-keeper Sept's addendum:
That day, for the first time, the young man sat on the bench for a long time.
A sip of water and a quiet sigh.
And from his pocket, he took out the edge of a small, folded letter.
On it, only one line was written.
“You don't have to push yourself.”
The paper was old, but
those words looked as if they had just been delivered now.