Alice Margatroid is a seven-colored puppeteer. She lives a quiet life in the Forest of Magic, making dolls and conducting research into magic. Today, when she was deep in the forest collecting samples for her research, she injured her foot…

Marisa Kirisame is an ordinary magician who lives in the Forest of Magic and runs the Kirisame Magic Shop. Today, she was out in the forest collecting mushrooms as she always does when one of Alice’s dolls came flying full-speed toward her.

The Forest of Magic is brimming with miasma, which explains why youkai tend to avoid it. But it’s said the monstrous mushrooms that grow there do so because of the miasma. As Alice was collecting samples, one of her dolls accidentally brushed against a giant mushroom. The spores it released would surely have melted all of the dolls had Alice not thrown herself in the way. However, her daring deed cost her in the form of a badly sprained ankle.

As Alice sat thinking about how on earth she was going to get home, Marisa appeared, escorted by a doll. Alice insisted she didn’t need any help, to which Marisa simply shrugged with a look of doubt on her face.
“You really are stubborn, huh?” said Marisa. The next moment, she forcefully picked Alice up and, carrying her piggyback-style, headed out of the forest’s depths.

“I can’t believe you sprained your ankle!” chuckled Marisa. Since Alice was on her back, Marisa couldn’t see the look of annoyance on her face. But her dolls could. Immediately, they began to hit Marisa in the back of the head and pull her hair.
“Cut it out!” yelled Marisa as she struggled to keep her footing.
“Do you mind walking a little straighter?!” said Alice with a smirk. Marisa demanded Alice call off her “stupid little dolls,” but she made sure to grip Alice tight the whole way home.