Mimi 

This is the mysterious world of the Gunma Prefecture, where talking animals and humans live together in harmony.
Situated there is Safari City, where many animals live happily every day.

Among them is Mimi, a postal worker in Safari City who is quite unique. Mimi is a guy with a very feminine side; he’s extremely knowledgeable about the latest cosmetics and fashion trends, and the young women who work at the post office are always checking his blog.

…But when it comes to his actual job as a mail carrier, there might be a slight problem?
Mimi is a bit of a klutz and often gets into trouble. However, he means no harm; he always delivers letters with a smile and does his very best.

Mimi is popular at the post office for being cheerful and funny. Even if he makes a few mistakes, everyone watches over him warmly.

It’s New Year’s season. The post office is swamped with New Year’s card deliveries!

“Eek~! It’s been so busy since the end of the year, what a nightmare! If I keep this up, I’m going to lose feathers!”

Mimi heads out on delivery rounds over and over again.

“Aww! The New Year’s sale at the Bordeaux Department Store is about to start! I really want to check out the lucky bags!”

For fashion-conscious Mimi, the New Year’s sale where he could buy cute clothes at a bargain was something he absolutely had to attend.
His mind was racing, and Mimi ended up feeling even more exhausted.

“Phew… Let’s take a little break. I’m pretty sure there’s a café nearby that’s open during the holidays.”

Mimi left his packages right there and went into the nearby café. …But he had left them in the wrong spot. It was right next to the bulky trash collection area.

While Mimi was enjoying his café latte with its cute latte art, the garbage truck arrived and took his New Year’s cards away!

“…Well then! I guess I’ll get back to delivering them… Wait, what? Were there really this few packages?”

Mimi was puzzled for a moment, but being a natural optimist, he thought to himself:

“Well, I must have worked hard and finished delivering them early! Never mind, never mind! Let’s go to the New Year’s sale!”

…Later, the garbage truck driver noticed the New Year’s cards and delivered them to the post office, so everything turned out fine. However, in the end, all the postal workers had to rush around delivering them. Of course, Mimi got a severe scolding from the postmaster right from the start of the New Year.

Mimi’s job today is to make deliveries for “West & East,” a bakery that’s hugely popular in Safari City.

“Here you go, please deliver this to the house written here~”
“Leave it to me!”

When Mimi received the fresh-baked bread from the shop manager, Panta, he couldn’t help but mouth water.

(Ooh, that looks delicious~! Panta-kun’s shop is currently ranked number one on the list of bakeries worth waiting in line for~! Oh, and I haven’t even had lunch yet…)

“Maybe no one will notice if you eat just one?” a little devil whispers in Mimi’s ear, but he resists the temptation.

(No, no! This is an important delivery! I can’t just go ahead and eat it!)

…That’s how it started. Mimi was full of self-control at first, but as he makes his rounds, his hunger gradually gets the better of him.

(…Ah, I can’t resist!)

Surprisingly, his final delivery destination was the post office! It was a request from the postmaster.

(The postmaster is so kind, and he mentioned his eyesight has been getting worse lately… He won’t notice if I eat just one, right?)

Finally, Mimi gave in to temptation and ate just one cream bun. Pretending nothing had happened, he delivered the buns to the postmaster.

“…Here you go, Postmaster. These are the buns from Panta-kun’s shop.”
“Oh, thank you, Mimi-kun. I’ve been looking forward to these… Hmm? Isn’t there one missing?”
“I don’t know~! Maybe it’s just your imagination?”
“…Mimi-kun, you should wipe the cream off your mouth before saying things like that.”

Mimi’s half-baked lie was exposed by the postmaster instantly, and he had to go back to Panta’s shop to pay for the cream bun out of his own pocket.

“Aaah! I was planning to buy some lotion with this money today~!”

…You brought this on yourself, Mimi.

One day, Mimi was summoned by his friend, a parakeet named Kozakura.

“Actually, there’s someone I like…”

Spring has arrived for the shy and quiet Kozakura! Mimi, who loves talking about love, happily offers his advice.

“You should confess to them soon!”
“B-but… I don’t think I can confess in person. I’ll get so nervous, I probably won’t be able to say a word…”
“How about a love letter? Just send a letter first, and once you get a reply, go confess in person. I’ll deliver it for you!”
“Y-Yeah, that’s a good idea!”

Kozakura carefully wrote a love letter expressing his feelings and entrusted it to Mimi.

“Here… please deliver this to Sazanami.”
“Got it!”

Mimi was eager to deliver his dear friend’s feelings! …But he accidentally forgot the address partway through.

“Oh no~ It’s supposed to be a house around here somewhere. …Ah! There it is!”

Spotting a nameplate that read “Sazanami,” Mimi dropped the love letter into the mailbox.

“Alright! Now let’s just pray that his love is reciprocated!”

…A few days later, when Mimi heard from Kozakura that it was finally time to meet his crush and confess, he decided to watch over his best friend’s confession.

“I’m so nervous…”
“It’ll be fine! Just stay calm!”

Soon… a slender, though-looking wildcat arrived. The wildcat looked at Kozakura and said happily,

“My, what a cute and delicious-looking parakeet!”
“Huh!? Wait a minute!? I-I sent a letter to Sazanami…”
“Well, I am Sazanami.”

It turns out Mimi had mistakenly thought the cat was Sazanami! Kozakura’s crush was actually a barred parakeet!

Unaware of this, Mimi mistakenly assumed that Kozakura’s confession had gone well.

“Well, I’ll be going now~! Wishing you both happiness~!”

Leaving a confused Kozakura behind, Mimi quickly went home.

(Hehehe. Helping people really makes me feel good~!)

One day, Mimi was asked to deliver a package by a tough-looking shark man.

“…This…Safari…to…Police…Pende…”
(What~? This guy’s hiding his face, and he’s mumbling, I can’t understand~)

Though he found the man’s behavior suspicious, Mimi accepted the package… But then.

“Oh no! The handwriting is so messy, I can’t even read the address on the shipping slip!”

On top of that, the man’s voice had been muffled and hard to hear earlier, so now he has no idea where to deliver the package.

“Oh no~ …Wait! I know! I’ll go ask the sender!”

He managed to barely make out the sender’s name on the shipping slip. So Mimi grabbed the package and hurried over to his place.

“Excuse me~! It’s about that package from earlier~!”

The man who appeared at the front door was the same intimidating shark from just a moment ago.

“…What is it?”
“It’s about your package.”

For some reason, the shark panics the moment he sees the package Mimi holds out!

“Y-You idiot! G-Get that out of here, now!”
“Huh? What? What are you talking about?”

Just then, for some reason, the package Mimi is holding explodes! The shark flees from the scene!

“Aaaargh!?”

Popcorn kept flying out of the package, with no end in sight!

“Ugh! What is this?!”

…And then, even though he hadn’t done anything wrong, Mimi was suspected by the police of carrying explosives and was taken away.

One day, while Mimi was making his usual deliveries…

“Oh no! What is this letter?!”

It was a letter with the word “WELCOME” written in eerily red letters.

“WELCOME in bright red letters, huh? …What terrible taste. Is it a flyer from some store? Or maybe an event announcement for a visual kei band?”

Upon closer inspection, there was no address, and the sender seemed unknown as well.

“…There’s no way I can deliver this. Still, it’s such a creepy letter~. Just looking at it gives me chills down my spine! …It’s not written in blood, is it?”

Normally, he’d have to consult the postmaster about what to do with an anonymous letter… but absent-minded Mimi forgot all about that and left the eerie letter sitting on his desk.

“Oh! What about that letter?”

A few days later, Mimi suddenly remembered the letter and turned his desk upside down…

“Huh? It’s gone?”

Before he knew it, the letter written in bright red had vanished.

“…Oh well! It was a creepy letter anyway! No one would be happy to receive something like that!”

Mimi, who moves on quickly, soon forgot all about that “WELCOME” letter.　

Recently, the post office in Safari City launched a home delivery service called “Madagascar.”
It’s hugely popular with customers for being “fast” and “easy to order,” but it’s a real struggle for the delivery staff.
There’s a huge volume of packages, and when customers aren’t home, they have to go back for redelivery.
Mimi and the other delivery staff are going back and forth to Safari City every single day.

“Eek! I feel like I’m going to get dizzy! …But it’s for our valued customers!”

No matter how busy he was, Mimi worked his hardest. …But he was a bit of a scatterbrain.

“Ah!”

Trying to carry too many packages at once, Mimi accidentally knocked over a pile of them!

“Oh no!”

Mimi hurriedly rearranged the packages. …But unbeknownst to him, he’d mixed up the delivery slips and the packages!

Unaware of his mistake, Mimi went ahead and delivered them anyway, causing a huge problem!

“Huh!? I didn’t order this package!”
“I wonder when my game will arrive…”

The customers were up in arms! …Because of Mimi’s mistake, the delivery service Madagascar was shut down.

The customers were sad, but some people were happy: Mimi and the other mail carriers.

“Man, Madagascar kept us so busy we couldn’t even eat our meals in peace, so this is a relief.”
“Now I don’t have to work overtime, and I can finally get a good night’s sleep!”

…In the end, maybe this turned out for the best?　

That day, Mimi was asked to deliver a certain package.
The person who entrusted him with the package… Let’s just call him Inagawa for now… was a creepy old goat.

“…Please deliver “this” to the temple. You might hear noises or voices coming from inside, but don’t worry about it. All you have to do is deliver it to the temple.”
“U-uh…”

The moment he took the package… A chill ran down Mimi’s spine.

(Ugh, I don’t like this. Something’s just off.)

…With that thought, Mimi asked Inagawa what was inside the package. And then…

“…Inside there is an old Japanese doll. But it’s not just any doll. …This thing is alive.”
“Huh!?”

Yes, the package’s true nature was a terrifying, cursed living doll!
It was so terrifying that they decided to have it blessed at a temple right away.
Mimi took the package and headed for the temple. …But then.

*sob sob*

On the way to the temple, he heard the voice of a little girl.

(No, wait…~ Could it be~…?)

Sure enough, the voice was coming from the box containing the cursed living doll.

“Oh no~! I’m a fragile postman, I can’t handle horror stuff~!”

At first, Mimi was terrified. But little by little, his feelings began to change.

“If this keeps up, I’ll end up being burned at the temple. I won’t curse anyone anymore, so please, just spare me that…”
(…I’m starting to feel kind of sorry for her. She’s a bit of an oddball, but is she just a fragile maiden like me? I guess so.)
“…All right! I’ll figure something out!”

…And that’s how Mimi ended up with a new roommate.
Apparently, he now enjoys girl talk with the doll every day.

Wow, stories like this really do happen.

One day, Mimi was summoned by the postmaster, who looked very serious.

(Oh no, did he find out that I accidentally ate his ramen the other day?)

He was thinking about that when the postmaster explained that it was about a package delivery.

“…I want you to deliver this package to the Governor of Gunma Prefecture. But you absolutely must not look inside, okay?”

For some reason, the postmaster whispered this while glancing out the window. However, Mimi was his usual carefree self.

“Okay! Got it!”

…Mimi decided to head out to the Gunma Prefectural Office, even though it was a bit of a long trip.

(…It’s human nature to want to look at something even more when you’re told not to, isn’t it? …Should I sneak a peek?)

The devilish Mimi whispered in his mind. But at the same time, the angelic Mimi spoke up.

(No, no! Mimi! Opening someone else’s package without permission would make you unfit to be a postal worker! …Besides, the postmaster looked more serious than usual, didn’t he?)

For a moment, the angel and the devil battled inside Mimi… but, unusually, it was the angelic Mimi who won.

(Right, I’d better not look inside this package… Still, it’s been a pretty chaotic day, hasn’t it?)

A police car drove past Mimi. It seemed there had been a traffic accident. There had also been an explosion at the café where he’d just eaten.

…Actually, Mimi didn’t know this, but the package contained a top-secret item from Gunma Prefecture.
Agents from various other prefectures, including Tochigi, Ibaraki, and Saitama, were targeting the package and had been trying to assassinate Mimi by staging it to look like an accident… Thanks to his natural positive thinking and incredible luck, he wasn’t caught up in any of that.

“Come on! Let’s get this delivered as soon as possible!”

And so, completely unaware of the national conspiracies, Mimi successfully protected Gunma Prefecture’s top-secret package.

One day, as Mimi was making his usual mail rounds, a little girl ran out from a house.

“Hello, Mr. Mailman!”
“Hehehe, that’s such a nice greeting. Hello.”
“Hey, is there a letter for us today?”
“Yes, here you go.”

Mimi handed the girl a few letters, but as soon as she saw the sender’s name, the girl’s expression darkened before his very eyes.

“…Oh, so there’s no letter from Daddy today either.”

The girl muttered sadly and went back inside. Mimi was left bewildered, not understanding the situation.
Just then, the girl’s mother came rushing out of the house.

“I’m s-so sorry…”
“Oh, it’s fine… But she seems to be really looking forward to a letter from her dad, doesn’t she? Is your husband away for work or something?”

Mimi asked casually, but the mother answered with a sad expression.

“Yes… he used to be.”
“Used to be?”
“Well… my husband passed away just the other day while he was away on business. But she’s still so young, she doesn’t understand… I can only tell her something vague like, “Daddy is far away.””
“I see… I’m sorry to have brought up such a painful topic.”
“No, it’s fine. But she waits every day for letters that used to arrive from his business trip. …Every time I see her like that, I tell myself I need to explain her… but I just can’t seem to find the right words.”
“…”

Mimi couldn’t find the words to say to the mother, who was smiling sadly.

(…I want to do something to cheer them up… but what should I do?)

That night, Mimi had a strange dream. An unknown man was standing in front of him.

(Oh my, he’s actually quite handsome… but doesn’t he look like someone?)

The man gave him a gentle smile and handed him a letter.

“…I’m sorry, but could you please give this letter… To my daughter? And please tell my wife and her, “I’ll always love you”…”
“Huh!? Wait, you’re…!”

That’s when Mimi woke up.

“…That was a strangely vivid dream~”

As he thought that, he happened to glance at the sideboard…

“Huh!? What’s this letter?! It wasn’t here before I went to sleep!”

That’s when Mimi’s maidenly (?) intuition kicked in!

(Yes! This is a letter from that girl’s dad! That dream I just had wasn’t just a dream after all!)

Convinced of this, Mimi, still without any makeup, went to deliver the letter to the mother and daughter from yesterday.

The two of them had been up since early morning… They seemed surprised to see Mimi show up without any makeup, but when they saw the letter he handed them, they were even more shocked!

“…Oh! This is Daddy’s handwriting! Yay! A letter from Daddy finally arrived!”

The girl took the letter and ran back inside, overjoyed.

“Um, excuse me! Where did you get that letter?”
“Hehehe. The world is full of mysterious things, isn’t it~”

Mimi told the mother about his dream.

“…It seems your husband is worried about you both even in heaven. He said, “I’ll always love you.” …That’s wonderful, isn’t it?”

Hearing Mimi’s words, the mother shed tears and thanked him. Mimi was also completely satisfied that he’d been able to deliver happiness to that family!

(Hehehe, doing something good first thing in the morning really puts me in a good mood! Alright, time to go home and put on my makeup!)

…Mimi hummed to himself as he walked home and took his time doing his makeup… but it seems he took a little too much time.
In the end, he was late that day and got scolded by the postmaster.

• Ep.5: the explosive package with popcorn was supposed to be delivered to Pendera, whose song is called popcorn.

• Ep.6: the creepy letter is a reference to the Genesis of Destiny label. Yay for cross-label references!