Magical Girl: Human Rebellion

“Ah, we’re here. This is where I was planning to look for Mai’s present.” I had stopped in front of a shop with a fancy-looking front, one that seemed to surprise Nao.

“A-a jewellery store? Mai doesn’t seem like the sort to wear lots of jewellery.”

“She’s not. I came for one thing in particular.”

Nao seemed confused until she saw me walk through the door and straight to the ring section.

“Right, you never got Mai an engagement ring, right?”

“No, my proposal was too spur of the moment. And technically I’m looking for a wedding ring, not an engagement ring.”

It was said that you’re supposed to drop three months' salary on an engagement ring, which I couldn’t exactly do when I had no salary to speak of. But it wouldn’t feel right to have a wedding without a ring, so I figured I’d surprise Mai with a matching pair on Christmas Eve. I just had to hope that she didn’t have the exact same idea.

I browsed the selection and found several rings that fit the bill nicely. They were all roughly 20000-40000円, which was a tad cheap for a wedding ring, but I wasn’t exactly rolling in cash. My ‘unique situation’ meant that getting a part-time job was out of the question, so all of my money came from a personal allowance afforded to me by Gen and Kandai. Under different circumstances I wouldn’t even be spending this much, but the situation was exceptional enough that I was willing to drop most of what I had saved

That being said, I didn’t exactly have the discerning eye for jewellery. As someone with a practical mindset, I was drawn to those that were cost effective and durable, but I had no idea if Mai would like them.

“Which ones are you looking at?”

“Hmm… I’m mostly looking over the band rings since they’re the typical choice for a wedding ring, but there’s so many choices. It’s hard to decide.”

“Hmm…”

Nao stood next to me, looking over the same rings I was. I was particularly drawn to one made of tungsten, a couple made with low-karat gold, and one of mostly pure iron. Upon seeing me inspecting that one, Nao spoke once again.

“Shin, do you know the chemical significance of iron?”

“Hmm? It’s the primary ingredient in steel, right?”

“Well, yes, but that’s not what I meant. Iron is important in both physics and chemistry because it’s the most stable element in the universe. It’s too heavy to easily fuse, but too light to decay.”

“I see… so it lasts a really long time?”

“That’s putting it lightly. It’s thought by cosmologists that, if the universe continues to expand without collapsing, and protons don’t decay over time, every atom in existence will tend towards iron. In other words, iron is the only element that’s truly eternal.”

Something that lasts until the very end of the universe… cheesy as it was, I could think of no better symbolism for eternal love than that.

“Excuse me, could I get two of the iron wedding bands please?” I called to the lady behind the counter, and she took two of them out from behind the glass casing, handing them to me. They felt like just the right weight.

Feeling confident in my decision, I paid the 60,000円 for two rings and left the jewellery shop with Nao.

“Thanks for your help. I’d have probably been stuck trying to decide for ages otherwise.”

“I-It’s no problem at all. I was just happy to help.”

“Looks like that only took up about 20 minutes of our hour. Wanna get looking for Saki’s present now?”

“Y-yes… though I’m not sure where to start…”

I knew Nao well enough to guess what she was thinking. She likely had dozens of ideas of what to get Saki, but was too anxious to decide on one since there was a chance Saki would be disappointed with what she got. She wanted me to suggest something so she could have some more confidence in her answer.

“Well, if I were buying something for Saki I would go with something practical that she’d get use out of, like a new pair of running trainers or something.” Nao looked up at me and was about to speak, but I continued with my thoughts before she could. “But that’s what I would do. That’s not what you would do. You’re more thoughtful than me. A practical gift would look like it came from me, not you.”

The relieved look on her face vanished, leaving her to look somewhat frustrated. But I could tell that she didn’t exactly disagree.

“T-trying to pick out a gift is so stressful…”

“Whatever you get her, I know she’ll appreciate it.”

“Y-yeah…”

The sentiment didn’t seem to bring her much relief. I understood her plight, though: picking out presents was rarely an easy task. I was lucky to already have something in mind.

“M-maybe Akiba would have been better for this…”

“Right, Saki’s a total otaku.” After all, what sort of normal girl wears an anime t-shirt to a Christmas event? “Well, Shibuya isn’t exactly devoid of otaku culture. Maybe we should start in some of the nerd shops around here?”

“Mhm, I think that’s a good idea…”

Though still not sounding particularly confident about the situation, Nao at least seemed glad to have some sort of direction.

Being somewhat of an otaku herself, Nao knew the locations of all the best nerd shops in the city. I was almost taken aback at how seamlessly she navigated the cluttered spaces lined with manga, blu rays and merchandise.

Eventually we came to stop in one particularly large shop lined with high-quality figurines. Though her shelves were mostly lined with trophies and medals from her numerous athletics victories, I had noticed Saki’s room was home to a small but budding collection of such figures. They were the type that cost a small fortune, so a new one only popped up every month at most.

“Do you know which series Saki is into?”

“I-I know of quite a few, but I’m not sure which ones are her favourites…”

Given the price of these sorts of figurines, it would have likely been heartbreaking for Nao to buy something for Saki only to find out she has little more than a marginal interest in it.

I helped her look around the store, though I found myself getting too sidetracked by figures I myself would like to buy. I had a real soft spot for this sort of handiwork, though it was outside my price range.

After a while, Nao stopped in front of a beautifully made figure of two characters I vaguely recognised. The artwork on the model was incredibly intricate, down to the smallest of details. It had clearly been designed with a lot of love and passion.

“This show… it’s the mecha series, right? Darling something?”

“I-it’s called Darling In The Franxx. I watched a lot of it with Saki recently, though I’m not at the end yet. I remember her saying it’s one of her favourites.”

“And the characters?”

“They’re the main pairing. Their names are Zero-Two and Hiro. I know Saki loves their love story…” she gently picked the figure up and inspected it more closely. Looking over her shoulder, I got a better look than before, and saw even more detail that I’d failed to notice before. It was a true beauty.

“Sounds like you’ve found your gift.”

“Yes… I think I have.”

“And just in time, too. Our meeting time is in less than 10 minutes.”

“Geh- why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

“I didn’t wanna rush you. I’m sure the girls will be fine if we’re a few minutes late.”

“I-I really hope you’re right…”

Nao paid a hefty 70,000円 for the figure, though considering the incredible quality of it I wasn’t surprised by the high sum. The workers at the till boxed the figure and gave us a bag to carry it in, and we were back on our way.

It was a couple of minutes after we left the shop before Nao spoke.

“H-Hey, Shin?”

“Yeah?”

“Th-thank you…” I was a little confused. Was she thanking me for shopping with her? She had helped me pick something out far more than I had helped her.

“For what?”

“F-for what you said that day… when you encouraged me to confront my feelings…”

“Ahhh, you’re talking about that. It’s no problem, I was happy to help.”

“I-I wanted to thank you anyway. It was your words that forced me to finally be honest with myself. If not for that, I might never have been able to tell Saki how I feel…”

Cruel as it was to say, she was likely right. Nao wasn’t exactly the most socially adept person in the world. She’d have struggled to take that step without someone nudging her in the right direction. I was secretly very proud to have made a tangible difference in their relationship. After all, their happiness was my happiness.

That was just how much I loved my friends.