"But Haruka," her blue haired passenger teased, "you liked driving long ways in your car for no reason at all."
"Not in this traffic, I don't," Haruka objected.
The child on the backseat choose this moment to interrupt and explain again the purpose of their trip before things could get too far between her parents.
"Someone at school told me about this shop, they this is the place with the largest selection for the sort of stuff Shiori likes. And because I have been invited to her birthday party I have to make really sure to get her a good present." the girl explained.
"So this Shiori is a friend of yours, Hotaru?" Haruka wanted to know.
"Not really," Hotaru admitted, "she has invited half the class for her party. Her parents are rich or something. But this is the first time I have been in the half that got invited and I want to make a really good impression on everyone."
Haruka sighed. It was hard to tease your adoptive daughter about close relationships with classmates if she had so much problems making friends. Perhaps her invitation to the party really was a sign that Hotaru was overcoming her social problems. Haruka did not approve of attempts to buy friendship, but that did not mean that Hotaru could not take extra care with the selection of her present. And Haruka really did not mind the short drive to this special store all that much.
The shop was not what any of them had expected. Angel's Heaven appeared at first glance to cater to the usual clientele of trading-cart collecting, figurine assembling, crossdressing otaku nerds. Small kids were bustling around the shop trying to impress each other with assorted trivia about the items on display while slightly older customers were showing off their vast knowledge on the subjects they had acquired in place of a live. Everyone was an expert, a collector and an avid fan.
What made this shop so different from any other place like it was that its customers were not trekkies, comic-fanboys, anime-nerds or even some people with more traditional obsessions like philatelist and numismatist, but Magical Girl aficionados. The entire building was packed with merchandise connected to the various costumed defenders of love and justice rumored to operate in Tokyo and all over Japan.
And judging by the amount of people inside business was going well.
Hotaru had quickly disappeared in a crowd near the trading-card section and Haruka and Michiru were left to themselves standing in one of the less populated areas of the shop.
"I don't believe this," Haruka finally told her partner.
"It is quite a shock isn't it?" Michiru agreed.
"No really I don't believe this," Haruka restated, "No way this is real. This probably is some sort of trick by a demon to lure ... one of these Magical Girls into a trap. Something sinister is going on her. Those people must be mind-controled or something."
"I think those prices are quite sinister enough. And you suspected mind-contol and evil during the Pokemon craze, too." Michiru reminded her while inspecting a wall scroll.
"Pokemon are evil!" Haruka asserted, "But this is worse these people are obsessing about Magical Girls. Just look at some of the stuff here."
"Yes, lets have a look around." Michiru agreed.
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(Posted Sun, 19 Dec 2004 21:09)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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