Once we settled in, surrounded by glass and by the creatures of the deep, Uzume was a lot more cooperative when it came to me setting the rhythm. Something about the way she sees me just flipped. You’d think she’d have taken me more seriously if she were inviting me on a date like this, but maybe she was just playing around before?

Is this…is this what it’s like to seduce a girl?! No way, it’s way too fast! Even so, I think maybe we’re getting along pretty well!

Anyway, we got on a topic I actually know something about, thankfully.

“I really prefer doing military style models. There’s something about that attention to detail, about making something that really feels like it could be real! Even if it’s something as fanciful as an eighteen metre war machine!” I giggle as I spoon up some of the parfait! It’s…ahh, it’s lovely watching Uzume just drink in my words rather than just setting the rhythm herself~

“For me, though, having creative colors that stand out from the crowd is part of the appeal,” says Uzume. “Don’t you think humanoid weapons deserve to stand out from the crowd? It’s not like they’re realistic anyway, so why not go for broke?”

“Well, I don’t do that for super robots, at least! It wouldn’t be fair. They’re like the magical girls – they’re, um…‘grossly incandescent’, one might say?”

Uzume laughs. “You’re interested in the magical girls, Shiori?”

“Of course! They’re absolutely amazing! Gorgeous! Goddesses! Absolute queens!”

“I’m sure they’d love to hear that.” Uzume swallows up some of her parfait…aah, I wasn’t quite brave enough to order just one. I’d have loved to feed her, or for her to feed me, but. Maybe that’s more of a second date kind of thing?

“But, um…I think it’s a good thing. We both have a different approach to the craft, but that doesn’t mean either of our approaches are bad. It’s our way of expressing ourselves through the medium of scale modeling and toy customization! ‘Gunpla is freedom’, as they used to say!”

“But music is freedom, too,” says Uzume. “That’s why I get so passionate about it. I think it’s important, to this country’s recovery from the Collapse and from war, to get back in touch with the arts.”

I wouldn’t have thought that a girl like Uzume, a girl so obviously popular and capable and lovely, would be an otaku too! And she’s introspective, and passionate, and…

oh dear. I might be falling for her! Uzume is absolutely dangerous! Though, come to think of it…

“What do you think of my sister, anyway?”

“Hikari? She’s an absolute lifesaver. She’s hard to handle sometimes, I always have to get up in the morning…but honestly, she’s actually pretty good at keeping up with her work. I’ve only known her a year, but it feels like I’ve known her all my life. She’s…” Uzume flutters her eyes, looking away, trying to avoid my gaze. “Hikari, she’s my very best friend.”

Oh.

So it’s like that, huh?

I guess I’m not really that surprised. I knew just from looking that Uzume was into girls, and by process of elimination, someone whose sister she’s doting on a little is probably someone she wants to impress. I’m not great with this stuff, but it really doesn’t take a genius, you know? And I’ve always known Hikari’s, um, ‘gaydar’ is so nonfunctional she’d have better luck opening a window and spotting enemy lesbians with her Mark I Eyeball, so…

“I’m glad she has a friend like you, Uzume.”

“Ehe. Gosh, kid, you know how to make a girl blush, you know? And here I’m starting to forget I’m supposed to be your chaperone.”

Ah! A tacit admission! Followed by an embarrassed dive for parfait! Aah, this is actually pretty fun. I could get used to –

wait, is that Mie?

Oh gosh, oh dear, it’s Mie! She’s just wandering around here! I didn’t even know she liked aquariums!

“Hm? Something up, Shiori?” says Uzume.

“Oh, um…just a girl I know. Hey, um, Mie!” I wave frantically in Mie’s general direction! “Mie, it’s me, Shiori!”

Huh, she doesn’t seem to have noticed. Maybe I should wave harder? She’s sitting at a table on her own, but maybe it’d be rude to approach, especially with Uzume here…

Oh. That’s weird. It’s getting kinda dark all of a sudden. It looks like there’s some kind of big whale or something passing over us –

wait a sec.

There are no whales in this aquarium! Cetaceans aren’t allowed to be kept in captivity anymore, and even if they were, that one’s way too big! Also, it’s all black and fractal-y and black hole-y, and…

oh. Oh, there’s the screaming. And there’s the running. Even Uzume is running! Oh gosh, oh dear, oh gosh, oh dear! I’d better get out of here, too!

It’s probably a bad idea to transform here. It’ll be all over the news! But if there aren’t any magical girls here in time, this whole aquarium could be torn apart! I can’t allow that! I absolutely can’t allow my beloved Kagoshima Aquarium and its precious animal life, including many endangered and threatened species, to be damaged by a kaiju!

I have no choice. I’ll have to do it! I’ll have to transform!

As soon as I run out and find a corner where no one is watching, I unleash the true depths of the power within my very soul…

“Majestic Release!”