Entering a Company From Another World! – Chapter 213

Walking through a shopping mall decorated for Christmas with two men felt a bit awkward, but that wasn’t something I, or Kaido, would care about.

There are reasons for adults my age to be here.

Besides, this is such a large shopping mall.

With so many people around, there probably aren’t many oddballs who would notice just the two of us.

However, that being said, we still have our own business to take care of, and there’s a limit to the number of stores we can visit.

“What should we do?”

It’s proving more difficult than I expected.

We’ve been searching for Suella’s Christmas present, looking at trinkets at a general store, browsing women’s clothing, and visiting jewelry stores and watch shops, but we haven’t found anything that feels just right.

Ideally, I should have narrowed down the options by now. But since Suella and the others are from another world, their sensibilities differ from ours, so I have to rely on my intuition for gift selection.

I’m trying to find something that will make her happy…

“I haven’t found anything good, Senpai,” Kaido said.

“Yeah, if I had to say, I thought a fountain pen might be good,” I replied.

“You said something felt off about it, Senpai,” Kaido recalled.

“That’s right.”

It’s surprisingly difficult.

The fountain pen we found at a store about three places back wasn’t just any ordinary pen; it was a fine piece with a considerable price tag. A so-called luxury item.

I thought it would be perfect for Suella, who often has to sign documents for work. The design was good too, and I was sure she’d use it, but something felt off, so I’ve kept it as a potential option but put it on hold.

Because of that, I’m now looking for something that truly stands out, an exceptional item. We’ve been wandering this mall for over an hour.

In short, zero results.

I know she’s content with being able to conceive a child, but I still want to give her a present on occasions like this. I know it’s not my usual style, but if I want to put serious thought into it, I should act accordingly.

“Senpai, have we been in here before?” Kaido asked, pointing to a store.

“I don’t think so… is that a pet shop?”

When you’ve visited the same store multiple times, it becomes hard to remember which ones you’ve been to. Kaido’s question brought me back to reality.

There were birds, hamsters, and dogs, all sorts of animals in cages. A typical pet shop.

I’d never heard of giving a pet as a Christmas present, but it seemed worth a look, so we stepped inside.

“Haa, there’s a lot of everything,” Kaido muttered.

The store was larger than I had expected, and it seemed to be sectioned off by animal type: fish like goldfish and tropical fish in aquariums, small animals like hamsters, reptiles like lizards, and of course, dogs, the quintessential pet.

And then…

“This must be the cat area.” We arrived at a section dedicated to cats.

“Are you a cat person, Senpai?” Kaido asked.

“No, I don’t have any particular preference.”

“Oh? Didn’t you ever want to get one?”

“My parents were always traveling the world, so it was rare for me to have anyone home. Because of that, I had to do a lot of things myself, which made me good at housework, but I didn’t have the confidence to raise a pet by myself as a child.”

I could have probably asked my unconventional parents to let me have a cat, but even as a child, I vaguely understood the weight of responsibility for a life, so I never asked for one, even though I wanted one. Now, as an adult, I understand that the vague feeling I had back then was responsibility.

As I contemplated this, I looked at each cat individually.

“Ah, it says these ones are siblings,” Kaido pointed to a cage.

“Kittens?”

Kaido gestured to a specific cage. Three kittens, about a month old, were in a spacious enclosure. They were all sleeping together. The black cat on the left and the white cat on the right likely resembled their parents, but sandwiched between them was a calico cat, black at the ears and waist with the rest white.

For some reason, I felt like I wanted to get this cat. Was it its adorable appearance and the sense of healing it exuded?

“Let’s go,” I said.

“Huh? Really? They’re so cute!”

“Our home environment is special, so I need to check. I can’t say anything irresponsible in this state.”

However, my home is a place where a special element called “magic energy” permeates the space. It doesn’t affect us testers, but I can’t be sure it won’t affect a cat. It would be bad if I followed this intuition and brought these kittens home, only to find out it was a mistake.

I tried to quietly withdraw so as not to wake them.

“Ah, they’re awake,” Kaido said.

“…”

Talk about perfect timing. The calico cat sleeping in the center suddenly opened its eyes and met my gaze as it peered intently at us. Perhaps out of curiosity, it wiggled past its siblings on either side and came towards us. The other two also woke up, and in the end, all three lined up in front of the cage, separated only by glass.

Being looked at by those round eyes gave me an indescribable feeling. I understood that they were probably just curious about something new, but they had a strange allure.

“Haa, let’s go,” I said.

“Understood!”

Still, I couldn’t choose to adopt cats on a whim here. I left the pet shop, wondering if this was what they meant by a lingering feeling, a reluctance to leave.

We continued to search for other items, but time passed without finding anything that felt quite right. Since this was cutting into the time we had for Kaido’s shopping, we decided to head to Akihabara.

“Are you really okay with that?” I asked.

“It can’t be helped, Senpai! They told me this was the one!”

Later, I couldn’t help but question what Kaido had bought. The store he entered was what you’d call a figure shop. They stocked all sorts of anime characters, not just humans, but animals and robots as well. And what did Kaido pick up?

“A Chogokin Monster Sentai robot and a Magical Girl figure…”

“Please don’t say it. Even I, who understands this genre, am raising a lot of question marks about buying this combination, sacrificing several bills, and giving it to a girl.”

In his right hand, he held a basket containing a metallic robot created by the combination of different-colored monsters, with a fierce appearance. It was the Chogokin Robot, Great Monster King, from the Monster Sentai Kaijoo Ger series, which could separate into individual monsters and recombine. In the basket in his left hand were two boxes. Twin girls, dressed in blue and red outfits, each wielding a weapon – one a anti-material rifle, the other a bazooka. The packaging read “Magical Girl Riki & Maki.” It was labeled Riki Ver. and Maki Ver., but I didn’t know which was which. All I knew was that it was questionable whether a girl would buy this.

“What did you show them?” I asked.

“They saw all the DVDs in my room,” Kaido replied.

“I see.”

I asked that question to find out why things had turned out this way, and Kaido’s evasive answer made me understand.

“…They’ve gotten too into it.”

“I think so too! Now they know more than I do. Sometimes they get incredibly excited talking with Minami-chan.”

“They became that deeply engrossed?”

I found it hard to imagine that the quiet Machine King, Amili-san, and the bustling twin angels would be so into this. While there’s a difference between Super Sentai and Magical Girls, were they really that interested? I’ve had more opportunities to talk with them since that incident where Kaido and I were competing for their attention, but based on our usual conversations, they didn’t give off that impression. Amili-san, the Machine King, had a quiet and serious demeanor, making it hard to picture her watching something like Super Sentai. The same applied to the twin angels, Shiik and Miik. Those two were somewhat elusive, often teasing us, but according to Himik, that was their way of communicating. “She’s even like that with her older sister. Her sister laments that she can’t be a little more straightforward,” Minami described them as a “variable tsundere,” which was quite accurate. Minami also said they had their cute sides, and I had to agree. And that’s why I couldn’t understand their interest in the Magical Girl genre!

“Amili-chan seems interested in the robot here,” Kaido said. “It seems she didn’t have the concept of ‘combination’ in her world, so she started collecting these kinds of things to research it.”

“She got hooked?”

“It seems so. She showed me a five-colored Golem that looked like it was from a Super Sentai series once.”

“By any chance, do you encounter those in the Dungeon?”

I sort of understood Amili-san’s reason for getting into it. It probably started as a collection of materials, but eventually, she grew to like it. In a way, it could be considered a plausible trigger for getting into this genre. Well, there was one part that I couldn’t overlook, where something a bit peculiar appeared out of nowhere.

“They seem to be at the final defense line,” Kaido continued. “They’re constantly modifying them, so their performance is probably amazing. She didn’t tell me the details, but she talked a lot, so they’re probably dangerous, right?”

A dungeon where combined robots and transformed heroes, symbols of justice in our world, await us. Why is it that just reading those words makes me feel like we’re villains invading a superhero’s secret base? This has turned into quite a situation, I thought with a wry smile at the dungeon’s content, which had been influenced by exposure to our culture, and then I asked about the other group.

“So? Why did the twins get into it?”

“Well, when I asked them what was so interesting, they talked a lot about things like magic systems and physical enhancement, and their equipment… I couldn’t quite follow. At times, they’d say things like ‘this would be possible here,’ or ‘further research is needed.'”

“They intend to replicate it? If they do, it’s going to be a disaster!”

I have knowledge of anime, so I naturally have some understanding of the Magical Girl genre. Conceptually, it’s about girls who gain special powers and fight villains. It seems those twins are trying to reproduce those special powers through magic.

“Ah, they got really excited when the protagonists performed their finishing moves!”

“What are they aiming for? Wouldn’t fighting or combat-oriented anime be a better fit for them?”

Is it just my imagination, or would power-scaling works be more suited to those twins than Magical Girls?

“I showed them some, but they just said ‘not cute’ and didn’t really take to them,” Kaido said.

“So their standards for cuteness are the same as ours.”

It seems it was just my imagination. Even if their thoughts lean towards combat, they are still girls, after all. With a wry smile, I thought about how I never expected to learn about the importance of appearance from otherworldly angels. Then, I decided to return to our original task.

“Do you have anything else to buy?”

“No, I’m done with this!”

“I see, then shall we head back? You don’t need to accompany me while carrying your purchases.”

“It’s fine! This is what being a man is about, Senpai! I’ll see this through to the end!”

To find that last present for Suella, we decided to explore Akihabara, thinking there might be something good there. Being an electric town, I considered a massage machine, and while idly browsing, I separated from Kaido for a bit. My eyes landed on a clock displayed in one of the shop windows.

“A deer?”

“A pair of deer, sir. Created by a young, skilled craftsman. You have a good eye for these things. Do you collect items like this?”

“No, this is my first time, but I just felt like it was nice.”

It was a classic wooden mantel clock, with a large tree and a pair of deer carved on the dial. The color was subdued, and though I couldn’t quite explain it, I felt a quiet yet captivating allure. The shopkeeper, who was repairing another clock at the counter, explained that it was a decorative clock, unlike the ones I usually see.

“If you can sense that, then it must be destiny. How about it, will you buy it?”

“…”

After a moment’s thought, the feeling that this was it, coupled with the word “encounter,” pushed me forward. I decided to buy this clock as a gift for Suella.

“Please take good care of it,” I said.

“I will.”

The substantial weight conveyed a solid feel.

“Come back anytime it breaks. I’ll fix it for you.”

“I’ll do my best not to break it.”

“That’s the best approach. But then my business won’t thrive,” the shopkeeper chuckled.

“Indeed. In that case, I’ll come back to buy another one, so please keep some good ones in stock.”

“Yes, yes, we’ll do that.”

I left the shop in good spirits, enjoying the conversation that felt like it belonged in an underground shopping street.

“Ah, Senpai, how did it go?” Kaido asked.

“Ah, I managed to buy something nice.”

“That’s great! Shall we go home then?”

“Yeah, I have work tomorrow.”

Today’s Quote:
While you can choose to encounter things, you must step forward to bring those choices within reach.

That’s all for today.

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*The first volume of the novel has been decided to be published by Hayakawa Bunko JA. It was released on October 18, 2018. An e-book version was also released on October 31 of the same year. The second volume is scheduled for release on December 19. The content includes revisions and additions to the material posted on “Shōsetsuka ni Narō,” along with an unpublished interlude. Please consider purchasing the new releases!

Also, a comic adaptation has been decided for Kodansha’s “Young Magazine The Third.”