That was when she, of course, chose to look up.
And recoiled, hastily looking left and right as if she were a child who had realized her parents had disappeared at the fair.
After all, it couldn't have been her feet to take her in front of this particular store, right?
Right. She offhandedly looked through the window at the wares.
And then vigorously shook herself, starting to turn away.
'How absurd! Who and why would I be giving any diamond jewelry to?'
“Good morning, can I help you with something?”
Rei jerked her head up. An older woman was leaning against the door frame to the store, smiling, or perhaps it would be better described as grinning, at her.
The priestess hastily waved her hands in protest. “Ah- no, no, not me. I was just passing by.”
The woman paused, as if evaluating her, before nodding in acceptance. “Well, if you're sure. Feel free to come back any time, if you're not busy, Hino-san.”
Rei stopped in her attempt to back away. “H-how do you know my name?”
She shrugged offhandedly. “Hino Rei, the local priestess that's braved the front pages of our newspapers. I only know what others know.”
Rei absently wondered if this was some sort of shop secret for getting customers to come in.
Even if it was, she wouldn't be the one to admit aloud that it might possibly be working.
The shop lady, realizing that her target had stopped, smiled again and straightened. “Hino-san? Have you changed your mind after all?”
At that, Rei froze, before hurriedly shaking her head. She turned away. “I-I have something to do n-now! G-Good day!”
The woman grinned to herself as the priestess none-too-elegantly stalked off. She walked back into the store, where she was met by the questioning gaze of her partner at the cashier.
“Well?”
The woman laughed and made a 'thumbs-up' sign afore heading towards the back for her morning cup of coffee. “She'll be back. 1000 yen that it'll be before the end of the week- no, the end of the day.”
The cashier gave her a closed eye smile as she leaned against the glass counter. “I'm not frivolous enough to go against your customer intuition, Eika-chan. But to catch Hino Rei of all people... did you see what she was looking at?”
A hand popped out from around the corner of the doorframe. “Nothing in particular; she seemed to only be in the beginning stages of choosing something.”
Her partner nodded thoughtfully. “Ne,” she called to the back, “Which showcase should we put on for her today?”
There was a pause, and then Eika responded, “CBNGOF-200. The Birthstone edition. Ah, Rinka, where did you put the extra coffee filters?”
“On the bottom shelf in the corner next to the spare cups. That one? Are you sure, Eika? Why the Birthstone edition? And the CBNGOF line is...”
Eika poked her head into view with a grin, and for a moment, a fang protruded from between her lips. “Hino-san is a priestess- most donations go to the upkeep of her shrine, so she shouldn't have that much spare money on her; not for our regular wares. Aside from that, there aren't any major gift giving holidays right now, and I don't think Hino-san is the type of girl who would look for a Christmas present more than a month in advance. So it's likely for an upcoming birthday. Thus, you have our Cheap But Not Gaudy Or Fake line. Y'see?”
Before Rinka could answer, Eika went back to getting her coffee. The woman stared at the open doorway before shaking her head in amazement. “You can't underestimate the deductive reasoning of a detective's daughter, I guess. I hope she's right; we need more business anyway.”
She went to unlock the CBNGOF-200 case so as to place it in the special feature compartment.
OOO...OOO...ooo...OOO...OOO
Meanwhile, Rei's march had wound down to a simple stroll, lost in thought as she headed in the general direction of the shop she'd been planning to go to.
'Jewelry is too much... I mean... Minako is... no matter how I...'
A flash of a memory brought her back to an interview she had taped of the idol.
Jewelry? Mm, yes, of course I'm fond of it- how many girls aren't? What's my favorite? Hmm... I've worn a lot, and each stone and style has its perks... well... I guess it's Topaz after all? She laughed. Favoritism towards my favorite color I guess?
Rei shook her head, walking hurriedly past the double doors of the store, not realizing she'd started stomping again.
'Besides that, why am I even thinking about Minako? All I did was look through a shop window... I do that all the time!'
Rei glanced at the bottle in her hand, and realized that she had somehow accidentally picked up a bottle of the famous import Vi- she nearly threw the bottle back onto the shelf in her haste to separate herself from that which made her cheeks a flaming red.
'Wrong aisle, wrong aisle, wrong aisle- for the love of Kami-sama!'
She looked up at the aisle sign this time before embarking on the first step to her hunt for things-to-once-again-clean-up-after-Usagi-the-tornado.
As she was stepping out of that aisle, she caught sight of a pyramid of stuffed animals. Among that, she caught sight of a white cat plushie, though, upon closer inspection, she knew it wasn't like Artemis at all.
'The Artemis-special-edition replica plushie I found last year was of much better quality than this- AUGH! Stop it! I'm just thinking of things related to Minako again! Enough!'
By the time she left the store an hour later, bags laden with the necessary cleaning supplies, she was huffing in a guarded, yet agitated, way.
But then, what else could be expected, when she had ended up trying to time herself on how long she could operate without thinking of anything Minako-related, and repeatedly failed?
By the time she had reached the last store she needed to pay a visit to, her grandiose record was exactly...
Eleven minutes and ten seconds.
It could not have helped that advertisement of Minako Aino was doubled and even tripled in places in honor of her return for this week.
Usagi would pay for making her leave her shrine.
Rei caught sight of yet another poster and kicked a can that had the misfortune of being thrown on the ground in front of her.
If she had never left... if she didn't have to do this shopping...
Exhausted, she sat on a bench, the sun now high in the sky, enshrouding her in its light, though it wasn't particularly hot.
If she had stayed home... at least she could have thought in peace. Maybe even done some meditation.
She looked up. And groaned.
Rei sat there, staring at the sight before her, before eventually stepping up to the plate, crossing the street to the other side.
'I feel like I've been cursed. If I have, I give up. I'm fatally lovesick and if I don't get things off my mind, I'll never be able to rest. Not with these thoughts.'
She stopped and looked over at the sign propped beside the door. It read, 'Eika's Afternoon Romance Counseling- FREE'
She opened the door, distantly hearing the bell twinkle in announcement of her presence.
The woman she'd talked with this morning looked up and smiled at her. “Eika at your service. Are you here for the counseling or the jewelry?”
'Kami-sama, if it is your doing that guided me here, give me the strength to endure it, too.'
Rei cleared her throat and stepped closer.
“Counseling, I suppose.”
UUU...nnn...UUU...nnn...UUU
Eika took a quiet sip from her coffee mug, nodding in understanding as Rei paused in her- well, you couldn't really call it anything else but a rant. She'd been holding it in for a long time.
Rinka watched, leaning against the back doorway, amazed at everything Rei had to say. It didn't take a genius to figure out who she was talking about, no matter how much nearly revealing the name had tripped the priestess up. Since she obviously didn't want to let it be known who she was babbling about, Eika had respected those wishes and only used 'this person' or 'him' generically to refer to her customer's love.
It was unfortunate however, that Rinka had to remind them of the time. Lunch hour would be over soon.
Eika glanced over at the woman as she took a step forward. 'Wait a minute,' her look commanded, 'I'll have things settled before we have other shoppers in here.'
Rinka obliged, continuing to polish the broach in her hands.
As if on cue, Rei was already winding down. “S- They'll be leaving again in a few days if I don't do anything... I want to do something for them... keep them from leaving if I possibly can... but... I... I don't...” The priestess sighed, looking up. “I just don't know if I have what it takes.”
Eika waited a moment to see if she was really done. Then, she looked down at the brightly lit glass case between them that she'd been using as a coffee table.
“Hino-san... It's clear to me- and I'm aware, to you as well- that you're very much in love with this person. And I'll tell you this honestly; I've never heard such a detailed story without hearing any mention of a name or a profession, even if that's the problem. Ah- that's not a bad thing; I'm just mentioning it.” Eika leaned forward, lacing her fingers together in a steeple. “But, Hino-san, I am quite confident that you have more than enough of 'what it takes' to make it work. Though it may take a little initiative on your part. Are you willing to do that?” Obviously, Eika answered herself.
Rei nodded. Then there was a pause, and Eika saw the look that she'd seen quite a few times doing her hobby. The panic from talking so much about private matters to a stranger.
Eika smiled. “As I assured you when I began, nothing uttered here leaves the confines of these walls without the permission of the speaker. Besides which, it is simply no one else's business. Now then,” Eika straightened in her seat. “Let me affirm a few things in particular. This person is your friend as of currently. Do you want them to be more than that in the future?”
Rei looked down, inadvertently at the birthstone collection. “I... I don't know. If... if it comes to that... I'll be... be... happy, I guess. But right now, I just... want to find a way to keep them from leaving again.” She spoke this in a whisper, but Eika heard every word.
“I see... If you were to confess, how do you think this person would react?”
Rei froze. 'How would the Goddess of Love react?' “Well... if... if I think about it... I think they'd be... surprised... at first... but... they have really good intuition about love so... I think they would be able to... to... understand where it came from... at least... but... but in the end...” Rei let out a long exhale. “I'll probably be politely reje-”
“Wrong.”
Eika had declared this with such dark conviction that it startled Rei into looking up.
Eika grinned pleasantly at her again. “Self-destructive thoughts are bad for people who are thinking of confessing, Hino-san. You should know more than anyone else; it's much like praying to Kami-sama- Please help me succeed on my test... even though I know without your help I'll fail...” The grin widened. “We have a special order coming in later this week that I think contains the perfect gift to your special person, but of course, you'd have to wait for that. It might be cutting it close, but I think we'd be able to make it. I'd show you a picture but the catalog is... erm... it's been misplaced for a bit.”
“How much does it cost?”
Eika considered it. “How much was it...? Hmm... How much money do you have to spare?”
Rei froze.
Eika suddenly realized how that might have sounded and she quickly denounced it. “Ah, I don't intend to scam you of all your money or anything. Not in the least. I was just asking because... well... can you pay 200,000 yen by the end of the week?”
Rei's eyes nearly came out of her sockets.
Eika laughed. “I thought as much. So how much are you willing to spend? I promise it'll be worth your while.”
Rei looked down, considering it.
Eika offhandedly murmured, “I was of the mind to suggest these birthstones here; they're all in the 20,000 yen range, but halfway through your monologue, I realized these wouldn't cut it for the quality of your love.”
Rei was silent. Contemplating.
Eika went on. “You're famous and you've done many good deeds for the sake of charity and protecting in important times, but I understand you gave most of the money you received for spontaneous rescuing to charity organizations, so you don't have much now...”
Rei slowly clutched and unclutched her fists. 'Can I do it?'
“I don't normally offer this, but if you would be willing to affiliate with our company for the sake of advertisement, I would be willing to stretch the payment time across an equally long timeline. That is to say, you may pay whenever you can in six months if your shrine endorses our store for six months.”
Rei looked up, surprised. “Really?”
Eika nodded, smiling. “Nothing fancy; your own recommendation would be quite sufficient for us, via word of mouth. You're quite popular in this area, if you hadn't noticed.”
Rei looked down again, fighting off a blush. When she looked up again, she cleared her throat. “I was just thinking... I still have about... 100,000 from the bit that I saved, as you said, from protection award payments. I was considering what I would do with it, since I intend to stay by my shrine, which has quite a sound donation base with which to care for it, but... I'm not sure if I want to spend it all towards one thing...” Rei smiled wearily. “But I think I can do it. They aren't the type to be bought by jewelry, but it'd be nice to get it for them, I think. Something different. And if everything works out... they'd be able to fund any cushioning I need to keep going should I be in need of help.”
Eika paused. “Are you agreeing then?”
Rei smiled more firmly and stood up, soon followed in suit by Eika. “I'd be glad to advertise for you anyway, though the payment time extension will help me as well.”
Eika smiled back, outstretching her hand. “A deal then?”
Rei nodded, meeting the offer to shake the woman's hand. “I do hope that if this piece that I haven't seen yet isn't what I like, I can pick something else?”
Eika grinned, not letting Rei's hand go. “Of course. That reminds me however. If it isn't too much trouble, might you come back, at this time, on... Wednesday and Friday? Those are the only times that I'm officially free and at a time that you might not necessarily be spending with your special person. I'd... aside from showing you are current selection, there are other things I'd like to discuss with you.”
Rei let her hand go slack and Eika released her. “Discuss? Like what?”
Eika laughed. With a wink, Eika replied, “Tips on how to woo a princess. Hino-chan, you've never confessed to a girl before, right?”
In that moment, Rei made a very good imitation of a statue.
Well, more like a person petrified by aliens while trying to run in fear, but that's beside the point.
Rei gulped.
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