After opening a bank account, what I did was prepare to go to school and have a normal day, did my homework at school, chatted with Ayane about everyday things or common news during break times.
Our friendship is progressing well, I think. Having that conversation with her at night where she could vent her feelings must have helped a lot in our little friendship.
Not every friendship happens quickly, sometimes they take months or years, but some form quickly, it depends on the person, and Ayane is the type who is easy to become friends with.
So after classes were over, I invited her to go shopping for things for my house, I said I needed a lot of things, so it would be nice if we both forgot last night and just did something relaxed.
It's not like being a magical girl forces you to go out and hunt monsters, that's something you do because you want to, and she agreed to come with me, so everything was great.
We both went to the magical girl base and went down to the underground floor.
"Setsuna, what do you need?" Ayane asks with a smile as I think.
"Casual clothes, sheets, some appliances, I also need to pay the electricity, water, and gas bills, and I need to buy non-canned food."
"And furniture, most of them in general... I think I also need a cell phone for contacts and shoes in addition to underwear," I say honestly what I need for her while we're in front of a store in the underground base.
"..." There is an uncomfortable silence, and then I realize I shouldn't have said all those things.
I literally just said that I'm so poor that I don't even have the basic things a home should have.
"My situation isn't that bad, really," I tell her, who has a sad look, and other girls who also heard seem to have been affected, and the mood became a bit bad.
'Is it really that bad not to have material things?' I don't understand, I know some are essential, but material things in general are not really something that has great value to me.
I mean, they're just objects, they can easily be replaced, unlike the people we love, who are unique and can never be replaced.
'Is it similar to when Ayane gave me gifts and I made sure to appreciate and keep them?' When Ayane gave me gifts, I made sure to value and keep them carefully, maybe it's similar.
"Let's buy furniture first!" Ayane says, taking my hand and quickly pulling me into one of the stores. My house has good furniture, but only the most basic, and the rest is missing.
Ayane drags me into a store with various household furniture, from simpler and more common things to fancier ones.
"Setsuna, which of these things do you like?" Ayane questions as she points to the various furniture.
"I think I prefer simple and normal things, nothing extravagant." I don't like to draw attention, so my tastes reflect that, so I want common furniture.
When I say that, Ayane quickly goes to the person in charge here and starts talking to her, the two come up to me and then start showing me things non-stop.
I think they're a little too excited about everything, and after almost 3 hours, we've chosen various common furniture for my house, as well as sheets, appliances, and other things.
They will deliver them to the front of my house so I can put everything inside, so I should be there at the delivery time, which was scheduled for shortly after I leave school.
It was actually fun, Ayane's eyes were shining with every item I decided to accept, I think she enjoyed it too and it helped her distract from any bad memories she might have had.
"Okay, Setsuna, now that we have furniture, let's go to the clothes!" Ayane says, excitedly pulling me through the store looking for a place that sells clothes. I'm not very good at fashion, so I just want casual things and made that clear to Ayane.
But from her reaction, I don't think it will end the way I expect. As soon as she finds a store, she practically drags me running in there, she's not even choosing anything for herself.
It's literally just things for me, but she's so excited about it that it's kind of funny. I can't deny that I really missed fun moments like these that we've shared.
In the clothing store, she talks to a sales associate about a lot of things in a hurry, and the sales associate gives a suspicious smile that's also on Ayane's face.
Soon, the two start picking up a lot of clothes, and I just sigh, understanding that I'm going to spend hours serving as a dress-up doll, when I'll only choose 7 or 10 casual dresses at most.
As predicted, we spent almost 5 hours just on this, and I must say it was strangely tiring. The two were with great enthusiasm, but after more than 50 dresses, it all got boring.
Of course, I didn't say anything to ruin Ayane's fun, but it was strangely boring. I don't know why women like to spend so much time looking for clothes.
It's just a piece of clothing to cover the body, I know it's related to beauty, but do you really need to try on so many dresses when you're not going to buy even 10% of them?
In the end, I was practically forced to buy 40 dress sets. Honestly, I won't even use half of them, and I know it was my fault for having to buy so many, all because I told Ayane that I was living using only 3 dresses.
Which are the school uniform, the simple dress I have, and the magical girl outfit. When I said that, trying to show that I don't want many clothes, the two practically forced me to buy a bunch of them.
At least they're beautiful, and Ayane seems to have enjoyed this time a lot, which for me was just extremely exhausting.
And after that, we went to buy food that is also sold here. In this, I had more opinion than the others, and I was more active in the choices, buying various things for everyday life that are healthy or that can be used for various recipes that Ayane likes.
And then we came to a "complicated" part underwear, which is a necessity, as well as feminine hygiene products. Undeniably, I will now have the same problems that women have.
Although I know exactly what to do, since I've already helped Ayane buy things and researched the subject enough.
But since I invited Ayane to this, she comes with me to the store. She's a little embarrassed, but excited to help. The problem is that I don't know my exact measurements, so it will take more time measuring.
So as soon as we enter the lingerie store, Ayane and I talk to the sales associate. We decide that Ayane will go choose some models while the sales associate measures my body.
The measurement was strangely uncomfortable for me, even though I was wearing clothes, the sales associate still had to touch my body with considerable frequency and in various places, and that was unpleasant.
And she herself noticed how I was disgusted by the touch, which was intrusive to me, although it was obviously just a normal measurement. So she did the measurement as quickly as possible and with enough care, since she had to take all the measurements since I didn't know anything.
As soon as we finished, I move away from her as if she were something repulsive, and of course Ayane saw that, but since she knows I have a problem with touch, she doesn't say anything. I just hope she doesn't question the fact that I hugged her the night before.
"Setsuna, I think these look good," she says, bringing some for us to use as a basis to choose similar ones with good sizes for me.
"Thank you, they seem great," I say as the sales associate takes them, and with that we continue the trials. It was calmer than I expected, there was a bit of shyness on Ayane's part, but nothing exaggerated.
I guess in the end it's because it's a girl buying underwear with another girl, so there's nothing wrong with it, although it gives me a bad feeling in my heart, because it shows how much I don't have a chance of romance with Ayane.
This is truly lamentable, but it's okay. With this bought, I'll only need to buy feminine hygiene products and a cell phone alone later, that's not the kind of thing you buy with friends, even though it's something common to buy.
We both leave the store with the addresses already delivered to go to my house, and as we leave the magical girl base, Ayane speaks to me.
"You know, it was really fun, I enjoyed doing something ordinary like this," Ayane says with a small smile.
"I agree, we should go out together more often," I say, agreeing with her. It was fun, even though we spent almost the whole night on it.
"Setsuna, your problem with touch... is it very serious?" She asks what I didn't want her to ask.
"Yes..."
"So when you hugged me... was it very difficult for you?" She asks, and unfortunately here I can't be honest.
"Maybe it was a bit, but I think for a friend, something like that is nothing," I say what I think is a good answer.
"I see... that's really nice of you," she says gratefully.
"It was nothing special, I know you would do the same for me or anyone else..." I say what is the pure truth, she would console anyone who needed it because that's the kind of person she is.
"Setsuna, I'm going to stop by a store on the way home to buy a few things, so you can go home alone," she says honestly, and I understand that the underground stores don't have everything.
"Sure, thanks for helping me, I wouldn't know how to choose everything I need," This is what Ayane would call a problem. I've never given myself the proper importance, I've never valued myself enough, and that's why I don't take care of myself as well.
All the care I've already had for myself has always been to help Ayane in some way. I was organized to help her with anything, I was relatively strong to secretly defend her.
I studied to help her, and I even learned to cook and take care of the house perfectly for her, nothing was done for me, it was always for her.
And in the past, she noticed this, even though she's never come to see my love for her. She saw that I never completely took care of myself, although she attributed it to me being too kind to others and forgetting about myself.
When in fact, it's Ayane who is too kind to others and forgets about herself.
"We can always do this again, it was fun... have a good night," Ayane says as she crosses the street with a smile.
"Yes, it was fun, have a good night," I respond to her as I go a different way.