A few minutes earlier, before the game's release had begun.
Kagura arrived at the line outside the store, her eyes searching for someone among the crowd. After spotting the person she was looking for, she walked over to her.
"Good work," Kagura said as she reached for her wallet. "Thanks for saving my place for me. Here's your pay." Handing the woman 2,000 yen, Kagura quietly took her place in the line.
While waiting, Kagura noticed a cute girl with silver twin-tails standing some distance away from the store, pacing in small circles. A faint smile appeared on her face. In her mind, the girl looked like a cute cat circling around impatiently.
While smiling at Luna, Kagura suddenly felt a light ache around her heart. Her expression stiffened as she instinctively grabbed her chest, her body tensing for a brief moment before the pain disappeared as suddenly as it had come. She let out a sigh of relief. 'Phew, looks like it was just one of those random aches. Happens to everybody.'
A few minutes later, the sales finally began. Kagura was about to head inside when her gaze fell upon the girl once more. She was still standing there, looking both panicked and conflicted, as if she desperately wanted to go inside but couldn't bring herself to do so.
'Does she want to buy the game too?' Wondering that, Kagura walked into the store.
As her turn came, she immediately bought the game without any unnecessary movements. Even her usually calm face carried a slight smirk. After that, she looked around. 'I should buy something else too.' Thinking that, she wandered through every floor of the store.
After half an hour, she found herself holding nothing but the limited edition of the game. 'Nothing interesting.' Slowly making her way back down to the first floor, she suddenly stopped. "How did I not see this before?"
She had found a keychain of a cute anime girl from one of the shows she kept rewatching. Suddenly, a loud voice came from behind her.
"Haaah!? YOU! What are you doing?"
As she looked back, she saw that it was the same girl who had been walking around in circles earlier. As Luna quickly closed the distance between them, Kagura gave her a polite smile. "Hello, is there any problem?"
Luna's expression immediately turned furious. "HUH? PROBLEM?" Pointing at Kagura, she said, "Why are you leaking your Divine Flow? Haven't you practiced controlling it?"
Kagura remained calm on the outside, but her mind was filled with questions. 'What is this brat talking about? Is she being chuunibyou despite being an adult?... Let's play along.'
She smiled softly. "I see. I must have forgotten. Who are you?"
Hearing that, Luna gave her a proud, smug smile. Pressing one hand against her chest, she proudly announced, "I'm the little sister of Goddess Lumiel. I'm sensing only a very small amount of divine energy, but it's similar to the higher goddesses I know. You must have heard of my sister."
After thinking for a second, Kagura replied, "Of course, little sister of Goddess Lumiel. Nice to meet you." While saying that, Kagura thought, 'Thankfully, there's no one nearby.'
She raised her hand and gently petted Luna's head, but Luna's face immediately flushed red as she slapped Kagura's hand away. "H-Ho-How dare you!? Even though you're a higher goddess, I'm the little sister of Goddess Lumiel! How dare you p-p-pe-pet me!?"
A wide smile appeared in Kagura's mind. 'Ah, she really is like a cat.' "Sorry. You were so cute that I accidentally petted you. I was simply too happy to meet the little sister of Goddess Lumiel. I hope you'll forgive me."
Luna tried calming herself by taking a deep breath and slowly exhaling. 'She's still a higher goddess. I shouldn't start a fight.' "Hmph! Fine. Just make sure it doesn't happen again."
"Of course. May I know your name?"
"It's Luna. I'm still an angel, so there's no need to be polite with me."
Kagura thought, 'Isn't an angel lower than a goddess? If I'm a goddess in her setting... this is a good chance to play with her.' "I see. You're speaking informally to me even though you're still an angel." Kagura spoke while wearing a frightening smile.
Luna gulped nervously. "Um... what I meant was-" She was immediately interrupted by Kagura. "It's alright. We're on Earth, so I permit you to speak informally."
Luna immediately bowed. "Thank you so much!" Slowly looking back up, her expression was practically screaming that she had countless questions. "May I know if you're here on a mission, or did you descend in secret like me?"
Kagura's smile suddenly disappeared. "Did you come here in secret? How dare you? It looks like I'll have to punish you."
The smile on Luna's face instantly vanished. Cold sweat appeared on her forehead as her body moved about in panic. "No, I mean yes! But no! I... you know... yeah... no, I mean-"
Kagura looked at her with an amused smile. 'She looks exactly like a cat caught secretly eating something by its owner.' Placing a hand on Luna's shoulder, she continued, "Don't worry. I was joking. I also came here in secret."
Seeing Luna visibly relax, Kagura thought, 'She really takes her chuunibyou setting seriously. A rare shiny chuunibyou has been discovered.' In her mind, she even imagined a game notification appearing before her.
[A Rare Shiny Chuunibyou Has Appeared!]
"But as a goddess, I still have to punish you." Since it was Sunday, 'Seeing how she waited outside for so long and still came in...' She brought the game in front of Luna's face and smiled.
"Your punishment is getting to enjoy Tamashi no Game 6 Limited Edition with me."
Luna's face had practically turned purple from fear of her punishment, but after hearing those words, she slowly opened her eyes and saw Kagura's graceful smile and the game in her hand, which looked almost like a divine blessing bestowed upon her.
Her eyes gradually lost focus as she failed to process what had just happened. With a blank and dazed expression, Luna could only utter,
"Huhh?!"