The LORD Who Made Heaven and Earth (1)
"I've been agonizing over a birthday."
Ninomae let the words out on a deep sigh. Tsunashi Tenka, who had been listening with a blank, unblinking stare, seemed to catch on a beat later, and a small "Ah" slipped out of her.
"Ninomae-chan. Your birthday live is coming up, isn't it."
A birthday concert. How many lives a person held in a year depended on the person and the circumstances, and yet the one date that was always confirmed was the birthday live. Among the second generation she would be the second, after Serena—Chiyo. Someone having gone ahead of her did not mean the nerves weren't there. In Ninomae's own life, it would be her first concert.
She had called Tenka out to a nearby café, saying there was something she wanted advice on, and Tenka had wondered what on earth it could be. A lament, apparently, over how hard things had been lately. Taking it for Ninomae earnestly insisting that her efforts be recognized, Tenka found the whole thing oddly cute, and before she knew it she had reached across the table to stroke her head.
"Eheh... Ah, n-no! I am not getting my heart racing over some cliché headpat, okay?!"
"Huh? A... what?"
"Uh, no. It's nothing..."
Her face had gone scarlet, and she had blurted out the specialist terminology(?) without even realizing it. Tenka tilted her head and asked again, but Ninomae turned the subject aside well enough.
"That just now was completely unconscious, wasn't it? You must have made plenty of girls cry back in school. The underclassmen, especially."
"Huh? No, I never really bullied anyone, or did anything bad..."
"That 'I don't know a thing' attitude is the worst part. You oblivious yuri factory."
"Huuuh?"
She wore her hair long these days, but in her school years it had been a short bob, and the impression she gave was apparently quite boyish. Easy enough to imagine her unsettling the hearts of any number of younger girls. Ninomae, of course, already carried someone in her heart, and she did not waver. ...Her pulse did jump, just a little. But that was beside the point.
For no reason she could name, she found herself recalling Chiyo, grumbling that Anathema was far too harsh a place for a genuine, through-and-through yuri girl to survive in.
"No. I mean, that part is hard too, but that isn't it."
And with that she circled back to what she had meant to say in the first place.
"Not my birthday. Shion-san's. It's only a day apart from mine. February 27th."
"Ah, so that's what this was about. Wait—Shion-san's birthday is this month?"
She hadn't known. Tenka's eyes went round.
"So what kind of advice is this, exactly?"
"Well, you see... the truth is, I have no idea what I ought to give her for a birthday present..."
"...Ah. That kind of problem."
It was a cuter worry than she had expected. Tsunashi Tenka nearly reached out again without thinking, and caught herself.
"But I really don't know, okay?! Shion-san has so much money it's practically rotting...! If she'd needed something, she would have bought it ages ago!"
"It's the principled answer, but isn't the thought what matters, more than the price?"
"Yes. I know. I do know..."
At Tenka's words, Ninomae ducked her head and mumbled.
"But listen?! If I told Shion-san it was a present I'd prepared, she'd smile and take it even if all I'd done was tear two squares of toilet paper off the roll in the bathroom...?!"
"That's some incredible confidence, in its own right... No, more than that, the example is weirdly specific."
Declaring so plainly that she occupied that kind of place in someone's heart was by no means an easy thing. ...And yet, thinking back on Han Seoyeon's attitude all this time, it was hard to call the confidence groundless. Which only made it stranger.
"Then 'she'll be happy no matter what you give her, so don't fret and just pick anything'—you wouldn't accept an answer like that, would you, Ninomae-chan."
"No. I wouldn't be able to accept it myself."
"Yeah. That earnest side of you is why I like you, Ninomae-chan."
"L-like—hweh, no, I know. You just mean as a good friend. Obviously. You oblivious wolf."
"Huh? Was there room to take that any other way...?"
Really, shouldn't this person be apologizing to every girl she'd left with the wrong idea back in school? Looks were one thing, but a good seven-tenths of it had to be her own attitude. Ninomae thought so, and went on regardless.
"So, if I can, I want to give her a present Shion-san would be glad to receive even if I hadn't been the one who gave it."
"That bar is seriously high..."
Tenka gave a wry smile. In short, she had to land a perfect hit on the other woman's tastes. And since when was that an easy thing?
On that point, a person by the name of Tsunashi Tenka was not an especially suitable candidate.
"Maybe you'd really be better off asking someone else."
The demurral carried something a little unlike the self she usually showed so readily—confidence, quietly and rather badly, gone missing.
"It's just, I've got a pretty masculine side, you know? People call me a prince all the time... Yeah. So if this is a worry about a woman's heart, you might want to find someone else..."
With that, Tsunashi Tenka scratched at her cheek.
She was not the sort of person this kind of consultation suited. That was her own assessment of herself.
"What? No. You're just plain incredibly feminine, Tsunashi-san. You even work as a fit model..."
Ninomae, for her part, looked as though she had no idea what any of that meant.
"No. I don't mean how I look. I mean my personality..."
"Since when is that a thing? These days, if you go around boldly declaring that a woman's personality ought to be like this, you'll get buried, you know?"
"H-huh? That wasn't really what I meant..."
"I'll guarantee it, outright. You are plenty feminine, and plenty charming, Tsunashi-san."
"..."
Ninomae said it with a nod. Tenka's gaze, by contrast, dropped, and did not come back up.
A moment later the hat on Tenka's head bulged sharply upward. Her ears must have sprung free, Ninomae thought.
"Tsunashi-san. Your ears. Your ears are out."
"Ah—ah. Sorry. Wasn't thinking."
She came back to herself before long and carefully smoothed the hat back into place. Even so—
"If you're going to go that far, I suppose I don't have a choice. Yeah. I'll have to think it through properly with you."
She murmured it with a small, unguarded smile. The manner was one of having no other option, and yet she didn't look displeased. If anything, for some reason, she seemed quietly pleased.
"Something Shion-san likes, you mean? Hmm..."
"Has anything come to mind?"
Tsunashi thought for a short while, then spoke.
"...I feel like if we just took a photo of the two of us together like this and sent it, she'd like it quite a lot."
"...I won't deny it. Even so, I'd like to ask for something a little more material, please."
Ninomae pictured the reaction Han Seoyeon would have if handed a photograph like that, and pressed a hand to her forehead. The woman was a Charmea devotee of a truly degenerate caliber, so of course she would like it. That much, Ninomae didn't doubt.
"Then something else... She's the type who doesn't care about clothes and that sort of thing, right?"
"Well... I suppose so?"
"What about an accessory? Hard to call it a safe choice as a gift, though."
Honestly, jewelry was one of the more burdensome things a person could give. Accept it and then never wear it, and the whole affair turned awkward in its own right. From that angle alone, a present one could simply eat and be done with would sit easier on the heart, for the giver and the receiver both.
"But you and Shion-san aren't at the stage where you have to fret over whether something's too much, are you?"
Short of a relationship already well past ordinary, it was wiser to refrain from giving jewelry. Ninomae and Han Seoyeon, however, could hardly be called an ordinary relationship.
Ninomae considered it a moment, then nodded.
"Would something like a necklace be all right?"
"A necklace?"
"Yes. Shion-san used to wear one."
A cross on a chain a little longer than an ordinary necklace. A pectoral cross—what was also called a pectorale.
As she said it, Ninomae drew the silver cross from where it hung at her own throat and lifted it from her chest. A ruby was set at its center, and a single glance suggested the materials alone must have cost a great deal. In truth it carried history as well, which made it far more valuable than it appeared. It was also the thing Han Seoyeon had given her, on the pretext that it was a charm to keep her safe.
"I haven't seen her wearing a necklace since she handed this one over. So I thought it might be all right..."
Han Seoyeon did not much care for adorning herself. There was no chance a woman like that had worn a necklace for the look of it. She had carried this pectorale all that time purely because, as a sacred relic, it had a practical use. Unless she came by some new necklace with a useful effect of its own, there was nothing strange about her going on with her neck left bare.
"I thought a muffler wouldn't be a bad choice either, but winter's ending soon enough. And Shion-san doesn't feel the cold much to begin with. If she's next to me, I can always warm her with magic..."
"Yeah. A necklace should be fine, I'm sure of it. —Since it came up, want to go buy one right now?"
"Yes. I'd like that. Could you help me choose, maybe?"
"If my eye is good enough for you."
She worked in that world, after all; where fashion was concerned, she could be trusted. Ninomae smiled and asked her once more, and Tenka answered with a bright, refreshing grin.
"Let's finish these, and then we'll head out."
"I know it's a little late to ask, but do you have the time?"
"I'm free all day today. It's a day off from streaming, too."
"Then I'll be imposing on you a little today, Tsunashi-san."
"So. Why'd you call me out?"
"I can't decide on a birthday present for Ninomae-san...! So please, help me, Akaba-san."
"Handle your own damn flirting, you little shits. ...So. What'd you get her last year?"
"By the time I learned her birthday, it had already passed. A birthday present this year will be the first."
"What a pain... Just give her cash."
"Real-life red Superchats got banned, after I overdid them..."
"Goddamn it. How the hell do the two of you even live in that house? ...Just follow me for now. Wander around long enough and some idea or other is bound to turn up."