Note: Mai-Hime is an anime that was done by the studio Sunrise.
One a day in November, Natsuki Kuga was walking around the city. She had a lot on her mind, so she wasn't paying that much attention while walking. She accidentally bumped into Shizuru Fujino. Natsuki almost fell, but Shizuru caught her. Natsuki felt ashamed of herself for walking so carelessly, so she said, "I'm sorry."
Shizuru smiled and said, "It's no problem, sweetie, because I enjoy seeing you fall for me."
Natsuki explained, "I've just been thinking about a lot of stuff."
Shizuru asked, "What drama could a cutie like you have on your mind?"
Natsuki replied, "For the record, I'm an intimidating hero, not a cutie."
Shizuru replied, "That's fair, but I still consider you a cutie."
Natsuki said, "Fighting criminals and all that other stuff is hard."
Shizuru replied, "I understand, but I have news that I think will make you smile."
Natsuki asked, "What is it?"
Shizuru said, "Valentine's Day is nearby."
Natsuki asked, "What do you mean? It's November. Valentine's Day is in February."
Shizuru replied, "We're going to celebrate Valentine's Day in November."
Natsuki asked, "What?"
Shizuru explained, "February fourteenth is a holiday for all couples. If we celebrate it in November, it would be our personal holiday."
Natsuki asked, "Did you come up with this holiday, because you can't wait for February fourteenth?"
Shizuru blushed and said, "You guessed correctly, my dear. Do you want to try it?"
Natsuki said, "Okay."
Shizuru replied, "I'll meet you at your house, tomorrow."
Natsuki said, "Tomorrow?" Shizuru nodded. Natsuki said, "But that doesn't give me much time to prepare."
Shizuru replied, "It'll be easy, sweetheart. We're going to have a wonderful day, tomorrow."
Natsuki said, "Okay."
Five minutes later, Shizuru asked, "Wanna re-schedule our Valentine's Day to right now instead of tomorrow?"
Natsuki said, "We haven't even gotten ready for Valentine's Day."
Shizuru said, "Good point. I'm so excited to finally spend Valentine's Day with you that I can't wait."
Several minutes later, Natsuki went to a nearby store. Natsuki walked up to one of the employees and asked, "Do you have any Valentine's Day stuff?"
The employee answered, "It's November, not February."
Natsuki said, "Accurate point, but stores often get holiday merchandise months early."
The employee replied, "We have lots of Christmas stuff."
Natsuki asked, "Shouldn't you be mainly focusing on Thanksgiving stuff?"
The employee answered, "Thanksgiving stuff doesn't make as much money, which we're not very thankful about."
Natsuki asked, "When will you get Valentine's Day stuff?"
The employee answered, "At the end of December."
Natsuki replied, "But my Valentine's Day is tomorrow."
The employee responded, "You're a weirdo." Natsuki angrily stared at the employee and walked out.
The manager of the store walked by and asked, "What happened?"
The employee said, "A woman was trying to celebrate Valentine's Day in November, so I told her that she was a weirdo. She should know that we don't have that kind of stuff in November."
The manager replied, "You could have convinced her to buy some flowers."
The employee said, "Nah."
The manager said, "I'm not going to pay you for the rest of the month."
The employee asked, "Why not?"
The manager said, "If you can't sell Valentine's Day stuff in November, that means that I can't give paychecks in November." The employee shook his fist at the manager, while the manager had a smug smile on his face.
After searching around a few stores, Natsuki got some Valentine's Day gifts for Shizuru. Natsuki went home. She knew that Shizuru wanted to start the next day as soon as possible. In order to be ready early the next morning, Natsuki went to sleep earlier than usual.
The next morning, Natsuki got up early and started brushing her hair. She quickly ate breakfast, while her dad whined to her about the importance of money.
Natsuki's mom walked into Natsuki's room and asked, "Do you have a place where I can hang up a poster of Mr. Stupid?"
Natsuki answered, "You can put up wherever you want."
Natsuki's mom saw that Natsuki was brushing her hair, so she said, "I've never seen you brush it so carefully."
Natsuki replied, "It's an important day."
Natsuki's mom asked, "What's going on?"
Natsuki explained, "Shizuru and I are celebrating Valentine's Day today."
Natsuki's mom said, "That's really cute. I never knew that you had such a soft side."
Natsuki stubbornly responded, "I'm really intense. I'm all about beating up villains and dark stuff."
Natsuki's mom asked, "Then why are you celebrating Valentine's Day so early?"
Natsuki answered, "Because Shizuru wants to."
Natsuki's mom replied, "How precious. She made you gain a soft side."
Natsuki responded, "It seems like that's true. I'm a little embarrassed about being so lovey-dovey, but I've never been happier."
Shizuru entered Natsuki's bedroom and had a gleeful look on her face, while saying, "I'm so happy to hear that!"
Natsuki blushed and nervously asked, "How did you get in here?"
Shizuru said, "I got to the door while you and your mom were talking. Your dad let me in."
Natsuki asked, "Why didn't you or my dad tell me that you're here?"
Shizuru explained, "I wanted to surprise you. Plus, your dad didn't feel like talking."
Natsuki said, "Despite that, he talked to me about spending money sparingly for a half-hour this morning."
Shizuru responded, "I'm sorry for being intrusive, darling, but I loved your beautiful words. Being with you has made me happier than I've ever been."
Natsuki blushed and said, "I was exaggerating earlier."
Shizuru smiled and replied, "You're even beautiful while lying."
Natsuki's mom was still in the room, but Natsuki was so busy being embarrassed about her feelings towards Shizuru that she didn't notice. Natsuki's mom asked, "Should I still be here?"
Natsuki nervously said, "I thought you left a few minutes ago."
Natsuki's mom replied, "I was looking around the room to find a good spot for the Mr. Stupid poster."
Natsuki asked, "Can you do that later?"
Natsuki's mom answered, "Of course. I'm going to go." Natsuki's mom walked out of the room and closed the door.
Natsuki said, "Happy Valentine's Day." Natsuki handed Shizuru a box.
Shizuru opened it. The box had a bouquet of flowers and a necklace in it. She said, "Thank you, honey. These are wonderful gifts." She kissed Natsuki.
Shizuru handed Natsuki a box. Inside the box was a teddy bear stuffed animal and one-hundred flowers. Natsuki said, "Very cute." Natsuki kissed Shizuru.
Shizuru handed a card to Natsuki and said, "Read it."
Natsuki read the card quietly to herself. It said, "Dear Natsuki, love is an item that's never sold at stores, because it truly is priceless. You're the most priceless thing in the world." Natsuki was so moved by Shizuru's card that a few happy tears were coming out of her eyes. She tried to quickly wipe them away, because she was embarrassed.
Natsuki said, "Thank you. It's a lovely card. I'm sorry that I didn't get you a card."
Shizuru replied, "You got me something better than a card."
Natsuki asked, "What do you mean?"
Shizuru answered, "Earlier today, you said that dating me made you happier than I've ever been. Getting to hear you say that was a delightful gift."
Natsuki said, "Before I was with you, I usually had only one or two smiles a day. Recently, I had to cover up my face to hide the blushing smiles that you give me every day."
Shizuru cried tears of happiness and said, "You're going to make me tear up with sunshine if you keep that up."
Natsuki said, "Thank you for this early Valentine's Day idea. This is one of the best holiday experiences of my life."
Shizuru blushed and asked, "Do you want to celebrate Thanksgiving tomorrow?"
Natsuki said, "You don't have to try to make every day special, because any day I'm with you is automatically special."
Natsuki and Shizuru were about to kiss, but Natsuki's mom walked in and asked, "Can I hang up the Mr. Stupid poster now?"
Natsuki sighed and said, "Go ahead and do that. Shizuru and I are going to go to a few stores."
Natsuki's mom replied, "Have fun." Natsuki and Shizuru left to go on a date, while Natsuki's mom kept looking around for the best spot to hang up the poster.
Natsuki used to feel like magic was an impossible thing. She never expected to have magical feelings of happiness inside of her heart, but Shizuru made her start feeling those magic feelings in heart. Natsuki used to think of things in a more cynical, darker way before she met Shizuru. However, Shizuru had turned things around for her. Even though it was embarrassing and hard to get used to, Natsuki loved her new life.
