Sadly, that was the end.

Mai came back out dressed in her normal clothes, handing me a bunch of what she had selected. "These will work fine. I'll put the others back," she told me. Nodding, I took the clothes and headed for the check-out line.

As expected, the price was pretty steep. Mai regarded the card I used to pay for the purchases with some confusion. As we left the store, me carrying the bag...naturally...Mai turned to me. "Okay...how did we get all that with a tiny card?" she asked.

"Eh...it's a bit complicated," I replied. "The short version is that it's basically a way to pay later, rather then when you make the actual purchase. But you DO have to pay later...and if you don't, you're in trouble." Mai let out a sound which I took to be some form of acknowledgement. It was more or less a wordless grunt.

In any case, we had a bunch of clothes now. Mai could now further intergrate herself into "present day", as it were. Personally, I couldn't wait to see her in that last outfit again. Hot DAMN... I had a feeling she was itching to put it back on herself. After all...it got quite a response out of me.

Before we reached the exit, however, Mai froze, staring into a store. "John...um..." she said, pointing toward the store. She seemed captivated...