That afternoon, Kamiyā Yuu left his office intending to grab a drink from the break room when he noticed a commotion in the large shared office. Quite a few employees were excitedly crowding around the entrance, and at a glance, he could even see employees from departments on other floors among them.
Curious, Kamiyā Yuu squeezed through the crowd and asked, "Excuse me, what's going on?"
"Oh~ Yuu, don't tell me you bought all these?"
He had barely made his way into the crowd when Yūki Chinatsu's eager voice rang out. She sounded as though she had discovered an interesting new toy.
Seeing Kamiyā Yuu arrive, the other employees also began asking curiously.
"Director, what's inside all those huge boxes?"
"New equipment for anime production? But judging by the wooden packaging, that doesn't seem right."
"What is it?"
Kamiyā Yuu looked toward the entrance. Several men wearing uniforms from a shipping company were using the elevator to bring over enormous wooden crates, each about the height of a person. Judging from the way they were unloading them, the crates appeared quite heavy.
One, two, three, four, five.
There were five enormous wooden crates arranged together, each securely reinforced with a wooden frame and bearing labels reading "VALUABLE—EXTREMELY FRAGILE."
It didn't take Kamiyā Yuu long to realize what was inside them.
"Excuse me, is Mr. Kamiyā Yuu here?" one of the more experienced shipping company employees came over and politely asked the staff.
At those words, every employee's gaze immediately shifted toward Kamiyā Yuu.
Kamiyā Yuu walked through the crowd and nodded to the deliveryman.
"That's me."
"Very well. Please sign or stamp your seal here."
The deliveryman handed Kamiyā Yuu a shipping form and pen. While signing, Kamiyā Yuu also glanced at where the shipment had originated.
Just as he thought. These were the life-size 'Puella Magi Madoka Magica' figures he had ordered half a year ago. They had been used for an event some time ago, and the delivery had been delayed for so long that he'd almost forgotten about them.
Kamiyā Yuu couldn't help laughing. After signing, he returned the form to the deliveryman and thanked him.
"Sorry for the trouble."
"Mr. Kamiyā, would you like us to move the shipment somewhere else for you?" the deliveryman politely asked after putting away the paperwork.
"I'll take care of it. There's no need to trouble you any further."
After the deliverymen left, the employees exchanged glances.
One female key animator timidly raised her hand and asked, "Director, could these be the life-size 'Puella Magi Madoka Magica' figures we saw in Akihabara last time?"
A male employee's eyes widened. "Seriously?"
"Of course. When we visited, the organizers said those life-size figures belonged to our company. There happen to be five crates here, and the dimensions match too."
"That's amazing!"
"Life-size figures!?"
Yūki Chinatsu tapped a wooden crate with her small hand, her eyes practically shining. She turned toward Kamiyā Yuu and excitedly shouted, "Yuu, open these crates! Hurry up and open them! Open them right now!"
"If you want to see them, open them yourselves. Just be careful and don't damage what's inside."
Faced with the expectant gazes of so many employees, Kamiyā Yuu waved helplessly.
Once they had permission, everyone cheered excitedly. It took them hardly any time to dismantle the wooden frames. As the crates were opened, soft strips of foam spilled across the floor, revealing exquisite life-size figures.
Kaname Madoka, Akemi Homura, Tomoe Mami, Sakura Kyōko, and Miki Sayaka.
They were life-size figures depicting the five after transforming into magical girls. Although they used an anime-style design, the distinctive qualities of every character had been faithfully captured.
Kaname Madoka's design was the most extravagant of all. Her figure depicted her as Ultimate Madoka, dressed in a magnificent white formal gown. Her left hand held a longbow while her right drew back a pink bowstring. The pink arrow of energy was as translucent and dazzling as though it had been carved from crystal.
Its exquisite craftsmanship immediately drew a chorus of amazement from Yūki Chinatsu and the others.
"They really are life-size figures! This is my first time seeing one in person, and they're even characters from an anime our own company produced!" a key animator who had hurried over from another department muttered excitedly while carefully examining the figure's details.
"How much does one of these cost?"
"Ah~ I've heard the price before. I think one costs several million yen."
"Several million!?"
"Especially Kaname Madoka. Judging from how complicated the figure's structure is, it might even be worth ten million."
"What are we going to do with them?"
More and more employees who heard the news gathered on the floor to see the life-size figures. Gogyo Ruri from the animation department even came downstairs specifically for them.
"Director, these are...?"
Dressed like a dark and mysterious Gothic girl, Gogyo Ruri tugged on Kamiyā Yuu's sleeve. Her crimson eyes seemed to sparkle as she stared at the life-size figures, particularly Sakura Kyōko. Her excitement looked almost identical to Yūki Chinatsu's.
Sakura Kyōko was an anime character created by her own hand and could be considered part of her debut work. Now that a character from her first work had been brought into reality as a life-size figure, her excitement was inevitable.
"They're exactly what they look like—life-size figures. Although I bought them, putting all of them in one office would take up too much space."
Kamiyā Yuu walked over and touched the material of one figure. After examining it from top to bottom, he turned back toward Gogyo Ruri with a smile.
"Kuroneko, I'll give the life-size Sakura Kyōko figure to your animation department."
"Really? Aren't these life-size figures extremely expensive~?"
Gogyo Ruri looked somewhat uneasy. She clearly wanted it, but still had reservations. As someone firmly within otaku culture herself, she naturally knew how valuable a figure like this was. She might have to go half a year without spending a single yen on food or anything else just to barely afford one.
Kamiyā Yuu smiled.
"After all, Sakura Kyōko is a character you created. Besides, I'm giving it to the animation department, so you can consider it company decoration. In exchange, take good care of the figure. I'll have Aoi order five large glass display cases later. Leaving them exposed like this makes accidents far too likely."
Gogyo Ruri walked up to the figure. Looking at the expression on the life-size Sakura Kyōko's face, she couldn't resist reaching out and gently stroking it.
A moment later, she rose onto her tiptoes and leaned close to Kamiyā Yuu's ear.
"Big Brother, thank you. I'll treasure it like it's priceless."
After saying that, she gave Kamiyā Yuu a shy, gentle smile.
"Yuu! Yuu! Then I want this one!"
Yūki Chinatsu had pricked up her ears and overheard their conversation. She hurried over, grabbed his sleeve, and excitedly pointed toward the most elaborate figure, Ultimate Madoka.
"Hey, Director Yūki, that's not fair! Our key animation department wants one too!"
"Exactly~! It'd be great just to have one displayed in the company!"
Kamiyā Yuu tapped Yūki Chinatsu lightly on the head and shook his head.
"Not this one. I'm sending it over to Uehara-sensei later. You can choose any of the others you like."
Ultimate Madoka was a character designed by Uehara Etsuki, so giving the figure to the key animation department was only appropriate.
The moment Kamiyā Yuu rejected her request, Yūki Chinatsu pouted and grumbled reluctantly, "Stingy."
"Fine. If you're giving it to Etsuki, I guess it can't be helped. You should be grateful for my generosity. In exchange, I want this one."
This time, she pointed toward the life-size Tomoe Mami figure.
Kamiyā Yuu had ordered these life-size figures mostly for fun. Before crossing over to this world, he would never have purchased such expensive toys. Now that money had practically become nothing more than numbers to him, ordering a few life-size figures to satisfy his collecting urge wasn't a bad idea.
He had no intention of personally taking care of them. Displaying them would also make cleaning troublesome, so he might as well place one in each of the company's production departments as decoration.
Once ownership of the life-size figures had been assigned, yet another minor commotion caused by 'Puella Magi Madoka Magica' within the company finally came to an end.
Outside the company, however, the craze sparked by 'Puella Magi Madoka Magica' had never subsided.