Chapter 25: Trying on Clothes

Shinomiya tilted her head, looking at Wanmie’s determined expression.

Her small eyes blinked, unsure of what she was thinking.

If you had to say where girls loved to go the most, it was undoubtedly the mall.

There was hardly a woman who didn’t enjoy shopping—except for Wanmie.

After all, in her previous life, she was a physically and mentally healthy male.

In recent days, to avoid exposing Shinomiya’s whereabouts and giving AST an opportunity, Shinomiya had barely left the house.

Most of her clothes were Wanmie’s, used for changing.

Though they didn’t fit perfectly, she managed.

But this couldn’t go on forever.

When Shidou would retrieve Shinonina from Miku was still unknown, and who knew how long Shinomiya would stay at her house?

It was better to buy a few more clothes.

It was also a good chance to stock up on daily necessities for the coming days.

Wait a second, the more she thought about it, the more it felt like a supermarket trip—not a date?

Forget it. Whatever.

Wanmie led Shinomiya to a shopping mall in the center of Tengū City.

Not only were there various shops, but also arcades and other entertainment facilities.

Although today wasn’t a holiday, the mall was still crowded beyond count.

Seeing so many people ahead, Shinomiya looked nervously at Wanmie.

Wanmie gave a helpless, bitter smile.

Shinomiya’s timid nature wasn’t something that could change overnight.

She could only comfort her.

“Don’t be afraid. Hold onto Onee-chan’s hand tight later, or you’ll get lost in the crowd.”

Shinomiya didn’t answer.

She grabbed her cloak’s hood and pulled it over her face, nodding silently.

Wanmie suddenly wondered if she shouldn’t have brought her after all.

There were malls with fewer people, but they were either too far or risky for running into Shiori’s group.

After all, Origami was with Shiori, too.

If she saw Shinomiya, it would ruin everything, and today’s date would be over.

The biggest difference between men and women shopping was that men had clear objectives—they went straight to the store, bought what they needed, and left.

But perhaps because her body had become female, her mindset had shifted as well.

Shinomiya nervously watched the crowd passing by, gripping Wanmie’s small hand even tighter.

Although Shinomiya looked delicate, she was, after all, a genuine Spirit.

When nervous, her grip was stronger than a giant crab’s claw.

Wanmie felt her bones were about to snap.

This wouldn’t do—she needed to quickly find a topic to distract Shinomiya, or her hand would be ruined.

“Shinomiya, is there any kind of clothing you like?”

Wanmie bent down, asking softly.

Shinomiya lifted her head.

The strength in her hand lessened slightly.

“Rabbit?”

Wanmie paused, then realized Shinomiya meant clothes with rabbit patterns or designs.

Come to think of it, her Astral Dress was a cloak with rabbit ears—what she was wearing now.

Her most important hand puppet, Shinonina, was also a rabbit.

What a coincidence—just as Shinomiya spoke, the two arrived at a clothing store, where a dress with a cute rabbit print was displayed in the showcase.

Shinomiya’s eyes sparkled instantly. She clearly loved it.

But when Wanmie saw the price tag, her heart turned cold.

This dress—twenty thousand yen.

That was two gold coins.

Although two gold coins meant little to Wanmie now—after all, she’d get a reward of a thousand gold coins upon completing the Main Quest: Date Shishino—but all her money was reserved for buying skills.

The skills sold in the System shop were outrageously expensive—hundreds or even thousands of gold coins.

Now Wanmie had to strengthen herself by purchasing these skills; otherwise, if she ran into Ellen or AST again, it’d be game over.

She’d only managed to escape several times thanks to the “Void Movement” skill, but who knew when her luck would run out?

Life was unpredictable. It never hurt to have more backups.

So, even though two gold coins wasn’t much, it was enough to make Wanmie ache for a long time.

“Onee-chan?”

Shinomiya saw Wanmie staring at the dress, her small head tilting in confusion.

Wanmie snapped back to reality and smiled.

“It’s nothing. I was just thinking. I think this dress is pretty nice—do you want to try it?”

She pointed to the dress with the rabbit print in the display.

Shinomiya immediately nodded, like a bobblehead.

Wanmie sighed inside.

As expected, a date still needed a certain economic foundation.

Now she was as poor as dirt, and this twenty-thousand-yen dress would only make her already strained finances worse.

However, when Shinomiya came out wearing the dress, Wanmie suddenly felt the money might have been worth every yen!

Shinomiya was petite to begin with.

Wearing the blue-and-white dress, she looked a little mature, yet still retained the lively spirit of a girl, radiant like a beautiful white swan.

Her black hair flowed like a waterfall, her skin flawless and pale as jade, and she was so delicate that Wanmie felt she’d break if touched.

Facing Wanmie’s gaze, she appeared shy, her cheeks gradually flushing red.

She asked softly,

“Onee-chan, how is this dress?”

“Beautiful! Perfect score!”

This wasn’t just beautiful.

If the perfect score was one hundred, Wanmie would give her one hundred and twenty points.

Maybe Shinomiya had good foundations; Wanmie felt she looked good in anything—except perhaps more mature styles.

Shinomiya’s figure was that of a twelve or thirteen-year-old.

With her doll-like, delicate face, cute clothing suited her best.

At that moment, Wanmie awakened a strange attribute, constantly picking out all sorts of cute clothes from the store for Shinomiya to try on and taking pictures to commemorate each.

After all, Wanmie wasn’t rich enough to buy every outfit she tried.

If she were, she would’ve swept her card and bought them all long ago.

Shinomiya had no intention of refusing and let Wanmie dress her up and snap photos.

Very quickly, Wanmie had almost made Shinomiya try on every outfit in the store.

Her phone had dozens of photos now.

Finally, Wanmie happily put away her phone and asked Shinomiya,

“Which of these do you like best? If you like them all, Onee-chan will buy them all for you.”

Although Wanmie wasn’t generous enough to buy every piece she saw, if it was for Shinomiya, she’d grit her teeth and pay.

After all, who could refuse the request of such a cute loli?

“Onee-chan, aren’t you buying anything?”

Shinomiya asked back.

“I don’t need new clothes for now.”

Strictly speaking, Wanmie didn’t want to wear them at all.

After all, whenever she went out wearing anything other than a tracksuit, she felt everyone staring at her.

That feeling was just unbearable…