Chapter 35: A Day of Fashion and Surprises

“Did you arrive, El?”

On the day of the play, which I had received a ticket for from the class president, as soon as I arrived at the meeting spot, Celian, dressed in casual clothes, caught my eye.

She was wearing a pink frilly dress with a belt tied at the waist, subtly accentuating her figure, and she was also wearing shoes she usually avoided because they hindered her running.

A thin bracelet was swinging from her hand as she waved it toward me.

Seeing Celian dressed up like this made me realize again how beautiful she was.

“Did you wait long?”

“No, I just got here.”

“By the way, why did you specifically want to meet here? Couldn’t we have just come together from the dorm?”

Since it was the weekend and there weren’t any academy activities, it would have been fine to leave from the dorm together, but for some reason, Celian had insisted on meeting in front of the fountain in the city.

“I do enjoy walking together… but there’s a certain feeling in setting a meeting time and place like this.”

I didn’t quite understand what kind of feeling that was, but if Celian was happy, there didn’t seem to be any problem.

“We still have a lot of time. Shall we go to a cafe while we wait?”

The play was scheduled to start at 4 p.m., but it was only a little past 1 p.m. and we had already had lunch at the student cafeteria, so I suggested going to a cafe to pass the time.

“Umm…”

Instead of answering my suggestion, Celian put a finger to her chin and stared at me intently, deep in thought. She even lifted her arm to check if something had spilled on her clothes, but there didn’t seem to be anything unusual.

“Come to think of it, El, you’ve always only worn your school uniform.”

“Yeah… I guess?”

I remarked that Celian wore her school uniform often and I hadn’t seen her in casual clothes much, but I didn’t really have the right to say that. After all, whenever I went out, I always wore my school uniform too. The only other outfits I had were a few t-shirts and sportswear.

I had gotten used to wearing the girls’ school uniform, but I still felt uneasy about choosing and wearing girls’ clothes. That’s why, even though I knew there would come a day when I’d need casual clothes, I had never actually gone to buy any myself.

“Alright, let’s go shopping for your clothes today. Come on, follow me!”

With the determination of someone like Anne, she grabbed my arm and pulled me along. I briefly hesitated, wondering if I should follow her, but it was only a brief hesitation. Celian’s strength easily surpassed mine, and I had no choice but to follow her.

“This is the brand I usually buy clothes from. I’m sure you’ll find something you like here.”

We arrived at one of the stores that specialized in women’s clothing, a brand I was familiar with from hearing about it, even though I had never bought clothes there myself.

The inside of the store was quite spacious, with all kinds of clothes and accessories neatly arranged. It seemed to be a popular shop, as many customers were already browsing through the clothes.

Although I had been to a clothing store before, I had never bought anything myself. I was always the one standing behind my friends, watching them shop, offering comments like, “That looks good on you,” or “That’s pretty.”

So now, standing in the middle of the store, I didn’t know what to look at first. I just kept turning my head from side to side, unsure of where to start. Celian had already gone to one corner of the store to browse, so I had no choice but to look at the clothes closest to me.

The first thing that caught my eye was the same pink dress that Celian was wearing. She had said it was from a brand she liked, and now I could see that it was from the same store.

Since I wasn’t comfortable with dresses, I moved on to the next display, which had fluttering skirts. Some of them were even shorter than the one I wore with my school uniform, and it looked like I would have to be extra careful while walking in them. Naturally, I passed by the skirts as well.

After moving around for a while, I finally found clothes that I thought might work. Having spent most of my time as an assassin, wearing dull and dark clothes, my hand instinctively reached for a pair of black pants.

I picked them up and held them in front of the mirror to see how they looked. The black pants had a simple design with the brand logo on the back of the waistband, and no other decorative elements.

I considered browsing through other clothes, but since they seemed no different from the pants I was already holding, I decided against it. Now, I just needed to buy a few t-shirts that would go well with these pants.

“Have you found any clothes you like?”

While I was choosing the pants, Celian seemed to have found something she liked, as she was holding a light, flowing fabric in her hand.

“Yeah. There are a lot of good clothes here, just like you said.”

Of course, to me, all the clothes looked the same, but there was no need to be stingy with compliments, especially when it didn’t cost anything. I lifted the pants I had chosen slightly to show Celian.

However, Celian only glanced at the pants I was holding and didn’t say much. Instead, she brought the clothes she was holding to my waist.

“I think these would look good on you. Would you like to try them on?”

“Huh? The pants?”

At my question, Celian snatched the pants from my hand, replacing them with the skirt she was holding. When I still didn’t move, she pulled me toward the fitting room and pushed me inside.

I knew what she was trying to say. She was directly holding a skirt up to me, so I wasn’t oblivious to her intentions. I was just pretending not to know because I felt shy about wearing a skirt. Even though they were both skirts, there was a noticeable difference between a school uniform skirt and a casual one.

I peeked out from behind the fitting room curtain, and as soon as I did, I locked eyes with Celian. I tilted my head slightly and tried to express that I couldn’t wear it, but Celian just shook her head as if to say, “That’s not an option.”

Well, I figured it was better to just get it over with. I closed my eyes, put on the skirt, and hoped it would end quickly.

Reluctantly, I unzipped the school uniform skirt, and it fell to the floor. I took a step, picked it up, and placed it on the shelf before trying on the skirt I had brought with me.

It felt awkward, even though it was the same type of skirt, because it was lighter and floated around more than my uniform skirt.

Since there was no mirror to check how it looked, I opened the fitting room curtain, and Celian immediately looked me up and down.

She then reached out and handed me another piece of clothing, closing the curtain again. I distinctly remembered she only had a skirt earlier.

When I checked, the new item in my hand wasn’t a skirt, but a blouse. I felt less resistance to trying it on compared to the skirt, so I changed into it.

Now I was wearing both the top and bottom that Celian had picked out. I opened the curtain again, and once more, Celian scrutinized me from head to toe.

But this time, she didn’t push me back into the fitting room, so I carefully stepped out.

“Does it look strange?”

I broke the silence by asking, even though I had my doubts. Honestly, I preferred the pants from earlier, so I was trying to express my negative opinion, but Celian seemed to have a different take.

“No, it looks great on you. It’s much better than the pants you picked earlier.”

She didn’t even mention the pants, and it was as if she had already read my thoughts and blocked them out. At this rate, it seemed like I had no choice but to buy these clothes.

“Still, I want to try something else on…”

“No, the outfit you’re wearing now is definitely much better.”

Celian’s firm answer made it impossible for me to argue about the pants any further. Now, it would be hard to say I didn’t want them, so I had no choice but to buy the clothes.

I finally gave in, went back into the fitting room, changed into my school uniform, and came out holding the clothes Celian had chosen.

However, when I stepped outside the fitting room, Celian was holding yet another outfit.

“Celia?”

I had already made my decision, so why was Celian holding more clothes? If it was something she wanted to try on, she could have gone into a different fitting room, right?

I turned my head to check if other fitting rooms were full, but there were plenty of empty rooms.

“Here, try this one on.”

She took back the clothes I had worn earlier and handed me another outfit.

“No, I’m going to buy this one…”

“No, I think this one would suit you better. Go ahead and try it on quickly.”

What could I do when Celian said so? She was a woman, so she would know better than me, a man, what looks good. She had picked out clothes she thought would suit me, and it felt wrong to refuse them.

In the end, I went back inside the fitting room and changed into the new outfit.

But it seemed like every time I went in and out of the fitting room, the number of clothes Celian was holding kept increasing.

…It must be my imagination, right?

Finally, after changing into several outfits Celian had brought me, I was able to buy the set of clothes I had given the “OK” sign to. The result was the white plain t-shirt, a flowy black skirt, and an ivory cardigan draped over it. The school uniform I had originally worn was neatly packed in a shopping bag in my hand.

“Now this is perfect. Let’s go.”

It was already past 3:30 PM. I couldn’t believe we had been doing this fashion show for over two hours. Unlike me, exhausted from changing in and out of clothes, Celian was still full of energy.

She must have been running around fetching and handing over clothes too, but she showed no signs of being tired.

“Ugh, yeah…”

At least I was lucky I didn’t have to wear heels like Celian. I moved my feet quickly to follow her. The theater wasn’t far, so it seemed like we would get there on time. That is, unless something else happened.

“Ughhh!”

It always seems like something happens when I start thinking that.