CLOTHING?
As in actually shopping with a mature woman, let alone a teenage girl? Wait,! isn't this considered cheating? Even if she's someone I known for a long time, she's still a beautiful lady. That's not a place I should go.
"Umm! Rinko-san..."
"What?"
"Yeah, about shopping. Could we try something else? I don't like the idea of going to a clothing store and entering the women's section."
"What's this? We've already been there before. You used to tag along with me all the time."
"Oh did I?"
Heh, how did I blur that out of my memory?
"Yeah. You used to cling onto me so tightly, that I would have to try on my clothes with you."
"Oh, that's...HUH?!"
This is a lie! An absolute lie! I refuse to believe this. Even if I'm tainted, I'm still pure at heart. I wouldn't trouble a woman with her shopping spree.
"YES! I even have a picture of you in a skirt. It's super adorable. Every now and then, I have a peek at it."
"A...A skirt?!"
No wonder I blurred that out. How can I ever have the urge to remember that? But something got me wondering...
"Um...How old was I?"
She was quiet for a while, and just walked casually, humming around. Walking around with her without any care, a part of me wanted this time to freeze. Maybe, just maybe, if I was her classmate, would I have ended up with her? Or would have gone our own path and be complete strangers? If the latter was the most likely outcome, then I'm grateful that I wasn't born around her era. Even if I was her classmate, and we both ended up together, I don't think we would have been that close as we are now. She's our first teacher, our best friend, and my tyrant. I doubt that Nao held the same feeling about the last one like me, for if that's the case, then I'd probably imagine he's a masochist, of the supreme race.
But seeing her put up with this blatant act, this body was reacting in a peculiar manner. Almost as if sending impulses that give the message "Save her!". Anyone who had an idea of my condition would question, "How would you know that?". Well, that's a good question, and the answer is not that difficult to grasp. This body has cultivated all the feelings that a human encounters, at least for a 5-year-old, that is. It's just I haven't yet come to terms with that, and the body always has a mind of its own at times. Like the time with Sakura and Yuki-nee. Kissing them was never my intention, but this body just zapped on its own, and I was lucky to return in one piece. I believe that's his intention. Maybe he's just stuck in an alternate world where he can't return, and he doesn't want to lose them. I can play detective all day, but it wouldn't bear any fruit.
But what can I do? For someone who has part of my life and has stepped up to take care of me again, after my restart, was there a way that I could distance myself from her without hurting her? Probably not! But there was a moment I thought I could have her as my ally and seek some wisdom and guidance, and I was close to doing that. But seeing how strained her relationships are, I didn't hesitate to drop that idea off.
Rinko-san, Yuki-nee, Sakura, Miku.
They're butterflies, while I'm a porcupine. What I mean is, I'm just someone who's grounded and minds my own business. Plus, the fact that I have so many spikes makes it hard to even befriend anyone. Each spike is a treacherous past. And I've accumulated so many that, for anyone to come close, is meant to be scarred. That does help me in keeping away foes and being alone. But, should there be a moment where someone chooses to be with me, they'll have to make a sacrifice. For that is, they can never fly again. But that's not right. A butterfly is magnificent when it flaps its wings and moves over from flower to flower. In the same way, I want all of them to just desert me and move ahead with their life.
Is that depressing? Maybe, define depressing to me, and I'll give you my response.
Won't you feel lonely? Probably, but I'm always alone in my world.
Is that the right choice? How do I answer that? When it's the only choice I have.
If I was the source of what would be their never-ending suffering and trauma, then it must rightfully be me, who must disappear. But is it that simple? If human relationships were that simple, then I would have been a merciless dictator by now.
The world's deadliest dictator and his harem.
That's a light novel series in the making. In other words, it's free real estate for anyone interested.
I would like to mention Light Yagami and Adolf Hitler as an inspiration, though mentioning both of them in the same sentence does not bode well. And yet, with such glorified visions, they had the time to screw around with a girl and get married. And yet, they got caught up in their travesties, while taking upon their sins and met their fate.
Conclusion? If you know you're gonna burn down, do it alone! Don't pull others into your misery and call it a relationship or responsibility.
Anyway, I'm very active today. It's very unbecoming of me. Oreki Houtarou would be disappointed in me. Though he'd also be happy that I haven't met my Chitanda-san yet. And I don't need to when I have this tyrant.
Well, as the silence continued, so did my thoughts end up in a deep labyrinth. And before I realized it, we reached the store, and sadly, on my part, there is no men's clothing here, so I can't run away with that pretense. This is a big blow. As I was thinking of ways to deal with this issue, though I had a hunch that I would end up here, I started digging deep inside my thoughts to see the various conclusions I had drawn before, to escape this scenario. Realizing this, Rinko-san pulled me in.
"Good Afternoon, Ma'am."
"Welcome!"
Two lovely ladies greeted us.
"It's been a while, ma'am. How have you been?"
"Ah, I've been great! How about you guys?"
"Ah! The same old stuff."
Hmm...Is this how it works. That's a lot of effort. I will make sure to note these points. Meanwhile, the two women noticed me. Yes, yes. I can clearly see that there's a banged-up teenager who's in a women's only clothing shop. Please, kick me out and save me.
"Nao?"
"It's been a while!"
"Eh?"
I'm definitely hallucinating right now. There's no way that two lovely store employees would recognize me unless I'm famous for some reason. Am I wanted? Isn't that a little too soon. As I was thinking about that, they started pulling my cheeks.
"Oh! You've grown so much."
"You've grown up as a handsome hunk."
Why am I so popular with women? I feel sad for all the loner boys I had met my entire life, who just wanted to graduate from holding a girl's hand phase. Or am I wanted suspect? Let's remember what Rinko-san said. When a person from the opposite gender praises you, be sure to treat them kindly. Alright, with the power of Hollywood movies...
"Why, thank you! I must say that you both like quite well yourselves. Men must be fighting over you."
They were taken aback. Maybe I did do it a bit too much.
"Well, this is a surprise!"
Was it?
"It's the first time I've heard you speak without being in the vicinity of Rinko-san."
Well, looks like my reputation precedes me. Rinko-san cut in.
"Now, now. Spare the reunion. Why don't you help me out?"
She dragged me away along with her.
"What are you doing?"
I could sense that she was a bit unhappy back there. Time to use this opportunity.
"Well, I was building a good relationship. It could come in handy sometime."
"Like?"
"When I get my girlfriend here."
"Hooh! Is that so?"
Feels like I stepped into a minefield.
"If that's the case, then let me teach you."
"Right! As if that wasn't what you were planning on anyway."
Her grip on me tightened, as I heard the following words,
"Brace yourself!"
I'm worried.
We started what you could call my personal fashion show at this point. Her clothing style had terms such as ravishing, dashing, gorgeous, angelic, and stuff. From the simplest to the daring, she tried on everything.
"How's this?"
"I don't like it."
"You can't say that out to a woman. It hurts them. You have to be considerate."
"I just don't like it."
"Why?"
"It's too revealing."
"What's wrong with that?"
"I just don't like the idea of anyone else seeing something that is exclusively mine."
She was quite surprised, more like I was the last person she would have expected that from.
"Hmm..."
She took my input and removed all the clothing that was too revealing, and chose the decent ones. Personally, I didn't like it. If anyone else thinks otherwise, that's their preference. We are living in a free world. Each individual has their own tastes and choices. I'm more of a vanilla kind. That's publically. On a personal level, that's another case...
After what felt like an eternity, she finalized her pick. Right. Here comes the hard part. My senses were telling me we're not done. And I was right.
"Where are we going now?"
"We have just one final stop."
This shop was considerably big.
I was following her till my eyes caught the board above.
LINGERIE!
Hmmm...FUCK!