After that, it took another hour and a half for us to arrive at our destination. Since it was a holiday, the streets were more crowded than usual. Thanks to that, we arrived later than scheduled, albeit we did manage to arrive safely.
"It's huge…"
Looking at the building through the car window, I couldn't help but mutter to myself. I knew that buildings like this existed, but it was the first time I've ever visited it myself, so I was practically struck with awe.
In the building, there was a large convenience store that sold a lot of food, a movie theater, a public bath, a food court with various fast food chains occupying it and many more. It felt like you could spend a whole day here without getting bored due to how many things were there to experience.
Since the mall advertised its third anniversary through various medias like TV ads and newspapers, the parking lot was almost full when we arrived. Not only that, there were also people who came in by bus, creating a long line that stretched from the entrance of the mall, all the way to the bus stop.
Though, the crowd was still manageable compared to the fireworks festival— Right, this time for sure, I'd stick with Umi closely…
"Alright, let's get our groceries first. You two will have to carry a lot of things, so, I'll be counting on you, Umi, Maki-kun."
"Roger. Sorry for dragging you into this, Maki."
"It's fine. I've always been in your family's care. I'm more than happy to help."
After getting out of the car, we went to the large convenience store to get our groceries. Unlike the convenience stores we normally went to, they sold everything by weight here. Those included, but not limited to fresh products like meat, fish and veggies, to processed ones like butter, cheese and sausages. Since you had to buy them in bulk, if you were to live by yourself, getting them here would feel a little excessive, but if you didn't, or you had to prepare for a dinner party or something like that, these were practically godsend.
There were also various food courts inside the convenience store. They sold pizza, hamburgers and other snacks you could munch on to pass time.
"Ah, right. Mom, for today's dinner, how about we have some yakiniku? While we're at it, let's invite Maki as well. If we buy the ingredients from this corner, it won't cost much."
"Oh, you're right. Maki-kun, can you help me get five packs from that shelf?
"Are you sure you want to invite me…? Anyway, got it, I'll get them."
I followed the mother and daughter pair, who were pushing the trolley around, closely. Occasionally, I'd run around to pick what they needed from the shelves and place them inside the trolley. I guess this was Daichi-san and Riku-san's duty, but since neither of them were here, it automatically became mine.
Other than meat, veggies, rice and other ingredients for today's yakiniku dinner, we also grabbed some desserts; cakes, pudding and such, along with snacks and some canned foods… And as you've guessed it, the trolley was filled to the brim in a short time. Since the item packages were quite big, it was a little hard to fit them inside, but in a way, it was a rather fun experience.
…Well, I could already tell that I'd be dead exhausted by the time we go back home, but that was a story for another day.
After paying the bills and bringing the groceries to the car, Umi and I split up with Sora-san. We then went to the area that was filled with various clothing stores, the main purpose of our date.
Unlike the convenience store, which was filled with people walking around with their families, this place was filled with people that were similar to our ages. They were either coming here with their friends or partner.
"I haven't been here since the mall first opened~ There seem to be a lot of new stores around. Where do you want to go, Maki?"
"Well, I don't care about brands and I won't mind going anywhere in the men's area, so… Why don't we start from there?"
I took a quick look and decided to go to a seemingly less crowded store. Judging by the price tags of some of the clothes displayed, it seemed like this store didn't fit me, a high school student who was struggling to get enough money to buy new clothes, at all. But, just by seeing the clothes, I managed to get an idea on what kind of clothes I wanted to buy.
"You know, looking at it like this, most of the clothes here have a rather dark color…"
"Since the weather will only get colder from now on, you need to pay attention to the materials too, okay? Don't think that adding more layers to your clothes is enough!"
"…Yes, yes, I get it."
I used to think that autumn clothes meant long-sleeved clothes and nothing else. Since I didn't have much money, I couldn't buy a lot of clothes in the first place. So, what I had been doing was to wear my cheap clothes and add things that fit the season and be done with it, similar to what Umi had done, except I did a worse job than her.
Anyway, so far, I had only been relying on Umi to pick my clothes for me, but I did feel the need to come up with clothes arrangements for myself. After all, if I could make people look more favorably at me, it'd be less likely for me to embarrass Umi in public.
Based on the advice I received from her, it seemed like I've been doing a steady job at it.
"This shirt seems good on its own, but I think it'll look better if I were to wear it with the gray hoodie I usually wear. The color accent complements each other."
"Ah, the zip up hoodie? Well, it'll also depend on the pants and shoes you wear, but yeah that shirt is nice. Good job, Maki."
As my girlfriend, her opinion was most likely biased, but since she found it at least passable, then it shouldn't be that bad. As for the price for the long-sleeved shirt, since there was a 50% discount, I just grabbed it without thinking much further and went to the cashier to pay for it.
Although we had only just begun, picking up clothes together like this felt fun. Looking around at the various clothes, imagining how they would look on us and so on… Thinking about it like this made me understand why Amami-san and Umi loved to window shop every once in a while.
After that, we went to various shops to complete the set of clothes for me, all while keeping our limited budget in mind.
I put on various clothes, hearing comments from Umi that ranged from 'That one's pretty good,' to 'Nah, no, just no.' The preparation for our date tomorrow was going smoothly.
Before noon, we managed to fill my hands with paper bags as we walked around the mall side by side.
Considering that other couples around us were doing exactly the same thing as us, guess I could say that we blended into the surroundings well.
"Well, I guess we can say that we're done with your clothes for now. Personally, I'd like for us to go around a little more, but I'm getting hungry…"
"Right, it's almost lunch, huh? Let's meet up with Sora-san first before going to the food court. I'm curious about the American-sized pizza they have."
"I know right? That huge pizza and colored soda… There's no way that it's healthy, though."
"Like they said, 'I'm here for a good time, not a long time.'"
We enjoyed our shopping time together, holding each other's hands while making jokes to each other.
Well, shopping time, more like a date, but I didn't really care about what we called it since as long as I was together with Umi, I'd enjoy anything.
After that, we contacted Sora-san and decided to meet up with her at the food court, so we went back to the way we came from. The place was less crowded than before, probably because, like us, everyone was moving to the food court.
I casually looked at the surrounding stores, but through one of the stores' windows, a certain girl caught my eye. Her downcast face looked familiar and she was holding something in her hand.
"…Umi, that…"
"Yeah. That's Nina for sure. Did she come here by herself?"
Thinking that she might have come here with someone else, I hesitated to call Nitta-san out. But, as I was hesitating, she noticed us and let out an awkward smile.
Now that things had come into this, we couldn't just pretend not to notice her.