Asakura coming to a high-end shopping mall with Gokou Ruri wasn't just a spur-of-the-moment date.
As mentioned before, Gokou Ruri didn't have a formal dress she could use to attend the banquet.
Considering there were only two or three days left until the evening banquet when Asakura invited her, even a girl as skilled with her hands as she was had no way to whip up a formal dress in just a few days.
Therefore, a necessary purchase was essential. At the same time, although Asakura said the costs for this purchase could be reimbursed by the Magic Club's club budget, for now, the Magic Club's budget = Asakura's wallet. Thus, it was impossible to actually look for some high-end, handmade-to-order formal dress; they could only make do with the ready-to-wear clothes in this kind of mall.
In fact, if the revenue from Rabbit House hadn't been quite excellent this week, even Asakura—whose wallet wasn't exactly overflowing—would have felt a bit hesitant about this kind of high-end mall.
"Actually, I heard there are shops specifically for renting these kinds of formal dresses, similar in nature to those rental wedding dresses people wear when they get married..."
The girl following obediently behind him said in a small voice: "It's also okay not to buy one."
For the average person, whether it's a formal dress for an evening banquet or a wedding dress for a marriage, it's something they might only use once or twice in a lifetime. Paying a large sum of money for that one or two-time experience is clearly not very cost-effective.
Where there is demand, there is service. Rental businesses for expensive clothing like formal dresses and wedding dresses naturally emerged.
"But that way, it's not only equivalent to wearing someone else's old clothes, it also means someone else will wear your clothes in the future." Asakura spread his hands: "Don't you find that repulsive?"
"Hmph, mere clothes are nothing more than a snake's molted skin to my kind, I wouldn't..."
"Tell the truth."
"Repulsive."
Asakura chuckled and patted the girl's small head. Perhaps conscious of the gazes from the surrounding counter sales clerks, or perhaps not wanting to be treated like a child, Gokou Ruri puffed out her cheeks slightly and shook her head to dodge his hand.
After wandering around the high-end mall for a bit and getting a general idea of the product distribution, Asakura and Gokou Ruri found the women's formal dress section—actually, there were many stores, but the styles within the range Asakura (could afford) looked mostly the same to him. The brand names at the store entrances were all long strings of letters, and even as the top student in his grade, he had no idea what they meant.
Choosing a shop at random, Asakura and Ruri then began their selection.
As a side note, since neither Asakura nor Gokou Ruri could be considered cheerful extroverts, Asakura politely indicated from the start that they didn't need a sales clerk following them, as that would instead affect their own judgment.
"What do you think of this one?" Asakura randomly picked one out to ask the girl's opinion.
It was a deep blue, high-slit, backless, bodycon long dress.
"Too little fabric, and it feels like something a Discipline Committee member who's been put on a collar and made to bark like a dog would wear." Gokou Ruri commented.
"That's a surprisingly specific critique." Asakura asked, "You don't like this type?"
"Although the exterior is just a shell, since I am appearing together with Takuma-kun, I still hope to do my best. My body can't pull this dress off." The girl said in a small voice.
So that was it; the subtext was a lack of confidence in her own figure.
"How about this one then?" Asakura then switched to another one to show her.
"...Why is it a kid's size?"
"Don't worry, people always grow." Asakura gave her a thumbs up and a refreshing smile.
"Before you said that, I wasn't actually that worried." The girl sighed.
After swapping the formal dress for a normal smallest size, Gokou Ruri took it to the fitting room to try it on.
He didn't know if it was because she usually wore Gothic Lolita dresses—which were somewhat subtly similar to formal wear—but Asakura thought the girl would take a long time to get dressed. After all, those clothes looked quite complicated, but in reality, it didn't take long before the girl walked out of the fitting room already wearing the dress.
"Is this okay?"
The girl walking out of the fitting room made Asakura's eyes light up.
Gokou Ruri's beauty wasn't the flamboyant kind, and it wasn't the level of beauty that would make one exclaim 'Oh my god, she's a goddess!' at first sight. However, her features were delicate, and while they had a 'girl-next-door' vibe, they were more enduring to the eye. Now, having changed into a formal dress primarily in indigo blue infused with cosmos elements, paired with her jet-black, beautiful long hair, it added a touch of mystery, elevating the girl's temperament to another level.
Calling it a formal dress, it was actually closer to a princess dress. Of course, according to Asakura's taste, while he didn't actually choose the kind of dress with very little fabric, it still featured an off-the-shoulder design, making it look lighter and more like a formal dress compared to a regular princess dress.
"Perfect to the point where I want to say 'thank you, benefactor'." Asakura remarked with sincere emotion.
"As expected of Takuma-kun's usual meaningless evaluation." The girl instinctively retorted, but the expression on her face looked quite relieved.
She just then moved her body a bit: "But there are no transparent straps, it relies entirely on the design itself to support this off-the-shoulder design, it still feels a bit uneasy-desu."
"It's fine, as long as there are no big movements there shouldn't be a problem..." Asakura said, "If you really feel uneasy, you can have the store alter it for you. Alterations for certain specific areas seem to be included in the price of the ready-to-wear clothing."
"If that's the case..."
The girl stood before the full-length mirror, carefully swaying her body, scrutinizing every corner of the dress with the strict eyes of an artisan who could hand-craft a cosplay outfit.
While Asakura couldn't help much in this regard, out of the corner of his eye, he spotted something white.
"Ruri, why did your clothes fall on the floor?"
"Because I couldn't find a hook..." the girl said casually, "so I put them on the chair. Looks like they slid down..."
Asakura went over to pick up that white dress that had fallen on the floor.
The dress felt quite silky in his hands and was very comfortable to the touch. Not only that, it seemed to carry a bit of the girl's lingering warmth.
What kind of fabric was this made of?
Asakura leaned his face closer, instinctively wanting to find the clothing tag.
The next moment, the clothes were snatched away by the girl with a blushing face.
"Tak-Takuma-kun! What were you trying to do just now!"
"Ah?"
Asakura thought about it; his behavior just now must have looked like he was holding the girl's clothes and then leaning in with a face full of curiosity.
"Could... could it be you wanted to sniff them..."
"Sodayo."
"Don't admit it so refreshingly!"