"Is it really okay?" Gokou Ruri asked uneasily while clutching the shopping bags, "I mean in terms of the price..."
Takuma was the typical "straight man" type who wasn't very interested in shopping, and Gokou Ruri didn't like being treated like a dress-up doll either, so after trying on two or three pieces, the two quickly settled on that formal dress that looked like a princess gown.
While Takuma was paying, the girl caught a glimpse of the bill and was stunned by the number of zeros on it; it wasn't until they had walked quite a distance from the shop that she finally snapped out of it.
"Why are you still talking about that now? I already said it counts as club expenses..."
Speaking of this, Takuma paused for a moment and punched his palm with his fist: "Come to think of it, considering the rationality of reimbursement, you really ought to come to Sobu High, Ruri. After all, club expenses are meant for reimbursing club members."
"..."
"Just kidding, just kidding. You should decide for yourself which high school you want to go to. I'd like to think my personality hasn't degraded to the point of interfering with a friend's choice for their future."
Seeing that the girl remained silent, Takuma thought his joke had made her unhappy, so he spoke up to explain, "Are you angry?"
"I'm not." The girl shook her head and said in a low voice: "I originally planned to go to Sobu High, it's just that the deviation score there is relatively high..."
"At a time like this, you should think like this..." Takuma said soothingly with a smile: "Even Yanami and Yuigahama could get into that school, so how could you possibly fail?"
"...That's true."
Gokou Ruri's expression visibly relaxed.
Takuma thought to himself, although he was the one who brought it up, wasn't this reaction a bit too much towards Yanami and Yuigahama? They would cry if they knew...
"Alright, pull yourself together, let's go buy shoes next!" Takuma said with high spirits.
"Eh, we're still continuing?" Gokou Ruri's face instantly darkened.
"I've already been very restrained. After all, even though your dress is close to a princess style, it's a formal dress and isn't that puffy, but rather slim-fitting. Generally speaking, to prevent the outlines of underwear from showing, you have to specifically buy that kind of underwear..."
Takuma made a gesture of a C-string.
A shy rose-red color quickly spread across Gokou Ruri's face: "I, I won't wear that kind of thing!"
"Right?" Takuma said with a smug look, as if inviting praise: "I was actually quite curious about the structure of a C-string, but I guessed you wouldn't like that kind of thing, so I specifically didn't mention it."
"Haven't you already said it all now, Hachiman!"
The girl glared at him with watery eyes and scolded in a low voice, her face clearly trying hard to squeeze out an angry expression, but it was mostly dominated by embarrassment.
"That kind of thing isn't recommended, a C-string." Someone nearby suddenly spoke in a clear voice, "If you don't wear it often, you'll be very unaccustomed to it, and your movements will be particularly awkward. Just to hide the marks of the straps and go wear that, it always feels like the gains don't make up for the losses."
Takuma instinctively looked over and first saw a flash of blonde hair.
Finally, the other person's face came into view.
Takuma's brain stalled for a moment before he finally remembered the other person's name: "Kitagawa?"
"Hello~" Kitagawa Marin happily waved at the two: "Long time no see, Asakura-kun and Kuroneko-san~"
"Why are you so knowledgeable about C-strings? It feels like you have a lot of personal experience?" Gokou Ruri stared at the other person with a strange look.
"I've only used those things for cosplay before, I'm not a pervert girl!" Kitagawa Marin explained with a wry smile.
"...I didn't say that." Gokou Ruri shifted her gaze away guiltily, as if she had suddenly developed an intense interest in the vintage crystal lamp on the wall.
"The suspicion in your eyes is about to overflow!" Kitagawa Marin complained.
"Kitagawa, why are you here?" Takuma asked curiously, "This place shouldn't have any cosplay outfits, right?"
"It's just for reference. Recently, many designs in the industry have been leaning towards that formal dress style, so I came to a place like this to observe and confirm some details. Of course, things like the actual clothes will eventually have to be entrusted to a professional Artisan."
Kitagawa Marin explained, then looked at Takuma and Gokou Ruri curiously: "What about Asakura-kun and Kuroneko-san? Why are you two here? A date?"
"Sodayo."
"Why is your tone of voice so weird?" Kitagawa Marin asked with a frown.
"Takuma-senpai uses this way of speaking whenever he finds something interesting." Gokou Ruri explained helplessly.
The girl raised the shopping bags in her hand toward Kitagawa Marin: "We're here to buy things."
"A C-string?" Kitagawa Marin pondered.
"Can you stop mentioning that..." Gokou Ruri's head was full of black lines.
The three of them found a cafe in the mall and planned to sit down and chat. After all, standing in the aisle of a place like this felt a bit subtle and strange.
"So that's how it is. You're going to a banquet, so you came here to buy a formal dress."
After Gokou Ruri's explanation, Kitagawa Marin cleared up the situation: "Regrettable, you've actually already bought it. Otherwise, I would have really liked to see Kuroneko-san try on various formal dresses. Kuroneko-san has a great foundation; I feel like she'd look good in anything."
"I'll pass." Gokou Ruri shook her head expressionlessly. She had no interest in being someone else's dress-up doll.
Meanwhile, Takuma was at the cafe counter ordering.
"That's right, I want black coffee, no milk needed..." Takuma said to the staff member whose name tag read 'Koshigaya Natsumi'. "That's right, the kind without even a little bit of milk, the kind where you can't even see a tiny bit of milk. Even if just a tiny bit of milk exists, I can directly conclude it's not milkless black coffee..."
"Could this guest please stop this kind of (harmonious) harrassing speech?"
The staff girl, who looked about the same age as Takuma and was likely working at this cafe during the weekend, had veins almost popping out of her forehead, but due to work, she had to squeeze out a smile.
"I'm just ordering normally." Takuma said with a straight face.
The staff girl looked at him with his face full of innocence, hesitated for a moment, and then notified the back kitchen to prepare the black coffee.
However, when handing the coffee to Takuma, the girl whispered: "If it's a pad, one layer is just about enough. Too many will actually look unnatural. "
Looking at Takuma's retreating back as he walked away calmly, the staff girl, who had padded six layers, gritted her teeth in anger: This guy definitely did it on purpose!