Chapter 583: Special Merchandise
The proprietress glanced at the fitted black qipao and let a smile pull at the corner of her mouth -- not the professional one she kept on for business, but the kind that moved between women who understood each other without needing to say much.
Her eyes moved from the garment to Satsuki, and she estimated quietly what the qipao would look like on this particular woman.
These two are looking for something a little exciting, aren't they?
The smile grew. Tonight might be a very profitable night -- and not because of the qipao itself. Because of what she kept in the back, the merchandise she didn't bring out for ordinary customers.
"Excellent choice! Right this way." The proprietress moved with cheerful efficiency. "Would you like to try it on first?"
"N-no... just wrap it up, please..." Satsuki's face had been flushed since she walked in and it hadn't faded -- it had deepened steadily, layer by layer.
"Ah, is that so?" The proprietress nodded, stepped out from behind the counter, and drifted close to Satsuki's side. "In that case, come here for just a moment -- let me tell you a few things about caring for this particular garment."
"Caring for it?"
Without warning, the proprietress leaned in toward Satsuki's ear.
"This purchase -- it's for your husband, isn't it?"
Satsuki understood the implication immediately. The face that had been lightly flushed a moment ago went deep red in a single instant -- red all the way down to the base of her neck and across her collarbone, a pale pink spreading outward.
"What -- what are you saying?! I'm just here to buy clothes! Keep asking things like that and I won't buy anything!" Her voice dropped slightly on the last few words -- dropped enough that even she could hear how unconvincing it sounded.
"Ha, ha -- I apologize, I apologize." The proprietress laughed and made a small conciliatory gesture, privately finding this customer increasingly delightful. Flustered to the point of combustion, and yet the purchasing impulse was completely intact.
"But I do trust my own eye for these things. You love your husband very much. Am I wrong?"
"What are you -- what exactly are you trying to say?"
Flustered to the point of combustion. And yet she hadn't denied it. Her face was that shade of red, and she hadn't said "you've misunderstood," hadn't said "I didn't buy it for him," hadn't said anything of the kind. Not once.
The proprietress had her answer. This was exactly the kind of customer she was looking for -- the kind who would open her wallet without hesitation to make her partner happier.
"Would you like your partner to be even more infatuated with you?"
Satsuki's body went rigid for a moment. Her gaze moved off the proprietress briefly, falling on a nearby rack -- on the colorful spread of garments -- then came back.
She didn't say "that's not necessary." Didn't say "what are you talking about." Didn't say anything that constituted a refusal. She just stood there and waited for the second half of the sentence.
The proprietress noted the response and smiled privately.
"If you'd like your husband to be even more captivated by you -- more completely enchanted -- please, come with me. I have some truly remarkable garments that can accomplish exactly that."
Satsuki's throat moved.
If the proprietress was telling the truth -- if those "truly remarkable garments" could actually make Naruto more captivated by her, could make him look at her with more of that look that made her heart rate spike -- she would absolutely follow her.
Not "might follow her." Absolutely follow her.
"Satsuki -- what's going on?"
Naruto stepped forward a few paces, a question on his face.
The proprietress turned toward him, deploying her most impeccable professional smile.
"If you wouldn't mind waiting just a moment, sir."
"I'd like to show your wife a few special items. Gentlemen aren't permitted in this section, I'm afraid -- don't worry, I have absolutely no ill intent."
"It's just that seeing a girl this beautiful in such perfectly plain clothes..."
She shook her head with the gentle regret of someone witnessing an avoidable tragedy.
"...feels like such a waste."
She wasn't wrong. Satsuki's current outfit had nothing particularly remarkable about it. A standard, practical everyday garment -- easy to move in, no particular color, no design to speak of, no distinguishing feature. On Satsuki, in the proprietress' professional opinion, it was a criminal underutilization.
Naruto watched Satsuki follow the proprietress toward the door with the hanging curtain. His expression held no concern.
He wasn't worried about any threat to Satsuki. By Satsuki's standards, the only thing in this establishment that could threaten her was if the proprietress turned out to be Otsutsuki Kaguya in disguise.
And beyond that -- the proprietress genuinely had no ill intent. Her motivations were simple and pure: make as much money as possible. Not through deception or manipulation, but through the straightforward method that every honest merchant aspired to.
And so, Satsuki followed the proprietress through the curtained doorway.