-04- A Dizzying Shopping Date With Sacchan!
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We once more hopped into her red two-door coupe, and I was ready and raring to go!  I had my new smartphone in hand, fully charged once more since I plugged it in before making breakfast for us.  Saiyuri said as shotgun, my job was to be the navigator, so using the built-in mapping software, she gave me the name of the mall we were heading to and a blue line showed up from where we were, to where we were going.  There was a little white car icon that traced over the blue line as we went and I was just as enamored looking at it, as I was looking out the window and seeing so… much.

I mean there were just buildings and roads and people everywhere!  I wasn’t oblivious to it from when I exited the train and went into the terminal to wait for Saiyuri, but just seeing it again now, it really hit me.  I was just another drop in the ocean.  Not like in Tono where everyone knew me as the daughter of the Sora family.  Here I was nobody, and at the same time anybody I wanted to be.

Not that I knew what that last part was quite yet.  I wasn’t one of those types who imagines themselves as something unbelievable, like a secret agent or having mystical powers.  It wasn’t Chuunibyou, not that I’ve met someone who had it even though I read it was a common thing for some people to go through around my age.  I just mean that… I’m Sora Hanabi, but I’m not necessarily forced to be the spunky bookworm farmgirl that I was known for back home.

I could be more than that, now!

I could be anything I wanted.  A cool beauty perhaps, like one of those beautiful student council president types, or maybe one of those modern gyarus who are super fashionable and always wearing the latest trendy clothes and accessories?  I don’t know about dying my hair, but I won’t take that option off the table.  I was no stranger to physical activity, so maybe I could come off as being sporty!

I had no idea where to begin, but Saiyuri did when she said it before we went on this drive.  That’s what the mall is for!  It’s a wonderland for women who want to change who they are on the outside.  For the inside part, that was going to be all me.  With her help, of course.  

When it came to makeup I really didn’t know the difference between ochre and okra.  They both sounded tasty to me, but there are things like skin tone to account for, and mom was just so beautiful she didn’t even need it!  It wasn’t only dad, many of the other townies also thought she was beautiful.  They often called her a gilded lily when she wasn’t listening, and I agreed.  I’m not saying she was wasted on dad or anything.  I don’t think for a second that I would be me if that were the case, but she really stuck out as a top class beauty.  If she remained in the big city instead of moving to Tono, she probably could have been a magazine model!

I… don’t have that level of confidence in myself, but I definitely think I had my own appeal, somewhere, and I wanted to find it, and put it on display for everyone to see!  I’m a firework, after all. Just like my name, it’s in my very nature to want to be admired by others!

So, I navigated us to the best of my ability, and we soon arrived at the mall.   It was different from the one I’ve visited in Tono City.  That one was a bit of an open-air strip mall.  Most of the shops there were family owned for generations, since there weren’t any real modern superstores or anything that had taken up the real estate.  From produce stalls and butchers to clothing shops that doubled as tailors, even an old dagashiya that more adults went into than kids, you name it.  That place was always warm and personal even to me and my family who only visited once every other month.  But this place simply screamed “Who are you?” or  “Will you be paying with cash or credit?”  Nothing like “How’s Kaede doing?” or “You still don’t have a younger sibling yet?”

I was excited by the hidden power granted to me by anonymity.  No one here had any idea who I was yet, so I could become whatever I wanted, whoever I wanted, and it all started here.

Unbuckling my seatbelt when Saiyuri finally found a parking spot and turned the engine off, I excitedly exited the car and gave an enthusiastic squeal.  Which store should I visit first?  I had no idea, but I’m sure she did.  Homemaking skills aside, the rest of her definitely screamed mature woman. Saiyuri wore makeup and dressed nicely.  By comparison, my own dress seemed pretty plain, but that was what we were here to fix.

I did have a bit of money saved, but when I brought the matter up she stopped me immediately.

“Hanapi, do you really think Kaede and I didn’t talk about this?  Your folks put aside some money for this, knowing full well it was necessary.  Even if by some chance you use it all, I will take care of the difference.”

“Sacchan〜♡”

I was giddy, and just the teeniest bit nervous, so without thinking, I reached out for Saiyuri’s hand and held it.  I could feel our fingers interlock, and it was a different kind of feeling just now that passed through me then when Yumi and I would do that with both hands.

I felt… like I was on a date.

I mean, Saiyuri was going on about me being her young bride, thanks to cleaning up the apartment and feeding her my love-love omelet yesterday. We had even shared the parfait like super close friends from the very beginning, so maybe I was just letting a strange feeling overtake me.  I don’t know if she’s just being accomodating to me, letting me hold her hand, but… I liked it.

I liked being next to a beautiful flower like her.  It made me feel beautiful too. I’ve always enjoyed soft, beautiful, and romantic things, so this little matter of holding hands with someone who filled in that criteria, just stoked the smoldering embers inside of me.

When we passed through the doors to the mall, the smell in the air changed instantly.  It was like a mixture of floor cleaner with sugar and lemons now.  Instead of the paved road beneath my feet like at home, this one had waxy wooden floors.  People moved endlessly back and forth around us, like waves on a beach, and the first place Saiyuri took us to was what looked like a tall black box.

It was an information directory, which listed where all the stores were.

“Where do you want to start?”

“Hmm, what do you suggest, Sacchan?  Clothes or accessories first?”

“Accessorization comes after the clothes.  No matter how cute your accessories are, you have to know what you are accesorizing with first.”

I listened to her sage advice.

“What do you think would look good on me?”

Saiyuri took a moment to think.  What did she think of me, I wonder?  Was she like a sculptor, who could see the finished art before even putting the chisel to the stone?

She snapped her fingers, and smiled.

“Let’s visit Uniqlo first.  That’s probably the standard.  Seeing how you look in something from there, will probably help me get a better idea.”

So, I kept close to her as we walked to the middle of the mall where that store was, I kept close to her not because of the throngs of people, but… just because.  I wonder which one of us had the bigger smile on our face?

Entering the clothing store, there were racks and racks of clothes!  Everywhere!  I was just five steps through the door and already I wondered if I would be able to find my way out of this labyrinthe.

Saiyuri showed off her reliable side to me once more, dragging me along to a certain rack with endlessly colorful clothes. “Looks to me like you are a medium.  So let’s try on something from here.”

She would pick up various clothes still on the hanger and press them against me as she puckered her lips and furrowed her eyebrows.

“Do you have a color preference?”  She asked me suddenly.  I answered that I didn’t.  I didn’t care what color anything was, really, only that it made me look nice and fashionable.  For now I completely trusted her judgment, and instead hoped to learn from her shopping for me, what kind of clothes suited me, and then would get daring with my choices after adjusting to being the made-over Hanabi.

“Then, you strike me as someone who would just rock the color blue!”

Once she said that, no less than six different kinds of dresses were thrust into my arms over the next five minutes.  Then she took me over to a dressing room, and I tried them on as she suggested.

The first was a thin, almost translucent sky blue long-sleeved shirt which had sleeves that ended in a bell.  It had three buttons so I could perhaps expose a bit of cleavage, but well, there wasn’t all that much!  The accompanying skirt had circle pleats and it was quite… airy.  The full length mirror showed me a different me, but it didn’t quite feel… well… me.  The me that I wanted to see in it.

Saiyuri peeked her head in and nodded a few times.

“Well, it was just a shot.  You don’t seem to like that one, so try on another. Don’t worry, this is just how fashion is, you gotta try everything until something just sticks!”

Again, her advice was just what I needed to hear.  So I changed out and this time it was into something less elegant.  A short sleeved shirt with a wide neck that showed off my collar bones but not much else.  I also had a pair of blue jeans that were a bit tight, but made me like my butt a whole lot more.

Saiyuri popped her head in the curtain once more and we both nodded at this selection.

“Definitely you.”  She said, and I had to agree.  This one was nice, because I was already comfortable in jeanswear and it wasn’t too conservative.  It gave off that sporty-but-trendy look I hoped to also have in my arsenal.

The others were also hit and miss, but mostly a miss.  We ended up walking out with just that one outfit we both liked, and she dragged me from clothing store to clothing store until I was wanting to take a breather for a few minutes.

I had four new sets of clothes in total.  My last purchase was… instinctual.

A dark blue double breasted coat to go with my new jeans, a jersey-and-lace T-shirt with a cute octopus print on the front going with an above-the-knee belt-pleated skirt which was brown, but on the darker tan side, and it looked very fitting with the contrast.  

The last was found at a store called Blue Blue.  It was this amazing blue jean monstrosity.  I wouldn’t have even noticed it if I hadn’t seen that girl check it out in a mirror.

She… was hot.

I mean, hot!

She had to be a gyaru, because I don’t think yankee culture is a thing anymore.  But she gave off serious delinquent vibes.  I didn’t care though, because she looked stunning.  The outfit she was holding up was complicated but amazing.  It had a high neck which was grey, then came down into something like a blue jean material, but I don’t think it was and I don’t know what it was called.  The fabric separated at the shoulders to give them exposure, but also had long sleeves that were grey like the neck and I think it was some kind of ridged wool.  The top of the sleeve had a strap which could attach it to the shoulder but looked good hanging down, like a banana peel.  There was this brown wide fabric belt-like strap that went across the chest through two loops and it was uniform all the way to the waist where it had a light grey belt and fell into a darker toned blue-grey skirt that went mid-thigh.

She ended up putting it back on a rack, and I quickly rushed over to where she deposited it and snatched it for myself, rushing into a changing room, not even knowing if it would fit.

Much to my elation it did.  I… loved it!  I thought for just a moment that I could be a bad girl if I wore this and I could see myself breaking some hearts as that naughty Hanabicchi.

You shouldn’t play around with this firework, because you’re gonna get burned!

I burst out to show Saiyuri who gave me a very strange look.  I’m pretty sure she caved to the face I was making that screamed “Please buy me this!!!”

I ended up just wearing it right out of the shop, my original clothes in a bag now with the others.  Saiyuri suggested some knee-socks and I agreed.  We continued on our tour of the mall by next heading to Me%, a place she had on good authority was the trendiest accessory shop in the mall.  Heck, in the big city itself!

Of course I was gonna run wild in there!

I played twenty questions with Saiyuri, but mostly for what to pick out.  The only thing that was off the list were earrings.

“Why not a pair of earrings?”

She hadn’t noticed, even though my hair is short and my ears are visible, I had never gotten my ears pierced.

“Would you like to?”

I… hadn’t ever really thought about it.

Mom wore studs.  So… ear decorations… weren’t something I really considered.  Yumi didn’t have her ears pierced either.  How did I overlook something important to fashion like that?  They didn’t offer the service here, but Saiyuri said to just ask her whenever and she’d take me to get them done.

While I didn’t think mom would mind, even though it was minor, it was still a body modification, and I thought I should talk with her before making that decision without her input at least.

I ended up trying on all kinds of stuff.  Hair clips, ribbon tie-ins, bracelets, a watch… I ended up getting a fancy new hairbrush.  I had no idea the plentiful variety of things a single store could sell.  That wasn’t also the Amazon online marketplace.

I chose a few things, and Saiyuri also chose a few things she thought would suit me as well.  I was decked out with all the bells and whistles.

I had a Casio watch on my right wrist, bracelets on my left, a pair of hair clips with cute little goldfish decorations on them to match the octopus print shirt I had.  I also got a pair of sunglasses, though I would have to take my own off to wear them right, or use contacts which I wasn’t sure I was comfortable doing.

I heard they could get lost behind your eyes if you forget to take them out before you go to sleep!

After that, the next stop was a makeup boutique, but Saiyuri wanted to take a break for a moment, and we were next to a bookstore when she said that, so I asked her if she wanted to come and find me here when she was ready to go on.

So, I went in, leaving my date behind and being a little selfish.

Maybe I was being too selfish already.  I don’t know if that was the case, but I couldn’t resist not visiting a big bookstore like this!  It was wall-to-wall with books and I went straight for the romance section.

I… could read regular romance novels.  I wasn’t averse to them, but I liked shoujo ai, and josei ai genres the most.  Something about them always gave me warm and fluffy feelings.  In a way it was what I wanted my friendship with Yumi to be like, but sadly never bloomed into.

I was so engrossed in a book I plucked from the shelf, I hadn’t noticed I was meandering around and bumped into her.

Her.

The blonde delinquent girl whose dress I pilfered and was wearing now.  She was wearing a grey shirt with short sleeves that was wide at the top and came down over her right shoulder.  She wasn’t too tanned, but had a healthy complexion.  She had long eyelashes and dark makeup around her almost almond eyes.  Dark red lipstick was prevalent on her puffy lips along with what looked like a purple outline around it.

She was holding a book in her hands which I obviously disturbed her perusing.  She stared at me, rather judgmentally, and then clicked her tongue.

“You like it too?”

I looked at the cover of the book she was holding.  It was a super famous series loved by many for it’s heart-wrenching backstory called Comatose Countess, written by the famous web novelist Beloved Fairy!

This girl was currently holding the fourth volume, which I didn’t even know was completed yet!  Wow.  Em Publishing was really quick at the editing and getting it out there!  The art on the cover was top notch as well.  It featured the female lead, Mazona, and the rival for her main love’s affection, Harumi, who was also her own mother!

“Yeah, Comatose Countess, right?  Huge fan!” I answered her cheerfully.  “I’m on team Mazona x Hina!  But that’s because Hina-chan is so cute and loves her onee-chan, but hasn’t yet realized it completely.  What about you?  What’s your Stan?”

She seemed taken aback at my intensity, but I couldn’t help it.

“I… mean your clothes.”  She pointed to the outfit I was wearing.

“Oh.”

“I saw it over at Blue Blue.” She said “Didn’t think I could pull it off, but… maybe seeing you in it, I might go back and try it on.”

“It’s pretty comfortable.  I think I’d look better in it if I wore some longer socks.  What do you think?”

“Longer socks?  Why?  If ya got legs, might as well show ‘em off.  I would.”

She sounded supremely confident.  But I was well aware I was out of my league in this conversation.  So I turned it back to the book.

“So, your favorite pair?”

“Yokabe.  Definitely.  There’s no way the author has someone with kabe in a characters name and not having a Kabe-don moment planned for her and Mazona.  I’m waiting for that.  Plus she’s a bitch, and I like her!  She takes care of family first even though she’s got it tough.  Gotta respect that more than anything.”

Yokabe?  That green-haired bully character?  This girl really is a delinquent!!

But… that’s not a bad thing.  Because even bullies sometimes are misunderstood since they sometimes have situations that aren’t known and good reasons for behaving the way they do.

She ended up lifting the book in her hand and closed it, offering it out to me.

“Give it a read if you haven’t yet.  You might find a new ship to sail.  Also, if you want a good fashion tip, with an outfit like that, you’d be better off shopping at Wednesday’s Alice rather than Me%” 

After accepting the book she was holding, she simply walked away.

I never got her name, just a memory.  And the lingering scent of red roses in the air where she was.

I had owned the other three volumes already, but they were left on my shelf at home.  I also was a regular to the web novel site Beloved Fairy wrote on, so I could read it there.  But I’m the kind of person who supports the author directly, especially when her works make my heart flutter, and then send me to the depths of despair and heartbreak.

She really knows how to manipulate my heart!

Which is yet another reason why I love romance. It can be a lasting slow burn, or a brilliant flare-up and premature explosion of passion!

I closed my eyes and congratulated myself.  I got a fashionable girl to talk to me, and I think it went well.  I could definitely make friends.  I was sure of it!  Maybe... if I see her again, I could work up the courage to ask for her contact information?

I ended up putting the book I had selected back and brought the fourth volume of Comatose Countess to the register.  I walked outside the store and sat down on an available bench for a brief moment until Saiyuri came to find me.

“Hey sport, want to grab a bite to eat?” I was asked by her.

I definitely did.  All this shopping and walking around left me hungry.

“Is pizza okay?” I requested.  We had one pizza place in Tono City but they didn’t deliver so far out to where we lived, so we had to go there to eat in person if we wanted it.  It tended to be a birthday thing for me.  I simply adored a cheese and mushroom pizza, and would rather have it than a cake.  

I stood up and noticed the bags we should have had were gone.

“I put them in the trunk for now.” she answered, reading me like a book.  Just like the one in the plastic bag I was currently holding.  We made our way to the food court, and I continued to hold her hand.  It was warm, and I was too.

On a date with a beautiful woman, a chance encounter with another, having fun shopping for clothes and accessories, then having a fun and friendly bite to eat in the middle of all this activity?

There wasn’t a single moment since I arrived here that I wasn’t having a blast!

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