Chapter 15: Like the Movies 1
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“That was such a great movie, wasn’t it?” After she took care of the stress on her bladder. Tenha seemed to be in much brighter spirits. “I just loved the ending.”

“It wasn’t anything special.” Nishiki was on the opposite end of the spectrum when it came to opinions on the film. “And the ending was pretty much exactly what I expected.” Of course the romantic pairing would get together and confess their growing feelings for one another. A pretty sappy ending to him. Though admittedly he probably wouldn’t want it to be any different. Most people don’t want to spend two hours on a movie that had an ending with the couple splitting up. Not unless there was a point to it.

“I bet that’s because you were a loser growing up.” She mocked him for not enjoying the movie to the same extent as her. “With that attitude of yours, all the girls must’ve avoided you.”

“That’s not true.” While the part of him never dating anyone growing up was true. Nishiki denied that it was because of his poor attitude. If anything, it was because he made no attempts to pursue a girl as he simply wasn’t interested. “I could totally get a girlfriend if I wanted it.”

“Then why don’t you do that?” She challenged him.

“Well, it’s not something you just force…” He quickly lost his confidence when she actually attacked him. “Beside, what about you? You clearly were into that fox boy. Who I might add isn’t real.”

“All the fox boys back home don’t know what they’re missing.” She spun herself in a twirl to show off her body. Not that there was much to show off, but Tenha thought she was special. “None of them even bother approaching me.” Of course, she saw them going after tons of her friends in the spirit world. That would include Kinuko, who rejected everyone as harshly as possible.

“I can see why.” Knowing her, Nishiki knew he would never approach her for a date even if someone paid him. At his age, the man understood any woman he wanted to date had to have potential for marriage. This girl was immature, lazy, stupid, and a plethora of other derogatory terms he would use to describe someone like her. In no way could that be seen as wife material to him or any other man around.

“You know what? It must be this outfit.” She pulled out the cloth on her to take a better look at it. “I look so old-fashion around here. I bet if I was dressed like that girl from the movie, I’d be swimming in boys.”

“Let me guess. You want to use my money to buy some new clothes.” He spoke sarcastically.

“You read my mind.” She missed the sarcasm and took his arm. “Come on, let’s go.”

“This is hardly how I wanted to spend the rest of my day.” He complained as she led them towards the mall. While Tenha wasn’t knowledgeable on where the trendy spots girls went to for outfits were. She had seen some commercials about the mall being the place to be. So not knowing any better, she took them there.

“You say you don’t want to, but you’re not putting up much of a fight.” She told them as they entered a shop.

“For starters, the difference in strength of humans and kitsune are pretty clear.” Even if he went at 100 percent, that might not be enough to compete at her at 10 percent. “But I guess it’s not too bad to go shopping for clothes.” It had been a while since he got himself a new outfit. Not as long ago as something like watching a movie, seeing as he did need to buy new clothes here and there. However, it certainly had been a long while since he had shopped for this stuff with someone else with him.

“Great, I want to look as pretty as that girl.” She already went to the racks and hung over some tops to see how they’d fit on her. “You should pick some things for yourself too.” Tenha didn’t want to leave him out, but Nishiki disagreed on that assessment for once.

“I don’t think the selection here is for me.” She had taken them to a place made for girls. Specially those of high school age. So none of them fit him physically, nor stylistically. “It’s fine, I’ll just go to another one of those suit stores.”

“You can’t do that.” She stopped him. “As nice as it looks, those things are for business. You gotta look cool if you want the ladies to notice you.”

“I already told you I don’t want that.” He sighed, then decided to relent to her will this time around. At least he wouldn’t have to wear it all the time. As she rushed into the dressing room to try on the different clothes she picked out, he was left to sit on the bench. This got a bit awkward with the stares he got from the others around him. Surely they assumed he was with with a girlfriend or something. Maybe if they actually saw Tenha, they could even believe him to be her father.

Either assumption was something he didn’t want to be viewed as. Though it shouldn’t be that bad. So why did he keep caring so much about their thoughts?

“Tada!” She opened up the curtain to reveal the new outfit she put on. No longer like her shrine priestess appearance, she now looked more like a school girl enjoying a day out with friends. Tenha spun around, twirling up her white skirt once again in a show of pride. “What do you think?”

“…” His felt his heart skip a beat seeing her spin around like that. The way her skirt whirled in the air, nearly revealing what was underneath down there. Not to mention he hadn’t thought a girl could look as cute as her with that button-up blue blouse since his high school days. “It’s fine…” He turned his head down away from her. Instead of saying how he truly felt, the man chose to downplay his feelings.

“If I can get that out of you, then it must be real good.” She bragged. While she didn’t notice the subtle signals from him, Tenha was happy to get the words he said. “I love it too. Do you think they’ll let me wear it while we pay?”

“Sure, I think.” He answered. “But you don’t have to wear that all the time. Don’t forget where you come from.” Nishiki hinted at her to wear her traditional clothing as well. At least so he wouldn’t have to worry about her being a little to similar to humans.

“Of course.” She paid little mind to him as they headed to the counter. “I’ll just wear this if we ever go out in public so everyone can see how cute I am.”

“Joy…” He said with no enthusiasm. Nishiki also lost the little bit of enthusiasm he didn’t know he had when he paid for this outfit too. Why did everything have to cost so much? “Guess it’s my turn now.”

“You know it.” Her ears perked up at the prospect of giving him a change. Already there was a place in mind for her as she directed towards a men’s clothing outlet. This one was targeted towards those a bit younger than him. Mostly teenagers, but also some options for those who would traditionally be in college.

“Hmm, I hope I don’t look like I’m suffering from a midlife crisis.” He muttered to himself as he peeked over some shirts on the rack. Most of them were graphic tees of things he assumed boy were into.

“I think this is perfect on you!” Tenha already had arranged a full outfit for him.

“Wow, thanks.” He was glad he didn’t have to spend long on trying to figure out what would look good on him. “Hmm? For some reason this looks really familiar…” As he scanned the articles of clothing she picked out for him. There was a nagging feeling that there was an ulterior motive for her choosing this for him. “Wait a second… This is what that guy wore in the movie!”

“Hey, if it looked good on him. Then it’ll look on good you too, right?” She nervously tried to come up with excuses now that she was caught.

“I’m not going to be cosplaying as your fictional crush.” He denied her the chance and then went on his own search for his own look. “I guess this will be okay…” After spending less than five minutes choosing something. Nishiki settled on a more plain shirt with a vest over top it. They were a bit loose on him because apparently some people prefer that relaxed look according to Tenha. His pants weren’t changed because there was only so much one could do with slacks.

“Now we’re talking.” After sulking he wouldn’t do what she wanted, Tenha brightened up her mood upon seeing his own fashion style. “You look decades younger now.” While he didn’t notice it, she always felt he looked like a man in his 40s or 50s, instead of actually being half that age. “Here, lean down to me.”

“Why?” He asked as he did what she asked for.

“You just need to have the proper hairstyle to go along with it.” She immediately put her hands over his head to get it styled just right in her eyes. After a bit of fiddling around, she was able to get it to her preferences. “There we are, it’s perfect.” When she turned her attention away from his hair, their eyes met. This was the first time they had ever shared a view such as this.

“Do I… Look good now?” He asked after getting nothing but silence from her. Neither of them had locked eyes and neither seemed likely to budge. The man felt his chest tighten in anticipation of her answer. There was a response he wished she would say. Every second only drove him crazier just waiting for the girl to speak a single word.

“Y-yes…” Finally, she gave her answer to him. Quickly after saying that, Tenha faked a cough to have an excuse to finally move from their still positions. “You should pay for it so we can go home.”

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