Nia stretched and rolled out of bed. Today was opening day for their new shop, and she didn’t want to be late for the opening. She reached over, and shook Mia awake, and then headed for the bath. The four of them, Mia, Maple, Molly, and the former tentacle monster, Ku lived in the back of their new shop. So she didn’t have much reason to worry about being late. The living quarters were cozy with a few bedrooms. Maple, Molly, and Ku all had their own room, there was a guest room, and Nia shared her bedroom with Mia.

There was a single large bathroom for all of them. With a nice big bath. One that Nia made her way towards after grabbing her clothes for the day. Her mind drifted to Ku. She made for a very cute tentacle girl. Ku had been ecstatic about her change after Kuwi had turned her into the cute girl she wanted to be. Although apparently, she had been a newborn when they found her, and had no name. Before any of them could think of a name for her, Kuwi had named her.

After that both Kuwi and Arlie had left them to their own devices. The four of them had decided not to just leave young Ku alone in the ruins and brought her back to town with them. Not without setting some ground rules though. They could not have Ku turning every person she sees into a cute loli. That would have been a recipe for trouble, for all of them. By bringing her into town they had taken responsibility for her. Meaning that it was their job to keep the monster girl out of trouble.

Reaching the bathroom, she slipped inside and placed her change of clothes on the counter. Before slipping out of her nightgown, and tossing it into the half-full laundry basket. Then she slipped past the thick bath curtain, where she found she was not the first to reach the bath. Ku was soaking in the warm tub water. At least she didn’t have to draw the water, but she was still slightly uncomfortable around the tentacle monster. Although Mia had things the worst. Poor Mia was still trying to get used to being a small girl, but on the flip side their relationship had only grown since that fateful encounter in the ruins.

Nia had spent every night since that encounter comforting Mia, and trying to help her adapt to her new form. Mia had actually gotten much better. She no longer got her pronouns mixed up, and could wear female clothing without freezing up. Although she was still nervous about her family. A family that had been invited here. They had all sent letters to their families and were expecting them to come here to Bordertown. All of them were nervous about this upcoming encounter, but it was something that had to be done. Reversing their change was something far easier said than done. Even if it wasn’t much of a change for all of them. Maple as a dwarf had been small before the change, and honestly, her change had been an improvement. While Molly had always been short and being female was the only real change for her.

As she slipped into the water, Ku spoke, “Good Morning Nia! Sleep well?”

“Well enough I guess, but it was rather hard to sleep knowing our shop was going to open today.”

She gave a wry grin, “Yeah, I couldn’t sleep either. I couldn’t help but worry. What if the clothes aren’t cute enough? What if they don’t like our selection of cute trinkets? What if...”

She stopped Ku from rambling. Honestly she thought Ku had great taste. Ku had made many of the choices for their merchandise. They had decided after they got back to town to open up a shop that specializes mainly in cute clothes, but Maple knew some crafting skills. Maple made a number of rather cute accessories, and Ku had helped. Nia and surprisingly with some help from Mia had made the clothes. Although Ku did make a few of the designs. In fact, Ku seemed to have a great sense for what looked cute, and what didn’t. Perhaps that was due to her nature as a created monster intended to turn people into cute lolis. 

As for why Nia had been in charge of making the clothes, It was due to the fact that she had always been repairing their party’s clothing, and mending their leather armor. While Maple did the maintenance for their weapons and metal armor. Mia apparently had picked up some of the skills needed to do the easy parts as well. They could not beat Carol, the town tailor in terms of quality, but the two of them managed to make samples that the guild found passable. Giving them an okay for starting their shop. Although the guild did offer to find them a teacher, to help them improve their skills.

Molly had her woodworking hobby and made a number of wooden figurines. Including one that was a replica of Kuwi. Thankfully, Molly had the foresight to put her in clothing. Unlike their encounter where she had been rather naked. Not to mention wet, as if she had just been in a bath.

“It will be fine. I am sure of it.” she said. Just as she heard the rustling of clothes. It seemed the others were finally here for their morning baths as well.