Please tell me I misunderstood this girl!

“I’m certain you’ll feel much better with proper attire.”

I didn’t!
Aaah!

No!
Never!
Not going to happen!!
That is absolutely off limits!!!
I am not letting you play dress up with me!
You’re not family, and you think I’m a toy!
This body may look child friendly and is rather new to me, but it’s all I have.
It’s mine, and I’m not letting you take my clothes off!

I need to get out of here!
I need to move!

The moment Emira turns to fetch her intended dress, I make a break for it, taking off directly towards the wooden window.
However, what I didn’t anticipate was the high quality.
Different from ours, there are no wide gaps to be seen.
Also, instead of a latch, it’s locked with a keyhole that is too small for even me to fit.
Shit!
What now?
Maybe I can sneak out a door if I go through the house?

“Priscea!? Priscea, where are you? Priscea!”

Ugh, I hoped to be gone before this started.

“Priscea! Please don’t leave me too! Priscea!! *sob* Priscea!!!”

Great, now she’s crying.
Still, I need to get out of here.
Maybe I could squeeze through an opening at the door of the room.
There should be a gap at the floor or the key-

Or I may be able to simply leave since someone opened it from the outside.
It seems her crying drew the attention of Sinora.

“Damn, Emira, would you shut up! I need to concentrate and your squealing bothers me so much that a dimwit like you couldn’t even fathom it!”

“S-sister. F-forgive me, but Priscea ran away!”

“What do I care if you lost another doll!? Stay quiet like everyone expects you to be!”

*Slap*

Did she just…hit her sister?
And not lightly either.
It was enough for Emira to fall to her hands and knees.

“Si-sister.”
*Sob*

“What are you going to do? Complain to father? Be even more of a burden? When was the last time he truly conversed with you anyways? Now listen well! If I hear just one more sound from you, tomorrow you will be missing all of your useless dolls! Maybe you’ll be able to find them sliced up in the refuse pile. Remember? The last one that went missing was found there.”

“Waa, hick”

“I said not a sound! You have no idea how long it takes to get such a face just right, so stay quiet! Urgh, if only I didn’t have to reapply everything after that attack.”

My new favorite candidate for the worst sister in existence leaves and closes the door.
And I was too shocked to exit through it first!
I knew Sinora was an awful person, but I didn’t expect this!
It’s her own little sister, for goodness sake!

The girl is now curled up tightly in her bed.
Shit, do I feel awful now!
And that swelling on her cheek looks really bad.
I could leave now through the gap under the door, if only I didn’t feel like this was somehow my fault.
Not that she has such a sister, but that I indirectly caused this situation.
If I could just help her somehow.
Wait a moment!
Could I?

It should be possible to at least heal her cheek.
I mean, I’ve seen fairies grow plants with that energy, which are kind of alive, and magical healers do exist.
I’m fairly certain I could do it too.
So far, I’ve been able to use my magic mostly by feel, and it’s done what I wished, so if I have good intentions, nothing bad should happen, I think.
It’s not like I just want to experiment on her, I’m going to help her!

Yet, I lack sufficient nature energy right now.
So I concentrate on the corresponding essence.
Soon, I feel the emotional effect.
Nature essence is still rather normal to me, maybe a bit stimulating, but normal.
With this kind of feeling, I focus on the white energy, which still accounts for the largest part of my wings, and a portion of it shifts to green.
This much should be more than enough for the poor dear.

Hmm, this is a rather strange feeling, and I believe this stuff is making me care about her even more.
I have to restrain myself from rushing to her side, before I overdo it and something bad happens.
It helps that she isn’t paying attention to anything in her current state, making it easy to approach unnoticed.
Once I get close, I carefully gather the needed essence and form my desired magic, yet when I prepare to release it, the odd feeling that aids me insists that would be the incorrect thing to do.
So instead, I hold out this orb of magic till it gently touches her.
I can feel her life essence, again subtly different to the nature energy I’ve collected, and following my guiding sense, I start to slowly release what I have.
As I said, only a tiny amount directly to her cheek.

With my awareness of the energy, I can feel how it’s disturbed at the point where she got hit.
At first, the energy I attempt to apply is repelled, but with a little force, a portion of it disappears into her.
Suddenly, her life force becomes further disrupted, and I, in a fright, cease adding more.
Thankfully, her essence seems to slowly consume and absorb the energy I forced in, and I now see it working.
The swelling goes down, the throbbing red stops and gradually disappears.

Her energy feels fine now.
With just the small amount that I applied, I think her injury is fully healed.
Probably didn’t even need to convert any essence.
It seems to have worked out somehow.
*Phew*
Wiping my nonexistent sweat away, I look up, only to see a giant, black eye fixed on me.
Emira is staring at me!

Shit, what do I do, what do I do?
As I did a tragedy ago, I slowly take one step backwards, then another.
And as it was then, it’s completely useless now.

“Pr-Priscea?”

“It wouldn’t help if I acted like a doll now, right?”

I think I may have broken her.
She seems to at least be completely stunned.
This is my chance to escape!

“Priscea!”

I need to stop getting my hopes up!

“It’s Akari! As much as I dislike my name. And I’m really, really sorry, but I wasn’t for purchase at the shop! I just wanted some clothes, and if not for my family, I wouldn’t have done something so embarrassing as to try to rob them from a doll! I apologize for the trouble, but I simply can’t stay here!”

And I overloaded her again.

“You…you’re…a real fairy?”

“Sadly, yes, but surely not by choice! So excuse me, but I need to take my leave.”

“W-wait, please! Please, wait!”

Oh no.
If I leave like this, she will surely start crying again, repeating what just happened.

“Yes, what is it? I’m sorry, but I can’t stay here. I have some errands to do today and all this has really taken up my time, so I need to go.”

“I-I didn’t understand everything you said, but if you need clothes, I can give you some.”

Uh, I really do need better clothes, and everything this girl has is of high quality.
Still…

“I won’t let you take my clothes off just for you to play dress up!”

Now Emira blushes furiously, becoming aware of the whole situation.

“N-no! You can look at what you like the most and put it on inside. I won’t peek!”

She jumps up and pulls over a small chest before opening it.
Inside is appropriately sized outfits of all kinds.
Pulling out one after another, she lays them out on the floor before going to some of the dolls and stripping them, adding their dresses to the collection.
Some of them look amazing!
There are even a few lovely gowns, the likes of which someone such as I could never hope to wear.
Yet, for now, I need something at least a bit practical.
Also, I have another problem.

“Do you have things for sewing here? Thread, a needle, buttons?”

“Sewing? Ah, yes. A maid left some here for fixing the dolls.”

She goes to a cabinet and pulls out the respective items from a basket.

“What do you need these for?”

“I’ll need to make a small cut in the dress.”

“Why?”

“How else will my wings fit?”

“Oh! Sorry.”

“No need to apologize for something like this. Do you know how to sew, by chance?”

“I don’t, only the maids use these.”

Well, it wasn’t too difficult to use a needle last time, so I should be able to manage a little adjustment.
Emira places the sewing items on the floor, and I move over to the needle and pick it up.

It’s heavy!
Well, not terribly so, only in contrast to the one I used before.
It’s still manageable, but why do they need such durable needles to sew dolls?
I suppose I’ll have to make do.

Moving over to a particularly nice, but sturdy, white dress, I position it, then pierce the needle where I want to cut.
Once a hole is made, I pull the needle back so only the very tip is against the dress and try to slice the fabric.
Yet the needle barely even scratches it!

“Do you have sheers in that basket?”

“No, it seems that the maids didn’t leave any.”

I suppose I have no choice but to find a way to utilize this shoddy needle.

“Could you please hold this dress, just like this?”

“Okay. Like so?”

“Yes. Now keep still.”

Using both hands, I put all my weight on the needle and draw it down the fabric.
It made a mark!
Barely.
Ugh, this will probably only result in tearing the dress, not create a clean cut as I wish.
Emira shouldn’t help directly either, or she’ll poke her fingers since she’s unaccustomed to a needle.
I still remember how it was for me when I first started.
My fingers were like pincushions for a while.
Backing up, I try to look around for anything that might be of use.

Suddenly, my legs meet something hard, causing me to fall over backwards.
Ow! Ow! Ow!
One of my wings ended up pinched the wrong way under me, and even as light as I am, my full weight falling on it wasn’t pleasant.
As I learned before, these appendages seriously smart when injured, which appears to hold true for what amounts to a sprain.
It lasts only a moment, however, as the energy in them quickly makes the pain disappear.

“Oh! Are you hurt!?”

Looking up, I see Emira nearby, her face full of concern.

“I’m okay, I merely tripped. Don’t worry.”

With that said, I attempt to find whatever it was that caught my feet.
Only to see a familiar silver needle lying on the floor.