I didn’t know whether you were allowed to just try on a shirt and continue to walk around the store, but Erika seemed to be fine with it.

I guess I’ll trust her for now. The price tag was still scratching against my neck though.

“Alright, I want you to try on this coat.”

It was denim jacket with wool on the inside. Putting it on over the white t-shirt, Erika put her hand on her chin and began to examine it. After a short moment, she sighed.

“That would work better with a darker shirt underneath. Here, put on this shirt and then put the coat back on.”

She handed me a dark-green shirt.

I passed her the jacket and began to put on the shirt over the top of my white one.

“Hey, that won’t look good. Take off the white one first!”

Ah, I guess I have to go back to the change rooms.

…

After putting on the new shirt, I made my way back over to her.

“Good, now put this on.”

With the denim jacket back on, Erika examined my appearance again. This time, she was nodding her head.

“Mm, mhm, that’s good. It’s almost perfect.”

“Almost?”

“You need some jewellery to go with it.”

“Am I going to be able to afford that?”

“Don’t worry, there’s a place on this floor that sells jewellery for cheap. Most students only go there for alterations on their clothing, but they don’t realise that they’ve got cheap rings and chains as well.”

I guess she was well-acquainted with the stores in this area.

As she continued to look around, I looked at the price tag on the jacket.

—20,000 Points.

It honestly wasn’t that bad for what it was, considering the weirdly inflated prices of everything at this school.

“Are you surprised by the prices, Akira? This is the most budget store in the school.”

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

I guess she was looking out for my wallet too.

If that was the case, I might as well get some more casual clothes to wear. This was all a part of normal life, the shopping with friends and whatnot, right? My over-minimalism probably wasn’t the best way to live life anyway—it was all just a byproduct of the Ideal Human Project.

“Alright, that looks really good on you, Akira. Do you like it?”

“Yeah, I might get it.”

“Yay! You should show that to Sumire as well, I’m sure she’d like it.”

Sumire actually did have a much better fashion sense than I did, but she wasn’t really the type to hand out compliments.

I began to make my way to the registers.

*

I noticed that I was being watched by quite a few people. There were several girls on different tables around us who had been keeping an eye on me—it was definitely related to Kai.

Oh well, I’ll deal with that later.

“Wasn’t that fun, Akira?”

Erika was smiling at me from across the table as we waited for our food to arrive. I had my newly purchased bag of clothes sitting on the seat beside me.

“Yeah.”

“Anyways, I feel like I don’t know that much about you. Where did you come from before coming here?”

“I thought you said that that type of talk was for strangers.”

She laughed.

“Aha, sorry. I was just teasing you before. I’m just more used to a casual tone, you know?”

The waiter arrived.

We got our food and Erika looked at my salad.

“Is that really all you’re going to eat?”

“Yeah. It’s what I usually eat.”

Granted, I was probably going to have some more protein when I went back to my room, but this was enough for now. It was healthy, at least.

“Are you sure? Here, take a piece of my fried chicken.”

Before I could say anything, she dropped it on my plate.

“That looks like such a sad meal without any meat,” she continued.

We began to eat our food.

I guess Erika really was a nice person. This outing was lasting a little longer than I expected, but it was also more enjoyable than I expected.

…

It wasn’t long before we both finished. Unlike Sumire, Erika was a quick eater.

“Ah, are you full, Akira?”

“Yeah, pretty much.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to get anything else?”

I guess she was concerned about how much I was eating. It really wasn’t a problem.

“Yeah. I’m fine.”

“If you say so.”

We got up and continued to walk around the mall. Erika was still scanning all the displays that we walked past, observing the various pieces of clothing. The number of students around the centre had begun to drop off since it was starting to get late.

“Hey Erika, do you mind if I go back now?”

“Already? What’s the time.”

I looked down at my phone—8:01 pm. It really was starting to get late.

“Oh, I didn’t even realise! Sorry, let’s both start going back to the dorms now.”

Erika sped up and walked beside me. The elevator down led to both the girls’ and boys’ side of the dormitory, so it made sense that we were walking together.

“So, what’s Fern doing today?” I asked.

“I’m not really sure. I guess we do hang out a lot so I’m not sure what he really does when I’m not around.”

“Do you think he’s looking for you?”

“Well, he texted me this morning, but he hasn’t said anything after that.”

The elevator door opened.

“Which level are you on?” I asked.

“Ah, I’m on the 54th floor, so we can just go down.”

“Sure.”

The slight pressure of the elevator pushed against my feet. Erika was leaning against the small metal handrail on the side of the elevator, fixing up her hair whilst using her phone as a mirror.

After a short moment, we arrived at her floor.

“Alright, I’ll see you soon, Akira!”

She walked out for a moment before turning around.

“Ah, actually, are you free tomorrow?”

“I suppose so.”

She laughed a little before turning back around.