Within the style boutique one story building, situated on its furthest end where the considerably smaller men’s section was located, Ciel was browsing his options with great leisure. To his side, the young woman, Lilith, supervised him.

Despite her somewhat awkward demeanor, although she is uncomfortable, she tried her best to be of help when he requested it. Ciel did not have any strict requirements for his own clothing, however he did need it to be cheap.

Two pairs of pants and shirts will do for now…

Thinking such, his hand swiped a white shirt off its hanger and checked its tag. That tag read:

‘Printed by the SO-250’

‘None-Living’

In bastion, the price of clothing was mainly determined by three factors. The first was the recognition and reputation of the manufacturing company’s brand. The second was the technology which they used for the clothing manufacturing, those being the 3D clothing printers. The more advanced the tech was, the more it cost for clothing production at a mass consistent rate.

The third and final reason was whether the clothing fell under the: Non-Living or Living category. Non-living clothes were mundane, with no inherent special traits about them. Living clothes however were printed with nano-tech built in and had the ability to repair itself when damaged or be rebooted when turning old and worn out.

Those clothing came with limitations of course, with some possessing higher levels of nano-tech assimilation within them. All those factors affected the standard price of clothing on any given market. That of course was without mentioning the profit stores aimed to gain and the cost of distribution.

Ciel had little money so he could only dare buy the lowest quality. After confirming that the white shirt was of low quality he hoisted it onto his shoulder and continued his browsing.

Five minutes passed until he had finally settled upon four pieces of clothing. He then turned to the young Lilith, who was staring at him with her curious gaze, then asked;

“Is there a dressing room? I would like to see if these fit me… If that is alright of course.”

Lilith was initially caught off guard by Ciel’s sudden question. That was due to them not having a single exchange of words since she began her tailing of him. When she regained her thought process, she shook her head with a smile.

“Of cour—”

Suddenly her words became stuck within her throat. Her eyes widened slightly as she was overcome by uncertainty.

“A-Actually… I don’t know if it is allowed or not… They told me to watch you but… But does that mean I’ll have to follow you inside?!”

Somewhat panicked, she blurted out her thoughts without any filters.

Do I have the choice in the matter then?

Ridiculing her inwardly, Ciel’s outer appearance shifted into an awkward expression.

“Em, I would rather you didn’t…”

He said timidly, perfectly portraying his hesitation.

The young Lilith froze for a moment, then she extended both arms outward and shook them with vigorous denial.

“No, no, no, no! I’m sorry… I— I simply said something stupid is all! Gosh, I’m always like this okay, please pay my ramblings no mind!”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Ciel nodded with an understanding smile. He then asked again;

“Then may I attempt these clothes? You can inspect them as I enter, then again when I exit. That way you can be certain I am not trying to steal.”

Lilith nodded her head enthusiastically.

“Yes, that’s perfect!”

Seeing this Ciel had but a single thought.

Not too bright huh…

*****

About a minute later, Ciel found himself inside a small squared room. The dressing room had full body mirrors facing him within each of its walls with the exception of its door. Once inside Ciel placed down the two sets of clothing on top of a small seat beside him.

He then took a moment to examine his body properly, something he neglected to do even this morning inside his hotel room.

I really am dirty.

Before him was a disheveled mess. He had yet to take a proper shower, which left many small patches of his pale skin beneath a layer of brown dry dirt. His black hair was unruly and peppered by a few grains of stubbornly clinging sand. His attire was no better, his gray ragged clothing appearing on the verge of falling apart.

Truly who could be blamed for not trusting a person with his current appearance. Of course, Ciel had chosen not to shower since he felt it would do nothing to improve his stranding until new and more proper clothing was acquired.

Speaking of which…

He removed his shirt and threw it to the side, he then lifted his first option, the plain white shirt from before and tried it on.

It was a perfect fit.

I guessed correctly it seems.

Ciel’s body had undergone yet another strange anomaly. First his dead state, then the extreme fatigue, followed by sudden growth.

He could perhaps explain away his intense fatigue as a side effect of the blow his soul suffered. Normally, people’s souls remained deeply hidden away from the world’s influence, however when someone acquired a concept accommodation, then it meant binding it to their soul.

Thus they cause their souls to become more tangible, more deeply connected to the physical body and more easily influenced by the world. This then leads to the soul being able to create noticeable effects of a person’s physical state.

Ciel knew his soul was shattered, however he did not know how that anomaly would affect him physically. He doubted that he had discovered the true extent of its negative effects just yet.

He was very wary of this hidden threat, even more so now.

However, even if the two latest anomalies were due to his soul’s shattered state, that did not explain why he had awakened inside a coffin, his heart devoid of its rhythm.

I was dead. My heart was not moving. But if so then why? How could that even be?

Ciel had not died in his past life, an obvious statement to assert since he came from the future. However he could not deny what had occurred upon his awakening.

Everything was simply too strange. If Ciel was in his normal state, then surely he would have already been overwhelmed by all these appearing anomalies, however his current self merely had a tendency to ponder over it every now and again.

Once he recognized that he had no leads, he would push the thoughts away for later inspection. They were a priority in his upcoming investigations, but for now so long as he did not lose his ability to function then there was no rush to his approach.

I must be calm. I must move cautiously. I must be smart.

Ciel was far too vulnerable in his current form. He could not allow himself to make any mistakes, not until he at least regained some of his previous esper abilities.

Whilst dwelling over these matters with a cold indifferent demeanor, Ciel had finished his fitting session. In the end all the clothing had fit him just fine.

It was as he collected these clothes, folding them between his right arm that a sudden thought came to him.

Wait, could it be that my Concept Accommodation ability of ‘The Fool’ is also damaged and thus not working properly? The fooling ability is still active even now, preventing the world from rejecting my presence within this time period, however if that ability is fractured or damaged then maybe it has been able to prevent my ejection but unable to keep my body from reflecting my soul’s actual age?

This idea was improbable, yet when he considered the uniqueness of his state Ciel did not think it to be impossible. No, in fact he felt very strongly that this could be the case. If true then it meant that his body would slowly grow to reflect that of his soul’s age, the age of his future self.

My body currently appears like when I was 17 or 18 years old. That is a 3 year jump. If I go to bed tonight, will my body grow to when I was 20 or 21 years old?

Ciel did not know if his conjecture was correct, however to his luck, he would only need to wait until tomorrow to test if his guess was correct.

Finishing his pondering, Ciel exited the dressing room and met up with Lilith once more. With a satisfied smile he said;

“They fit perfectly, now then where can I pay?”

The young woman seemed pleased to see his content, she then returned a smile of her own and gestured for him to follow her. It was as they walked that a sudden thought came to him and he called out for her to stop.

“Actually, before I pay…”

Lilith turned to look at him, her eyes betraying her bewilderment. Ciel paid her no mind as he examined the many women's clothing around him.

“Could you help me pick out a dress for my friend?”