Zubu went to fetch some practice swords, while I headed to my room to get dressed for the day. I didn’t have any clothes I really wanted to wear, since the outfit I had yesterday was going to be washed sometime today. I also didn’t want to wear any enchanted clothing, because that would get in the way of progress.

I laid out both of my outfits. There was the really pretty flower kimono and the more modern outfit. I thought about raiding the hand me down room again, but Lorie said I was only allowed one set of clothes from there.

It wasn’t fair… but it was kind of fair. Every disciple gets three pairs of clothes. One for sleeping. One for training and chores. Then another to wear every other day.

I guess that meant they had to wash their clothes every single day. Compared to them I had 4 pairs of outfits, so Lorie was actually being really nice letting me keep so many.

While the long sleeve green shirt was super comfy. All I really wanted was the jeans. If I could get those then I could wear this pink top with it. That would also negate most of the enchantment effects.

I sighed. Oh well. I’ll just wear the modern outfit since I haven’t worn it all that much. Though, This one still had that boring filter enchantment.

It says it would also censor nudity, but I had yet to see it. Maybe I should flip Zubu’s skirt again to test it… maybe not. I still hadn’t recovered from the last punishment. Though, I was curious to see what other type of underwear she wore. Does she have different colors? What about the fancy lacy patterns?

The more I thought about it, the more I wished I could have created an adult avatar. It would have been nice to model lingerie in front of a mirror. I shook my head. What was I thinking?

I looked to Snowball and asked, “What do you think Snowball? Should I wear this one?” I held up the pink top and blue skirt.

“I like it, but I’m a nudist, so what would I know.” She responded.

“Nudist?” I tilted my head looking at her. I felt my cheeks warm up, as I covered my eyes and turned around. “I’m sorry! I didn’t realize you were naked!” I panicked.

“Calm down. It’s only weird if you make it weird. You should join me, it’s super duper liberating!” said Snowball cheerfully.

That’s when a blue window popped up in front of me.

[Princess Aku] PAPA! We need to find Snowball some clothes!

[Isaac] Don’t worry about that.

[Princess Aku] But papa, she’s naked!

[Isaac] She’s covered in fur. It’s just like wearing clothes. Also she seems totally cool with it.

[Princess Aku] But papaaaa! *tantrum noises*

This was a ridiculous situation. I wonder if normal fathers dealt with this sort of stuff too?

[Isaac] Alright kiddo. How about I ask Lorie to make some clothes for her? Would that make you feel better?

[Princess Aku] Lorie can do that?

[Isaac] Uh… yeah… I think so.

[Princess Aku] Okay!

[Isaac] Now that I've got you're attention, do you think you can remove the enchantments from these clothes?

I reached for the modern outfit.

[Princess Aku] Sure!

I had to wait a bit, but got a confirmation a moment later.

[Princess Aku] All done papa! Praise me!

[Isaac] Good job sweetie. You’re a very good girl.

[Princess Aku] *giggle*

The screen vanished as our minds intermingled with one another. I got myself dressed and found myself wishing I had more socks. These black ones were starting to get hard and crusty. The left one was even starting to rip right where my heel was supposed to go.

Not only that, but they smelled horrible. Like a dead rat stuffed into a jar. With a mix of water and peroxide. Then left to rot and eventually explode in my brother’s newly bought hellcat.

With no other choice, I put on my socks and shoes. My brain had been distracted and I realized I hadn’t put my skirt on yet. That was fine. Skirts are so strange. You can still put them on even if you’re wearing shoes. It has a little zipper making it even easier to fit over my foot wear.

Next was the top. I slipped it over my head. It fit snuggly over my torso. I found myself missing my comfy baggy clothes. It was nice to feel blanketed in fabric. Like wearing a snuggy all day. Only less soft.

These clothes weren’t all that tight to begin with. In fact they fit how they were supposed to. The only thing I liked about skirts was that they were somewhat baggy by design. Still, they were kind of annoying when you constantly had to worry about flashing people.

I should see about getting some spanx. Then I wouldn’t have to deal with it. Speaking of which, It was about time I figured out what size I was, so that I could buy my own clothes in the future.

As I tried to turn my skirt around to look for a tag, Lorie popped her head into the room. “What are you up too? Silly girl, you’ve got it backwards. The zipper goes on the side.”

She came over and fixed what wasn’t actually broken, by shifting the zipper so that it was now over my right hip. “Did you change your underwear?” She asked suspiciously.

I blinked then looked at her. “I didn’t even change my socks.” Lorie simply shook her head and sighed.

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I hated when people did that. It’s like they think I’m incompetent or something. I wasn’t a child. I could easily make decisions on whether or not to change my underwear. They were still clean.

She annoyingly went through my private things and pulled out a pink pair with the picture of a little koala bear clinging to a tree and sleeping on the front. It even had a little text bubble with a bunch of Zs to indicate that it was snoring.

I felt embarrassed and Aku was still upset that she didn’t get to wear nice underwear like Zubu. She felt as though Lorie liked Zubu better and was giving her special treatment. She even got a nicer bed than us.

I tried to take the underwear from Lorie, but she wouldn’t hand it over. “I need that to change.” I complained.

“Are you sure you can do it by yourself?” She asked.

“Of course! Don’t ask stupid questions and leave!” I grumbled.

“Don’t take that tone with me. You’re the one putting on your shoes and socks before your skirt.” She retorted.

So that’s what this was about. Lorie was the type to want everything done a certain way. If you did it any other way, then it’d better be really interesting. Otherwise she would correct you. From her perspective, she might have thought I had actually gone crazy.

“You saw that?” I hung my head, feeling a bit embarrassed. What kind of crazy wizard eyes did she have? Were they like my Qi sight? I wonder if I can use it too.

Had she been watching me this whole time? I know she’s seen me naked, but having someone stare at you with their crazy magic eyes was creepy as fuck.

Magic eyes aside, why did I feel like this situation was familiar? Had I done this before? Somehow an image of Shadow came to mind.

Wasn’t this sort of treatment something Shadow would do to me? I could lash out again, but that would probably just make me look worse. The question now was, was Lorie treating me like a child, or Was Shadow treating me like a mental patient?

In the end the only way to undo the damage was to be reasonable and transparent. “Sorry Lorie. I did do all those things. I was being lazy. Can you please not start treating me like a child just because I’m an idiot with no discipline. Also I didn’t know the zipper was supposed to go to the side. Thank you for showing me.” I said.

“Well that was much better.” She ruffled my hair. “Don’t worry. There’s not much you can do to get me to see you as an adult. It’s clear to me you still haven’t gone over the wall yet.” She said.

I tilted my head. “The wall?” I questioned.

“Yes. In mortal society adults are seen as people who are of a certain age, but when you enter the higher ranks it becomes a bit different. Getting over the wall usually happens after you’ve lived 100 years. Once that happens you’ll turn into a real adult.”

“I thought you said adult age was 32 for my rank?” I asked.

“That’s the morally legal age, but the wall is different. Living for a long time can change a person. Going over the wall is basically saying you’ve hit full maturity. However for some that wall is way higher. Like lady Cosmo. She is no where near the wall. It could take her another 1000 years before she fully matures.” She explained.

So it wasn’t about the body maturing. it was the mind that needed to mature. When your body is aged backwards every time you ascend. The concept of adulthood loses its footing. The morally legal age was for people that wanted to smash. While going over the wall was on the mental side of things.

It was kind of like the sense of wonder children had. Adults had it too just not very much of it. I guess Living for a 100 years would change thing. With that much time, you'd probably become stagnant and complacent.

I wonder if that’s why Lorie never ascended past the angel rank. She might no longer have the drive to push forward. She didn't seem depressed. I don't think she’s lost her purpose. She was simply at peace.

“So does that mean you're tired of living? Are you board?” I asked.

Lorie laughed. “Of course not. There's no need to worry about my mental state. I'm happy on my mountain.” She reassured.

“Really you don't get board?” I asked.

“Not when I have such lovely students. Seeing how full of life you children are fills me with lots of joy. You especially, Isaac. The short time we’ve spent together has somehow lasted so much longer than the time I’ve spent with other students. Well except for Yukio, but that child is incredibly stubborn.” She said.

Time running slower around me? That usually wasn’t a good thing. Stuff like that only happened when the other person was a handful. Was she tired of me already? Was I getting on her nerves?

She continued. “You have this spark in your eyes. I’ve never seen a disciple with so much excitement. Watching you grow is a lot of fun. It’s as if I were reliving my first days as a lower spirit rank.” She smiled as she envisioned her own days of youth.

Lorie was actually pretty cool. “I’m happy to be your student. I wish I could stick around a little longer, but Squirmy’s been leaving me messages and my voicemail is almost full.” I said.

“I know. When your trial is over. I’ll see you again.” She said.

I smiled. I’ll bring Alice along. It’ll be fun. She’ll love the trees. I wonder if Zubu will be off world by then. Seeing her again would be nice, but not seeing her would also make me happy. Knowing she finally made it off this world.

“Can I have them now?” I reached again for the underwear. She gladly gave them to me.

“Let’s fix that sock problem. It wasn’t an issue until Lady Cosmo got you those shoes.” She petted my head again. Her hands were the most gentle out of all the head pats I’d received. I think it came with living for so long. Something told me she might be older than Cosmo.

“I’m curious. This whole place follows Japanese culture right?” I asked.

In response she nodded confirming my assumption.

“Then why is it you don’t make people take off their shoes when in doors?” I asked.

“That’s what your curious about? The monastery has a repair and cleaning function. There’s really no need to take one's foot wear off. Of course I only turn it on when it’s only me and Yukio. Once enough students arrive I shut the enchantment down and make them clean everything.”

“That’s ridiculous. Isn’t that a huge waste of time?” I asked.

“It builds discipline. In your case you don’t really need it because of how motivated you are, but when motivation runs out. Discipline is the only thing that’ll keep you going.”

So the key to success was to turn everything into a habit. To others it might look like you’re working really hard, but to you. You’re just doing your daily routine.

“I’ll keep that in mind.“ I said.

Lorie had me sit down and remove my foot wear, while she headed off to get some fresh socks. I also managed to change my underwear while she was gone. I still thought skirts were weird. I didn’t even have to take it off to change.

When she came back she had a clean pair of socks in her hands. Lorie must have smelled the putrid odor from my stockings, because she made a funny face causing me to smile and giggle.

“Isaac that’s disgusting! How could you let it get so bad?! This is not a laughing matter!” She scolded.

“Sorry. I was busy doing things. And I was afraid you’d take my cool shoes away because I didn’t have any other socks.” I answered truthfully.

She tossed the new socks at me. They hit me in the face. Then Lorie lit the old ones on fire with a strange spell. The flames didn’t burn anything else but the socks. They were also black for some reason.

“Wow! Can I learn to shoot black fire?” I asked enthusiastically.

“That stuffs a bit too advanced for you. Let’s stick to the basics for now. “ She said.

I nodded my head and got my new socks on. Then slipped into my light up shoes. It felt great to wear fresh socks. I got to my feet and hopped up and down to see the pretty lights.

“Come help me bring a few things outside.” She said.

“Okay, but can I ask you for a favor?” I negotiated.

“What is it child?” She asked.

“Snowball is naked. Do you have any clothes that will fit her? Or can you maybe use that magic stuff to magic up some new clothes?” I asked feeling pretty childish for the ridiculous request.

She snorted in amusement making me regret bringing it up. I felt like crying as my anxiety rose up inside me. Sensing my emotional state Lorie petted my head, making me feel a little better while at the same time, labeling my actions as childish.

This was so dumb. I’m an adult cosddammit! I swear. It was easier to fall into the role of a child than try and fail to reestablish my adulthood through a tantrum. Besides she might refuse to help if I acted too bratty.

“I’ll see what I can do.” She said.

The Aku in me jumped for joy while the Isaac in me felt a weight off his shoulders now that Aku was happy.