Akira (3)
"Leader... are you really going out dressed like that...?"
"Huh?"
After changing clothes for the first outing I’d had in a while and stepping out, Iris, who’d been waiting by the door, asked in a flustered voice.
For a second I wondered if my sense of fashion was off, and I turned this way and that, searching for anything strange about my outfit, but nothing in particular stood out.
"Why? What’s weird about it?"
"Th-that... why are you wearing a knife-proof vest and sap gloves when you’re just going out?"
"Oh, this?"
Apparently my outfit had been more unexpected than she’d thought, because Iris’s gaze wavered as I lifted my jacket slightly to reveal the stab-resistant vest beneath.
Just like when I’d visited the convenience store before, I was dressed all in black, except this time I hadn’t bothered to bring a kitchen knife with me.
"I just feel uneasy going around unprotected, so I dressed like this. No need to be so surprised."
I waved a hand at Iris to tell her not to worry about it.
It was, in a way, a habit.
I’d spent so long in Solomon wearing a plate carrier all the time that going without one felt awkward, and there was also the compulsion to prepare for a sudden ambush that might come at any moment.
Maybe I wouldn’t get shot in Korea, but I could still get stabbed.
The only way to survive on a battlefield was to assume the worst and prepare in advance.
I’d followed that principle faithfully for three years, and in the end it had carved itself into my body like instinct.
It wasn’t something I could just switch off whenever I wanted.
Still, Iris hadn’t been able to wipe the bewilderment from her face.
"Then why did you make everything else black too? The clothes, the hat, the mask...?"
"Because this is the only outfit I’ve got for going out?"
"I’m sorry, what?"
"I said this is all I’ve got. Other than this, I only have the loungewear I got from Solomon."
If she wanted to know why, she needed only remember that I’d returned to Korea just a few days ago.
I’d only recently become a civilian, after all.
Besides, once I got back, I’d been so busy with streaming that I hadn’t had the time to go shopping.
The only things I’d managed to buy in a hurry online were underwear and a few plain T-shirts for wearing indoors, and I’d picked those up on moving day.
"...Hmm."
Come to think of it, Iris’s outfit standing in front of me was no ordinary thing either.
A pure white blouse accented with a black ribbon, paired with a deep navy wrap skirt that contrasted elegantly with the top — it was the sort of outfit you’d expect for a date.
It was a complete departure from the military uniform I was used to seeing her in.
She must have been really looking forward to this outing, because she’d clearly put effort into it.
If that was the case, then my all-black getup — the one that made me look like I was on my way to commit a burglary — was only going to look stranger by comparison.
Honestly, I knew very well that I looked incredibly suspicious.
Maybe I’d seem less odd if I took off the mask?
But I’d already shown my face on stream, so strolling around bare-faced with all that confidence felt a little difficult.
While I was thinking about how to get myself out of this situation, Iris seemed to come to some decision of her own and walked up to me, her eyes suddenly bright.
"Leader, what exactly is today’s schedule?"
"Schedule? Well, we’ll wander around downtown Seoul, sightsee, do some shopping..."
The moment I said the word shopping, I caught the gleam in Iris’s eyes.
"Then let’s go shopping first. I want to look for some clothes for you. We can take care of the rest after that."
"Uh... you’re okay with that?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, won’t it be boring to shop for someone else’s clothes...?"
I kept forgetting this sometimes, but this was a gender-reversed world.
Generally, women here were more inclined to find shopping a nuisance than men were.
"It’s fine. We can look at clothes for me too while we’re there."
"Oh, right. The clothes you brought with you were only what you’d packed in that backpack, weren’t they?"
I nodded, thinking back to the day I’d first met Iris in Korea.
I still couldn’t quite understand why she’d packed a blouse and a wrap skirt into a backpack, but I figured women had their reasons, so I let it go.
"Perfect. Then let’s stop by a department store first and eat lunch."
"Understood."
From my perspective, it was actually a win.
I’d have had to go clothes shopping sooner or later anyway, and because it had been so long since I’d come back to Korea, I was at a loss for where to take Iris. No matter how hard I thought about it, nothing came to mind.
Since things had worked out like this, we might as well camp out at the department store for the morning.
We could figure out where to go in the afternoon over lunch.
.
.
.
.
"Urgh..."
"Leader, are you all right...?"
"No..."
I weakly shook my head as Iris gently tapped the crown of my head, which was slumped limply on the restaurant table.
The place we were sitting in was a Western restaurant on one of the upper floors of the department store.
It was the kind of place that promised decent quality at a reasonable price.
If you asked why I was like this, the answer was obvious: shopping.
I never would have imagined that three hours of shopping in a department store could be this exhausting.
I’d only planned to buy the clothes I needed, but Iris had been the problem.
In the men’s section, she’d lost her mind completely and started treating me like some sort of dress-up doll, dragging me around with gleeful enthusiasm.
Casual everyday wear, tight workout clothes, neat and dandy suits — she’d made me try on all kinds of outfits, over and over again, in store after store, until I was trembling and convulsing like a fish hauled onto dry land.
And in the end, I hadn’t even bought that many of the clothes I’d tried on.
At least the women’s clothes shopping for Iris had finished fairly quickly; if it hadn’t, I might have ended up smashing through a department store window and attempting a free fall escape.
"Iris... I didn’t realize you were so interested in fashion..."
"I’m sorry... it had just been so long, I got carried away..."
For someone who’d gotten carried away, though, her gaze had been loaded with plenty of personal interest whenever she looked at me.
Muttering to myself inside, I struggled upright and reached for the glass of cold water.
"Haa... now I feel alive again."
The moment the chilled water slipped down my throat, the fog in my head finally began to clear, as if someone had lifted a veil from my mind.
"Excuse me."
"Oh."
Just then, a waitress arrived on cue and began serving the food to our table.
Today’s lunch menu was Bolognese pasta, aglio e olio, and Margherita pizza.
You might think that was a bit extravagant for a stream that had only just begun, but don’t worry.
Today’s meal was on Iris.
It was a free lunch earned as compensation for letting her play dress-up with me.
Honestly, I’d been pretty resentful toward Iris just a moment ago, but the sight of the food laid out on the table made that feeling melt away like snow.
If this was the price of all that dress-up labor, it was a profitable deal.
"All right, let’s eat...!"
"...Pfft."
I grabbed my fork and spoon with a grin, as if I hadn’t just been on the verge of collapse, and Iris, who’d been staring at me in disbelief, finally let out a little laugh herself.
Ignoring her reaction, I hurriedly twirled the Bolognese onto my fork.
After walking for three hours, I was absolutely starving.
I couldn’t see a thing anymore except the food in front of me.
At last, the first pasta of this record-setting day went into my mouth.
"...!"
The tomato sauce had that sweet, lingering richness I’d expected, and the pasta itself had just the right amount of spring to its chew.
And it was free, to boot — which somehow made it even more moving.
Meanwhile, Iris seemed to be enjoying the aglio e olio as well, smiling with evident satisfaction as she slowly wound the pasta around her fork.
Without so much as a clatter of utensils, she lifted the noodles with quiet elegance and placed the fork neatly into her mouth.
So this is what they mean when they say French women are different.
Watching her eat with such obvious enjoyment made me oddly curious.
"Iris, is that good?"
"Yes. I like it."
"Can I try some?"
"...Huh?"
She hesitated for a moment at my words, then her cheeks turned faintly red as she wrapped a proper portion of pasta around her fork again.
Only then did I notice the red Bolognese sauce still clinging to my own fork.
Embarrassed at the thought that I’d almost gone to her plate with my fork without thinking, I sat quietly and waited for her.
"Leader, please open your mouth."
At last, the aglio e olio coiled around Iris’s fork came toward me, and I opened my mouth to welcome it.
The rich olive oil and the sharp, fragrant garlic unfolded across my tongue the moment it entered my mouth.
"Does it suit your taste?"
"Mm!"
I nodded with satisfaction, and Iris gave a small smile before bringing her own fork to her mouth and licking it clean.
Huh?
"Uh, isn’t that dirty?"
"Pardon? What is?"
"My saliva... would still be on it."
"Ah..."
For a moment, silence settled over the table.
Sensing the atmosphere had become strange, I was about to say something else, but Iris got there first.
"It’s fine. In Korea, people usually share food, don’t they?"
"W-well, yeah?"
At that, I suddenly felt awkward, lowered my head, and attacked the Bolognese pasta, while Iris continued eating in silence, her face bright red.
There had been a small incident in the middle, but overall the meal ended up satisfying, and Iris and I were able to leave with our stomachs full and ready for the next part of the day.
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.
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"A shooting range?"
"Yep. Thought I’d loosen my hands up after a while."
"I didn’t know there were live-fire ranges in Korea."
"The regulations are strict, and the selection of guns is pretty limited, though."
After lunch, we headed to a live-fire shooting range a short distance from the department store.
The available calibers were .22 LR, 9mm, .38 Special, and .357 Magnum.
In other words, it was a place where you could only shoot handguns.
I’d heard there were places somewhere that allowed rifle shooting too, but there wasn’t one nearby, so this newly opened range was the best choice.
Since it was a newly established live-fire range, the quality of the firearms was likely to be decent.
As we descended the stairs leading down to the basement where the range was located, I asked Iris, "Since we’re paying to shoot anyway, how about a little wager?"
"What sort of wager?"
"Loser has to grant the winner one wish. How about it? Just shooting straight wouldn’t be very fun, right?"
I grinned playfully and shrugged.
If former soldiers were meeting up to have fun, you couldn’t leave out a shooting-range bet.
"...?"
As we went down waiting for her answer, I suddenly realized that the footsteps of Iris following behind me had stopped.
Turning around in confusion, I witnessed something I had never seen before.
"Leader..."
"...Huh?"
"That wish... can be anything, right?"
Her pair of blazing red eyes were rippling with an emotion so intense I couldn’t even begin to guess what it was.