The Final Course of Our Date
After dinner with Alice, she and I had agreed to keep the night going a little longer.
"Being with you is a true delight."
"...I... am too."
"Hm? What did you say?"
Her eyes curved into crescents again. She was teasing me — she'd heard every word, and that look was nothing but a joke.
"...I said I'm having fun too."
In the end, she wouldn't be satisfied until she heard it properly from my own mouth.
"Heh. But of course."
Her shoulders seemed to rise a little higher.
So she's the type who's secretly weak to praise?
I'd gotten that impression before. A few compliments, a simple thank-you, and she would preen.
"Come. Let us go on to the next."
"...Isn't it about time we headed home?"
The night was pitch-black, without a single star in the sky. Korea's streets might be safe enough in an ordinary world, but this was a setting where villains ran rampant. After dark, nowhere was truly safe.
"Hehe. Worry not. Should you grow weary and fall asleep, I shall carry you home myself."
"...Just how long are you planning to keep this up?"
The night streets still blazed with the city's lights, and there were still plenty of people out.
"Mmm... I have prepared an amusement meant for you alone. It is not yet time to see it, so let us play a little longer."
"...Haa. Fine."
I didn't have a choice anyway. Even if a villain appeared and started something, the girl standing in front of me was, without question, one of the strongest beings in this entire world.
Even Soyeon was written as barely winning, and only right before she died.
If she hadn't made use of counter abilities, Soyeon would have lost.
"Come. Over here."
"...You're still holding on?"
"Hehe. You have been holding my hand perfectly well all this time, and now you grow shy?"
I took the hand she offered.
"This time, let us go buy clothes."
"Clothes?"
"Your outfit today is cute, yet you fidget as though you are wearing clothes for the first time. It is terribly awkward."
"I-is it...?"
...Was it really that obvious I'd never worn one before?
"I have seen all I wished to see, so for the time that remains, I shall let you wear something comfortable."
The dress I'd put on for the first time was more uncomfortable than I'd expected. A white tee underneath or not, that only covered the top. Beneath the dress there was nothing but underwear, and the feel of wind slipping between my legs was something I still wasn't used to.
...But seriously, how much longer is she planning to drag this out?
Led by Alice's hand, I stepped into a department store.
"...It's huge."
"A department store I frequent."
She must have come here often. Without stopping anywhere along the way, she headed straight for a clothing shop on the second floor.
"Welcome."
A polite greeting from the staff. Alice waved her hand as if the courtesy were a bother, and at that gesture the employee kept their smile, bowed their head, and stepped aside.
"Hmm... Try this on."
"...This?"
What she'd chosen was an off-shoulder blouse and a short skirt — the exact same outfit she was wearing now.
"Go and put it on. The fitting room is this way."
"...Okay."
I took the clothes from her and headed for the fitting room.
Clothes... how do I even take these off?
I'd more or less forced them on in the first place. I started with the skirt, lifting it and hauling the dress up over my head. Getting it from my waist past my shoulders was the hard part, but somehow I managed to wriggle free.
When I came back out dressed, her brow furrowed slightly.
"...However did you undress and dress, for your hair to end up in such a state?"
"Haha... well..."
"Enough. Try this one next."
"W-what?"
After that, I kept changing at Alice's demand.
An office-suit look.
"Hmm. It suits you. So neat. I like it."
"...The bottom is way too short."
"That is the charm of it."
A tidy preppy look.
"How cute. It pairs wonderfully with that adorable face of yours."
"...Y-you think so?"
"Do you not look in the mirror?"
A military look.
"...This one gives me a bad feeling."
"It suits you well enough, and yet your expression is unpleasant."
This... feels like the PTSD is about to hit.
And that wasn't the end of it — winter fashion, summer fashion, animal pajamas, techwear, and on and on. It felt less like looking for something to actually wear and more like running through concept cosplay.
"This one... the clothes are a bit big...?"
"Worry not. Throw it on roughly and pull the cord, and it will fit your body perfectly."
"...That's amazing."
"Mm... The technology has been around for quite some time, and yet you truly have no interest in clothing."
Just as she'd said, I put the clothes on loosely and tugged the cord at my waist. The outfit cinched itself to my figure in an instant. Watching clothes shrink in real time was a strange sight.
...It actually works?
I had no idea of the principle, but the clothes were probably imbued with an ability. The costumes heroes wore were almost all made from ability-granted materials, after all.
"Hm. Good. Then let us try this one next."
"Okay... I'll go put it o—"
...A bikini?
"W-why are we buying this here?!"
"...Tch. No fun at all. You know nothing of atmosphere."
Why was there a bikini in a department-store clothing section in the first place? It wasn't even summer yet.
"A-anyway, this is enough already, isn't it?!"
"Very well. A pity, but I am satisfied with this much."
Her eyes swept over the last outfit I'd put on.
"As expected. With a frame like yours, dressing you is a pleasure."
"...Then I'll go change back."
"Hm? What are you saying? We are buying it so you may wear it now."
"Right now...?"
What I had on was the techwear. It had shrunk to fit my body and was comfortable enough, but...
She wants me walking the streets in this?
Wasn't this the kind of outfit you'd only wear for cosplay?
"Ugh... going around in clothes like these is a bit much, don't you think?"
It wasn't particularly revealing, and the bottoms were pants rather than a skirt, but still.
"It is fine. Plenty of people dress this way these days."
"...I don't think I've seen a single one."
"That is only because you take no interest in other people."
With that, she went over to the employee.
"Every outfit tried on so far. I shall take them all."
"Yes. Shall we have them delivered to the registered address, as before?"
"Hmm... Yes. Do so."
"Understood."
The employee seemed well accustomed to being spoken down to, and was smiling.
"Come. Let us go."
"Y-you're serious about wearing this..."
"Worry not. You are plenty cute."
"That's not the problem...!"
But she wouldn't allow me to change into anything else. And so I stepped out onto the street still dressed in the techwear.
"...Is that cosplay?"
"Must be some kind of event."
"Dreaming of being a hero, I bet... Cute."
...Damn it.
My looks already stand out enough as it is...
Not a single person on the street was dressed like this.
"...You said lots of people dress this way."
"This is your appearance's fault. Were someone else to wear it, no one would spare them a glance."
...I couldn't deny that. Superpowers meant people's hair and eyes came in every color imaginable, but even among those, bright silver hair and golden eyes stood out far too much.
"...Haa."
Being too good-looking was a problem of its own.
Even after the shopping, we kept the date going — an arcade, little snacks along the way. Before I knew it, time had slipped past, and the crowds had thinned until the difference was plain. Most of the shops had closed their doors, and the lights along the street were going out one by one.
"...Isn't it time to head back now?"
Stripped of neon and people, the road was desolate. Cars still passed and a few people still walked, but none of them carried the energy from before.
"Yes... the time has come."
"Then I'll head off fir—"
At her words, I moved to leave before the buses stopped running for good.
"Wait. The final course still remains."
But her hand caught mine once more.
"There's still more...?"
Her crimson eyes fixed on me. A deep smile clung to her lips, as though she could barely contain her excitement.
"You may look forward to it. I prepared it for you, and you alone."
Color had risen in her face. She looked like a beast that had just caught sight of prey.
"...If I miss the bus—"
"Worry not. As I said before, I shall carry you home in my arms if I must."
Perhaps she could tell I was trying to slip out of this. She cut me off without listening at all.
"Come. Follow me."
Her hand took mine.
Our fingers locked tight. It wasn't like before — no ticklish feeling, no strange little happiness. Her hand felt like a sticky chain, binding me in place.
"...Okay."
Even so, I couldn't simply refuse to follow. However at ease I'd grown with her, I still hadn't shaken off the pressure from before.
Step— step—
Alice began to walk without hesitation. Past the shopping street and into an alley, down a road lit by nothing but a single flickering streetlamp.
After a short while, a construction site came into view — an apartment complex that had only just begun to rise.
"Why are we..."
"We are nearly there."
And she led me inside the site. All around us, steel pipes, cement, and other unsorted materials lay in a mess alongside heavy machinery.
I walked, pulled along by her hand. There wasn't a single light on the site, and I could barely see ahead.
Step— step—
We crossed the construction site and stepped into a building that was only just going up. In the dim interior, tools of every kind lay scattered across the floor.
"There. We have arrived."
The far end of the building. The moment her hand brought me there, moonlight that had been hidden behind the clouds spilled down and bathed the place in a pale glow.
"......!"
"Well? What do you think? Something I prepared for you, and you alone."
Where the moonlight fell, there was a crane. Rebar hung from a rope so precarious it looked ready to snap at any moment.
"...What are you doing right now?"
Beneath that rebar, someone was bound to a steel chair.
"......"
A boy, eyes closed, tied there as if he had lost consciousness. He was the same boy I had saved a few days ago.