A Long-Awaited Reunion
My sister's expression shifted the moment I mentioned the Hero.
"They summoned someone else besides you, Sis?"
"Yeah. But I have no idea what happened to him now..."
I had heard that the Hero was also granted a wish after defeating the Demon King. Since he had been summoned from Earth just like me, it was highly likely he used his wish to return home... but I couldn't be sure.
"Once the Hero appeared, the scales finally tipped."
To be precise, the weight on the demons' side of the scale grew lighter. I didn't know why, but the demons' offensive... their entire army, in fact, had weakened. Whether the Demon King's power had simply reached its limit, or if there was some other reason, I couldn't tell. Regardless, once the Hero arrived and joined forces with the Saintess, the tide of the war turned. Humanity's counterattack had begun.
"And so, I spent another seven years on the battlefield..."
Those battlefields had been incredibly diverse... and horrific. It was a grim reality I could never bring myself to describe to my little sister. Along the way, I had killed many traitors... demon collaborators. That was a truth I would probably take to my grave. I didn't want my sister... my family... to look at me and see a murderer.
"You must have suffered so much..."
"Did I...? Well, I made it back and got to see you again. Maybe defeating the Demon King was worth it after all."
It had been a struggle, sure, but none of that mattered now. I was back. Why waste time dwelling on the past?
"Thank you for telling me, even though... even though it must have been painful to talk about."
"It's all in the past anyway."
Yes, I was done with that world. That was why I could speak of it so easily now. And honestly... getting it off my chest made me feel lighter.
Thanks to my sister's consideration, two of the three basic necessities of life—food and shelter—were taken care of. However, the final piece of the puzzle remained unresolved: clothing. Personally, I didn't really care...
"Sis, aren't you wearing the exact same clothes every single day?"
"Huh? Uh..."
But my sister certainly did.
"I noticed your loungewear is always the same."
Come to think of it, my sister changed her outfit every day. Even if the designs were similar, she'd switch up the colors. Meanwhile, what about me? I was rotating between exactly two outfits. While one was in the wash, I wore the other, and once it dried, I swapped them and washed the dirty one again. The reason was simple: I had no other clothes. I had no money, and I was still wearing the garments provided to me during my protective custody. I hadn't had the chance to go shopping, and since two outfits were perfectly functional, I hadn't felt any urge to buy more. But... my sister was currently staring at me with a look of pure pity.
"Well... it's because I don't have any other clothes."
Do you think I want to wear the same things on repeat? I just don't have options... Of course, I didn't actually think rotating two outfits was that bad.
"Why don't you have..." My sister started to ask, then quickly shut her mouth.
"Want to go clothes shopping?"
"Huh? All of a sudden?"
"Yeah. You need some new clothes, Sis."
At the end, she mumbled something under her breath about underwear.
Underwear...
"True. If nothing else, I definitely need to buy some underwear."
"Y-you heard that?"
I offered her a gentle smile. Flustered and embarrassed, she turned her blushing face away.
"Anyway, let's go buy some clothes today. Don't worry about the money."
"I actually have some money too..."
I did have the settlement funds I'd received.
"Forget it, I have plenty of money."
It had been a few days since I started crashing at her place, but there was still so much I didn't know about my little sister. Regardless, I ended up tagging along on a shopping trip with her. But... the place she dragged me to wasn't just any ordinary clothing store.
"A department store...?"
"Come on, let's go!"
She grabbed my hand and practically dragged me toward the entrance.
"W-wait, shouldn't we buy clothes at a normal shop..."
Where it's cheaper...
"It's fine! Let's go!"
Seeing her so bubbly and energetic made my knees tremble. Unable to stop her, I was dragged into the department store against my will.
Hey, I used to earn my own living ten years ago. I had a decent grasp of economics. A department store? That place was a literal money-devouring black hole! When I got my very first paycheck, I came to one of these places to buy gifts for my parents and sister, and the insane prices had absolutely traumatized me. Ever since, I had avoided department stores like the plague. Going to a regular supermarket or a local clothing shop was so much cheaper... I understood why expensive things were expensive, and having worked in society, I knew high-end goods had their merits. Still, I never saw the need to shop at one. Yet, here I was.
"First, we should get underwear, right?"
"Huh? Oh, yeah..."
She casually pulled me toward the women's apparel section. The scenery itself wasn't unfamiliar to me. Having lived as a woman for ten years, I didn't feel particularly out of place. That was, until I glanced at the price tag of a nearby garment...
"Gasp...!"
A single top was 700,000 won...?! The settlement money I received upon my release from protective custody was around three million won... and this single shirt cost a quarter of that?!
"U-um, Hee-ah?"
"Yeah?"
"I-I think this place is a bit too expensive."
My sister glanced at the price tag I was staring at.
"Well, that brand is on the pricier side. Don't worry, not everything in a department store is that expensive."
No, but still...
We could just buy something cheap. If we went to a traditional market, we could get clothes for five or ten thousand won... Ignoring my internal protests, my sister marched forward and stopped at our first destination.
"Underwear..."
It was a boutique displaying various lingerie sets.
"Sis, let's get your underwear first."
"S-sure..."
Knowing how important proper undergarments were, I couldn't really argue, so I followed her inside. The moment we stepped into the shop, the employees began whispering among themselves.
"Welcome. Are you looking for anything in particular?"
"I'm looking for underwear in my sister's size."
The sales associate swallowed hard, her eyes darting toward me. Having someone's gaze lock onto my chest was a bit uncomfortable, but it was something I just had to endure. Given my proportions, it was unavoidable.
"M-may I ask what size she wears?"
"Yes, she's a 75 J-cup."
I had found out my size when I was given undergarments during my protective custody. A J-cup... It was a size so absurdly large that even the person measuring me had gasped, claiming they had never seen anything like it in their entire life. It was a massive, daily-life-disrupting size. I, too, had struggled immensely when I first ended up in this body...
"W-would it be alright if we measured again just to be absolutely sure?"
I nodded, and the employee quickly took my measurements. The tape measure revealed an underbust of 72 centimeters and a bust of 103 centimeters.
"Ah, yes... you are indeed a J-cup..."
She looked utterly flabbergasted. However, once the size was confirmed, the employees' expressions turned slightly grim. The issue was availability. While they had plenty of stock for average sizes, they carried almost nothing for someone with my extreme proportions. It might be different in the West, but in East Asia, breasts of this size were practically unheard of... Fortunately, they weren't completely out of stock; they just had very few options.
"There really isn't much to choose from, is there?"
"Yes, unfortunately, there's very little demand for this size."
Ah, so that's why they only gave me a couple of bras during my protective custody...
In any case, my sister browsed the limited selection and picked out five bras in sensible colors. But the price... For just five bras, the total came out to 350,000 won. My sister claimed that was a reasonable price for specialty items like these... Since I still hadn't fully grasped the current cost of living, I had no counterargument. Even by the standards of ten years ago, I wouldn't have known. How was a guy supposed to know the price of women's lingerie? Though I did know that food prices had skyrocketed several times over...
Buying underwear was only the beginning. Next up...
"Let's get some casual clothes and outfits for going out."
"S-sure..."
She showed me some tracksuits—or whatever they called them these days.
"Sis, you're really tall..."
I knew this body was around 170 centimeters tall. That was basically the height of an average adult male. My sister wasn't short for a woman either, but she was still shorter than me. Maybe by about a finger's width?
"Aren't you on the taller side too?"
My sister glanced up at me.
"I'm wearing heels right now, you know?"
Looking down at her feet, I saw she was indeed wearing high-heeled shoes. Meanwhile, I was wearing flat sneakers. Very thin-soled sneakers... If she was wearing heels and we still only had a finger's width of a height difference, it meant the actual gap between our heights was much larger.
"Uh, well..."
"Anyway, Sis, you really don't have the body type for standard clothes."
Ugh...!
Having what people commonly referred to as a "glamorous" figure made clothes shopping a nightmare. No matter what I wore, there was always an issue somewhere. Technically, I could squeeze into most clothes. But no matter what I put on, my chest would bulge out so prominently that it ruined the entire silhouette. On top of that, some outfits ended up looking downright scandalous, making them impossible to wear in public... The clothes themselves were comfortable and fine, but... how should I put it? It was more like I couldn't wear them because I had to worry about what other people would think. I mean, I could just wear them, but...
"Well, I guess that's what happens when you have a chest like that."
My sister stared intently at my breasts, let out a deep sigh, and then let her gaze drift downward.
"But having hips and thighs like that too? That's just cheating."
"Cheating? What do you mean, cheating?"
"No, I mean... sigh."
For some reason, she kept sighing heavily.
"As a fellow woman, my pride is completely shattered."
I blinked, utterly dazed by her words.
Pride...?
"If you fit the waist, the thighs and hips don't fit. If you fit the hips, the waist is way too loose? I mean, how is that even possible?"
I had occasionally overheard the noble ladies back in the other world complaining about similar things. They called it a "selfish body type" or something... But this was the body of a goddess. Literally. This physical vessel had been sculpted in the image of the Goddess, meaning this was her actual figure. It was a voluptuous, blessed physique truly worthy of a deity rather than a mere mortal. From a man's perspective, it was a body that brought pure joy just by looking at it... but now that it was my body, it was nothing but a massive inconvenience.
"Good grief, I want to buy you nice clothes, but there's literally nothing that fits right."
"I mean, can't I just... wear whatever?"
What's wrong with a loose fit? I can just wear a belt.
"If you're going to walk around with a face like that, you should at least dress nicely."
"It's not like dressing up does me any favors."
What's the point? It'll just give the passing men a free show.
"Sigh."
My sister let out yet another heavy sigh.
By the time we finished buying everything from simple loungewear to outdoor outfits... the total came to nearly 700,000 won. And that was just for summer clothes. When the seasons changed, we'd have to do this all over again...
"U-um, the m-money..."
"I told you, it's fine. I have plenty of money."
My sister swiped her card without a single flinch. Is she going to be okay...? I began to seriously wonder just how much money my little sister made.
After we finished shopping, I thought we would head straight home with our arms full of bags, but she insisted we eat out since we were already in town.
"U-um, thanks for today."
It must have been so hard for her to accept that I was her older brother, yet she believed me and went out of her way to help me like this...
"Forget it. I'm going to make you pay me back for all of this later anyway."
"O-oh... right, of course."
"Anyway, now that I've bought you clothes, make sure you change them often."
"Hey, I told you, I did change my clothes!"
Still, I had to admit, having comfortable clothes to wear felt pretty good.