6. Clothes
6. Clothes
A crowded downtown area. Sometime in the afternoon when the sun was sitting right overhead. Hayeon was sipping coffee at a cafe.
Having come out after receiving a message from Dori, Hayeon had been waiting for Dori until now, long past the appointment time.
Tok-tok. Hayeon tapped the table. Her boredom had reached its peak.
Maybe that was why. Her anger was slowly rising to the top of her head. If she made a mistake, or if someone provoked her, she was confident she would explode immediately.
Ah, of course, if it were the Director, Deputy Director, or the General Manager, she would hold it in.
Ahem. Isn't that how it usually is? The threshold of one's anger is determined by the status of the other person.
[Sorry for being late.]
From Hayeon's perspective, the anger threshold toward Dori belonged to the very low side.
As soon as Hayeon saw Dori, she put on a stiff smile.
"You're a bit late, aren't you?"
Why are you late, do you know how long I've been waiting, why aren't you apologizing properly, etc. Many things were hidden behind that smile.
[It's because Theresia came out so late.]
"Ugh...... I told you I didn't want to!"
[It's for your own good, so it can't be helped.]
"Still! I-I'm embarrassed......."
As soon as she saw the girl who walked through the door holding Dori, Hayeon's anger subsided.
It was only natural, because the sight of her, similar to their first meeting, fidgeting, unable to meet her eyes, and repeatedly touching and pulling her fingertips apart...
...was just too cute.
Cuteness is justice. This can be known from the fact that all magical girls, who are beings of justice, are cute beautiful girls.
Of course, that's nonsense.
"Come here. What would you like to drink?"
"I-I, casual speech is also, okay."
"Really? Okay. Then, what do you want to drink?"
At Hayeon's gesture, the girl ran over as if dashing. As soon as the girl approached, Hayeon stroked her hair with her hand.
It was a reflexive action.
"I, I......."
"What do you want to drink?"
"......Iced chocolate latte."
Hayeon placed the order immediately. She sat Theresia in the chair right across from her. Her cheeks looked so soft that she even thought about wanting to touch them.
"Oh? By the way, your hair color is different?"
[Ah, this is her appearance after de-transforming. That aside, you wouldn't know, but she's such a tomboy that she doesn't know how to dress up. That's the reason I called you.]
"Oh, really? That aside, it feels a bit weird to suddenly show up like this, revealing her true identity."
[Isn't that the same for you?]
"For me, well, it doesn't matter."
While they were having trivial talk, the iced chocolate latte came out. Theresia inserted a straw and took a sip.
"It's good, right?"
"Yes."
"Look at those chubby cheeks. So cute."
Hayeon couldn't hold back and pinched Theresia's cheeks.
"Ugh...... sthop it."
"Oh my, sorry."
Bouncy. It was a texture only possible at that age. It was sudden, but she thought that Dori was good at picking people.
[Are you perhaps a lolicon?]
"As if, you damn bear."
[It feels like you're only harsh to me.]
"You deserve to be treated harshly, you bear-like bastard."
Hayeon gritted her teeth. She glared at Dori with a venomous expression. It wasn't exactly a grand grudge, but there was just a lot that had piled up until now.
[I remember you used to speak very nicely even just 10 years ago.]
As soon as the words "10 years ago" came out, Theresia started coughing as if she had choked.
"Are you okay?"
"Yes...... it's nothing."
Theresia sucked on the straw again. For some reason, her face was bright red.
"What's wrong with her?"
[She's always been like that.]
'Well, she was cute from the start, I guess.'
Hayeon laughed.
"That aside, why did you call me?"
[Didn't I tell you earlier? That this child is a bit of a tomboy, so I wanted you to help her become more girly.]
"You didn't say that."
[I did. Even if I didn't, you should read between the lines.]
"You know I'm bad at Korean."
[Of course I do. Back when you were in the middle of entrance exams, didn't you get a grade 6 in Korean?]
"Don't say that in front of the kid!"
Dori laughed as if she were pathetic. Hayeon felt heat rising to her face. Theresia, who had been listening quietly, was still just sucking on her straw.
"Anyway, so, I just need to pick out her clothes and stuff, right?"
[Yes. Exactly as you understood is what I said.]
"Geez. Dori, why don't you try speaking in a topic-first way? Speaking in a topic-last way makes it so hard to understand."
[You know what topic-first and topic-last are? You? Did you study? For real?]
Dori spoke in a tone that sounded genuinely surprised. In an instant, the coffee cup Hayeon was drinking from cracked with a kwajik. It was because Hayeon had gripped the cup and applied force.
"Ah. Damn it."
&&&
After compensating for the coffee cup Sweet Chocolat had broken and bowing our heads several times, we came outside.
As we chatted about this and that, we talked about what to call each other.
Sweet Chocolat said to me, "Call me Hayeon-eonni when we're outside."
No. Eonni is a bit...
But in reality, from Hayeon's perspective, if she were called 'Noona' by a girl like this, it was obvious that would be strange in its own way.
"That aside, what should I call our cute Theresia?"
Because Hayeon suddenly hugged me from behind, I was startled for a moment and bit my tongue.
Ouch!
"Ugh......."
[Just call her whatever. Theresia would want that too.]
"Y-yes, heh. Please call me whatever."
"Theeen...... Cutie?"
"Th-that's too!"
"Too? Too what?"
"Em......embarrassing."
As I shrank back slightly, Hayeon grinned broadly and ruffled my hair.
"Th...... please don't."
"Ah, sorry. You were just so cute."
[You really are a lo-]
"Shut up, Dori. Do you want to die?!"
[Ahem.]
Dori closed his mouth. To be precise, it was forced shut. It was because Hayeon had clenched her fist.
"Th-then. How about Sia?"
"Sia? You took the 'Tere' out of Theresia."
"Yes, that's right."
I was embarrassed to say my real name, so I said a pseudonym taken from my magical girl name.
After all, they say respecting the 'red pill' is essential in the magical girl world.
That's how it is, right?
Of course, we had already revealed our faces to each other. Plus, Hayeon...... Noona had already revealed her name too.
[That aside, Sweet Chocolat, where are we going now?]
"Can't you tell? We're going to a department store. A magical girl-exclusive one."
Wait a minute. There was even a magical girl-exclusive one of those?!
&&&
"Sia, it looks good on you!"
[Ahem. No matter how I think about it, you really have talent.]
In the fitting room, I completely lost my mind.
From underwear to skirts, jeans, blouses, t-shirts, and so on.
The reason it's 'and so on' is because there are quite a lot of things I don't even know what kind of clothes they are.
Clothes that look impossibly small are just put on me. Things like parkas are put on me too. Even pajamas.
With all this, how can I not lose my mind?
Save me.
Hayeon...... Noona is scary. Her eyes are still sparkling.
"There's no need to be so embarrassed. You're so pretty, are you worried someone might do something to you?"
Since I couldn't tell the truth, I had no choice but to keep my mouth shut. Instead, I nodded passively.
"Should we look at swimsuits while we're at it? A beach trip is an annual event for the Management Bureau."
[Hey, but you. Isn't it about time to go now?]
For a moment, I shot a look of gratitude toward Dori. Nice assist. My mascot.
[I'm starting to feel self-conscious too. No matter how there's no limit, if we use this much, it's grounds for a written apology.]
"What's that. That's not a big deal."
[Not a big deal! It's important to me.]
"Sigh, okay. Then let's leave it at this."
I shook my head violently. Dori wiped the water droplets flowing on his head. Hayeon clicked her tongue as if disappointed, but since she had already said it with her mouth, she didn't say anything else.
Finally, I'm going. Home.
After paying for the clothes and other beauty supplies with Dori's all-purpose card, we were able to leave the department store.
Phew.
By the way, the Management Bureau must be rich. This huge department store belongs to the Management Bureau? Well, 3 million won in support funds every month, so they must have a lot of money.
Dori stored the items using inventory magic.
Inventory magic is surprisingly very difficult. More than the magic to make clothes.
Well. Since they say magical girls handle magic better than wizards, their mascot must be able to handle magic to some extent too.
As I came out of the department store building and stood in front of the crosswalk, I opened my smartphone out of habit.
There were several messages piled up in the Masubang again.
-Tiatia: What is our newbie doing that she's late?
-Berry: You've said that over ten times now, do you have some kind of compulsion?
-Tiatia: No, it can happen.
-Alice Lover: That's called obsession, Tiatia.
-Cladi: Looking at your profile name, that's a very credible sentence.
-Ulibi: What, a newbie joined? Is it a newbie? A newbie in this scene? Is it Prima-class? Not SECUNDA-class, right?
Hmm. I'm a very loved person.
Meanwhile, it seems they write Prima-class or Secunda-class as P-R-M or S-K-D using initials. There's an alphabetical abbreviation, so why...... and that's shorter too.
I typed silently. And sent it.
-Theresia: I just went to buy clothes. I'm Prima-class, and why is this magical girl-exclusive department store so big?
-IAMMAGNA: Yup, that's actually not magical girl-exclusive. Civilians can enter too. Instead, it's only magical girl-exclusive for today.
-Theresia: W-what does that mean.
-IAMMAGNA: Exactly what it says. It means it's only available for magical girl-exclusive use today. If you received the info well, press the heart.
I quietly pressed the heart.
By the way, if it's going to be like this, why is it only magical girl-exclusive today?
"Sigh. But thinking about it again, it's a waste of money."
"Yes?"
"This. The magical girl-exclusive department store. There's no need to do this."
"That's true."
"But what can you do. The department store chairman is a magical girl."
"Yes?"
"What does that......"
"You know Devia-nim. She is the chairman here."
If it's Devia-nim...... isn't she the magical girl who had sightings pouring in even before the Management Bureau revealed itself? If I look up the data, surely even 20 years ago......
What, she's too old.
At this point, isn't she a magical middle-aged woman?
"Devia-nim sets one day off every month and makes it a magical girl-exclusive department store. Well, they sell magic tools and everything else."
The thought that she is a truly incomprehensible department store chairman got stuck in my head.
On top of that, imagining her age......
This is why they keep talking about the 'red pill'.
While I was mentally checked out, the traffic light turned green.