Chapter 17: Shadows and Sundresses

After a full day of resting and hanging out with Zophie, a lot of the spiritual strain from my fight with Hannya had eased up. Now it felt more like a sore muscle— not completely recovered, but also not so exhausted that I couldn’t move. If I needed to, I knew I could pull on the shadows, but it might mean a longer recovery time if I forced it too much. Luckily, now that it was night, all of my powers would become easier for me to control.

I stepped outside of my apartment, holding the door open for Zophie.

“Aren’t you going to wear a jacket?”

I looked down at my outfit, a black, long-sleeve button-up shirt with black jeans. “What’s wrong with this?”

“I’m worried you’ll be cold.”

Forcing myself not to roll my eyes, I replied, “I’ll be fine. Don’t worry about it.”

She continued to look at me skeptically but ultimately acquiesced. “Alright. I guess I’ve never seen you wear a jacket, anyway. How do you stay warm?”

I opened my mouth to reply, but she beat me to it.

“Wait, don’t tell me. Let me guess— you have a whole bunch of packet warmers!” She stared at me, eagerly waiting to find out.

“No, that’s not it.”

We began walking down the stairs, heading toward the sidewalk.

“Well, if it’s not that, then maybe you have a genetic quirk that makes your temperature run hotter!”

“Nope, not that either.”

Zophie reached out, grabbing my hand and entwining our fingers together. Now walking side by side, holding hands, she guessed again. “Maybe fighting through the cold is part of your workout regimen? I’ve heard about this thing called cold-shock proteins recently.”

That news made me glance at her. “Nope, sounds interesting though. Maybe I’ll try that.” We kept walking, turning a block’s corner to downtown. The roads gradually became brighter as more frequent storefront signs started lighting the way.

“Grr.” She fake growled in frustration, no heat behind it. “Ah! How about you secretly have an electric blanket underneath your clothes! Ah, wait, that wouldn’t work. Unless you have a portable battery?”

“No, it’s not that either.”

“Hmm,” she thought aloud. “I’m stumped. Tell me! What is it?”

“I’m secretly a millennium-old fallen angel who is immune to mortal woes.” The corner of my lips turned into a smile.

She looked at me for a second, her trusting naivety on full display before she seemingly realized something. Whacking my shoulder lightly, she exclaimed, “That’s a good one! You nearly had me for a second there.” She giggled. “That was a good joke, you really had me going. But seriously, what is it?”

“Secret,” I replied. “A magician never tells.”

Narrowing her eyes at me playfully, she continued, “I’ll figure it out someday.”

“Yes, I’m sure you will.” Likely when she grew old, watching as my face never so much as gained a wrinkle. It didn’t matter, I’d stay with her for as long as we could have together. Maybe she’d even look back on this moment, smiling wryly.

“Looks like we’re here,” I announced, stepping forward to open the door to the store. A bell chimed, declaring our arrival.

“Welcome to Mackey’s!” the store attendant called out. “Looking for anything in particular?”

Taking the place in, it was full of women’s clothing: in neat, orderly rows along the walls, on all kinds of mannequins, and hanging on circular display racks.

“Uh, Asmo? I thought we were getting toiletries.”

“You have three shirts and two pairs of pants. We’re getting some clothes first,” I decided, not allowing room for debate. “Besides, this place is connected to the mall, so we can just walk out that way when we’re done and go to the other stores.” I pointed toward the back exit, which turned into the main thoroughfare of the mall.

“Huh, I didn’t think you’d know about malls,” she teased.

“This is where I buy my weights.” And, I’d been forced to explore the area to figure out how to escape its labyrinthine expanses. Seriously, humans and their greedy penchant for material objects. It’s like they wanted to get stuck in a loop of stores, advertising, and greasy-smelling food. Foul stuff.

“Oh, that makes sense, actually.” She nodded her head in understanding. “Okay!” Zophie skipped forward, excited to dig around the piles of clothing.

Finally replying to the store attendant, “We’re good for now.” I waved, and she just smiled in return. We’d poke around on our own first, looked like.

After pushing around a few dresses on hangers, Zophie turned back to look at me. “What do you think I’d look good in?”

A blue sundress with white flowers caught my eye. “This one,” I said, pulling it off the rack.

“Tag says not my size,” she said, pulling at the annoying paper thing that mortals loved to stick on clothes. “But maybe…” She darted between racks, checking tags and piling dresses and jeans into my arms until I could barely see, having to awkwardly look around them. “Found it!” she cheered, holding up the sundress in her size. “Anything else you want to see me in?”

“Pick what you want,” I said.

“But I want you to think I look cute,” she pouted.

“Then try them on. I’ll judge and tell you what’s cute.”

She grinned, grabbing a few outfits and hurrying me over to the changing room. With an awe-filled glance at the pile in my arms, she winced slightly. “It’s definitely too much.” She’d gotten so carried away in her excitement that she’d all but forgotten who’d be paying for everything. But, I really didn’t care.

“No, it’s fine. Try it all on; we’ll take what fits and what you like.”

“Are you sure?” she seemed hesitant, like she was imposing on me somehow— a sharp contrast from all the other mortals whose greed I’d been feeding on for centuries.

“Yeah, I’m sure. Now go, take some of these with you.”

“Thanks, Asmo!” She came in for a quick, side-hug around the clothes before grabbing a few and rushing off to the inside of the changing room. I was starting to get used to her affection, as this time it didn’t catch me unawares.

Over the next few minutes, she flitted between outfits. Starting with the sundress, she twirled happily with a laugh and a swing of her hair.

Next, she tried on a gothic outfit that didn’t suit her. “I thought we could match styles!” she laughed.

“Stick to the bright stuff,” I said. “I like seeing you glow.”

With a big smile on her face, she continued showing off outfits: turtlenecks and winter skirts, tight jeans and t-shirts, along with yoga pants and women’s workout shirts.

“I thought we could work out together, sometime? Maybe go on a run?”

Her definition of work out was not the same as mine, since she liked to stick to cardio, whereas I did weight training.

“Sure, we can run together anytime.” Not like I’d want her going out running by herself, anyway.

She also got a pile of underclothes, but she didn’t show those off to me, obviously.

Bags in my arms, we left Mackey’s, Zophie smiling all the while. Watching that, seeing how happy she was, I couldn’t imagine what her face would look like with a frown; she seemed incapable of it.

We stopped by a Bath Bedroom & Yawn for toiletries. I never knew women needed so many different kinds of things there, but she filled up another big bag for me to carry.

Finally, we got to the place she’d been looking forward to the most: the Better Buy. They had an entire section of the store dedicated to movies and TVs, which Zophie fawned over. This time, she wasn’t afraid to indulge herself, grabbing what entertainment she liked, or what she thought I’d like. It made me smile, seeing her learn how to enjoy herself without worry.

With what was apparently called a ‘four kays’ TV, and a pile of movies, we made our way to the front. Pulling out my wallet before we got to the checkout, I began counting bills.

“I can’t believe you pay for everything in cash. I’d probably die if I didn’t have my debit card.”

I was afraid to ask what a debit card even was. “I usually just go to one of those cash for gold places.” They sure were convenient, I reflected, allowing me to slowly whittle away at the mounds of gold I’d accumulated over the centuries.

“What?! No, those places are a total scam! They only pay like, fifty percent of what the gold is worth!”

Her words made me stop in my tracks. No wonder those greedy mortals always had such indecent smiles when I went to those shops. I should have checked their souls for sins.

That thought tugged at me, even as Zophie looked at me with concern. “What’s wrong?”

I scanned the mall around us, feeling something off— something on the edge of my senses. A miasma of corruptive influence, far too strong to come from the average sinful mortal.

“We’re leaving,” I decided, gripping Zophie’s hand tightly.