The Types of Shenanigans That Happen in The Underground Mall

“Hey, heyyyyy~ Cutie! Howzit goin!”

At a certain bookstore within the underground section of Elevatia, Arcadia’s only super-regional shopping district located both above and below ground (named as such due to customers never failing to leave with elevated spirits), a grey-haired girl with neatly done buns adorned in a pink bow is forcibly stopped by another girl, having caught her shoplifting.

“You wouldn’t dare be shoplifting in a place like this, right?”

Having said that in a menacing tone with daggering eyes peering out of her bangs, (this while being savagely grabbed by the wrist), Cutie realized something: She was most assuredly and without any sense of doubt, caught between a rock and a hard place…

Cutie’s captor, an individual tall in stature with short, messy black hair and eye-covering bangs, appears to be holding some kind of long, spear-like weapon; massive in size and uniquely designed to double as a pair of giant hedge shears. If this description sounds eerily familiar to any one of you, then yes, you’ve guessed right— It’s none other than Heidi; the Prism Ring’s #1-ranked fighter, professional troublemaker, and major free spirit.

Just what exactly she was doing here was anyone’s guess, but not even Heidi herself knew the answer to that. Given that being a Prism Ring fighter is her only job, Heidi has the entire day to herself before the first scheduled fight of the evening. Simply because she can, a majority of her free time is spent either aimlessly wandering around the city or rummaging through the endless depths of the Pit in search of a new weapon. In all honesty, anything that manages to catch her fancy is instantly snatched up. How very like her.

But wait, hold on a second— Something’s not right here.

How did Heidi, one of the Prism Ring’s most recognizable fighters, navigate through Arcadia’s largest shopping district and arrive at the very bookstore Cutie was in without causing a major scene?

The simple answer?

She doesn’t.

A large mass of frenzied fans crowd themselves against the bookstore’s window display, plastering their many faces on the glass. Their bloodshot eyes and fervent breaths frighten everyone inside; backing away as farthest they can from the entrance. Despite the outside’s ever-pressing danger, all eyes were drawn towards a much more serious threat: The two girls serving as the epicenter of this whole ordeal. Unfazed by the commotion surrounding them, Heidi’s menacing eyes stared Cutie down as she returned the gesture in kind with a killer stare of her own.

“…”

“…”

Amidst the chaos, neither said a word.

Despite the manhandling of her wrist, Cutie never spoke back in protest nor did she cry out in pain when she was first grabbed. Did interventions like these happen so often that she was no longer surprised by Heidi’s coincidental timing??

Nonetheless, Cutie hoped that by remaining silent, Heidi would get the message and finally back off; seeing as her presence constantly ruins her experiments. Growing rather bored of the silence, Heidi was the first to speak up.

“Knowing you and your niche,” she began, her tone incredibly vexed, “I certainly hope this isn’t another one of your experiments to test whether or not the cameras would capture your face in that new outfit of yours, am I right?”

“!!!” Cutie’s eyes widened in shock.

Heidi read her like a goddamn book. A massive cold sweat ran down her face.

It’s true. As the wielder of the “Deceptive-Fabrics” niche, an ability allowing its user to “deceive the eyes” of other people simply by wearing any combination of casual clothes, it makes it so that if anyone were to look in Cutie’s direction and be aware of her presence, their eyes would “perceive” her as the first person her attire reminds them of. While it’s a bit harder to discern if this effect remains intact when looking through a camera or photograph, Cutie’s niche renders her invisible to virtually everybody that doesn’t already know her. Sure, there’ve been occasions where her kleptomaniacal habits got the best of her, but it’s been recently theorized that the effects of her niche could be nullified if she were to make her own style of clothing… which was supposed to be the purpose of today’s experiment.

And yet, much to the surprise of no one, Heidi just had to show up and ruin everything…

“Tch!” Cutie let out a loud, harsh tongue-click. She was furious. Any lingering feelings of nervousness or shock from when Heidi first caught her by surprise were now converted into intense anger.

“Heidi, you’re a real pain in my ass.”

As if trying to haunt the Grim Reaper with her last words, Heidi raised the spear-like weapon over Cutie’s head, forcing a gasp out of her, the customers, the employees, and even the fans outside. Time came to a standstill at the prospect of Heidi killing the girl in front of her over such a petty crime.

As she lowered the recently whetted blade, it stopped just a hair’s breadth above Cutie’s skull; creating a small gust of wind that tickled her scalp. The next thing she knew, the spear-like weapon was thrown across the store, noisily knocking over the cash register. Cutie’s wrist was finally released from the five-finger-flesh-prison that was Heidi’s hand. Lastly, and much to the surprise of actually everyone, an excited gasp escapes Heidi’s mouth.

“OMG, NO FREAKING WAY!!! The latest volume of Violet Rush released a week early!! And look at— OH. MY. GOD. Parfait Girls too!? I’ll also be taking that, what a score! That’s okay with you guys right~? Thanks!! Now, let’s go, you little thief~”

“!!!” Cutie’s eyes widened once again.

Having re-equipped herself with the spear-like weapon, Heidi’s free hand grabbed Cutie’s black dress and began dragging her out of the store; taking the two comics as her spoils of war.

Wait a minute, waita minute, waitaminute, is she seriously taking me somewhere else to kill me!? Nonononono, I’m too cute to dieee!!!

“W- Wait a minute Heidi, let’s talk about this… Heidi? H- Hey… Heidi? Wait… WAIT! HEIDI, WAIT!!! Please don’t kill meeee…”

Cutie, overly worrying about her eventual end at the hands of the Grim Reaper that’s personifying itself as her friend, cries as the demon tugs her out of the bookstore, ruining the newly made black dress that was made specifically for today’s experiment.

Heidi, on the other hand, wasn’t let off scot-free. She was punished accordingly, shown in the form of a pay cut.

And why’s that?

Well… due to the Prism Ring’s liability fees, the organization had to buy everyone’s silence while also paying for the damages involving the cash register and any stolen merchandise. Needless to say, Heidi wasn’t a happy camper that day…

End