Couture

Europa Fashion Center was a mall in Shibuya. It wasn’t the closest to us- not by a long shot- but it was easy to get to by train and had all the big brands. I managed to reach it by 11:05 - the perfunctory apology to Mom took a lot longer than I had anticipated. Never let your mother go to sleep angry at you.

Miho and Ayasa were already there, waiting by a large fountain at the end of the entrance hallway.

“Took you long enough, Touma. Did you sleep in or something?”

No, but I had really wanted to. All the exhaustion from last night’s ordeal had finally caught up with me.

“Why’d you want to meet all the way out here?”

Miho angled her thumb at Ayasa.

“She needs new clothes, seeing as how you ruined the only ones she had last night.”

The glare in her eyes could only have meant one thing: you’re paying. Evidently, Miho had continued her interrogation of Ayasa after leaving the diner last night. Just how much did she know?

Ayasa, for her part, already had new clothes on- a frilly blouse and knee length black skirt. To be precise, they were only new to her. I recognized them immediately- Miho’s old fashions. Miho was back to the new Miho; she was wrapped up in shorts and a sheer jacket-cardigan-thingy over some kind of t-shirt or camisole. Even as thin as it was, It looked too hot for the weather. Maybe the new Miho was cold-blooded.

As if sensing a question forming from me, Miho answered preemptively.

“No, she can’t keep mine. I’m just letting her borrow them for the day. Besides, they don’t really fit her, anyway.”

Miho’s analysis was spot on. Ayasa was maybe only a centimeter or two taller than her, but she was much more… broadly built? Her skirt had been ankle length when Miho wore it, but here it only came down a little over Ayasa’s knees. The fabric of the blouse was pulled taut around the buttons-

Miho leaned over to block my field of view.

“Heey-ey. You’re doing that weirdo-creeper-pervert stare thing again. Eyes front.”

Oops. Miho was especially perceptive of my habits. This was really the first time I had gotten a good look at Ayasa. It had been dark and weirdly lit at the rave, and I had been too focused on getting Miho’s approval at the diner to really notice anything. My mind had filled in the blanks, but it hadn’t done a very good job. She was more different from the image of Sayu than I had anticipated.

Ayasa finally spoke up.

“Good morning, Tou- Nishizawa.”

“Good morning…Higashiyama.”

That was an uncomfortable downgrade. Seemed like Miho had drilled that into her before going out. She definitely attracted less attention now, though mostly that was from not looking like she had fallen into the sewer.

“Did you sleep well?”

“No.”

Of course she hadn’t. Can anyone on the planet sleep well in a stranger’s room? After a night like that? I needed to consider my small talk more carefully.

“Oh, uh. Sorry. I didn’t really have a whole lot of options. Miho is the only girl I know who’d do something like this on such short notice.”

“Miho has been very kind to me.”

Miho butted in.

“Saijou. I thought we went over this. If you keep calling people you just met by their first name, they’ll think you’re some kind of creepy horror movie monster.”

Judging by her confused reaction, the reference had flown over Ayasa’s head. Did they not have those kinds of movies in the North? It didn’t seem like a serious rebuke, anyway.. The two seemed close enough to call each other by name already- but why was Miho trying to help her act normal? Had Ayasa spilled the beans already? I was already nearing the end of the tether of my “friendship” - her words, not mine- with Miho. If she learned who Ayasa really was, where she really came from-

Well, who was Ayasa, really? The question had come up last night, but I hadn’t reached any kind of satisfactory answer. If Miho had stayed up talking with Ayasa, she probably knew more about the girl than I did. To Ayasa, what was I? A weird kid who had tried to start a conversation about music, then grabbed her and hauled her through muck and bullets to a place where she knew nobody and had nothing of value. It was basically a kidnapping. I was dead meat if Miho ever decided to slander me.

“Touma. You’re going to take responsibility for the mess you made.”

Urp. For a second, I thought that this was it- but Miho’s glare hadn’t changed. Oh, she was just talking about Ayasa’s clothes. Fair enough- it had been my fault that she got splashed around so much in the escape. There wasn’t anyone following close enough behind us to need to smash through the water so fast, but I hadn’t really been thinking that clearly at the time.

“Oh. Okay.”

Miho seemed puzzled at my acceptance of guilt, but didn’t let it bother her too long.

“Anyway. Higashiyama, what kind of clothes do you like?”

“Ones that fit.”

Blunt as always, Ayasa. Miho stuck her tongue out in a played up gesture of exasperation.

“No, I mean like, what style do you wear?”

“Clothes that I make at home.”

Miho was a bit puzzled by this. Maybe Ayasa hadn’t told her everything, after all.

“You make them yourself? How long does that take?”

“A few hours for a skirt. Longer for a shirt. Pants… I wear old ones that my brothers have outgrown.”

Miho looked back to me, a bit dismayed. Her face read how deep in the country did you find this weirdo, anyway? It was time for a bit more interrogation.

“Wow… I’ve never met anyone who took cottagecore fashion so seriously. Have you really never bought clothes from a store?”

“Once. It was a nice dress for a big party. My father was getting a promotion.”

Miho clearly hadn’t expected an answer this literal.

“Oh, well… what does your dad do?”

“...”

Too close, Miho. You were too close to the truth there. I needed to step in again.

“Uh, he’s an important government minister.”

Miho glared back at me. She didn’t believe me one bit- not after last night. Still, she seemed to get the idea that it was a bad idea to keep pressing. She changed her tack a bit.

“Well, I meant more like normal clothes. What sort of fashions do you like?”

“Ones that fit.”

We were going in circles. Wait, there was a pretty easy way out of this. I spoke up.

“What about that cottage-core thing that Miho was talking about?”

“What is ‘Cottage-core’?”

Good question, Ayasa. Miho was the only one here who knew enough about fashion to navigate a mall like this.

“Oh, you know - stuff that looks like old hand-made dresses. There are some really nice designers that make that kind of stuff, and it’s pretty low-key. Might make you look a bit like you belong to some weird foreign cult or old Masterpiece Theater anime though. Come on, I know a good store for this”

Nice Designers making fake hand-made clothes meant only one thing for me- it was going to be expensive. Miho jumped off towards the Escalators. Ayasa didn’t follow immediately- her eyes were locked on something else.

“Um, Ay- Higashiyama. That’s a bridal boutique.”

She was staring through the window at some kind of ridiculously opulent wedding gown. Miho called playfully from the escalators.

“Higashiyama, don’t ever let this pervert buy you a wedding dress!”

Miho said that just loud enough for everyone in the area to hear. Was this her idea of revenge?

The store she led us to was one of those fancy American brands with all the fake barnwood facades and faux-country charm. It wasn’t really anything like the clothes Ayasa had been wearing - those looked more hand-recycled than hand-made - but the styles were pretty simple. They weren’t too old-fashioned looking, either- they had just enough modern charm to avoid looking like the garments of some Luddite cult like Miho had been alluding to.

Ayasa looked a little confused as to what to do. She really didn’t have any experience with clothes shopping, did she? Well, to be fair, neither did I. I usually just picked out cheap stuff so long as it wasn’t too garish. Miho was the expert here. This had never really been exactly her style, but it did seem adjacent to the type of clothes she used to wear.

“Ooh, try this one. It’ll look good on you!” Miho said, pulling out a large one-piece dress with a subtle floral pattern.

“Try?”

“Over here.”

Miho led her towards the back, where the changing rooms were. I was getting more uncomfortable the deeper I went into the store. It’s not like I hadn’t gone shopping with Miho before- we had done so a few times on dates- but following two girls around felt like I was either an awkward third wheel or a nascent playboy. At least nobody was staring.

Ayasa slipped into the booth, guided by Miho. I went to sit down on the nearby bench-

I never got there. Something was pushing me- into another booth?

“Alright, Touma.”

Miho? What was she-?

“I want answers. Where did you find the Northerner?”