Lonely Loser, I'll Become Blonde Frivolous Gyaru's Favourite

Chapter 9 - First Date ②

– Look, now that it has come to this, I will diligently choose your clothes.

With this announcement from Tachibana, our long tour of clothes shops commenced.

Just so you know, I am clothed, but walking in this place called mall wearing a track suit, I feel as if I am committing a crime of walking here naked. It"s almost the same as my aunt saying "Hey, Jun-kun, quickly put on some clothes" when I come out of bath wearing only a pair of underpants.

However, this time I"m not in a situation where I can quickly put on some clothes.

On the contrary, I have to try clothes one after the other with no end to see, so I got tired of it. I was continuing without putting much thought into anything and completely forgot about lunch midway.

Moreover, it"s one of those places called select shops1, which I would never go into alone. The interior is so calm and fashionable, I want to become invisible and immediately hide in a place with no human presence.

On a third such shop there was an exchange like this:

– Hmm. Horizontally striped shirt absolutely doesn"t suit you. Why is it so?

On the other side of the opened curtain of the dressing room Tachibana stood with her hand put on her chin looking troubled.

– Perhaps, that is because bookworm himself is a bit otaku-ish?

– No, I don"t want to be told about my human nature just because some clothes do not match me!

The fact that I can"t deny the point about being an otaku is so frustrating.

Well, whatever I say.
Right now I am dressed in black and white stripe shirt and white pants.
By the way, I even have hand watch on my arm with the sleeves slightly rolled up. Girl"s thoughts are not something to be comprehended.
Fussing over details, didn"t we come here to buy clothes?

Still, if I were to choose clothes myself, this is certainly not a choice I would make.

I tried to see myself in mirror, and noticing that my whole body had a bright color, I shuddered, not believing that it was me in front.
Who the h.e.l.l are you, you rotten herbivore sociable guy… But before that, as expected, there is a part inside of me that keeps saying "It doesn"t suit you, kekeke". I could have sunk through the floor from embarra.s.sment.

Nevertheless, now that I know that it really doesn"t suit me, what will? I have absolutely no ideas about that. I started getting suspicious of how much will change if I try something else.

– Isn"t this one okay? They are all the same, anyway.

I spoke without saying what I was saying, truly.

And it is actually true, all the plain clothes I have at home are few and not that various in types.
Track suit that I have on me, two pairs of jeans, several T-shirts with prints of unknown meaning, that"s about it. To sum up, essentially, I only have clothes that I wear at home. I am not someone who goes out on days off, so those clothes were always enough.

It seems my last few words made Tachibana feel displeasured.
Dissatisfied, she stretched out her neck and looked me into the eyes.

– Hmmm…

– Wh-, What?

– Hmmm…

– It"s scary, I"ll apologize if I hurt your feelings, okay? Well, all I"ve been doing today is apologize…

– Ichijou-kun. You said that you will do anything today yourself, right?

– Ah, that"s right…

– Okay… Well then, next ooone ♪

Hearing the "next", shop a.s.sistant, who was waiting with clothes under his arms, handed them over with a faint smile, making me want to run away.
… Really, I seriously want you to stop making that smiling face.
That is, we are not really close friends, okay? Rather, can"t you make some guesses after seeing me come in wearing a track suit? I have special circ.u.mstances, you hear?

Haa… Turns out, fatigue piles up during outings.

However, with no one caring about circ.u.mstances of a gloomy guy, "Pretend you"re a mannequin" game continued.

I have always thought that women"s shopping being long was just an urban legend.
Even though my brusque sister would always want to return on the rare occasion of us going out… That was an absolutely terrible fallacy.

Yet, when we were choosing clothes in the next shop.

Tachibana, who was sifting through the clothes on the hanger, suddenly said this quietly:

– Bookworm, you have an earnest part to you, huh?

What are you saying obvious things for? I shrugged my shoulders.

– I wonder… Well, being a bookworm itself makes you belong to a sub-category of earnest guys, isn"t that so?

– It"s not like that…

At that moment, she turned to me with a tender smile.
It was not the usual one, where she makes an idiot out of a person and grins, but a genuine little smile…

Or should I say, it felt like her smile was pure.

You know… When you pa.s.s by sports ground after school and baseball club is doing 1000 ball hits, and there is a girl manager who shouts seeing that. It is that kind of beautiful look.

Usually, I would turn away feeling shy, but right now, as if seeing something unbelievably dazzling, I stood motionlessly.
Young and sparkling, or something… What is it, truly?
For some reason, I"m feeling sorry for being nonchalant.

Apparently, Tachibana has sensed my confused state.
She hanged the clothes and when the atmosphere started to soften, she suddenly said "A, Ahem!" and faced me.

– Err, choosing clothes, is actually a veeery serious matter. Nature of the person who will be wearing the clothes is important, yes. That is to say, from my, long-time fashion otaku"s, point of view.

– And that is why we should choose something that is like me. That is, if it exists.

– Umm… that"s not exactly what I meant?

And then, there was once more seriousness in her eyes.
She turned her face to the row of clothes again, and with a calmed voice and dignified view of her profile, continued.

– I will try to choose for what I want you to be, just a little bit. And I will take that, and with what you are now… will mix just a little bit.

– …

Blonde girl, as of now, is a wee bit in a serious mode.
I haven"t noticed until now, but her gaze wandering the inside of the shelf is seriousness itself.

I thought all the girls like clothes, but it seems that this girl is a special case. In the first place, right now she is totally choosing clothes for another person. Even though it is not for the sake of becoming cute herself.

I wonder what it is…
Having an exceptional concern over things that people wear… It appears like that.

Noticing that, I felt embarra.s.sed for another thing.
Knowing a person and getting along with them have almost the same meaning… The reason I never asked her why she comes to study, at the end of the day, is that I am scared.

Naturally, being together, I will start noticing things.

That no matter how much a person jokes around, he has matters important to him.

But right now, this girl is being serious for a useless guy like me. I felt like something inside my chest squeezed tightly. Absent-mindedly, I ended up saying:

– Somehow, can"t be helped, huh… Today only, I"ll accompany you till the end.

Astonished by something, Tachibana blinked with round eyes.
For a moment, we both didn"t say a word and stood in silence, but

– … Lovestruck. Tsundere-kun acted lovestruck.

– Hey, you! That, is that something to make fun of!

– Fufu, haha, hahahahahaha…

Just what has gotten into her?
As soon as she smiled, she held her stomach with hands and held her mouth, but ended up bursting with laughter.

Yeah, as expected this girl is not serious at all.
She just wants to make fun of me, no doubts.

She laughed too much and supported herself putting both her hands on my shoulders until she calmed down.

– Hahaha… I get it, I get it. I"ll be serious, okay?

– G.o.d, what"s so funny…