•[•]•[•] Hiroshi [•]•[•]•

"Hey." A voice sounds from behind me as I feel a poke on my back. "Let's do something."

"Like what?" I turn to find Noire standing before me with a hand on her hip.

"I dunno. I'm bored." She shrugs and seats herself on the edge of my bed.

Because Nepgear is currently busy redesigning the N-Gear, all that we can do is wait for her to finish before we are able to move onto the next step. Neptune had decided that it isn't necessary to meet up until then, so these past few days have been fairly boring without the frequent club meetings.

"Is there anything that you wanna do?"

"I'm not sure." I put a hand on my chin. "I never really thought that we would end up having this much free time on our hands."

"Me neither." She sighs and gets up, meandering over to my closet and lazily throwing it open.

"Why are you going through my clothes?"

"I dunno. I'm bored." She repeats, lackadaisical fiddling with my clothes.

"We could go shopping for clothes."

"Why? Didn't we already go shopping?"

"Not for you, dummy. For me."

"That's true…" Noire puts a hand on her chin as she takes a sweeping gaze across my wardrobe. "You definitely need to get your hands on some better clothes. Sorry, but your selection's a bit bland."

Talk about harsh. I let out a defeated sigh.

...

"So, what kind of outfits are you looking for?" Noire asks as we enter a clothing store.

"I'm not too sure, if I'm being honest." I sigh, glancing at myself in one of the mirrors scattered around the store and examining my outfit.

It really is plain. I let out a defeated sigh, watching Noire file through a rack of dress shirts through the mirror.

"Hmmm…" She puts a hand on her chin as she turns to me and looks me up and down. "I think I know what you need. Come with me."

Grabbing my wrist, Noire begins to lead me through the store. As we weave in and out of the aisles, she occasionally throws an article of clothing into my arms. Just as I am about to reach my limit of items that I can carry, we find ourselves in front of the changing rooms. Letting out a sigh of relief, she pulls open the door of a stall and pushes me in.

"So, what am I supposed to do with all of this clothing?" I ask, staring at the heaping mound of clothing that I had placed on the bench before me. Just how much did she put in this pile?

"Just put on the clothes that I tell you to." She instructs me from the other side of the door. Complying to her request, we begin to make our way through the pile of clothing. As we dig our way into the mound, it occurred to me that there were so many articles of clothing that I didn't realize were in the pile.

This feels like I'm in a character design screen but I'm the character. I chuckle at the thought as I find myself in a stylish outfit: a brown blazer on top of a grey turtleneck, accompanied by a pair of black jeans. Geez, Noire really goes all out with these outfits.

Taking a step out of the stall, I find Noire staring at me with sparkling eyes. Awkwardly shuffling around in the doorframe, I instinctively strike a cheesy pose. Hearing the shutter of a camera clicking, I find Noire holding her phone in front of her, giggling.

"Wh-why'd you take a picture?" I quickly turn away from the camera and hide my face with a hand, feeling my face heat up.

"Because you looked cute." She giggles before slipping her phone away before I can reach over and grab it to delete the picture. "You don't look too bad."

"Oh yeah? Or are you just saying that because you're the one who chose the outfit for me."

"I dunno." She gives me a cheeky smile before shooing me back into the changing room. "This is just the first outfit! Let's keep going, shall we?"

Closing the door behind me, I throw the outfit off and await her next instructions. Hearing the buzz of a notification sound from my phone, I see a text from Noire. In the message, she lists out a denim jacket, a grunge graphic tee, and a pair of black joggers that have an unorthodox placement of zippers, streaked along the pant legs. Wh-what does grunge mean?

Scavenging through the pile, I manage to scrap together the set of clothing items and throw it on. Staring at myself in the mirror, I- no. This really doesn't look good on me. Maybe I shouldn't rely on Noire after all…

"Hey, hey, hey! Are you finished changing?" I can feel the excitement in Noire's voice as she calls out to me from the other side of the door.

"Y-yeah." I reluctantly unlock the door and reveal myself to Noire, whose eyes are practically shining at the sight of her newest creation.

"Wow, I really do make excellent choices after all!" She nods to herself, putting her hands on her hips.

"I don't like it." I bluntly state. Looking up at Noire, her face had gone completely pale, petrified with a mix of shock and horror.

"Wh-wh-what did you just say!?" She unfreezes and begins to sputter.

"I don't like it." I repeat, crossing my arms over my chest. I could've sworn that I saw an arrow labeled "rejection" pierce her heart.

"Y-you don't like it?" She then looks up at me, her eyes almost as big as the moon as they begin to fill up with tears. Instantly, a wave of regret washes over me and I begin to panic.

"N-no… it's not like that!" I quickly come up with an excuse, scratching my cheek. "I just… i-it's not my style, you know!?"

"Fine! I guess I won't help you anymore!" Noire huffs and turns her head, puffing out her cheeks.

"W-wait! I'm sorry! I didn't mean it, so please help me out! I will appreciate and accept all of your ideas!" I beg.

"All of them?" She mumbles and gives me a doubtful look, crossing her arms over her chest. I furiously nod, clasping my hands together in front of my face. With a sigh, she leans forward and pokes the top of my head. "Then, if you deny any of my outfits I'm never gonna help you out again nor am I gonna ask you for any help!"

"Oh, so does that mean that I don't need to help you study for any of our exams anymore?" I retort, looking up at Noire with a smug grin.

"Wha-!? F-fine! It's not like I need your help anyway, you idiot!" Noire growls. "Hurry up and get back into the changing room! We're nowhere near the bottom of the pile! I'll be sure to take my sweet time choosing the most perfect outfits for you!"

...

Exiting the store with a few bags of clothing in my hands, we make our way over to one of the lounging areas within the mall.

"I-I made it out alive…" I groan, collapsing onto one of the benches.

"Hmph! I'm still mad that you had the audacity to deny some of my ideas!" Noire huffs and crosses her arms over her chest.

"You know, at least consider how I'm feeling!" I let out a sigh. "But I'm really glad that you're here to help me. Honestly, I wouldn't even be able to come up with half of these outfits if I were shopping alone. I guess fashion really isn't my forte."

"I'm surprised you even decided to change out of your old outfit." She looks me up and down before nodding. "I guess it's expected that you just can't resist wearing one of the outfits that I chose for you!"

"Yeah yeah, whatever you say." I wave off her remark with a sigh.

Although not as fancy as some of the outfits that I tried out in the changing room, the stylish stat in my attire has definitely bumped up a few levels. Although I'm still equipped with a hoodie, it somehow became much more expensive and stylish with the addition of a brand name. Accompanying the brown top is a pair of black ripped jeans and white shoes with a beige trim. I've always wondered why people wore ripped jeans and were decked out in branded clothing… but maybe this isn't too bad.

"I still don't get why this is better than my old outfits."

"What do you mean? There's plenty of reasons why that outfit is better than any of the others you have." Noire huffs a retort as she crosses her arms over her chest.

"Oh yeah? Enlighten me." I scoff.

"First of all, you've been wearing random, brandless clothing. Secondly, little stylistic nuances like rips in jeans make such a difference! Don't even get me started on the impact that shoes have on the overall look!"

"I guess I'm really not cut out for fashion." I let out a defeated sigh.

"And that's why I'm here." She gives me a smile before pulling out her phone to check the time. "Oh it's about lunch time. Where would you like to eat?"

Before I can answer, I catch a glimpse of purple from the corner of my eye. Turning to get a better look, I realize that there are only three purplettes that I know of. Noire tilts her head in confusion but then follows my gaze until they lock onto our friends.

"Oh, heya! It's the tsundere and Fujita-san!" Nep exclaims before dashing over to us with her usual, cheery smile.

"Wha-!? I-I'm not a tsundere!" Noire growls.

"Heya, Nep." I return the greeting with a grin.

"Oho! I like the new 'fit, Fujita-san! Lookin' fresh!" The short-haired purplette gives me a wink as she examines me from all angles. "Let me guess… Noire chose it for you!"

"H-how'd you know?" I ask and Nep smirks.

"There's only one person that I know that can make casual look fancy!" She then rests her elbow on Noire's shoulder, who flinches at the sudden gesture. "It's the one and only, Lonely Heart! Although, it doesn't look like she's that lonely anymore. W-wait… our lonely goddess is no longer lonely!? This can't be true! Not only that, but she's the main character and I'm a measly, little side character! Oh, the horrors!"

"What brings you here?" Neptune greets us, ignoring her chibi counterpart's theatrics.

"We went shopping for Hiroshi." Noire explains, gesturing towards the bags in my hand. "What about you guys? Is it just you and Nep?"

Just as she finishes her question, Nepgear and Uni make their timely appearance from behind the other Planeptunians with a few bags of goodies in their hands. As they approach us, I find a donut in Uni's mouth. Quickly swallowing the bite, she clears her throat and greets us.

"Hey, Fujita-san! Hey, Onee-chan!" Uni gives us a wave.

"Hi, everyone! I-Is my sister okay?" Nepgear looks down at Nep, who collapsed to the floor and began tumbling and thrashing around, screeching incoherently about her misery.

"Oh I'm surprised that you're here, Nepgear." Noire speaks up, a forced smile plastered on her face as she throws her foot into Nep's stomach, who lets out a grunt and falls limp. "Aren't you working on the N-Gear?"

"Well, yeah, but I'm currently in the waiting stage. Unfortunately I'm not able to rush the process, hence the reason why I have to spend two weeks in order to finish. With that said, I have a bit of free time right now! There's no point in sitting around and doing nothing, right?" She waves off Noire's worries with a reassuring smile.

"Since Nepgear was free today, she invited me… I-I mean she forced me to come along! I was busy with homework and I definitely wasn't looking forward to spending time with Nepgear or anything…" Uni mutters with a blush, but quickly clears her throat and holds up a bag of donuts. "Would you guys like some?"

"Sure! Thanks, Uni." Accepting her offer, I grab a donut from the bag.

"Soooo…" Nep, who managed to recover and calm down, puts her hands behind her head. "Now that we're all here, why don't we do something together?"

"I don't see why not." Neptune nods in agreement with her human counterpart, but looks at Noire and I with a hint of worry. "We're not interrupting your… date are we?"

"N-n-no, you're not! L-let's do something together with everyone!" Noire's face burns red at Neptune's comment as she gives me a sideways glance. "You wouldn't mind, right?"

"I wouldn't mind. The more the merrier!" I respond with a smile.

"I'm getting kinda hungry." Nep rubs her stomach as a timely growl erupts. "Hey, does anyone have any good recommendations?"

Everyone then turns to me and Uni speaks for the group, "Fujita-san's the one who knows this place better than any of us, so why not have him choose a place?"

...

"Man, that was freakin de-lish!" Nep exclaims, patting her stomach as we leave the restaurant. "It was so good that I almost forgot how miserable being a side character is!"

"I never knew that a simple cafe would deliver such high quality food!" Noire and Neptune contribute their reviews in unison.

"M-May I make a request?" Nepgear awkwardly raises her hand.

"Go ahead." I give her a smile and she continues.

"Can we go to an amusement park?" She asks, holding up her phone, which displays a website of the said attraction. "We should invite the others to come along with us! Something tells me that this will be the first and last opportunity that we'll have to really enjoy our time here."

Wh-why did she have to phrase it so ominously…?

"Let me contact the others." Neptune pulls out her phone and types away. I then feel a hand tug on my sleeve. Turning, I find Noire awkwardly fidgeting with her hands as she attempts to make eye contact with me, to no avail.

"H-hey." She mumbles as she lets her hand fall to her side. "I'm sorry for ruining our time together."

"It's okay, Noire." I reassure her with a smile as I pat her on the head. "Spending just an hour with you is more than enough for me. Besides, we have all the time in the world to hang out together when we're at home."

"If we're not gonna be home for a while, let me take your bags." Noire reaches over and takes the clothing from me. Giving her a confused look, she opens up her inventory and places the bags into the storage.

"Oh wow, it's really convenient having an inventory." I whistle in awe.

If only we could've utilized this back when we went shopping for her clothes… Well, at least it'll make grocery shopping a whole lot easier!

"Well, I am a goddess after all!" She smirks and crosses her arms over her chest.

"Alright! Everyone except for Vii said that they were available. Vii said that she wasn't feeling too good so she has to stay home." Neptune speaks up, slipping her phone back into her pocket.

"Aww, shucks!" Nep grumbles and crosses her arms over her chest. "I really wanted everyone to come!"

"Well, all we can do is wish for her to have a fast recovery!" Nepgear says with a nod.

"Let's head over now, shall we?" I conclude and pull out my phone, typing in the directions to the venue.

A/N

Hey, how's it going? I apologize for missing an update last week! I was pretty unmotivated to write, but thankfully this week I woke up my inner creativity and was able to bang out a lot of content! I hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it. I dunno if you enjoyed the heightened amount of comedy, but I got a bit of influence after rewatching Konosuba a ha ha. Anyway, if you feel like it, go ahead and leave a review if you really enjoyed the chapter! I hope you have an amazing day!