Disclaimer: All respective rights/ownerships go to their rightful owners. I claim no ownership besides any OC. I only wish to write a story :d.
Regrets.
They come in all shapes and sizes. Big or small, it doesn't matter that in the end; regrets are a very powerful thing in us humans. They can even control our very existence in fact, depending on the magnitude of how we feel towards the regret. Strong willed people can often be turned into a shadow of their former selves as the burden of their regrets weigh on them. Great many a people have fallen for this and is truly a foul fate to befall a person. The regret doesn't even need to take a large form for this to happen though, small amounts can eventually build up and ruin a person as well.
Truly this is a fate that no one wants.
And I'm slowly going down this path of accumulating small amounts of regret as I'm being led by the twin-tailed girl I met today.
"Ooooo! Maybe you'll look great with this red vest on top of blue!? Oh wait! How about a green vest with a yellow long sleeve!? Oooo! Maybe a button up would be a better top! Both of those can go with some dark colored pants though…. Hey! Are you even listening to me!?
I numbly nod to her as she looks at me sternly.
"Hmph! You better be, you're going to be trying all these clothes on soon enough, so you'd better like them!" Noire says in a huff as she turns back to the clothing rack before her in search for more outfits.
I wonder how much regret one can accumulate before they go to ruin?
It's not as if I'm ungrateful towards her or anything. Honestly she has an amazing eye for fashion. Some of these styles and design choices are something only a goddess should be able to find. My mother pales in comparison to her really. Makes me think of what she does beyond cosplaying.
This supposed cosplay of Lady Black Heart, I'm finding sketchier as I'm spending time with Noire by the by. Some things just don't add up.
"I think you'll like this pink button up; it goes well with you!"
I take back everything I said. I can feel my regrets building up and weighing me down already. I guess my time is appro-
Wait!
This entire time she's been picking out outfits, she doesn't even know what kind of occasion she's picking out for does she?!
"Uh, Noire?"
"Hmm? What is it?"
"Do you know what kind of outfit I'm looking for?"
"Eh? Your shopping for casual clothing right?"
"No. I'm looking for something to wear at a formal dinner."
"…"
Now she's standing there with different articles of clothing in each hand… All of which aren't what I'm looking for. She as well starts to slowly notice this as she looks at the outfits and me.
Slowly, I can see her cheeks start to turn a bright shade of red in embarrassment.
"W-W-WHYYYYY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME THAT SOONER!" She yells out loud suddenly and points at me accursedly.
"It's more so I couldn't with the pace you were going out. You just started yanking me and picking out clothes randomly without asking."
She starts to sulk a little at that.
"I mean y-yea, but…" Ah, she's starting to sulk. Well she's not completely at fault here to be feeling like this. Better let her know.
"But it was still my fault as well. I should have stopped you sooner instead of wasting both of our time like this." It really is both of our faults. Mostly her though since she wouldn't calm down for a second, but it's best not to make her aware of that.
"Y-yea! It is both our faults, but mostly yours! You really should have stopped me sooner you know." I want to ignore it, but I'm not sure I can hold out for too much longer. What's with me meeting this type so much all of a sudden?
"I suppose so, but let's continue with our shopping alright? Let me tell you about what I'm shopping for first now."
She nods and now has an incredibly determined look on her face. Jeez, I've never seen such a strong face for something so small. Well it's small for her at least, I think, that face sorta says otheriwse. Although, I feel like I shouldn't tell her exactly what this is for. I don't exactly know who she is and the fact that her cosplay of Lady Black Heart is so spot on still kinda puts me on edge. Best to avoid any issues with omitting some parts of the truth a little.
"I'm shopping for a rather important event. You see, I'm going to be attending a dinner to meet some very important people tomorrow and as such, I want to make a good first impression of myself. Think we can find something like that?"
Instead of getting an answer, she turns away from me and looks like she's thinking pretty hard about something.
"…Tomorrow…. Adam…" I hear her mumble underneath her breath. I'm really not liking what I just heard. It might mean too many things that I'm not ready for. I might just end up fainting again with an overload.
I'd like to get on with this but it'd appear that Noire is concentrating rather hard about this. She's just standing there and muttering with her palm on her cheek.
"Say Noire, you alright there?"
"H-huh!? Yes, I'm fine! I was just thinking about something is all…" Annnnd she trails off again. Let's pick up a random outfit and hopefully that'll fully snap her out of her little world of clouds.
Let's see… Ah! This should do well.
"Hey Noire, whattya think about this shirt and pants?"
"H-huh!? Oh, that's right we we- "I guess it worked, although she won't have high opinion of me anymore once she sees this.
She's now staring at the amazing outfit I just picked out in utter disgust. I admit while it's a horrible color mixing is a problem (brown and purple), it does the purpose of getting her to remember about what we were doing. She's totally going to insult me in a second here from the completely deadpan look she's giving me right now though.
"That is by far, one of the worst outfits I've ever seen. I know you're a guy and all, but is that the best you can really do? A newly born could do a much better than that." I've never been put down like that so badly before. I can almost feel a cloud of depression form over me. It's a good thing that this isn't really my fashion sense or this would really put me down.
Now I have a few options here: I can fight her back, I could just take her insult, or be neutral about it… Although I do need her still to help me pick out an outfit easier. I really don't want to mess this dinner up with just my clothes either…
"That's why I need you to help me. Who knows what kind of horrible outfit I'd pick out without your help."
"That's right! Of course you need me, and it'd be befitting of me to help you out of course. It's my responsibility as a C- I-i mean fellow citizen to help you after all!" It's taking almost my entire being to ignore all the warning bells going off in my head. My mind has already concluded things that should be impossible, but my body isn't prepared to accept said conclusions. Not even my mind is prepared to accept this yet and it's the one that made these conclusions. Tonight is going to be nightmare to process all this information but for now, the outfit.
"So, I was thinking of blue and black as the main color schemes for the outfit. What do you think?" And with that we finally started to make some progress.
"Thank you very much for your purchase! Please come again!" The clerk says as the register steals my hard earned credits. Who woulda guessed that just a new outfit could cost so much!? Bah, at least they are really nice and feel like it's worth the price.
In the end me and Noire picked out a blue vest over a white shirt, black jeans, and black dress shoes. It honestly looks really nice. It toke us a while to completely settle, but in the end we got a really good outcome. Albeit it was quite expensive. I can already feel the pit in my wallet, but at least some of the regret I gained was thrown away with her assistance. Really, without her help I'm sure I wouldn't have gotten such a nice outfit together. I'd probably get some horribly thrown together…. thing.
"Well, that went really well. Thank you for your help Noire."
"It was no problem at all. You really looked like you needed help with all the fumbling and it was only right of me to help you with my amazing fashion skills! So what are you going to do now? Are you just going to go home now?" She finishes looking shyly to the side.
I'm not sure how much of this I can take, but obviously I can take more with the question I'm about to ask. I hope this doesn't turn out badly. Although I'm not sure what to make of her right now, she looks a little sad? Did she like hanging around me? Well, I hope this offer will cheer her up then.
"Well I would, but I'd like to offer buying you lunch since you've spent so much your time helping me. I couldn't have done it without you and I'd really like to repay you." It's rather late in the afternoon now and I'm pretty sure she hasn't eaten.
She jumps a little at my offer and looks pretty startled. Did she really think I'd just leave her after our little escapade? It'd be horribly uncouth of me to just up and leave her after all she did for me. Although she is a stranger, it still wouldn't be right to leave her like that. Especially since the suspicions I have of her make it so that I REALLY shouldn't just leave her like that. Besides, after being around her for some time, I do want to spend some more time with her as well. Tsundere part aside...
"A-are you sure?"
"Yup."
"You really want to spend more time with m-me?" Don't sound so doubtful.
"I wouldn't be offering if I didn't now."
"…"
She goes silent and is now looking straight down. I hope I didn't push my boundaries or anything considering the person that I'm asking this of.
"W-well, I'll accept! Only because your insisting so much, I guess I'll grace you with my presence! A-a-and you better be grateful that I'm spending more of my time with someone like you!" Someone like me? I hope that doesn't mean anything bad.
"Well, thank you for accompanying me your majesty. Now, where would you like to go? My treat." Hope I don't regret this either.
I totally regretted that offer.
Not in the sense of Noire being Noire. In the short time that I've spent with her, I'd gotten used to her…. antics per se. Not sure if I should be proud of that or not.
What I regret was where we went to eat. Guessing some things about her earlier, I totally should have expected her to pick a fancy restaurant. The food was amazing and all, but when I saw that bill….
I feel a shudder crawl up my spine as I make my way home.
We ate our meal at a fair pace and talked about random subjects. She's quite knowledgeable in a lot of things and I'd often find myself lacking behind a bit, but I'd keep up. I would poke fun at her 'cosplaying' Lady Black Heart sometimes and get her somewhat expected reaction. We'd actually spend so much time that it was almost 8PM by the time we finished talking and eating. She quickly excused herself, saying that she was probably worrying her little sister and I my mother. We exchanged farewells and made our ways to our respective homes. I did glance back at her to see that she was headed in the direction of the Basilicom. Well that proved my earlier convictions.
And now I'm just on my way home letting the events of today process through my brain.
"At least it was a good day." I say as I slightly lift up my bag of clothes and let out a small smile as I see my home near. Although, now that I think about it some more. In the restaurant, I could feel someone glaring at me. It was somewhat faint, but I just ignored it as I didn't want to interrupt Noire talking. Ah well, it doesn't matter now and I'm at the steps of my home now anyway, and I have another important challenge to overcome now.
I gingerly walk up and check out the windows. Nothing? Yup, nothing. Good so far. No lights either, that's a good sign.
I unlock the door and slowly start to tip-toe through my home as I relock the door. The stairs are in range, all I need to do is reach it and I'll be fr-
"Where do you think you going young man?" I hear a cold voice say as the lights flare up in the living room.
And so ends my day with the twin-tail tsundere 'citizen'.
For what followed was a severe scolding that would strike fear into any man.
A/N: Terribly sorry this toke almost two weeks to update. School/work (mostly work) are occupying more of my time than I initially thought they would. Also some personal things started to take up even more time. Ah well, hopefully it won't happen again, but I do owe you guys a double update on one of these weeks now. Look forward to that!
Hope the wait wasn't too bad, and I hope you all enjoyed the chapter!
Have a great day/evening/night!