Chapter Three: Fashion Conscience
Shinobu had her first sense that the shopping trip might not go as smoothly as she thought after Kitsune showed up at Todai to pick her up. Shinobu found her leaning against the wall outside of her last class for the day, surrounded by cigarette butts—and without an ashtray in sight. "Hey there, Shinobu!" she called out—loudly—as Shinobu emerged from the building with her friends.
Mari and Kyoko sweatdropped at the sight. "A friend of yours?" Mari asked.
"Erm… yes, we live at the same dorm building." Shinobu was mortified by Kitsune's lack of decorum but wasn't going to deny the friendship between them. "She was going to help me pick out my outfit for my date this Sunday.
"Oh, we could help you! I bet we could make you look cute!" Kyoko gushed.
Shinobu raised an eyebrow at the implications of that comment.
"Umm, I mean, cuter." Kyoko amended.
"I don't mind if you want to come along!" Kitsune said, offering a pack of cigarettes.
Kyoko, who didn't smoke, took one out of politeness. "What course of study are you studying?" she asked politely. Shinobu hangs out with her? That woman has to be close to thirty!
"School of hard knocks!" Kitsune replied cheerfully, oblivious to Kyoko's thoughts. She turned and eyed a young man, walking by. "I guess I could be persuaded to be tutored in an advanced class in biology though," she leered.
Shinobu joined her college friends in sweatdropping. Kitsune was attracting a crowd of gawkers. Why is everyone watching? Maybe they'll have something better to do soon. Shinobu thought. Wait, she realized. This is a college campus. Nobody ever has anything better to do.
"So," Mari said with a polite cough, "What district were you interested in seeing? Ginza and Omotesando is nice, but they're super expensive." She hoped this would head off Kyoko and her expensive suggestions. I mean I'm sure Shinobu would find something nice there, but I doubt she'd be able to afford that. She knew about Shinobu's parents and situation.
"How about we hit up Ginza and- oww!" Kyoko said, not being headed off until Mari stepped on her foot.
"I bet we could find something cute in Harajuku," Kitsune said with a grin.
Shinobu sweatdropped wondering if she'd wind up looking like a lolicon girl or a goth. If I wanted that, I'd have asked Kanako for help.
"I think Shibuya is a safe choice," Mari suggested in a tone that said Shinobu might regret any other choices. "We ought to be able to find an outfit that could cover any probable situation that you might experience for a date."
"Okay, let's try that," Shinobu said, relieved to have a voice of reason in the group. Mari was often levelheaded and practical, reminding her of a younger Naru minus the violence directed at Keitaro.
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Shibuya was almost an overload of stores and fashion, and actually not far from the Komaba campus of Todai. Shinobu saw a large number of people in their early 20s to early 30s out shopping, taking advantage of the excellent early October weather. This would be good weather for one last trip to the beach before autumn sets in, Shinobu thought.
Kyoko pointed out a shopping mall across from the station that she said was cute and reasonable. Shibuya 109, it was called. A silver building with a tower out front. So, after discreetly checking with Mari over the prudential aspect, they collected Kitsune from the beer vending machine and went in.
It turned out there were several clothing stores in the mall, which was a good sign. It also turned out that Kyoko and Kitsune were conspiring, which was less so.
"She's never had a boyfriend where she lives either?" Kyoko was asking.
"Nope. She was interested in the manager, but he got married. But even then we almost had a catfight because-"
"No way!" Kyoko said, enthralled by the gossip and forgetting her first impression of Kitsune.
"Shall we go?" Shinobu asked patiently, elbowing Kitsune in the ribs.
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Naru sat quietly, while Keitaro spoke to their shared psychiatrist. She held his hand, silently willing his recovery. Until he had returned from Pararakelse, she had never even heard of PTSD. But now, she had learned quite a bit.
"Naru helped me understand that feeling sorrow over Makie's death isn't being unfaithful. So, while I feel sad about her death, and regret over the fact that I didn't see I was sending her the wrong signals, I'm starting to recognize that Makie's death wasn't my fault." He looked at his hands. "It probably would have been worse if I had killed that rebel. I thought I had, but Artyom told me I missed. I don't think I could ever face Naru or my child again, if I had taken a human life." He hesitated for a moment. "Sometimes I feel like I should feel worse than I do and am some sort of monster that I'm not."
Naru put her arm around him. He had been improving although some days were better than others. On the days that were other, she made use of both her empathy and her body to comfort him. This might be one of those days. Not that she minded. He responded well to both, and they were both happy with her level of bodily support. If it were physically possible, I'd probably be pregnant four times over by now, she thought wryly.
Dr. Nakahara nodded. "On rare occasions, I have had to treat that guilt among law enforcement personnel who needed to use their weapon in the line of duty. Their reaction has been similar to what you feared you would feel." She smiled. "You do seem to be responding well to treatment for survivor's guilt and PTSD. Remember to keep following your treatments and, if you start to feel guilt, remind yourself that this could just as easily have happened if you had never returned."
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Since, after their session, it was still a bit early to go home, they decided to have some couple time together.
"You said you needed a maternity dress, didn't you?" Keitaro said. "Maybe you could get one and then we could get a bite to eat."
"I'd like that," Naru replied with a smile. Now that she was starting to show her baby bump, she needed some more comfortable clothes. "Some taiyaki and some curry ice cream would be good."
Keitaro mostly hid his revulsion at Naru's pregnancy induced cravings. "Okay…" he said with a wincing smile.
"You don't have to get the same thing I do, you dope," she replied giving him a playful punch on the arm. "So, Shibuya's not too far away."
"Sounds good," Keitaro replied. "Maybe you can get one of those slinky negligees to go with-"
Naru playfully thumped him on the head. "We're picking out something for me here, not you," she said teasingly. But maybe I can find something that fits into our budget that he'd like. She wondered if they even made maternity lingerie.
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In one of the boutiques in Shibuya 109, Kitsune and Kyoko had a pile of dresses picked out for Shinobu to try on and kept Shinobu marching in and out the changing room. Unfortunately for Shinobu, the two women had similar ideas of fashion.
"Try this," Kitsune said, thrusting a black and lacy pile of cloth into her hands.
A few minutes later, Shinobu emerged wearing a long black goth style dress. "Umm, this feels a little… well for starters I might trip over the hemline."
"Okay, try this," Kyoko said, thrusting another dress into her arms.
"Good choice," Kitsune said.
Shinobu emerged, blushing a bit. It was tight around the chest, and the skirt was much shorter. "You guys, this seems a bit much…"
"Okay, try this" Kitsune said, tossing her a much smaller bundle of cloth. "This should be perfect!"
Shinobu held it up and sweatdropped. "Why do you keep showing me shorter skirts when I shoot down your choices?"
Mari intervened then. "Come, Shinobu," she said sweetly. "I think we can find something that suits your style of cute." Which isn't the style that looks like you want to be picked up.
Walking over to the next boutique shop, they did find something that suited her. Shinobu fell in love with a pink suspension mermaid skirt that had a white long sleeve blouse to go under it. It wasn't goth, and it wasn't too revealing either.
"I like this," Shinobu said. "I think it will probably work no matter where Ukyo-san takes me for our date."
"You're a bit nervous about it?" Mari asked.
"Well, times may be changing as you say, but I worry I'll make mistakes in some fancy place."
"Shinobu, you told me that he was willing to help you clean up after your club meeting. Do you really think he'll dump you because you use the wrong fork?"
Surprisingly, Kitsune and Kyoko didn't make any fuss when they finished trying it on and paid ¥7700 for the ensemble. But they did look at each other meaningfully as the group headed for the door. I wonder what they're up to, Shinobu thought.
She soon found out, as Kyoko yanked open a shop door and Kitsune pushed her inside.
"Okay," Kitsune said with a leer. "I guess your outfit works good enough for you," she said. "But of course we need to get you something for later."
"For later?" Shinobu asked, puzzled. She looked up and blushed, seeing they were in a Peach John's store, and the selections were not anything she'd want to be seen in. "Oh, no… we are not doing thi-"
There was a crash and a loud chorus of alarmed cries from the women in the store. Everybody turned to see Keitaro caught in an impossibly compromising position involving him groping at least three mannequins clad in scanty garments, his hands thrust through various undergarments on display. Off to his right, Naru—who had been evaluating a black, lacy number—looked at him with an exasperated disbelief. Her mouth opened to say something caustic when she locked eyes with Shinobu. Giving a start, she thrust the garment behind her back, blushing. She looked at Shinobu with a quirked eyebrow, surprised to see her in a store like this. Are you sure you want to do this? she silently asked.
Shinobu turned bright red, realizing what Naru was buying the garment for. In response to Naru's unspoken question, she responded with a glare, jerking her head in Kitsune's direction.
Naru's expression turned to one of sympathy and she menacingly advanced towards where Kitsune stood. "So, this is what you had in mind with your 'good places to shop'?" She cracked her knuckles as she walked, fully in defend against perverts mode.
"Run for it!" Kitsune said to Kyoko as Naru's eyes appeared to blaze. "We're busted." The two dashed for the door, with Naru, stopping only to throw the garment at Keitaro, in hot pursuit.
"Erm, hi, Shinobu," Keitaro said, his head poking out from under a mannequin in a position that—had it been a person—would have been obscene. "What brings you here?"
Kokeru Moroboshi jumped out from behind a display. "Sensei! Teach me your ways!" he said with a lecherous chuckle.
He was struck from behind by Sara swinging a high heeled leather boot. "Knock it off, you dork!"
Shinobu's eyes narrowed dangerously. "And what brings you here?"
Feeling the glares of every woman in the store, including Shinonbu, Keitaro hurried to the register to pay for Naru's selection and rushed out himself, not wanting to be alone in an women's intimate apparel boutique, leaving Kokeru and Sara alone to face her wrath. Kokeru, being shameless, looked around at the mannequins left on display, a lecherous grin on his face.
"So, Sara-chan… while we're here… have you considered try-AWK!" The rest of his sentence was cut off by Sara kicking him in the head.
"Shut up and stop talking, dork!"
Mari looked at Shinobu, sweatdropping. "Umm, are these all friends of yours?"
Shinobu shook her head. "Never saw any of them before in my life," she said irritably. "I think we're ready to go, don't you? I'm tired of people checking up on me!"
Su popped up from behind a rack of clothes. "Whew, that was a close one!" she announced. "We were almost caught!"
Shinobu's eyes narrowed further.
"Su!" Motoko protested. "You're giving us away!"
Ema lost her balance, knocking into Kanako so they fell out from behind a rack of clothing.
All the women in the store sweatdropped.
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At home, Shinobu was livid, though she kept it internalized… or tried to. The way she crashed pots and pans around in the kitchen, the others had a pretty good idea of how she was feeling. Finally, Naru came out to talk to her.
"So, bad day?"
"You should know!" Shinobu growled. "Why were you all checking up on me? Are you my fashion conscience or something?"
"Hey," Naru protested. "I didn't even know you were going to that mall, and I sure as hell didn't know anybody else was there. I thought-" She stopped and looked around to make sure that nobody else was in earshot. "Keitaro and I got out of our joint session and after I bought a new maternity dress I thought might like me in some… well… some change of scenery when we got home. You know, before I turn into… a whale." She blushed a little.
Shinobu blushed too, remembering Haruka's warning about a married woman's sex life. Naru sometimes let her know more than she cared to know.
"What was wrong with the Sailor Moon lingerie I got you?" Kitsune asked, popping up, seemingly out of nowhere.
After Mutsumi escorted Kitsune off with the First Aid kit, Naru continued, rubbing her knuckles. "Besides," she said defensively, "We were in that store before you were."
Shinobu sighed. "I guess that's true… I just was embarrassed between Kitsune's trick and the commotion in front of my friends and when I saw you, I just assumed you were looking after 'poor innocent Shinobu' again like you did when I was twelve. And then when I discovered everybody else was there, it felt like too much to be a coincidence."
Twelve! Naru thought. Has it really been that long since I first met her?
"I can't speak for the others, but I was trying not to worry or interfere," Naru said, patiently. "Yes, I admit I do worry about some things, and that you might get into something you can't handle. But I know can't force you to make the decisions I think you should make, if you want to make different ones." She smiled ruefully. "Keitaro and I were surprised when you walked in. Poor Keitaro was embarrassed enough just being there when I was checking things out. So when we saw you, he hid so you wouldn't get the wrong impression… and you know the rest."
Shinobu winced. The way he had fallen on the mannequins would have been unforgivable if he had fallen on her that way. "Yes, I guess I do."
"So, I hope you weren't too embarrassed in front of your friends," Naru said.
Shinobu rolled her eyes. "Mari just said, 'You have interesting friends.' As for Kyoko, she and Kitsune made plans to go out bar-hopping later."
Naru nodded. "So, what are you going to do about the others being there?"
"Oh, I'm not the type to hold a grudge," Shinobu said sweetly.
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At dinner that night, Shinobu served a minimal vegetarian dinner, a malevolent smile on her face.
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Author's Notes
So, if you made it through, you'll see the title of the chapter wasn't a typo. ^_~
About the stores: Ginza and Omotesando are the high end high fashion districts. It's for the wealthy as I understand it. Harajuku apparently involves the clothing for the subcultures. Shibuya is aimed at 20 somethings.
I had thought of having Kitsune suggest something bizarre like Violence Jack Off, but I understand it's out of business and may have been in 2006 when this story takes place. Since I couldn't come up with any research to make it work, I decided to give it a miss.
Shibuya 109 is a real shopping mall that existed since 1979. It caters more to women in their 30s, which in this case (Shinobu is 21) reflects Saionji's more conservative views of clothing.
Peach John's is a lingerie store.
"Haruka's warning" You'll have to read the Barriers chapter Because None of Your Damn Business, That's Why! if you forgot that one.