"Dressed For Success"
by Furor Scribendi
2008 Scribendi Productions
January 9th
As Mahoro was doing the wash this winter's morning, she noticed that Suguru's clothes were wearing out. Areas were getting threadbare and could cause potential embarrassment, should there be a failure of the garment, especially with his pants.
Minawa withdrew the clothes from the washer and held up one pair of his pants, staring at them. "Big Sister, I don't remember Suguru having a pair of shorts like this."
Mahoro looked over to Minawa, and then reached into the washer to pull out the tattered legs of that particular pair of pants. "I guess the dirt was holding it all together," commented Mahoro, a bit shocked as to this turn of events.
Suguru came downstairs and into the laundry area, eating an apple. "I don't seem to have many pants left. Well, none that I could find, anyway."
Mahoro turned to see that the pants Suguru was wearing weren't quite fitting right. "Those don't seem to look all that comfortable on you."
"Naah, it's fine," said Suguru. "Watch." He began to walk about, as if there were no problems. "They feel just great." He stopped and bent over to pick up an imaginary something. A loud report was heard and Suguru bolted upright, clutching his seat and his face reddening. Minawa just stared on, equally stunned
"Is something wrong?" she asked, as Suguru began to slide away.
"NO! No, nothing at all! I think I forgot to get something!" He tried to leave, but Mahoro came up to him. He backed into the door jam.
"Suguru, I need you to turn around," she asked firmly, rotating her finger.
"Why? There's no reason for that! I'm just going to go up to my room and get ready for the start of school in two days! I'll just be a moment!" As he left, a part of his pants rip caught on the striker plate of the door and a more forceful tear was heard. Suguru was mortified, as now Mahoro and Minawa could see his underwear. He thought his head was going to explode from the embarrassment.
Mahoro unhooked him from the plate. "Go upstairs and get on another pair of pants. We may have to go shopping for you. And with the start of the new semester at school, this could be a great time to upgrade everything." Suguru ran away with blinding speed. Mahoro though it odd that, when under pressure, his speed output was phenomenal. Mahoro turned to Minawa. "I think in a situation like this, we both should go and help him shop."
"Yes, that would be nice," said Minawa, as she put the tattered pants back into the washer. With a slightly better pair of pants secured for Suguru, they all headed to the local department store.
Suguru felt nervous. He wasn't a big fan of clothes shopping as it was, but to have both Minawa and Mahoro accompany him bordered on sheer panic. "Uh, Mahoro, do you think this is really necessary? I mean, I have lots and lots of pants. Perhaps this can wait for another day."
"You may have lots and lots of pants, but you have lots and lots of pants that are ready to give out. I am now afraid to wash any more of them, as they may all come out in fragments. The best thing to do is to invest in a new wardrobe and not have you…uh…get embarrassed if you bend over."
Suguru reddened up again. "Yeah, I guess you're right." Minawa took a look at Suguru's seat, uncertain if it might happen as they walked downtown.
Harito's Department Store was a goodly-sized shop. Not too small so there was a limited selection, but not so big that you needed GPS, should you get lost in the cavernous areas. Since there was a sale going on, the store was packed with bargain hunters. Also, with some after-Christmas returns still occurring, it was a bit crazed.
Mahoro and Suguru wended their way to the second floor, to Young Men's clothing, while Minawa lagged behind, staring at everything around her. Many mothers were there as well, unwilling child in tow, with all the kids complaining loudly that they had enough clothes and didn't need any more.
"Uh, Mahoro, maybe we really should come back later. I mean it's really crowded and we may have to wait a long time to get into the changing booths and…." A crash was heard. They both turned about to see that Minawa had caught the tip of her shoe on the top of the escalator and slid across the floor, ending up in the Super Discount Bin. They untangled her from a variety of clothing.
"I'm sorry. It's just so crowded in here," apologized Minawa.
"That's OK, there is nothing to…." Suguru stopped. One of the items he removed from Minawa's head was a bra. He stared at it. It felt so soft, yet firm. The tag was still attached to it, showing a very voluptuous woman wearing her undergarments, or what little of the undergarments she had on. He wanted to put it back, but his hands wouldn't let him. He had locked up. He couldn't move at all.
He then found himself being dragged along by Mahoro, who spoke on. "I am sure we can find something for your growing needs, Suguru."
"Yes, glowing knees," he mumbled, the bra finally tumbling from his hands.
In the Young Men's area, there were walls and walls of pants. Suguru looked up and it might as well have been Fujiyama, at it went on forever. Mahoro started to pull out several pairs of pants, piling them up on Minawa.
"We will try some basic black, plus some other colors and styles for the weekend, when we don't need uniforms. We will need at least five pairs for the school week, plus another two or three for the weekends." Mahoro selected the pants with no error, as she knew what the sizes were. She turned to Minawa, who was starting to sag under the weight.
"We may need to fine-tune the sizes, as they can be cut just enough off, so even though we have two identical sizes, they can easily fit differently." She then turned to Suguru and presented him with the pants to try on. He blanched.
"I…I think I am getting light-headed, Mahoro. So…so I'm just going to step outside and get some air, OK, and…" He turned to leave and ran directly into a pair of breasts. But these were not any ordinary breasts.
"Why…Misato-kun," a lovely voice purred out to him. "How nice to run into you here."
Mahoro looked up to see Shikijo standing there, while Suguru was seemingly trapped in her cleavage. Mahoro rescued him, glowering at Shikijo. "What are you doing here, sensei? It's not like you have any children."
"Well, I shop here as well, but, on the contrary, I have lots of children. I think of ALL my students as my children, and I want to make certain that they get the proper school attire. Of course, any after-school clothing they wish for is something else." Shikijo looked Suguru up and down, examining everything. "Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. It appears that you are in need of pants."
"Shikijo-sensei!" Suguru panicked and blushed, as he hid behind a shirt rack. Mahoro's hair horns started flapping at the brazenness of Shikijo. It was bad enough as to what happened over the New Year's celebration, but this! Was there no safe haven from the machination of this….hussy?
Shikijo went around the rack and found Suguru. "You need to get the proper caliber of pants. As a growing boy, you need to have room to grow and these pants just won't do. First, I can barely get my thumbs between the pants and you." She grasped him by the hips and forced her thumbs in right at the waist. Suguru reddened.
"See? These are much, much too tight. And look at your seat." She placed a hand on one of his cheeks. "There is just no room for you to bend over. You could easily have a major catastrophe, should you have to pick up an errant pencil."
Mahoro came over and yanked Suguru away. "I am shocked that an adult and a teacher would act that way!"
Shikijo smiled and came over to Mahoro. "Take a look around you."
Mahoro looked to see parents were looking for waist gap and seat room and pant leg length. One parent was checking the pant rise on her offspring, much to the total chagrin of that child.
"I'm not doing anything different than any other person here," offered Shikijo.
"But….Suguru is MY responsibility, not yours!" sputtered Mahoro.
"In a sense, he IS my responsibility, and, as such, it is MY responsibility to make certain he is dressed properly at all times." Shikijo hooked an arm under his, and then scampered off into the crowds, cackling.
Mahoro was shocked by the turn of events and gave pursuit. "Minawa, please come with me!" she called back. Minawa followed, as pants fell away from her pile, leaving a trail of slacks for anyone to follow. Mahoro was surprised as to how fast Shikijo could run when she put her mind to it.
Shikijo took a left turn into Women's Clothing and both she and Suguru hid amid a rack of bras. "She would never to think to look for us in here," she snickered. She parted the garments to see Mahoro getting her bearings. Peering intently, looking all about, her hair horns going up and down, she thought for a moment before she headed on. Minawa trailed behind; losing another pair of the pants she was holding. "I knew I could outfox those two, but that Mahoro is crafty. We had better wait for a bit, eh, Suguru-kun?"
As Shikijo made certain they were gone, Suguru was losing it. He was in a veritable forest of ladies undergarments; and not just any undergarment, but bras. Wonderful, glorious bras. Some of them were so thin and wispy, it was like there was nothing there at all. Others were padded to the point that they could stand proudly on their own.
And the colors! Not just flesh tone, but Midnight Black, Pristine White, Sky Blue, Sea Green, Brazen Bronze, Cutie Pink, Embolden Red. His eyes began to flutter; it felt that he might pass out, as his mind was awash with ideas as to what these bras were going to support.
And the tags! Each garment had its very own color picture of a woman, wearing that bra. Could such a delicate garment even hope to constrain that burgeoning womanhood? Even elastic has a breaking point, and so did Suguru. He tried to speak, but only squeaking sounds came out, so high-pitched that bats would be the only ones to respond to him. As he leaned back to get some air into him, a bra fell onto his face. As he removed it, he saw the back of the tag, with its size. 101DD.
He mouthed out the size. 101DD. 101DD. 101DD. His eyes widened.
"ARGHRGHRGH!" Bursting from the rack, numerous garments hanging from him, Suguru began to scramble about the store in a blind frenzy. Chasing out after him was Shikijo, trying to catch him.
The commotion caught the attention of Mahoro, who also gave pursuit. Minawa tried to follow. She was holding empty space as to where the pants she had been given were, but now were lying on the floor. Ducking and weaving, Suguru was able to avoid running into people, as he slowly lost the nettlesome bras one by one.
Finding a stairwell, he went down to the basement area. Shikijo followed afterwards, but Mahoro was blocked by a phalanx of people coming upstairs.
Suguru managed to get himself on an exercise treadmill and ran as hard as he could, but went nowhere. Shikijo went right past him, not really noticing him on the equipment, and headed towards the tool corral.
At the treadmill, a prospective buyer and a salesperson watched Suguru. The salesman spoke. "As you can see with this model, it gives not only relative speed on the display, but also calories burned. And you can change the angle of it, so you are in an uphill slope, making for a better workout." He pushed a few buttons on it so the display came up nice and large. The customer nodded.
When Suguru realized where he was, he stopped and shot off the back of the machine, crashing into someone. He felt the warm embrace of Mahoro about him. "You are free from the clutches of that harridan, Suguru. Come with me and we can get you the clothing you need. In safety."
Sighing contently, he stood up. As Mahoro let him go, he turned back around to see Shikijo standing, beckoning him on with a seductive look. "I know all there is to know of clothing." She ran forward, scooping him up and eluded the grasp of Mahoro, who turned about and was hot on Shikijo's heels.
Their actions did not go unnoticed by security. In the Command Center for the store, a guard was watching this with interest on the monitors. "Miki-sama, could you come over here, please?" he called out to the other man in the room. Mr. Miki walked up to him.
"What is it?"
The guard tapped one of the screens, showing Suguru, Shikijo and Mahoro passing by in rapid succession. "They have just been acting oddly. I think they are trying to create a diversion. I mean, look at how obvious they are."
Mr. Miki watched for a few moments as they went through the store, popping up on different surveillance cameras. Rubbing his chin, he spoke into his two-way radio. "Panda One, Panda One."
The two-way crackled. "Panda One here."
"We have a trio of runners headed in your direction and…" Before Miki could finish, they all roared past Panda One, who immediately joined the hunt. Shikijo tried to stay ahead of Mahoro, but Suguru was just too heavy. She turned left, then right, and went into furniture.
Finding an armoire, she quickly stuffed a rather dazed Suguru in there and fled on. "If I can lead her on a merry goose chase, I can get back to Suguru." She slowed down enough to let Mahoro see her, and then sprinted away.
"Oh, no, you don't!" Mahoro was determined to put an end to all this. As she tracked Shikijo, she noticed Suguru was not with her. "She has something else planned," she reasoned and Mahoro broke off the chase.
Back in furniture, Suguru got out of the armoire and began to stumble about. Minawa saw him and followed him at a distance.
Mahoro stood in jewelry and thought. I have to figure out where Suguru might go next, since Shikijo-sensei has some other thoughts in mind. Where could she have stashed Suguru? So lost in her musings, she did not see Suguru get off the escalator. Minawa came down moments later, but lost him.
Mahoro moved on as Minawa wandered around the bottom of the escalator, looking around. Panda One charged by her, hot after Mahoro. Trying to get out of his way, Minawa crashed into a store manikin, which toppled over into another manikin, which toppled over into another manikin. Panda One turned about to see Minawa all tangled up.
Suguru got back on the up escalator. Mahoro did the same, but wasn't looking for Suguru, deep in her plotting. On the next floor, Suguru went to the left, and Mahoro went to the right, circling around to the down escalator on the other side. As she got there, she ran into Shikijo. They stared at one another, a bit irked and perplexed, but not finding Suguru.
"What did you do with Suguru?" they accused each other at the same time. "What did I do with him?" they said in unison. As they glared at one another, Suguru staggered into view, some garments still hanging from them. When he saw the two of them, he panicked and turned about, heading right into the Glass and Crystal section.
Mahoro and Shikijo gasped, but dare not follow Suguru in. All about were exquisite Baccarat and Waterford leaded cut crystal vases and stemware, Noritake and Lenox dishes, even some Faberge items. Both of them saw vision of yen signs dancing about their heads, as the level of destruction that could be wrought would keep them in debt until the next millennia.
Shikijo put her hands over her eyes as Mahoro winced at the action of Suguru fleeing, full tilt, throughout the area. The bras caressed the candlesticks and the gravy boats, but never snagged on a single item. A hanger did hook onto an enormous decanter, but was merely left behind as Suguru passed it by, as though this was its stop on this manic marathon.
Leaving the breakables untouched and undamaged, Suguru charged past the two of them and clattered towards the down the escalator. Holding for a moment, they turned and gave chase. At the bottom of the escalator, Suguru went to his right, Shikijo to the left and Mahoro to the right.
This is great, thought Shikijo to herself, as I can stop him for certain. As Suguru turned the corner, he stopped for a moment to gather his wind and his wits. Shikijo saw him standing there, then launched into a flying tackle and brought Suguru down. However, Mahoro saw him and had the same idea. They all crash-landed onto a very large display bed. The extra fluffy down comforter swallowed them up and stopped the running. But the bed itself groaned and crashed downwards.
Shikijo began to disentangle herself. "Why, Misato-kun! If I knew this was all I had to do to stop you, I would have easily done this long ago." She looked at him as she flung off the last few bras that still clung to him. Then, the bedding was pulled away and both of them looked up at a very upset Mahoro, part of the bedspread hanging on her shoulder.
"You are coming with me!" she said, making a sour face and pointing a finger at them. Mahoro then felt a strong hand on her shoulder.
"No, you are all coming with ME!" They turned to see Panda One, with a face twice as sour as Mahoro's. "And this one, too!" he grumped, as he held Minawa by an arm. She was still tangled up in clothing and accessories from the tumbling manikins.
"Big Sister, I'm sorry." said Minawa. Shikijo sighed.
In the security office, they all sat in silence, Mahoro and Shikijo exchanging angry glances.
"How mortifying," said Shikijo.
"How embarrassing," said Suguru
"How demeaning," said Mahoro.
"And we still did not get any pants for Suguru," said Minawa.
Panda One came in and sat at the desk. "Perhaps someone can tell me what this is all about?"
Shikijo and Mahoro stood upright and began to talk at the same time, pointing fingers at one another, trying to be faster and louder than the other. Then, they stopped talking to the guard and turned on each other in an argumentative frenzy, the words flowing so fast, it was just noise. When they stopped to take a breath, Panda One stood up.
"Thank you and sit down! Now can someone tell me what is going on here?"
Suguru stood up. "I think I can explain this." He bent over and an embarrassing tearing sound could be heard in the office. Suguru slowly stood back up. "I need pants."
Panda One said nothing, and then picked up a phone. "I need four security guards in my office now." Moments later, a line of people left the office. Panda One led, followed by Suguru, a security guard, Mahoro, another security guard, Shikijo, another security guard, Minawa and another security guard. Panda One led them right to the Young Men's area.
"Get the pants NOW!" ordered Panda One, pointing towards the wall.
Mahoro and Shikijo quickly selected a variety of pants, but they glared at one another the entire time. Going to the largest changing room, all nine of them crowded in as Suguru selected eight pairs of pants. No one said a word, but both Mahoro and Shikijo made certain that they fit right. Panda One kept his stony face and stony silence.
With the pants now ready, the unwanted ones were places in the return hamper. The parade went up to the cashier, where they were rung up, paid for, bagged and given to them. Suguru was given a bag with two pants in it; Mahoro was given a bag with two pants in it; Shikijo was given a bag with two pants in it; and Minawa was given a bag with two pants in it.
They were trooped out of the store, in the same formation. Once outside, Panda One spoke to them. "I never want to see in there again what I saw in there today. Am I clear on this?" He glared at each of them, pointing a sausage-like finger at them.
"Yes, sir!" said Suguru.
"Yes, sir," replied Mahoro.
"It won't happen again," muttered Shikijo.
"I'm sorry," whispered Minawa.
"Good!" Panda One returned inside, his troops following him. Everyone let out a collect sigh as some random people stared at them.
"Well, I have other shopping to do, but I'll be back over for dinner tonight," said Shikijo. "And I'll bring these over at that time." Before anyone could react, she headed off into the crowded streets, taking her bag with her, chortling as she disappeared into the throng.
Suguru sagged. "Somehow, the start of school doesn't seem all that bad."
MAHORO'S SYSTEMS WILL CEASE TO FUNCTION IN 191 DAYS
End Notes
Many may feel that looking at the day-to-day stuff is rather mundane, but if you think about it, much of these "mundane" activities have branched off into something more exciting, such as the Crab Robot episode or the shadowing of Minawa at school.
I mean, you can't ALWAYS be fighting robots or eluding androids or duking it out with Ninja panty bandits. Much of the grounding for the manga/anime comes from the ordinary being intruded upon. You may be able to relate better to a teacher that has the hots for you as opposed to some crazed maniac on the bus with a gun. (And have you noticed how many crazed criminals happen to occupy this city? I mean, one in June, another in August. I have lived in my town for over 20 years and have yet to hear about ONE bus jacking or a high-speed pursuit within the city limits.)
Shopping for clothes is bad enough as it is; I just wanted to make it worse than normal. My store layout is a combination of a local Sears and Macy's. The bra portion comes from a real incident.
I was at a factory store, where the wife was getting some new bras. I am standing at a Wonderbra rack and I see a tag that read 36D. Wait, if you are that size, why do you need a Wonderbra? Still, they all had these tags that were just incredible to stare at.
Those that know the anime will ask why I put this in here. I mean, Season Two, Chapter Six is the New Year's celebration, taking ten days and culminating with the bonfire. Well, you can't hang around with all these people ALL the time; other things need to be attended to. Besides, with the start of the Spring School Season, you have to take care of those preparations. This was just a good time to place it.