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I returned to the changing room, but I couldn’t tell if it was a good idea not to run away.

Maybe I could have just followed Mariel and left the store instead?

As I examined the items in each person’s hands one by one, the source of the unease I had been feeling since earlier began to become clearer.

Should I try to escape now? But the hand tightly gripping mine belonged to Selian, leaving me no room to attempt a getaway.

“Alright, let’s try these on quickly.”

Yuli was the first to enter the changing room, clutching an armful of the outfits everyone had chosen, with Selian pulling me along into the room after her.

It was either intentional or coincidental, but with Selian’s back to the door of the changing room, I couldn’t escape.

In the end, I found myself trapped in the changing room, stripped down to my underwear by Selian and Yuli.

Fortunately, the Master-Servant Mark was hidden beneath my slightly pulled-up panties.

But I was still worried it might show through my thin panties or that I might accidentally expose myself while changing.

“Hmm… Aren’t the underwear too plain?”

“It’s cute, but the underwear for Elves is mostly just plain stuff like this, which is a bit unfortunate.”

“Yeah, all the underwear El has is like that.”

Fortunately, the two didn’t seem to notice the secret underneath my panties, as they were staring at my underwear without any unusual reaction.

Instead of reacting, they were debating about the clothes, even discussing underwear.

As Yuli and Selian said, my underwear didn’t have any special patterns, so it was quite plain.

My aversion to women’s clothing had mostly faded by now.

Instead, looking at my reflection in the mirror felt more like I was dressing up a third party in my clothes rather than me putting them on.

But even so, just entering a lingerie shop and picking women’s underwear casually was quite a high difficulty task for me.

As a result, I had only chosen some fairly ordinary items from what was displayed in the store.

But is it normal for girls to pick out each other’s underwear?

Thinking about guys, if a man were seen in his underwear by another guy, it would just be disgusting, and if one asked about the underwear, a fist would surely come flying.

I genuinely realized the difference between men and women at moments like this.

I should remember this for future reference so I don’t make mistakes.

But how did they know my underwear was all plain to begin with?

I avoided being seen in my underwear in front of my friends because of the Master-Servant Mark.

“Well, we don’t sell underwear here, so let’s pick some for next time.”

“Then shall we try these on first?”

…I should really be cautious to avoid passing by a lingerie shop with these two.

“Alright, shall we try this one on first?”

Yuli picked one from her items and handed it to me.

I quickly shoved my body into the clothing to cover myself as soon as possible.

Once I put on the skirt, my worries about the Master-Servant Mark being discovered lessened a bit.

What I wore was a black business skirt often worn by office ladies.

Good, it suited me quite well in a plain manner.

“Next is this one.”

Selian handed me another item she was holding.

This time, it was a tank top that exposed my stomach.

…I already felt like I was doomed.

“Okay, lift your foot. I’ll help you put it on!”

Following Yuli’s advice, I lifted one foot at a time and managed to wear it.

It was a pair of greaves and sabatons, which were integrated into the footwear.

…You’re kidding, right? Not stockings, but having armor plates attached under a business skirt?

“Ugh…”

“Yuli? You just laughed, didn’t you?”

“Oh, no! El must have misheard that.”

For now, I decided to leave it at that. I still had two more mountains to climb.

“N-next is this one.”

Selian stretched her hands toward my face, and the surrounding visibility turned dark.

Yeah. Sunglasses.

It wasn’t even mid-summer but the tail end of autumn, and here I was with sunglasses.

Even worse, they were quite hefty, with lenses that were rather large.

“T-this is the last one…”

This time, instead of helping me wear it, she turned her face away and reached out to hand me the last remaining item.

I didn’t know who had chosen it, but it was such a stylish design.

And I put on the stylish helmet on my head.

…A helmet under sunglasses, a tank top under the business skirt, and greaves below that.

Hearing the clang of my armored shoes loudly resonating, I stepped out of the changing room.

-Kah-hah-hah!

As soon as I stepped out, Linne fell over laughing.

Yuli and Selian, who followed me out, were for some reason nervously stepping back from me without a word.

Keeping their distance, they each managed to comment.

“Um… well… it’s really stylish… huh…”

Selian stumbled over her words, lacking confidence.

“Y-yeah. It’s not bad at all, actually?”

While saying it’s not bad, Yuli conveniently turned her face away, hiding her expression.

“Haahh… Elisia suits it… Puhah!”

Anne could hardly contain her laughter despite trying to hide it.

“Nyaa…”

Even as a cat, I could tell it looked terrible; the kitty tucked its tail and turned away.

-Keheehee! I’m dying! Hehe, hehe!

Linne, being a ghost, was rolling on the ground, tears streaming down her face from laughing so hard.

“Shall we go pay for these together? I’ll have to wear this and show it off all the way back to the Academy.”

As I stepped closer to my friends, they subtly took a step back.

I took a step closer again, but the gap wouldn’t close, and we were just spinning around with a chair between us.

“What’s wrong? I’m really trying to buy these pretty and cool things you helped me pick out.”

As I said before, the helmet was a sleekly designed beauty, and the sunglasses were perfect for use during summer break.

The tank top seemed fine for exercising, and the business skirt looked good for formal occasions.

As for the greaves… I didn’t often wear armor because I valued mobility, but it should definitely help somewhere.

Amid all this, the flower-patterned scrunchie in my tied-up hair caught some attention.

Yeah. One by one, they were nice clothes and accessories.

That was back when they were all separate items, though.

Honestly, I should have predicted that I wouldn’t foresee this situation when all of them were scattering to different sections.

*

In the end, after several more minutes, I managed to find a proper outfit.

I avoided the heavy-looking armor, opting for a shirt and long pants that prioritized mobility.

On top, I wore leather gauntlets, a breastplate, and greaves for practicality.

I ended up looking more like an adventurer than a hero, but the lack of polish would be covered by the majestic Holy Sword.

“Sorry, El. I didn’t really intend for this to happen…”

“We just thought it would look good on you and ended up creating a situation where we had to dress you…”

“You’re not mad, right? Huh? Huh?”

“Nyaa…”

I was keeping my mouth shut, walking silently, and everyone was timidly stealing glances at me, trying to say something.

-Puhah. I should have recorded this moment with a Magical Crystal…

Seeing Linne still smiling away made me think about giving her a gift.

Where on earth did I put the leftover high-grade divine water?

“Nyaa…”

The cautious little cat climbed onto my body and perched itself on my shoulder, quietly mewing in a sorrowful way.

Even though we were mentally connected, it seemed she couldn’t read my thoughts of pretending to be indifferent to tease my friends.

Of course, the first prank was on my friends, but seeing the cat so near me made me feel guilty.

“I’m not mad. Thanks to you, I ended up getting some nice clothes, didn’t I?”

Ultimately, I succumbed to the cuteness of the kitty and declared my surrender.

“Really? Huh? Huh?”

As soon as Anne heard I wasn’t mad, she cuddled up next to me and looked up at me, confirming again.

The kitty seemed uncomfortable with Anne being so close, swiftly hopping over to my other shoulder.

“I really mean it. So let’s go back and have dinner. It’s already almost 6 PM.”

“Hehe…”

As I ruffled her hair roughly to reassure her, Anne clung to me even more and began to grin as usual.

The kitty also realized that my words were sincere and rubbed its head against my cheek, adding to its charm.

Occasionally, the rough tongue would tickle my neck, making me flinch, but I had no intention of stopping the kitty, who looked so happy.

“Still, the clothes I saw earlier, let’s choose properly next time. They really suited me when I looked at them individually.”

“Right. I also want to see El dressed formally!”

“Then after the Celestial Festival, we can all go out again.”

This time, it won’t just be my friends picking out my clothes; I’ll also have a chance to choose outfits for my friends.

Of course, I needed to improve my fashion sense to do that.

-By the way, I picked the sunglasses because I thought they’d be fun!

…Speaking of which, where did I really put that high-grade divine water?