18 My shop has one day off per month.
My store has a regular closing day once a month.
It’s usually around the middle of the month when we take a day off on a weekday when there aren’t many customers.
The reason is for Erea and me to refresh ourselves.
Basically, we have two days off per week, and we can take additional days off as long as we let each other know in advance.
On weekdays, we have some flexibility, and even on weekends, it’s fine as long as we adjust our schedules.
Ultimately, we do this job because we want to, so that’s a factor too.
I think we have pretty good benefits, so to speak.
It’s basically like a family-run business.
Well, on top of that, it’s good to have one day where we don’t have to worry about the shop, which is why we have a regular day off.
And on that day off, the two of us often go out somewhere together.
You could say it looks like…
a date from an outside perspective?
“Mitsuru-san, over there, over there!”
“Oh…that kind of looks like that type of store…”
On our day off, Erea calls me “Mitsuru-san” instead of the shop manager, and she leads me to a certain store.
This store, just from the exterior, has sort of a…punk vibe!
There seem to be people with silver accessories hanging around.
“Yato-chan introduced it to me.”
“I have no doubt about that.”
Apparently, around 90% of Yato-chan’s casual clothes come from this store.
The remaining 10% are hand-me-downs from her older sister Haku-san.
Her overly punk fashion sense was cultivated here, it seems.
“I’m going to get matching outfits with Yato-chan here to surprise her!”
“More than surprise her, she’ll probably just worry about you.”
Erea usually wears cute casual clothes.
Even her magic knight persona has a militaristic uniform, but it still manages to have a somewhat girlish feel.
Full-on punk fashion isn’t really Erea’s usual style.
“Well, I don’t dislike any fashion style, even if I do have preferences.”
“I suppose anything would suit you though…”
“I’d even be okay with something a little sexy If you want!”
“I didn’t ask about that.”
I give her a thumbs up, but not in that way.
She’s speaking in an upbeat tone, but her usual sleepy expression hasn’t changed at all.
Her emotions are hardest to read at times like this.
“Tch. Anyway, shall we go inside? Yato-chan is at school now, so we shouldn’t run into her here.”
“And if we did, couldn’t we just talk to her normally?”
“I want it to be a surprise, make it seem spontaneous, you know?”
As she says that, we head inside, and luckily there’s no sign of Yato-chan.
Instead, the store is lined with rough, chunky punk fashion items here and there.
Whoa, it’s quite a sight.
“So then, Mitsuru-san, I’ll need your review.”
“I can only give my honest impressions, you know.”
“That’s exactly what I want.”
Erea immediately starts rummaging through the store’s offerings.
Is it the job of whoever accompanies her to just kill time at moments like this?
As I think that, I gaze around the interior.
Naturally, I don’t know much about fashion.
In my previous life I was an otaku, and in this world, men tend to wear the same clothes frequently.
Is it because it’s an anime-like world?
If the setting was for fashionable girls, sure, but for regular guys to change clothes every time would be a pain to design.
Well, I suppose that’s why I keep wearing similar clothes over and over, never quite catching up on fashion sense.
“Mitsuru-san, I’ve picked out a few options to try on first.”
“Oh, okay.”
Snapping out of my thoughts, I head over to where Erea called me from in front of the fitting room.
She must be inside.
“So here’s the first one.”
“Oh.”
As the curtain opens, Erea emerges draped in all black.
I suppose you could say it’s the quintessential…punk fashion style that Yato-chan often wears.
“Ta-dah, what do you think?”
“Oh.”
“You can’t just say ‘oh’! Give me a real reaction!”
Oh whoops, I ended up saying it three times.
Anyway…
“I think it looks good, you look cute.”
“Nyuu! Such a broad impression!”
As I respond, she presses hard on her own cheeks and says that.
What’s going on here?
“I should scold you for such a vague impression, but I got happy when you called me cute.”
“I…see.”
“Anyway, please be more specific.”
So in other words, she’s feeling shy.
Being told that makes me feel a bit embarrassed too, but…
Let’s see…
“I think your petite size and silver hair create a nice gap with the punk style…”
“Hmm, I see.”
She places a finger on her lips as she says that.
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“That’s what I was thinking too. Somehow…I don’t quite pull off the punk look naturally.”
“Err, what do you mean?”
“My cuteness is kind of overwhelming it and making it look like I suit the style, when really I can’t pull it off as well as Yato-chan does.”
While calling herself overwhelmingly cute is a bit much,
I can understand what she means.
With Yato-chan’s tall, slender build and long legs, punk fashion naturally suits her.
You could say she totally rocks the look.
For Erea, it gives off more of a childish trying-too-hard vibe.
“Anyway, I’ll change into the next option.”
Saying that, she swiftly closes the curtain.
After a brief wait…
“Here’s the next one.”
“Oh.”
This time, Erea emerges wearing punk attire accented with frills, keeping the punk vibe while adding her own flair.
“If I leaned too far into punk, it started to look forced on me, so I incorporated some of my own style.”
“I see…but you know, this has kind of a…”
“A what?”
“Gothic lolita vibe.”
Or rather, once you combine the dark colors with frills, it instantly starts giving off gothic lolita vibes.
Well, I don’t know much about fashion, so it’s just my impression.
“Ah…in that case, it kind of reminds you of…”
“Ren-san, doesn’t it?”
Ren-san…in other words, Yato-chan’s boss Sui Ren always wears gothic lolita attire.
Combined with her blonde hair, the impression is hard to separate.
“So then…I should probably tone down the frills and lean harder into punk, right on the edge.”
“Probably.”
“Hmm, I’ll have to keep looking. I thought this one worked.”
Well, we have a direction now at least.
All that’s left is for her to…refine her search, I suppose.
“Say, I just thought of something.”
“What is it?”
“Why does Yato-chan have a punk fashion preference anyway?”
When you think about it, Yato-chan’s tastes are quite similar to Erea’s in a lot of ways.
She seems to like cute things, so based on her hobbies alone, you’d think she’d prefer Erea’s cute style of clothes.
“Hmm, well I think with fashion, it’s about sensibilities…what really clicks for you.”
“What clicks?”
“Yes, like for me…I have an affinity for the cute style.”
An affinity? I tilt my head, not quite getting it.
“Where I’m from originally, that was the trend in fashion.”
“Seriously?!”
In that harsh, oppressive empire world?!
Well, come to think of it, the “Imperial” monsters that Erea uses don’t all wear strict military uniforms.
The other female monster types either have obscured faces or intense designs, but Erea is the exception.
“My lifespan is just a bit longer than humans here.”
“Ah, I see.”
When she puts it that way, it makes sense.
If your youth lasts longer, then fashions catering to that would be more prevalent…
“Though in day-to-day life, we did just wear military uniforms, so I didn’t have many chances to wear other styles.”
“…Right.”
Although, the empire did seem to destroy even those everyday cultural aspects.
But leaving at least slight touches of non-military attire was probably a small act of defiance.
“So maybe Yato-chan has a reason that punk fashion just clicks for her too, you know?”
“I suppose. …Well, no need to dwell on it further.”
“Yes.”
With that, Erea returns to browsing clothes while I…
Unexpectedly , my gaze stops at a spot.
There, I saw it.
Among the predominantly black attire in the store interior, there was one outfit with blue as the base color.
The key distinguishing feature was the oversized white belt.
Put simply, it was unmistakably…
Yes, every duelist knows that.
The outfit worn by the legendary Duel King –
Mutou Yuugi from Yu-Gi-Oh! It was a dead ringer!
I almost exclaimed out loud.
I mean, how could I not? It was the real deal.
The actual thing Yuugi wore!
Wow, the genuine article!
I got so excited I had to hold myself back from shouting.
…You’re asking if I tried it on? Don’t be silly!
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