Chapter 76 Whatever Happens, Happens

Hand in hand with Umi, we entered a thrift store.

The store was located on the first floor of a small building, sandwiched between two larger buildings. As soon as I opened the door, the smell of wood permeated my nose. The smell reminded me of an old closet.

Lets look for some shirts Oh, how much money did you bring, Maki?

Mom gave me twenty thousand yen for this

It was a lot of money for a high school student to bring, but when I told my mom about the date and this shopping trip, she immediately gave me two ten thousand yen bills. She gave me my allowance like usual too.

Because of that, I probably had enough money to buy a whole outfit as long as the stores we went to had reasonable prices.

Umi~ What do you think about this one? This seems like something a boy would like~

Military-styled Nah, Maki is quite short, hell just look childish if he were to wear it.

Really? I think hell look cute though.

My job here was to accept my fate and be their doll.

Umi had been paying close attention to my attire lately, so I should be in good hands.

By the way, the female clerk had been watching us while grinning Ugh, this is embarrassing

Mm Well, well decide on his jacket later, first lets focus on his shirt first Maki, try this one.

Sure

They narrowed down the choices to three shirts, so I brought all of them to the changing room.

Why were they putting so much effort into choosing my shirt though? Wouldnt it be covered by my jacket anyway?

What about the accessories, Umi? Maybe a scarf would look good?

Yes, but we dont need to buy one, I gave him one the other day. Maki, wear that one tomorrow, okay? Dont you dare wear your own scarf.

Got it

I was wearing the scarf that Umi gave me.

It was a checkered scarf with dark gray as its primary color and red lines. It didnt seem to go well with my uniform, but the scarf was warm and it was soft to the touch so I wore it a lot.

Well, that was a lie, I actually wore it because Umis smell still lingered on it.

After that, we continued to pick more clothes until right before the shop closed. By that time, Umi seemed satisfied with her choices.

Branded jacket, high quality shirts and so on, altogether cost me ten thousand yen.

I previously tried them on and they actually looked pretty good, and they were comfortable to boot. Too bad my face just wasnt good enough, but it made me look presentable at least, so I wont complain.

Umi really went all out, huh? Amami-san too Im grateful to both of them

Thank you, Umi.

Youre welcome. Wait, your scarf looks messy, come here.

Eh? Really?

Yes Jeez, pay more attention to it, okay? There we go, all done!

Umi fixed my scarf as we walked out the store.

I thought that slumping it over my neck with a loop would be enough, but according to her, there were a lot of ways to make it look more stylish.

Fashion is deep, huh? Everyone seems to be doing it casually, but I cant wrap my head around it. Theyre amazing

Jeez, you guys are like newlyweds. Are you sure you guys arent dating yet?

Well, apparently not Because of Things

Yeah

I see. When you guys finally tie the knot, tell me immediately so I can congratulate you both~

I hoped that both of us would be able to settle this matter properly soon. Tomorrows date should help us with that, so I cant afford to mess it up.

After leaving the thrift store, we went to various stores nearby to get other things that I needed like shoes. We finally took a break after all that was done.

Ugh Im tired

I left them to go to the toilet. Inside, I let out a deep sigh.

It was currently 7 pm. We arrived at the station around 5 pm. So we spent two whole hours looking for clothes.

I shopped before, but I usually decided on what I was going to buy before going to the store, so this was my first time doing something like this.

I was exhausted, but those two seemed energetic. They were currently deciding on where to eat dinner.

Personally, I just wanted to go home and eat dinner there, but I decided to bear with it since they went out of their way to help me today.

Ill do my best to repay them And of course, Ill do my best for the date.

The real deal will start tomorrow, huh?

Suddenly, Umi texted me.

[Asanagi: Oi~ you alive?]

[Maehara: Somehow.]

[Asanagi: Good. We decided where to eat already, so come over quickly when youre done.]

[Asanagi: Theres this all-you-can-eat meat restaurant. Its gonna be good.]

[Maehara: Got it.]

[Asanagi: Oh, also.]

[Asanagi: Thank you, Maki.]

[Asanagi: For going along with our selfishness.]

[Maehara: I dont mind.]

[Maehara: Seeing you guys happy made me happy too.]

[Asanagi: Im glad you think that way.]

[Asanagi: Also, Maki.]

[Maehara: What is it?]

[Asanagi: I cant wait for tomorrow.]

[Asanagi: Ill wear my cutest clothes for you~]

In other words, tomorrow shell dress up properly instead of wearing her oversized hoodies like usual.

Honestly, she was cute enough even if she wasnt dressed up.

The thought of her going all out motivated me even more.

Alright, now that Im pumped up, lets do this!

I was about to leave the toilet and ran to the place where they were waiting.

Whoops!

Whoa!

Just as I left the toilet, I bumped into a man wearing a suit who was trying to enter.

The things that the person brought were scattered on the floor.

Crap

S-Sorry! Im in a bit of a hurry Ill lend you a hand!

Ah, its okay, I was careless too Huh?

Just as I was about to pick a piece of paper that fell nearby, the man stopped moving.

Huh, I was wondering why you sound so familiar, so its Maki.

Eh?

I looked up when he mentioned my name and saw someone Ill never forget for my entire life.

Dad

Its been a while, Maki.

The man, Maehara Itsuki, stroked my head gently.

He was my father.