Chapter 166

Chapter 166 – Shopping Date (2)

After we finished buying our swimsuits, we went to another store that had a large selection of clothing for teenagers like us. It was a well known brand store and while they weren’t the most fashionable ones, their selection was quite large and easy on our wallets.

You had to be an expert to pick out the really good clothes, but there was one right next to me.

“Let’s choose your clothes first. Come on, follow me!”

“Alright, jeez, stop pulling me…”

Umi had been in a good mood ever since we left the swimsuit store, but I was hoping that she would stop pulling me around everywhere.

She tried on around five or six swimsuits in the fitting room, but never told me which one she actually bought.

There were two paper bags with her though, so she probably bought two of them.

“What? Are you wondering which ones I ended up choosing?”

“Uh, kinda, yes…”

I assumed that she bought one for the trip and one for when she hung out with Amami-san and the others.

There were more people than just me alone in public beaches or pools, and not all of them were decent people.

Honestly, I didn’t really want her to show skin in front of all those people, but it wasn’t like I could stop her from hanging out with her friends.

Perhaps she noticed my line of thoughts, Umi peered into my face.

“Are you thinking about something strange again, Maki? Worried if people were to see me in my swimsuit?”

“Mm, I mean, there’s gonna be a lot of people at the pool and beaches, right? I know I’m being selfish, but…”

“Wouldn’t it be fine as long as you stay next to me?”

“That’s… Sorry…”

“Hehe, I’m just teasing you, don’t worry. The thing you’re worrying about will never happen.”

“Huh?”

“Mhm. If I want to go to places like that, I won’t go to public ones, I’ll just go to the ones that Sanae and Manaka’s parents owned.”

“Are you telling me that they own private beaches?”

“Yes. Since no one else will be there, we can do more fun things on our own like playing with fireworks.”

I forgot that those two were rich. I didn’t know what kind of jobs their parents had, but they definitely had a higher position in their companies compared to my dad.

Apparently, Umi and her friends had been taught since grade school to not go to places like beaches or pools unless they knew that those places were very safe.

That was why Umi said that my worries would never happen.

“Did that make you feel better?”

“…Yeah, kinda.”

“Great. Well, let me tell you the reason why I bought two swimsuits.”

“One for the trip and?”

“For the trip and for the summer break in general. I’ll be using this one when we hang out with the others too. The other one is for…”

She came even closer to me and whispered something in my ear.

‘For you and you alone to see…’

“Uu…”

In other words, she bought both of them for me.

Telling me something like that in public… That’s just unfair…

“Did your heart skip a beat just now?”

“N-Not at all.”

“Hmm~ Really?~ Then why do you look so nervous?”

“Y-Your breath just tickled my ear, there’s nothing else to it!”

I wasn’t lying, though that was only half the reason I acted that way.

When she tried on the swimsuits, I noticed that there were a couple flashier ones. I assumed that she bought one of them.

“Maki.”

“What?”

“…Look forward to it, okay?”

“…Mm.”

In any case, this was a conversation for later. Now, back to picking out our clothes.

We started with me. Normally, I would wear whatever cheap shirt I had, so we were here to prevent that from happening during our trip.

“Here, I usually wear something like this. What do you think?”

“…Just let me choose for you.”

“…Sorry.”

I picked up clothes that were similar to what I’ve been wearing, but Umi just shot it down without mercy. If I went with those clothes, it would cost less than 3000 yen, but I guess I really needed to splurge a little since this was a rare occasion.

“I’ll be in your care then, Asanagi-sensei.”

“Umu.”

With Umi’s guidance, we started picking out some clothes for me.

“Let’s start from the top. The shirt you chose is passable, but it’ll be hard to match with the bottom and oftentimes, you’ll look really tacky with it. Just look at this… See what I mean?”

“Yeah, it looks kinda bad, huh?”

It was hard to tell when you were wearing it yourself, but when you looked at it from an objective point of view, it did seem lame. The colors of the clothes I chose, while I tried to mix them up a little, all of them were dark, giving off a gloomy impression.

“You can break it up by wearing a longer tank top under the shirt. Since the top is dark, the tank top should be a brighter color like white. This contrast will look more crisp. See?”

“Ah, I can see that.”

Under her guidance, I chose the combination of clothes that would look good on me. It was more expensive than usual, but I could still keep it within my budget, so there would be no problem in that regard.

Summer knit, long tank top and loose pants. As for the footwear, I got a pair of sporty sandals at home, that should be sufficient.

Umi gave me a passing grade for my choice.

“We’ll be choosing yours next, right?”

“Yeah, though I don’t think I’m going to buy a lot. I spent quite a bit on the swimsuits… Huh?”

After paying for my clothes, we went to the women’s section. In the middle of our conversation, something in the direction of the accessories shelves caught her eye.

“What’s wrong, Umi?”

“Um, That tall guy with the cap over there… Isn’t that Seki?”

“Nozomu? Oh, it is.”

He was a little far from where we were, but the dude was a head taller than the other customers, so he stood out quite a bit.

Was he looking for something? Well, let’s say hi, just in case.

TL: Iyo

ED: MaltedBarley