Chapter 98: Outing

It was already November… and it had come! The day of my outing with everyone! Today I didn’t have school, and I didn’t have school tomorrow either! I could play the whole day! I’d already gotten mom’s permission, so I didn’t need to hesitate at all!

“Hm ♪ Hm hm~ ♪ Hm hm hmm~ ♪ Ufufu!”

I held my skirt up in front of the full-length mirror, then did a spin to check that nothing looked off.

Of course, Momiji and the maids accompanying her were precise, so there couldn’t have been anything weird with my outfit. There couldn’t have been, but I wanted to check for myself no matter what. It wasn’t because I doubted them or didn’t believe in them.

“You seem to be having fun, Sakuya-sama.”

“Oh~? Is that so~? That is not true, however~? Ufufu!”

I answered Momiji, who was standing at a slight distance so she wouldn’t disturb me. I wasn’t that… right?

Of course I was excited for my outing with everyone and quite happy. I thought we wouldn’t be able to meet up, so that gave me extra joy. But I wasn’t really that festive; not at all, you know?

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“There is no particular reason. You have grown, Sakuya-sama, so I merely thought that it would be improper to call you Lady Sakuya.”

“Is that so… I understand.”

It had become… somewhat weird… Momiji and I were slightly awkward despite it being time for me to depart, and I headed to the place where I’d meet everyone.

　　～～～～～～～

When I arrived at the meeting spot thirty minutes early, there were quite a few people who already came.

“Greetings, everyone. You are quite early. Has something happened?”

The ones who weren’t here were Yuzuriha-chan and Akane-chan. Everyone else had already come.

“Good morning, Sakuya-sama! I had heard that you arrive early, Sakuya-sama, so I arrived far too early as well, since I wanted to meet you even a second faster!”

I laughed bitterly at Azami-chan’s straightforward words. I definitely arrived a little too early, but there’d be no point in a scheduled meeting time if you also arrived early because of that. Could I even say that, considering I arrived early too, but…

“Greetings, Sakuya-chan. I had also thought you would arrive early from previous conversation.”

Hmm… I thought Satsuki-chan also arrived quite early too, but…

“Greetings, Sakuya-chan. I had heard from Azami-sama that you arrived early, so I had also come early.”

There was no point in arriving earlier than me, but… even Tsubaki-chan said that.

“Good morning. I had also heard what Azami-sama said… and thought that it was better to arrive at this time.”

Renge-chan… then there’d be no point in a meeting time, right? You could come at the set time, you know? There was no need for everyone to arrive early.

“Oh, Akane-chan has arrived.”

We looked over at Tsubaki-chan’s words and saw Akane-chan heading to us.

“Sorry. I’ve kept you waiting.”

“Akane, you are late.”

Azami-chan glared at Akane-chan, who casually apologised.

“Oh, good morning! There was some traffic, so I have arrived late!”

At Azami-chan’s glare, she suddenly straightened and lowered her head.

“Now now… it is still early, so there is no need to scold anyone nor to apologise.”

“If that is what Sakuya-sama says…”

I intervened and Azami-chan folded. She wasn’t late for our meeting time, so it was strange to scold her for arriving late. Now, almost everyone was gathered. All we could do was wait for Yuzuriha-chan, but…

“She’s late…”

“She is tardy~…”

I could understand that Azami-chan was annoyed. Renge-chan seemed to be worrying about Yuzuriha-chan. She wasn’t worrying about the fact that she was late, but about the scolding she’d receive from Azami-chan…

“Oh~! Morning, everyone! Am I last?”

“You are last, Yuzuriha! You are late! Late!”

Azami-chan got mad at Yuzuriha-chan, who arrived with a smile. But Yuzuriha-chan didn’t seem that affected.

“Ehehe~. Sorry. But there was traffic, so the car couldn’t really move forward~.”

Come to think of it, Akane-chan had said the same thing. Maybe traffic was steadily building up. We had arrived early, so we weren’t caught up in it, but some traffic might’ve happened as it neared our agreed meeting time.

Yuzuriha-chan was a young lady brought up in a good family, so she wouldn’t oversleep or arrive late. She prepared for what would happen in her surroundings. That was why she hadn’t arrived late to school and usually arrived at a set time. Since she was like that, she wouldn’t arrive late because she overslept.

“Then, everyone has assembled, so let us move immediately.”

“Yes~.”

I said that and everyone started moving. Azami-chan was still talking to the two who’d arrived later, but she wasn’t mad. That was the way she communicated; she was actually worried. She was the ultimate tsundere.

If I were to translate that, Azami-chan saying “I’m not worried that you’re late! If you’re going to be late, at least contact us!” was how she showed her worry. The person herself wouldn’t say that directly, though.

“Oh! This is cute~!”

“What about this?”

“I think that this suits you, Sakuya-sama!”

They were a little late, but that was within the permitted time. Our schedule didn’t have time down to the second. That was why we went to the shops as planned and looked at various things. Everyone conversed happily while looking at clothes and small items.

It was very fun…

In my past life, I thought that girls’ shopping was weird. The past me decided what I wanted to buy in advance, went to the shop that I wanted to buy from, then bought that thing and left. Of course, I looked at things related to the original thing when I was actually at the shop, but I didn’t go to more shops than necessary or look at more things than necessary, much less look at things I had no interest in buying. I thought that was all a waste of time.

But what about now? We were looking at things we had no plan to buy and going to shops we hadn’t really planned to buy from, but we still had fun. That was having fun shopping with everyone.

“Oh… these Western-style clothes would fit Azami-chan.”

It was a dress that really fit the lively Azami-chan. Well, it was a dress, so I was scared that you’d see anything and everything if she actually did lively activities while wearing it, but… but it really fit Azami-chan’s image.

“Really? I understand! I will purchase this! I will purchase all of it!”

“W-Wait! Azami-chan! Calm down!”

If the matter of why she bought that dress was brought up, I didn’t know what I’d say to Azami-chan’s mom. And there was no need to buy all of it.

“Sakuya-chan, which would suit me?”

“Oh, I wanna hear too~!”

Once I said that the dress fit Azami-chan, everyone gathered and asked me. Please wait a second. I didn’t know anything about girls’ fashion. But that dress perfectly fit the image of a mischievous girl jumping around. That image probably came from anime and manga in my past life. I didn’t say that it suited Azami-chan because that style was popular in real life.

“Umm… A kimono would be more fitting for Satsuki-chan, so perhaps another shop would be better than this one…”

Of all of us, Satsuki-chan was the personification of old Japanese feminine ideals, so she seemed like a Japanese beauty who’d look good in Japanese clothing. That didn’t mean she’d be like that in the future, but if she continued growing up like that, she’d definitely become a woman who looked good in Japanese clothes.

“Oh~… Yuzuriha-chan would perhaps look good in cartoon-character costume…”

I didn’t really know about Yuzuriha-chan. She was innocent, or rather behaved without abandon, or rather… she was kinda hard to describe… I felt like she’d look good in animal and character onesies.

“Woah~! That’s amazing! How’d you know that I slept in character onesies~?”

“…huh?”

Yuzuriha-chan was the only one laughing, but… we were all a little surprised. No, sleeping in character onesies was fine in itself, you know? Like what I said, it really fit Yuzuriha-chan’s image. But the problem was if wearing character onesies was okay for a young lady from a good family; I couldn’t help but think about that.

“Sakuya-chan, how about me?”

“Huh? Hmm… Tsubaki-chan, Japanese clothing would also suit you…”

Even if you asked me, I wouldn’t know… But Satsuki-chan, Tsubaki-chan, and Renge-chan were the quiet types. Tsubaki-chan seemed used to the tea ceremony when it was being held, so I thought she’d look good in Japanese clothing. But the same quiet type Renge-chan would look better in Western clothing than Japanese clothing…

“Umm… and me?”

“Oh~… a cute dress would suit Renge-chan.”

Since I’d gotten this far, I had to mention everyone. The last person was…

“Akane-chan would look good in a bright red dress.”

The energetic types—Azami-chan and Akane-chan—would look good in those showy, no, distinct, no, in those colours and clothing. I didn’t really know, but…

I left my own outfit to others, so I didn’t know anything about girls’ attire. I had thought that I could safely leave it to the Kujou family’s people. But maybe I really should learn a little more about that?

Something like today might happen where people suddenly asked me questions, and I might not be able to follow along if I didn’t know anything. To have some taste as a young lady, I might as well know a little.

“Then, let us look for kimonos for Sakuya-chan to select!”

“That is true. It is unfair for only Azami-sama’s clothes to be selected…”

“Wait! Wait! Please wait! We did not plan to look for kimonos today, right? Let’s go back to what we planned.”

I stopped Satsuki-chan and Tsubaki-chan, who were strangely enthusiastic. If they were left alone, I’d really be picking clothes for everyone to buy. I didn’t have the taste or knowledge to pick clothing. And they mentioned kimonos, which had a lot of patterns, colours and purposes, making it hard. I couldn’t give advice on those things.

“If we don’t hurry, Nyan-chan Land’s going to close!”

“Oh~! That’s true~. Next is Nyan-chan Land~!”

“Nyan-chan…”

Akane-chan was a little restless. She seemed to really want to go to Nyan-chan Land. It couldn’t be compared to the tension earlier. She was so excited that she didn’t seem like the same person who was a little distant.

“It cannot be helped, I see…”

“Then… Let us have Sakuya-chan select kimonos another day.”

No, no… Satsuki-chan and Tsubaki-chan, you guys could give up, okay? In the first place, I didn’t have any taste in picking out kimonos. You probably decided the colour and pattern, but I knew nothing about that…

“Now~! Let’s go~!”

At Yuzuriha-chan’s words, everyone started moving. Was Yuzuriha-chan was naturally eccentric? Or was she aiming to be that way… But everyone doted on her like she was a mascot. That had advantages too. Even though she was late, Azami-chan wasn’t that mad… if that had been another girl, she might’ve gotten madder. She only stopped at that because it was Yuzuriha-chan.

Then… we started moving, but Azami-chan went a little later, and in her hand was… a bag from the shop we went to earlier. Inside that bag was obviously… the dress I’d said looked good on her for no special reason. I couldn’t say that I’d said it without any real thought now…