Chapter 453: Why Aslena Doesn’t Deserve Good Things Part 2

----- Trigrath's story, Kamiko's thoughts still.

Trigrath was pushing his way through the crowd. It wasn't too bad, but a little more crowded then would be comfortable in this situation, as he made his way to the receptionist desk to sign up the girls, Aslena for the designer side and Kamiko for the modelling.

Kamiko, of course, didn't want any part of this, but she was still trying to get over the shock of how many people there was to properly complain. Her body was solidly in flight mode, and the only thing keeping her from screaming out or throwing a tantrum was her understanding that doing such in a public place was 'a bad thing' though she wasn't quite older enough to realise why that was at this point.

So, very quickly, and perhaps with this knowledge in mind, Kamiko was signed up and the desk was left behind for a quieter area towards one unoccupied corner. It was somewhat dirtier than the others and required Trigrath to step over some fallen plaster from the ceiling to get there, likely why it wasn't used, but it did allow for him to get Kamiko away from the crowds. He'd recognised that the noise was bothering her at the very least.

Once situated, Aslena started kicking at the loose plasterboard on the ground, sending up little puffs of dust here and there as she did so. Kamiko, on the other hand, had turned around, and was sitting on her knees, back pressed into the corner of the stroller as she peered out. She could still see a lot of people but at least they were further away now.

"So, excited for the big day?" said Trigrath cheerfully.

"Yup Daddy, this is gonna be the best!" said Aslena.

Kamiko looked from her sister to her father, wide eyes laced with confusion. Her lip trembled slightly not liking how happy these two seemed to be when she couldn't understand why. "Da? Wha's goin on?" was about what she managed to get out around her recently grown baby teeth.

"Oh, you get to show off on the runway. Aslena's even going to make a dress for you! I'm sure you're very excited." Said Trigrath with a big smile.

*Wa? Tha doesn sond fun a' all… I dun wanna. Too many peoples around. Asy might be able to make pweety dresses but I don wan them.* At this age, Kamio's thoughts weren't exactly refined either. Still, it made great sense to her. Things were not as they should be, and she didn't understand what could be fun about any of this.

Still, her inner conflict was missed by her father, who was enjoying the smile on Aslena's face. Aslena though, even young as she was, around six at the time to Kamiko's four, did notice, and her eyes flashed with a glint of pride and hidden malice for engineering the situation.

Long before this Aslena had learnt how to manipulate their father. It was easy when your parents knew you couldn't lie and assumed you didn't know well enough to lie through more discreet measures. It was around this time Nira, her mother, was certainly catching on to this fact and had already started taking steps to confirm things Nira said. Thus, Aslena was trying to go all out before her father caught her as well… some say she's still waiting for him to figure it out to this day.

None the less, this meant that when Aslena had mentioned the contest and her desire to enter alongside Kamiko, Trigrath had been ecstatic at the news but said "make sure you have your sister's permission"

To which Aslena had left, pretended to ask Kamiko, and then said "Kamiko said she was fine dressing up to help me" which was of course true. She had said as much. A few days ago. When presented with an outfit Aslena had stolen from Kamiko's closet before it was noticed as 'something she was working on. So, Kamiko had agreed to play dress up but certainly not for any contest.

Trigrath of course, never followed up on this, and so here they were. Kamiko freaking out quite a bit, Aslena grinning, both at getting a chance to enter a fashion show, and at managing to get one over on Kamiko and her dad. Luckily for Kamiko, her mother would find out later, but that's another story.

So, the three waited for a while to be called into the next room. Aslena picking at her surroundings. Kamiko trying, and failing, to calm herself down, and Trigrath watching his daughters. It took around thirty minutes for someone to finally address the room. They were a large demon, with shockingly unnatural muscles.

Their pectoral, deltoid and bicep muscles were massively oversized. Each pec was larger then the four year old Kamiko, with similarly sized, if slightly smaller, muscles in the other three areas. Their midsection was also about twice as long as a normal person, but they had much shorter legs that were only about as muscled as a normal human. This look was not assisted by the normal head full of blue hair they had which looked so small when compared to his muscles.

The business suit he was wearing had clearly been tailored to his body as it didn't look like it was about to explode off him with a slight flex. Still, it was a form fitting article which did show the definition in his various muscles, both normal, and oversized. His legs were covered by something like a kilt. The patterning was right, but the length was wrong, going to just above the ankles instead.

"WELCOME ONE AND ALL" said the announcer. "YOU'LL BE COMPETING TODAY FOR THE HONOUR AND GLORY OF THIS YOUNGLING COMPETITION. THE WINNER, ON THE DESIGNER'S SIDE WILL RECEIVE A COMPLETE SET OF REGYO KIRYEN'S DESIGNER BOOKS INCLUDING ONE FROM HER EXCLUSIVE LINE TITLED 'LIVING THREAD AND IT'S MANY USES'

"FOR THOSE OF YOU MODELLING, YOU'RE IN THE RUNNING FOR YOUR CHOICE OF, A YEARS WORTH OF DANCE LESSONS OR, A NEW OUTFIT DESIGNED BY UP AND COMER SETSUKI KIRYEN WHO IS FOLLOWING IN HER MOTHER'S FOOTSETPS

"DESIGNERS, MODELS, HEAD TO YOUR ROOMS AND LET'S. GET. STARTED.

Kamiko paled. She did not like this. She didn't know who any of those people were but she did know what modelling was. She'd had to find out when living with Aslena for so many years. It was not what she considered anything close to a good time. To hear she was in a modelling competition somehow, for her what other reason could she be here. Was not a fun thought.

Quickly though, she was shuffled off into a room filled with dresses. To Kat's eyes, they were pristine condition, easily something she'd think to find in the higher end stores in the nearby city. To the demons though, they were clearly very old.

Thread was hanging from them in a few places, normally around the arms of the neckline. The enchantments on them which kept them in good condition having faded recently, or perhaps some time ago and just now noticed.

In addition to the, well styled but very plain, dresses, was a box filled with supplies to help 'improve' them. This contest was for those under eight, so they'd allowed for the more 'childish' ideas of what could look good a chance to flourish. Kamiko and Trigrath would never learn the contest was actually leaning towards that sort of thing on the judges side.

Aslena though, was already in her element. She jumped straight for the dress that she thought looked the best… on her of course. Not taking into account Kamiko's measurements properly nor her hair colouring when making the choice. From there she quickly dragged Kamiko from the stroller and put her on the pedestal in the room before stripping her of clothing.

Kamiko started to tear up at this point but bit her lip in an effort not to cry. Her Dad wasn't here. Adults weren't allowed to help, and she knew Aslena would not help her deal with the emotions at all.