CH 32

Currently, Kaede and I were staring up in shock. We had exited the station and what immediately lay in front of us was a building.

That is to say, we have come to the neighbouring town.

The number of people who thought that there was no path to coming here was not small……

But, ordinarily walking to the station, waiting for the train at the platform, boarding onto the one that had arrived and then finally reaching here, it was not a talk worth the mention.

Even if I say train, since it was only one stop apart, it was not too far.

It was pretty much a city stretching over.

If I had to talk about something, it was probably the conversation of a group of people at the station while we were waiting for the train to arrive. Listening to them, I felt like I could not connect with these people belonging to the same generation as me.

Their conversations were mostly about recent games, idols and anime. I could hardly comprehend.

With English and Katakana words flooding the conversations midway through, I even wondered if they were reciting spells.

[TN – Katakana is a Japanese script used mostly for foreign words]

Other than that, a rather insincere looking guy who seemed like he was a University student, tried hitting on Kaede. “Sorry, I am not in a good mood”. To these unexpected few words spoken in a cold voice that would make one shudder, Kaede must have had broken his heart.

Well, I guess that was about it.

Without anything noteworthy occurring, we were able to reach our destination. But, looking at the gigantic building in front of our eyes, we were unable to conceal our surprise. It was beyond what he had imagined.

We had heard others talk about it and were aware of its outward appearance from the leaflets but, we did not think that the building would be this big.

At a quick glance, I could confirm up to seven floors but, there were probably more underground.

There may be people who would not find this to be that big, but for us, the only big building we have near our house is a three-storey supermarket.

While there was another, it was far from our house. The mansion in front of the station is the biggest one around, about five-storeys.

However, even if I do say it is seven floors, the height of each floor is incomparable with that of the mansion’s. If the installed windows had not made the distinction clear, one could end up with a misunderstanding that it had more than 10 floors.

Because of the huge difference with the surrounding buildings, it had created a strange spectacle at that single spot.

In addition to that, what spread behind it was scenery of mountains. It made one feel more uncomfortable.

Several minutes have passed since our arrival. Contrary to my startle and discomfort towards the bizarre scenery that lay before me, Kaede’s expression gradually brightened up.

“Let’s go, Nii-san!”

Kaede turned towards me who was standing at the back, with a brilliant smile that seemed to surpass the one she had shown during this morning. She took my hand and proceeded to the front entrance with quick steps.

As we drew nearer to the entrance, the number of people also increased and upon entering, it was overflowing with them. I was returning.

“……I will go home”

Faced with a large number of people, I immediately felt sick as I dodged the crowd. As I was about to take the way back to the station, Kaede clung to my arm.

“This won’t do, Nii-san! We just got in”

As if saying she will not let go at any cost, Kaede grasped my arm and proceeded towards the inside.

Shops of different brands lined up on both sides of the passage. As we approached the centre of the building, a ceiling like that of an atrium entered our vision. It had reached till the highest floor.

Different from my slowed-down steps, Kaede did not bat an eye to her surroundings. Did she grasp the position of the store beforehand on the internet or something? There was not a trace of hesitation in her walking.

Like that, we did not stop for one bit and we arrived at the first shop.

“I will buy my dress here”

Kaede informed me so, as she stopped in front of a shop with a female shop assistant standing there. She was wielding a business smile that did not lose to that of the smile manufacturing machine’s, Yuuto. Kaede made a small bow to her and entered the shop.

As expected, the inside of the shop had clothes that were aimed at women only. So, the customers were all females.

Everyone was picking clothes to their liking and sometimes they will enter the fitting room to test them out.

Kaede was also holding on to clothes she seemed to like and then she would confirm her standing posture by putting the clothes against herself before the mirror.

That too, not once or twice, but already a number that had slightly exceeded ten.

Around the time when it looked like it was going to exceed twenty any minute, Kaede turned up at the end of the shop where I was standing. There were two clothes in her hands.

“Between these two, which one is better?”

In her hands were a pale blue one-piece dress and a casual black jacket.

I somewhat thought that a lighter shade would also be a good choice for Kaede who had a knack for dark colours, but I did not put those thoughts into words.

Preferences are respective.

Clothes bring out one’s individuality the most. So, it is better to choose from the ones she had chosen for herself.

“……left, I think”

I informed, pointing at the black jacket.

“Does this one not look nice?”

“That is not it, it does look nice, but I think the jacket is better”

“Fumu……understood!”

Finally, Kaede did a visual comparison of the two dresses several times. She nodded, seemingly having made a decision. She put back the one-piece to its original position and brought the jacket over to the cash register.

She went over to the register with light footsteps. As she handed over the goods to the shopkeeper, the two of them were talking about something.

I cannot make out what they are talking about, but she seemed to have been making a happy expression.