-6-

"Poppy, I brought you along so you can help Elkie shop. She's going to need help finding things," Emu says, looking over at Poppy.

"Emu, I'm Asuna in this form, remember?" she responds sternly, looking away from him. She's dressed in a nurse's uniform, which is white, and has brown hair. "Elkie, what style do you like?"

"Uh...anything comfortable," I answer, being honest. "Something like what Emu is wearing. I just want to dress comfortably and be happy."

Poppy looks at me, staring me down with her brown eyes. "So, Emu's style is nice to you?"

"Yes." I nod. "He looks comfortable and happy to me."

"I'm glad you find my clothes to be comfortable and very nice. I haven't really been told that I have nice style before," Emu tells me, smiling softly. He's pretty jolly today. I like that he is.

"Hm...can we find you something cute and comfortable? Something that is in-between my style and his style?" I'm glad Poppy isn't suggesting that I dress like she does when she's in Poppy form. I don't want to have pink hair and a fluffy dress.

"Sure, let's do that." I nod my head, looking ahead now. "Emu, sorry if I cost you a lot of money. I promise to pay you back when I earn some money. One day, I will, okay?"

He laughs. "You don't have to go and do all of that. I'm glad I can help someone like you. You're going to have fun and not owe me anything. This is my treat, Elkie. I want to help you."

I nod my head again and look at Emu through the corners of my eyes. "Ah, okay," I say softly. "Thank you so much for doing this for me."

"How about this shop?" Poppy turns away from us and we stop dead in our tracks. "This looks cute and comfortable!"

I stare at the shop and my mouth drops. "Uh..." My face is literally on fire right now!

"Uh...maybe you two can go in there and leave me out here," Emu says, sounding uncomfortable. "Ha-ha, it'll be perfect for you two." Now he is laughing awkwardly.

"What is wrong with the store?" Poppy asks, looking into the shop through the windows. Her eyes go to a little pink number, staring at it with a smile on her face.

"Oh, I don't think there is anything wrong with it," I state, lying. "Let's go back there together later, okay? Emu can check out the video game store while we're there so we can surprise him with what we get later, okay? He'll give us the money we need to go there."

"But I like it here. Can't we just stop in for a few moments?" She turns to us and Emu looks away, his face turning red. He's really getting weird about this.

"Asuna, let's come back later." Emu looks down.

She pouts, nodding her head. "Fine."

I stare at the pink lingerie that has polka-dots on it and my face starts burning more. I do not want to have Emu shopping for underwear with us. That would be embarrassing and not so fun! What would he react like if he saw one of us in those undergarments? He'll probably have his mouth hanging!

"I promise we can go there later," I say.

Emu looks up and he looks around, his eyes looking for the perfect shop to head to with us. Obviously, he's not looking for underwear stores. He doesn't want us picking out lingerie in front of him. I can't imagine how weird it would be to have the cold surgeon here with us. I can't picture a reaction he would have to seeing a woman trying to pick out lingerie.

"Hm...how about that shop?" He points. "Elkie, I think we should head over there and see what they have. It looks a bit feminine but not overly feminine. I know how some feminine clothes can't be comfortable for girls. I hear them complain about it." At least he is honest.

"Alright, let's go."

We head over to the store and enter it together, heading through the security scanner things. I look around, my eyes scanning all the clothes. He is right about these clothes! They're feminine but not overly feminine! They're so beautiful and perfect for me!

"Pick out whatever you want and try it on. We'll wait for you." Emu smiles.

"Here, try this on!" Poppy shouts, turning to me with a dress in her hands. That was fast! She picked out something almost instantaneously!

The dress is breathtaking! It is black and ivory colored and has lace on it. It must be a pricey dress though because it looks like something Kim K would wear to an event. Am I allowed to even pick something like this out and have Emu pay for it?

"Go on, try it," Emu tells me, encouraging me to try on the beautiful dress in Poppy's hands.

"What if it looks bad on me and makes you two laugh?" I question.

"I doubt you'll look ugly. You're a pretty girl, Elkie," Emu tells me. "Can't we just call you Elk now? We need to give you a nickname?"

I tilt my head a bit. "Elk?"

"It's cute." Poppy is now wanting to call me by it.

I smile and laugh, nodding my head. "Yeah, I guess you can call me it. I like it a bit," I say, laughing still. "It sounds like a cute nickname to have." I stop laughing and step over to Poppy, reaching out for the dress in her hands.

She holds it out to me and lets me take it from her. "Here, you should go on and try it on now. You're going to look so pretty, Elk."

"Uh...thanks." I hold the dress close to me and approach the dressing room. I enter it and close the door, locking it. I put the dress on the table in it, staring at the mirror. It is time for me to change into that dress now. I wonder how I will look.

I turn my head a bit, staring at the dress as something goes over my mouth. I gasp into what it is and I stumble a bit, bumping into something warm and soft. Well, it isn't too soft.

My eyes go to the mirror and lands on a familiar fluffy haired boy's head. His eyes go over to the mirror, staring at me in it. Parad!

"You need to keep quiet once I remove my hand from your mouth, okay?" he advises me and I nod my head. "Shopping, right?"

I look down at his hand, removing my eyes from the mirror. I nod my head and he snickers a bit, keeping his voice down as much as possible. He obviously doesn't want to get caught with me in here. It'll cause trouble for the both of us if we were caught.

"I think this is a bit strange looking."

My eyes go back to the mirror, staring at us. It is a bit strange looking, yes. His hand is over my mouth like he is trying to keep me from ruining a secret encounter in a dressing room with a secret lover. I have been watching too many dramas in my world.

"If I let you go right now, will you keep it down?" He is making sure that I will before letting me go. Smart boy.

I nod my head. "Mmhmm."

"Okay, good." He releases my mouth and steps back a bit. "Talk."

"What are you doing here?" I ask him, keeping my voice as low as possible. If I could scream at him right now, I would. Honestly, he's a bit annoying when he does this.

"I was following you three around and saw you go into this room. I teleported in to talk to you." He stares at me intensely, causing my heart to pound hard. "I was bored."

I look away from him. "Uh...you're still a bit too close to me and it is causing me to panic a bit. I'm scared of what you can do to me in here."

"Am I?" He sounds satisfied with himself right now.

I look back at him and stare up at his face. He's smirking right now. So, yeah, he's enjoying this right now. He knows he can take advantage of how I view his looks.

"Yes." I nod slowly. "Why?"

He moves a bit closer to me, placing a hand on my shoulder. "How about this, Elk?" He pushes me back a bit, gently placing my back against the dressing room mirror.

"Did you-"

"Listen to your conversation with your friends? Yes, I did do that." He stares at me intensely, looking a bit fiery in the eyes.

"Parad..."

"Try it on."

"Huh?" I blink. What?

He removes his hand from me and turns to where I set the dress. He bends over and picks it up, staring at it. He turns to me once again and holds out it.

"Try it on and tell me about your world. I want to know more about it," he orders. He came here to hear about that fictional place? So, he's stalking me to get false information that he doesn't know is false? How about that!

"What do you want to know about it?" I ask, looking away as my face starts burning. I'm so nervous around him at times. It is because I'm a girl and he's a boy. Also, my lack of actual experience with guys in my world doesn't help. Not that I'm hopeless in my own world. I just have bad luck.

"Here is the dress. I won't look."

"But it is a bit cramped in here." I stare at his hands and grab the dress from his hands gently. "But if you can move a bit more and not look, I'll try it on."

"I want to know more about how I am in that world. What am I exactly like, Elk?" He turns away, showing me his back.

"You play sports," I tell him, lying. "Soccer."

"Soccer? What is soccer?"

"A game where you kick a ball." I put down the dress and pull off Emu's t-shirt I'm borrowing. I'm just going to put it over the pants that I'm wearing and show him how it looks.

"I see. Is it fun to play?"

"You wouldn't be playing it if it was boring." I pick up the dress and stare down at it. "But yeah, it is fun. It is one of the most exciting sports games there is. You're wonderful at it."

"Did you play it at all?"

I turn to him, staring at his back. He's still not looking, which is great. I don't think he'll sneak a peek since he's not into that kind of thing. He's more innocent and a bit devious.

I pull the dress over my head and put my arms through the arm holes. I pull it down over the rest of my body and look over at the mirror, staring at my reflection. He took off the hanger for me, which is nice. I don't know when he did it because I was too busy staring at him.

"Yeah, I played it," I answer. I am not exactly lying. I did play soccer years ago.

"Were you good?"

"I was really good. I played defense for the team. I can't remember the positions very well now but I am sure I can look it up and tell you all the names." My eyes look over my reflection. I look so pretty with this dress on. Like a Cinderella who is going to head to some lower tier ball.

"Can we play it together?"

I turn to him and smile. "Yes, one day."

"Is it on?"

"It is."

"So, I can look?"

"Absolutely."

He turns to me, looking me over. "It is strange how clothes can change how someone looks. You look a bit different to me right now, Elk."

"Do I really look different?" I know how I look right now but is it that different to him? How does it come off to him?

He looks back at my face, staring me in the eyes. His face is completely unreadable right now. What is Parad thinking right now? What does he want to say?

"Yes, you look different."

"Okay," I say, looking away awkwardly. I experienced a bit more of an answer. I don't know why I expect him to give me a different kind of answer. I'm just some human girl from some fictional world to him.

"You...do people date in your world? I know it is a thing humans do to find someone they want to spend the rest of their lives with."

"Uh...somewhat. We're close, King Parad."

"How close?"

"Closer than we are right now." I need to make this seem real. "Can I show you how close we were there? Well...how close we are there."

"You still feel like you're going to get rescued, huh?" He nods his head slowly. "Yeah, you can show me how we are there."

I move towards him and hook my arms around him gently, embracing him. I place my head against his chest and close my eyes, listening to his chest. He does have his own heart it seems. He is so warm and inviting to me.

"You're hugging me."

"I know."

"Why did we hug each other there?"

"We...were into each other. This is as far as we would go though so we wouldn't offend people," I tell him, lying. Why do I keep lying to him?

"Well, it isn't like that for us here," he states. If we're not supposed to be like that here, he can just shove me away.

"Right." I open my eyes and break off the hug, ending it as quickly as possible. "I should go to my friends now and show them what I look like in this dress. They wanted me to try this on because it looked like something that would suit me."

"Alright, Elk. Let's talk more later." He disappears, vanishing into a bunch of pixels.

I take a deep breath and open the door, unlocking it. I look at Emu and Poppy. They look so surprised right now. Do they know I was chatting with Parad in there?

"Elkie, you look beautiful!" Poppy exclaims, looking at me in awe. She brings up her hands to her chest and puts them together, staring at me with heart eyes. I think she thinks I'm beautiful and worth appreciating like I'm an idol or something.

"You look nice," Emu comments. "I bet you were staring at your reflection for a long time."

I laugh. "Yeah, I did do that." I turn away. "Let me get changed so we can see me in more clothes."

"Alright, hurry it up."

I need to end our shopping trip fast because I can't have Parad show up again. If he gets caught with me, it'll look like we're up to something. And I don't want to seem like I'm up to no good.