The inside of the shop was larger than it appeared from the outside, with warm yellow wall lamps casting soft halos on the wooden walls.
A faint herbal scent drifted through the air, like some kind of incense.
The shopkeeper was a middle-aged woman wearing a navy-blue apron. Seeing them enter, she walked over from the counter with a leisurely smile. “Welcome. Are you three here to buy yukatas?”
“Yes,” Chen Mian nodded.
The shopkeeper's gaze swept over the three of them, lingering for an extra second on Flora's elf ears and Loviki's red eyes, but her smile didn't waver in the slightest. Her tone remained unhurried. “The yukatas are over here, and the men's styles are on the other side. Sashes and wooden clogs are on the shelf next to them; you can mix and match them yourselves.”
She pointed them in the right direction and nodded slightly. “Let me know if you need anything.”
With that, she turned and walked back behind the counter, picking up her book and flipping to the page marked by a bookmark.
She was a very considerate shopkeeper.
Chen Mian glanced at Flora. “Go ahead. Choose whatever you like.”
Flora stood in front of the rack of yukatas, looking up as her gaze drifted from one to another, feeling a bit lost.
“This one... or that one...” Her hand rose and fell, unsure of which one to touch.
Loviki had already walked over to the other side.
She scanned the yukatas on the wall, reached out to take down a dark blue one with fine white stripes, and grabbed a gray sash from the shelf.
Flora watched her and felt she should hurry up as well.
“How about this one?” Chen Mian's voice came from behind her.
She turned around. Chen Mian was holding a pale pink yukata adorned with a faint cherry blossom pattern.
Flora took a look, the tips of her ears flushing slightly. “Is it... too youthful?”
Flora's first reaction was that the color was too youthful. For an elf who had lived for several decades, wouldn't wearing this be a bit too...
Though by elven standards, she was indeed very young.
“It's not,” Chen Mian said, slipping the yukata into her hands. His tone was casual, but his eyes were earnest. “Go try it on.”
Clutching the pale pink yukata, Flora looked at the other options on the wall and bit her lip. In the end, she couldn't help but ask, “Which one do you think looks best?”
“This one,” Chen Mian replied without a hint of hesitation.
“...Oh.” Clutching the yukata, she turned and walked toward the fitting room, her steps much faster than usual.
The tips of her elf ears peeked out from her hair, bright red and exceptionally conspicuous under the warm yellow light.
She didn't look back once, knowing her current expression must look incredibly strange.
Chen Mian casually picked out a dark gray yukata from the men's section and grabbed a black sash from the shelf. Just as he was about to head to the fitting room, Loviki's voice came from behind him.
“Help me tie this.”
He turned around.
Loviki stood before him, already changed into the dark blue yukata. Her black hair, usually tied in a ponytail, was let down, cascading smoothly over her shoulders and softening her normally cold and beautiful face.
The collar of the yukata was slightly open, revealing her fair collarbones and a small portion of her shoulder. The sash around her waist was loosely wrapped only twice, hanging slackly as if it might unravel at any moment.
She held out the end of the sash, her slender fingers pinching the edge of the fabric. A look of natural expectation filled her red eyes, as if this were the most normal thing in the world.
Chen Mian looked at her and asked, “You don't know how to tie it?”
“I've never worn one before,” she replied, her tone perfectly straightforward and unassailable.
And indeed, it was true. The nobles of the Hella Kingdom usually wore uniforms and formal wear. A traditional garment of the Kingdom of Chaowu like a yukata was something she had only ever seen in books.
Chen Mian took the sash. “Raise your arms.”
Loviki cooperatively raised her arms, the wide sleeves of the yukata sliding down to reveal her fair forearms.
Chen Mian wrapped the sash around her waist, reaching his hands past her sides to her back.
To tie a yukata sash properly, one had to cross it behind the back and pull it forward again. This movement made it look as though he were embracing her from behind.
Loviki's breath caught for a moment.
Chen Mian moved quickly, without any wasted motion. He pressed down one end of the sash with his left hand, pulled it tight with his right, crossed them over, and tied a knot.
“Done,” Chen Mian said, taking a step back.
Loviki looked down. The knot at her waist was tied neatly. She turned and walked to the mirror, studying her reflection. She reached up to gather her hair, but then let it fall back down.
“Thank you,” Loviki said, her tone still breezy and casual, though the corners of her mouth curled upward ever so slightly.
On the other side, the wooden door of the fitting room was gently pushed open.
Flora stepped out, her hands instinctively clutching the collar of her yukata. She took tiny steps, her wooden clogs making a soft click-clack on the wooden floor.
The pale pink yukata looked beautiful on her. The scattered white cherry blossom patterns seemed to shimmer subtly under the lights, making her already fair skin appear even more translucent.
Her light brown hair was loosely held up with a wooden hairpin, with a few stray strands framing her face. Her ears peeked through her hair, looking even redder against the pink of the yukata.
Her sash was tied a bit crookedly, with the left side of the bow significantly longer than the right—clearly the result of her trying to figure it out on her own. Yet, this clumsy, inexperienced look only added to her charm.
Loviki turned to look, her eyes reflecting a hint of genuine admiration. “It looks very nice on you.”
The tips of Flora's ears twitched. She didn't say anything, but the corners of her mouth curved upward, completely beyond her control.
She walked over to the mirror and stood side-by-side with Loviki, looking surprisingly harmonious.
“Aren't... aren't you going to try yours on?”
“I am,” Chen Mian said. He took the dark gray yukata into the fitting room and emerged in less than two minutes.
The dark gray yukata suited him surprisingly well.
He didn't have an exceptionally muscular build, but the cut of the garment perfectly accentuated his frame.
Flora stole a glance at Chen Mian in the mirror, then quickly averted her eyes, pretending to investigate why the left side of her sash was longer than the right. She fiddled with the sash a couple of times, only to make it even messier.
“We'll take these,” Chen Mian said.
The middle-aged woman looked up from behind the counter. “Three yukatas, three sashes, and three pairs of wooden clogs. That will be seven silver coins in total.”
Chen Mian fished out seven Chaowu silver coins from his pocket and lined them up on the counter one by one, the coins clinking crisply against the wooden surface.
He took the paper bag handed over by the shopkeeper, which was stuffed full with their old clothes.
The shopkeeper bowed again, smiling as she said something in the Chaowu language, welcoming them to return.
“Let's go,” Chen Mian said as he pushed open the door and stepped outside.
A wave of heat and the scent of sulfur washed over them, the mist now slightly thicker than before.
The three of them walked back along the cobblestone path. The mist flowed slowly through the streets, making the glow of the red lanterns appear hazy.
Chen Mian walked in the middle, carrying the paper bag.
The cobblestone road wasn't wide, making it a bit cramped for three people to walk side-by-side.
Due to the narrow path, Flora's arm would occasionally brush against Chen Mian's when avoiding pedestrians. With every touch, she would step aside slightly, only to be pushed back by the crowd a few seconds later.
She kept her head down, watching her feet on the cobblestones. She wasn't used to wearing wooden clogs, which made her gait a bit unsteady, requiring her to pay extra attention to every step.
But then she remembered that the white undergarments in her paper bag had already been bought, meaning she wouldn't have to soak in the hot spring... naked... Her train of thought abruptly halted there, her blush spreading from her neck all the way to her ears.
She blinked hard, trying to banish the image from her mind, which only made her face grow redder.
Up ahead, a section of the cobblestone path was wet from the overflowing hot spring channel, covered in a thin layer of moss.
Flora didn't notice. The moment her right foot stepped on it, her wooden clog slipped on the moss, and she pitched forward.
Chen Mian reached out and caught her by the waist.
His hand rested against her side, his fingers curling slightly, his palm wrapping right around her waistline through the thin fabric of the yukata.
Flora froze completely.
“Watch your step,” Chen Mian said. His hand lingered on her waist for a second, withdrawing only after making sure she had regained her balance.
Flora's ears felt like they were on fire. “The... the wooden clogs are a bit loose...”
She wasn't making excuses.
The wooden clogs were indeed a bit loose. They had felt just right when she tried them on in the shop, but after walking for a bit, she realized the straps weren't tight enough. It was just that there were too many people around, and she had been too busy walking to adjust them.
Chen Mian looked down at her clogs, then squatted. He hooked his fingers under the straps and adjusted them. “There. Try taking a few steps.”
Flora tried taking a couple of steps. This time, she was steady.
She watched Chen Mian stand up and brush the dust off his knees. She wanted to say thank you, but in the end, only a soft “Okay” slipped out.
Loviki walked beside them, having witnessed the entire scene.
She didn't say a word, but her steps grew slightly heavier, the sound of her wooden clogs clicking against the cobblestones turning from a light tap-tap-tap to a heavy thud-thud-thud.
After a few more steps, she suddenly spoke.
“Chen Mian.”
“Yes?”
“My clogs are a bit loose too,” Loviki said, looking down at her feet with a very serious expression, as if she were discussing a matter of grave importance.
Chen Mian glanced sideways at her, his gaze lingering for a couple of seconds on her feet, which were perfectly steady in her clogs.
“Adjust them yourself at the shoe rack when we get back.”
The corner of Loviki's mouth twitched, her expression a mix of being caught in a lie and trying hard not to smile.
She didn't say anything else, but for the next few steps, the clicking of her clogs was noticeably louder than before.
Steam rose from the hot spring channels on both sides of the cobblestone road, the bubbling water blending with the rhythmic clacking of their clogs.
Loviki suddenly spoke, her voice returning to its usual nonchalant tone. “By the way, why is there a hot spring at our apartment?”
“I already told you, I conjured it.”
“You didn't secretly set up a hot spring just because you wanted to bathe with your tenants, did you?” Loviki turned her head, her eyes narrowing as a subtle curve played at the corners of her lips.
“Exactly,” Chen Mian said, his face deadpan as he played along. “It was all to soak in the hot spring with Flora.”
“?!” Flora whipped her head up, her ears turning bright red.
“I want to soak in the hot spring with Flora too!” Loviki immediately chimed in, even taking a step forward to loop around to Flora's other side.
“Y-you two!” Caught between them, Flora's blush spread all the way down to her neck. Her voice went up half an octave. “Stop saying such things!”
“...How about we buy a few more hot spring buns on our way back?”
“Let's buy some!”
“I want dango too.”
“...Buy the dango yourself.”
“Stingy.”
“Aren't you a wealthy noble lady?”
“I didn't bring any money out.”
“Then you'll have to wash dishes to pay it off.”
“I'm already doing that.”
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