Chapter 11: Heard Secrets (2)
A few more differences existed between the shopping complex Nik visited with Genta and this one. Aside from the crowd of customers and the variety of clothes, Nik observed a difference in the changing rooms. The complex that he visited with Genta had rooms accessible through doors. This shopping complex, however, has a series of changing rooms next to each other. But these rooms are covered by thick yellow curtains. When the curtain is collected together, it means the changing room is empty. When the curtain covered the entrance, it was a sign of occupancy, and one should not barge in.
*Srrt*
Nik pushed away the curtain with a bleak look on his face. A loose t-shirt with a lousily dropped neckline that hung too close to his shoulders and revealed his collarbone covered his torso. Meanwhile, he resisted the urge to scratch his balls because the tight leather pants gave him a manly cameltoe.
Mitsuko smirked playfully. Amused by his expression, she admits with a roll of her eyes, "Fine, fine. This outfit doesn't suit you, but I had to try it, right? Here, try this~."
Pretending that her gestures were enough to communicate for the time being, Nik huffed but didn't push to be rude. Mitsuko bringing him here was a great favor, as is.
He covered the changing room again and dropped his clothes. The freedom of his nuts never felt better. Nik leaned forward to study his face in the mirror. The corner of his right eye lost a scar—a reminder of one of his nightmares. He then touched the base of his spine—it was no longer a patch of mangled flesh. His gaze fell on his toes—none of his toenails looked like hard shells with dark clots sealed underneath them.
'Yet, it aches sometimes.'
He silently wore a red t-shirt and black trousers.
"Hmm... maybe something blue," Mitsuko mumbled as Nik showed off his clothes. He did not intend to let Mitsuko buy everything that caught his eye. The gesture was enough. And he can take a few things with no one noticing.
His right eye devoured things for AP.
His left tattooed hand can devour things into his gift from Infinity.
It was discreet, but he began sweeping stuff that trash, and this time, they disappeared not into Infinity that nets out AP but something much more personal. Something that Nik can truly call his own—an employee contract benefit.
Under his jacket, the red scar around his left forearm at the base of his left elbow flashed gently as Nik sometimes brushed his fingertips across some clothes. He browsed the section from where Mitsuko took some outfits, so they were mostly his size. He did not target the products in the front but skimmed through the middle regions.
He should fear the inventory keeping of this location, but he believed few imagined someone shoplifting the way he is.
Within his arm is a personal space.
A dimension he can travel in—The last line of defense was gifted to him by Infinity. He hadn't visited that dimension yet, but he knew everything about it, and now he was storing a supply of clothes so that he wouldn't be helpless in the next world.
But only a few outfits were swiped by the 'gift' attached to his body. He devoured many other clothes for AP and used Mitsuko's absence to his advantage.
She soon returned from the washroom, marking the end of Nik's shopping spree for AP.
But their day didn't end yet. Instead of paying for his clothes, Mitsuko handed him a basket with a smile and dragged him to the upper floors. What came next was purchasing a few underwears, which only needed the size he was already wearing, and that's it.
Finally, even higher, in one of the particular stores, Nik's expression turned slightly strange as he found himself surrounded by women's clothing. It wasn't the location that made him feel strange. The various dresses and varieties of minor changes made him feel a little dumbfounded. All the minor changes came as varying necklines, odd cuts in clothes that somehow worked, and even the length of said outfits themselves.
So many options!
He had seen women wearing relatively normal clothes, he now realized. Sweaters, vests, shorts, pants, jackets, and overcoats—were like men's clothing. Even in his previous World, one can dress like a slut, a formal worker, or casual wear. But here, you can combine the three of them!
It was finally Mitsuko's turn. Shopping for Nik took little time. If anything, he spent more effort liberating things from the corporate grasps for personal comfort. He would have continued his job to supply Infinity with women's clothing if not for the furtive glances from other women he garnered once he entered the store with Mitsuko. He was interested in how the girls would look in different outfits.
Since Yuuko dressed him the first after Genta, he thought of her first.
'She would look good in this pink sweater. The cleavage cutout is intriguing. The fabric's cut from the center in a circular shape.'
Many gazes followed his movements as he touched the hems of the dresses and skirts to check the material.
"You like this?" Mitsuko whispered, almost cooing as she picked a few dresses that attracted Nik.
Nik looked at the slightly skimpy top again.
Mitsuko almost pulled out her cell phone to translate what she meant, but Nik nodded curiously.
She still smiled and shared the translated text to make sure there wasn't any misunderstanding.
He nodded again but couldn't help but glance at her back as she browsed other sections.
'Yep, she is suspiciously patient. Not even her daughters and others like Genta are this patient.'
Before he could ponder why Mitsuko acted so patiently since it couldn't just be his bloodline, he heard hushed whispers.
"Hey, hey, isn't that guy cute? Let's strike a conversation." Nik glanced to his side and saw two middle-aged women browsing through the shelf of dresses while discreetly turning their heads in his direction.
Smiling in their direction, he looks away and focuses on other issues.
'How much AP would I get if I devoured a building?'
He gains AP based on the quality, quantity, and size of the item devoured. Rank 0, like him, is the bottom of the barrel, and that not one article he devoured gave him a full point meant that it was lower than a proper Rank 0 unit considered by Infinity.
But it is to be expected. Nik's new homeworld would be the safest location for someone like him so he can survive and continue working for Infinity. Finding items of better quality before attracting the wrong attention is easier said than done.
While he did not find it shrewd to risk his position in the homeworld by devouring things like buildings or other expensive items, he would try to devour large items in the next world. His trips are temporary, after all.
As he mused, Mitsuko selected what she desired to dress in and soon led Nik in front of her changing room to have him reciprocate the gesture.
Waiting in front of the changing room occupied by Mitsuko, this time, the kind with an actual door. He heard Mitsuko slip out of her clothes and wondered what she wore under her clothes. She did not keep him waiting too long.
"How does this look?"
The door opened as Mitsuko walked out with a smile. The warm interior of the store allowed anyone to try clothes of various natures. Wearing a grey turtleneck sweater with a diamond cutout in the middle of the chest, she leaned forward slightly and squeezed her shoulders inwardly. "How do I look?" She inquired. It was a typical gesture that Nik would have understood even with no words, but understanding Mitsuko's speech made him appreciate the mature coyness in her voice.
Nodding, Nik smiled before pointing at the changing room behind her. His gaze flicked across the natural flush of her cleavage that seemed to expect more than just a set of appreciative eyes.
"M-more," Nik, too, purposely stuttered as Mitsuko's eyes lit up behind her glasses, and she entered the changing room. Since she wanted to enjoy, why can't Nik indulge her?
Her musings, just loud enough, escaped the confines of the changing room.
"But this sweater barely suits me... it would look good on younger girls, maybe fat boys with breasts? Hehe," she giggled. She was her own audience. "Still, it's good that we're buying something. Although I don't like how Sayoko would go on a shopping spree for everyone regularly, it's nice to spend some time outside the house."
'So, Kurumi's got anger issues, Sayoko has issues with shopping, and Souko is a drunkard...'
Nik silently stood by the corner of one of the hanging stalls and listened to Mitsuko.
"I miss the times when my girls were young. I took a break from everything in my life. Used to take them out in the park. Especially Kurumi. She loved slides growing up. That explains why she is so wild. Hmm, this is a little tight but looks good."
With that, Mitsuko walked out again. She wore a blue sequin dress that clung to the slope of her breasts. The sleeves and the neck were fashioned out of fishnet-like material. Although the hem of the dress barely reached Mitsuko's knees and tightly wrapped around her body, leaving only the most intimate spots to one's imagination, Nik traced his chin ponderously and rotated his index finger. Twirling around, Mitsuko really gave Nik a good look at the 'dress,' not minding the odd looks on the faces of the few female customers.
As Nik observed everything, he shook his head. This dress was no good, for him, at least. He wouldn't recommend anyone wearing something so... peacock-ky. Sure, some, including Mitsuko, could pull this dress off, but it didn't feel good in Nik's eyes. It simply may be the case of Nik being unaccustomed to the fashion of this world.
"Aw? You don't like it? I was sure that boys enjoy this kind of stuff," Mitsuko sighed and shrugged, "Well, I will try the stuff you had your eye on."
With that, Mitsuko entered the changing booth once again.
"Hmm~ Hmm~ Heh, Souko had a collection of sequins dresses until she got the job. I didn't believe it when she said that Office Suits, especially the ones with trousers instead of pencil skirts, work way better than dresses until I saw the result with my own eyes. What a celebration we had when Souko landed the job~!" Mitsuko continued to speak her mind with no fear while Nik recalled Souko.
She certainly didn't wear any pencil skirt... well, not that Nik knew what it meant. But till now, he had only seen her in Suit Skirts instead of a pair of pants. "Of course, this was till she started wearing those shorter skirts and pantyhose. I know the truth, however. Hehe, Souko got fat and couldn't fit in her trousers, so she made the shift!"
Nik smirked, suppressing a quick chuckle that almost escaped his mouth.
"Alright, I'm going to need some help. Will you come in?"
Saying this, Mitsuko slightly parted the door of her booth and stretched her arm out with her index finger beckoning him into the changing room.
Looking around, Nik found that the two women who continued staring at him were in their respective changing stations and the two female attendants who glanced toward him now and then focused on their cellphones.
And realizing that the worse thing that could happen if he got caught with Mitsuko is... just nothing, Nik opened the door and stepped in before closing it.
The booth was small and certainly not comfortable for two grown individuals. Mitsuko's clothes hung on the backside of the door. Meanwhile, the remaining clothes she wanted to try were placed on the small stool to the right. With a body-sized mirror in the front, Nik watched Mitsuko in a provocative dress. It was wide from the neck but a completely form-fitting lavender dress. It boasted folded patterns over to the torso and a deeper neck from the back than the front, not to mention it parted from the back with a zip line.
"Go on," Mitsuko gestured with her chin and whispered. She touched the base of the zip line and gestured for him to pull it up.
But Nik stared at Mitsuko's buttocks for a second that almost pressed against his waist. It wouldn't be the first time he felt her wide back against his crotch, but the stretch of the fabric presented an attraction hard to deny. It was these little things that attracted Nik. Seeing 'big' things didn't matter to him because a certain someone almost ruined sex for him entirely, but with a new body came a new set of systems that affect emotions. Yep, a fully educated whore bags the highest prices, after all. He knew his biology well enough, at least, by the standards of his previous world.
The low-key part of the reason he enjoyed working for Yuuko's is that he enjoyed dressing up, as long as the costume wasn't too tedious.
"Come on," Mitsuko urged again, with a charming smile this time as she swayed her buttocks slightly to break Nik out of the most simple charm of the world.
With a nod, Nik held the base of the zipper and pulled it up with his other hand. The satisfying sound of the zip filing up filled the small room as he finally let it go after it ended close to half the length of her back from where it began the deep neck of her dress.
"How does it look?" Mitsuko inquired while bending and taking her phone from the stool, pressing her buttocks against Nik while doing so. And when she straightened her back, swiping the lock screen, she felt Nik gripping her arms from up close to her shoulders, making her look up in the mirror. They made eye contact through the mirror as Nik stepped forward slightly and pressed himself against Mitsuko's back. His hands traced up her arms and settled on her shoulder, on the right of which he kissed gently, brushing his lips against the open back, and smiled before doing an 'ok' sign.
Closing the phone with a smile, Mitsuko pursed her lips. She needed no words now. But the excitement and joy in her eyes couldn't be concealed.
"I'm glad," she tapped at her back, touching the zipper as Nik got the idea and unzipped the dress again.
As he did so, Mitsuko's lips curled up mischievously, and she pushed Nik out of the changing booth unceremoniously. She did not need her hands for this. A rough press of her buttocks and a forceful shove rewarded him and punished him for being so good a moment ago.
As he stumbled out, he found one of the bespectacled attendants staring in his direction. All the employees wore masks regardless, so their expressions were unknown, but given the stiff posture, they seemed shocked and quickly dodged Nik's gaze.
***
Alternate Title: Mitsuko Exposing Her Daughters; The Theft!; The Corporate Liberator; Nik Dislikes Leather; Dressing Game; The Motherly Exposition; Souko is not Fat!; Angry Drunken Souko Noises; The Wordless Attraction; Kind Gestures; The Ass of Reward and Punishment; Hopes to Devour More.
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