Kitsune in the Shadows

Chapter 100 – Finishing the Outfit

I wasted no time, continuing to move from shelf to shelf, rack to rack, waiting for something to catch my eye once again. Going from swathes of watches to stationery to these excessively flashy dresses, everything seemed to simply glide past my eyes as I walked, yet not one thing stood out to me as a good match with what I had already decided on.

At least, that was the case until I finally stumbled upon their collection of various boots and shoes, conveniently lined up in order of their height. In terms of available colours on show… There really wasn’t much to choose from, most options only coming in varying shades of brown or the occasional black. The only exception was some of the more dainty shoes right at the end, where colour seemed to finally come back into the picture.

In truth, however, the lack of colour options didn’t bother me that much. I already knew that I was looking for something in a darker shade, although preferably not black, so as to provide a greater distinction between where trousers end and the shoe begins.

…

I think that makes sense.

It was a feeling that was both familiar yet not at all at the same time; all these thoughts were going through my head as if they had always been there. When it came to my own clothes, I had never been that picky, but now that I was putting together an outfit for someone else, it was as if I had been taken over. Carefully looking down at the trousers in my hands, then at a pair of boots that I initially thought might work together, before I immediately decided that they weren’t actually a good fit based on some intuition I had never known about.

Once I got to the end of the available selection, I came across a beautiful pair of dark brown leather thigh-high boots. They had their laces down the back, unlike most of the others on display, which seemed to align quite well with the vision I had in my mind.

However, as soon as my hand brushed against them, a different thought crossed my mind.

These are nice, but…

…

Ovia has very long legs… I don’t think these would fit very well…

There isn’t really an easy way to make them any longer either…

…

Even if I could… would they even look that good?

With just how long her legs are, I think they would just look a little strange and unbalanced.

…

But… what should I do instead? This really seemed like the right answer.

I looked back over at the selection; however, instead of looking at any more of the longer boots, I moved down to those more in the ankle height range. Almost immediately, I was drawn to this black pair with a well-crafted stacked heel. Something about them was just calling out to me, yet my instincts were pushing back. It just wasn’t what I originally had in mind… yet… there was something about them that I couldn’t push out of my thoughts.

…

…

Maybe…

I unfolded the trousers in order to help me put together a better image in my head.

With her legs… these probably won’t reach all the way down… and with those boots…

…

I think just a little skin would show above the ankle, which… I don’t dislike.

The reasoning was already putting itself together inside my head. Instead of relying on a different colour to provide the break I was looking for, showing a little skin would be able to achieve a very similar result.

In the end, I liked the idea enough that I decided to go with the ankle boots instead of my original vision with the thigh-high boots and started moving through the store again in order to pick out the top half of the outfit.

As I did, however, I coincidentally came across Ava going through some of the clothing on display, pulling out more than a few things that I thought wouldn’t suit her very well; more than that, they seemed quite far from her usual preferred style, at least in my mind.

Most of what she had in her arms was fairly plain, and that just… didn’t seem like Ava to me. Although thinking back on it, a lot of what she has worn lately has been that way. It’s just that back when we first met, she lent me one of her old dresses made entirely of feathers, and that seemed much more her style.

Even if it wasn’t very comfortable to actually wear… Now that I was thinking about it… I would probably still expect her to wear a dress, probably in black to help her bright purple eyes stand out a little more than they already, maybe with a silver trim and matching jewellery… and then some feathers around the hem of the skirt to match her wings.

Kierra, what are you doing right now?

You’re supposed to be looking for Ovia’s outfit.

‘Little kitsune? Would it be possible for me to quickly get a new sample of your mana the next time you visit?’ As I turned to face the shelves again, Aria suddenly spoke up, ‘From what little I have been able to see from your more recent displays, there seem to be some discrepancies in its properties compared to my initial recordings, and I’m quite interested in seeing what exactly might have caused that.’

It took a moment before I could even think about answering her.

‘I… okay?’ I eventually answered, still somewhat confused.

‘Thank you for indulging my curiosity,’ She responded, ‘As a small token of my gratitude… If you look at the coat rack on your left, I think you’ll find something Sister will be rather fond of.’

What?

I immediately looked over in the direction Aria mentioned, but what was hanging there was a little…

…

There was only a single coat hanging on the rack, and… it must have been by some miracle that I hadn’t noticed it before it was pointed out to me. It was an incredibly bulky, fluffy coat, but somehow it was a bright, almost glowing, neon pink.

What animal even has fur like that?

The only redeeming factor it had was that it would definitely be warm, but in terms of appearance… it left a lot to be desired… to say the least.

‘… I… I don’t think it’s what I’m looking for.’

‘Is that so?’ Aria responded immediately, ‘I just thought it suited her. I could really see her wearing that around her domain.’

Really?

Is there a different Ovia somewhere? I’ve only seen her wear black.

…

The only thing I could really do in that situation was to try and refocus back on my original goal, no matter what Aria was telling me. I already had an idea of what I wanted, and I was going to try my best to stick to it.

There were many more options when it came to shirts than anything else I had looked at previously.  Luckily, it was also where I was most confident in my vision. I wanted something light instead of black like the rest. With the black trousers and boots, along with Ovia’s tails, her lower body would already be very dark, then when moving up, she also has black hair and eyes, so there really needed to be another colour to help break everything up. But not pure white, that I had already decided on, although it did still need to be a relatively neutral colour, nothing too bold.

Fortunately for me, all of their shirts were organised by colour rather than style, probably more for the overall aesthetics of the store than any sort of functionality, but it worked well for what I needed. The shelves moved from darker tones to lighter tones, so naturally I started at the whites, before moving just a little down the selection until there was the slightest amount of colour.

And, to my own surprise, I found something that perfectly fit the vision I had in my mind. It was this elegant cream-coloured frilled shirt. What really caught my interest were the frills running along both the neckline and the cuffs. The only slight issue there might have been was how far down the neckline went… but that was a minor issue in the grand scheme of things.

To be honest, the biggest issue I had with the neckline was how it made my thoughts move towards Ovia’s hair. It wasn’t something I could do anything with now, but when I eventually gave her the outfit, it would be something that needed consideration…

She normally has it down, but…

With a neckline like this, it would be a shame to cover everything up like that… but it should still be simple; maybe a ponytail?

I shook my head to refocus myself again. I now had a full outfit for Ovia all picked out, and yet all I could find myself thinking about was the next one. Would it be something similar to this? Something completely different? A new take on her usual outfit? Or something more… selfish on my part?

Unfortunately for me, all of that was overshadowed by a simple fact; the day was only so long, which was only made worse by the time limit Ovia put in place.

So, I decided to do the only thing I could, and take what I had already picked up to the front of the store, waiting for Ava to join me and pay. I could probably ask Ovia if I can do this again another day… and the store might even have some new items in stock then too… maybe in a week.

I really want to do this again.

It was fun.

Much more fun than picking out my own clothes. There was just something… exciting about it.

As I walked over towards the front desk, I passed a few of the other sections they had. Mainly just collections of small trinkets and some preserved food products. However, something that made me stop for a moment was simply a small section of the side wall where they had different rolls of fabric on display. There was one roll in particular that I felt drawn towards; it was a very dark blue, almost black, but there were these little silver flecks running through it, mirroring the night sky.

Against my better judgement, I decided to take a quick detour and get a better look at it, quickly noticing that it was actually somewhat translucent… I really liked it. But there wasn’t much that I could do with a roll of fabric like that…

Or was there?

…

…

It was certainly an impulsive decision, but I decided to just take one of the rolls… and a couple of others that were nearby… just in case I found a use for them… eventually. If I didn’t do that, there was a chance they could have been sold by the time I came back to this store after all.

I’m sure this isn’t too much…

…

Probably.