Chapter 42: Changing clothes!

Nanase Chitose stopped in front of a storefront with Rina in tow.

Rina looked up… a children’s clothing store.

Plastic mannequins stood in the display window, wearing fluffy princess dresses with sequins and bows on the skirts, sparkling in the sunlight.

It looked pretty normal.

She nodded, pushed open the glass door, and walked inside.

Then she stood in the store, silent.

Looking around, the children’s clothes hanging on the racks were shockingly uniform in style.

Spaghetti straps.

Spaghetti straps.

Still spaghetti straps.

Floral dresses with thin straps, ruffle-edged tank tops with wide straps, puffy princess dresses with halter straps, and those so-called “summer cool styles” with only two thin straps… exposing the entire back.

She refused to believe it and flipped through the entire rack, finding that over half the summer clothes were strap styles, and the rest were either off-shoulder or backless.

Only in the corner hung a few lonely normal short-sleeved shirts, so outdated they looked like they’d been pulled from a warehouse five years ago.

Rina pinched the price tag, the corner of her mouth twitching.

Had people’s aesthetic for children’s clothing really been repressed to this degree?

Why go down the sensibility route?

A picture formed in her mind of a little girl walking down the street in one of those strap dresses…

Thin straps hanging on frail shoulders, most of her back exposed, the skirt so short it would fly up with one gust of wind. This wasn’t children’s clothing—it was adult sexy styles shrunk down a few sizes and put on kids.

Rina slowly turned her head.

Nanase Chitose was standing right behind her, pretending to look at the row of princess dresses beside her, but the corner of those green eyes was clearly stuck on her… more precisely, stuck on her legs in the white silk.

Found the answer.

It was because there were too many people like this.

Market demand determined supply.

As long as enough weirdos were willing to pay for “little girls in spaghetti straps,” children’s clothing brands would produce more strap styles.

This was a complete industry chain…

Pervert desires got packaged as “sensibility route” and “summer cool,” written into product proposals, then turned into rows hanging on racks, making more little girls unwitting targets of pervert gazes.

Rina spat mentally at this accursed Itp industry chain, then started flipping through the clothes.

Cursing was one thing, but she still had to buy clothes.

Her selection criteria were very simple.

First, she could wear it outside.

Second, no straps… or at least not only straps.

Third, not hot.

***

After about fifteen minutes of flipping, she had six outfits in her arms.

She spread the six outfits on the bench next to the fitting room and went through them one by one.

The first was a ruffle-trimmed floral strap dress, covered in layers of pleated lace from the collar to the hem, the skirt puffing out like an upside-down morning glory.

Rina held the dress up to her eyes. The fabric was lightweight cotton lining sewn with a layer of soft tulle, which was how the skirt held that puffy shape.

This was a classic doll-style dress, sweet and soft…

But that didn’t change the fact that it was straps.

Rina put it in the “backup” pile.

The second was a striped tank top with thin straps, cotton, soft to the touch, the straps less than a centimeter wide.

But its bottom half saved it… lace-trimmed denim shorts.

The legs were loose, the hems rolled up with a bit of frayed edge, and the waist had an elastic band design, easy to put on and take off.

Casual home style, fresh and neat. Though the top was still strappy, at least there were pants underneath.

Pants meant no worrying about flashing with a gust of wind, no worrying about the skirt creeping up when sitting down.

Rina set this one aside on the other side…

This was the most promising candidate so far.

The third and fourth were identical styles… off-shoulder puff-sleeve loose shirts with tightened cuffs, the collars pulled open to both sides, exposing the entire shoulders.

Rina picked one up and looked at it. The shirt itself was pretty—a mix of sweet and cool, with a neighbor-girl playfulness.

But an off-shoulder design was, frankly, just making the collar intentionally large so it slid off the shoulders.

Once worn, the collarbones and shoulders were completely exposed. The only difference from a strap top was that it didn’t have those two straps… visually it might be even more revealing, because it exposed the entire shoulder line.

Rina put both back in the “backup” pile.

The fifth was a sleeveless fitted short vest dress with a high waist cut and a large flared skirt.

The cinched waistline accentuated a slim figure—elegant and lively, with a little princess feel.

Rina felt the skirt fabric… it was thicker than the first set, with better drape. Spinning around would make the skirt sweep out a beautiful arc.

But it was still sleeveless, and no matter how pretty the skirt was, it was still a skirt. She put this one in the “backup” pile too.

The sixth… was the most conservative of all.

The inner layer was a lace-up collar white shirt, pure cotton, buttons running from the collar all the way down to the hem.

Over it, worn open, was a plaid long blazer, thin wool material, loose fit, with sleeves that could be rolled up.

The bottom was paired with over-the-knee black stockings.

A full preppy mix-and-match outfit—quiet with a touch of cool aloofness.

Rina held this one up and looked at it for a long while.

Pretty. Really pretty.

The lace-up collar reminded her of those young ladies in manga sitting by windows reading books in uniforms.

But the problem was… it was summer.

Over ninety degrees outside…

Rina put the sixth set back on the bench.

She was afraid of dying from heat.

She stood in front of the six outfits, arms crossed over her chest, frowning as she made her final judgment.

In the end, her gaze landed on the second set… the striped tank top and lace-trimmed denim shorts.

The top was strappy, but the fabric was pure cotton—sweat-absorbent and breathable.

The straps were thin, but at least they were more reliable than those nightgown straps that were always slipping down to the elbows.

Most importantly… there were pants.

The legs were loose, not clinging…

Rina reached out and scooped up the second set from the bench, then pushed the other five aside.

“This one.”

She turned and walked toward the fitting room.

The fitting room was small, with mirrors on three sides and a warm yellow spotlamp overhead.

Rina stood in front of the center mirror and saw herself.

A pink-white strap nightgown, both legs wrapped in white silk, light blue slippers on her feet.

She’d gotten used to this getup in the living room of the kidnapper’s house, but now, standing in a public fitting room, the image in the mirror felt especially glaring.

Not because it was ugly… quite the opposite. The girl in the mirror was as pale as a steamed milk cake fresh from the basket, silver-white hair loose over her shoulders, sky-blue eyes glistening with a watery sheen under the warm yellow light.

This look was exactly the type weirdos liked most.

She clicked her tongue, pulled the nightgown off over her head, wadded it up, and set it on the low stool beside her. Then came the stockings… off they went…

Then she picked up the striped tank top and pulled it over her head.

The fabric was as soft as expected, the straps settling right at the junction of her shoulders and arms, neither too long nor too short.

She looked down…

The neckline was indeed a bit low…

Then the denim shorts.

She sat up, slipped her legs through the pant legs, stood, and pulled the waistband up.

The elastic cinched around her waist, neither too tight nor too loose.

The shorts fell just past mid-thigh, the frayed hems tickling her skin.

She turned half a circle in front of the mirror…

Rina stared at herself in the mirror for a few seconds…

Reassuring.

She picked up the changed-out pink-white strap nightgown from the low stool, shook it out, and folded it.

The nightgown still carried her body heat and the warm, cozy smell from under the blankets.

Keep it. Wear it as pajamas tonight.

She tucked the nightgown under her arm and pushed open the fitting room door.

Chitose was leaning by the cash register with a bottle of mineral water in hand. When she saw Rina come out, she nearly crushed the bottle.

Rina ignored her, walked straight to the cash register, pulled a hundred from that wad of 3,948 yuan, and handed it to the cashier.

Change in hand, clothes bagged, the old nightgown stuffed into the bag.

Then she turned around and spoke to Chitose, who was staring at her bare calves with an extremely abnormal look.

“Take me away. To Sunshine Orphanage.”

“I need to get my household registration.”