Clara noticed it.
She noticed the displeased look from the shop clerk.
After all, this fitting mirror wasn’t a game console, and although the clerk hadn’t said anything yet, anyone would get annoyed if it was abused like this all the time.
Swapping swimsuits back and forth without making a decision, and the person shopping for swimsuits was just a little brat. This was a high-end swimwear store for adults—shouldn’t little girls just go to the kids’ shop and behave themselves! Not only were the four of them making a ruckus, but even a slippery squid-like oddball had come in, scaring off the customers who might have wanted to look around.
That’s probably what the shop clerk was thinking.
“Hey, Fran.”
Clara tugged at Fran’s sleeve.
“The person behind the counter is glaring at us so fiercely, you know? Her face is turning as black as a demon’s! Can a human woman’s face really twist like that?”
Only then did Fran glance over at the counter.
“Alright! So these are the swimsuits we’ll take for vacation, right?”
Fran finally settled down, and Clara was at last released from the endless costume-change play.
“Clara needs to prepare… seven sets! As for me and Lucia… two sets each! Well, as staff, as long as we have some to switch out, it’s enough~”
Fran deliberately raised her voice when reporting the numbers.
A moment ago, the clerk had been scowling like an ogre, but now she wore a smile kinder than the Buddha’s, her whole demeanor transformed from stormy to sunny.
“Thank you for your patronage! Please come again!”
She even came out the door to see them off.
Clara could only sigh at such a rapid change in attitude.
“Money really can buy anything, huh?”
“Mm-hmm~ With money, you can make ghosts push the millstone; without it, even heroes get stuck~”
As Fran said this, she handed all three small swimsuit shopping bags over to “Squire.”
“Here you go, big brother. Carrying bags is a gentleman’s duty, you know!”
Mostima, playing the role of “Squire,” didn’t refuse, though whether he could really be called a “gentleman” was questionable.
Fran glanced at the time, then linked arms with Lucia again.
“Alright then, let’s go buy Lucia’s phone next!”
“Oh! It’s already past nine!”
Clara, having been absorbed in shopping, hadn’t noticed how much time had passed.
She even suggested, “We still have work tomorrow, so let’s call it a day.”
From meeting the fake at the shopping center, to eating coconut milk hotpot together, to picking out swimsuits for vacation, and finally buying the latest flagship phone, over four hours had gone by.
Still, for a group of women, that was actually pretty efficient.
“We spent so much… It’s not just swimsuits—can we even get the phone reimbursed?”
On their way out of the mall, Lucia was doing the math on her new phone. Tonight’s expenses were pretty hefty. Even if she could get reimbursed, as an intern, she still felt a little bad about it.
But for an old hand like Clara, there was no psychological burden at all.
She’d even love to expense her daily commute, if only the reimbursement process for commuting wasn’t such a hassle, and if the finance department didn’t find it troublesome too. In the end, the time spent just wasn’t worth it.
Fran simply comforted her, “Don’t worry! Just think of the phone as company equipment, like the computer you use now. It belongs to the company~”
A reasonable explanation.
Though, if you went with that, you’d have to return the phone if you ever left the company.
But Lucia had no intention of quitting, anyway.
Lucia nodded, stepped out of the mall, breathed out a puff of white mist into the cold air, and then turned to look at her big brother.
“Bro, we’ll head back to the dorm first.”
“Squire” just nodded, and Lucia added, “When we get back from the beach resort, I want to visit the apartment you’re renting, okay?”
Cold sweat broke out on Clara’s forehead.
Go to the cheap rental apartment? No way!
She needed to come up with some excuse to put it off… How could she get Mostima to refuse?
“Sure.”
He actually agreed on his own, even though he was a fake?!
He even reached out to pat Lucia’s head. “But it’s not safe over there, and my apartment’s a bit of a mess. So let me know before you come, I’ll tidy up in advance and meet you at the subway station…”
Huh? Has he been to the cheap rental apartment?
Mostima actually knew her situation surprisingly well, and his excuse was reasonable, too.
If that time really came, she’d have to arrange for Mostima to help with the act again. Things hadn’t been exposed so far, but this couldn’t go on forever.
Speaking of which, Nyx hadn’t shown up at all since the shopping center.
When did that annoying guy get so quiet?
While Clara was mulling over this, Lucia once again linked arms with her.
“I know, so I want to go with you, Clara-senpai!”
“Huh?”
Was it because the area was unsafe, so she wanted Clara as a bodyguard?
Lucia shot back, “Senpai, you don’t want to?”
“No, that’s not it…”
Clara was a little surprised, but thinking it over, it made sense.
Lucia wanted to bring her along even to her “brother’s” place—clearly, in her eyes, Clara was not just a “colleague” or “senpai,” but already her “best friend.”
Still, going along wasn’t a bad thing.
At least she could keep tabs on how those two got along.
When Lucia was with “Squire,” she acted more lively than her age, even circling around “Squire” a few times.
“Huh?”
But then she frowned, holding her hand above her head and then “Squire’s,” comparing their heights.
“Bro, did you shrink? How come we’re almost the same height now?”
“…I just wasn’t standing straight.”
As “Squire” said this, his height seemed to stretch upward noticeably. But instead of just straightening up, it looked more like he was being pulled taller—his whole figure became more slender.
Almost like Mostima’s usual posture, except for the squid head.
Not good, Clara raised an eyebrow.
Mostima’s self-perception was increasingly tending toward the feminine, so even his mimicry was taking on a more feminine form?
“Bro, don’t slouch all the time, stand up straight!”
Even though that posture looked as if he’d been squashed by an elevator door, Lucia still… accepted it? All thanks to her unconditional trust in her big brother.
She even said her goodbyes, a little reluctantly.
“It’s gotten late! See you next time, onii-chan~!”
“Yeah, I’ll see you after your vacation.”
With that, Mostima turned and walked away.
“From here, I’m not going the same way as you back to the lab,” Fran said.
“So, Fran-san, your place isn’t in the city?”
“Mm, see you tomorrow, then.”
Fran left too.
Lucia turned back to Clara.
“Senpai~ Shall we head home too?”
“Yeah…”
“Want to take a bath together tonight?”
“No.”
“Ehhh~~”
Rejected, Lucia dragged out the sound, while Clara watched Fran’s retreating figure, lost in thought.
It felt like everything had been cleared up, yet as if she’d missed some clue.
Come to think of it—
Had Fran’s backpack always looked that flat before?
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Well something going on.