章 71: My Dress-Up Darling

Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Hargeon.

July, x780

Seeing the new customer walking around the shop and checking out all the available articles of clothing, Alfonzo and Elicia remained in a stupor. From the moment they regained their memories of their past lives, they had only seen people from the anime/manga of Fairy Tail. Today, however, flipped that notion on its head.

The customer in question was a beautiful girl around the same age as Alfonzo and Elicia standing around 5'5" (1.64 m) tall with waist length, straight blonde hair that transitioned into dark pink tips, bangs that covered most of her forehead and right eyebrow, leaving only her left eyebrow and a small amount of her forehead on the left side exposed, as well as two long bangs that framed her face and fell over her shoulders, stopping at her chest. She had dark-pink eyes, fair skin, a contagious smile on her face, and a very slim waist.

"I guess we're in an AU..." Alfonzo muttered as his eyes never left the girl.

"Yeah..." Elicia muttered in response. A moment later, her eyes lit up and she hopped off Alfonzo's lap. "But This is awesome."

"On top of that, it looks like she's got magic power." Alfonzo said, finally examining the girl seriously. "And she's got quite a bit from what I can tell."

"I know, right?" Elicia said, watching the girl attentively as well. "And if I were to venture a guess, she hasn't realized it. I mean, look at the way she carries herself."

"Yeah, I've never seen a wizard who's so unaware of their surroundings." Alfonzo said in agreement. "You're gonna go talk to her, aren't you?"

"Of course." Elicia said with a smile. "She'll be My Dress-Up Darling."

"Ugh..." Alfonzo groaned as he covered his face with his hands. "I really should have seen that coming."

To Alfonzo's surprise, Elicia did not go to the customer in question and strike up a conversation immediately. Instead, she watched her look around and try on the occasional article of clothing. In the end, Elicia made her move just as the girl was about to leave without buying anything.

"Excuse me." Elicia said, walking toward the front door of her shop. "Were the clothes not to your liking?"

Surprised by the voice, the girl jumped. Then, she slowly turned around. When she did, she saw Elicia smiling at her cheerfully.

"Oh, no! Not at all." The blonde girl said while waving her hands around in a fluster. "No, that's not what I meant... I mean, the clothes were great! They're just not what I was looking for today."

"*Sigh* That's a relief Elicia said in a genuinely relieved tone. "I really thought you might not have liked my clothes."

"Your clothes?" The girl asked, clearly a little confused.

"Yeah, I designed all these clothes." Elicia said proudly.

"Really?" The girl exclaimed excitedly. "OMG that's so awesome! There are so many uber-cute clothes in here!"

"Well, I'm glad you like them." Elicia replied with a smile. "But would you mind if I asked what you were looking for exactly? I mean, I do custom orders, too."

"Really?" The girl asked, excitement shining in her eyes.

Then, the girl reached into the purse that she wore over her shoulder. After rummaging around for a few seconds, she pulled out a book and showed the cover to Elicia. On the book's cover was a dark-haired girl wearing the uniform to a seemingly aristocratic academy.

"I'm looking for this!" The girl squealed excitedly.

Instead of looking at the girl depicted on the cover of the book, Elicia was more drawn to the title.

'Saint Slippery's Academy for Girls 2, huh?' Elicia thought to herself. 'So, instead of an erotic game, it's an erotic novel in this world.'

"So, you wanna dress like her?" Elicia asked while pointing at the girl on the cover.

"No." The girls said while shaking her head. Then, with her eyes shining even brighter than before, she continued. "I want to be her!"

As the girl spoke, both her hair and eye color began to change, resembling the girl on the cover for a moment. However, just as fast as they changed, they changed back. While most people in the store did not seem to even notice, Alfonzo and Elicia, who had been focused on the girl ever since she entered the store, were surprised to see those changes.

'It looks like she didn't even realize she did that.' Both Alfonzo and Elicia thought at the same time.

"So, you want to do some cosplay, huh?" Elicia asked while tilting her head to the side.

"Cosplay?" The girl asked with some confusion in her tone. However, her eyes lit up once again after thinking about it for a bit. "I've never heard that word before, but I like how it sounds."

In response, Elicia simply giggled.

"It's the combination of the words costume and play." Elicia explained. "Basically, it's when people dress up as their favorite characters from stories."

"Yes, that's exactly what I want!" The girl exclaimed, holding the book against her chest. "It would be super-duper cool to be Shizuku-Tan!"

"Well, I could definitely make that outfit." Elicia said after watching the girl gush for a few minutes. "But I'd need to be able to see the entire outfit."

Immediately, the girl's enthusiasm died down. Even though her favorite character from the novel, Shizuku Kuroe, was featured on the books cover, there were no pictures of her from other angles.

"Then, you won't be able to make it, huh?" The girl asked in a downtrodden tone.

In response, Elicia raised her right hand and began tapping its index finger against her cheek as she thought about it.

"Well, is there an in-depth explanation of what the uniform looks like in the book?" Elicia asked with a contemplative expression.

Once again, the girl's eyes lit up. Then, she started turning the books pages at high speed. Eventually, when she reached the page she was looking for, she turned the book around and held it out for Elicia to see.

"There is!" The girl shouted. "They were really detailed in the explanation. It's one of the reasons I fell in love with Shizuku-Tan. I could imagine exactly how cute she would be wearing it!"

By this point, all the girl's loud exclamations had drawn the attention of the other shoppers and the shop attendants. Although the girl did not notice as she was so enthralled by the conversation, it did not escape Elicia's notice, causing her to smile wryly.

Waving at the shop attendants, Elicia signaled them to not mind her. Then, she smiled at the girl once again.

"Well, I guess I should go buy a copy of that---" Elicia began to say.

Before she could finish, however, the girl had pushed the book against Elicia's chest,.

"It's okay, you can have mine!" The girl said excitedly. "I have, like, three copies back at home."

"Uh… Okay…" Elicia said, a little awkwardly.

"Everyone should experience Slippery Girls!" The girl said with a smile on her face.

'That sounds like a motto I could get behind.' Alfonzo thought with a grin on his face.

"In fact, I've got a copy of the first one with me, too." The girl continued, completely unaware of Alfonzo's internal retort as she reached into her purse once again.

A moment later, she pulled her hand out of her purse and thrust another book into Elicia's hands.

"You should read them" The girl said with her eyes sparkling. "Trust me, you won't regret it."

"Sure." Elicia replied with a smile. "At the very least, it will help me make the very best outfit I can."

"Hell yeah!" The girl shouted once again. "I'm gonna be Shizuku-Tan."

Once again, without the girl's notice, her hair and eye color flickered between her normal color and the colors of Shizuku's before quickly returning to their original colors.

"Anyway, it will probably take me a week to read the books and a day or so to make the outfit." Elicia said, making the girl even more excited. "The only problem is… I live in Magnolia. So, I would have to find the time to come back to Hargeon. I am a wizard too, after all."

"Oh, you don't have to worry about that." The girl replied nonchalantly. "I can come to Magnolia to pick up the clothes."

"Won't your family be worried, though?" Elicia asked.

"Nah, my dad Is often in other countries on business." The girl replied. "So, I'm usually left to do whatever I want. As long as I don't cause trouble, that is."

"If you say so." Elicia replied. "Well, then, if it's no trouble, you should come to Magnolia to pick up the outfit in nine or ten days."

"Sweet! Oh, wait…" The girl exclaimed before it seemed as if the wind was taken out of her sails. "I'll probably be able to afford the outfit and a train ticket, but I don't know about a hotel."

"Well…" Elicia said as she glanced back at Alfonzo.

Alfonzo, who had been sitting behind the counter since the beginning, had heard the whole conversation between Elicia and the girl. And when he saw Elicia look back, he simply shrugged his shoulders and nodded at Elicia with a smile.

"If you're okay with it." Elicia continued after getting a nod from Alfonzo. "My boyfriend and I live in a pretty big house. We have a bunch of guest rooms, too. There's even another girl, a member of our guild and… well… my boyfriend's other girlfriend… living there too."

'That sounds so awkward when I say it out loud.' Elicia thought to herself without losing her smile.

Hearing that Elicia's boyfriend, Alfonzo, had another girlfriend, the girl opened her eyes wide in surprise. Then, she remembered that Elicia had glanced behind her before she started talking about her house. Guessing that she was asking her boyfriend if it was okay to invite her to their house, the girl decided to look past Elicia and see who she was asking permission from.

'Holy hell! He's hot!' The girl exclaimed internally. 'I've never seen a hair style like that before, but it looks good on him. Wait, she said he has another girlfriend, that means…'

"He's like one of those harem protagonists in the novels." The girl muttered unintentionally.

The girl only realized that she had spoken out loud when she saw the wry smile on Elicia's face.

"OMG I'm sorry." The girl said while bowing her head frantically. "I didn't mean to say that out loud. But I read a story like that not too long ago."

"Don't worry about it." Elicia said with a giggle after seeing the girl's exaggerated reaction. "It's been like this for more than half a year, so we've heard it all by now."

"*Sigh* I see." The girl said with a sigh of relief.

"Anyway, like I was saying… You could stay a night at our house if you're okay with it." Elicia said, getting back on track.

"If you'd be willing to have me, it would probably be fun." The girl replied.

"Good." Elicia said with a smile and a nod. "Oh, I completely forgot, I'm Elicia Taylor, the owner of The Taylor Shop and an A-Class wizard of Fairy Tail."

"It's nice to meet ya." The girl replied with a smile of her own. "I'm Marin Kitagawa, a normal girl who works a part-time job."

'Normal girl my ass.' Alfonzo thought to himself as he listened to the girls introduce themselves. 'Normal girls don't have magic power reserves on par with B-Class wizards without training. If we can get her to join the guild and train her to use all that magic power, she could be a real force to be reckoned with.'

"Alright, now that we've got the introductions out of the way, we should get your measurements." Elicia said with a smile. "You have no idea how much I'm looking forward to this, I love making clothes more than anything… well… almost anything in the world."

As Elicia amended her statement, she looked back at Alfonzo with a sweet smile on her face. And seeing Elicia's smile, Alfonzo wore a loving smile of his own.

'Aww… They're like super-duper cute together.' Marin thought to herself. '*Sigh* Having a super-hot, loving boyfriend must be nice. I'm kinda jelly.'

Shaking off that thought, Marin's excitement for finally getting to be Shizuku-Tan overwhelmed the slight jealousy she felt for Alfonzo and Elicia's relationship. Then, she cheerfully followed Elicia to the back of the store.