บท 56: Suit Buying

The next morning, I realized something while eating breakfast. My wedding is in 4 days from now… Shit. I don't have a suit yet. Noticing my expression, the three girls asked me what was wrong. I couldn't really lie since Ganyu would just keep on pressing the matter.

"Haah… I don't have a suit yet for the wedding…"

"..."

The three of them were silent. Then, Havria and Ganyu looked at each other nervously. It took me a second to realize what that meant.

"Don't tell me…"

"H-hey! It's not our fault!"

"Y-yeah! We've never been to a marriage before and we also forgot about it with all the stuff we've been doing!"

They continued on explaining how they forgot and I just kept on listening to them with a smile on my face. A few minutes later, Noelle suggested that she'll help them pick out wedding dresses. I should ask others as well to help me pick out my suit.

"Well then, I guess I'll ask Mona and the others. Maybe even Albedo, but I doubt he'll be much help on this one."

We finished breakfast and just left the plates near the door so that hotel service could get it later. We got used to eating inside our hotel room since it's more comfortable for us and we can talk way more freely. I changed into the clothing that me and Noelle bought yesterday, the grey sweater and black jean pair. Ganyu and Havria looked at me and complimented me.

"That looks good on you dear," said Ganyu with a smile on her face.

"She's right, hon. You look great!" said Havria with a smile on her face as well.

Ah, I'm really lucky to have such kind wives. There's Noelle as well, who'll be one of my wives in the future. Just thinking about my life with them in the future is making me giddy. We all went outside the hotel room and I gave the three of them a quick kiss on their lips and they went off. I stayed near the door for a bit and texted Mona. I asked her if she wanted to help me out in picking my suit and she quickly agreed. She asked me if she could bring someone else and I agreed. When I asked her who it was, she said that I'll just have to see for myself.

After that, I texted Albedo and as expected, he was pretty much not helpful on this one. He also said that he was not in the hotel and was actually very far from Liyue Harbor. He was looking for his little sister, Klee. I've met Klee once a while back, and I've gotta say, she was one energetic kid. Making bombs and blasting fish, she was fun to have around. Having such thoughts, I left and went to go get Mona and this mysterious person she wanted to bring with us.

---

"Greetings, Aether!" Barbara said in a happy tune.

"Hey there, Barbara. Was she the person you were planning on bringing with us, Mona?"

"Yep! She also has something to say to you, but that can wait for later~"

"Mhm!" Barbara nodded etheaustically.

I was gonna ask them to tell it to me now, but decided against it. If they want to keep it for later, then I'll respect that decision. We decided to head off and begin looking around. It didn't take us long to find a clothing store that had good suits. Although, I felt like the girls led me here. When we headed inside, the smell of cloth filled the air.

"Ah! Welcome Sir and Ma'ams! What would you like to buy?"

We began looking around and Mona and Barbara immediately picked out a white tuxedo with a yellow tie that's paired with black slim fit pants. I was quite shocked at how quickly they chose the suit and they told me they saw this particular set a while ago. No wonder…

"Come on! Try it out!"

"Yeah! We wanna see how good you look on it!"

They pushed the clothing to me and shoved me into a changing room. Seriously, those girls. Heh, can't really complain since this is one of the things that I love about them. With a sight, I started to change into the tuxedo. I was worried about it not being the right size since they just gave it to me without looking, however my worries were for nothing. It was a perfect fit. Dang, they really planned this out beforehand huh? I went out and asked the girls how I looked.

"As expected, it looks great on you!" said Mona with a thumbs up.

"Mhm, you look really good in it!" said Barbara as she looked at me with starry eyes.

""More so that we're even afraid girls with bad intentions might cling to you and seduce you!""

When they both said those words with big smiles plastered on their faces, I felt a genuine chill run down my spine. Okay, note to self, never look that attractive when going out. Looking average or a bit above average is enough.

After we bought the suit, they then dragged me to a shoe store to buy matching shoes. Haah, I should have expected them to be ready with this as well. They weren't even hiding the fact that this was planned… It was even more apparent when the shop employee told them that the shoe they reserved was waiting to be paid.

"Here!" said Mona as she shoved me a box that was given to her by the shop employee. I already knew what she was going to say, so I just went to a seat nearby and opened the box revealing pitch black shoes. I tried them on and as expected from something the girls chose for me, it looked great on me.

"Mhm, as expected!" said Mona a bit smugly.

"Agreed!" said Barbara a bit smugly as well.

It warms my heart that they've already thought of this without me even asking. This just shows how well they know and I'm happy for that. After that, we paid for the shoes and went to grab lunch. We ate at the diner that was near the hotel. We ordered our food and chatted while we waited.

"So… are you going to say it now, Barbara?" Mona asked Barbara as she nudged her arm.

"Mhm…" she said as she took a deep breath. "Aether?" she said as she looked at me dead in the eyes.

"What is it?" I gave her my full attention.

"I've decided, please make me yours as well. I know that you already knew about my feelings for you, the only reason I didn't ask you to take me earlier is because I was scared that people might hurt you considering my reputation…" she started to trail off a bit, maybe panicking about the thought of me being hurt because of her. I sighed and stood up, walking next to her. She was still looking down, seemingly not noticing me. I would have been embarrassed doing this in public, but seeing there are few people here, I manned up. I mean, even with a lot of people, I would have still done this seeing that she needed me right now. I held her chin and tilted her head up, making her face me.

"Barbara, don't worry about me getting hurt, okay? If anything, I would be more worried about you getting hurt. I'm worried about any of you girls getting hurt. I make a lot of enemies because of my deeds and if they target any of you… I won't be able to forgive myself…"

"Aether…" Barbara looked at me, her eyes starting to tear up. "I knew I was right in falling for you…" she then hugged me tightly, in which I returned in the same way.

"Heh, he sure has his way with words," said Mona smugly.

"Oh shush you." I said jokingly. I smiled at the thought of just how many people came to accept me in this world. Before journeying out, I was afraid that people would push me out just because I was not from this world and yet they accepted me warmly. I'm really staying in this world and will do anything within my power to protect my family.