"Shiori, be careful, I feel like you might have trouble today," Aurelio tells me with a worried tone. We've been living together for the past few days and it's been great.
"It'll be fine! I'll be okay," I say excitedly as I leave the house. I said I was going out to buy some intimate items and he couldn't come because I'd be embarrassed.
But now that he's said that, I'm a little worried. He's always had a very sharp intuition, so I leave the apartment with more caution than usual.
I walk through the streets, but nothing seems to be happening, so I decide to go to the store with a bit more confidence, still being somewhat cautious.
The location of the apartment is very good, being close to several stores, which helps a lot. It only takes me 8 minutes to get to a very nice clothing store, though the clothes here are a bit expensive.
But Aurelio said I can spend as much as I want and that I don't need to limit myself to cheaper places. I told him I didn't need to buy expensive things or spend a lot, but he said that's nothing compared to my beauty.
Arriving at the store, I grab a basket as a female sales associate comes to greet me with a big smile.
"Hello, I-I'd like to pick out a few things my boyfriend would like," I say a bit shyly. I'm not good at choosing clothes, so I'll let the sales associate, who must have experience, provide her opinion.
"I understand, I have the perfect outfits for you! Follow me," she says excitedly, taking my hand and guiding me with a big smile, seeming to enjoy the topic. I just let her lead me to a fitting room.
"Please tell me specifically which clothing items you'd like," the sales associate asks as I think. I don't want to spend too much of Aurelio's money, but I want to impress him.
"I-I think some lingerie and a few dresses to wear at home, and at least two for going on dates," I've been going on a lot of dates with Aurelio lately.
Normally going on dates multiple times would be boring, but he somehow manages to make each one unique and special. I don't know how he does it, but he keeps everything so unique and still maintains interest he's undoubtedly amazing.
"Great, let's start with the lingerie."
"O-Okay, and I'd like it delivered to my residence, b-because I have to leave afterwards and go somewhere else," I say a bit timidly, since it's more work for them.
"No problem, do you have the address?"
"Y-Yes, I wrote it down along with my measurements," I hand over a paper with the location and my pre-written measurements it's a small habit I've picked up from Aurelio.
I'm not sure if Aurelio noticed, but he tends to always plan everything well in advance, always having a plan or things ready, and that applies to both dates and more simple, everyday things.
And I ended up picking up on that at some point, and now for simple things I end up thinking ahead about what to do and leaving something ready for the situation, but I don't think that's a bad thing it kind of makes us feel closer.
"One moment, I'll bring the clothes," she says, going to get the items and take the paper. I start taking off my clothes in the fitting room to be ready to try things on.
After 2 minutes, the sales associate arrives with some lingerie, enthusiastically chatting with me as she asks if she can deliver the clothes in the fitting room, and I allow it, though a bit embarrassed.
"T-This is..." I look at the clothes, which seem quite risqué. She hands me 4 hangers with black, red, dark blue, and white lingerie, all very revealing.
'W-Will he like this?' I'm not sure, he's never really shown what he prefers. In fact, if I think about it, he pretty much accepts anything I do or say, never really having a preference.
'I-I think I'll wear this...' I take the white one and try it on, looking in the mirror. It looks really good. I had provided the measurements along with the address, and the sales associate chose perfectly.
I quickly try on the others and end up deciding to get the white and the black ones. The blue one looked okay, but I didn't like it as much, and the red one seemed strange on me.
So I chose the best ones the white looks very good on my body, and the black is a bit too risqué, so I'll save that one to spice things up a bit.
And after that, we moved on to the dresses. I ended up choosing 3 very nice casual dresses, in pastel and light colors that look good on me, and I also got two dresses for going on dates.
Both have darker or more muted colors with a more elegant look that I think will look good on me. The sales associate approved and said I looked beautiful, and in the mirror I seemed pretty, so I decided to keep them.
Of course, when I went to pay, I was shocked by the prices. If I were to compare it to my normal clothing spending, I'd say I could have bought around 30 different lingerie sets and 70 regular dresses.
I just noticed now how everything close to the apartment is very expensive. I even thought about giving up, but I know Aurelio wouldn't want me to, and I'd be too embarrassed to back out.
I'm not sure how Aurelio has so much money, but I decided to just enjoy it. After all, it's to make myself even more beautiful to enchant him, so I think it's fine.
So I just paid and had it delivered, while leaving the store. I'm thinking whether I should go to the makeup store or the perfume store first I don't really understand either one.
I'm still new to this, so I think I'll just say it's to impress my boyfriend and let the sales associates choose as well. I leave the store, still trying to decide which one to visit first.
I had already planned what to say, what to expect, and even roughly how long it would take, but I couldn't decide where to go first. It seemed strange, and I thought I might end up giving up on one of them.
"..." But suddenly, I notice how strangely empty everything is, and it reminds me of Aurelio's warning about feeling like I might have trouble.
I look around, and everything is eerily quiet stores are closed, complete silence everywhere, like when a spatial quake alert goes off, but no alarm is sounding.
I notice some robots and recognize them as DEM's. They seem to be following me, though I'm not sure why. I've seen them in Ratatoskr's images and recordings.
"How perceptive," I hear a female voice and look in the direction, finding Ellen. I know who she is, as I was taught.
"W-What do you want here?" I ask nervously. I don't have anyone to protect me, and I'm sure she's not here to talk, especially since she's using an Anti-Spirit equipment.
"Obvious that it's you I'm here for," Ellen responds.
"W-Why are you after me?" I question, a bit scared of her. She seems very strong.
"I'm going to take you with me. Of course, if you resist, I'll have to hurt you a lot, but don't worry, you'll still come out alive," she says arrogantly, as if I'd just let her.
"B-But I'm no longer involved with spirits," I'm not even with Ratatoskr anymore, I've stopped getting involved with spirits in general, except for Aurelio, who revealed himself as a spirit.
"That doesn't matter. You have spiritual energy, and that alone makes you a good subject for study."
'S-Study...' This disappoints me more than it shocks me. To her, I'm just a research subject just because I have a bit of spiritual energy?
Why is it like this? Aurelio has already told me about this, that humans are untrustworthy, regardless of whether you're good or not, because humans are always driven by greed.
"I-I'm permanently out of that life now, c-can't you just let me go?" I try to reason with her.
"No, and since you're resisting, I believe it's fine if I break a few things in you. After all, you'll recover," she says with malice, as if she doesn't even see me as a human like her.
Again, something Aurelio had said would happen. He's already talked about how people are not very trustworthy, and every day, everything is exactly as he said.
"I-Is there really no chance you'll let me go?" I still try to resolve this peacefully. Aurelio has also already talked about this.
He told me to stop trying to resolve everything peacefully, because one day it might make me lose something important in my life. He said I should be careful not to get hurt.
She doesn't care about my appeal to resolve this peacefully and advances towards me with a sword. I, who don't have time to process the speed, just stand there and close my eyes, scared.
"..." I hear a strange sound like an impact and open my eyes, looking at what happened. And I see what really happened.
'A key...a...lance?' A strange "key" it has a handle and base that looks like a giant key, but the tip is a purple and black lance that defended me.
It seems like an Angel, but I've never seen one like this, and especially one that's a key and looks like a lance. It reminds me of the time Tohka's Angel protected me.
Ellen takes some distance while her sword turns to dust, leaving only the hilt.
"Seems you have some tricks up your sleeve...you won't be so lucky next time," she says, throwing away the hilt and grabbing another sword from her equipment. I hold the giant key to defend myself.
[I was supposed to be with him! YOU STOLE MY PLACE!]
I hear something when I hold the key it's a resentful and angry voice that makes me shudder and get goosebumps all over. I look at the key, which was the source of the phrase, but it doesn't make any more sounds.
'W-What was that?' I decide to ignore it for now. I don't hear anything else, and Ellen is right here, ready to attack me.
"You're lucky I'm going to take you alive," Ellen says, charging at me. I try to defend myself, but I'm too nervous to do anything really useful.
But at the same time, she receives a kick, being thrown against the buildings, and I see my savior.
"A-Aurelio!" I say excitedly.
"..." But Aurelio doesn't respond. He just looks at the giant key in my hands.
"A-Aurelio, is something wrong?" I ask nervously.
"No, I was just worried. I'm glad you're okay," he says with a gentle smile as the key disappears from my hands.
"You can run home, I'll take care of her," Aurelio says confidently.
"W-Will you be alright?" I ask, wanting to stay and help.
"...I'm going to kill her..." He says coldly, not as a threat, but as a warning of what he will do.
"O-Oh...I-I'll wait for you at home," I can't really deal with this yet, so I just run off. He's already made it clear that he would kill people, so it's not a surprise that he would do it.
But I feel a bad sensation. I wonder if it's right to just leave him here, but I decide to think about it while I go home.