Story: Ryu Alone

 

Ryuunosuke wearing tight leather trousers is insanely hot. She's not the kind of girl to suit skirts anyway. It's not the body, mind, but the attitude. The body language rather than the figure itself. The way she stands, the way she walks, it creates too much of a juxtaposition for a cute frilly skirt. Besides which, she's not used to wearing them anyway, so she wouldn't know how to move in them properly.

On the other hand, a snug pair of trousers? Much better. Still, Ataru Moroboshi was never the sort to say that enough was enough. Not when you can go deeper, harder, more perverse! More! Which makes sense if you think about it, after all, if he was the type to say that enough was enough he'd have probably settled down with Lum and started dating her seriously, right?

Or maybe not. The electroshock therapy on every piece of affection, and her generally careless ditzy attitude might have put him off... Hrm... Then we could instead say that he would've stopped checking girls out when he was dating Shinobu?

Regardless: Ataru wasn't done making suggestions.

"I have another idea!" he said. "Here, why don'tcha try this on for size?"

Ryuunosuke looked at what he was carrying. A tube top and a pair of dark looking trousers, made of something more flexible. She looked over to the other girls, who were a bit too busy staring at her butt to give any kind of coherent answer. So she shrugged, turned on her heels, and went back into the changing room.

"Darling!" Lum grabbed his ear and gave him some of that aforementioned shock treatment. "That was already perfection!"

"I swear, if you've ruined my dommy mommy, I will ruin you!" Shinobu warned, tweaking his other ear. No electrocution, but she was being a bit stronger about it!

"Girls, chill!" Ataru said. "Yow! I know how it looks, but -"

Angry faces surrounded him on all sides. Nobody was happy with this. Which makes sense if you think about it, after all, Ataru has a sort of reverse midas touch. Everything he goes near turns to shit, in the end. His plans always pushed a little too far, a little too fast, causing a good thing to cave in on itself more often than not.

Given how damned good Ryuunosuke in that outfit had looked, they were damn well sure not happy with the risk being taken here. Honestly now, what was he - 

"Huh, this is really snug, but easier to move around in."

The group turned around, and what did they behold? Ryuunosuk Fujinami in a tube top and yoga pants. Tight fighting, super snug, super breezy, easy to move around in, designed for the purposes of letting the wearer do yoga, glorified leggings.

Perfection had been improved upon. Somehow. Ryuunosuke did a few stretches on the spot to test it out, and indeed she was far more flexible than she would have been wearing leather. Where the leather look gave her a totally dominant appearance, this one really focused on her athleticism. 

"Yeah, I like this!" Ryuunosuke said. "Perfect workout gear! I mean, the shoulders being exposed is kinda weird, but... I like it, I guess?"

"Pardon us, for one moment," Sakura said. "We need to discuss what we'd like to suggest next."

The four of them pulled into a huddle to talk things over, though really, this didn't offer them any actual privacy as anyone outside their group could easily hear them. It's not as if their bodies were so tightly together they were actually blocking noise, you know? 

"Alright Moroboshi, you seem to have a good idea of what works with her, what else do you have to suggest?"

Ataru opened his mouth to reply, but was interrupted before he could as much as breathe.

"Hey, these jean shorts are half off! I think they'd be kinda snug, but... I could do with a new pair!"

The group looked over to see her holding a pair of jean hotpants. It didn't take a genius to figure out where to go from here. 

"Keep it practical," Ataru whispered. "Ryu-chan's got a sorta manly girlish appeal about her, so she'll be into stuff that's pragmatic instead of what's pretty."

"Are you saying girls aren't pragmatic?" Shinobu sharply asked.

Ataru held up his hands defensively. "No, no—I'm talking aesthetic! Clothes designers, right? They always go for the stereotype. Girls get the frilly, sparkly stuff; guys get the utility look. I'm just saying, Ryu-chan might be more into the kinda thing that lets her move instead of something with fifteen bows and zero pockets."

Lum floated a bit closer, considering. "So... like sporty-cute?"

Sakura nodded in agreement. "Or tomboy chic. Though I doubt she’d say no to a nice wrap dress if it didn’t get in her way."

=====

Ryuunosuke sat stiffly on the bench outside the dressing room, arms crossed, surrounded by fabric swatches, shoe boxes, and a pair of sparkly sunglasses someone had tossed on her head and forgotten about.

'This was a mistake', she thought, glaring at a pile of crop tops like they’d insulted her honor.

She didn’t hate the clothes. That was the weird part. Some of them were even kind of… nice? But the way everyone kept poking at her, like she was some kind of project, made her want to knock over the nearest display rack.

“I’m not your dress-up doll,” she muttered under her breath.

“What was that?” Lum chirped, hovering beside her with a tank top that had far too many rhinestones.

“Nothing!” Ryuunosuke barked, snatching the shirt. “I’m just sayin’—this whole thing’s kinda dumb, alright?”

Lum blinked at her, then smiled. “It’s only dumb if you’re not having fun. Are you trying to have fun?” That shut her up.

On the other side of the room, Ataru was holding up a rack of clothes like he was hosting a game show. “Alright, next up—cargo skirt with built-in belt! Stylish and sensible! Perfect for the warrior maiden on the go!”

Ryuunosuke rolled her eyes. “I'm not a warrior maiden, I’m just a girl.”

“Okay, okay,” Shinobu interrupted, holding up a high-waisted jumpsuit in muted green. “Try this next. Very utility-chic.”

“I’m not—ugh, fine. But no more sequins,” Ryuunosuke groaned, snatching it from her. “I’m not trying to blind anybody.”

As she disappeared into the changing room again, Lum grinned and pulled out her camera. “Hey, what if we made this a photoshoot? Like, seriously model-style?”

Shinobu’s eyes lit up. “Oh, yes. We could do poses, backdrops—we’ll even use that plant near the mirrors as a jungle aesthetic!”

When Ryuunosuke stepped out in the jumpsuit, they were waiting for her like paparazzi. “Okay, now give us fierce lumberjack meets anime heroine!” Lum called.

“What does that mean?!” Ryuunosuke demanded, though she struck an awkward pose anyway—arms crossed, one eyebrow raised, stance wide.

Sakura, who had been mostly observing with a calm detachment, actually nodded. “Surprisingly editorial.”

“You’re all crazy,” Ryuunosuke said, though now she was grinning for real. This was way more fun than she'd figured it would be!

Click. Click. More flashes. Ataru gave unsolicited direction from behind a rack of scarves: “Now pout! Like you just punched someone and didn’t mean to!” The pile of clothes grew. A hoodie-dress combo here, a denim jacket there. A sundress that Shinobu insisted wasn't too frilly. They were halfway through a debate on the merits of overalls when a new voice echoed through the boutique:

“Oh dear. You’ve filled an entire rack already. How extravagant.”

Everyone turned to see the source of the voice. There she was: Ryoko Mendou, perfectly composed, parasol twirling lazily despite being indoors.

“Ryoko?!” Ryuunosuke blurted. “What the heck are you doing here?!”

Ryoko smiled, the kind of smile that always felt like it came with a hidden blade. “Why, I heard someone was finally embracing their femininity. Naturally, I had to see it for myself.”

Ataru immediately fell to his knees. “Ahh, Ryoko-sama! You grace this humble boutique with your divine presence!”

Ryoko ignored him. “So,” she said, glancing over the clothes pile. “Have you considered how you’re going to pay for all this?”

Ryuunosuke’s face fell. “...We weren’t exactly there yet.”

Ryoko tapped her chin delicately. “Then I suppose it’s fortunate I came. Consider it... a gift. From one refined young lady to another.”

“I’m not a—!” Ryuunosuke began, then stopped herself. Looked down at the clothes she liked more than she wanted to admit. Thought about the fun she'd just had.

She sighed. “...Thanks. I think.”

Ryoko’s grin widened ever so slightly. Like the cat that caught the canary. “You’re welcome.” But even so, Ryuunosuke had this nasty feeling that this girl was after something. She never showed up just to be nice. Heck, she wasn't sure if she had a nice bone in her body!