“There! How do I look?” Ririna opened the curtain of the fitting room when she finished getting dressed. We were buying clothes for her at a mall near the center of Three Records. Not the one I went to with Miyuki before. We wanted to show her more of the city, so we picked something a bit farther away.

  “It’s kinda… underwhelming, isn’t it?” Carol, Hecate, and I stood in front of the fitting room and analyzed her outfit. Ririna was wearing a simple green dress that I picked for her, but Carol wasn’t impressed. I thought it’d look nice, and Ririna didn’t dislike it, but… Carol’s right… It’s a bit underwhelming.

  “Yeah… Sorry, Ririna… I should have picked something better. Maybe try the next one.” Ririna was having fun trying out different clothes. She nodded and went back inside with a smile.

  Ririna has had a lot of new experiences today, and she’s on top of the world. She almost started a commotion when we got on the bus, and it started moving. Every time she looked out the window, she saw something that shocked her. Getting to the mall didn’t help either. The sheer scale of it was hard for her to comprehend, and seeing so many shops filled to the brim with goods and people was the final nail.

  If I’m not mistaken, Carol’s up to eight kisses right now. A decisive victory at this point.

  “What about now? Does this look better?” Ririna posed again before us confidently. She saw herself in the mirror, but she had no idea if she looked good or not. All the styles she had seen today were new to her, so she liked everything she saw.

  The other outfit I picked for her was a white shirt with a stylish illustration of a forest and a blue skirt.

  “Pfft! Is that a joke? It’s so me…” Carol let out a ugh. “’Nature is All’? Who would wear something with that pstered on it? Ahahahahaha!” What’s wrong with it? It looks cool! Looks down-to-earth, or something… “Iroha…” Carol shook her head. “Your sense of fashion sucks.”

  Huh?! How dare she? “Why would you say that?! Didn’t you say you liked the way I dressed?”

  Carol had a smile on her face but responded calmly. “I did, but that doesn’t mean your sense of fashion is good. Your clothes look good because of you. Doesn’t mean that you know what you’re doing at all.” She shrugged.

  Is she insulting me, or what? I can’t help but blush a little after hearing that, but I’m still pissed. “If you’re so good at it, why don’t you show me what good sense looks like? What would you have Ririna wear?”

  “If you want me to, I can pick something for her.” Carol took a look around and picked through some clothes. Damn… I maybe shouldn’t have picked a fight with her. The clothes she usually wears are always amazing… She’s gonna destroy me. “Try this out, Ririna.”

  “Alright… Give me a second.” She received the clothes Carol chose and got changed. “How’s this? Pretty nice, huh?” When the curtain opened, Ririna did a little spin to show off.

  Ririna was wearing a bck sleeveless top with white shorts and a neckce that had a green gem to match Ririna’s eyes. “Yep. You look great now, Ririna. Don’t you think so too, Iroha?” Carol asked with a smug grin. “As her girlfriend, you’re not gonna deny that, are you?”

  Fuck… It looks great on her… It’s mature and pretty, but also casual enough. It’s like the perfect date outfit! It’s nice to wear outside, but irresistible behind closed doors. Even now, I wanna grab her and squeeze her! “I’ll give it to you… You look amazing, Ririna.” I had to avert my eyes not to drown in her cuteness.

  “You’re not joking…” Ririna saw my reaction, and she could feel her face getting warmer.

  “Hmhm! Told you I’d get her something nice, didn’t I?” Carol puffed up her chest.

  “Thank you, Carol. Do you have more suggestions?”

  “Hmm… I think I can get you something else.”

  …

  “Whew… What about this one?” Ririna once again showed off her outfit, but this time, less enthusiastically.

  “It’s good… Damn it… Carol did it again…” I was forced to admit it, and Carol grinned. Ririna was wearing an open green jacket with a bck turtleneck and the same neckce from before. Again, it’s fashionable and stylish. She knows what she’s doing.

  “Thanks… I like it too, but…” Ririna huffed, a little out of breath. “It’s too hot in this! Sorry, but I’m gonna change back!” With that, she closed the curtains. Yeah… The summer has already started… Not the time to be wearing jackets…

  “Poor Ririna… Why did you make her wear that, Carol?”

  “Don’t compin. I got her something that looked nice, didn’t I?” Carol crossed her arms. “After what you were trying to get her, you have no right to compin, you know?”

  “It wasn’t even that bad… Right, Hecate? I’m not saying it my choices were better than Carol’s, but it wasn’t that bad, right?”

  Hecate seemed a bit troubled by my question. “Sorry, Iroha… It’s unfortunate that I can’t help you. Your choices truly weren’t that great.” Hecate gave me a bitter smile. Fine then! No one wants to take my side! That’s how it is.

  “Okay, what would you have given her, huh?

  “Hmm… I’m not sure… Coordinating someone’s outfit is a huge responsibility.” Hecate thought for a second before speaking up. “We might need to go somewhere if you want to see my work.” Somewhere else… I have a bad feeling about asking Hecate about this…

  …

  “Of course it’s that!” Ririna opened another set of curtains with a pale look on her face. Hecate did exactly as expected and had Ririna wear a super convoluted goth-loli dress like the ones she wears. Not that it looked bad, but poor Ririna didn’t know how to handle it.

  “I- is it really alright for me to wear this?” She trembled… “These are clothes for royalty…”

  “Calm down, Ririna!” I approached to reassure her. “I told you it’s not like that. Those clothes don’t mean anything like that. They’re pretty cheap, so don’t worry…” Or so I was about to say when something popped in my field of view. The dress’s price tag. “Fuck! Never mind! Take that off right away!”

  Ririna nodded, and the curtain smmed shut. “Oh my… Was it not to her tastes, I wonder?” She’s so pying dumb… Sigh… I can’t believe she wears things like that on a daily basis… No wonder she stays back during battles.

  …

  But we weren’t done for the day. After seeing Ririna wear their stuff, we can’t go back until I find her something nice. I need to think about it properly.

  We went back to a normal store, and I looked through some more clothes. What should I get her to try this time? Something that looks good, but also that fits her… Do I have it in me? Can I get to something like that? Options, options… What would be the right thing here?

  “Hmm… I think I’ve decided, Ririna. Can you try this next?”

  “Sure! No problem!” Ririna smiled and got to changing. “I’m done. Is it supposed to be like this? It’s strange, but I kinda like it.” Ririna spread out her arms.

  I got her an oversized, long-sleeved, light gray shirt with a very wide opening on the colr. It exposed her shoulders and extended down below her waist. Underneath, she was wearing some bck shorts that peeked out from under her shirt. For some color, and to prevent any accidents, she had a green top under the shirt with the straps visible over her shoulders.

  Is it fine? I think I like it, but… is it too weird? Carol looked at Ririna with half-lidded eyes, then our gaze met for a second. “It’s not bad, I guess. It passes.” She gave me her sign of approval.

  “I like it too, Iroha. It’s nice to move around.” Ririna moved her arms to exemplify. I thought something looser would be nice for someone who moves around a lot.

  “I’m gd you like it. As an added bonus, the shirt is so rge that you could probably carry some of your pouches underneath and no one would notice.”

  “Oh, you’re right… Wow! You really thought of everything! Thanks, Iroha!” She smiled… How adorable…

  “If you like it, I guess we can buy it… A single outfit is not enough, so let’s get other things too. Why don’t we get Carol’s suggestions too?” We all nodded, then Hecate added something else.

  “Don’t forget my dress either. It looked nice on you. We should get you that too.”

  Then, the rest of us in sync. “No!”

  …

  “That took longer than expected… I didn’t mean to spend so much time buying clothes.” We stood around outside the mall holding a few bags. Ririna wasn’t used to life in our world, and she was getting tired of the crowds and the noises.

  “You people are so spoiled…” Ririna shook her head, like she was about to give us a lecture. “Do you know how lucky you are to have stores with so many clothes your size? Having clothes tailored takes much longer. You have it too easy.”

  We looked to each other as Ririna lectured us about convenience. One thought popped into our minds. Says the girl from where they have fast-travel. “Well, it’s not that bad, but since you’re here, I wanted to do more than just look at clothes. Is there anything you wanna see? Something vague is fine.”

  “Hmmm… Remember the axe I was working on when I showed you my inventions? You suggested a new design… Do you have something simir in this world?”

  “Yeah… Chainsaws… Sorry. I told you about it like it was something I came up with, but it’s actually just a thing that exists here. Are you disappointed?”

  Ririna shook her head. “It’s fine. That means you’re not a genius like I thought, but I’m still very grateful. Even if you didn’t come up with it, you understood it well enough to expin it, and you helped me understand the logic behind my mistakes. That was all you.”

  “Ririna…. Thank you…” We lovingly gazed into each other’s eyes for a moment, then Ririna snapped out of it.

  “Either way, I’d like to see a chainsaw! Is that possible? I can’t imagine it’d be easier to find artifacts like those…” Her initial enthusiasm waned as she thought about it more.

  “You can see one. They’re not exactly everywhere, but there are stores that sell them. Although… I don’t think we’re going to find any hardware stores nearby.” I looked to Hecate and Carol, who nodded at the idea.

  “I believe there’s one such store not far from the House. We could stop by on our way back.” Hecate pointed out.

  “Oh! Can we? Thanks, Hecate!”

  “Are you sure you should be that excited, Ririna? We’ll have to take the bus again. If you freak out again… You know what happens, right?” Carol picked on her, and Ririna accepted the challenge.

  “It’s fine! I’m used to it now, so you’re not gonna get any more kisses!”

  After that little back and forth, we got on a bus again and went to the hardware store Hecate mentioned. Hecate and Carol didn’t seem to care, but I was a bit nervous. A group of four girls walking into a store like this is an unusual sight.

  We got some looks when we entered, but we were promptly ignored as we made our way to where the chainsaws were.

  “Is this it? Is this a chainsaw? How does it work? Is it powered with magic?” Ririna crouched in front of a chainsaw, and the rest of us gathered around her.

  “No… People in our world generally can’t use magic…” I crouched next to her and pointed at the chainsaw. “I’m not an expert, but I think you pull on this to get it started. I think it starts a motor, a mechanism that burns fuel, to make the chain move. It’s a bit more complicated than that, but you could say it’s powered by fire.”

  This store was quieter than the mall. It was cool inside, and it had a rustic look to it. Ririna felt a lot more at home here. “A motor? What kind of mechanism is that? It uses fire to work… Hmm… That’s very interesting… How does it work?”

  “Sorry, I’m not entirely sure. I’m sure we can find more ter, so if you’re curious, let’s look into it next time.” Ririna turned to me with a wide smile and reached for my hands.

  “Really? You promise? Thank you! You have so many cool things here… I just wanna look into it all!” Ririna then let go and stood up. She looked between us before speaking. “Can I ask what you three do? Why do you involve yourselves with my world?”

  “That’s a rather troubling question. We’re not allowed to share that information…” While what Hecate said was true, we didn’t need to worry about that with Ririna.

  “It’s alright, I’ll tell you. Basically, our job is to hunt monsters that enter our world through the portals. Everything about the portals and the monster is supposed to be kept a secret from the general popution, but it should be fine to tell you. Since you’re from the other world, we also need to keep your origin a secret as well.”

  “Are there no monsters in your world?” I nodded. “So you only fight because of monsters that come from our world… I don’t know what to say… Sorry…”

  “Hah! What are you apologizing for? Are you an idiot? It’s not like you’re the one sending them to our world. You’re not the one at fault, so don’t apologize.” Carol knocked some sense into her.

  “Ahahaha… That makes sense… Is there any way I can help? You and Iroha saved me even though you’re originally from this world. You had no reason to intervene, much less put your lives on the line for me, but you did. If there’s anything I can do, I wanna repay the favor!”

  “Come on, Ririna… I already told you there’s nothing to repay…” Though I’m pretty sure her desire to help stems from more than just wanting to repay a favor. “But if you wanna help, we appreciate it. We actually need more information about your world. For example, our world is called Earth, but we don’t know what yours is called.”

  “You’ve never heard the name Balterra?” Ririna tilted her head.

  “Is that what it’s called?” Maybe we can finally find some info on the game online!

  “That’s right…”

  “You heard her, Carol. Look that up!”

  “Got it!” Without missing a beat, Carol pulled out her phone and searched for the name.

  “Wh- what’s she doing?”

  “Well… I told you your world is the setting for a game, remember? We haven’t been able to find any information that the game ever existed, so we’ve been looking for keywords that we can use to find out more.” While I was expining, Carol grrrd. No luck, huh?

  “That’s not what I mean… What’s that thing Carol’s holding? I saw a lot of people with tablets like those today.”

  “Oh…? The phone…” That’s what catches her eye, huh? Wouldn’t expect any less from my adorable alchemist. “It’s basically a tool that allows you to talk to people far away. But nowadays they do a lot more than that. Carol’s using it kinda like a library to find some information.”

  “Ehh… You can talk to people far away with that… Sounds like it’d be helpful when you wanna meet up with someone…” Ah!

  “I got an idea! Let’s get you a phone, Ririna!”

  …

  “Here you go, Ririna.”

  “I can’t believe how easily you went ahead and brought her a phone…” I could hear Carol and Hecate sighing, trying to rain on my parade.

  “I gained this money from turning monsters into sushi! It’s my money, so I can spend it however I want. I can speak with Ririna whenever I want with this, so don’t try to ruin this for me.” I shut down Carol’s compints and pushed the phone into Ririna’s hand. “Take it, okay?”

  “Thank you, but… are you sure…? Isn’t this expensive? I’m not even sure what to do with it.”

  “Ririna’s right… You’re too reckless… You can’t just casually give someone like Ririna a phone. It’s like asking a baby to drive a car. You’re asking for trouble.”

  “It’s fine. She just needs to stay away from the internet.” When faced with that, even Carol had to agree. Taking internet out of the picture cleared more than half her worries.

  “What’s that internet thing? What if I do it by accident?”

  “It doesn’t really work like that… I’ll teach you some of the basics, so if you stick with that, you’ll be fine. The rest you can learn over time.” I huddled up next to her and helped her use a phone for the first time. For now, as long as she’s able to message and talk to us, that’s enough.

  “Wow… Can I really talk to you whenever I want now?” She was used to working with various contraptions, so Ririna picked it up quickly. The more I taught her, the more curious she got, and it was hard to make her hold off for now.

  “Yep! Well… If I’m busy, I might not be able to answer your calls… That doesn’t happen with messages, so you can always try that first.”

  “Haven’t you overlooked something, Iroha? She’s not gonna have signal in the other world, will she? Isn’t that a critical mistake?”

  “Well… It’s probably fine… Somehow, our phones get signal even in the other world. All the messages Carol sent while we were gone came from there.”

  “That’s right, but…” Carol nodded, then crossed her arms. “I’ve never really understood why. Does the signal go through the portals or something?”

  “That would mean a lot of pces wouldn’t get coverage, right?” It is strange how it worked. I had to think about it as well. “We’ve been to a lot of different pces, but I don’t think I was ever out of range.”

  “That truly is a mysterious phenomenon. Perhaps both worlds are closer than they seem, and the boundary between them is thin enough to allow the connection.” Hecate could be onto something… With the worlds on the path to overp, perhaps everything is a lot closer than expected.

  “Well… I don’t have a clue, but it doesn’t matter. Now I can talk to Ririna even when we’re not together!” Today was a great day!

  Bam100