Editing Absolute Duo:Volume 2 Chapter 3 (section)

===Part 1===

After exiting the school gate and crossing the small bridge, the only connection to the outer world to the students attending Kouryou academy ---------was a monorail for authorized personal only.

In a distance that doesn’t even take 5 minutes; the suspended type monorail was connected to a nearby JR station<ref group ="2c">Japan Railway station</ref> of Tokyo and Chiba from the front of the school.

When we boarded the railway car, there were only a small number of people riding inside.

Since school academy personnel were the only ones able to use it in the first place, it's only natural to say the number of users are few.

Thanks to that, we're grateful to find empty seats without fighting over them.

“This is somehow heart throbbing isn’t it?” 

Sitting in the opposite side of the box seat, Julie said while looking outside the window.

“I see. It’s the first time you visited a Japanese city.”

“Ja---. That is why I am looking forward to it.”

Julie moved her viewpoint, from the sea outside the window--------, to me and nodded.

(It might be good to take a breather like this once in a while……….)

I took a side look at Julie, who returned to her sightseeing at the sea again, and *Fuu* leaked a smile.

Incidentally, Julie and I were in uniform even though it was Sunday.

It’s not like there is a school rule saying we have to wear the school uniform when going out of the school.

It’s simply just because Julie doesn't have any clothes to match the May weather, and I followed her.

(However, this placement relation sure feels nostalgic. Well, it’s probably because I've gotten too used to it.)

Normally, I would be with Julie side by side with our shoulders close to each other when we usually watch television--------and depending on the situation, we would be sitting side by side within a certain distance, I could feel the warmth from us almost touching each other.

It's also the same case when we attend classes and at the cafeteria.

That is why I feel strange sitting in front of her and would accidentally fix my stare at her.

This foreign beauty directing her {{Furigana|red eyes|Ruby eyes}} outside the window.

Her {{Furigana|silver hair|Silver blonde}}, which no one would turn away from and would stare at amazed, was beautifully swaying.

Because there's a lack of expression shown on her well-featured face, it makes one think of her as a delicate bisque doll.

But I know this normal girl has something aside from those truths.

---Inside that heart holds a dark emotion known as revenge.

The same darkness as me.

Maybe------That night was just a dream, I would think something like that.

However, I felt hesitant to put that matter in my mouth again.

That’s because I didn’t want to admit Julie held the same hatred as me and was someone that wished for revenge. 

“-----Tooru?”

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Chirin* the echoing bell brought me back.

She has probably called out to me many times already. Julie was looking at me while tilting her head.

“We're going to arrive soon."

“Ah…………I-I see.”

Before I knew it, almost as soon as we departed, the monorail was close to reaching its destination.

In the middle of slowly entering the platform, Julie got up from her seat.

“Julie, it’s better to stand up once we arrive.”

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Gakon*.

Almost at the same time as my warning, the monorail was close to stopping and was swaying.

“Ah……..”

My warning was useless and Julie’s balance collapsed, making her fall on her butt.

…………On top of my lap.

Her hair swayed and a nice smell tickled my nasal cavity.

“Th-that’s why I told you.”

“Ja-Ja-----……..”

After I said that while feeling a little embarrassed, Julie also hung her head downwards in embarrassment.

“I will be careful from now on. Alright then, let’s get off.”

After I stood up, I extended my hand to Julie.

Although I once extended out my hand to her in the clock tower last time, including this time, having her hand's weight on mine felt very embarrassing.



After getting out the station we transferred to the JR route, following what Miyabi taught me, and got off after one station.

From there, after walking for around 5 minutes, we reached our destination the A La Mode but------

The A La Mode was once the biggest shopping mall in Japan (According to Miyabi’s information), although that status has been taken by another place, the number of customers didn't decrease and was filled with many people during holidays.

“…………….It’s like a festival.”

Although it can’t be said to be wide, Julie opened her mouth in amazement and looked around.

“Tooru isn’t really that shocked.”

“That’s because there was a big mall in my hometown. Well, let’s see the floor guide and confirm the location of the shop for now.”

“Ja---…………..”

I urged Julie, who was still a little blank at the moment, as I opened the guide map I took from a nearby help kiosk, I furrowed my eyebrows in bewilderment.

“What is this…………..”

The guide map was oddly thick, as it spanned 8 pages even though it was just introducing the floors; with a total of more than 500 plus shop names written in it.

(I heard there were a lot of shops but, I didn’t think it would be this many……………)

“Tooru, is something wrong?”

While I was dumbfounded, Julie tip-toed while peeking at the guide map.

She then grabbed my sleeves to take balance and her peeking form made me think of her as a small animal.

“Ah, sorry. Let’s look at this while sitting nearby.”

After saying that, I sat on a nearby stool with Julie.

“This is…………….I have no idea what's going on in this at all.”

“A-aah…………As expected, it’s normal to think that.”

She brought her body closer, defenselessly as usual, and stuck on my lap making me feel, in my mind, slightly excited.

However, Julie did not seem bothered by this at all and flipped the page but------

“It’s too many, so I don’t know where we should go…………….”

And like that, she made a troubled face.

The only information in the index were the shops name and position code. What’s more, it’s not like the places were positioned in the west, south, north hall respectively since it also expanded to the first and second floor; thanks to that, just like Julie said, we had no idea where we should go.

“U---n…………. Let’s walk around randomly for now. Since there are this many shops, I think we would find something of interest sooner or later.”

I stood up and the moment I was about to start walking, I recalled something and turned back.

“Julie, please be careful not to get separated because of the crowd.”

“Ja---”

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Koku**koku* Julie nodded and grabbed my sleeves tightly.

“I won’t get separated like this.”

Julie said that with satisfaction while making a small smile.

“Th-that’s true………”

It’s not like the level of holding hands, but this was embarrassing in its own way.

However, that feeling immediately disappeared somewhere once we started walking.

Inside, amongst the hustle and bustle, the many people we passed by looked at us and I could hear topics about Julie. 

["Hey, isn’t that girl really beautiful?"] ["A celebrity?"] ["I’ll take a photo and upload it"] ["Oh, she has a guy…….."] ["The Blondie just now was good too but, this is good in its own way………."]

There were a lot of reactions but, most of it regarding Julie.

But, while I meant most of it, it meant all of it wasn’t that.

["They are wearing school uniforms though; I wonder which school they are from?"] ["Don’t know? I never seen that before…………."]

It’s only normal they didn’t know.

Unless there was a good reason, Kouryou students were not allowed to go out other than weekends.

And even if they were to go out on a weekend, there probably wasn’t any commendable students that would go out wearing a school uniform.

Only the school name could be heard at best.

Even for myself, if I hadn’t heard about the existence of the school beforehand then, not only would I have no idea about the internal conditions of the school, I wouldn't even know the school’s name in the first place.

(That’s because it’s a school with that kind of enrollment ceremony.)

Although it was a school lacking common sense when half of the number of students dropped out from the enrollment ceremony, it’s also weird that this school was not known to the public.

Mikuni-sensei said that information regulations were imposed, but it would probably be just a rumor at most. 

And when I was thinking things like that, my sleeve was *gui**gui* being pulled.

“Tooru, how about that shop?”

“Ah……. You’re right, that’s a cute shirt………..I guess?”

I was often brought by my sister------Otoha to buy things but, I have absolutely no idea about girl's clothing.

But, judging from the shop display, it’s true that I felt it would suit Julie.

Like that, we tried entering this shop for now but-------

“I think this suits her. How about it, boyfriend-san?”

“Eh!? Ah………. No, no, no. I am not her boyfriend…………!”

When we were looking around for clothes, a female shop attendant came over and said those lines; even though I hurried and denied it, she just giggled.

I probably made her think I was trying to trick her due to embarrassment.

A male and a female together, what’s more even though we entered the shop and started looking at clothes, Julie was still grabbing my sleeves and it’s true that it wouldn’t be strange for her to misunderstand.

Rather, even if I am a 3rd person here, we definitely would be thought of as a couple.

“I will go try on these clothes now.”

Julie left with those words taking several summer clothes, recommended by the shop attendant, before entering the changing room.

“Fufu, she’s a very cute girlfriend!”

“Y-yeah………”

I gave up denying since anything I did would be useless and gave a nod mixed with a wry smile.

Checking on her status, I made a small sigh while making a side glance at the shop attendant who came over to see us with the purpose of sticking her nose into our business, and began regretting coming here with the two of us only.

(It would have been better if everyone was together…………)

Miyabi was probably out playing with Tachibana somewhere.

Tora headed out somewhere so I couldn’t find him.

Tatsu was working hard in his muscle training.

…………And while I was recalling that back, the curtain slightly opened and Julie suddenly brought her face out.

“Tooru. I have finished changing……..can you have a look?"

“I’ll say this just in case; don’t expect a good sense from me.”

“Ja---. It is okay.”

I don’t know what she meant by "it's okay" but Julie nodded and opened the curtain wider.

[Uoo……….][Oh my………..]

The shop attendant and I let out a shocked voice at the same time and Julie silently showed herself.

The clothes Julie tried on was a refreshing, basic, white one piece. 

The sleeves were opened wide and the arranged white lace has emphasized the girlishness.

“What’s wrong, Tooru?”

“A-aah……………errr, I think it suits you very well…………..”

“Thank you very much. I will buy this then.”

“You decide too fast!!..............wait, isn’t it at least better to try some of the others first before deciding?”

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Un**un*The shop attendant beside me nodded.

Rather than doing it for her job, her expression was saying to try more clothes on.

“I understand………….but I decided to buy this one.”

After saying that, she closed the curtain once more and we waited a few more minutes.

“Tooru. What do you think about this?”

It's black this time, opposite to the one piece from just before. Looking at that figure, the attendant and I made an sound of admiration again.

The skirt was short and it has a lot of frills as its characteristic, thanks to it being black, it made Julie’s silver hair attractive and it suited her very much.

“Err………I think it’s nice. Extremely.”

“Ja---. I think I will buy this too then.”

Maybe she liked my response, Julie slightly narrowed her eyes and confined herself within the changing room a third time.

She then showed herself not long later, and the clothes this time again suited her.

“How about this?”

“It looks refreshing so why not?”

“Ja---, it is very soothing. Well, this too……………”

She bought all 3 clothes she tried in the end.

“E-erm. If it’s okay with you, will you try other clothes? For my eyes recuperation………..not that, I think it will suit miss customer and we have a lot of cute clothes too.”

“Errr………..what will you do, Julie? Will you try it on?”

“Ja--. If Tooru says so.”





…………It was a mistake to go with this flow.

“…………….Julie. Don’t you think you are buying too much?”

While staring at the 12 clothing items, stacked up like a mountain on the counter, I made a comeback just in case.

Looking at the pile of clothes she tried on, as they started entering the list of purchases, I thought she bought too many as expected and if I did not tell her that it was about time we should head to another shop then I would have no idea what would have happened.

“Nai. I am only buying the clothes Tooru said were nice.”

“N-no, it’s true I said I liked them, but I think all of it is just a little…………..”

“But, this one looks very matching and this one is very nice, this one is cooling and-------”

Julie lined up my comments one by one without making any mistakes.

After saying everything until the last 12th clothes-----

“As expected, I will buy them all.”

In the end, Julie announced herself as a very good miss customer.





Although the shop attendant opened her eyes wide when we said we wanted to buy 12 clothes (+3 pair of shoes), she made an even more shocked expression when we told her we would pay with a credit card.

She probably would have never thought students like us would pay with a card.

But the instant we handed the student card which also functions as a credit card, ["Aah, it’s that school………….."] the attendant muttered.

I became curious on how she knew about it and asked her. It seems several people like us come over here to buy stuff every year.

However, we were the first ones to purchase this large of an amount.

Incidentally, the moment I heard the total amount of money, my eyes were almost going to pop out but this was a secret.

Luckily it was within allowance range so there wasn’t any problem.

“Alright then, now that we finished buying clothes, what should we do now?”

“--------? Weren’t we going to other shops to see the clothes?”

“………………..No, I’ll give up on that for today.”

It was not hard to imagine the same result if went to another shop.

It would be faster if I say it didn’t suit her but, the foundation material was good---------rather that, Julie was so good looking, to the point that, any clothes she wore suited her naturally.

More importantly, it was impossible for me to twist my thoughts and tell Julie.

In front of the small happy expression she shows when I say it suits her, there was no way I could lie.

“So, should we head back?”

“U-nn………well since we are outside, let’s wander around for a bit then.”

“Ja--. That’s true.”

Nonetheless, as expected, we had a lot of baggage so we decided to stop by the delivery counter first.

“Well, where should we go, Tooru?”

Right after we finished our delivery and lightened the load, we then decided to look around the north hall from one corner to the other.

As if it was natural for her, Julie grabbed my sleeves and walked besides me.

Although it was more or less embarrassing for me at the beginning, we talked with each other while looking at the shops until I naturally forgot about it.

After that, Julie looked at the ferret in the pet shop nearby with her eyes glittering, and played a free to play virtual game in one corner of the game shop; we were passing time peacefully and with enough fun for us to forget the tough training we go through daily.

“Now that I think back, Miyabi told me the gelato on the first floor is recommended.”

“……………Gelato huh. If Miyabi recommended it then, I want to try heading there but…………..”

As a late lunch, when Julie was about to start her pumpkin cream pasta and fondant chocolate as dessert, I recalled the talk Miyabi told me.

Even Julie isn't an exception to girlishness. It seemed Julie also loved sweets and she often changes expressions with the desserts that came out from the cafeteria.

That is why it's only normal for her to think she wanted to try something after hearing about it as a recommendation but------

Since Julie ate little in the first place, it was clear that she would lose the space for the gelato once she ate the chocolate; she knew that herself and dropped her shoulders from what I could see.

It would probably be alright after some time, but the influence would probably come back during dinner time this time if we were to do that.

“……………Why don’t we try buying as much gelato as you can eat for now? If you cannot finish, then I will eat the leftovers.”

Because of me forgetting, her disappointed look was really pitiful and after I brought up that idea-------

“That is a good idea.”

Julie brought out a happy atmosphere.

I unintentionally leaked a smile from that expression.

(This is good, this is good……….)

And like that, my thoughts were hastily over.

“Tooru. Just in case, can you eat this chocolate?”

“Aah, I don’t mind.”

Julie proposed this when it was half eaten.

Of course, since there was no reason to refuse, it was alright until I nodded but-------

“Please open your mouth.”

“Huh?”

“Like I said, please open your mouth.”

She lifted, with her fork, one mouth-full sized scoop of fondant chocolate, wrapped in cold ice, placing right it in front of me.

“…………….Are you perhaps going to feed me?”

“Ja—♪Ahnn.”

“N-no, doing that in front of people is a little……….”

“----? Miyabi often does this to me?”

But that is between girls.

And we are of the opposite sex.

I know Julie has no other intentions, but it couldn’t be helped for me to feel resistant to her actions, rather I think it's only normal to do so.

“Errrr…………”

Luckily, there weren't many people in the shop since it's after lunch time, and thanks to there being many dividing panels, it's not like people could see us. It isn't as good as a window but, there was no road in front of this shop which is located on the 3rd floor but rather it's an atrium until the 1st floor so we probably won't get noticed at all.

(Well, I guess this situation is alright…………?)

“------?”

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Chirin* the bell rang as if to urge me. And of course, Julie didn’t have any intentions of making me hurry.

“I-I get it. Then…………..”

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Ahhn* I opened my mouth wide as I was told and ate the chocolate.

(I’m glad everyone didn’t come………….)

Just now, I was thinking a completely different thing than from the tailor shop earlier.

“Tooru, here you go.”

“Eh? Again?”

“Ja---. There is still too much left. So, Ahhnn.”

“Hahaha……okay.”

In the end, I was fed around 8 times and there was one time when the shop attendant there saw us and giggled making it an awkward situation.

But------

I then found out the really problematic situation happened right after that.

“Tooru, Ahhn.”

Between the south and north hall-------in a place called Harbor Street where there were many passersby, Julie brought the gelato to my mouth.

“………Eh?”

“It's very delicious so I am sharing with you. That’s why Tooru, please. Ahnnn.”

Inside, within the presence of a crowd of people, Julie smiled as if she was not bothered about them at all.

Of course, it was only natural for me to be bothered about the sights from our surroundings.

“----Tooru?”

She tilted her small head-----

“Ya-yaa-----………”

I answered powerlessly and let her feed me the gelato……….