Editing Internet Shrine Maiden Tsugumi-chan:Volume1 Chapter1 (section)

===Part 3===

After school, Yahirodono Tsumugi tilted her head after swapping her slippers for her shoes at her school’s shoe lockers.

The gyaru was with her.

“W-why are you following me? (tremble tremble)”

“I heard you don’t have an apron for cooking class tomorrow. That sucks, but – heh hehh – that just means it’s time for some shopping! Betsuzaki Rainy is here to save the day!!”

She’d heard? What careless idiot let that one slip out?

“It’s not that I don’t have an apron at home. It’s just stained with oil, so I can’t use it.”

“You spilled oil? Mugikko, do you make your own mayo or something? I do that too☆ The store mayo is way too oily and doesn’t go well with lightly-seasoned fish sausages.”

With Rainy hanging around, more gyarus began to gather. Soon around three of those dazzlingly extroverted angels or devils were chatting excitedly. With no concern for what Tsumugi wanted.

“So where’re we going to shop, Rainy?”

“That’s the thing, Chatty, I haven’t decided yet. But y’know, I was just thinking wherever has the most selection.”

“Rainy, that’s a bad plan cause then the best option is just shopping online.”

“Okay, Chatty-han. If you have no other plan, why not go to a big mall? Like the Satellite Mall.”

…Was no one going to ask what Tsumugi wanted? This was all about buying an apron for her after all. Also the third girl who had joined them after Chatty had silver hair and tanned skin. They called her Rie, but it wasn’t clear if that was her real name. The way she talked strongly suggested she was from Kyoto, yet her hair and skin were full gyaru. Was that her way of rebelling against her parents?

Rainy, the instigator of all this, was doing something at the seawater canal harbor.

“Just wave my phone here and…heyyy, over here!”

This was a unique city with land and water routes complexly intertwined, but when you had enough people, it was cheaper to split the cost of calling in a self-navigating yacht taxi than for each individual to rent their own electric scooter. Tsumugi ended up dragged in along with the group.

A 2D maid smiled from the 15-inch LCD screen in the yacht.

She was inexplicably wearing a collar.

“I will accompany you wherever you wish to go, milady. Where to today?”

“Whose filthy search history made the algorithm choose such a fetishy virtual operator?” asked Chatty. “Okay, everyone, on three: one…two…”

“Rainy for sure.” “Rainy for sure.” “Rainy for sure.”

After all the gyarus but the culprit answered in unison, they provided their destination and set off.

Rainy herself only bashfully scratched her head. Even though that hadn’t been a compliment.

The yacht had no engine or propeller, but the navigation was done entirely by a program. Several reels took in thick wires to deftly manipulate the tall triangular sail. The yacht wouldn’t admit defeat and start its emergency motor to operate its water jets unless there was truly no wind at all.

“It’s so hot… It’s a real shame this brand new city doesn’t have a subway. The direct sunlight is too much!”

“The city’s made of kilometers-long megafloats, so they can’t build anything too deep. Here, I have a fan.”

Tall Chatty sounded exasperated but still provided some help. She was apparently one of the more clever gyarus.

The canal was lined by coconut palms and shiny glass-covered high-tech buildings that absorbed the blue of the sky.

The girls sat on the edge of the yacht to enjoy the view. This had been Rainy’s idea, but she was already wilting. She didn’t even seem aware of the delivery drones flying around overhead.

“Oh… While we’re here, everyone, any ideas for giving this girl’s lackluster site an explosive boost?”

''Here it comes. Why can’t they mind their own business? And it’s got plenty of luster already!!'' (Tsumugi’s inner voice)

The gyarus were swift to respond.

“Strip!! She’s got huge tits, so she might as well show them off.”

“Dance!! With boobs that big, she needs to put them to good us.”

“Hmm, the results of our impartial survey tell us the quickest way to gather visitors is sex appeal. Like those nasty late-night dramas where young guys and girls are all over each other and sharing the scent of their perfume.”

“Th-that is out of the question.”

Were they not aware this was for a shrine? And the black-haired shrine maiden had another question.

“Also, I know it comes up in dramas a lot, but can you really pick up the scent of someone’s perfume that easily?”

“Well, Yahirodono-san, how about I share some of the crazy stuff I bought at the Satellite Mall recently☆”

“Gwahhhh, not in this sweaty heat!!”

That was Chatty using her long limbs to hug Tsumugi from the other side and rub her cheek against her. Tsumugi screamed.

Rainy laughed (while subtly keeping her distance).

“Ah ha ha. We call her Chatty because she has to make herself a part of every conversation. But not in too annoying a way. She’s an acquired taste, but once you’re used to it, you miss it when she’s not around.”

“Did you just place me in the same category as some crazy squid shiokara? Take this! Special Attack: Ghost Vid-”

“Whoa, Mugikko’s boobs are huge! They’re going wild while you scramble around!”

“Oh, dear. That size hardly seems fair when she’s the shortest one here.”

Tsumugi wasn’t fond of this topic, so she stayed silent.

She was more interested in this Satellite Mall they were going to. While pushing the talkative one’s face back with a hand, she unfolded her phone like a trifold mirror to turn it into a notebook-size tablet. For someone shy who found it stifling to be surrounded by unfamiliar people, she liked how it gave her something safe to look at, so she checked a map app on the large screen. Unfortunately, Betsuzaki Rainy noticed.

“Mugikko, I’ve been meaning to ask. What’s with that phone? I don’t remember Plasperia having a trifold version. I only know about the normal folding ones.”

“They showed this model off at a corporate conference, but they never developed a general commercial model because the production costs were too high for it to be profitable.''Someone I know'' gave it to me.”

“A one-of-a-kind event display model? What kind of connections do you have?” asked Rie.

“This girl’s the real deal. Look at her fingers flying along the screen. Hard to believe that’s the same app we use.”

Rainy leaned in from the side to get a look at the screen. Did she have to get so close?

Then a large shadow passed by overhead.

“Ohh!” “Ohh!” “Ohh!”

Those noisy gyarus actually gasped and fell silent.

A 50m metal bridge had split in the middle with both sides lifting diagonally. In other words, it was a drawbridge.

It seemed unlikely there were any true bridge nerds among the gyarus, but humans tended to be awed by any unimaginably enormous structure staring down at them. The torii at Shinto shrines and the large Buddha statues at Buddhist temples were partially meant to take advantage of that psychological effect.

They passed below the raised bridge along with a mid-sized passenger cruiser. Even their yacht was more than 10m with the tall, sharp sail, so apparently they did need the bridge raised.

“That’s the Overlook Bridge, right? Anyway, I need a photo of this.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t do that if I were you, Rainy. ''You might catch something scary,''” said Chatty with a grin.

Their self-navigating yacht taxi arrived at a harbor. They had the yacht split the bill between them. They didn’t have to do anything themselves. It used facial recognition to automatically charge it to their phones.

As they crossed the crosswalk in front of the parking lot, Chatty pouted her lips.

“Rainy, don’t stare at your phone while you cross the road.”

“Don’t worry. There are bars down on either side of us like at a train cross-”

“But one of the retractable spikes linked with the crossing gate could pierce right through the sole of your shoe…”

“Yikes!? That’s a metal spike!” shouted Rainy, quickly dodging out of the way of something like a giant’s comb growing up from the ground.

The cars waiting in front of the crossing gate didn’t appear to have anyone in the driver’s seat, so they didn’t have to worry about getting honked or yelled at to hurry up. They continued on to a giant glass-covered building. The odd place had been absorbed into the base of an exceptionally tall skyscraper.

“But c’mon, we’re schoolgirls. If we’re gonna advertise a site, it has to be singing and dancing! So just go for it and make a 90 second video of low angle shots intercut with the site’s best features and upload it to TikTop.”

“D-don’t break down traditional Kagura to nothing but its BPM. And no speeding it up or reversing it either.”

Once inside the large shopping mall, they were met by the blessings of air conditioning.

Chatty must have just liked to be helpful because she explained things for the first-timer shrine maiden.

“The Satellite Mall started out as a TV station’s tourist floor but it’s developed into a giant commercial facility. So it’s just an extra tacked onto Waterfront TV. The number of stores is crazy. I think there’s around 500.”

“Rumor is you can find comedians searching through the party goods here hoping to find new material.”

That lazy voice from the side sounded unfamiliar and Tsumugi looked over to find the number of gyarus had grown at some point. And this one was wearing a different uniform. Shy Tsumugi pulled her head down like a turtle, but Rainy moved in to shield her. Completely subconsciously.

“…Y-you have friends in other schools?”

“Why bother dividing us up between schools, Wharf Roach-chan? We’re all connected on social media anyway.”

What was Betsuzaki Rainy’s gyaru power? Her mysterious aura overpowered a random man, forcing him to step out of the way to let them through. Tsumugi could sense that he was a fellow introvert.

A girl in a short-sleeve shirt and a pink miniskirt tilted her head.

She had a decoration similar to rank insignia pinned to her shoulders. Did that indicate her year or was it related to a club or committee she was on? Her hair was black and tied in two bundles that fell down the front of her shoulders, giving her a more mature look.

She seemed straitlaced, but she must have been careless too because her bright-colored bra straps showed through her shirt.

“Onee-chan, what are you doing here?”

“Oh, and this is my sister, not a friend. She’s in the third year of middle school. Now you’ve met both sisters☆”

So the gyaru was a gyaru sister.

Miss Straitlaced, the younger sister, tilted her head again.

“Are you causing trouble again?”

“What do you mean again, Yuhi?”

That the gyaru sister could look at this situation and not know what she meant was answer enough.

But then focus shifted to Tsumugi. These gyarus from other schools were so unpredictable.

“By the way, why do Chatty and the black-haired one smell the same?”

“Wait, she smells faintly of her perfume. Does that mean the two of them are…?”

Some false suspicions were growing between the gyaru from another school and the little sister.

Apparently, that had been a time-delayed attack. Tsumugi hung her head and trembled while speaking with a shadow over her face.

“Oh…so this is Chatty’s power. I see what you mean about her being an acquired taste!!”

“Right? But it’s never enough to get really mad about it and refuse to speak with her for it. She’s found just that right level that makes her addictively charming once you’re used to her! Like wanting to pick at a healing scab!!”

But why did Rainy sound so proud about it?

Regardless, they were here for an apron. The one Tsumugi had stained with oil was actually handmade with a sewing machine, so she didn’t know where to look. She doubted there was a shop just for aprons, but they ended up taking her to a shop for cookware and household items. The place seemed more about helping you cook snacks than meals, but there was a section with potholders, aprons, and the like.

“So what kinda apron were you looking for?”

“Eh? As long as its plain and made of an easily washable material, I don’t really ca-”

“Okay, everyone!! It turns out Mugikko came in suicidally unprepared, so it’s up to us to find her something cute!”

Rainy silenced her with a smile. With “this is a threat to your femininity” written large on her face.

Then the group of unfamiliar gyarus huddled together and began discussing the matter without consulting Tsumugi herself. They spread out samples between their hands and searched the in-stock options on their folding phones despite being inside the store already.

“Okay, this would be the basic apron. It’s not very exciting, but it’s powerful when worn over a school uniform.”

“Hey, Chatty, how about adding lots of frill and lace to give it the young wife look?”

“Absolutely not, Sakuranamiki Rie. That kind is meant to be worn with nothing else on. But the range that girl could pull off is crazy. With her traditional black-hair look, I bet she would look right at home wearing a kappogi.”

“Hee hee. But Yahirodono is so short she might look like a kid on cafeteria duty. Kinky.”

''What are they going to do to me?

While Tsumugi trembled, Rainy returned from somewhere carrying something. She spread it out between her hands.

“Check out what I found. Don’t you think ''this'' would be best?”

“Yeah.” “Yeah.” “Yeah.” “Yeah.”

“Oh? And I thought I could make this more exciting by having a vote or play rock paper scissors to decide the winner, but it’s unanimous, huh? Okay, Mugikko, c’mere. Your big sis will help you change.”

In this case “changing” only meant putting an apron on over her short-sleeved sailor shirt, so they did it right there. Rainy circled behind Tsumugi and crouched while Tsumugi raised her arms a bit to let her do it.

“…You chose an apron that only covers my hips?”

“Yep. I don’t know what they’re actually called, but the pink frills are pretty powerful, don’t you think?”

Tsumugi was reminded of when the shrine was still around and the older shrine maidens had looked after her much like this when they made rice balls or rice cakes for everyone. She was fondly looking back on those times when the apron’s strap suddenly tightened.

She immediately gasped. And her face flushed.

…''Wait a second. Why does it feel so tight all of a sudden?

Tightening the strap around her waist naturally tugged her short-sleeve sailor shirt downwards. Strongly. And this pulled the shirt more tightly around her large chest than before! Making them look enormous!!

“Nyuwah!?”

(They’re all staring. I-I want to hide in my phone…)

The girl who had known exactly how this would turn out was grinning. With a “mission accomplished” look on her face.

“Yeah, it’s gotta be the titty apron for her, right!?”

“A normal one. I just want a normal one!!”

“Fine, fine. But I’m just not sure what a big grown-up like you means by normal☆”