207 Shopping 2.0

One thing that I never once even wondered would happen was that I would attract people with malicious, even criminal intent with this female body. It's just not that common of an occurrence due to the fact that Palisia has one of the lower crime rates in the nation and in the world with the more serious crimes such as organized ones being more of an issue. But...I suppose everything could happen regardless of their chances. Besides, I should've been more aware when walking around alone as a girl.

When I was being backed into the alleyway, I was seriously scared. As a girl and being outnumbered, there's really no way that I could escape. I could've tried to scream, but as soon as I would open my mouth, I'm certain that they would cover my mouth with either their hand or a cloth, muffling it and making it inaudible. I was really left with no options, and it was looking more and more likely that I would be drugged and then raped. After that, who knows what the hell would happen after that. Luckily for me, it didn't have to come to that.

"There you are," a familiar voice called out. It was a voice that I barely remember, but it was heard recently.

I looked in the direction of the voice and saw a girl with light orange hair that moved in the air as she rapidly walked over, breaking past the barrier the three men had formed, and grabbed my hand. On her face was a frightened expression that she concealed underneath that look of genuine concern.

"The others are waiting."

She then dragged me away from the group with hurried strides that reflected her desire to leave the vicinity of the three men. There was also hints of fear mixed into it as well. We were rather lucky that the three men did not follow in pursuit, but I believe that can be attributed also to the fact that we had made our way into the more visible areas of the street and away from the alleyway.

Her name is...Elise, and from the looks of it, she's somewhere around my age and probably still in high school. Based on the school uniform that I saw her wearing yesterday, I'm pretty sure it's for a school based in Lumina as I often see students wearing those uniforms walking around Lumina while I'm headed home from school. Since the students I've seen are all female, the school must be an all-girls school.

"I think we're safe," Elise turned around and said while gasping for air. Our escape from the three men finally came to an end as we stopped in front of a rather busy hamburger restaurant where there were plenty of people eating in the restaurant as well as pedestrians walking by on the sidewalks. Nearby, there was also a parked police patrol car

"Thank you," I said to her, lowering my head somewhat in gratitude.

"It's no big deal," Elise said, smiling.

"You really saved my life back there," I said, responding to her smile with one of my own. However, I blushed as I realized that she was still holding onto my hand. "Um...You can let go of me now."

Elise gazed at my flustered face with a confused look on her face before she glanced down to see what I was looking at. When she saw my hand that her's was grabbing onto, she quickly released it.

"I'm sorry," she said.

"It's...fine," I answered.

"It's rather surprising," she said, trying to progress the conversation. "It's so early in the day as well. I can't believe anyone would try something like that."

"Yeah," I nodded.

"Where're you going on your own?"

"I was thinking of going to the mall and buy something."

"Oh really?" There was a look of pleasant surprise on Elise's face. "I'm going there too. Hey...speaking of the mall, didn't I see you there earlier this week?"

"I believe so," I nodded. "Your face does appear familiar."

"Since we're both going there, you wanna go together?" Elise asked. "It'll be safer that way."

"Sure," I nodded, happy to know that the chances of what had just happened to me will reoccur has just dropped drastically.

"I'm Elise," she introduced herself and reached out a slender hand for a handshake.

"My name's Alvelyn," I brought my hand up to meet her's.

The two of us chatted as we made our way to the mall. We talked about casual stuff such as what school we go to and what grade we're in, what we're trying to buy, and why we're going to the mall alone. Based on the information I've gathered, Elise is a student at the Lumina Girl's High School, a private school that matches Nocsinis Imperial High School, and she's the same grade as I'm in. According to her, the reason why she's going to the mall alone is that she wants to buy clothes in peace and without any distractions from her friends.

"I only do this occasionally," she said. "It's always more fun with friends around, but sometimes they don't understand what you're truly after."

"Would I be a bother to you then?" I asked.

"No," Elise responded. "I could sense that you're different from the ordinary girls. So I believe we'll be fine in that regard."

Elise was kind enough to allow me to purchase what I needed first. Since I'm given that authority, I decided that I would go and buy makeup items so we rode the escalators up to the third floor to a store that Elise recommended that sold quality items at a fair price. Since I didn't know a single thing about makeup, I allowed her to take the reign on the issue by asking her to recommend what I should get by having her go over her usual routine. This worked surprisingly well, to be honest.

"So I think I'll get this eyeliner," I said, picking out the eyeliner that she said she uses. This was the last item that I believe I'll be buying.

"Alvelyn," she whispered to me in a curious voice that seemed to waver somewhat from disbelief. "Do you...not understand a single thing about makeup? Because I feel like you're just buying what I've recommended you."

"Well..." My voice trailed off in the end as I felt a cold shiver run up my spine. Slowly, I looked over at her, forcing a smile and let out a weak laugh of nervousness. "W-why would you say that?"

"It's nothing to be ashamed of," Elise said. "You're quite beautiful already without makeup, so I can see how you don't see the need to use them."

She's surprisingly understanding, I thought to myself. Wait a minute, can't I use this as an excuse for not knowing about makeup?

"So," Elise smiled in a charming and teasing manner and nudged me gently with her elbow. "What's making a pretty girl like you try and be even prettier? Is it a boy?"

"Well..." I looked away subconsciously to avoid eye contact. For some reason, I find topics such as these difficult to handle, and since I did not prepare myself to answer questions like these, it's difficult to improvise something because I've never thought about this before.

Why do girls have to like gossip that much? I sighed in my heart.

"Don't wanna tell me?" Elise eased off on her aggression, taking a small step back so as to increase the distance between the two of us. "You don't have to tell me. I know it's a pretty personal topic to talk about."

Thank you, I let out sigh of relief.

"Do you have anything else you want to buy?" she asked me.

"Hmm..."

In my mind, I quickly took inventory of everything I already have as well as what else I needed. Just in case I'm invited to go out on the weekends by the others, I'll need some clothing. I already have an outfit picked out by the girls, but I'm worried that won't be enough. So I guess I should go and buy some more. Money isn't an issue anymore, so I can spend to my heart's content. Then what else? Menstrual products, that I can buy later on my own at a nearby convenience store. Little accessories? That's something that I'm interested in at the moment. Things like hairpins, hair ties, necklaces, and earrings. Come to think of it, I'll need to get a hole punched into each ear for that... That sounds quite painful, but...I guess that's the cost of beauty. After that, what else do I need? Pajamas? No. The bunny onesie Emilia picked out for me is enough... It's not like I think it's cute or anything, it's just that I think it'll be a waste and difficult to carry around if I buy a set.

"Maybe some clothes," I said to Elise. "Then some accessories and stuff like that."

"So basically everything," Elise nodded.

"And..." I blushed somewhat when I prepared myself for the next item category on my list that I forgot to add earlier. "Lingerie."

"What?" Elise seemed to not have heard what I've just said.

To be fair, I did mumble my words at the end, making it fairly inaudible.

"I want to buy new lingerie," I repeated, this time in a louder voice to make sure that she heard what I was saying. I underestimated how loud my voice would be, so in reality, I said that louder than I wanted to. However, luckily for me, the entire floor's population was female at the moment, so I was saved from the worst of the embarrassment.