"Anyway, I had no reason to refuse. But wouldn't you find it unpleasant?"
She put on a serious expression, turned toward me, and threw my question back at me.
"I wouldn't mind. There's no chance anyone we know would spot us, and everyone here is unrelated to us, so there's no need to worry about misunderstandings causing trouble."
So even I was completely categorized as an unrelated person... Well, whatever. No problem.
"Then let's go."
Yukino headed for the next store, and I stepped forward to follow beside her.
A relationship where neither side expected anything from the other was pretty easygoing, and I personally appreciated it. Think about it—Pandora's box had been filled with every disaster and hope, hadn't it? That just proved hope was a disaster too.
× × ×
Our time browsing the second clothing store went unexpectedly smoothly.
It seemed society was even simpler and shallower than I had imagined. As long as a young man and woman walked together, everyone quickly assumed they were a couple. Though, to be honest, if I saw two high school students of the opposite sex together, I'd curse them in my heart too. So maybe that really was just how things were.
The clerks, whose builds were better than those of Japanese athletes, had been staring me down, but the moment Yukino appeared beside me, they immediately dropped their guard.
Yukino regarded everyone around her as unrelated people. Even when a clerk approached to make a sales pitch, she shut them down with three words: "No need." Then she seriously selected clothes on her own.
Every now and then, she would pick up an outfit she liked and tug at it from every direction. Her standards for judging clothes were truly strange.
"Let's go to the next store."
She