Cordis followed Hisoka aboard an airship to Yorknew City.
The original plan was for Cordis and Hisoka to wait for the Spiders at a café.
Unfortunately, on their way to the café, they passed a high-end clothing store.
Cordis caught sight of his reflection in the store window.
His once reasonably clean white shirt had turned gray all over.
It was torn in several places, too.
Anyone who didn't know better might have mistaken Cordis for a beggar wandering the streets.
The Spiders he was about to meet might well become his first employers.
How could I meet my employers looking like this!
Without another thought, Cordis turned and walked into the high-end clothing store.
Hisoka noticed what Cordis was doing, too.
Watching him walk inside without so much as a backward glance, he wanted to stop him but didn't know what to say.
There was nothing for it.
He could only follow him inside.
The store staff hurried over to greet them eagerly as soon as they saw someone enter.
Cordis's clothes were utterly shabby, but his face made him look like a young nobleman.
They glanced at their fellow saleswomen, unsure whether they should serve him.
Cordis didn't care whether anyone attended to him.
He had a very clear goal!
Find an outfit worthy of him.
It has to be unique! It has to be expensive! It has to suit my bearing!
Only then did Hisoka finally stroll in.
The staff might not have recognized Cordis, but they certainly recognized Hisoka.
He was Hisoka, Heavens Arena's most famous Floor Master of the 245th floor.
Although they had never seen him in person, they often saw him on television.
Several of the saleswomen were fans of Hisoka.
They all eagerly tried to recommend clothes to him.
Hisoka merely pointed toward Cordis a short distance away, leaving his meaning unspoken.
Then he settled onto the sofa in the center of the store.
The staff quickly understood what Hisoka meant.
They were a little disappointed, but they still had to earn a living.
Their attitude changed completely.
They picked up all sorts of clothes and tried to introduce them to Cordis.
Cordis didn't spare any of their selections a glance.
It wasn't that the clothes were bad.
They simply weren't unique enough.
For every ten people he passed on the street, one wore clothes like these.
Seeing that Cordis wouldn't even look, the staff exchanged several glances, unsure what to do.
This customer seemed rather hard to please.
A whole group trailed after Cordis, from the front to the back, from the left to the right.
"Oh my God, even my old exercise runs weren't this exhausting."
Several of them clutched their stomachs, bent over and gasping for breath.
The store was quite large, and Cordis had walked back and forth through it nearly a dozen times.
Seeing that he wasn't even winded, the saleswomen declared that he couldn't be human.
Hisoka wasn't in any hurry, either.
He sat leisurely with his legs crossed, reading a newspaper of indeterminate age, with a half-eaten apple on the little round table beside him.
Their appointed meeting time was fast approaching, yet Hisoka didn't seem the least bit concerned.
Just as the saleswomen straightened up, ready to resume running after Cordis...
At last.
Their impossible customer stopped in front of a rack of clothes.
He began rummaging through it.
At the very back, he discovered a mannequin.
It wore a complete outfit.
The top was a fitted black shirt with short sleeves, paired with tight black shorts that barely reached the tops of the thighs and black heels almost five centimeters high.
Seeing that Cordis had finally found something he liked...
The saleswoman leading the group hurried over to introduce it.
"Sir, you have excellent taste. This was our manager's proudest creation before they passed away."
"It's the only one of its kind in the world. Of course, the price is quite substantial, too."
"It was so expensive that it hasn't sold in over a hundred years. We'd almost forgotten this outfit was here."
Cordis's eyes shone as he looked at the outfit before him.
Expensive? It was worth a fortune and hadn't sold in over a hundred years.
Unique? The manager's proudest creation, the only one of its kind in the world.
And the design would perfectly accentuate Cordis's slender yet far from frail figure.
This was the fashion he had been searching for.
He didn't hesitate in the slightest.
"I'll take it."
The saleswomen brought out the card reader they had prepared long ago and placed it before Cordis.
But...
Where would Cordis get the money? Calling himself penniless would have been putting it kindly.
He didn't have a single coin in his pockets.
At that thought, his gaze involuntarily slid toward Hisoka, who was reading his newspaper nearby.
He gave the saleswoman taking payment a few meaningful looks, signaling for her to bring the card reader to Hisoka.
Meanwhile, he carried the clothes into the fitting room.
And Hisoka ended up spending almost three hundred million JN for no apparent reason.
Looking at his now completely empty card...
Hisoka casually tossed it aside without a care.
To him, that money amounted to nothing more than a few extra matches.
Once Cordis stood before the full-length mirror in his new clothes...
He studied his reflection.
His silver hair fell to his shoulders, and the fitted shirt accentuated his slender yet powerful physique.
His slim waist was like a willow leaf, looking as though a single hand could encircle it.
The tight shorts ending at the tops of his thighs showed off his pert backside.
His long, fair thighs carried a faint pink flush.
His delicate skin resembled finely carved jade, pale with a hint of pink.
The black heels on his feet successfully brought Cordis into the ranks of those standing 180 centimeters tall.
Watching Cordis preen endlessly before the mirror, Hisoka couldn't help but brighten with appreciation.
He had thought the outfit would look effeminate on Cordis.
Instead, it gave him an air that was cool and aloof, yet deeply sensual.
Although the outfit was perfect...
There was still one thing Cordis found unsatisfactory.
His slightly crooked right arm.
That flaw seemed magnified beyond measure now, impossible to ignore even if he tried.
The injury was like a knife lodged firmly in Cordis's heart.
Just then, Cordis happened to spot an extra-long black glove hanging on a rack.
It was just long enough to cover his entire right arm.
Cordis picked up the glove.
A nearby saleswoman exclaimed in surprise.
"Sir, you really do have excellent taste! This glove was made from the world's most expensive thread, black pearl thread."
"A single glove costs one million two hundred thousand JN. Under moonlight or sunlight, it sparkles as though studded with tiny gems."
Cordis slipped on the glove, and it covered his entire right arm perfectly.
Standing before the mirror, he examined himself a few more times.
"I'll take it."
With yet another new piece of "equipment" for Cordis, Hisoka's wallet naturally grew emptier.
Hisoka had broken Cordis's right arm, after all.
Spending a little of his money wasn't too much to ask, was it~
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