Shopping

Lu Yan picked up his phone. He found it hard to talk to the air on a public street, so he lowered his head and typed in his phone's notes app, then showed it to Aemeath:

[Your clothes are too conspicuous right now. Let's go to the mall and buy some normal ones. Until then, you need to stay in your electronic ghost form, or people will think I'm some weirdo who brought a cosplayer out with him.]

Aemeath leaned over to look at the screen, then grinned and linked her arm through his. "Got it. You want to hide me away so no one else can see me, right?"

"I don't mind being hidden away like this one bit~"

As Lu Yan walked down the street, to everyone else, he was just a homebody in a hoodie, looking down at his phone.

Only he knew that a faint sensation of coolness wrapped around his left arm, with Aemeath pressed tightly against him in her electronic form.

Like a child seeing a magnificent garden for the first time, Aemeath kept pointing things out.

"What's that colorful pole spinning around and around?"

"It smells so good over there... Is that roasted sweet potato? I want some after I change my clothes!"

Lu Yan said nothing, merely typing quickly on his phone: [Okay, okay, I'll buy you some. Just be quiet for now. Other people can't see you, but I can feel you breathing in my ear. It tickles.]

Seeing that, Aemeath only started blowing in his ear even more.

When they reached the entrance of a nearby mall, the automatic doors slid slowly open to either side, revealing the clamor of voices inside.

Lu Yan headed straight for a women's clothing store with a minimalist style.

A saleswoman greeted him politely. "Sir, are you shopping for your girlfriend?"

Lu Yan nodded stiffly, his palms growing slightly sweaty.

Aemeath didn't correct her. Instead, she seemed a little happy.

He typed on his phone: [Pick out whichever ones you like. I'll take them to the fitting room, and you can become solid and try them on.]

Aemeath darted wildly between the racks like a gust of wind.

Her fingertips brushed over the metal hangers as she hesitated between the various clothes.

In the end, Aemeath chose a beige knit top and a dark brown plaid pleated skirt, as well as a set of pink underwear.

Lu Yan shyly carried the clothes to the checkout counter.

The scanner beeped three times, and the cashier folded the clothes and put them in a bag.

[I'm going in. Follow me.] Lu Yan slipped into the fitting room and locked the door behind him.

With a flash of blue light, Aemeath returned to her human form.

Her faint, sweet scent filled the entire cramped space at once.

The sound of both their breathing was clear.

"Turn around. No peeking~" Aemeath ordered playfully, a teasing note in her voice.

Lu Yan turned his back and listened to the rustle of clothing behind him. Aemeath's figure involuntarily appeared in his mind, and he felt a little embarrassed.

"All done. You can turn around now."

Lu Yan turned around, his breath catching for a moment.

The girl before him had shed her cold battle suit.

The beige knit top hugged her curves, and beneath the pleated skirt were her long, fair legs.

She adjusted her high ponytail, her golden star-shaped pupils sparkling in the dim light of the fitting room.

Lu Yan had drawn her in a uniform, a formal dress, a battle suit, and even a wedding gown.

But all of those put together couldn't compare to the real Aemeath standing before him now.

"How do I look?" Aemeath lifted the hem of her skirt and spun around.

"You look great."

He coughed and cleared his throat. "Really, even better than I imagined."

"Oh~ You've imagined it before?"

Lu Yan felt his ears burning at once.

Aemeath gave a mischievous smile but didn't press him further.

"Then let's go! Next stop, shopping!" Aemeath turned back into a ghost and floated excitedly through the wall. He picked up the empty clothing bag and followed her out.

What followed was the busiest stretch of Lu Yan's life.

In the household goods section, Lu Yan pushed the cart past a shelf of slippers, picked up a pair of pink fuzzy ones, and examined them for a long while before finally putting them in the cart.

Aemeath, meanwhile, was like a commander.

"That pink towel, the one with strawberries on it!"

"The toothbrushes should be a matching couples' set. I want the one with the star handle, and you can use the moon one."

"This body wash smells a lot like you. Let's buy it!"

Looking at those items that spoke of everyday life, Lu Yan suddenly felt that his place would no longer be a cold dwelling, but a warm home.

But as they passed the cosmetics counter, a small mishap occurred.

The crystal lights at the cosmetics counter cast a dazzling glare over an array of glass bottles.

A saleswoman with long, cyan hair saw Lu Yan's delicate features and figured he probably had a girlfriend. If he didn't, all the better. She stepped forward to make a sales pitch:

"Sir, would you like to get your girlfriend a lipstick? This shade has been very popular lately..."

Lu Yan wanted to politely decline, but at that instant, he felt the air around him suddenly drop several degrees.

Aemeath, who had been looking at the stickers on the shelves, floated between Lu Yan and the saleswoman in an instant.

Although she was in ghost form, Lu Yan could see that the star-shaped pupils in her golden eyes had grown somewhat sharp.

"A-Yan, I don't like the way she's looking at you." Aemeath's voice sounded faintly in his ear, with a cloying sweetness that sent a chill down his spine.

The saleswoman was about to continue chatting him up when she felt an inexplicable chill, and her hand froze in midair.

Lu Yan hurriedly told her, "Sorry, I don't need any."

With that, he quickly pushed the cart away.

In her electronic ghost form, Aemeath spoke softly, but with a warning in her voice. "It's a promise, okay? You can only look at me. Understand?"

Lu Yan looked at his reflection on his phone screen, his face bearing a somewhat helpless smile, and replied:

[Got it, my ghost lady.]

One was an ordinary artist walking in a hurry; the other was an electronic ghost brimming with joy.

This spring seemed especially warm for Lu Yan, because of the arrival of this electronic ghost.

Only after they walked out of the mall and felt the natural breeze outside did Aemeath wrap her arms around his neck from behind again.