After retrieving Koryn's suit from the dry cleaner's and having asked some clothes' mender to clean off the paint for her glove, Akemi went to the place for nice clothes of the city.

And immediately found herself in another world, with laces and skirts, a mysterious jargon, different codes and no idea what to do.

Where one woman felt lost in this world, another thrived in it. Looking as colourful and stylish as she always did, Nara had decided it was a good day to see what was available. After all, if she planned ahead, she could get some new clothes from Shoko again! Maybe.

She approached the store, only to be stopped by a woman standing in the doorway looking like she'd just walked in on something awkward. Nara peered at the woman, before saying "can I help?"

Akemi turned to face the person who talked to her:

"Oh, yes, could..."

And froze when she realized who they were as that information triggered a complex flowchat in her brain.

Is this a Spider? -> Yes -> Expect the worst
Is this a battlefield -> No -> Don't punch
Would shoving her off grant you any kind of benefit? -> No, neither social or practical -> Maybe do it regardless?
Would it have some kind of negative consequence? -> Probably, as this could end up in quite the scene -> Don't do it
Would being polite hurt? -> No -> Do it
Would being amicable hurt? -> Probably not -> But why bother?
Would being amicable turn in your favor? -> Well, in that very specific case, maybe? It's complicated -> Damn, take it upon yourself girl!

Akemi eventually bowed:

"Hello... Susumu Nara-sama is that it? Actually... Maybe? I'm looking for... I have no idea if there is a word for that but... Kind of... A princess dress?"

"Yes, I'm Susumu Nara!" Nara beamed a smile, bowing to the woman "I don't remember if I caught your name before. Princess dress? Why? Or do you mean like a ball gown style dress? Is Hida-sama a princess who lost her clothes?"

She looked concerned.

"I can help with shopping though."

"Hida Akemi. Of the Crab."

She blushed a bit.

"It's kind of a private joke... I would like clothes that would make me look like a princess. But not as a joke. In a classy, confident way."

She pinched her sleeve.

"I usually only wear suits. Too bulky for a lot of outfits. And the fleshcraft does not help either. Maybe something with long gloves actually? I'm not ashamed of my artificial arm, but would be nice if it wasn't the focal point of my appearance for one night."

"Hmm. So a classy outfit with long gloves that covers up your arm. How far up your arm does the artificial go? Follow me, I know the section" Nara motioned after her, leading Akemi further into the store. Totally not for ambush reasons right?

Eventually they reached a section that had a huge selection of very frilly looking dresses.

"Hmm, colours colours colours...tell me what you don't like while I look"

Akemi just pulled her left sleeve up as her answer to the first question, showing that the shoulder was also artificial. Real flesh only started after that articulation.

"Colors... As a good Hida, I should say blue but I think I'll be competing with all the bluish Crane if I went for that... So dunno.

As for theme... Hmm... Do you see something that would remind people of winter? Not an actual winter robe, something light, perfect for the current heat, but that conjures pictures of a gentle snow rain when you look at it?"

"Hmm. Hmm...." Nara made a few noises as she searched, before carefully pulling one out.

"How about something like this?" She turned to Akemi "you can add longer sleeve gloves to go under the see-through sleeves. It's very ball-gownish and sophisticated."

"Not bad but... Maybe something a bit less dark and with more visible patterns like this one? I would try to avoid getting too close to pure black or pure white.

Could even go the extra mile with a richly charged dress."

"Hmm..." Nara looked thoughtful "the first one. You'd need gloves to go with it though. Go try that dress on and see how it looks?" She motioned to the changing rooms.

Akemi entered the changing room. Then poked her head out of it a minute later.

"Uh... Could you help me with that? I haven't put on a formal dress by myself since... Never I think. Always had servants to help me with that."

Nara blinked, a little confused.

"Huh?"

It took her a few moments, then an "oh!" Escaped, and she hopped over. Not exactly hopping, but it was fast movements, as she slipped into the changing rooms.

"Ok ok, I'm good at dressing myself so I'm sure I can dress you. Time to slip out of what you're wearing then~"

She did just that.

In the small room, Akemi now stood utterly embarrassed, down to her functional underwear that were screaming "army girl", looking at the dress like a piece of alien technology she had no idea how to deal with. The mirror behind her returned the image of what was expecting of a Crab bushi, all in hard muscles and hardened skin.

Nara...didn't seem bothered at all. She carefully undid the back of the dress and raised it up above Akemi, slipping it over her head.

"Arm holes incoming~" she said in an almost sing-songy way, letting the dress drop down over the girl and helping her slip the arms in, being careful not to catch anything. She let Akemi look at herself in the mirror as she tried to do the back of the dress up.

"Hmm hmm hmm. What do you think?"

Akemi looked at herself in the mirror, tilted her head, grabbed her hair and gathered them in a pseudo bun, looked again, did a half turn, looked, let her mane go, looked.

"It's... weird. I barely recognize myself. Though that's kind of the point I guess.

Uh... Can I raise my arms high in this thing? Run? Or would it tear the dress apart?"

"Raising arms yes as long as you don't intend to do a bird impression and flap them. Running I would spend quite a bit of time practicing first, because if you step on the dress you'll faceplant the floor and worse you'll ruin the dress" Nara finished tightening the dress with a last pull "there, now it's fully on. It suits you! Just need the gloves and it'll be perfect. Spin around, see yourself from all sides!"

Akemi did a surprisingly agile dancer spin. The robe floated around her. It was definitely weird. Like she was looking at some recording from a TV show in the mirror and not at herself.

"I don't know what to think of it. It does look nice but... How do you think some pretty boy who is only used to my suits will react when seeing me like this? I'm not what you would call a traditional beauty."

"I think his jaw will fall through the floor, maybe all the way down to Jigoku in shock. Wide-eyed at how a woman who is a dedicated officer can also shine like the prettiest gem as well" Nara said with a giggle "it would be a good thing to see!"

Akemi raised an eyebrow at her answer:

"Remind me what is your daily job?"

"I'm an actress!" Nara said with a beaming smile "I'm the star of the drama TV show Teenage Demon hunter."