Chapter 254: Uniform Fashion Show and the Mystery of the Fur

“Everyone~, come here for a sec~”

When we gathered in the living room after being called by Mina-san, several boxes were placed on the table.

“What are these?”

“They were sent from my Grandfather. It seems he prepared the necessary items for attending the academy, and there’s enough for everyone too.”

Surprisingly, the contents of the boxes were prepared by Mina-san’s grandfather.

I thought for sure we had to prepare them ourselves, so I’m grateful.

“Heeh, Mina’s grandpa is surprisingly thoughtful.”

Jairo-kun was surprised, looking a little taken aback. If I recall correctly, Mina-san’s grandfather had his eye on him. Did something happen in the past?

“He’s making us go for his own convenience, so you don’t have to worry about it. Well then, I’m opening them.”

When Mina-san opened the boxes, what came out were tools like notebooks, pens, and bags.

“Wow, there’s a lot. I feel bad having him prepare so much.”

Moreover, these pens and paper aren’t cheap goods; they are proper quality.

Wouldn’t it cost quite a bit to gather all this for everyone?

“What’s in this one?”

When Jairo-kun opened another box, several outfits came out.

“Are these clothes?”

“Ah, these are the academy uniforms.”

According to Mina-san, these clothes seemed to be the Magic Academy’s uniforms.

“Ah, come to think of it, all the students at the academy were wearing clothes of this color.”

Heeh, even temporary students like us are allowed to wear the uniform.

In my previous life, I was taught one-on-one by my master, so wearing a uniform feels a bit refreshing.

“Nn, the fabric is quite good.”

Meguri-san seemed more interested in the fabric used than the design of the uniform.

Fumu, at first glance, it looks like ordinary fabric. It doesn’t seem like any special materials are used.

In that case…

“He says, ‘If the size doesn’t fit, have the hem adjusted at the tailor I patronize.'”

While reading the memo included with the clothes, Mina-san told us to have the hems adjusted later.

I thought we’d have to do that kind of thing ourselves, but to show consideration even for that, he really is taking care of every little detail.

“Fufun, well then, let’s try them on right away!”

” ” Ooooh! ” “

No sooner had she spoken than the girls dashed into their respective rooms with the momentum of the wind.

” ” ” O-Ooooh… ” ” “

Taken aback by their high energy, we were involuntarily overwhelmed.

Hmm, a woman’s fashion soul burns bright even for an academy uniform, huh…

“Ah, well then, let’s go change too…”

“Y-Yeah.”

“I-Indeed.”

Trailing behind Liliera-san and the girls, we decided to each return to our own rooms and change into the uniforms.

However, since we were just putting on regular clothes, we finished quickly and returned to the living room.

“Oh, you’re here, Bro.”

It seems Jairo-kun was the first one to finish changing.

But perhaps because he changed in a hurry, Jairo-kun’s outfit was a mess.

If you go to the academy dressed like that, the teachers will scold you.

“Jairo-kun, your collar is popped. And your tie too.”

When I quickly adjusted Jairo-kun’s outfit, there stood Jairo-kun, looking neat and tidy, unlike his usual self.

“Thanks, Bro!!”

Grinning broadly, he really looked like a new student.

Well, I’ve never attended an academy either, so I’m a new student just the same.

“By the way, where is everyone? Liliera-san and the others should have gone to change before us, right?”

At that, Jairo-kun flapped his hand, looking exasperated.

“Those guys taking forever to change is nothing new, Bro. They’re probably putting on makeup right about now, aren’t they? Or fussing over ribbons and accessories.”

Makeup? Even though we’re just trying on uniforms!?

Hmm, I don’t really get it, but it seems girls have a hard time changing.

After waiting for a while, we finally heard Liliera-san and the others’ footsteps.

“Sorry for the wait~”

“Geez, you’re slow… eh.”

Jairo-kun was about to complain that he was tired of waiting, but his words cut off mid-sentence.

“What’s wrong, Jairo-ku… ugh.”

Wondering what was going on, I turned around and froze upon seeing the same thing.

” ” ” Ta-da!! ” ” “

Standing there were Liliera-san and the girls, clad in uniforms styled differently than usual.

“How… does it look?”

As for how it looks, it suits them very well.

Outfits prioritizing practicality as adventurers tend to end up looking rugged, except for some expensive threads used. However, since these are made differently, they look very stylish.

Or rather, why does everyone’s uniform look different?

Meguri-san’s skirt is raised above her knees, Mina-san’s is below her knees, and Liliera-san’s is exactly at knee level.

Also, the sleeves on Meguri-san’s uniform are shorter… Ah, she folded them up to make them shorter.

Liliera-san and Mina-san left their sleeves as is.

Instead, they added accents like cuffs to their sleeves.

Furthermore, they were wearing ribbons and hair accessories that they rarely wore when going on adventures.

“…”

In my previous life, I had many opportunities to interact with princesses and noble ladies, so I’ve seen many of their serious outfits arranged by first-class maids.

Raised delicately like butterflies and flowers, they were certainly beautiful, but I was always bothered by the evaluating gazes that peeked through from within, and I couldn’t help but be on guard, unable to see them purely as members of the opposite sex.

But from the girls in front of me, I couldn’t sense that unique noble intimidation demanding to be praised, nor the hostility-like gaze aiming to captivate the other party.

Faced with their genuine words, I was bewildered as to how to answer.

But if I had to say…

“Umm, Lexus-san?”

“…!? Ah, yes! You look very cute!!”

Even though I thought I needed to think carefully and give a proper answer, when called out to, I ended up blurting out exactly what I thought.

Wait, crap!!

“!? R-R-R-Really!? Th-Thank you.”

“N-No, you’re welcome.”

It was a comment I let slip just like that, but surprisingly, it didn’t seem to offend Liliera-san.

Th-That was close…

“Fuffun, what do you think of this styling? Isn’t it perfect?”

“O-Oh…”

Looking away to escape the awkwardness, I saw Jairo-kun being similarly questioned by Mina-san over there.

“Hnn? Is that it?”

Mina-san slipped into the hesitant Jairo-kun’s personal space, glaring at him from point-blank range and demanding a proper answer.

Uwaa, that’s hard to escape from…

“W-Well, it ain’t bad, is it?”

At the blunt answer the cornered Jairo-kun barely managed to spit out, Mina-san sighed, but strangely enough, she didn’t seem displeased.

“You really are… Haa, well whatever. I’ll take that attitude as your answer.”

“Wh-What do you mean by that!?”

Though the red-faced Jairo-kun snapped at her, Mina-san dodged it with a nonchalant attitude.

“Well now, I wonder what I mean?”

Just like that, Jairo-kun and Mina-san started chasing each other around the room, but it somehow looked like a heartwarming scene where both were trying to hide their embarrassment.

“Huh? By the way, where is Norb?”

Then, Mina-san spoke up, noticing Norb-san’s absence.

Now that she mentioned it, looking around, Norb-san was indeed nowhere to be found.

“Huh, come to think of it, he’s not here.”

“Hey Norb, what’s wrong?”

Hearing our conversation and stopping the chase, Jairo-kun called out to Norb-san. Hesitantly, Norb-san peeked just his face out from the back.

“U-Umm, well… my clothes are a bit…”

“What are you doing? Hurry up and come here.”

“Ah, wait a se—”

Heading over to Norb-san, Jairo-kun pulled his arm, causing Norb-san to lose his balance and reveal himself.

However, seeing his appearance, our eyes involuntarily turned into dots.

” ” ” ” ” Eh!? ” ” ” ” “

Unbelievably, what Norb-san was wearing wasn’t the male uniform we were wearing, but the female uniform Liliera-san and the girls were wearing.

“P-Please don’t look!!”

“Why are you wearing a girl’s uniform!?”

At the completely unexpected sight, Mina-san cried out in surprise.

“N-No! The leftover uniform was a woman’s!!”

Then, Norb-san replied with a voice resembling a scream that the uniform he picked up was for women.

“No, then why did you put it on?”

Yeah, well, exactly.

If he noticed, he should have just taken it off halfway.

“I noticed after I put it on! I never thought it would be a woman’s!”

“No, no, even so, you’d notice while putting it on…”

That’s also true.

“Priest clothes are often robe-like anyway!! That’s why I didn’t realize it was for women when I put it on!!”

“Ah, well, now that you mention it, true…”

Certainly, now that he mentions it, many church officials wear robes.

Even among mages, quite a few wear robes.

Not realizing that a uniform he’s never worn before was actually for women… I guess it’s not entirely impossible?

“But…”

Be that as it may, we stared intently at Norb-san wearing the female uniform.

” ” ” ” It suits him. ” ” ” “

Yeah, it suited him very well.

“N-Stop itttttt!!”

Embarrassed, Norb-san ran back to his room.

“Couldn’t you just attend as a girl like that?”

“Absolutely not!!”

W-Well, of course he wouldn’t want to.

“Jokes aside, we need to contact Grandfather and have him prepare another male uniform.”

Shouldn’t you have told him that first?

“Please do it as fast as possible!!”

Despite such troubles, we finished checking the received luggage and prepared for our first day at the Magic Academy…

“…Hey.”

Then, Meguri-san, who had been silent the whole time, spoke up.

Wondering if we had forgotten something else, I turned around and saw Meguri-san puffing her cheeks out in a pout.

“Why isn’t anyone complimenting my outfit?”

” ” ” ” ” …Ah. ” ” ” ” “

Crap! We completely forgot because of Norb-san’s uniform commotion!!

” ” ” ” ” W-We’re sorry… ” ” ” ” “

“Boo.”

Although we immediately apologized to Meguri-san, her bad mood didn’t subside. We ended up having to shower her with compliments until she was in a good mood again…

“Huh? Is there still something left?”

Having finally finished checking the luggage after Meguri-san somehow forgave us, we realized something was left at the bottom of the box.

“Is this… a collar?”

What remained was a somewhat large collar.

But why a collar? As we tilted our heads in confusion, Mina-san picked up a memo left at the bottom of the box.

“Ah, it seems this is for Fluffy. Apparently, it’s to make it clear that he’s a student’s pet.”

A collar for Fluffy!? Why again?

“Let’s see. ‘Since a pet using magic is unprecedented, it was judged that research is necessary, and as a special exception, it is permitted to be brought to the academy,’ it says.”

Ah, is it because Fluffy used magic during yesterday’s exam?

But a monster using magic is unprecedented? There should be quite a few monsters that use magic, though…?

Ah, but Fluffy is a baby monster that even I have never seen before, so maybe they judged it has academic research value? Does that mean Fluffy might actually be a surprisingly rare monster?

“But this is a huge help. If we aren’t around, Fluffy would have to stay home alone, and he seemed like he’d be lonely.”

Yeah, even if he is a monster, it would be pitiful to leave a baby home alone.

” ” ” ” ” No, no, this guy is definitely not that innocent. ” ” ” ” “

However, for some reason, everyone strongly denied it, saying that wasn’t the case.

“Kyukkyuu.”

Fluffy also raised his front paws as if to say, I’ll be fine!, but looking at his trembling gaze, it’s obvious he’d be lonely by himself.

“It’s okay. We won’t leave you all alone, Fluffy.”

“Kyufun!?”

He normally has a face that says I’m all grown up, but his true feelings slipping out at times like this shows he’s still just a kid.

“Kyukyukyukyuu!!”

Perhaps embarrassed that his true feelings were noticed, Fluffy flailed around in a panic.

Ahaha, how cute.

“Then I guess we’ll gratefully accept this.”

And so, we immediately decided to put the collar on Fluffy.

“But, can this even be put on Fluffy?”

“Eh?”

What does she mean, ‘can it be put on’?

“Because, Fluffy‘s body is…”

Saying that, Liliera-san pointed at Fluffy‘s round body.

“Now that you mention it, how much of this child is actually fur? He’s quite fluffy when you touch him, so the collar might sink into his fur.”

Mumu, now that she mentions it, it might be exactly as Mina-san says.

“You’ll know if you touch him!”

Saying that, Jairo-kun grabbed Fluffy‘s body, and his hands sank into the fur.

“Kyufu!?”

“Hm? Oh, oh, he’s surprisingly furry. His actual body is super thin.”

While saying that, Jairo-kun’s hands sank deep, buried in fur up to his wrists.

“Eeh!? Was that how it was!?”

“That’s surprising.”

It’s true, since Fluffy looks round, I thought his body was round too.

“Let’s try putting it on him for now. If it sinks completely, let’s discuss another method.”

“Right.”

Saying that, Mina-san attached the collar to Fluffy‘s body.

“Ah, it fits perfectly.”

“It really does. It fits perfectly along the line of his body.”

Surprisingly, the collar didn’t sink into the fur; we were able to attach it perfectly along the outer circumference of his body.

“Heeh. So it can be put on properly…”

Yeah, I thought for sure it would sink into the fur and become invisible…

” ” ” ” ” ” Why!? ” ” ” ” ” “

H-Huh!? Why does it fit perfectly!?

“Hold on, Jairo! Didn’t you say his actual body was thin!? He’s packed with meat inside!!”

Mina-san yelled at Jairo-kun, saying his story didn’t match.

“N-No, it was all hollow when I touched him! Seriously!!”

Although Jairo-kun frantically defended himself saying it was true, the fact that the collar fit perfectly meant it was impossible for him to be hollow inside…

“But the collar fits perfectly as if following the surface… huh? My hand is sinking?”

Trying to disprove Jairo-kun’s argument, Mina-san pushed her hand into Fluffy‘s fur, and it sank deeper and deeper.

“My hand… is sinking.”

Strangely enough, Mina-san’s hand sank up to her wrist, just like Jairo-kun’s earlier.

“Eh? Eh? Eh? Why?”

“And the collar shows no sign of slipping down…”

“What is going on!?”

Even though her hand sank properly, the collar showed absolutely no sign of slipping off.

“Ah, could it be that he’s flexing his muscles, or inhaling to puff himself up?”

Guessing that Fluffy might be puffing himself up on purpose, Liliera-san touched Fluffy‘s body.

“Hmm, I don’t feel any hardness like he’s flexing.”

I tried touching him too, but… yeah, he’s squishy.

“His breathing is…”

“Suu, kyufuu, suu, kyufuu.”

“He’s breathing normally.”

It didn’t feel like he was inhaling to puff himself up either.

Or rather, if he had been puffing himself up on purpose, his body should have shrunk and the collar should have fallen off when Mina-san shoved her hand in.

“More importantly, doesn’t the size of this guy’s insides change every time we stick our hands in!?”

” ” ” ” ” Eh? ” ” ” ” “

Thinking that surely couldn’t be the case, we tried sticking our hands into Fluffy‘s fur over and over again.

Then, this time, our hands touched his body almost before sinking into his fur at all.

“H-Huh? Now it’s not sinking at all?”

Just as I thought that, the next time I stuck my hand in, it stopped after sinking about halfway.

“This time it stopped halfway.”

” ” ” ” ” ” … ” ” ” ” ” “

With our hands stuck in Fluffy‘s body, we looked at each other’s faces, then shifted our gazes to Fluffy and said this:

” ” ” ” ” ” What on earth are you!? ” ” ” ” ” “

“Kyufunn.”

Receiving our heartfelt question, Fluffy let out an amused cry… No, seriously, what are you!?

Uwaa, I never thought I’d be questioning Fluffy‘s true identity again over something like this!