The General's Thoughts (Aether x Sara)

Chapter 6: Ideal Clothes

Aether was speechless towards Sara's words. After all, it was a sudden shift in mood. He was surprised to see Sara simply pass it off, not mentioning the topic anymore.

Aether ended up playing along with her, after all, he was sure that what he said seemed painful to hear. It was as if he was intentionally trying to shake her faith. He knew it was best to avoid the topic of the Shogun; not when Sara herself wasn't aware of the two sides to the Shogun.

Ei and the Raiden Shogun- But that fated encounter between Sara and her would happen eventually.

The two finally approached the person who stood near the entrance.

Ogura, the owner of the store stood primly, smiling at the two in a deadpan manner. Clearly, she too much like Kuroda, didn't expect a visit by a general either. She didn't know what reaction she should have had when this came out of nowhere.

With her eyes closed, sweat running down her head, and a nervous smile, it had made her seem all the more suspicious. Ogura pondered all scenarios to deduce the reason for Sara's sudden visit, her purposes in coming here, alongside many other unnecessary things.

Each thing she envisioned contained a bad ending for her, making her miss the most obvious scenario as to why someone would visit a clothing store. After all, General Sara rarely goes to a store for personal needs.

"..O-oh, what an honor to have a general visit this humble store of mine... Could there be something wrong here?" Her smile became more forced followed by a voice that lacked strength. As Aether noticed her pained expression; he wanted to swiftly clear the misunderstanding

"Don't worry Ogura, she's just here to look around." Aether said with a beam, she ended up trusted his words, nodding her head in understanding. He had already been acquainted with Ogura, and the two have interacted multiple times allowing her to quickly accept his words.

She calmed her inner turmoil and proceeded to greet Sara with the usual business smile.

"Apologies for my manner of speech earlier... Er- Hello! Welcome to Ogura Textiles and Kimonos. We provide quality textiles and kimonos hence our name, but now... We have many new clothings, made from high-class Liyue silk!" Ogura's words were spirited when she advertised her store.

She could finally get her hands on imported silk due to Inazuma abolishing the Sakoku Decree in favor of its development. A decision Ei painstakingly came to realize after an ardous battle which both Aether and Sara knew well.

Sara was taken aback as she saw the various clothes displayed at the back of Ogura, hung up on new hanger stands next to the Pink Kimono. Different sizes, styles, kinds, either for male or female and unisex. The distinct lineup of clothes was appealing to view for any observer.

"...I know I stated that clothes make the person but..." Sara muttered to herself, reprimanding her earlier lively words uttered to Aether. She was utterly dazed as to what to look for in the myriad of clothing.

She paced back and forth, observing each clothing that were shown in detail. From a black suit to a pink frilly dress, both made Sara frown unpleasantly.

"..." Her silence made the air stifling for Ogura who felt confident in her newly made wares. Sara relocated her gaze to the Kimono section, a faint bitter longing was displayed within her eyes as she saw the numerous kimonos.

"...I must compliment this store, it has a diverse set of clothing to choose from. It's truly amazing." Sara finally said, audible enough to be heard by both Aether and Ogura, walking closer to the kimonos.

"It's a shame that... I don't believe any of those clothing would match with my appea-"

"WHAT?" Aether yelled out in surprise, interrupting Sara mid-sentence. Sara shifted her head back to face Aether, startled from his outburst.

"I-it's true...is it not?" Sara asked, genuinely confused.

"I think you may need a mirror if you truly believe that." Aether facepalmed himself with a sigh, shaking his head. "I'll say this in simple terms. Sara, you're beautiful."

...

Sara took a long while to process Aether's words, staring blankly at the convinced golden eyes of the Traveler. Ogura did a light whistle favoring this romantic situation.

Sara's face started to redden immediately when she came to an understanding of Aether's comment. She wanted to rebuke him with a yell but...

For some strange reason, words wouldn't come out of her mouth. As if stopped by a magic spell, she couldn't bring herself to say anything back. An awkward stillness was held within the store where all sound halted. Though for Sara, she could only hear her stampeding heart, pounding loudly as it hastily beated.

Aether's sigh faded as he too, came to a realization on what was said.

"I-I mean that you'd look in any clothes!" This added a further layer to Sara's harsh blush.

"N-no, I mea-"

"I a-already understand, there's no need to say anymore! I'll try on one of the outfits!" Sara replied back with a trembling voice, with the only intention of wanting Aether to be quiet.

As soon as Sara said those words, a fire was lit in Ogura's eyes. She grabbed ahold of a folded dark cloth which was buried under many other clothes, rushing straight towards Sara at full speed.

"Why don't you try on this?" Ogura questioned excitedly, confronting Sara with the long sleeved dark kimono. She was ecstatic to have a model prepared just for her, heavensent during her most precarious of times.

Ogura was actually stumped when creating the many clothes, wishing to see it worn on a person to check how it looked. And now, Sara was going to be her test subject for the day.

As Sara received the kimono from her hands, she opened the folded cloth up and became astounded with what she saw.

The kimono had an elegant design with patterns of lightning slivers beginning to rise from the hems of the kimono. Those patterns continued to streak upwards reaching the obi located at the middle, the belt of the kimono.

The belt of the kimono was a deep crimson, and it overall increased the already striking design of black and purple. The redness of the belt would match with a certain Tengu who bore a red mask.

The unique color scheme of jet-black and violet enhanced the visual representation of the kimono as they harmonized well together.

It almost seemed like it was tailor-made for Sara herself.

"It's..." Sara was momentarily befuddled by the attractive design of the kimono, not being able to find the words to describe it. But she did know that she loved its design and the best way to compliment the creator.

"I want five of these." She stated with a look of true resolution

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