Even though no ropes fettered me, I still felt as if I am confined to this seat. Sitting before me and laying out her makeup equipment on the tabletop was Erith who had a rather amused smile on her face. I looked over and at the girl who was handling those small makeup instruments that I do not know the name of except for what I believe is lipstick. A confused feeling of uncertainty populated my mind as I sat there, waiting as I became the doll that the other girls are getting ready to decorate and accessorize.
"Um," I started speaking, making noise so that I could grab her attention. However, she did not stop with what she was doing. "So what're we doing now?"
"We're gonna make you look the best you've ever looked," Erith said without looking over at me.
"I don't think that's...necessary," I awkwardly smiled, hoping that I could find a way to get myself out of this situation.
"Well," Erith paused and finally looked over in my direction. In her eyes, there was a sense of amusement that stemmed from her teasing nature. "I don't see how that's unnecessary. We're here to make sure that you look pretty."
"I'm grateful that you all are helping," I continued my weak objection. "But—"
Erith pressed her right index finger on my lips, causing them to purse. Her finger was quite cool in temperature, and surprisingly comfortable if not for this weird situation and body positioning.
"Don't be such a let-down," she whispered and smiled. "We're just trying to have fun."
"Huh..."
Slowly, she retracted her finger and went back to preparing everything for my later application of makeup. As she continued and finished up with her preparation, I sat there, staring at her with a sense of uncertainty in my eyes. Maybe it was because of my hormones, but I discovered that I had brought my right hand over my chest while in a loose fist that barely closed. I was surprised by this rather feminine and unintentional gesture, and it was because of this sudden behavior that I finally concluded that having a female body has definitely affected my emotions and behavior. If it weren't for that, there's no way that I would be so submissive. However, maybe it's not that but it was Erith that's making me quite submissive. She just has that aura that seemed to intimidate, yet she's not a bad person that would use this to take advantage of others.
"Hmm..." She paused and stared at my face once again, leaning closer and gazing into my eyes. "Why do you have this submissive look on your face?"
She realized it as well.
"Are your eyes...naturally that watery?" Her voice seemed to have a sense of panic laced into them. Upon her comment, I realized that there did appear to be quite a lot of moisture in my eyes. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah," I responded by smiling. "It's probably just allergies or something."
"It's still winter time," she said.
Then, she brought a hand to my face, which I responded by an uncontrollable flinch and closing of my eyes. However, nothing malicious ever befell me. Instead, I felt a gentle and cool hand lifting up my bangs and pressing against my forehead.
"Your body temperature seems normal," she said, retracting her hand. Then, she paused as she observed my face once again. "Are you that scared of me?"
"Huh?"
I realized that my body had been trembling just earlier and that there was, in fact, some tears in my eyes that was not able to climb out of my eye sockets. Her intimidating aura did play a factor, but I believe the main contributer to my current mental state is a sense of fear, a fear for being applied makeup and trying on clothes in front of them.
Why am I being afraid? I scolded myself as I recognized that this fear was rather irrational. Calm down.
"I'm fine," I answered her.
"If it's about what happened before, then I'm sorry," Erith crossed her arms before her chest and leaned back against the backrest of her seat. "I didn't mean to scare you or anything. In fact, I'm not even after you. I'm just here for your brother."
"Alevian?"
"Yeah," Erith nodded. "I want to see who that person that dragged Luna away from the student council and attracted her to spend time with you all are."
"What does that have to do with Alevian?" I inquired further, curious as to the reason why Erith had targetted me.
"Well," Erith opened one eye and looked at me. "That's the person she talks about the most when she's with me, sometimes even more than her boyfriend. Say," she then leaned forward on the table onto her elbows. "Your brother's not gay, right?"
"Of course he's not," I quickly answered, blushing somewhat as my sexuality is being questioned.
"Then that's weird," Erith frowned and leaned back down on the backrest. "If your brother's not gay, then why would Luna always talk about him?"
"Is something wrong?" I asked.
"Luna already has a boyfriend who she's been dating for a while now and their relationship is one of the best I've seen," Erith started saying. "So it's weird she would talk about other boys if they're not gay."
Right, she has a boyfriend.
I recalled the time in the former timeline in which she had informed me of her boyfriend. It was a pretty brief conversation, so brief that it may as well be nonexistent. However, it was just enough for me to have an impression of it. She had left her boyfriend in that timeline to protect him from suffering, and in addition to that, she also said that her heart belongs to him. Those were, if I recall correctly, her own words.
For some reason, there was a moment of sadness in my heart, causing me to frown somewhat. However, that feeling of depression soon disappeared. I feel like recently, after all that that had happened to me, news like these wouldn't have much of an effect on me. Besides, why am I feeling that sense of feeling in the first place? It's not normal.
"I don't know," I said, continuing the conversation and allowing my mind to return back to the conversation.
"How weird is that?" Erith nodded. "So, can we begin?"
"Begin what?"
"Makeup," Erith smiled and got up, moving her seat closer to mine, and brought the powder puff closer to my face. "We'll start with the powder. Hold still, I need to see what color you need as a base."
"Do we really have to do this?" I leaned back in a reluctant manner.
"We've already come this far already," Erith said. "You're gonna let Irina, Luna, and maybe even Muria down?"
Her mentioning of the others made me second think my decision. Like what she had said, the others appeared to be quite curious about the outcome of this, so if I refuse, then I'll be ruining their mood. They accompanied me here today to help pick out clothes for me, so...I guess I have no choice.
"Fine," I sighed and give up on resisting. I closed my eyes and sat still.
"Good," Erith smiled.
***
In the dressing room, I had just finished changing into a light grey knitted sweater while wearing a zip-up hooded wool coat over it. Then, there were the grey skinny jeans that were matched with a pair of black boots. As a decorative touch, the girls had chosen out a platinum-colored necklace for me to wear around my neck, and the pendant of the necklace, which rested on my breasts, was emphasized as it shined and glistened against the grey background.
My face was red as I stared at the long mirror up against the wall. I can say with great certainty, that if I were to walk around the streets of the city right now, dressed in this outfit, I might just so happen to be assaulted. It's a rather alluring, almost seductive appearance that I have on now that makeup was applied. In addition, the clothing the girls had chosen for me seemed to emphasize my bodily features, with the sweater matching almost too perfectly with the curvature of my breasts as well as showing the slenderness of my waist.
This is bad, I thought to myself. Slowly, I brought a hand up to the mirror and rested it on the cold surface. This outfit looks amazing, and I have to give credit where credit is due.
Erith is a master at applying makeup. The lipstick does not appear too forced, making it appear almost as if my lips were naturally that color. Then, there was the light layer of powder on my face. Since my face does not have any impurities such as pimples, which I guess is due to the fact that this body is recently created, I did not require much of the powder. That, in turn, meant that whatever powder she did apply, it only further brought out the natural qualities of my skin. Aside from that, the lightly applied black eyeshadows, as well as the black eyeliner, seemed to further make my eyes appear even larger and more appealing than they were before.
Then there was the outfit, which like I had pointed out before, seemed to be a perfect fit for my body. It appeared to be rather a kind that just further emphasized all the good physical qualities about me. I am actually surprised at how well the girls were able to pick out clothing that both looked well-designed and fitted my size and style.
When I stepped out of the fitting room and moved the curtains to the side, I drew a round of awes from the girls who were waiting for me to finish changing.
"How does it look?" I asked shyly, my face still somewhat red.
"You're beautiful," Irina complimented.
"I don't know how you do it, but how does your skin stay so smooth?" Erith shrugged and shook her head.
"T-thanks," I replied with a smile on my face. This smile, if I'm not mistaken, actually stemmed from joy. Slowly, I am starting to enjoy being complimented.
"Do you like it?" Luna took a step forward towards me and asked.
"Yeah," I nodded.
"Muria actually picked out the sweater," Luna pointed out and looked over at Muria, who had looked away possibly to avoid a confrontation.
"Really?" I exclaimed, my voice softening after experience a round of molding from today's shopping experience. "Thank you, Muria."
I smiled in her direction with great gratitude, eliciting a blush on her end as well as she quietly muttered: "You're welcome."
"You want to buy this outfit or do you want to keep looking?" Erith asked me.
"I'm thinking of just buying this one first so we can have it in a bag altogether," I said, twisting and turning my body such that I could grab hold of the price tag for the sweater to look at it.
The moment when I saw the price tag, I felt my heart skip a beat. My facial expression completely froze as my system shut down and had to be rebooted.
That day, I understood why girls who focus on maintaining their appearance spend so much money on clothing. It's not that they buy a lot. It's just that each piece of clothing costs a ton.
Author's Notes:
Street Model Luna
If you think the story's pacing is a bit slow, please let me know in the comments.
And if you think the story has become a bit boring, please know that the story is in a transition phase to the next major event so I'm focusing a bit more on the light-hearted slice-of-life stuff right now. Know that once spring break comes along in the book, things will get serious, like next level serious. The Luna arc compared to what will happen in the next Major arc is nothing.
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