DRESS-UP —
chapter twenty-two
"And there ya go, sweetheart! You look like a doll!" Katsuō cheered, stepping away from Korei and throwing her hands up. "Hito, darling, what d'ya think?" The purple-haired male was walking past them with a small packet of some sort of snack cake that Korei had never tasted before. "Isn't she just the prettiest girl in the world?"
Shinsou stood still, looking at Korei as he munched on the snack cake. He thought she was absolutely gorgeous, but he preferred her without make-up. Not that it made her ugly, just that she looked...cheap. Shinsou didn't like make-up that much, especially not on Korei.
"She doesn't need all that make-up, Ma. She looks better without it." He murmured, shrugging, and taking a few steps towards his girlfriend. Korei was sitting there with a bright smile on her glossed lips. Shinsou reached up to brush his thumb over her shiny bottom lip, frowning. "See, I can't kiss you with this stuff on. I can't even offer you a bite of my snack cake." Korei didn't know why but that kinda...hurt? She knew he wasn't meaning it in a mean way but she felt pretty... and he didn't like it.
"Don't be like that, Hitoshi. I think you look amazing, Korei." Katsuō said, swatting Shinsou out of the way. Her arms wrapped around the green-haired girl whose smile had dropped upon hearing her boyfriend's response to her make-up. "Let's get you something cute to wear. We're going out to eat tonight. There's this nice fondue restaurant that I feel like you'd love." She smiled, stroking Korei's frizzy hair.
"I have money so I can pay my way!" Korei giddily explained, her smile back on those glossed lips. Shinsou had to admit that she was adorable. He rolled his eyes at her words, turning to head back into the kitchen whilst Katsuō continued to gush over how sweet his girlfriend was.
"Oh sweetheart, you're not paying for anything! It's my treat!"
"Ah! Katsuō-san! I can't do that to you! I'm sure the place is expensive!" Korei exclaimed, allowing the older woman to pull her onto her feet and lead her towards a room that Korei hadn't been in before. Shinsou showed her a glimpse of it but they never went inside. Surely, Shinsou has been in there before but Korei was in awe of the multiple little figurines on the shelves. Shinsou's mom was an absolute weeb!
"Hush it, sweetheart. I gotcha covered! Do you know what size you wear? I'm certain that I got something cute for ya!" This would have been around the time that Korei clammed up and shut down. Whenever someone asked for her size, she was embarrassed. There weren't a lot of women in Japan her size, and it was disappointing. People used to make fun of her but that was only in her first year of middle school. Most of the hate that she received was from her grandmother nowadays. Instead of being shy, Korei happily responded with her clothing size. Katsuō grinned and opened up her closet to start digging through her outfits. "See, I get a lot of this from brands and photoshoots. If you joined the modeling business then you'd definitely get some free clothes. Though most of the clothes that you get to keep from photoshoots are lingerie, everything else is given back."
"Lingerie?" Korei asked, tilting her head to the side. She knew what it was but she wasn't sure if she had heard Katsuō correctly. Is it really okay for girls like...them to wear clothes like that? Her heart was in her throat when she saw the clothing that Katsuō pulled out of her closet. Everything was so sexy and it looked like something only a model would wear. Well, that's what Katsuō was so that makes sense. Get it together, Korei.
"Well, yeah. I'm not sure if this is something that I should be showing you but it's just fancy underwear so I don't see why not. Did you not know what it was?" The older woman was so sweet and Korei completely understood why Shinsou was such a great kid. Katsuō unfolded one of the lingerie sets that she pulled out. "See, it's pretty sheer and it has quite a bit of lace on it. I've never actually worn this one because it has so much lace. I should probably send this back..." she mumbled to herself, placing it aside on her bed before glancing at Korei's intrigued face. "...unless you want it?"
"O-oh, uh, I know what lingerie is, I just didn't think that...p-people like me...us...could wear stuff like this...?" Korei managed out, hesitantly reaching out to touch the lacy material. It was so soft and it looked absolutely gorgeous. She could feel her stomach doing twists from just how cute the underwear was. Nearly everything was yellow except for a few of the straps and Korei thought that yellow looked really good on her.
"Honey, who the hell told you that?" Katsuō asked, shocked to the point where she stopped looking for a dress for Korei. With a hand on her hip, she looked at her son's green-haired girlfriend. "You tell me exactly who and I'll make sure to have a long talk with them."
"W-well, it's just stuff that my Gran has said to me. It's fine, really. Let's just, uh, look for that dress? Please?" Korei changed the subject, uncomfortable with talking about how she's treated. She doesn't want Katsuō to think that she's ungrateful or anything. She loves her grandmother! There's nothing in this world that could change that but she doesn't want her getting upset with her for talking badly about her with someone else. "A-and I don't think it's okay for me to take this from you. You should just...give it back. Thank you, though."
"Korei, sweetheart, it's a gift from me to you. Keep it. Hell, at least try it on before you tell me that you don't want it. I can even find a different material?"
"I–" she cut herself off, casting her golden-brown gaze back down to the adorable outfit. She knew it looked like something she'd wear. It'd probably look so good on her! Her heart began to race as she pictured herself in the lingerie. Was this bad? Would she get in trouble for having it? "–m-maybe trying it on wouldn't hurt? I like the lace and the color, I just..." she lifted her head up a bit, peering up at Shinsou's mother. "...I'm not sure if it'll look good on me. I'm not exactly...made for stuff like this." Katsuō was once again giving her a look. It wasn't a look of disappointment or pity, it was a look of something that Korei couldn't really read. She's never been good at reading emotions.
"Stop talking about yourself like that, sweetie. You're beautiful and you're allowed to wear things that make you feel like that. Look, just try it on and see how you feel. I know telling you to love yourself isn't gonna do much, you have to feel it for yourself." She gave her a kind smile, patting her shoulder gently before motioning towards the closet. "Let me grab you a few dresses to try on as well, then I'll let you go play dress-up. How's that sound?" Korei nodded, hesitating ever so slightly.
"Thank you, Katsuō-san."
"D'oh, honey," she hugged her tightly, rubbing her back comfortingly. "You're just the sweetest little girl I've ever met. It's gonna kill me if you hurt my son."
fluoxetine