Tōhō Getsukai carried the shopping bags and followed at a leisurely pace, while Ran had already been dragged to a halt in front of a brightly lit display window.
The boutique was on the smaller side, dedicating its floor space entirely to high-end, exclusive footwear.
Warm yellow spotlights angled down onto the display cases, illuminating every pair of shoes as if they were priceless museum exhibits.
The air inside carried the rich, heavy scent of premium leather, mingled with a faint, elusive floral fragrance that lingered in the background.
Sonoko pointed a rigid finger directly toward a corner display, singling out a pair of black, low-heeled Mary Janes.
They featured a classic round toe and a delicate single-strap buckle.
The leather surface was crafted so finely that it emitted a soft, buttery luster under the lights.
The heel sat at exactly three centimeters, a perfectly balanced height.
Tōhō cast a brief glance over them, his professional judgment arriving in an instant.
The silhouette was correct, the width looked accommodating, and the arch support appeared structurally sound.
They were, objectively speaking, a very good pair of shoes.
“With such beautiful legs, Sister Tōhō, it would be a tragic loss for all of humanity if you didn’t try on the shoes here!” Sonoko pressed her palms together, dropping into a dramatic, pleading pose.
“All of humanity has absolutely no say in what shoes I choose to wear.”
“Then just do it for the sake of my and Ran’s visual pleasure!”
Ran nodded furiously beside her best friend, her head bobbing at such a rapid frequency it looked like it might detach from her neck and fly across the room.
Tōhō set the assortment of shopping bags down beside a plush velvet sofa and took a seat.
Fine.
He thought the shoes looked quite nice anyway.
A shop assistant approached to offer her services, but her polished, customer-service smile froze halfway across her face the moment she got a clear look at Tōhō’s features.
She stood rooted to the spot, completely stunned for two full seconds, before forcefully dragging her professional composure back to the surface.
She stammered slightly as she asked what size the customer needed to try.
“Thirty-seven.”
The assistant spun around and trotted off to retrieve the stock.
Tōhō bent forward, his slender fingers resting against the metal clasp of his right shoe.
Click.
The buckle came undone, and the little leather shoe slid effortlessly off his instep.
Then came the left foot.
He placed the two shoes neatly side-by-side on the floor.
His feet, encased in pristine, short white socks, stepped lightly onto the dark wooden floorboards of the boutique.
The cuffs of the socks rested just above his ankle bones, highlighting the slender, elegant contour of his ankles.
Through the thin, breathable cotton, the delicate shape of his toe bones was faintly visible.
Tōhō rotated his ankles in a slow circle.
Beneath the surface, his Hamon Breathing circulated naturally along his meridians.
After walking around the shopping mall for an entire afternoon, his calves were undeniably a bit sore.
The subtle, rhythmic energy of the Ripple spread outward from the soles of his feet, and the lingering muscle fatigue melted away in seconds.
His ten toes subconsciously stretched outward, fanning wide before curling back inward, creating small, satisfying arcs inside the fabric of his socks.
It was exactly like a lazy cat stretching in the sun.
He thought absolutely nothing of the movement.
However, the breathing patterns of the two girls sitting directly opposite him underwent a drastic change.
Sonoko locked her gaze onto those feet.
Her mouth hung slightly open, her pupils visibly dilating.
Ran immediately whipped her head away to stare at a blank wall, the tips of her ears burning a bright, furious red.
Tōhō reached down and peeled off his white socks as well, folding them into neat little squares and placing them gently on top of his discarded leather shoes.
He stepped barefoot onto the dark wood.
The warm yellow spotlight shone down with perfect precision.
His ten toes were fair and tinged with a healthy pink, the nails trimmed into clean, rounded shapes that carried a natural, pale pink luster.
His arches possessed a smooth, flawless curve, and the faint, delicate blue patterns of his veins were just barely visible beneath the translucent skin on the tops of his feet.
If anyone were to point at these feet and claim they belonged to a straight teenage boy, not a single soul on this earth would believe them.
Tōhō lifted his right foot to rest casually across his left knee.
He picked up the leather shoe he had just taken off, brought it directly to his nose, and took a deliberate sniff.
The entire boutique plunged into a dead, absolute silence for half a second.
He lowered the shoe without a single shift in his expression and gave a small nod of approval.
“It smells good.”
His tone was entirely flat, merely stating a clinical fact.
In his mind, the logic behind this action was absolutely flawless.
He had been walking around in these shoes all afternoon.
Checking for any unpleasant odor before exposing his bare feet in a public setting was just basic, fundamental etiquette.
As it turned out, not only was there no bad smell, but the leather actually retained a faint, fresh fragrance.
Completely reasonable.
Completely normal.
But to Ran and Sonoko, the sheer volume of information packed into that single action required a moment to process.
A peerless, silver-haired beauty, who was, biologically speaking, a boy.
Sitting barefoot with feet so delicate it was practically a crime, casually picking up his own shoe, sniffing it, and declaring it smelled good.
Not even the cheapest late-night soap operas would dare write a script like this.
Ran’s face flushed a violent crimson all the way down to the roots of her neck.
She slapped both hands over her face, and the slivers of skin peeking through her fingers were entirely pink.
Sonoko’s reaction sat on the complete opposite end of the spectrum.
She leaned forward, her eyes gleaming with a terrifying, predatory light.
“I don’t believe it.”
“Hmm?”
“Unless you let me smell it.”
Sonoko wore an expression of horrifying seriousness.
Her tone was laced with a dark persistence, the kind that refused to yield until her ultimate goal was achieved.
The Second Miss of the Suzuki Financial Group, a wealthy heiress worth billions, looked absolutely no different in this moment from a degenerate pervert lurking in a dark alleyway.
Tōhō raised his hand and flicked his knuckles against Sonoko’s forehead, delivering a knock that was neither too light nor too heavy.
“Ms.
Sonoko Suzuki, what happened to your refined heiress persona?
It is shattered.
The pieces are all over the floor.”
“Ouch!” Sonoko clutched her forehead, but her eyes continued to dart obsessively toward the discarded shoes.
Ran finally snapped out of her embarrassment.
She lunged forward, clamped her hands over Sonoko’s mouth, and physically dragged her best friend backward.
“Sonoko, stop talking!
I am literally begging you!
We are still in a public store!”
“Mmph mmmph mmmph—” Sonoko thrashed against the hold, her mouth heavily muffled as she squeezed out a barely coherent sentence.
“How is smelling it any different from a five-star meal!”
Ran stared at her, completely lost for words.
Tōhō sat comfortably on the velvet sofa with his legs crossed, watching the absurd physical comedy these two high-society girls were performing in the middle of a luxury boutique.
He had to force his lips into a straight line to keep from twitching.
So the Second Miss of the Suzuki family harbored a hidden, degenerate fetish.
Good to know.
He made a mental note to pay special attention to this particular weakness for future system tasks.
The shop assistant walked back holding a pristine shoebox, and this was the exact scene she walked into.
A silver-haired, peerlessly beautiful girl sitting leisurely on the sofa with bare feet crossed, while two teenage girls wrestled in a tangled heap beside her, one desperately covering a mouth and the other thrashing for freedom.
The assistant fought a grueling internal battle to maintain her customer-service smile.
“Um…
the shoes you wanted to try…”
“Thank you.”
Tōhō accepted the box and lifted the lid.
The leather texture was indeed exceptional, soft to the touch yet structurally supportive.
He slid his right foot inside.
The material molded perfectly to the curve of his instep.
He reached down and fastened the single-strap buckle.
Click.
Left foot.
Click.
He stood up.
Under the direct beam of the spotlight, the black Mary Janes encased his fair feet, the delicate strap crossing his instep and pressing out a shallow, elegant arc.
The three-centimeter heel elongated the lines of his calves, making them appear even more slender.
From the ankles up, the entire length of his legs was exposed beneath the hem of his pleated skirt.
He shifted his weight, lifted his right leg slightly to point his toe against the floorboards, and turned at a graceful angle.
“How is it?”
Ran had already released her chokehold on Sonoko.
The two girls stood side-by-side, sharing a unified expression of awe and a unified, breathless silence.
Then the silence broke.
“I am actually going to be moved to tears by how beautiful Sister Tōhō is.” Ran’s voice trembled with genuine emotion.
“I am already crying.” Sonoko raised the back of her hand and dramatically wiped the corner of her eye.
“In a spiritual sense.”
Tōhō looked down at his feet.
Hmm.
They were indeed very good-looking.
The low-heeled style was highly comfortable, ensuring his feet wouldn’t tire out during long walks.
They offered a touch more elegance than his previous pair of standard loafers, yet they weren’t overly formal.
Absolutely perfect for pairing with a JK uniform skirt for daily wear.
“This is the pair.”
“Buy, buy, buy!” Sonoko scrambled toward the checkout counter like a woman possessed.
“I am paying for these!”
“There is no need, I will pay for them myself—”
“If you let me pay, Sister Tōhō, you are giving me face!
You refused to let me smell your shoe earlier, so you are legally obligated to give me this tiny bit of financial compensation!”
Tōhō and Ran fell into a synchronized, deadpan silence for a full second.
“Sonoko, can we please never, ever bring that up again.” Ran’s voice was incredibly soft, yet it carried a highly lethal warning.
“Okay, I am shutting up.”
Sonoko slapped her premium credit card onto the counter, paid the exorbitant total, and had the assistant pack up the old shoes, all in one fluid, practiced motion.
Tōhō did not bother changing back.
He walked right out of the boutique wearing the brand-new Mary Janes.
He had simply stuffed his white socks into his old loafers and placed them into the shopping bag.
Wearing Mary Janes completely barefoot.
The smooth leather of the shoe’s interior pressed snugly against his bare instep, and with every step he took, the single-strap buckle swayed with a subtle, rhythmic grace.
Ran walked closely on his left side, happily holding onto his arm.
Sonoko flanked him on the right, carrying the luxury shopping bag.
The three of them strolled out of the shoe store, a small mountain of bags between them, and merged back into the bustling flow of weekend mall traffic.
“Where to next?” Tōhō asked, his voice light.
“Shall we go grab some dessert?
I saw a brand-new place that just opened up on the third floor—”
Sonoko’s sentence died in her throat.
Her gaze snapped over Tōhō’s shoulder, locking onto a specific direction at the far end of the corridor.
Ran also drew to a sudden halt.
Tōhō followed their line of sight, looking down the busy walkway.
Striding confidently down the center of the corridor was a teenage boy wearing a sharp blue suit jacket, his hands casually shoved into his pockets as he scanned the crowd left and right.
The bangs on his forehead swept slightly upward, and his face carried a signature, borderline-arrogant smile of absolute self-assurance.
Shinichi Kudo.
Second-year student at Teitan High School, self-proclaimed high school Great Detective, and Ran’s childhood sweetheart.
Though, according to Ran herself, she and Shinichi were just friends.
Nothing more.
End of discussion.
Do not ask further.
Shinichi clearly spotted them in the crowd.
His confident stride faltered for a fraction of a second before he quickened his pace, his mouth already opening to call out across the distance.
“Ran!
Sonoko!
You guys are here too—”
His gaze drifted from his two classmates and landed squarely on the silver-haired figure standing between them.
Shinichi’s footsteps ceased completely.
The signature confident smile remained plastered on his face, but his jaw had entirely forgotten how to close.
Tōhō tilted his head, offering a soft, impossibly gentle greeting.
“Long time no see, Shinichi.”
[Akarin’s Note:
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