“Kyaaah! Hero, please sign for me!”
“Huh? The Hero? Where? Where?”
I was on my way to where my friends were waiting, but as soon as I stepped out of the staff room, I was blocked by a wall of people.
I tried to force my way through, but there was no gap in sight. If I went out like this, I’d likely get stuck, unable to move forward or back.
“Hmm? I was told not to keep you waiting too long, but no one said I had to come right away.”
Mariel spoke as she saw me step out and turn back.
Instead of explaining, I grabbed her hand and quietly led Mariel out of the door of the staff room.
“Kyaaaah! Saint, please hold my hand!”
“What? The Saint? Where? Where?”
As I pulled Mariel, still dithering with the hand I held, she quickly retreated back into the staff room.
“…Do you understand why I came back?”
“…Can we get out of here?”
Honestly, I never anticipated such a large crowd, nor did I expect that they would greet Mariel and me with such enthusiasm.
It’s not like we’re stranded on a deserted island, but being trapped among the crowd is almost like being a castaway. The absurdity of it makes me want to laugh.
If there were no prior commitments, I might just spend the time chatting with Mariel, but our friends are already waiting outside.
Our friends are probably waiting for us at the agreed-upon spot we arranged before the closing ceremony.
“Excuse me.”
Just as I was anxiously waiting for time to pass, a familiar voice reached my ears.
Under normal circumstances, the staff room is strictly controlled, and outsiders are not allowed in.
However, whether she used her status as a former Hero candidate or as my friend, Selian somehow managed to enter the tent.
“AH! Selian!”
Reacting immediately to the unexpected voice, I called out Selian’s name. She, too, responded to my voice and turned her gaze toward me.
“Thought I’d drop by just in case, but it was as expected.”
Selian approached and glanced at Mariel sitting beside me before handing me an envelope.
With a questioning look, I took the envelope she handed me and examined its contents.
Inside the envelope was one of the outfits Selian usually wears.
“Though hard to cover your hair, changing clothes should fool a few eyes. At the very least, it should be enough to break free from the crush of people.”
“Selian…!”
What a savior! It’s like a lifeline thrown to me as I’m drowning.
“…Here.”
In addition to the envelope she gave me, Selian handed another one to Mariel with the other hand.
“Since we’re here, I brought an outfit for the Saint as well. It’s hard to imagine the Saint in casual wear, but this should do.”
Mariel received the envelope reluctantly from Selian and then quietly said:
“…Thank you.”
“It’s not like you didn’t know the situation. Just take the clothes you wore earlier and do what you want with them.”
Though it could seem a bit showy to an outsider, knowing the circumstances and understanding Selian as I do, her shy behavior seems nothing but endearing.
“The clothes… Can I change over there?”
Looking where Selian pointed, I saw a makeshift dressing room prepared for the staff.
With Annie and Yuli waiting, I got up to head over to change as quickly as possible.
“Hmm?”
However, for some reason, Selian held my hand and wouldn’t let go.
“Would the Saint mind changing first? There’s no need for both of us to jam into such a small space.”
“The space seems big enough for two… But, since I’ve been helped, I should show some manners, right?”
Even with Master-Slave Mark hidden by underwear, changing in front of others remains uncomfortable.
Therefore, I appreciated Mariel’s offer to change first, although I did feel a bit disappointed in my heart.
Just a tiny bit.
Maybe?
“Anyway, if you’d come back from fetching clothes from my room, you could’ve brought my clothes as well.”
“T-That… It’s not polite to touch someone else’s clothes without permission. So, I brought my own. Absolutely not because of any other thought!”
“Oh, come on. Between you and me, Selian, why worry about such things?”
Of course, I wouldn’t say this if it were underwear. Even if it was Selian… No, because it’s Selian, it’d be embarrassing. But it’s just clothing, and it’s not like it matters much. Some of the clothes I own were even given by Selian.
“Hmm? But isn’t this… underwear? I thought covering what can be seen is enough, but we don’t necessarily need to change underwear, right?”
As I peeked inside the envelope, I noticed a thin white set of underwear hidden beneath the other clothes.
It wasn’t mine. The obvious owner was Selian in front of me.
Though I wear female undergarments too, looking at another girl’s underwear made me extremely uncomfortable.
Without looking in a mirror, I already knew my face was bright red.
“T-That… Somehow I ended up bringing underwear too. While we’re at it, how about changing your underwear as well? You might be sweaty from the closing ceremony, and you’ll be uncomfortable if you’re walking around all day with Annie and Yuli.”
“A-But… Even if that’s the case, underwear is a little…”
“I’m not at all concerned! Didn’t you say earlier that you wouldn’t mind?”
“T-That was…”
“You said it, right?”
“Sure, I said it…”
“Then it’s settled. Please change your underwear as well. Understood?”
“U-Um… Okay…”
There was no escaping Selian’s relentless pressure.
Though we skipped the underwear conversation, I did say out loud that I didn’t care.
“Ta-dah! How about it, Hero? Does it suit me?”
While I was caught without a move, Mariel spun around gracefully in her changed outfit.
Even though it was the same piece of clothing, the charm was different when worn by Selian.
“They say the face completes fashion, don’t they?”
And with a face and figure like Mariel’s, this phrase fits her 200%.
“Ahaha… Thank you, Hero. I feel shy when you say that.”
Her slightly coquettish behavior was beyond adorable, even flirting.
“Hurry up and change. Yuli and Anne are waiting.”
Realizing I had been staring for too long, Selian gently pushed me toward the dressing room.
“Ah, sorry. I’ll change and come out soon.”
“Haven’t you forgotten what we talked about earlier? I’ll reconfirm.”
“…Yeah.”
Even though a few minutes hadn’t passed since our conversation, Selian still remembered.
I entered the changing room with the envelope.
After removing the armor and clothes I was wearing, I was left in my underwear.
As I slowly reached into the envelope and pulled out the clothes and the underwear,
It felt fine earlier when I glanced at it, but now that I was holding it, it almost felt like I was being a pervert.
A bit gross, but if I may briefly talk about my past as an assassin, exchanging underwear with the same gender wasn’t entirely uncommon.
Our funds were limited, so the number of panties allocated per individual was restricted, leading to cases where people would stealthily steal others’ underwear if they had a chance.
Initially, I couldn’t understand why anyone would do that, but when I was left with only one pair of panties, I too began stealing and wearing others’ underwear.
Please don’t judge. It was a survival struggle.
Situations like this can arise where one ends up wearing someone else’s underwear.
Selian must have lent her underwear thinking it’s no big deal since we’re both girls.
Among girls, probably exchanges of underwear are more common than among men.
So wearing Selian’s underwear is by no means unusual.
To rationalize my actions, I unhooked the bra I was wearing.
After putting my bra in the envelope, I tried on Selian’s.
…It’s a little too big.
Thus, Selian’s measurements must be… Hmm…
Hot!
Right-minded thoughts, right-minded thoughts!
What just happened was just a slip. I am not exploiting Selian’s kindness to indulge my desires.
As I calmed my slightly excited emotions, I placed my hands on my hips.
I slowly lowered my hand and removed my underwear, placing it back into the envelope like before.
Though no one is watching, due to the Master-Slave Mark, I hastily changed into the underwear Selian provided.
Thankfully, unlike the bra, the underwear fit perfectly.
Hooh…
*
After finished changing, I stepped out, immediately catching Selian’s gaze.
Knowing I was wearing underwear belonging to the girl in front of me made me blush all over again.
As I tried to hide my embarrassment, Mariel, standing beside Selian, spoke to me.
“Alright, Hero. I’ll go ahead. Don’t forget our appointment on the fifth day!”
Waving goodbye without even waiting for my reply, Mariel headed out of the staff room.
From the fact that she didn’t return, she must have escaped the crowd successfully.
“…What appointment?”
“I was going to tell you when Ann and Yuli were also here, but actually, the Saint has an appointment with you on the fifth day. Uh… Is that okay?”
“Haa…”
Sighing deeply, Selian.
Even without a word, we had an unspoken agreement to all go around together, so she must be disappointed that I suddenly made another arrangement.
While thinking about how to cheer Selian up, she started talking.
“Ah… I guess that’s somewhat expected since it’s El. I’ll convince Anne and Yuli, so don’t worry about that. But…”
Selian snatched the envelope containing my previous underwear and clothes from my hand.
Then she peeked inside the envelope quickly.
“I need to return to my room in a little while anyway, so I’ll hold onto these. I’ll make sure to return them to your room safely, so no need to worry.”
Lucky for me, Selian’s discontent mood seemed to quickly dissipate, and her voice now had a peculiar excitement to it.
“Why should I worry about something like that? Come on, let’s go back. We’ve kept them waiting too long.”
Before Selian’s mood could sour again, I quickly grabbed her hand and headed out of the staff room.
Slightly smiling Selian appears to not have noticed my intentions.
Phew. The crisis avoidance skills from my former assassin days come in handy sometimes.
