The ill-fated shopping trip

Cai Kang woke up the next morning feeling admittedly almost too relaxed to the point that he began overthinking it. The old man left as soon as Cai Kang got to his room. He didn't even bother to say goodbye. The last thing he got was a communication locket which works as a two-way call with its other in the possession of his father.

Cheap bastard. Couldn't even afford to buy me an actual phone. He irritably thought before looking at his surroundings.

It is a simple Japanese room with tatami mats, a circular window, a closet where he can place his things, a clock, and a table with a vase filled with flowers. It is simple but the room itself is quite spacious. He looked at the clock seeing that it was still morning.

After being away from home and his school, he has a real roof over his head and comfort he has been deprived of for weeks. Even though his father is not cruel, he is relentless and chooses to be difficult.

"Breakfast is ready." He heard Saeko shout.

Cai Kang heads to the breakfast table where He sees the siblings eating together. Upon arriving, they noticed him. He sat at the only available spot at the table. Since most of them have already eaten earlier, their food portions are smaller. However, Cai Kang's metabolism requires him to eat more than the average person so he has the usual amount. He looks to see Kazuha eating the full portion too.

"Now that you're awake, we can finally talk about what to do today." Noriko said happily.

"Like what?" Cai Kang asked curiously.

"The twins want to take you out," Kazuha said, keeping her eyes on her food while eating.

"And do what?" He asked.

"Oh, you know. Go shopping, watch a movie, eat out, go to the arcade." Noriko listed. "All that kind of stuff."

"If you want something more competitive, we could take you to where you can get some action instead." Toya suggested.

"We can take you anywhere so that you can have a better feel and get used to living here." Noriko said.

"Be careful, Cai Kang. Nori-nee and Toya-ni like to mess with people a lot." Ren said.

"Ren doesn't know what he's talking about," Toya said.

"Yes, you do! You put fake spiders in my glass of milk two months ago!" He exclaimed.

"Well, you guys know the rules. Do not make him stand out and don't pull any tricks." Kazuha said and grabbed her wooden tray, giving it to Saeko before leaving.

After eating, Noriko and Toya were prepared to go out but were horrified when they saw Cai Kang's clothes.

"What. the. heck. is. that?" Toya said enunciating each word.

"This? It's from Shenmi." He said.

"It looks old." Noriko commented.

"Old?" Toya questioned. "More like ancient."

"This is the latest fashion from this world. I don't have anything else." Cai Kang uttered.

Noriko scoffed. "Yeah, around a hundred years ago."

Toya clapped his hands. "New plan. First, we do a wardrobe change. Starting with the clothes you're gonna be wearing with us."

"You wear that and everyone is gonna look at you weird." Noriko said.

Cai Kang is confused. Weird?

Toya observed him. "I guess for one day, it wouldn't hurt for him to wear my clothes."

Cai Kang was then led by the twins into Toya's room. There were posters of athletes on his wall. Rather than martial arts, he is undoubtedly interested in sports.

Toya grabbed a couple of clothes and made Cai Kang try them on. He is a bit uncomfortable. Wearing another person's clothes and the pants do not even fit. He is quite slim in size but Cai Kang has more muscle so it is a bit of a struggle to fit in properly.

"I'll just give him some sweatpants and a T-shirt that fits him. His feet are a bit big so he will just have to go with sandals." Toya said.

"You sure know more about fashion than I'd expect." Cai Kang commented. He is a bit embarrassed to even look at the mirror. Due to his gender-changing abilities, he is always uncomfortable wearing someone else's clothes.

"Well, I am an artist planning on being a designer so I make it my job to know how to do that," Noriko said. "Also Toya models part-time so he knows his way around fashion too."

"You sure are talented."

"Of course. Just because we are not fighters doesn't mean we can become talented on our own way." Noriko said.

Cai Kang was a bit surprised to hear that as he began to change behind the divider. He can see the insecurity yet conviction written on their faces. It seems living in Qiyuan is quite a joy.

"You are nobles in your land so I'm surprised that you don't seem like them." He said.

"First of all, we are not nobles. Our clan is a class below the real nobility. Second, we were raised in the more modern world so anything you think a noble in that world is like, that isn't us." She corrected him.

"We all choose to live here freely without the constraints of the Inverse. As long as we are here, we might as well make the best of it." Toya said.

"Besides, our dad always believes we should strive on what we're best at. This is our own way. Think of us as rebels."

Cai Kang paused for a bit. He was taught that Qiyuan is very different from Shenmi, more dangerous, more different, more savage. Cai Kang has been to Qiyuan a few times during his childhood but he never questioned his views on it. Cai Kang looked at the full-body mirror. Not bad. Pants are still a bit short but at least they are not tight.

"Now, you look normal." Toya sighed in relief. "Let's head out now."

"Wait!" Cai Kang stopped them. There is one more thing left to do. He left the room and headed to his. He came back with a hairbrush and undid his braid. Cai Kang decided to brush his hair and tie it differently in order to fit in. A braid on a man in this world is unfitting now that he is living in a more contemporary era. Instead of a braid, it is tied back into a bun.

"Not bad." Toya commented. "It suits you."

"We're wasting daylight. Let's go." Noriko said.

The three of them left the residence and walked together to the shopping district. He is surprised at how crowded it is. An overwhelming presence compared to his life in the mountains.

He watched as the siblings argue on what kind of clothes to get him. From store to store to store, he buys a lot of men's clothes, shoes and items like hats, undergarments, and bags. It took a total of five hours and frankly he is shocked that they still have this much energy for shopping. Thank goodness, his empty closet is big enough to fit all this stuff.

"By the way, do you want girl's stuff too?" Noriko asked as she pays for the things in the store.

"Well..." He muttered. It was loud enough for the twins to hear.

"Let's get you some girl's clothes then." Toya interrupted loudly, shocking the entire store as the three of them left to go to the girls section. When no one is looking, Cai Kang transforms into a girl.

The twins start discussing amongst themselves while Cai Kang admires herself in the mirror. She is quite visually muscular so there aren't many clothes that they think would look good in her current physique. They haven't given up though.

Finally, after all that shopping, they left the shop and noticed how dark it is outside.

"We still have time to eat," Toya said after looking at his phone. "I know a good place."

Cai Kang finally sighed in relief. The shopping spree is finally over. As they head to the restaurant, they were led to their seats and told their waiter what their orders were. Cai Kang, unsurprisingly, doubled her order. She looked out the window. Since this entire shopping trip, she had a bad feeling. She was already trying to push it aside. At first, she thought it was because of the experience but this is something else.

"You've been quiet all day. Anything wrong?" Noriko asked while Cai Kang was staring suspiciously at the twins.

"You two have been hiding something. Spill it out. What are you planning?" She asked seriously.

"What do you mean? We're just here to have a good time is all." Toya playfully smiled.

If it were some average person then they might fall for it but Cai Kang prides herself on being a good face reader. Unless people can control their facial expressions to the tiniest detail or are unable to make any expressions at all then she can see through it and see their actual personality.

"I'm a martial artist. I can literally read your movements and your expressions. I've had a bad feeling about you two from the moment that we started shopping. You have some sort of motive against me do you?"

Toya and Noriko were taken aback but they smiled. Their kind and cheerful expressions change to one of sharpness.

"Wow, you are good. It took me years to make a decent poker face." Toya said while touching his cheek.

"I have to say that we're impressed. This shopping thing is just a bit of something that we can both benefit from." Noriko pulled out a calculator from her bag and showed it to Cai Kang.

She is visibly confused. There were many digits but she does not know the currency system in this world so she is unaware of what she will hear next.

"This is the amount of money we've spent on you so far. In other words, your debt."

Debt?!

Cai Kang gave them a slight glare. She has a thing against being forced to do immoral things. "I have no source of income right now. How the hell do you want me to pay this off?"

"Don't give us that look. We're not gonna make you rob a bank or kill someone." Toya said. His expression is gleeful. Not in a sadistic way but he is genuinely pleased.

"It's simple. You do us favors and we will take away the numbers off your debt. For instance, depending on the favor, you can have 10000 yen shaved off." Noriko said.

"Judging by your expressions, you have something for me right?" Cai Kang said.

"Spoken like a businessman in our world." Noriko said and pulled out photographs of a total of eight people.

"Scare these people off into paying back the money they owe us and we will shave at least 10000 for each person."

Cai Kang was surprised to hear that they didn't ask for the extreme.

"That's it? You want me to scare them off?"

"Into paying us back. Break a couple of things in front of them. Show them the Superman power. We know that they would be able to pay it back now. Otherwise, we would have made them do favors for us too. We'll lead you to them. We do the talking. All you have to do is be the muscle."

"You two are terrifying already but why me? You two should be scary enough as it is."

"Our reputations are at risk if we were to do it ourselves. Even though these people know Kazu-nee is our sister, it isn't enough to intimidate them." Toya said.

"Besides, we are as skilled in martial artists like you. There are people in that school who can beat us." Noriko said. "Which brings us to another story-" She stared at Cai Kang. "Do you think you can beat my sister?"

That took her aback. "Maybe?"

Noriko is surprisingly satisfied with the idea. "We also have one more thing for you to do and this one requires an actual beating. We will shave off 30000 yen if you were to do this one first."

Cai Kang sighed and looked up to see the waiter with their food.

"What do you want?"

"I want you to-"

*

Cai Kang is unhappy. After she quickly ate her food, she grabbed all the shopping bags and headed back to the Shiratori residence. How dumb of her. Her first day after meeting them has been nothing but a goddamn mistake.

Cai Kang groaned loudly as she headed into the house. The twins decided to hang out some more. She saw Kazuha walking in the halls with a towel around her neck.

"Hey, Cai Kang."

She walked past and ignored Kazuha, something that didn't surprise her.

"So, I guess the twins duped you. I did warn you that they are up to no good." Kazuha said.

Cai Kang looked back to see Kazuha.

"Don't worry about them too much. They're not gonna make you do something too drastic. They're mischievous, not loan sharks."

"They want me to scare a bunch of kids who owe them money. How's that for loan sharks?" She said.

"They are not adding too much interest. We're just kids after all. It's not like any of us make our own money."

"How did they do something so diabolical?"

"They are proud of what they do. Both want to earn money to stay here permanently."

"Permanently? This world is confusing. Why do they want to stay here?" She said.

"Is it overwhelming? I thought you knew your way around here." She said.

"Yes, but not exactly. I learn things through travel guides, TV, and history books. Furthermore, it's a different country so..."

"So, almost nothing then." She stated.

Cai Kang is flustered at the statement.

"The twins love this world and would rather just drop dead than lose this freedom they enjoy having. By saving up a large sum of money, even the clan leader wouldn't touch them if they decide to stay."

"Why are you living in Qiyuan anyway? As the main family of your clan, isn't it more logical if you go to Shenmi anyway?" Cai Kang asked.

Kazuha shook her head.

"No. It was the choice of our parents. They love it here. I won't explain too much on how it came to this but everyone keeps saying they should stay there. They refused. Earning to support themselves for as long as they can would be enough to live a comfortable life here. By making you owe them means that they don't entirely trust you. Even though you are to be engaged to someone in the clan, that doesn't mean that you would actually marry us. I can be sure of that." Kazuha said.

"I am still so confused. This day went pretty bad for me. I cannot exactly understand the great things about the place. No magic, no martial arts, no interesting things. It's just boring." Cai Kang said.

Kazuha tilts her head slightly in her direction. "Don't let one bad day ruin everything. C'mon, I can help you at least enjoy your time there. No debt. Just a normal life as a normal civilian in a different world" She said with a chuckle. "Tomorrow, we have school but Yae told me that you don't have to go until the day after tomorrow so she'll show you around the Dojo until I get back."

Cai Kang is almost ecstatic. Finally. She can finally see the Dojo.

"Good Night. And Welcome to Japan." Kazuha said and walked away.

*

The next morning, Cai Kang woke up to the running of feet. He looked outside to see the sun out. Then he decided to check out what is going on.

"Shit! We're gonna be late again!" Toya yelled.

"First of all, Language! And second, it's all your fault that we decide to stay out for this long dumbass!" Noriko yelled back.

"Forget it. Let's just go now!" He yelled and the twins ended up running.

Cai Kang is stunned. He was right there and the twins basically ignored him. He looked to see Kazuha calmly walking down the corridor.

"Um... why are you not running?" He asked her.

"They're late for morning practice, not for classes." She said.

The uniform is a white blazer and skirt, that reaches below her knees, a red tie, and black shirt inside the blazer. She also wore white sneakers and black knee socks.

"Is that what I'll be wearing?" He asked.

"Not yet. After tomorrow, you will get to wear it. And by that, you're wearing the boys version." She said. "I'll be going now." Kazuha then pulled out something from her bag and put it by her ears.

Cai Kang is almost sure that he knows what it is. It's hearing aids.

"Why are you wearing hearing aids? I didn't know you were hard of hearing." Cai Kang asked which made Kazuha stop.

"I'm not." she replied and walked away.