In Another World with JUST MONIKA 117 This is Not Bros Time

-.

I winced. "You… you're going to have to be more specific than that. Is this about the flirting? Or is it the Sith thing?"

Elze scowled. "I'm actually more angry at the flirting. You're just leading Linze on, you can't just treat her like some side floozie you can pick up whenever you get bored with… whatever… it is that you and Monika do. Worse – you don't even have the guts to follow through (although of course if you did that I would have to smash a pervert) and then you just never stop with the teasing! You just keep Linze panting after you for even the smallest scrap of affection! That's disgusting!"

Then she sighed and began to rub at her forehead. "But yeah this is about the Sith thing."

I copied her gesture and nursed a sudden migraine. "Ugh, seriously, of all the templates Monika could have chosen…" Then in a softer tone "Well at least because magic doesn't have an emotional component, Linze can't actually succeed at being a Sith.

"But… if that's what she's using as her Will to Power then… I don't know if I have the right to stop her from anything," I finished with a heavy sigh.

"What? What do you mean by that? Linze would listen to you, why wouldn't you do this for her?"

"It's like… do you think I wear this mask - these clothes - just for fun?"

"Yes." No hesitation whatsoever in saying that.

I sighed. "… Aand you would be right. But it's more than just that. The Will to Power to be… Better. The name Char… the Cause Playa… is a /title/ – a promise. Always fully committed to the role. Always moving forward. Always learning. Never giving in. Never cr-… okay Sometimes Cruel, can't really run an army without some degree of calculated cruelty…

"Never cowardly. Never vengeful. Never betraying. A reminder of virtues to emulate and sins never to indulge in. Sometimes you have to label yourself to fix what you're not."

Elze shook her head. "But Linze doesn't have that. She's not like you and me. She doesn't like adventure just for the blood pumping thrill of it. She used to be bullied a lot because she couldn't bear to cause anyone any harm, you know? If she defended herself, hurting others would just cause her pain.

"And now people are scared of her because she doesn't hesitate to hurt people and I can see how it's hurting her. But because it's what you wanted, she's going to endure. It's not right! She's my sister, she's always been so gentle and kind – and you took her shyness and turned it into a weapon! No one should have to be scared of Linze!"

I stared intently at Elze.

"What?" she grunted with a pug-like scowl on her face. Her nose buttoned up cutely.

"… Elze, do you really have no awareness how /terrifying/ you are?"

"W-what does that have to do with anything?"

"I admit that Monika doing the Sith thing is to /explicitly/ give Linze a terrifying reputation. But her fearsome reputation is like that of a cold drawn blade, the purposeful power of law. Sure, she's willing to burn people alive – but if you're a magician, that's part of what your magic power needs to do anyway. A battlemage must come to terms with it.

"But you – where you fight, bones are broken and internal organs purple with bruises. If Linze is a naked blade, you're a hammer that never stops. You've been the one to protect Elze all this time, and they have to be so terrified of you so that they don't dare touch your sister. Now you don't care at all and bravely order around people older and more battle experienced than you, and they obey. People can be terrified with seeing Linze burn someone alive without hesitation – but everyone who has ever faced you will take months to heal without magic, and years to recover from the psychological trauma!"

"Kuh. That makes me sound bad, but I can't really argue against that. But this is supposed to be about Linze, not me!"

I raised my finger to explain, and then suddenly grabbed Elze's shoulder and pulled her into a hug. In one long step backwards, I dragged her inside a nearby open door.

"Wh?!"

I dragged her down behind a shelf and put a finger to her lips. "Shh."

Elze drove a one-inch punch to my short ribs. Ugh. Yeah, that's broken. If Elze was just a tsundere these would be comical injuries, but when she aims to hurt she always looks for debilitating injuries.

"I mean… look…" I hissed out and pointed outside a nearby shop window.

Still scowling, Elze reluctantly turned to look outside. There, we saw Lyon Blitz and Olga Strand, stopped and chatting over a small stall selling trinket jewelries.

Elze pushed at my chest and untangled herself from my arms. "What the hay, Playa! Y-you scared me for a second there! I thought… no, never mind." She crouched down again and whispered "Why are we hiding?"

"If they saw us they'd stop and get embarrassed. Would be a shame to disturb such a nice atmosphere, don't you think?" This was moral support time, not bros time, Elze.

"I suppose…"

We watched, and as Olga inspected the trinkets we noticed Lyon make that very distinctive head twitch that indicated someone was listening to instructions from Monika.

"Tch. So she's meddling with this too."

"To be fair, Monika not meddling in romance is kind of like expecting the sun not to rise the next morning. It's just kind of her reason for being, you know…?" I responded while applying healing magic to my ribs. "Shipping is serious business."

"What do ships even have to do with romance?!"

"Ahem."

A shadow draped over us. We looked up to see a tall broad-shouldered main in a black formal suit. Again he coughed into his white gloved fingers. "Honored customers – may I assist you? If you wish to avoid… attention… why not peruse our products while you do so?"

Elze and I looked at each other, then turned away to look around. Mannequins lined the walls, wearing both male and female fine wear. It was a boutique.

We crab-walked while crouching over next to a wall and stood up. I stared at the shop owner, who looked more like a wrestler than a tailor. His eyelids curved up in amusement and his bushy mustache quivered.

"Ah, masked young master… are you a man of culture?" He turned towards Elze and asked "Beautiful young miss, I am certain you are a woman of taste! Let me show you something that you will surely enjoy!"

Elze blinked. "… what are you talking about?"

"Thighs over breasts!" the shopkeeper suddenly shouted, and pulled to his side a mannequin wearing a black dress.

Elze punched me in the shoulder again, not-at-all playfully. It stung. Yeah.

I'm sorry, Elze. I have ruined you. All of you.

The first thing to come to mind too was chicken, not boobs vs legs.

-.

-.

"I- I'm not wearing it!" Elze shouted piteously. "This is stupid!"

"Elze, you're already wearing it. Come on out. You can't stay inside the changing room forever."

We heard a few experimental knocks.

"… Elze, you can't just go busting down walls to escape. What the heck are you embarrassed about anyway? It's not that much different from what you're usually wearing."

"It's a skirt! I don't like wearing skirts! It's… a really short skirt!"

"It's a combat skirt."

"Yes, it is the latest in Zanac Zenfield's line of Adventurewear! I knew I recognized the both of you!" the shopkeeper crowed.

"Could we get a discount for your publicity then?" I mused.

"Ahahaha no."

"Muuuuh!" Elze moaned and then furiously pushed aside the dressing room curtains. She stepped out with a mulish look on her face. "Don't laugh!"

"Ooooh." I whistled. It was like someone took the frilly noble princess ballroom dress and just… drastically shortened it. Her long white hair contrasted strongly against the black and blue banded frills of the dress.

Elze blushed hotly and tugged down at her short flared skirt. "D-don't look!"

I stared blandly back at her. She had tried to crush my head between her thighs in battle, and back then none of us minded it. A lot of her legs were bare to my attention all the time. I mean, the only difference would be that a skirt, unlike combat skorts… is terribly exposed to the wind.

I nodded sagely. "Hmm. Hmm. Embarrassed for her feminine virtues Elze is cute too."

"Shut up Playa!" She grit her teeth and looked away. She glanced at me again to see if I was still staring, and I was, and she looked away blushing again. "I… I look dumb. This doesn't suit me! This is too fine clothing for the likes of crude woman like me…! It's better if people are too scared to look, I get it nowww..."

"It looks good on you. It really suits you, you know? You look good."

"You liar!"

"No, this man speaks truth," the clothier supported my point with a similar appreciative nod.

I turned back to the shopkeeper and said "The only problem is that it's not actually made with combat rated materials."

"I can send word to Mister Zanac and have one readied for your return, young masked one. We accept cash on delivery."

"Sold! We'll take this for now for upcoming formal occasions and get the battle dress for later."

"Hey, don't I get a say in this?"

I raised an eyebrow. "Elze, if you didn't think the dress would suit you in the first place, you wouldn't have put it on at all. If I'm wrong you wouldn't go along with my shite, but I can tell when you're protesting just for appearance's sake."

Silently I implied: You /know/ you can look like a stylish lady if you allow your self-confidence to shine through, you're just pigeonholing yourself to make Linze look good and more approachable by comparison.

"We will of course include the variant long skirt for formal occasions!" the shopkeeper added.

"… I guess that makes it more practical, and it's not like I have any formal wear. We've got nobby fancy things to attend soon, yeah." She looked up and pouted again. "But still!"

"Elze, it's okay to want to look pretty sometimes. Heck, I like to look pretty a lot of times."

"That doesn't make me feel any better, you moron!"

-.

-.

"I have money of my own, you don't have to buy things for me," Elze grumbled as she carried the package in her arms. We were on the way back to the boat landing.

"Elze, if I buy things for you of course then I'll have to buy pretty things for Linze too in the interests of fairness. I'm not going to leave Linze feeling deprived." Imma have to buy the same dress but in white and gold(1) just for twin theming, but of course still take Linze out to go clothes shopping for what she really liked.

Maybe in Mismede. Mismede should have bazaars and clothiers of their own. In fact, given the variability of shapes and forms among the beastkin, their tailors might have quite unique dresses as well.

"T-that's the problem. You say you respect Linze's feelings, but you're still playing around with other girls."

I tilted my head to the side, looking somewhat confused. "Elze. The only girl I play around with - is you."

"… so you do realize it! You know it bothers me! It bothers Linze!"

"… yees? Of course? That's what teasing means? I mean, that's why I don't mess around with Yae, she's just not going to give an interesting reaction."

"I hate you. I hate you so much. You annoying bastard."

"Aw. If Linze were to say something like that to me, I would be so sad. I would give headpats." I gave her a catlike grin. "But that just encourages me to try harder with you."

"Would you like a punch to the face?"

"I will kiss your fist if you do that."

Elze flinched. She snorted snootily and walked on ahead.

I chuckled. "Your being afraid of any sort of unforced intimacy is just hilarious to me." She could press my face to her chest while trying to choke me near to death in combat training, but the thought of handholding was just unacceptable lewds? So pure, Elze.

"Shut up Playa!"

-.

-.

/"Player. You spent most of the day with Elze. You had lunch and bought her a gift that makes her look pretty."/

"… yeees? We did do that." What's with the stating of the obvious, Monika?

/"That was totally a date. You took Elze on a date."/

I winced. Linze looked at us, and then gave a small sad little smile. But there was no more time to talk, it was time to board the boats and finally cross over into Mismede.

-.

-.

AN:

(1) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_dress_(viral_phenomenon)

Chapter end