Fairies' Wardrobe

"That should be it."

Shui opened his eyes on the roof of a tall building. By using 'Puppet', it was easy to control Shane's body and give his warning to Kia. He was sure there would be more trouble in the future, but it would be fine for the time being.

"Hmm, I guess I should visit now."

Since he took care of almost everything else he could think of, Shui decided to take another trip down memory lane. Without needing help in finding it, Shui quickly reached in front of Fairies' Wardrobe. In front of his mother's shop, unsure of what he would face, Shui took a deep breath before stepping inside. The place was familiar to him, but it also seemed to have grown through events that he didn't know about.

"Welcome to Fairies' Wardrobe. How may I..."

Shui thought he would have some explaining to do, but as soon as he walked in the girl at the entrance looked surprised to see him. She seemed a bit older, but gave off a cute appeal. They had never met before, but Shui recognised her from a painting he saw in the trial. He walked up to this speechless girl and tried to start a conversation but found himself surprisingly nervous.

'What the heck is wrong with me?'

Although he had faced many powerful figures in dire situations, this was the first time he found it hard to speak. He couldn't even tell why he was so nervous.

"Um..."

The woman was stunned by the sight of a familiar face, but his voice reminded her that this wasn't the past, it couldn't be her. In which case, it had to be,

"Could you be, Shui...?"

"Mhmm."

Shui felt slightly embarrassed at not being able to speak for himself, but he was relieved that he didn't have to. Once she got his response, the woman seemed to gain a mature atmosphere as she closed the distance between them and wrapped her arms around him.

"It's nice to see you."

Shui had no idea how he should respond to this emotional welcome so he forced a smile and hugged her back. This was the first time the two had met, but there seemed to be a deep connection between them.

The woman was one step away from crying before she released him and grabbed his hand instead.

"Let's go meet the rest."

Shui accepted this treatment and obediently followed behind her as she brought him deeper into the shop.

"Everyone, look who's here!"

Although there were a few customers in the shop, the moment Shui came into view, the employees blatantly ignored them and ran over to him.

"Is this...?"

"Woah, he's so pretty."

"He looks just like her."

"Is this really a he?"

The place quickly became noisy as a gathering formed around Shui. He felt butterflies in his chest, especially when he saw Ali and Sally among the group. Although they were a few years older than the last time he saw them in the trail, they were just like he remembered. In this place, filled with unfamiliar faces, Shui felt warmth from being badgered by questions.

"Why's there a commotion here?"

Naturally with all the excitement, it didn't take long before the other employees came out to see what was happening. Along with Lilia, who saw him and showed a bright smile, there were two other women who appeared with stern expressions.

One wore a pair of black-rimmed glasses and had a black ponytail, a fitting appearance for a professional secretary or accountant, and the other wore a simple cream-coloured dress with an amorous figure that made the male partners of the female customers lick their lips. Many of them had their cheeks pinched for this, but they quickly brought up the fact that their partners weren't any different when they saw Shui.

Seeing them, Shui finally worked up enough courage to speak.

"Good afternoon, Aunt Lilia, Big Sis Jeanne, Big Sis Jay."

Everyone was surprised that he knew their names, but they also heard from Lilia that he would come so they thought she told him. However, Lilia knew that she did no such thing.

'How...?'

Looking at his oddly familiar face, Jeanne and Jay were also overcome with nostalgia but as the oldest of the girls they knew how to restrain themselves.

"It's nice to finally see you, Shui. Now then, for the rest of you,"

As she turned her gaze to the crowd around him with a cold expression, they thought that they were in for some harsh scolding, but it wasn't like that at all.

"Take care of our customers and then close the shop."

"Huh?"

"I said, we're closing early."

To her declaration, the women looked at each other before responding with enthusiastic smiles.

"Understood!"

After responding, they quickly returned to their stations while Jeanne, Lilia and Jay approached Shui. Knowing that this was their first time meeting, Lilia took a step back and allowed Jeanne and Jay to stand in front of him. Looking at Shui, who had grown up to her height, Jeanne laid her hand on his soft cheek. Rather than pound as it had been doing, Shui's heartbeat began to reach a soothing calm. He looked at her and remembered how she was like in the trial, while she looked at him and remembered the woman who was like a mother to all of them.

The two of them became a warm sight that made many glance at them and smile. Jay, who was normally very stoic, put her hand on her chest and looked fondly at them as well. Even though she was gone, they could see her in him.

"It's nice to see you." Jeanne took her hand from his cheek and patted his shoulder.

After managing to extract herself from nostalgic memories, she examined the young man who stood before her. He inherited Suiri's genes more heavily than she expected him to, but she could feel great strength from him.

"You've grown up well."

"Yeah, you can thank my mom and my aunt Lilia for that."

"No, I'm afraid I can't take too much credit." As Lilia shrugged her shoulder to Shui's response, they all showed bright faces.

"Shall we talk further inside until the shop closes?"

Jay led the way deeper into the shop, which caused several sighs of disappointment as Shui and Jeanne disappeared from open view.

While talking with the three of them, Shui learnt of some of the changes that had happened since the last time he was here with his mother. The business hadn't expanded but with Jeanne's excellent business sense, their reputation had been elevated far above what it used to be. Without transforming into a mainstream brand, she perfected their peaceful and warm image which made them the go-to option for mortals looking for casual wear. If they opened another store in a nearby city, they could still expect it to do well.

However, even with the preparations, complete, Jeanne hadn't expanded the business because she was waiting on someone. Not Trey, since she was in love with her business and didn't want to move to his hometown, they separated. It was someone who had the right to decide whether or not Fairies' Wardrobe would continue.

Since it would be too cramped and sudden if they did it in the shop, they went out to a good tavern to celebrate Shui's arrival. Lily and her siblings were also invited to join the celebration. Since Shui was fourteen, three particular women argued over who would serve Shui his first alcoholic drink. There were others who wanted to do it as well, but they didn't dare go up against them.

"I'm his aunt, obviously I should be the one to give him his first drink."

"No, as the host of this part and his big sister, I should do it."

"It's okay honourable ladies, I can serve Master myself."

It was customary for a close female relative or acquaintance to pour the first drink when a male turned fourteen, but Shui thought they were getting far too rowdy just to be the one pour it. Since it didn't look like they would decide soon, he grabbed a cup of beer and took a sip.

"Hmm, I think I'll need to get used to it."

Right after he took that single sip, one of the women from the stite pointed it out to Lilia, Lily and Jeanne and they looked at him in disbelief.

"Master!"

"Shui, did I raise like that?!"

"How could you?!"

Shui had absolutely no idea why they got so upset or why he had to put so much effort into appeasing them later on.

As it approached midnight, Ryan planned on taking the kids home but got stopped by a few of women who had gotten drunk. With guilt and disappointment clear on her face, Jeanne asked him to take them to shop. After that point, more and more left the tavern until only Jeanne, Lily, Lilia and Shui were left. Jay wanted to stay but she had apparently gotten too much to drink.

With only these four left, the atmosphere suddenly became serious. All four of them were cultivators so the wine here wasn't enough to get them drunk. Noticing this change in mood, Shui guessed what he would be asked next.

"Shui, what do you want to do with the shop?"