A Fellow Connoisseur in the Art of Shipping

Lynne:

My face lit up with the suggestion to go shopping. I always loved shopping, and there was something about the idea of Clay in different outfits that got me excited. I wanted to see him in different colours. In a cute big fluffy sweater, in a suit… oh my god yes, a suit. Ya know, with a few buttons down, just enough to see the top of Clay's chest muscles. Even better… tight clothes. Where I can see everything…. Everything~.

No… Bad Lynne. Focus. No dirty thoughts.

"Umm… Lynne…? You ok there? You zoned out for a bit." Clay grumbled, his eyes knit with concern and confusion.

"Oh, ahhh nothing nothing! Get some rest!" I stuttered for a moment I feared he could somehow read my thoughts and see my fantasies. But I reminded myself that was impossible. "I'll talk to Elizabeth and see if she's willing to take us to a store."

"I can come with you," Clay said, pushing himself off of the bed to sit up. I sprinted over to him and placed a hand on the uninjured side of his chest to gently push him back down. The moment the palm of my hand grazed his chiselled pecks, I could feel my face heat up. My heart started pounding so loudly that I was worried Clay could hear it. Yet despite my embarrassment, I just couldn't bring myself to pull my hand away.

I wanted to keep it there forever.

"Alright, fine! I'll stay. You can quick pushing me down now." Clay sighed, which was when I realized now how close my face was to his. I felt his breath across my neck, seeing the reflection of my awe-stricken face in his eyes. He stared into my eyes for a few moments, pressing his lips together before he lay back on the bed. Yet my hand remained there. "L-L...ynne…?" Clay stuttered, his face now matching his hair.

I finally withdrew my hand. "Oh! Sorry! Ok, good. You rest while I talk to Elizabeth. Take a nap or something, 'kay?" I said, giving Clay a wink and skipping out the door. I didn't even wait for his reaction, I was too embarrassed at how cringe it was that I kept my hand on his chest for like 3 whole minutes. I sighed, feeling like I wanted to shrivel up in a hole and die.

I found myself back inside of the dojo. The faint smell of blood and sweat still lingering in the air. Once my heart finally stopped pounding, I looked around the dojo, but it was completely empty. I grimaced to myself, trying to remember my walk from my father's office to the dojo. However, all I could manage to remember were those wide stairs at the center of the castle.

I wandered around aimlessly like a ghost around the endless hallways. Some places looked like classic school hallways, others looked like old Japanese dojos, while some parts resembled what it was supposed to, a medieval castle.

It was strange to see so many cultures that I recognized from around my world in one place in this alternate dimension. This fantasy land was definitely something that I could never explain.

Eventually, I stumbled upon an important-looking door down the hallway on the first floor. The doors were so big, even bigger than the entrance to my father's room. The walls in this hallway were painted a dark blue colour. Surrounding the door were these metallic pillars, the top with a swirling pattern, almost glowing. The doors themselves were a matted grey colour instead of the luminescent silver like the outlined parts. It looked futuristic, yet another mystery of this unknown world.

I was impressed by the sheer size of the thing… it looked even more important than the king's room. What could be in there…? Before I realized what I was doing, my hand was slowly approaching the doors but before I could even touch them I heard a voice from across the hall which stopped me in my tracks.

"Like, what do you think you're doing?"

I turned around the see Elizabeth standing with a hand on her hip, looking at her nails. "Cecelia asked me to give you and the slave a total make-over." She explained. "She said you were like, looking for me or whatever." For some reason, the way she spoke annoyed me. She sounded so apathetic yet at the same time sassy. Like a typical white girl. I was surprised that those types of girls could even exist in the medieval era. Honestly, I'd need to start a notebook with all of these weird things that don't belong in a world that looks like it should be in medieval Europe.

"His name is Clay…" I growled but shoved off the insult with a deep breath. "Ya. I was looking for you and then found this weird door. What's here anyway?" I explained.

"We're going to be taken here by sensei soon, but for now we were told not to go inside," Elizabeth explained.

"Oh… Well, alright." I grumbled, glancing over one more time at the doors. I was burning with curiosity, but if what Elizabeth was saying is true, then my curiosity would be quenched if I just wait a bit longer. "So clothes then! Do you know any good stores you can take us to?"

For the first time, I saw Elizabeth smile brightly. "Is that a shopping spree I hear!?" She squeaked.

"Then let's make it a double date!" A new female voice shrieked at the same frequency behind me. I turned to see a girl with straight, long sky blue hair with silver eyes. Her outfit resembled nursing shrubs with a dark green colour and loose-fitting material.

"A-A double date?" I stuttered, my heart thumped at the thought of going on a date with Clay.

"Exactly! You and Clay are so cute together!" She smirked.

Now I felt like my face was on fire. Did she somehow know that I had a crush on him!? Did she really think that we were cute together or was she kidding!? M-Maybe he has a crush on me and told her and I had no idea about-

"Mirabelle, can you go TWO SECONDS without shipping all the boys in our school with each other…?" Elizabeth scoffed. I'm sure that if I could see her eyes, they would be exaggeratedly rolling.

"Did you just say… shipping?" I asked, my eyes sparkling. To think I would find a woman of such refined cultural even in another world… a girl with a love of yaoi.

"Yes!!!" She jumped around with the excited look of a fellow connoisseur in the art of shipping.

I grabbed her hands, excitement flooding through me. "Tell me EVERYTHING!" I exclaimed.

"Ok geez! You two can fangirl together later. Are we picking up your boyfriend or what?" Elizabeth interrupted.

"M-M-My…?" I covered my face with my hands, I couldn't stand the idea of those two girls seeing me all flustered. I was making it way too obvious that I liked him.

"Hey… Lynne…" Mirabelle whispered, I parted my fingers to peer through them and noticed her devilish smirk. "I have an idea…"

I lowered my hands from my face and leaned into Mirabelle to hear what she had to say. She whispered her idea in my ear… and it took everything I had not to burst out laughing.