Jun swiveled her head robotically to look at Kelan and her other friends. The guys were all conversing with each other about their costume ideas. The more she thought about it, the more the idea of splitting off with Nadia felt right. Being away from Kelan would keep him from getting suspicious about why she was sticking around with these "strangers" when she had earlier told him she needed to leave.
With the same practiced mechanical grace, she turned her head back to Nadia and nodded. "Mmm! That sounds good."
"All right!" Nadia trilled in the spirited, zesty way that Jun remembered from the vague memories of her "old" life. She felt her friend put her arm around her waist and walked alongside her down an aisle, around a corner, and down another aisle, in search of whatever was on Nadia's mind.
"This store is so big," Nadia marveled. She craned her neck to try and peer further into the distance and read the numerous signs sticking out from the aisles and hanging from the high ceiling.
"Hai," Jun nodded. "Keelan and me took a long time finding the sp... spiff... exact sections for some costumes."
"Considering how big this place is, it's kind of amazing we bumped into each other at all. There could be a hundred people in here and we'd never know it."
Jun crooked her pale head as she listened to Nadia. The word "considering" sounded familiar, like she should know what it meant. It seemed like it was once a very simple word to remember...
"Jun?" Nadia said, turning sideways to look back at her. Somehow in the last few seconds, the Japanese girl had fallen behind in matching her friend's footsteps. "Oh, I'm sorry. I guess I walk fast compared to you. I wasn't thinking."
Jun blushed and smiled, waving a hand dismissively. "Ah, it's not a thing! It's this costume. Makes me move slower." For the first time in a little while, she was aware of how close all of the innermost pieces of the dress and accessories felt against her skin. It was a strange but oddly comforting feeling. A vivid memory of being by Keelan's side played in her mind. She unconsciously tapped her chin with an overlong fingernail. "What was it Keelan said when he and me were walking earlier? It's restr... re-something. Tight."
Nadia tipped her head. "Re...strictive? You don't know that word, huh?"
Jun shook her head. She truly didn't know whatever it was that Nadia had just said, since she had phrased it like a statement, and she now fully understood that her costume was highly sensitive to statements about her.
Nadia shrugged and smiled. "It's okay. It's not a very exciting word, anyway." She resumed walking, at a slower pace so Jun could keep up. Jun quickly noticed that Nadia was actually going slower than she had to. The instant she realized it, she felt her legs stiffen and fall into a careful march in lockstep with her friend. The extra effort she had to put in to move so deliberately slow brought an even more rigid quality to her motions. It was hard not to think of herself as a real doll, especially when they passed the occasional mirror fastened to a pillar or aisle endcap.
This adjustment was puzzling. Did her body slow down because she sensed Nadia expected her to walk that way, and her costume was forcing her to conform... or because slowing to match Nadia's pace was the polite thing to do? There was so much about her that had changed, she was starting to wonder if she'd be able to keep track of every rule before she eventually took off the costume.
Suddenly, she heard herself giggling. Nadia gave her a curious grin.
"G-gom... sorry," the goth said before placing a dainty hand on her mouth and giggling softer. The idea of being coaxed ever deeper into this persona was so weird it was silly.
Nadia's grin broadened to show her full set of pearly teeth. "Gosh, you are just. The. Cutest goth. I've ever met."
Jun felt the world shift just a little. She instinctively leaned into Nadia until the odd feeling stopped. She had to reorient herself, but thankfully it only took a couple of slightly off-kilter steps. Everything looked the same as before, except there was...something. A difference she had to think hard to notice, but she eventually did. The shelves around them were a couple inches higher now. Her grasp on English was decent enough that she knew that "cute" often meant, in part, being small.
Fortunately, Nadia hadn't noticed anything except the sudden closeness of Jun's form against hers. "E-everything all right?"
"Hai." Jun smiled up at her friend. She didn't have to fake the smile this time. Being called cute felt good. As good as being seen as a goth. Is that the look she preferred? Cute goths? She had picked a frilly black dress, after all, not plain clothes or something...what was the slang..."edge?"
"Oh, we're, here." Nadia's attention snapped to the aisle they now found themselves in. It was decked out on both sides from end to end with makeup and styling tools. "So, Jun, I'll explain my costume idea. Tell me what you think. There's a look I'd like to try out, and getting the makeup just right is more important than the clothes I'd be wearing..."