Searching for a Costume (Open)

The sun was trying its best to break out from behind the clouds that crowded the blue sky. The streets of the city below were bustling as the people went about their daily lives.

The mall. Honami Shizumi wasn't fond of the mall. There were far too many people there, making far too much noise. It was also the place where people went to do nothing, just walk around. Unlike Honami, who knew why she was there. She walked through the mall towards the sports store. She paused outside, took a deep breath and entered.

She glanced around, then headed towards the swimming costumes. Though she knew what she wanted, she had no idea what to choose. She had no idea where were so many different types and styles of costume! She was overwhelmed by the choice. 'Why are there so many?' she wondered, rubbing her brown hair as her brown eyed gaze wondered over the various styles of costume.

Homura didn't get to the mall as often as he might have otherwise liked to because of school and other responsibilities. He greatly enjoyed traditional clothing as well and that was something which just wasn't available at malls typically. Not that he didn't also enjoy more contemporary fashions as well. Just that he lived a little bit of a ways away from this shopping center and therefore had fewer opportunities to visit than he otherwise would've taken. Today was a perfect combination of lacking homework and having enough time to go shopping though. So he'd worn a nice lightweight sundress with a pink bolero and sandals, comfy for a mild day and still feminine.

Why exactly he found himself looking at swimsuits was kind of a mystery. He didn't go swimming because it was much harder to hide his physically less feminine attributes in a swimsuit. Similarly he avoided tighter fitting clothes below the waist more often than not. Yet here he was doing a bit of window shopping for a cute one piece that maybe he'd wear in his imagination if nothing else. Yet there was a girl there also looking at them and looking quite confused by the proposition as well. She looked like she could use some help, so ever helpful kimono expert Homura decided to step in and see if he could help out.

"Hi, do you need some help? I think there are a lot of styles here that would really suit your looks!" he greeted her, smiling happily as he offered his help.

The sheer number of swim suits was making Honami feel light headed. She didn't know where to start! Should she go for a one piece, or a bikini? What colour? What pattern? What cut? She hadn't even touched them and she was already nearly on the verge of just turning and walking away. But it was then she heard a voice next to her, asking if she needed help.

She turned to the voice and her eyes widened slightly. She's cute! Honami thought, her cheeks colouring slightly, before she pushed those thoughts from her mind, focusing on the girl in front of her. 'Oh, ummm... I... I think I could do with some help,' she admitted. She turned from the girl and looked over the swimming costumes. 'I... I need to choose a swimming costume, but, well, I've... I've never chosen one before.' She shook her head at the enormity of her problem. 'There's just so many colours and styles to choose from that I have no idea where to even start!' She sighed, then turned to face the girl, a sheepish half grin on her lips. 'I'd appreciate any help you could offer, thank you,' she said. 'I'm Honami, by the way. Honami Shizumi.'

Swimsuits weren't exactly Homura's area of expertise but when his assistance was needed to pick out something appropriate fashion-wise, he would answer the call. The sheer variety of suits available might have been daunting for some but it would help him figure out just what would work for this girl. No need to imagine what certain styles might look like on her when you had virtually all of those styles available to have a look at right before them. Already his mind's eye was scoping out the options close at hand and visualizing how they would look on her. Even though he didn't work there he was thinking in such a way that he might as well have been a sales girl.

"Yeah there's a lot to choose from, but I'm sure that we can narrow it down for you. After all there's a style for each and every person so we just need to find the one that works best for you. My name's Homura, by the way," he told her with a big smile before moving over to a nearby rack, "Now maybe something classic like a one piece would be suitable for you? Something in a solid color or maybe a light floral pattern.. unless you want to try something more modern and feminine?"

Standing there, looking between the girl and the racks of suits, Honami felt her cheeks colouring. She wasn't used to asking for help, and she didn't if she could help it. But she was out of her depth with this. And the girl had offered to help, so she accepted it. Though now she felt the girls eyes on her, and Honami knew she was measuring her. It felt embarrassing, but she stood in a way that would help the girl to help her.

'Do you really think there's something here that'll suit me?' Honami asked, eying the racks of swimming costumes again. She smiled at the Homura when she introduced herself, the girls smile infectious. When Homura began to talk about colours and patterns, and feminine, classic or modern, Honami felt her cheeks colour again. 'I have no idea what is feminine or modern or even classic,' she admitted. 'About the only thing I know is the school swim suit.' She looked at the bikini's and her blush deepened slightly, before she shook her head. 'Though I know a bikini's out,' she said turning away from them. Though that still left a fair number of suits to choose from. 'Probably a solid colour would suit me,' she said. 'I think,' she added before sighing. She turned to Homura and smiled sheepishly. 'I honestly have no clue what I'm looking for. But I'm sure something will jump out at me, especially with your help.'

There was no doubt about it, this girl was definitely cute enough to pull off a good many looks that were on display in the shop. Just because you could pull one off didn't mean that you were necessarily interested in doing so. Honami offering some information on her preferences for swimsuits definitely helped the brunette stay in the right mindset for narrowing down their options. No bikinis meant they would probably be best served staying with cute one piece suits which would be more similar to school suits. As classic as that particular kind of suit was, it seemed pretty drab in comparison to some of the choices here. Better to pick something with a little bit more color and softness to it than the basic dark blue one piece that all students were issued at school.

Homura's face screwed up a bit as he gave the wide selection some serious thought, trying to figure out just what would work well for his fellow shopper. She seemed a little shy about this so his judgment about a nice one piece was probably best. Anything more daring might scare her more than help her, so it was going to be important to stay within that comfort zone. All of this was percieved in Homura's mind but he thought he was making a rational assessment. With that he scanned the options nearby and then smiled as he saw a few options on a rack to their right. He giggled a little as he softly put a hand on the girl's shoulder and guided her towards the rack in question.

"Here, these are all nice solid colored one pieces for you to look through. I think any of theme will be just the right mix of cute and classy that will suit you rather well," he explained cheerfully, "Some of them have little bows or flowers, but overall they're nice and simple."

Looking at the bikini's again, Honami wondered if she'd made a mistake saying she'd not wear a bikini, if that choice would hinder Homura in helping her pick one out. She sighed and mentally shook her head. Honami knew she'd be far to embarrassed to wear one, and if it was one that Homura had picked out for her, and even more so. Smiling as her resolved firmed, she turned back to looked at the rest of the choice.

As her eyes wandered over the racks, she glanced at Homura and smiled. She's cute when she's concentrating, Honami thought, before she looked back at the racks. When she heard Homura giggle, Honami looked at the other girl and smiled. She's definitely cute. She allowed Homura to steer her towards a particular rack.

Listening to Homura cheerfully explain what the rack contained, Honami couldn't help but smile; her cheerfulness was infectious. 'Thank you,' she said, smiling at the other girl. She turned to the rack and began to slowly shuffle through it, pausing occasionally to look closer at one suit or another. This one a light blue one with a dark blue bow at the top, another pale yellow with a blue flower pattern, that one half black and half red, with a pink line between them. Honami smiled as she looked through them. They were all cute, and she was sure she'd look good in a few of them. But none had jumped out at her. She began to despair as she was nearing the end of the rack, even though there was more next to her, and she hadn't found a costume that jumped out at her. She moved past a cute light and dark blue patterned suit and froze. Her eyes widened as she saw, her hands lightly touching, a plain white swimming costume. She took hold of the hanger and pulled it out.

It was indeed plain white, the straps about an inch across, the neckline low, but tasteful, it would hug her, but not uncomfortably so. In all it was sensible, with just a dash of daring. But there was nothing cute nor outstanding about it. But, for some reason, it spoke to Honami.

Homura knew that shopping for something as form-hugging as a swimsuit was bound to be difficult for even a confident girl. You had just so many choices to go through and many of them were bound to not look quite right for some reason or other. Since it was kind of impossible to hide certain attributes of his own body with such clothing he'd never bothered to shop for it himself. Shopping vicariously through friends and other people was absolutely possible though. He could really help others out by his innate fashion sense and by guiding them to things that would suit their unique appearance. Maybe he should be a fashion consultant or something! Certainly he got a lot of joy out of helping girls look as pretty or cute as they could. That and wearing costumes were two of his greatest joys in life, things his dad wouldn't have approved of in a million years. That being said he didn't have to worry about the man either, since his dad had vanished to who knew where.

As soon as Honami lifted a suit off the rack which seemed to interest her, Homura swooped in like a ravenous carrion bird sensing a fresh meal. So what had the girl been mesmerized by? A very simple white one piece with decently modest straps which would have a very classy look for most girls, especially this one. None of the other numbers had caught her eye as much despite how cute some of them were. This one had something special about it! Homura was therefore sworn to convince her this was the one to try on and see just how well it suited her. If all went right they'd already found one for Honami which she'd be happy with! Smiling he put his hand on her shoulder and nodded solmenly.

"This is the one! You should go try it on and see how it fits.. but I think it's the perfect one for Honami-san," he told her with a certainty in his voice.

The costume wasn't anything special, so why did Honami feel so drawn to it? She didn't know but it felt almost familiar to her. It spoke to some part of her that she didn't know existed. But there seemed to be something missing. Maybe...

The hand on her shoulder made her jump slightly, braking Honami from her thoughts. She turned to look at Homura. She smiled at her, then looked at the swimming costume in her hands. What had she been thinking about? She shook her head, then nodded. 'If you think it's the right one, then I'll try it on.' She turned and smiled at the other girl, then glanced around for a changing room. She found one and headed over to it.

Once inside, with the door shut and locked, Honami began to removed her clothes, then slid the costume on. It fitted perfectly! She was about to open the door to show Homura, when she caught herself in the mirror. Her eyes widened as she turned to face the mirror fully. She couldn't shake the feeling something was missing, but what? She turned this way and that, trying to figure out what the something was, but nothing came to mind. She sighed, pushed those thoughts aside and opened the door.

'W... what do you think, Homura?' she asked, blushing slightly.

While his counterpart was occupied by trying on her simple white swimsuit Homura was eager with anticipation. Honami was already a pretty girl just with what she normally wore so this was liable to only make her prettier still in his judgment. Again it made him kind of jealous that she was able to wear something like this perfectly fine and probably look very good in it. Had he been graced with a girl's body he certainly would've been all up for trying them on without fear of discovery as to his true identity. It wouldn't hurt to drift into imagination for a little while, though. As he waited for the girl to finish changing the brunette examined the various products on racks and allowed himself to wonder what it'd be like to wear some of them.

Soon he found himself holding up a pretty beige one piece number with little roses of varying colors decorating it, complete with what looked like a little skirt that could be detached. Just like that he wasn't in the mall but at the beach. Taking in the sun's gentle warmth while sitting on a blanket and sipping on a refreshingly cool lemonade, not a care in the world. A slight breeze picked up, blowing his hair ever so gently as he contemplated going out into the water for just a bit. Then over his shoulder he saw something remarkable: a tall, handsome looking young man with longish hair pulled back into a ponytail, glasses and a posture that bespoke of great confidence. What a find! Homura's eyes went wide as the boy turned and saw him, then smiled and started walking. Towards the spot where Homura sat! Just before he could let out an excited shout a girl's voice pierced through the daydream and brought the brunette back to reality. Blushing he turned to see that Honami had finished changing and wasn't quite sure what to think of her appearance. Eager to see the results he swooped in to inspect, still carrying the swimsuit that'd caused him to be so distracted.

"Hm.. well I think that it's absolutely great for you," Homura finally decided, smiling as he offered, "You may want to accessorize it a little bit with a sun hat or maybe something else though. The look you've got going is simplistic but beautiful, and it really suits your looks!"

Her blush intensified as Homura drew closer to her, inspecting her. The blush spread at the other girls compliment. 'Y... you really think so?' Honami asked. 'It's not too simple?' But as Homura continued, Honami smiled at the girl. 'I think you're right,' she said in agreement. 'I'm thinking... something is missing. Maybe... one of those skirt-things?' Honami was completely clueless when it came to fashion, and clothes in general. 'Thank you,' she said with a smile. 'That means a lot coming from a girl as cute as you.'

It was then Honami noticed that Homura was holding a swimming costume of her own. 'Are you thinking of getting that?' she asked. 'I bet it would look good on you.' She was actually guessing, but it was a bet she was sure she would win. If she was a betting person that is.

Homura's smile widened as Honami started to see the expansive field of options for accessorization herself. It took some focus to be able to behold it, but once you trained yourself to open your mind it was glorious. He nodded in encouragement to the girl, "Yes, you see it don't you? This is missing some kind of accessory to add to its cuteness. A swimming skirt would really accentuate it without detracting much from your overall look. Probably something solid colored but not white, otherwise it won't look as good."

He blushed a little at the compliment but nodded, "You can trust what I recommend, Honami-san. After all, I'm the cutest girl in the world." Homura was quite proud of his girlishness, so being complimented on it was one of his favorite things.

When the girl indicated the suit Homura held, the brunette blushed, then shook his head, "I was thinking about it but really I don't think it's for me. I don't go swimming very often so it's not really something I should spend money on.. it is pretty cute, but it's not something I should let myself buy."

Her blush spreading as the other girl spoke, Honami looked down at herself. 'I guess a swimming skirt would be good,' she said. 'Definitely not white. It would be too much.' She thought about colours for a moment. She looked in a mirror on the wall and gasped. 'Blue!' she exclaimed. 'A blue swimming skirt,' she said, turning back to Homura, smiling at the girl. 'What do you think of that? I think it would be cute.' A blush coloured her cheeks as she realised what she had just said.

As Homura blushed, and declared herself the cutest girl in the world, Honami couldn't help but giggle. 'Well, you're certainly the cutest girl I've met,' she said. 'And I do trust what you recommend. You certainly know more about these kinds of things than I do.'

When Homura said she wasn't going to buy the suit, and that she didn't go swimming often, Honami nodded. 'I don't go swimming often, but I was kind of told to go and buy a swim suit.' She glanced down at the suit she wore, and could still almost see the blue skirt, which was pleated. 'But I guess I want to go swimming more, before we start swimming at school. It's kind of embarrassing being the only one in my class unable to swim.' She looked up at Homura, a blush on her cheeks as she admitted this. 'I'm.... sort of... afraid of water.'