The employee packed all of the clothes that Foster picked out into a few boxes, and he quickly paid for everything. Although… it really did cost quite a bit of money. He should really get to figuring out how much the coins he took from Thiodrus’ place are worth, or else he would run out of money soon.

Foster placed the boxes down behind the counter for now, since the employee allowed him to, and then he went over to see what the others had picked out. Of course, out of the other three, the only one that had a bit of a sense of style was Kyla. She picked out a few different outfits for herself, for different purposes. After all, the dresses that she usually wore weren’t always the best fit for every situation, so she picked out some darker clothes for herself as well. Something that was easier to move in. Right now, she had tried on one of the outfits that she picked out with the assistance of one of the employees.

Some basic clothing pieces may be laying around for anyone to pick up, but for most of them, it seemed like you had to speak to the employees and have them assist you in getting everything together.. Maybe this was so that the higher-quality clothes couldn’t be easily stolen? Foster had no idea if they had any anti-theft measures here.

Kyla wore wide charcoal pants and some dark blue-gray vest, with a red-purple undershirt. But overall, the style of everything really just yelled out ‘Fantasy Adventurer’. It looked sort of over-the-top to an extent, but when Foster actually thought about it, this wasn’t that bad of an outfit on a functional level. And it wasn’t like it looked bad, it was just something that Foster would consider to be weird if he saw it back on earth.

However, both Lynol and Octer picked out outfits that were both far more over-the-top than Kyla’s, and looked horrific at the same time. It seemed like the employee that had tried helping them out was speechless as well, and not sure how to say that the things they picked were absolutely horrible.

Lynol was wearing nothing but dark swampy colors, as well as anything that absolutely didn’t go with red. Meanwhile, Octer went the opposite route, and chose the probably most flashy clothes in the whole store.

Both Kyla and Foster were utterly perplexed, “Alright, you guys don’t get a word in this anymore.” Foster sighed, turning toward the employee, “Get him a dark blue overcloak, but not, like, a huge one. Nothing that covers his whole body I guess. Then the shirt he’s wearing in a silver or light gray tone, and… those pants over there in black. And then… the vest he’s wearing, in the same black as the pants.” Foster said, and the employee immediately nodded his head, happy that he could fix that fashion crime right there. It didn’t take long until he gathered everything, and Lynol was shoved into the changing room against his will. Meanwhile, Kyla had been helping out Octer. She picked some mostly brown, gray and black things for him, colors that worked pretty well together.

This was the first time that Foster had to do something like this. He never really paid that much attention to the way he looked, but even he knew a thing or two about it. Rather, he knew what looked good and what didn’t. And soon, Octer and Lynol stepped out of the changing rooms, wearing some actually good-looking clothes. They still had that whole ‘Fantasy Adventurer’ feeling about them, but that was something unavoidable. The fashion sense in this world in regard to things like that was obviously a lot different to Foster’s.

But either way, it was finally time for him to change into his new clothes too. He picked out the things for the casual outfit from the things he already bought and entered the changing room, quickly taking off the martial arts uniform that he had been wearing for so long. It felt sort of weird, but at the same time, it was something that he had to do. Because he had been wearing the very same thing ever since he first got to this world, things felt a lot more… temporary. But with this, with these clothes, Foster admitted to himself that this was anything but temporary. He would be here for a long time. He didn’t even know how he got here, not to mention how he could get back.

Foster hesitated for a while because of just that feeling. As he pulled the black shirt over his torso, it felt like he was in a dark, cold ocean. With the thin, loose charcoal jacket, it was like he was unable to move anymore. And with the beige pants, he could feel the weight on his feet dragging him down further. He hadn’t felt like this a lot since coming here, but somehow, something as simple as this made him feel so hopeless.

With slow steps, Foster approached the changing room’s door, and slowly pushed it open, the Gi folded up in his hands. Stepping out into the space in front of him felt impossible somehow. But before he knew it, Foster stood there in front of his friends. Clearly, they were surprised at how simple his outfit was, but especially Kyla and the employees quite liked it.

With a slight smile, Foster approached his friends, a little closer to accepting the truth that he might never return to earth. 

— 

The sun was slowly going down, and Foster approached the location of the restaurant that his date suggested they met at. And right in front of it, she was already waiting for him. It seemed like she was looking around to see if he was coming.

“Silvia.” Foster said with a light smile, and she quickly turned toward him, “Ah, there you are. You know, usually you should try to be there a bit early.” She said with a smirk.

With a chuckle, Foster stood in frront of her, “Sorry, the roads of this town are quite confusing. I still haven’t properly gotten used to the different layers.”

“Hm… good excuse.” Silvia replied with a slight huff, before looking Foster up and down. He was wearing something that wasn’t quite common here. He was wearing a fully black suit. Even the shirt, vest, and tie were completely black. Since Foster was even wearing black gloves and had deep black hair, the only thing that stuck out was his face, and his practically glowing emerald green eyes. Even though his outfit looked somewhat weird to Silvia, it was undeniable that Foster looked great right now.

“Should we head inside?” He suggested, and Silvia slowly nodded her head, turning around to head into the restaurant first. It was something nice, but clearly rather high-class. Luckily, Foster had exchanged some of the coins he took with him from Thiodrus’ place at a bank earlier today, otherwise he might not have enough with him to pay for dinner.

“A table for two.” Silvia said, walking up to the man standing in the entrance area of the restaurant, and he immediately nodded, “Of course, miss.”

He quickly guided the two of them through the restaurant. And sure enough, it was a fine place. Live music was played, and although it was clearly on the expensive side, it had a sort of casual atmosphere to it. Foster and Silvia soon made it to the table and sat down, before a waiter quickly approached them. They ordered a wine for now and then started figuring out what they wanted to eat while the waiter was gone.

“Have you been here before?” Foster asked, and Silvia quickly nodded, “A couple times, yes. Although, with nobody quite as handsome as you.” She pointed out in a sort of seductive tone, and Foster couldn’t help himself but smirk.

“If that’s your way of trying to secure a second date, you’re on the right path.” He quickly replied, and Silvia slightly leaned back, “Ah… about that… I would just like to say, I’m not particularly looking for something… serious. I haven’t been in this city for long, and I’m still-” She explained, as if she already felt bad about leading Foster on to let it get to this point.

However, Foster interrupted her by grabbing Silvia’s hand over the table, “Don’t worry. I think we’re on the same page.” He pointed out with a slight wink. Silvia’s nervous expression disappeared and turned into a relaxed smile.