Demonic Pornstar System

Chapter 1027: Perfect Hostess

"My poor Kai. They put you to work."

"Best job ever."

"The correct answer~"

She held a blue display kimono against herself, with the darker silk swatch draped over its sleeve.

"Which blue for the moonlight? This one, or the darker silk Yunohana showed me?"

Kaiden compared the two shades, then looked at her expectant face. "The darker silk. Your hair would look gorgeous against it, and the silver would stand out more."

Aria’s smile widened.

"That’s what I thought too."

She passed the swatch back to the attendant and leaned close enough to kiss his cheek before following the woman toward the fitting rooms with the display robe.

"Wait until you see it properly, Kai."

He intended to.

...

Kaiden sat on a bench outside the fitting rooms while fabric rustled behind the closed doors. The attendants moved between them carrying sashes and folded garments, occasionally stopping to consult Yunohana.

An excited burst of Japanese escaped one room, followed by a hurried apology and Nyx’s laughter.

"It’s fine, sweetie. Take your time."

"I think the poor girl’s trying to work out where your waist went under those things," Luna called from the next room.

"Would you like to come help her? You seem to know my body very well~"

"Hell no."

Kaiden grinned down at Alice’s fabric sample and accessories on his lap. Yunohana emerged from Alexandra’s room and paused beside him, enjoying the exchange herself.

"They seem to be having fun," he said.

"Very much. Your ladies have made quite an impression on the staff."

A young attendant approached with an empty basket. She held it out to him, glanced at the things on his lap, and searched for the words.

"For... your things. I can keeping."

"Thank you. That would help."

He placed the ribbon, fan, and folded swatch into it. The girl accepted them with both hands, then remained before him, gathering her courage.

"Lord Grey. My English is very small. But... welcome. We are happy. You are here."

Her cheeks colored as she looked toward Yunohana for help.

"That was perfectly clear," Kaiden assured her, speaking slowly for her. "Thank you for having us. You’re taking wonderful care of everyone."

The attendant understood enough to smile at him. She bowed to Kaiden, hugged the basket close, and walked back to the counter, where another girl was waiting to hear how it had gone.

Their whispered celebration reached him anyway.

Yunohana covered a soft laugh with her fingers. "I believe you have made her year."

"She’s been very sweet. All of them have."

"They were rather nervous when I called."

"About us? But we’re just harmless tourists here to taste the famous Japanese hospitality."

"Some of it may have also concerned me."

He looked up at their serene hostess, amused by the admission.

"You? I can’t imagine why."

"How kind of you to say so, my lord."

Before he could answer, Aria’s door slid open.

The blue display kimono framed her silver hair beautifully. A pale sash gathered the cloth at her waist, and the attendant had pinned part of her hair up with a little cluster of white flowers.

Aria stepped before him, turned enough to show him the bow at her back, then faced him again with her hands resting together.

"Well, Kai?"

He stood to take a proper look at her. The dark fabric made her eyes seem brighter, and he loved how eagerly she was waiting for him to appreciate her.

"Come here, my beautiful moon."

She went straight into his arms. Kaiden kissed her, holding her carefully around the waist while she rose against him with a pleased little hum.

Behind her, the attendant discovered an urgent reason to inspect the empty fitting room.

"So you like it," Aria murmured against his lips.

"Very much."

"Good."

Aria leaned against Kaiden, studying their reflection. "And when my own one is ready, you’ll take me somewhere in it? We have a date scheduled..."

"I’d love to."

"Could you two stop blocking the way?" Luna complained from her doorway. "Some of us also got dressed."

Aria moved beside him, keeping his hand. Luna emerged in purple, her sash tied neatly beneath sleeves she was already testing by raising her arms.

"You look adorable," Kaiden told her.

"You mean ’powerfully adorable’ or she’ll conduct a royal hissing fest," Nyx corrected, joining them in a plum-colored sample.

Luna walked up to Kaiden and tugged his free hand toward her waist, making her own request quite clear. He kissed her too, and she held her response to her pink friend long enough to cling to his collar.

Nyx waited beside them with a patient smile.

"Since we’re forming a queue~"

"We’re not forming a queue!" Luna protested, still holding him.

Yunohana turned toward the counter, laughing softly as she asked the proprietress to bring out the men’s selection.

"My turn?" Kaiden asked when an attendant approached him with a dark robe.

"Of course," Yunohana said. "You cannot accompany so many beautifully dressed ladies in the wrong clothing."

"That sounds serious."

"Very. I would be most distressed."

Aria released his hand to examine the offered garment. Within moments, she and Nyx had joined Yunohana at the table while Luna called for something with a dragon on it.

"A large one," she specified. "All the way across his back."

"We heard you, bestie."

"Then why are you looking at the boring ones?"

They chose black silk with a deep red lining for his commission. Kaiden followed an attendant into a separate changing room to try a sample while the girls discussed its embroidery.

When he returned, Calypso and Bastet were back from their measurements, wearing the clothes they had arrived in. Calypso looked up from helping the felinid choose a gold hair ornament.

"Darling! Oh, come here. Let us see you."

Kaiden glanced down at himself. "The girls rejected the dragon."

"They have no taste," Luna announced.

Yunohana approached him with a narrow sash folded over her arm. She held it against the robe and considered the colors together before looking up at him.

"May I adjust this for you?"

"Please. I think I made a mess of the back."

He lifted his arms while she smoothed a fold at his waist and helped him with the sash. Her hands worked confidently, easing the cloth into place without pulling it tight enough to restrict him.

"Comfortable?"

Kaiden moved his shoulders, then turned toward the mirror she indicated.

"Very. You chose well."

"The gentleman gives us a great deal to work with."

"He does, doesn’t he?" Aria agreed, slipping beside him to admire their reflection.

Yunohana smiled at the pair and reached up to her hair.

"There is something else I would like you to have, Lord Grey. May I?"

She loosened a silver cord from among her black locks and laid it across her palm. Kaiden turned toward her as she drew its ends together, letting mana flow from her fingertips into the braid.

Light traveled through the silver strands. Beneath it, her fingers worked the cord into a narrow loop, crossing the ends to form a delicate knot.

"A blessing," she explained. "The thread holds some of my mana. If hostile magic reaches you, it will use that power to resist it."

Kaiden watched the light gather beneath her thumb.

"Does keeping it working cost you anything?"

"Only the mana I put into it. Once that is spent, it will be an ordinary cord again. While you are here, I would be happy to replenish it."

She lifted her eyes to his, smiling softly as the last light sank into the knot.

’Damn... What a gorgeous woman.’ The realization hit Kaiden in the chest.