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Yumi is mortified by her own breakdown almost the moment it begins. Crying is not, strictly speaking, against the rules — the yoki-hijo who set the rules had understood, after all, that breakdowns were inevitable; what they had forbidden was being seen crying. So she takes Akane by the hand, bows in thanks, and gets her tears under control as best she can. The relief of someone — anyone — paying attention to her needs is itself overwhelming. She has been dropped into all of this without direction, the sky waiting to swallow her, vehicles carrying crowds, monoliths of stone glued straight, the twin hion lines glowing above every street and feeding every garish sign. And she has had to go out wearing what she had on.

She apologises to Akane for the concubine remark from their first meeting and tries to recast Nikaro's boasts as something he said about a drama he watches; Akane laughs about small-town manners and says she likes how Yumi talks — it has a poetic feel. She leads her into a vast brightly lit shop full of racks and faceless statues wearing the clothing for sale. Yumi simply stares. Akane proposes three outfits and asks what she likes to wear; Yumi balks at having to pick, and worse, panics at the mention of prices — she has no money. Akane shrugs and says she will cover it and charge her brother, who is going to pay her back, one way or another.

Yumi tries to ask for the thickest, bulkiest dress she can find — and then sees, on a faceless statue, a flowing blue dress that deepens to a darker colour at the hem, with two thin straps at the shoulders. She is appalled and entranced at once. She tells Akane no, it is too daring; Akane notes patiently that by the standards of this city it is actually quite conservative, and points out that Yumi is wearing a sweater as a skirt. Standing there realising she can simply choose this herself awakens something in Yumi — not freshly, she realises, but something already lurking, the sort of thing Liyun would have called dangerous. And Liyun is not here.

Akane takes her through her measurements with the help of a shop attendant — Yumi finds the standing still and being prodded the first familiar thing about the whole experience — and asks about her bra size. Yumi, not wanting to be too obviously alien, says she doesn't know. They walk her to a row of changing rooms. Through the slatted door Yumi asks Painter what a bra is; he points awkwardly to his chest by way of explanation, and asks her not to call it a bosom band. She presses him on Akane. *What do you like about her, other than that she's pretty?* Painter takes too long to answer. Eventually he says, quietly, that Akane was kind to him when they had met in school three years ago, when others made fun of his small-town background — she asked what had made him want to be a painter. Before he can finish, Akane is back with four attendants carrying small mountains of clothing.

Alone in the room with too many options, Yumi peels off her sweltering layers and works through the new undergarments, including the bra — formidable, eventually clipped backward and twisted around. It is constrictive and shapes rather than flattens her, which strikes her as vanity until she tries jumping and decides it is, in fact, incredible. She gives in to her curiosity and pulls on the blue dress, then a matching short denim-blend cardigan that covers her shoulders. In the mirror she sees someone else: someone who could make a choice. It is, she thinks, the first decision she has made just for herself in her entire life.

She opens the door. Akane beams. The attendant nods in approval. Behind them Painter stands and gawks. She raises her chin and meets his eyes and does not care, for once, that this is improper. She leaves the store an hour later wearing the blue dress and clutching two other outfits — hers, actually hers, even if she will never be able to take them back to Torio. She notices, on the walk home, that the staring has stopped. Now that she fits in she is, simply, normal. It is the most exciting thing that has ever happened to her.

Akane stops her outside the apartment building. She has to get ready for her shift, but she is meeting friends at a noodle shop for lunch first and Yumi is coming with her — she is not going to deny her the chance to show off her new fashion pupil. Yumi tries to demur, but Painter shakes his head urgently behind Akane, and that decides it. She agrees and goes upstairs to drop off her things first.