Chapter 203: Akira’s Custom Suit

Inside a particular high-class clothing boutique in the Kugamayama city’s lower district, the head manager of that boutique, Kashua, was wondering about the customers frequenting her shop lately.

Her revenue did go up and there were more people coming to her shop. In short, her business was doing well. If she was allowed to make any complaint regarding her business, it would be that the customers coming to her shop were not the kind of customers that she was hoping for.

It was not like the customers were rowdy or anything like that, as a matter of fact, they were all well mannered to an extent, they would not do anything as rude as degrading the shop. They also properly paid a good amount of money. Basically, there was nothing to complain about them. The only problem was that they were not exactly the customers Kashua was hoping for.

[…Considering that there are more of these kinds of customers coming here, I wonder if they have something to do with Viola?]

Kashua was actually more or less correct, these people were officers from gangs and other organizations from around the slum city. They caught a glimpse of Sheryl’s dress and got interested in it, then after a short conversation with Sheryl, they found out that Sheryl got that dress from Kashua’s shop.

If they caused any trouble in the shop, it would bring in the security companies guarding the area. Not to mention, damaging the shop that Akira and his friends frequented might cause more trouble. Since they knew that very well, rather than bringing people to rob the shop, they only dared to bring a small number of bodyguards when they visited that shop. When they were there, they made sure to behave themselves. With respect to mannerism and appearance, they were actually even better than the people that Viola came with the other day.

[Personally speaking, I’m actually hoping to attract the people from the inner wall who come to the outer wall from time to time. And it would be ideal if the reputation of my shop spread around starting from those kinds of people. But well… I wonder if it’s too late for me to think like that since we don’t turn away Hunters.]

In the eastern district, being a Hunter was thought to be a crook’s occupation. As a matter of fact, it was used as the main example of a bad occupation. But many of the well-earning Hunters had a good connection with the Corporate Government, as such, they had some knowledge and mannerism to deal with common people and shops treated them with a certain level of respect because of that. Of course, the opposite was true too. Poor Hunters were treated like insects. It was nothing rare for shops to turn away Hunters. If the Hunters wanted to be treated as proper customers, they needed to earn well first.

The shop’s door suddenly opened, the bell rang and Kashua saw a familiar Hunter coming into the shop as she smiled and welcomed him.

It was Akira along with Sara and Elena. Akira was using his usual augmented suit. While Elena and Sara were wearing a rather stylish dress. From her experience, Kashua could immediately tell that Sara and Elena were actually Hunters too, but since they were wearing rather good quality dresses, she skipped treating them as Hunters and went straight to treating them as potential customers.

“Welcome! Thank you for coming to our shop. What are you looking for today?”

Akira nervously replied.

“Uhh, I’m here to order a custom suit.”

“Certainly. Let us know about your preference and wishes. But before that, please let me call our prized staff first, so please wait for a moment.”

As Kashua offered them a seat, Sara suddenly said to Akira.

“We’ll be looking around the shop in the meantime.”

“Okay.”

Seeing Elena and Sara walk away, Kashua looked a bit confused. Akira noticed Kashua was misunderstanding something and apologetically said to her.

“Ah, sorry, it’s for me.”

“I-I see, I’m really sorry.”

Kashua smiled, trying to hide her surprise, as she went to call for Celene. When she returned with Celene, she left Akira with Celene and went to tend to Sara and Elena.

Compared to Kashua, Celene was not that adept at tending to customers. But she understood that she at least needed to have a certain level of communication skill in order to ask for the customer’s wishes. So then she politely bowed and said to Akira.

“Please let me introduce myself again, I am Celene. I’ll be in your care.”

“Ah, yes, I’ll be in your care too.”

In contrast to Celene, Akira was utterly lacking in his communication skills. Not only because it was not an essential skill for a Hunter, but it was also his first experience, that was why Akira was looking rather nervous.

“First of all, let me ask you what kind of custom clothing you are looking for?”

Akira was a bit surprised by that completely normal question. After a short pause, he then awkwardly replied.

“Well, I’m sorry, but I don’t really know it myself. Uhhh, what can I say, things happened which somehow ended up with me thinking about ordering a custom suit. So, it’s not like I have a clear image of what kind of suit I’m looking for… Ah, but it’s not like I don’t want to get a custom suit and it’s not like I’m doing this because I’m forced to either…”

“Please don’t worry, it’s not that rare for customers to come with that kind of thought.”

Celene smiled and said so as she thought of her next move. Seeing how Akira took the first step to be one of those customers who put a vague order, complained about the result, and did not pay the full price, Celene was thinking about how to get Akira away from that route.

“In that case, where are you planning to go with that suit? What are you planning to do with that suit? And who are you going with while wearing that suit? Let’s start with these questions first. In the end, clothing is something that you use to leave an impression on others. Thus, of course, the design of the suit would depend on the dress code, goal, and other things regarding where you are going, and what you are going to do with that suit.”

Celene was expecting to wait for a bit since Akira would take some time to think before answering. But on the contrary, Akira replied back firmly almost immediately.

“I see, that does make sense. That’s exactly what they are for in the first place after all. Well, so, I’m planning to go to a restaurant in the upper part of the Kugama building… If I’m not mistaken, the name of that restaurant is Sterian… And I’m planning to go there with some close friends and someone to whom I owe a favour. So basically, it’s a suit to go for dinner there. I guess that’s all?”

“That restaurant, huh… And these close friends are the other two who came here with you today I presume?”

“Yes, and another one too. So I’m planning to go there with a party of four.”

“I see… In order to get a better image for a suitable suit, is it okay if I inquire more details?”

“Sure.”

Akira then started telling the chronology of how he ended up deciding to get a custom suit.

The one who recommended Akira to order a custom suit was Shizuka. When they were talking about eating out together somewhere, Shizuka noticed that Akira had no outfit that could be called a casual outfit.

Even when he was not doing any Hunter work, Akira was usually using his augmented suit. He also used the same augmented suit when he went out eating as well, thinking that it was just another extension of his job as a Hunter. When he was not exploring ruin and had nothing to do, he spent most of his time training in the wasteland. His only free time was basically when he was taking a bath or sleeping. But considering he did that to maintain his body in tip-top shape when he went to explore the ruin or for training, even those could even be said to be an extension of his job as a Hunter as well. If someone asked him about his opinion about his lifestyle, Akira would reply back that he had no complaints at all.

From Akira’s point of view, he only saw himself as giving all he had in order to repay back the huge debt that he had to Alpha. But of course, he could not mention anything regarding this subject to Shizuka and the others, so he had no other choice but to stay away from that subject and come up with another excuse.

But if he did not explain, Akira would seem like a madman, spending all his time for the sake of being a Hunter; as if he was possessed. Hunting for relics and exploring ruins were both equally dangerous. Going out to such a dangerous place again and again would no doubt affect Hunter’s psyche. Those who had fallen as far as going to such a dangerous place by pure hobby were definitely crazy. So for Shizuka, who often did business with Hunters, or even for Elena and Sara, who were also fellow Hunters, they could not say that Akira had any semblance of a decent lifestyle.

Shizuka thought that it would be a good idea to let Akira experience something outside just being a Hunter, to let him know that he could use his time and money for something else other than doing anything connected to being a Hunter. Otherwise, he would not be able to stay sane for long. Shizuka worried that Akira would one day die thinking that it was a normal thing without even noticing the mental fatigue that he was suffering.

On the other hand, Shizuka knew well that giving a warning to Akira regarding that matter had close to no effect. Since it was a good chance, she then suggested he get a custom suit so that he would leave behind any connection to being a Hunter when they went out for dinner.

Shizuka only made that suggestion casually. Akira was at first not sure whether to take that suggestion, but since it was not like he had any problem with money and for some reason, could feel Shizuka’s worry from behind her smile, he decided to take that suggestion.

Akira did not include most of that in his story to Celene. Due to his lack of communication skills, in the end, it sounded like he decided to order a custom suit out of a whim. Thankfully, Celene, who was not as dense as Akira, more or less understood what Shizuka was trying to achieve.

“…I see. Sterian is a rather high-class restaurant even among the Hunters, so it’s not rare to find them dining there still in their augmented suits. But, on the other hand, it’s also a place to enjoy a normal relaxing day compared to the usual harsh daily lives of a Hunter. They can even book a seat away from other Hunters who are doing business there and Hunters can even rent a normal suit to get away from their usual battle suit.”

“Ohhh, so they even have that kind of service, huh…”

“I also believe that it would be a good chance to take a rest from the harsh daily life of a Hunter. It would be great if the suit that I create is able to help you achieve that. Now then, I will base my design to be suitable for that restaurant. Do tell me if you have any wishes regarding the design. I have some samples too if you would like to see them.”

Celene operated her information terminal and showed Akira some examples of custom suits. Akira could see the picture of models wearing all kinds of designs starting from a cool looking sleek suit to a flashy suit. He hummed for a bit and looked slightly troubled, he then said with a serious look.

“Is it possible to just leave the design fully up to you? I won’t complain about the result.”

“It’s not like we can’t do that, but a custom suit’s main characteristic is that, unlike normal standard clothing, you can customize it to your heart content. But once we move on to the production, it would be difficult to make any big changes afterwards. If it’s just a small change, I’ll do my best to do it, but of course, there’s a limit on how far I can go. So, are you really okay with no particular wish regarding the suit?”

Celene said so to avoid getting complaints later. Akira thought for a bit before replying back with a bit of hesitation.

“I don’t have any fashion sense, or more like, I think I’m very insensitive about fashion. That’s why I don’t want to make any demands just to end up with a weird suit. I’m even doubtful that I can recognize a weird design when I see one. But even so, back then, when I came here to refit Sheryl’s dress, I at least could recognize that it was well designed. So, if I have to make any demands, I want to get something amazing that can even make someone as insensitive as me able to recognize that it is a good design. Is that okay?”

Celene was taken aback. She was indeed happy to hear someone praise her work, but at the same time, if someone asked her to make something similar, she could not say yes right away.

“That dress was originally refitted from an old-world dress. So if I have to make something similar, I would have to use good quality fabric, and that would not be cheap…”

To be honest, Celene wished Akira would not put his hopes too high in case he complained about the result after he made such a demand, which kicked the price of the suit up. But Akira replied back casually.

“Expensive, huh? How expensive exactly? As expected, I would hesitate to pay if it goes up to 100 billion Aurum or something like that though…”

“O-Of course it won’t be that expensive. That is, as long as it’s not an armour that looks like a suit from the outside or anything like that. In the first place, our shop doesn’t handle that kind of clothing.”

“Ah, I don’t want anything like that. A normal suit that has nothing to do with fighting will do just fine.”

“C-certainly!”

It reminded Celene that she was talking with a Hunter who was earning a healthy amount of money. Even if that Hunter had to pay 100 billion Aurum, it would be difficult, but not impossible. She was dealing with that level of Hunter.

She was questioning herself if she would be able to make a suit that would satisfy such a Hunter. That fear caused Celene to waver, but making a custom suit for such a person might allow her to use as much money as she wanted to realize the design that she had envisioned. That temptation overpowered her fear and completely wiped out any hesitation from her heart.

As she made her resolve, Celene told herself that if she backed out here, it would be the end of her as a tailor.

“…Very well, but considering that you are a Hunter, it would cost about 6 million Aurum. If you could pay that much, I’ll do my best to answer your expectation.”

“Sure, uh, you do accept Hunter ID for the payment, right?”

To be honest, Celene was half-expecting Akira would say no, but he casually said so and handed over his Hunter ID. Celene received that Hunter ID and used her terminal to process the payment. The payment went through smoothly.

“Thank you very much. Let’s move on to the measurements, shall we? Come over here, please.”

She had received the payment. There was no turning back now and she had no plans to step back in the first place. Celene was smiling as her soul of a tailor was burning hot. She then guided Akira to one of the rooms inside the shop.

After Akira moved to Celene’s workroom, he removed his augmented suit and undressed to only be in his underwear. Although he was from the slum city, he had been eating better food lately and had been tempering his body to the point that some doctors suspected him of trying to become a superhuman, hence Akira had a good body build. Celene could not help but to send a meaningful glance at him.

Akira noticed her glance and found it weird. He made his own guess and asked.

“Should I remove the rest to get a better measurement?”

“Ah, no, you’re okay like this.”

Celene banished that thought from her mind as she started taking measurements. But it did not take long for that thought to come back. Akira noticed it too.

“Uhhh, does it look weird? It’s originally an old-world relic, so it might have a weird design. But I have nothing to complain about as long as it is comfortable.”

The skin-tight underwear stuck close to Akira’s skin and completely followed the contour of his body build. It was