Chapter 28: The Unfashionable Undergarment

“It’s… alright, I guess,” Chajingyuan nodded, a critical air about her. “It’s quite comfortable to wear, soft, and fits perfectly, snugly contoured everywhere. When I move, I feel like my entire being moves as one. But, but…”

“But what?” Chahuayuan asked. Chajingyuan looked at her reflection in the mirror, her shoulders slumping in disappointment.

“But, I don’t know why, it just looks so… plain.”

‘You certainly have high standards, don’t you?’ Chahuayuan thought to herself.

“You chose the drab black one yourself. But if that’s the case, weren’t there other colors just now? Pink is a bit more girlish; want to try it?”

“Pink? Are you serious?! Wouldn’t that be even more—more utterly unfashionable?!”

“Eh? More unfashionable?? You, my brother, dare to question my girlish sensibilities?! …No, wait, come to think of it, it’s just underwear! As long as it’s wearable, and no one ever sees it, why are you being so nitpicky?”

“That’s exactly my point! Your standards are so low, it just proves your taste is utterly bland!”

“You—you—you!!!”

As a girl ‘factory-issued’ from birth, whose aesthetic judgment had been cultivated over twenty-three years, Chahuayuan was instantly incensed.

To have her taste so dismissively challenged by her brother, who had only become a girl less than three days ago, was utterly outrageous. She reached out and mercilessly pinched Chajingyuan’s face.

“Guh-woo-guh-woo-gurgle… Stop it, stop it! My face is going to stretch off!”

“Um… actually, excuse me, both customers?” Just as Chajingyuan’s face was on the verge of being twisted into a Ditto-like monstrosity by her sister, the sales assistant waiting outside the fitting room intervened with a timely suggestion.

“You’re developing quite nicely, young lady, with such a good figure.

Perhaps you’re finding the style of the sports bra unappealing, and indeed, you don’t necessarily have to start with sports bras. How about I show you some other options?”

“Eh?”

“Hmm…?”

Prompted by the sales assistant, Chajingyuan and Chahuayuan stopped bickering and followed her, wandering through the vast lingerie store as if it were a garden.

Chajingyuan slowly began to get into the swing of things; though her face remained flushed, she no longer displayed such intense panic or resistance, diligently selecting and critiquing the various styles of lingerie.

“Mmm-hmm~”

Observing her brother’s curious, hesitant, yet compliant demeanor, Chahuayuan felt a pang of dissatisfaction at her pickiness.

However, on second thought, this newfound enjoyment of shopping seemed to be part of her ‘gradual acclimatization to being a girl.’ She immediately discarded her impatience and nodded with a sense of relief.

If it were her brother from before, deep in depression, let alone being picky or fastidious, she would barely even have the energy to shop at all. It’s good that I’m patiently accompanying her.

Of course… her brother had the audacity to disparage Chahuayuan’s girlish heart just now, and while that’s a separate matter, Chahuayuan definitely wouldn’t forget that slight!

Under the sales assistant’s guidance, Chajingyuan tried on numerous styles, one after another.

The conventional back-clasp and strap designs, predictably, were also dismissed by Chajingyuan as ‘plain.’

The more sensual, openwork lace styles, on the other hand, swung to the other extreme. Chajingyuan blushed crimson and declared,

“It’s too mature! No, it’s far too much for an old woman!” The sales assistant honestly agreed that such adult designs indeed didn’t suit her.

In short, the vast majority of styles Chajingyuan tried oscillated between being ‘too plain’ and ‘too mature.’ While a few styles were tolerable, she ultimately couldn’t bring herself to commit.

As for what exactly ‘plain’ meant, Chajingyuan herself seemed unsure.

“How should I put it… it’s like, our entire upper body is a single unit, right? But many styles give the impression of harshly segmenting the body, making it feel uncomfortable and unnatural…”

—Chahuayuan, for her part, couldn’t make heads or tails of this convoluted explanation.

In the end, Chajingyuan settled on a simple, solid-colored tie-front bra made of pure cotton, adorned with subtle ruffles and a small bow at the front.

“Hey, hey, this one’s good! It doesn’t have any gaudy or unfashionable patterns, the style looks relaxed, and it’s quite cute. What do you think, Huayuan?”

“Hmm…?”

Chahuayuan was utterly bewildered. However, after carefully scrutinizing the simple, solid-colored bra for a few seconds, the puzzle finally clicked into place, and Chahuayuan had an epiphany.

“Ah, I see~~~~”

“Huh? See what?”

Chajingyuan tilted her head curiously, and the bow, the ruffles… and the two ‘scoops’ of softness they cradled, gently jiggled with the movement. This visible display of softness made Chajingyuan nod with renewed confidence.

“Bro? Cough, cough, no, wait… Jingyuan? Do you know what your ‘plain or not plain’ criterion actually refers to?”

“Hmm, tell me?”

“The bra you’ve chosen right now,” Chahuayuan leaned in close to Chajingyuan, whispering as she spoke,

“among all the styles we’ve tried, apart from that one purple lace-trimmed one earlier, is the only three-quarters cup bra. That means only three-eighths of the fabric covers you, and the remaining five-eighths are exposed…”

“I never would’ve thought, big bro, that you’d not only adapt to being a girl so quickly, but also be such a pervert deep down~?”

“Eh??” Chajingyuan instantly panicked.

“I—I am not! I just made a deduction based on intuition! I’m not that kind of per—that kind of person who wants to pervert myself…”

“Well, that’s the outcome, isn’t it? So, are you buying this one or not?”

“…”

Chajingyuan’s face flushed crimson again, and she hesitated for several seconds.

“Buy it, I guess.”

“Hmph.”

“You—you help me ask the sales assistant if there are any other three-quarters cup styles. This type really is, really is quite appealing…”

All in all, as their final triumph, Chahuayuan purchased enough bras for her brother to rotate, along with an equivalent number of matching panties and stockings, before they made their victorious return.

Chahuayuan hummed a little tune, swinging the shopping bags as she walked ahead, while Chajingyuan, her face clouded with vexation, trailed behind with a stiff demeanor.

Of course, once she’d put on the new lingerie, she felt quite comfortable, but now that the shopping was done, she would absolutely never admit to that feeling a second time.

“In the end… you still dragged me into all this. My entire body has turned into a girl’s; it’s truly… ”

“Comfort is paramount, comfort is paramount! And look, isn’t being a girl quite nice? You’re so adorable, and the sales assistant adored you.”

“Adoration is one thing; this is quite another!” Chajingyuan huffed indignantly, complaining loudly.

Yet, Chahuayuan knew full well that the actual comfort far outweighed her brother’s verbal stubbornness; his complaint carried not a single ounce of genuine malice.