Exactly where you left them

It didn’t take long to spot them in the same clothing store as before. You had seen a few places on your way here where you could have had a moment of privacy, a corridor that seemed to be staff only or just one of the larger furniture stores where you could probably sit and pretend you were testing out a sofa or something.

The ideas you had though all had flaws that were too big to ignore while you were on your own so finding the two of them was still your first priority. After you did end up finding them, Emma first looked relieved to see you but her expression quickly changed so that Grace wouldn’t see.

“Hey Max is back” Emma said, almost running you down with how quickly she came up to you.

“Ahh, perfect timing. We were just thinking of heading to another store so you can come along with us. Did you end up going anywhere? I lost track of you at some point” Grace asked, wondering what you had been doing all this time.

“No, I didn't see anything I liked. I just spent some time wandering around. How about you two?” you replied, having the same question.

“Oh we just tried a few things on. We probably won’t take much longer and let’s say we will be done by…God is that the time. Well uhmm, we should be done soon anyway but if it’s not your thing then…” Grace said, looking at her phone to check the time and getting slightly embarrassed she had been here this long.

“No, it's fine. I think I saw everything I needed to and I’m happy to tag along now” you responded, trying to give Emma any sort of hint you could that you had completed your goal.

She didn’t seem to catch on but it looked like she was just happy to see you again, something you decided to ask about as Grace took the lead in heading to wherever she had planned to go.

“What actually happened while I was gone?” you whispered, Emma deciding to stay at your side instead of joining her mom at the lead.

“She just has way more stamina than me. She said a ‘few things’ but it felt like we went through half the store!” she whispered back, taking that as your cue to take some of the bags she was carrying off of her to share the load.

It took a minute for Emma to perk up again but as soon as she did so you could tell what was coming next.

“Sooo, how did everything go on your end?” she asked, looking at you expectantly.

Instead of trying to explain everything and potentially getting caught by Grace if you were too loud, you just showed her your phone. At first she saw the new profile system you had unlocked and with that came the profiles of the four new subjects, one of which she had already seen but she still marvelled at each one of them individually. With the profile pictures the KDK had stored as well, you heard a few comments under her breath about their looks.

“...She’s pretty cute… Oh wow, I get why you picked her” she mumbled, more to herself than to you.

“Was this enough though? I feel like you were pretty far from a level” Emma asked, letting you show her the achievement and what came from it.

Her eyes widened briefly at the huge xp gain but then you showed the new downside of registering now being less efficient.

“I guess you're just gonna have to find more people then” she teased, seeing the silver lining in all this.

You wanted to chat more but Grace stopped in front of another clothing store and turned around to make sure you were still following her. Thankfully there was also men’s clothing available so you wouldn’t be the only guy in there and feel out of place again.

Grace led the charge as she wandered through the aisles of clothes and even after only a few minutes you started to understand why Emma had been as tired as she was before. It felt like you did 3 laps of the place before Grace actually picked up an item from a hanger and even then she put it back on the rail after only giving it a glance.

You would have tried to separate yourself from the two of them but Emma clung to your arm just as you thought of sneaking away.

“I’m not letting you get away this time. You're gonna have to suffer alongside me” Emma declared, still smiling at you but her eyes told you she was deadly serious.

Grace continued to search through the store and once she found something she liked, she either draped it over her arm or held it up to Emma to see if it suited her. Everything she picked looked great in your opinion but clothes still ended up back where they were for reasons you didn’t understand, your intelligence boost not helping you in this case.

Occasionally she did the same for you but those times were few and far between, and even then, she asked for your opinion before taking them. You didn’t want to be more of a burden so you declined pretty much everything but Grace realised your intentions and when she heard something even slightly positive in your description she kept it with her.

Even if you hadn’t intended it, Grace led you both to the changing rooms which quickly clicked that this would be the perfect place to try out your new upgrade. The store had a corridor at the back that led to a set of curtained off booths that ranged in size in case multiple people wanted to go in at once. That said, a female employee stood off to the side and you were sure you wouldn’t be able to try anything funny even if you wanted to.

You also knew there was no way Grace would let you and Emma go in one alone so you decided to make the decision for them that would work to your advantage.

“I’ll go in that one if you two want to take one of the bigger ones?” you suggested, giving Emma’s hand a squeeze while you were still stuck to one another.

“Good with me!” Emma replied, getting the hint.

She grabbed the clothes for you and passed them to you, pushing Grace over to the room before she could say otherwise and when she gave you a look back, you quickly brought out your phone to gesture at it.

You hoped that was enough of a hint to show what you were planning and as she gave you a quick nod it seemed that it had.

After making sure the booth at the side of theirs was actually free, you sat down on the little bench that was inside and loaded up the KDK. It wasn’t the best scenario as you didn’t have Emma to watch your body while it happened but this was as good as you were going to get while you were improvising.

Just in case, you positioned yourself so that you wouldn’t fall forward if you were to go **** and scanned the subjects you had at your disposal.