I wasn’t sure what to expect after going through the portal. All I knew was that, after I did, Window would have an actual body instead of being her usual, rectangular self.

Well, that was what I thought.

Instead, after returning to my original world and stepping into the valley, I looked around and was met with nothing but Window looking like her usual self.

“What happened to transforming after we get here?!” I asked her.

LISTEN THIS IS EMBARRASSING OKAY?

DO YOU KNOW HOW LONG I’VE TRIED PERFECTING MY WAIFU FORM FOR?

WHAT IF YOU DON’T LIKE IT? WHAT IF IT’S NOT WHAT PEOPLE EXPECT? WHAT IF NOBODY LIKES HOW I LOOK AND THEY WISH I WOULD ST AY A RECTANGLE?

IT’S LIKE IF YOU WERE A WORM AND EVERYBODY EXPECTED YOU TO TURN INTO A TOP TIER BEAUTIFUL BUTTERFLY, BUT YOU WERE WORRIED YOU WOULD LOOK LIKE AN UNLIKABLE GREMLIN BUTTERFLY THAT LOOKS LIKE IT’S THE LIVING REPRESENTATION OF STUPIDITY

“Window.”

ye-yeah?

“Just be yourself. Don’t worry about what anybody else thinks. Don’t worry about what I think. Don’t worry about what Vala thinks. Don’t worry about what anybody but you thinks. As long as you’re happy with yourself, anybody else’s opinions can screw off.”

But… but what if knowing you like me is what will make me happy with myself?

“I can already promise you that I’m going to like you no matter what.”

>//////////>

How can u b sure tho

Like what if you don’t

What if you think I’m a little gremlin who belongs in the trash

“Then we’ll have to find a dumpster big enough for the both of us.”

…

I don’t know if that was smooth or stupid or what

“But seriously, I can be sure because you’re Window. I already like you. Come on, isn’t that obvious from how much I bully you?”

u kno grown adults aren’t supposed to bully the people they like, right? That’s a little kid thing

“Too bad. Now, you going to transform, or am I going to have to drag you around the city while making everybody look at me like I’m crazy for walking around with a floating rectangle?”

I… I’ll DO it

Just

Turn around

I had my doubts that she’d actually do it, but I turned around and waited.

Then, just before I was about to ask her what was taking so long, I felt a tug on my arm.

And then I heard a voice.

“Don’t – don’t turn around yet! You have to let me get used to it first,” the voice said. The voice was a bit on the deeper end, which surprised me, but it still sounded distinctly feminine.

“Oh no,” I said, “some strange girl is grabbing me. Police, help me. Please.” I made sure to sound as monotone as possible for that.

“I’m not some strange girl! I’m an informational status window!”

“Somebody hurry up, this strange girl is delusional and thinks that she’s a status window straight out of an RPG.” I felt a soft kick against the back of my shoe after that. “And now she’s physically abusive. Help me. I’m going to die. Wait, now she has a knife. And a gun. And a sword. All put together.”

“That’s so absurd that the police would hang up on you if you called them and said that!”

Since I wasn’t sure where else to take the act, I turned around.

“Wai-wait! I’m not ready yet!” Window shouted as I turned.

Unfortunately for her, I didn’t feel like waiting. I really wanted to see her. Plus I really wanted to actually take her out instead of standing in an alley forever. The longer we waited in the alley, the higher the chance that somebody would come along and try to sell us drugs. Or kidnap us.

I wasn’t very trusting of other people, especially in big cities. People who lived in small towns were already bad enough. City folk were even worse.

And so, I saw her.

Standing in front of me was none other than the informational status window that I couldn’t imagine going a single day without anymore. Though, instead of being a sassy rectangle, she was a short girl who looked like she designed herself to look as comfy as possible. She barely even reached up to the bottom of my chest with the top of her head, and her entire body looked so… soft.

She might not have been as thick as Delphi was with her new body, but Window was also shorter than Delphi was. Parts of her looked even softer and squishier than Delphi did because of that. There was just slightly less squish spread over much less area. Though, while Window might have looked even thicker than Delphi due to how proportions worked, her clothing showed far less skin than Delphi’s armor did. Delphi proudly, if she was even aware of it, showed off her cleavage, her thighs, her belly – Delphi’s outfit basically had her looking like a woman who would purposely make skimpy cosplay armor while still trying to look at least a bit cool.

But Window was the opposite of that. Instead of wearing revealing armor, Window wore an oversized shirt that hung off one shoulder, revealing a bra strap, that didn’t show even the tiniest bit of her chest. Though, given that there was still a noticeable bulge pushing her shirt out in front of her chest, it was obvious that she made herself stacked.

Down below, only the bottom of her shorts could be seen due to how oversized her shirt was, and then there were pastel knee socks that left barely any skin visible between where they ended and where the shorts began.

“You – you weren’t supposed to look yet!” Window shouted at me, tugging on my arm some more as she looked up into my eyes with her own that revealed a bright, pink color that matched the tone of her hair. Though, her hair also had some streaks of cyan through it while her eyes were purely pink. “And you better be mentally describing my body in lewd detail! I – I’m gonna be mad if you’re not…”

“What, you can’t read my thoughts anymore?” I asked.

“We’re not in Vala’s universe, so I don’t have all my awesome powers here. All I can do is stuff related to myself…”

“Would it make you feel better if I said I was mentally describing every inch of your body?”

“It… it might, but it’ll also make me want to hit you.”

“Will it be a gentle hit?”

“Obviously! Being rough is Clawdia’s thing.”

“Then in that case, yes. I was thinking about your body and how compact it is.”

“Com-compact?! That’s the first thing you tell me about my body?!”

Surely enough, she punched me in the arm with barely any force at all.

“You’re extremely cute, Window,” I said.

For the first time, it was her cheeks that turned red instead of her rectangle. “How… how can I be sure you’re telling the truth if I can’t red your mind?”

“Because you know I wouldn’t lie to you.”

Window narrowed her eyes at me. “Do I have to remind you of all the times you’ve lied to me?”

“Hey, I’ve never lied to you and I’m serious. All I’ve done is tell you some things while leaving out important context.”

“I want to punch you again.”

“You’re going to steal Clawdia’s character if you keep doing that.”

“But what if stealing character traits is my character trait?”

I brought a hand up to my chin and gave it a few strokes. “That’s a tough one. If you steal character traits, which trait are you going to steal from me?”

“None because the only trait you have is being the worst and it’s impossible for me to be anything but the best.”

“Listen here, you informational status shortie. Just because you look cute doesn’t mean that I won’t pick you up by your ankles, spin you around, and throw you.”

“Pl-please don’t. This universe doesn’t have anime physics like ours does.”

Since throwing her wasn’t an option, I opted for flicking her forehead instead.

She raised her hands up to cover her forehead where I flicked her before lowering those same hands over her face. “Do… do you really think I’m cute?”

“You’re the cutest in the entire universe, Window,” I answered.

“Are you only saying that because none of the others are currently in this universe?”

“Yes. If you asked me in our home universe, I’d have to give you the diplomatic answer and say you’re all equally cute, meaning you’re all the cutest in the universe.”

“I… I like how you refer to it as our home universe.”

“That’s what it is, isn’t it? This universe sucks. Vala’s universe is our home. Oh, there is something I’m curious about.”

“What?”

“Your voice. It’s deeper than I thought it’d be.”

“Is… is that a bad thing?”

“Nope. I like it. Just curious since I thought you liked those cutesy, high-pitched idols and all that.”

“Well, I do, but one of my favorites has a deep voice and it really sets her apart from all the others, so I thought… since we don’t really have a girl in our universe with a deep, maybe I could fill that role.”

“You won’t hear any complaints from me. And I doubt that you’ll hear complaints from anybody else, either.”

Window pulled her hands away from her face which revealed a soft smile that she was hiding underneath. “Thanks. You’re slightly better than being the worst today.”

“Seriously, you did great with designing yourself. There’s only one thing missing.”

“What?”

“Come on. Given what city we’re in, it shouldn’t be too hard to find a store that has it.”

“Are you – are you going to take me into some store and force me to try on lewd costumes?!”

“You’re stealing too many of Clawdia’s traits now.”

“Am I, or is that just the natural reaction to have when it comes to you? Since you’re the worst and the most despicable and all that.”

“I thought I was better than the worst today?”

“I changed my mind.”

“That quickly?!”

“What can I say? It’s hard for the worst to truly be anything but.”

I sighed and grabbed her wrist. “Come on. We’re fixing you.”

“If you’re gonna get any of us fixed, at least get the dogs fixed!”

“It’s not that kind of fixing!”

No matter what form Window took, she was still the same Window that I came to spend every day with. That was why we laughed together just like always. Only, this time, she was actually able to laugh instead of only being able to shake her rectangle.

“So… how are you going to fix me?” Window asked.

“That’s a spoiler,” I answered.

“I don’t like not being able to read your thoughts.”

“Too bad.”

“If you’re going to be such a worst, at least let me hold onto your properly.”

I let go of her wrist to see what she meant.

The next moment, she wrapped her arms around my right arm and hugged it against her chest, pushing my arm right between her breasts. Feeling just how deep she was able to pull my arm into there told me that she must have been even bigger under her shirt than I realized.

There was something exciting about a girl wearing such an oversized shirt that the true size off what hid underneath it couldn’t be guessed.

“Pretty bold of you, Window,” I teased.

“Sh-shut up. The worst thing about you already having waifus who do this with you is that I can’t shock you from doing it,” Window replied.

“Would it make you feel better if I say that my heart is racing?”

“Is it…?”

“Come on. It’d be impossible for it not to be in this situation. Just because I don’t react like a total virgin doesn’t mean I’m not still excited by it.”

“Then I guess that makes me happy. But only a little.”

“Good. Now, try to keep up with those short legs of yours.”

“Listen, short legs are cute. Guys are always all obsessed with long and thin legs, but short and thick legs are where it’s at. That’s what the truly cultured appreciate in their idols.”

I sighed since it ended up going back to being about idols and started to walk. Window almost tripped as soon as I started, but she managed to catch herself with my arm and kept up with me.

As soon as we made it out of the alley, Window stopped so that she could look up at the rows of buildings reaching far into the sky, her eyes full of wonder as she craned her head backward just to admire their heights. “I’ve seen pictures and videos of buildings this tall… but they’re completely different in in-person. We don’t have anything like this back home.”

“Maybe we will someday. As long as they don’t get too much in the way of enjoying nature’s sights,” I said.

“Yeah.”

While Window enjoyed the sights, I already found myself getting extremely annoyed with the setting. Cars, honking, people, talking, phones ringing – I hated all the noise. Fortunately, all of my date ideas for her were indoors or in secluded areas that wouldn’t be too affected by the noise. But while we were walking along the packed sidewalks of the city, I wanted nothing more than for one of those movie villains to come and snap half the population out of existence. More than half, actually. Way more than half. More like ninety-nine percent if not everybody but me and Window.

After a bit of walking, I found what I was looking for. A small store that sold various, simple goods for low prices. It probably didn’t look anything like the kind of place somebody would take their date to, but I was sure that it would have what I needed for Window.

Half the shop was dedicated to food and the drinks while the other half had beauty and self-care products. Then, in the very back, were just random tools and things that people might need around the house.

I took Window toward the beauty aisles.

“I really don’t know what we’re doing here,” Window said as she had fun looking at all the random stuff we walked by.

I found my target almost immediately.

“Stay still,” I ordered. “Also, close your eyes.”

Window might have liked to be stubborn most of the time, but she obeyed without any objections. She did, however, try peeking her eyes open for a moment. I had a feeling she was going to try that, though, so I already had a glare prepared for her which caused her to immediately shut her eyes again.

A quick moment of playing with her hair later and my job was done. All I had to do after that was pick up one of the nearby mirrors for sale to hold it in front of her. “Alright. Open your eyes.”

Window opened her eyes and looked around for a moment before realizing what I did.

I put a white, rectangular hairclip in her hair just over her bangs.

Window smiled and laughed a little, even tearing up at the corners of her eyes. “You really are the worst…” She couldn’t have sounded happier when saying that.

“For making a girl cry on my first date with her?” I asked.

Window nodded and turned her head in each direction just to check out the hairclip from different angles. “I hope you know you doomed yourself.”

“How so?”

“Because the very first present you gave me is the best and most fitting present you could ever give me. You raised the bar impossibly high on the first date, so all future presents are going to suck.”

“I’m pretty sure that costs less than a dollar.”

“Doesn’t matter. It means more than what it costs.”

“I really didn’t think it’d be that special, but I’m happy you like it so much.”

Then, just as things seemed to be going pretty good, all life left Window’s eyes.

“What’s wrong?” I asked right away.

“I… I discovered a weakness to being short. A critical flaw,” Window said. Even her voice sounded lifeless.

“What?”

“This… would be the perfect time to give you a surprise kiss on the cheek, but…” Window looked down at her legs. “I’m too… compact. Even if I jump… I can’t reach your cheek.”

“Need me to pick you up?”

“That would be even worse! I’d feel like a little kid being picked up by my parent!”

“Then should I crouch down?”

Window, looking like she was about to cry even more than when she got teary-eyed from the gift, pouted and nodded her head.

So, I crouched down for her, putting my face right in front of hers.

Window still didn’t look too happy about the situation, but she leaned forward to place a kiss on my cheek. Successfully kissing my cheek looked like it cheered her up a little.

“Thanks,” I said. “Just so you know, I was extremely tempted to turn my head at the last second to make you kiss my lips instead.”

“I would have killed you right here if you did that,” Window said.

“Isn’t that a bit too extreme?”

“No! That would have been my first kiss and a really lame one! You can’t give me such a perfect present then give me such a lame first kiss! Our first kiss needs to be romantic and at the right moment and like it’s out of a romance movie!”

“Those expectations are way too high for a guy like me!”

Window smiled and returned her arms to around my own. “You better not disappoint me or else I’ll curse your gacha rolls for the rest of time.”

“That’s a terrifying curse.”

Now that she was “fixed,” we could officially begin the dating part of our date.