I spent most of the day doing nothing. Apparently, the last Friday of the month was basically an extra Sunday, so I could relax until the evening event. I didn't exactly know what to expect, but I didn't really care. I was just happy with not being beaten up.

Things drastically changed after lunch. I was eating with Erik, who I had discovered to be quite the good cook, when someone suddenly bursted the door open. Erik jumped from his seat and fell, losing his equilibrium, while I immediately got in a fighting stance, ready to throw a plate against the intruder.

I relaxed once I confirmed it was Marnie.

“John! Where are y… there you are! Hurry up, we must start the preparations!”

Her eyes were shining and her hands were trembling. She felt quite aggressive and, for some reason, I felt threatened. My eyes quickly scanned the room and found an open window. I sprinted towards the improvised escape route.

“Oh no you don't!”

Unfortunately, Marnie was faster than me and grabbed me by the collar of the shirt. Without much care, she dragged me outside the house. I quickly got up and started walking at her own pace, but she didn't let me go and kept her hand tightly closed.

“What is going on?” I asked.

Although I had tried to escape, I didn't know why.

“We don't have much time! We must find the right outfit, so from now until tonight you and I will find something good! Today is a spe~cial day!”

Now I knew why I had tried escaping. My body had been smarter than my brain.

“How come you are so excited about this evening?”

“I'm simply a good guardian~. I left Faye to a trusted person. She will certainly be beautiful tonight, so you must be handsome too~”

Soon we left the campus and reached the plaza in front. Instead of entering one of the visible clothing shops, we walked along a side street. Shortly we reached a small tailoring. It was clearly a high class shop, considering how I could only see sets of suits, tuxedos and similars, as well as ties, bow ties and so on.

Soon the shopkeeper, an elegant middle aged man dressed in blue, emerged from the back of the establishment, welcoming us with a smile.

“Hello Marnie, what can I do for you?”

Marnie put her hands on my shoulders and pushed me in front of her towards the man.

“He is a new arch in town. He has a date” she said with an incredibly serious tone.

The shopkeeper's eyes shone.

“You brought him to the right place! Come, my boy, let's find the right fit for you!” he said, fired up by this whole ordeal.

I became a mannequin for the rest of the afternoon. I tried basically every conceivable combination of clothes and accessories and then some more. The two discussed everything by themselves: I tried to say something a couple of times but I was completely ignored.

Only when the sun started to disappear did the two let me go. Thankfully they had reached an agreement on the correct suit for me. I was now wearing a dark blue suit with a traditional white shirt and a black tie. Thankfully, the shopkeeper had helped me put it on correctly after I had struggled with it quite a bit. He even styled my hair.

I was hating every single moment I had to wear this kind of attire. To this day I had only opted for loose clothing, because I had always felt incredibly constrained in tighter ones. It was a similar feeling to the one I had experienced when choosing a weapon: my body seemed uncomfortable with anything except itself, and this apparently included clothes. Now I felt like a snake was squeezing me with all his strength. The temptation to rip everything off and free myself from the constriction was powerful, but Marnie's proud look and the knowledge that all of this was necessary dissuaded me.

“I'll take it~” said Marnie, while taking what seemed to be a credit card from her pocket.

The shopkeeper accepted the card in his hands, went to the back of the store and then returned to give it back to Marnie.

“Thank you for your patronage!” he told us, sending us on our way.

We retraced our steps and went back to the plaza. Although the light of the sun was slowly disappearing, the street lamps and the lights of the shops kept everything well illuminated. All around the plaza, there were numerous tables full of various foods and drinks with people assigned to them, while others were free for the guests to sit in. The musicians filled the air with the sound of their instruments, while from all around the city and the academy campus people dressed elegantly gathered in the plaza.

Marnie patted me on the back and gently pushed me towards the centre.

“Have fun~ with Faye” she said, first with a kind voice, then with a serious tone.

I simply nodded and walked towards the closest table. There a smiling waiter served me a glass containing a transparent liquid which was clearly not water. I gulped it down on the spot in one shot. It prickled my throat a bit. I handed the glass to the waiter who took it from me with quite the dazed look, but I didn't pay attention to it and went on my way.

I adventured between the crowd, getting food everywhere I could. I could see some of my classmates here and there and purposefully avoided them. Each one of them was surrounded by a big group of people, mostly of the opposite sex. From what I could hear, the people talking to my peers were all buttering up to them. They were probably trying to get in my classmates' good graces, hoping to snatch them up for themselves.

Erik had explained to me that this event had two main purposes: give the local population at least once a month something to do besides working; and trying to match young archs with a partner. In fact, all archs of my age were forced to participate in this event, with the locals aggressively approaching them.

Luckily, I had been able to mingle in the crowd and I was getting thoroughly ignored. Although I had become quite famous, not many would recognize me with the current style.

As I was thinking that in the end I could save for myself a pleasant evening, I saw the gossipy young black-haired girl looking straight at me. A mischievous smile formed on her face. I raised my hand toward her, but before I could say anything she shouted.

“I've found him!”

Innumerable gazes shot towards me.