The Short Demon King

Chapter 15

There thankfully weren't too many things we needed to do to prepare for the party. We changed into our new outfits first, then Maya joined me in the bathroom to fix her hair. My braid from the previous day still held together fairly well, so I tucked a few smaller strands behind my round ears and left so she had more counter space.

"Looks nice," Kevin commented when he saw the outfit. "It'll probably go better with heels than those sweatpants did."

"Thanks, I'm glad this'll work. I don't really understand what looks good or not, so Maya had to help me pick this out."

"Oh yeah, she's far more fashionable than I could ever hope to be. I'm sure you can tell by the abundance of sweatpants I always wear."

"I like the sweatpants! They're so comfy!"

Kevin laughed into the back of his hand, "You're right. They are pretty great."

"Not for a party though," Maya countered.

I turned to see her hairdo. She managed to get her hair into a fancy-looking bun in less than a quarter of the time it took her to braid my hair. Why couldn't my hair have been similar to the length of hers?

She did a little twirl with a smile on her face, eyes glowing. She clearly loved dressing up like this. It was refreshing to see her so happy for a change.

"You look lovely," Kevn told her.

"I know!" Maya answered, full of confidence. "You ready to head out, Jaye? It's time to get you some normal socialization where you're not freaking people out on the street."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"Kevin told me you randomly walked up to people and tried to talk to them the other day like a total creep. That's just not a normal thing to do, you know."

"I seriously don't get it," I admitted.

Kevin laughed, but agreed, "Yeah, social norms can be really over complicated. But you should be fine at the party, especially with Maya there. She can help you."

"Definitely. Ask me if you're unsure of something, at least before you do something weird again," she agreed.

"Okay fine, I will. Are we ready to head out?"

"Yep, it's a little bit of a far walk but we should have plenty of time to get there," she explained while putting on her flats.

I put both my heels on and stepped outside with her. The sky had already begun to darken, plus there were a couple clouds blocking the sun. This let only a manageable amount of light seep through.

Maya turned back to Kevin before we left, "Don't cause any problems while we're gone!"

"Very funny." Kevin rolled his eyes but still laughed slightly. "Have fun you two!"

I waved goodbye, then we were off.

A small breeze whooshed past us, leaving a slight chill behind it. Their realm seemed to be gradually losing its warmth. I wonder if that's normal...

I matched Maya's pace as we passed through the town center. She walked a lot slower than I did last night while on my own, but we weren't rushed for time. We actually managed to arrive before a lot of the other party guests. A few even gathered outside, waiting for more of their friends to arrive.

Everyone still outside wore similar outfits. Their clothes all looked nice, but still seemed quite comfy. Maya had been right. It didn't matter too much what we picked out. Everyone else looked similar to us.

Another interesting thing I noticed was just how many groups there were. The whole time we spent walking up the house, I only ever saw one person sneak in by themselves.