"Tachibana-kuuuuuuun!"
Hearing Neji call her always gave Kisa a feeling she couldn't really express in words-there was definitely both dread and excitement there but also something warmer she didn't know how to name.
She wasn't surprised to find him half-into a dress, fixing a corset around his waist, and wearing high heels and fishnet stockings, but that was mostly because after almost a year of working with him she'd learned that the only thing to expect with Neji was the unexpected.
...He really did make a beautiful woman, though. It was hard to take her eyes away from the line of his spine, the vibrancy of his hair against his pale skin, the elegant shape of his legs.
"Tachibana-kun?" Neji asked, waving a hand. "Helloooooo? I know my sex appeal is distracting, but I'm in a predicament here!"
Kisa was pretty certain her ears turned red. "What in the world-never mind! What's your predicament?"
"Well, you see, your ogling-"
"I was not ogling-"
"Your chaste appreciation of my form-"
"Again, I wasn't doing that!"
Neji sighed exaggeratedly, folding his arms. "Look, can you just help me with my cleavage?"
"...They actually let you get away with that?"
Neji laughed. "I was surprised too!"
"How does it, uh, work?" she asked. She was genuinely curious, but also very certain that if she actually asked anything Neji would jump on the opportunity to tease her.
"That," Neji said with relish, "is exactly what I require your assistance with! Of course, part of it is achieved with foam and padding, a bit up here-" he gestured at his chest, "but Domina is the evil thieving-woman archtype, so there's the expectation that she has a really sexy body, right?" He made a wide hourglass gesture with his hands. "And while my figure's excellent, considering how much of it I'm showing off-alas, even a genius like me can't do everything on his own!" He twirled around to present his back to her again, feathery black skirt moving with his movement. "Lace me up."
Kisa stepped forwards. "All right." It was cut off in the middle of his ribcage-high enough that he probably couldn't reach it with his own hands.
"What?" For some reason, he sounded like her helping actually surprised him. "Aren't you supposed to go 'Wh-Whaaaaaaaaat!?' at my ridiculous demands?" He exaggerated his voice to a squawk at that.
"It doesn't look like you'd be able to tie it on your own, and these laces are small-it would be hard without looking. So I went to help you."
He sighed. "It's really unfair that you're so talented and have such a good personality." She could see him pouting in the mirror.
Kisa took the thin strings in her fingers as he rambled and paused. "...Uh, what should I do?"
"According to the Rhodonite girls," Neji said, "you're not supposed to tie them too tight-all the stuff you see in movies isn't right. You lace it like you'd lace anything else, presumably!"
"Tell me if it gets uncomfortable," she warned him, and slid the laces into the hooks on the cincher, crossing them over each other.
"It's not uncomfortable at all," he said airily. "Though it's an unusual sensation, certainly. I won't be requiring my Jeannes to wear these in the future, just in case you're worried."
"I wasn't worried," she said. "That's the laces done. I'm going to tie it off now. Can you take a deep breath for me, just so I can make sure?"
He took an exaggeratedly deep inhale and released it. "Onwards!"
She drew the laces together, tying them tightly and pulling the corset tighter around Neji's waist.
...It really was narrow. It had been before, but there was something about seeing his slim figure in the corset that... Kisa pushed those thoughts away.
"If you're still worried," Neji said, seeming to read her mind, "we can do another test run of Confessions at the Confessional with me wearing this." He pulled the dress up, fumbling slightly with the zipper at the back when Kisa took it.
"If I've already helped you out this much, then I'll do this too," she said.
"What a kind junior I have! Thank you, Kisa." The typical exaggerated drama left his voice at the last. "I really put you through too much, don't I?"
'It's no trouble' was on Kisa's lips, but she thought better of it. "You push yourself just as hard as you push us," she said instead. "And I've told you already. I'm not upset with you about the performance." Or what happened with us in your office- Those words came to her mind unbidden and she willed them to go away, because she was not thinking or saying that with only a thin layer of silk between her hands and the heat of Neji's skin. "It's hard, but I trust you."
"Well." She stepped back and Neji spun around to her, taking her hand with one elegantly-gloved one. "I can't let you down then, can I?" He pointed dramatically to the door of the dressing room. "Onwards!" he declared, pulling her along in his wake. "Let's see Fumi about that rehearsal!"