Second semester had just started, and I was with Hinami in
the used clothes section of the Bookoff near the east exit of
Omiya Station.
"Okay, quiz time."
"O-okay…" I nodded fearfully.
It was the weekend, and I'd run into Hinami at the
arcade. As payback for crushing her at a game she hadn't
practiced much yet, I was undergoing some special training.
Totally illogical.
"So you want me to put together a winter outfit…?"
"Yep. And you can't buy the whole mannequin this time."
"I know…"
"You really should be able to do this by now."
I was about to be tested on my fashion sense. I'd already
used money from my part-time job to buy some more
weekend clothes on my own. Using the mannequin
technique she taught me, I'd gotten one outfit each for
spring, summer, and fall.
Now that I was forbidden from the easy route, she was
saying that I should be able to put together a halfway decent
outfit.
"That is, if you've also been observing how other people
dress and taking some time to consider style," she added.
"I think I've been doing that."
I walked around the store with Hinami behind me
monitoring my choices. Winter clothes meant I needed a
warm coat, which I hadn't bought before.
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"Can I use the, uh, bottoms I already have?"
"That's fine. Which ones were you thinking of?"
"The ones I'm wearing right now, I guess." I gestured
downward. "These black narrow ones."
"Okay, the black slim-fits. And the black shoes."
"Black slim-fits…," I echoed. Aw, c'mon, I used
"bottoms" and everything…
"All right. Choose your layers for the top."
"…You mean something warm and something to go
under it?"
"Yeah, outer and inner layers."
"Outer and inner…" I wandered around, listening to
Hinami talk to me in the language of style. "Oh, this looks
good."
The first thing I found was a long gray coat (to my
untrained eye). "What do you think about this? It's kinda
long?"
"A Chesterfield. Not bad."
"Chesterfield…?"
"But I'm not sure what's going to happen with the
current oversized trend."
"That's a trend?"
"Don't you think it's time you learned some fashion
vocabulary?"
I was getting chewed out for something completely
unrelated to my main task, but I was still happy I'd gotten
her stamp of approval on the coat itself. Trying to think
positive these days.
"Okay, so on to the thing I'll wear under it…"
"The inner layer," Hinami said, blocking my path with
her arm. "But first, one question. Why did you choose that
coat?"
A surprise essay question. Hinami-sensei wasn't the type
to give partial credit, so I knew I had to give this answer
some real effort.
"Well, for one thing, the overwhelming majority of
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clothes I've been buying off the mannequin are black or
white or gray… You know, kinda monochrome-ish."
I'd been wearing black pants or shoes with a white
button-down, or a white T-shirt and shoes with a gray
button-down or hoodie or cardigan, so describing it as
monochrome to Hinami should be safe enough.
"Not a bad thought. But why choose gray, not white or
black?"
"Uh, well…"
Why gray? Even I know that white coats aren't very
common, even if you're going monochrome. It looks more
like a theater costume or a cosplay outfit. That left two
choices, gray or black, and I chose gray because—
"…I had a hunch?"
"…What?"
Obviously, my essay answer was as bad as they get—but
Hinami was smiling with satisfaction. Wait, what? Now she
was grinning.
"That's a good sign."
"R-really?"
She nodded. "It means you're starting to develop fashion
sense."
"…Ooh!"
Seriously? She'd told me you pick that stuff up by
shopping, wearing nicer clothes, and thinking about your
outfits, but I was surprised it was happening so fast.
"Of course, a better answer would've been more like, 'I
thought it would be hard to pull off a black coat with a pair
of black slim-fits,' or, 'Gray hoodies and cardigans are
popular outerwear, too, so I thought I could mix and match
more easily with a coat of the same color.' You know, since
you are nanashi."
"Don't you think you're setting the bar a little high?"
Actually, I was impressed she'd even come up with those
reasons herself. Now that she mentioned it, I realized I
hadn't seen many mannequins dressed all in black, and a lot
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of the—uh, tops people wore over other stuff were gray.
"But you're right. I think I've been subconsciously
avoiding black with black."
"See? Now, let me teach you a little trick."
"What kind of trick?"
"For making it work if you'd chosen black just now."
"Oh." That sounded useful.
"The reason black wouldn't work for the coat is that
you'd be wearing black from head to toe, right?"
"Yeah."
To a nerd such as myself, black was super cool, but I
hadn't seen it on the mannequins. And what fashion sense
I'd managed to acquire so far told me it wasn't a good idea.
"So what do you think you could do to make those black
pants go with a black coat?"
"Um…"
I thought for a second, then gave my answer. "Change
the color of the thing you're wearing underneath or
something?"
"The inner layer."
"Um, okay…"
"Honestly, this is the third time today." Hinami sighed
with irritation. "By the way, your answer was wrong."
"What?!"
That was a surprise. I mean, even if the coat and pants
were black, you wouldn't be wearing all black. There might
be a better answer, but mine should be right, too.
"Why's that wrong? You'd still have a different color."
Hinami sighed again. "I suppose," she said, tapping my
chest. "As long as people only saw you from the front."
"Oh…" I'd needed her to point it out.
If the thing I wore under the coat wasn't black, I'd be
fine from the front. But turn around, and it's black all the
way down.
"Never decide on an outfit just by standing in front of a
mirror and looking at yourself from the front. Only after
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you've made sure the colors and lines work from the side
and back."
"Gotcha…"
Didn't take much to win me over. I'd never taken an
interest in clothes, so that just hadn't occurred to me.
For instance, if I wore my black slim-fit pants with a
black coat and something white for an inner and imagined
how I looked from the front, it was safe enough. But from
the back, there's no variation.
"Black on black isn't always bad, but it's not something a
complete beginner can expect to pull off."
"Oh, that makes a lot of sense…" Now I was starting to
see why my answer before was wrong.
"It's all about technique. There's a simple way to set
yourself apart from the average person."
"Huh."
Hinami smiled as I waited curiously for her to continue.
"The trick is your socks."
"Socks?"
She was gonna have to spell that one out for me. I mean,
you can hardly see a person's socks. Aren't they more of a
practical thing?
"Let me guess…you still don't think about socks when
you're putting together an outfit."
Her expression was witheringly superior, but I had to
answer honestly.
"Nope."
"Unbelievable…" She sighed loudly.
Come on, I haven't studied this subject yet. Not at school
or with Hinami.
"Well, I suppose it makes sense. Not long ago you were
wearing clothes your parents bought you, so it may have
been a bit soon… I'm sorry, it was my fault for expecting
more from you."
"N-no, I'm sorry…"
Her apology made me feel even more useless. Her
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arsenal of attacks was growing.
"Anyway, back to the real point."
"Right."
Now that my heart was nice and scarred, Hinami
returned to her lesson. I don't think I was imagining the
mean-spirited amusement in her expression.
"If you wear black on black, then roll up your pants or
wear pedal pushers, and you can show off a different-colored
pair of socks. It's an easy way to adjust the balance."
"…Interesting."
So that's the role of socks in the outfit.
"White's a safe choice…but you can also go with
something flashier like red. That way, you can show some
personality without getting too adventurous. It's a quick
technique with big impact."
"So black coat and slim-fits with showy socks…"
I imagined someone wearing that outfit. The image was
definitely stylish and upper-crust—I'd hate to ruin it by
sticking my face on top.
"Honestly, it's so easy and obvious, some people might
think it's kinda forced or cheap, but for a second-year high
school student, it's more than enough."
"So it's not a spell you can use forever."
Hinami nodded. "It's like when you first learn Frizzle."
"Yeah, and you're just unbeatable for a while."
Everything was clicking into place. And then after a
while, it was basically useless…
"By the way, you can add color with other accessories
like scarves, too. An all-black outfit with a Bordeaux snood is
an easy way to look stylish, for example."
"What's a…bordose nude?"
"A dark red neck warmer," she explained flatly.
"Oh." I took a black coat off the rack next to me. I'd
chosen it because the material looked vaguely expensive. "So
should I get a black one and a gray one for now?"
"Well now, aren't we enthusiastic? In that case, you can
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choose an inner layer that matches both of them."
"Both of them, huh?"
Hinami nodded. "You've been buying whole outfits off
the mannequin and wearing them as is, but as your
wardrobe grows, you'll be able to mix and match. And you'll
be a better shopper if you can think about whether or not an
item will go with what you already have."
"Makes sense."
"You want to put outfits before individual items. A
warrior may be strong on the battlefield, but you need other
classes for a balanced party, right?"
"Yeah, I get you."
Instead of only buying things I thought were super
stylish, I also needed pieces that made the stylish ones look
good. It was like the priest who plays support. Although I
still didn't know which items were the warriors and which
were the priests.
"Okay, choose something."
"All right…but if I use my own logic to think about this,
there don't seem to be many choices."
Since it was winter, I walked over to the sweaters and
picked up a plain white knit thing.
Hinami gave an all-knowing smile. "…Ah, I see."
"You know what I was thinking, don't you?"
My fashion sense wasn't yet fully developed. All I was
capable of putting together were safe outfits without much
color. Since the coat was gray or black, the pants were black,
and the shoes were black, I figured I should choose
something that didn't leave me wearing all black when I took
my coat off.
Which reduced my choices to white.
"It's not a bad outfit, if you're going for the safe, massproduced look—the basic, characterless kind of thing you see
people wearing all the time."
"Huh. Safe and basic? Well then, if this is a game…" I
paused, and Hinami smiled and continued my sentence.
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"This is what you need to master first."
We both nodded over this silly moment of mutual
understanding.
You've got to master the basics inside out if you want to
learn something new, which is why I'd started out tutoring
Izumi in Atafami by having her learn short hops. It's both
the quickest way and the best way.
"Based on the current trends, I'm guessing that
Chesterfield coats might look a little last season pretty soon,
but it's still a good choice for your first proper coat."
"You're kinda losing me."
"Well, you don't need to worry about that yet."
Her tone was dismissive, but I don't think she meant any
harm. She was just focused on telling me what was necessary
for the current situation.
"Okay, then I'm good to— Holy shit, seriously?!" I'd just
seen the price tags on the two coats.
"Whatever is the matter?" She grinned. She'd been
waiting for this.
"Th-they're so cheap…!"
As I stood there opening and closing my mouth like a
goldfish, Hinami gave a satisfied nod. "This is the payoff for
learning to pick out your own clothes."
"This is way more efficient! I can't believe it!"
That must have been why she took me to this
secondhand store in the first place. Well, used games were
usually less than half the price of new ones, too. I was going
to have tons of money left over. More for arcade runs and
season passes!
"When you buy the whole mannequin at new clothing
stores, you buy several pieces at once, and that's another
reason you spend more. Plus, that kind of store tends to sell
slightly more upscale stuff. The upside is you come into
contact with carefully chosen items and outfits, and you can
wear them as a set over and over again. Which gives you lots
of chances to reflect on why those outfits are so stylish,
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right?"
"Yeah, I guess…"
Since I was spending my own hard-earned cash on
clothes, I didn't want them to go to waste. That meant that
every time I wore them, I thought about what made them
look good, and I spent more time considering other people's
clothes, too.
"Once you've got a bit of fashion sense, you can start
getting deals. Especially if you come to cheap secondhand
places like this."
I was convinced. "So you created a situation to make me
think about those things?"
"Hexactly."
"Right."
There's the catchphrase.
"Of course, ideally you would continue putting in effort
without any rewards, but that doesn't usually work very well.
The important point is to analyze and manage your
emotions from a bird's-eye view and find ways to motivate
yourself."
I understood exactly what she meant. Still, it was a little
unexpected. "…You think about that stuff, too?" Honestly, I
thought she totally ignored the issue of motivation and just
manipulated herself like a machine.
"Yes. Although in my case, the hard work is itself a
strong motivator, so I don't often run into problems."
"That's crazy. How do you do it?"
Even I wouldn't be able to keep practicing Atafami if it
wasn't fun, and that's the one thing I can do better than her.
The fun is the foundation of everything.
"Point is, the first thing you need is repeat exposure."
"…Yeah."
By being exposed to a lot of supposedly "correct" outfits,
I was starting to recognize a couple of patterns within their
underlying structures. Now I just had to put those patterns
into words and apply them.
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Honestly, it was similar to escaping combos in PvP
games.
"I'll go pay for this stuff…"
Hinami sent me a sharp look.
"…after I do the other thing, I know, I know."
"Wow, I thought you were going to whine and complain.
I didn't even have to push you." She widened her eyes in
mock surprise.
"I do try things on when I go shopping by myself, you
know. I follow my instructions for any special training."
That's what a gamer does, after all.
…Okay, so I do try stuff on every time, but honestly it
doesn't do much for me. The only comments I can come up
with are This is a little too big or whatever. But at least I can
tell if I'm swimming in something, and sometimes the
employees will take a look and tell me I need a smaller size,
which helps me avoid major disasters.
On the other hand, I might think something looks great,
but the employee will suggest a bigger size for a trendier
look, which is how I learn stuff like that. Hinami just said
something similar earlier today. Maybe it's like checking the
social media or blogs of other gamers?
"That's a very nanashi-like approach, I think."
"Right? Okay, be right back. Excuse me, can I try this
on…?"
I followed an employee over to the dressing room. The
instant the coat was on me and I was starting to check it out
in the mirror, I heard Hinami saying, "You wearing it?" from
the other side of the curtain. What, does she have X-ray
vision or something?
"I just got it on."
"Well, come on, then."
"Oh, so you want to see it?"
I haven't even gotten a good look myself yet, I thought
as I pushed open the curtain.
"If I don't, this is what happens."
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"…? Oh, right."
I looked in the mirror. The coat's sleeves were a little too
short, which made me look like I'd outgrown last year's
wardrobe. The sweater was fairly short as well, fully
exposing the belt I'd bought on my first mannequin
shopping trip.
Even a fashion newbie could tell the balance was off.
"Try on the black one. After a few times, you just might
get a sense for your size. So this is all for the best, don't you
think?" Her voice was dripping with sarcasm.
I frowned. "Yeah. You did say oversized clothes were
trendy."
"I know you wanna try out your shiny new words, but
the smirk just makes you look pathetic."
"Shut up. I learn in the heat of battle."
"Hmph. We're still shopping for armor, you know."
"Foolish one, the battle starts when you choose your
equipment."
Pretending I was playing an RPG made shopping
surprisingly fun. I ended up buying the black Chesterfield
coat and a white sweater that fit me, plus a pair of red socks
and a Bordeaux snood. This should get me through winter!