A shopping trip

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!