Episode 80 — New Year's New Costume Reveal: I'll Read the Mycarons I Missed Last Time, Too
New Year's Day.
The first morning of the year, and the most important holiday on the Japanese calendar. In anime, people go with their friends for the year's first shrine visit and draw an omikuji there — a fortune slip that decides your luck for the year to come. Naturally, no such event is waiting for me.
Looked at a certain way, New Year's is nothing more to me than one more stretch of winter break. Not that it is entirely the same. I offer Mom a formal New Year's bow, and I send my classmates polite New Year's messages out of courtesy. This year I also had to send greetings to the members of Stars Flow.
"Mina. Are you all ready?"
"Yes..."
And more than anything, we have to go there.
I have already washed and dressed, but I still haul my faintly drowsy body upright. The moment Mom and I step outside, a wind that has not yet lost its bite comes out to greet us. Thankfully, the sky is blue.
"I'm here."
"Welcome, Jia."
"O-oh — welcome, Sis."
"Mm..."
My sister, whom I have not seen in a while, looks terribly tired. I am used to it. Every New Year, this is how she looks when I see her. Only recently did I learn the reason: there is so much work at the end of the year that she feels ready to collapse. I used to think she was simply worn out from New Year's parties with her friends.
But is being a reader model really that busy, even at a time like this?
"Are you only eating lunch with us and heading straight back again today?"
"Yeah. If it were up to my heart, I'd go home with you. There's still so much work left, though..."
We talk as we walk. The gray stone path and the green around it are enough to make the air feel clean, and the neighborhood is quiet, as expected. It is not empty, but the people we pass are few and far between. It is New Year's, after all.
We have been walking for about five minutes when we stop and look at it in silence.
Without a word between us, we begin to tidy the ground around it. Mom scrubs the grave with a brush, my sister pulls the weeds, and I sweep the surroundings with a broom.
"Haah."
When the cleaning is finished, my sister offers the incense, and beside it I set down the strawberry macarons Dad loved. Last of all, Mom slowly pours water over the stone.
"Huu..."
Then we stand side by side, close our eyes, and quietly press our hands together.
Dad will be leaving first, but I will always... love you, Mina.
Our Mina is so shy around people that Dad worries a little.... I wanted to stay beside you my whole life, and protect you....
You don't have to worry anymore, Dad. I'm really working hard now. I made friends, and I found a dream. There are even a hundred and fifty thousand people who tell me they like me. Pretty amazing, right? So please don't worry anymore. Just cheer for me with all you've got. I'll be counting on you this year, too.
When I have said all of it, I slowly open my eyes. The sky above me is shining blue, just as I knew it would be.
"I'm exhausted..."
After the grave visit, once we are home, I rinse off quickly and throw myself onto the bed without a second's hesitation. Coming back from the family grave always leaves my body tired. Today was worse. Right before my sister left after lunch, she announced that she was running critically low on Mina and refused to let me go for nearly twenty minutes.
Before I know it, the clock reads 2:30 in the afternoon. More than half of New Year's Day is already gone. I have another stream starting at six, so I need to rest properly. It is the first broadcast of the year, and an important one. I hope nothing goes wrong.
Thinking that, I quietly close my eyes.
Right. Today's stream matters. Not because it is the first broadcast of the new year — because it is the New Year new-costume reveal.
Of course, I already know what my new costume looks like. Aunt Sia showed it to me the moment the design was finished. It was so perfect that I could not say a single word. As expected, Toka Mama is a god.
"Hehe..."
Any otaku would agree: it is far better when the pretty me on the screen wears a cute outfit than when I wear the clothes myself. And in my case she is not simply a game character. She is an avatar I can call another me. Surely every otaku in the country would understand the excitement I am feeling right now. No — they definitely would.
"Ahem. Ahem-hem."
I clear my throat lightly before going live. It is an important stream, and there is nothing I can do about the tension climbing through me.
Last of all, I steady my heart the usual way — with my drug of choice.
"Konzumi.... H-Happy New Year, everyone...! Please take care of me this year, too...!"
And I start the stream.
Hizumi!
We'll take care of you too!
Starting the year with Mei-chan
A new-costume reveal does not mean you show the outfit from the very first second. You open with a little small talk, then let the mood drift naturally into what comes next. And small talk... is not something I am confident about.
Who am I, after all? Even if you count my past life, I can number my friends on one hand. A professional social reject: Kayano Mina.
On an ordinary day I could muddle through by saying whatever I felt like saying. But this is New Year's, the biggest holiday in Japan. There has to be a topic that fits. The trouble is, the only thing I have ever managed to say to another person at New Year's is something along the lines of please take care of me this year, too.
In other words, the chatter before the costume reveal is, for me, a genuine crisis.
However—!
Every problem of that sort was handled by Kogaemon, so rest easy!
I did have to hear that, of course. Even so, now that I have secured Miss Koga's help, I am invincible.
"S-so, how did everyone spend today?"
Just stayed home, nothing special
It's New Year's, so I went to the shrine
"I w-went out for a little while with my family.... Oh, right. M-my sister came too."
"Then m-maybe it's about time I showed you the new costume...!"
It's finally here!
Heart's pounding
"J-just a second. I'll change and be right back...."
With that, I switch the picture over to a waiting screen and ready my avatar in the new costume instead of the usual school uniform.
The important point is this: you must never show the entire new costume from the start. From the shoes upward, little by little, so the viewers' curiosity has time to swell.
"Haa.... All right. H-here I go...!"
When my screen returns, only the chat is floating there, and along the top edge a pair of feet in tabi and zori sandals peeks into view.
"Well? C-cute, right?"
From just this?
You have to show more
"Huh? I t-told you last time! The important thing for a girl is e-empathy.... You ought to be able to look at just this and say it's c-cute...!"
But Mei-chan, you say you're a guy sometimes
So you don't need empathy, then?
"Th-that's...!"
...No. If I waste my strength arguing here, I am the only one who loses. These people are waiting for me to react exactly like this.
"...Huu. That's why you people aren't popular."
At a time like this, it is much better simply to say it outright.
Huh?
Don't want to hear that from someone who calls her school friends "classmates"
Sudden kusogaki move
"Wh-what are you talking about? I-I have tons of friends at school. I'm, like, a total super atmosphere-maker, you know...?!"
Unfortunately for them, I have grown, and an attack of that caliber no longer works on me. Which is to say: my overwhelming victory.
"A-all right, then. Shall we k-keep going...?"
She just smoothly changed the subject
Mei-chan, you've grown...!
What appears next is, of course, the lower half. And what I am wearing is a kimono.
Red is the base, and the upper portion is covered in pure-white flowers. A gray obi is tied at the waist in the shape of a butterfly, and droplet ornaments sway from it with every small movement. Unlike my usual outfit, my nails are painted pink as well, which gives the whole look a different feeling.
"Fufu.... S-so? How is it?"
It's incredibly gorgeous
I think every flower is a different kind
"Ah, th-that's right! Toka Mama told me she put in all different ones to match their flower meanings...."
Cherry blossoms, carnations, lotuses, and more. Every blossom is white, so nothing clashes, but if you look closely the shapes of the petals and the way they cluster are all different.
"A-all right, then. Last of all — ta-da...!"
Oh.
Is this real?
"Hehe.... I-I'm incredibly cute, right?"
When I finally put the full figure on screen, the reaction explodes exactly as I expected. And the biggest reason for that explosion is, of course—
Fox ears? Out of nowhere?
SO CUTE!!!
—the hat is gone, and in its place a pair of black fox ears twitch and perk.
"Of course there is."
The moment I answer, I move the avatar, and a black tail appears behind her, swaying softly.
"I-I'm so c-cute it's honestly dangerous...."
As expected of clothes with Toka Mama's soul in them, everything is overwhelming, right down to the smallest detail. The perking fox ears and the black tail swaying from side to side, especially, are impossible to look away from.
"A-and with that, the New Year new-costume reveal is over...! What did everyone think?"
Unbelievably cute
My heart can't take this
Not a single Iztomo has a harsh word. Well. If someone had, I would have banned them on the spot.
"I'm glad you all l-like it. Then, one last time — p-please take care of me this year too! I'm still inexperienced, but... I-I'll work hard...!"
We'll take care of you too
We're always cheering for you
"Then th-that's all for the New Year new-costume stream. S-see you all next time...."
?
Baizumi!
What about the Mycarons?