SECTION 4
IROKOI [AFFAIRS OF LOVE]

2. Onyx no Shinpi
[The Mystery of Onyx]

Today, I shall talk about fashion.

I don't really follow the fashions. I know inside myself exactly what kind of clothes I want to wear and what I don't want to wear.

This is how I began to choose to wear Western fashions.

When I was 5 or 6, the pajamas that my mother made me wear were somehow from top to bottom like skirts. They were, so to speak, negligees.

My younger brother wore the same thing. The two of us had a set. They were blended pink and red colors.

I thought myself that they were rather strange, and myself and my brother both, at that age, looked like little girls.

My brother's face was more defined than mine and his eyes were big and round; he was really a cute little boy. But at any rate, I wondered why my mother would make boys wear things like skirts.

"Because it's cute," my mother said, smiling happily, and when we were that age, she didn't care if we were boys or girls.

Anyway, that was no good. For example, when we went into a store, the boss would say, "Your eyebrows are so thick, it makes you look like a boy, so you should pluck them," or "Because you're punkish, you should get a mohawk" [#1] and make us do those things. It was something that I hated.

Because of that, whenever my mother went shopping for clothes, of course I would go with her and pick out my own. I would say exactly what I liked and didn't like, and I didn't trust my mother to do it for me.

In middle school and in high school, we had uniforms, all characteristic of a particular school.

The top piece could be either long, medium, or short, or even very short. The very short ones only had two buttons. The troublemakers [#2] in my class would mix the short and the long parts of the uniform and change the length when they felt like it.

We also had a fair number of pairs of pants. There were so many it was almost ridiculous. Bonsuri, Bontan, Banana, Dokan…. [#3]

"Dokan" pants were fat from top to bottom. The waist was 120 cm, and the hem was 100 cm.

If you put your hands in your pockets and pulled them out, your waist would expand to about 2 meters. It wasn't because we altered the pants; they were sold like that.

There were also uniforms we inherited from senpai. There was a lot of meaning attached to them.

Of course, none of them were new, but even so, because we really liked the senpai who gave them to us, when we got these uniforms we were very happy and didn't ruin them by wearing them, but decorated our rooms with them instead.

Clothes for delinquents. At the same time, there was such a meaning to certain clothes.

Now it's different. I can wear whatever I want to. Frankly, does it even matter what someone wants to wear? "I'll wear the clothes that suit me…" is what people should say.

For the time being, the thing to keep in mind is to wear what looks good.

For example, if you wear loose clothes, you won't realize when your body shape changes. So don't cheat your waist size.

Though my waist size is 70-71 cm, I wear pants with a 72-73 cm waist size. If I got heavier, then I wouldn't be able to wear those pants. If I started eating too much, they would get tight. There definitely isn't room to do that.

The shirts that I wear also are sensible for if my body shape changes.

The limits of this job are that when your body shape gets worse, wearing unsuitable clothes makes you less of a pro.

In this case, the stylists can be blamed for not taking into account people who are heavier. Because of this, people then become obsessed with getting into shape.

Sunglasses are already part of my body. My eyes are strangely weak towards the light. When the light level is bright, everything becomes white and I can't see anything.

In order to protect my eyes, I try to wear sunglasses. I have over a hundred pairs, but the important thing is to wear what fits my mood. If I have to wear them for a long time, I will pick a pair that doesn't make me tired.

As far as accessories go, most of mine were given to me by people. Conversely, all the ones I bought, I gave away.

Fundamentally, I don't like things with stones. I don't wear diamonds or things like that.

There is power in stones, and I understand the effect that stones have on the body. They change your physical condition and also your mood. Accessories originally had this meaning. Now, I don't frequently change the accessories that I ordinarily wear. If I do that, my body will become tired.

The only stones I will wear are onyx and obsidian. However, more than just being accessories, they are protective charms.

There is a reason why I wear onyx.

When I was about 10 years old, a girl who I knew went overseas to study. At that time, I happened to be wearing an onyx ring. I gave it to her for her protection.

Before she went overseas, she was riding in a taxi and had a bad accident. The driver and her friend who was with her in the taxi both suffered heavy injuries. However, she wasn't even scratched. The only thing that happened was that the onyx ring had disappeared. No matter how hard she searched, she couldn't find it at all.

The original purpose of onyx was to help people dodge evil spirits and troubles. The onyx protected her.

From then on, it became a custom for me to give onyx rings to people who were important to me.

There is a bead shop in Kyoto where I go often, and I go there directly to have onyx beads made for me. Then, the members of my family who wear them will definitely have protection.

The onyx beads are also proof that people who wear them are my companions.