Shibuya froze as well. For a few seconds, no one seemed capable of commenting on this new, unexpected development.
“Azusa Harajuku?! Whaaat?!”
“Hey, Erio! Don’t scream right in my ear!”
“Who made you the noise police? Don’t treat me like Gian from Doraemon! You know what, it doesn’t matter!”
Bellowing, Shibuya grabbed me by the shoulders and dragged me close.
“What’s going on?! Why is Azusa Harajuku collaborating with Mana?”
“No, it’s not a collaboration with Akiba.”
“Huh?”
“Didn’t you hear her? Mana said it’s a collaboration with the Music Department.”
“Now, as for the dance video that just got uploaded for the final exam… the costumes used were actually designed by none other than Azusa Harajuku! I’ve put the URL in the description, so please head over and check out the video right now! I’ll also put a link in the chat!”
“Hee-hee, I’ve seen it already, of course. Killer video! And these costumes are some of my favorites from all the ones I’ve designed so far. I was so excited to see them being showcased in such an excellent performance!”
“Ohhh, that’s so kind of you! Even though I was dressed as a maid for some odd reason.”
“Well, you were cute as a maid! Totally adorable, Mana!”
“Y-you think so? Well, th-thanks… But more importantly! HERE is the costume in question!”
Akiba, blushing and stumbling over her words due to receiving the kind of praise she wasn’t used to, held up a black outfit to the camera.
It was, of course, the costume she’d worn for the video shoot.
“W-wait, our costumes were designed by Azusa Harajuku?! HUH?! But she said she was going to make costumes for Sengoku’s team instead!”
“Right. The new costumes are for Sengoku’s team. There’s no mistake there.”
Shibuya looked completely flabbergasted, so I explained.
“I asked Harajuku to go through her clothing archives of everything she’s designed since she entered Ryouran and choose whatever fit best with Komae’s music and Ootsuka’s choreography.”
“Her clothing…archives? But will viewers be interested if we’re reusing old costumes? I mean, she designed brand-new ones for Sengoku’s team, so in terms of hype…”
“You don’t get it. Only hard-core fashionistas will care that our costumes are her old pieces.”
“Huh?”
“I mean, how many ordinary people know about runway fashion? Most don’t know about a new design until it’s distributed in stores or it makes the news. In other words, it’s basically the same thing as if these costumes were being shown for the first time.”
“Right… You’re right!”
Finally, Shibuya seemed to get it.
Cognitive lag.
Once a fashion trend becomes a template in the industry, THAT is when you start seeing it on TV and so on.
Timelines in the fashion world are totally different from mainstream fashion timelines for the general public.
The pieces unveiled at fashion festivals are unknown to most ordinary people. If we present old pieces as new work, we can compete in the same arena as Sengoku’s team.
What’s more, this collaboration also benefits Harajuku. She’s well-regarded in the industry, but she isn’t a household name yet. So the demand for her clothing still isn’t there. But this way, she can make use of her old work even without it being widely available in stores.
As I predicted, the comment section was awash with positivity.
“HERE WE GO! THE SHIBUYA GANG DOMINATES!”
“A COLLAB WITH AZUSA HARAJUKU… GODLIKE!”
“AZU’S NEW DESIGNS?! OMG! COOL AF!”
“I SAW THE DANCE VIDEO! NOKIA LOOKED AMAZING AS A VILLAIN! I’D CRACK HIM LIKE A GLOW STICK!”
“ERIO SHIBUYA AND SHIIKA IKEBUKURO LOOKED SUPER SEXY AND COOL. THOSE COSTUMES TRANSFORMED THEM. SO EROTIC.”
“I DON’T REALLY KNOW WHO THIS MANA AKIHABARA GIRL IS, BUT SHE’S KINDA CUTE HUH? LOL!”
“SUPER LAME OF YOU TO COME ON SOMEONE’S CHANNEL AND BE LIKE ‘I DON’T KNOW THEM.’ WHAT, ARE YOU JUST HERE FOR AZU?”
Witnessing a major collab between the Music Department and Fashion Department…the audience was buzzing.
And the buzz went up the chain, until we were trending on the home page of Impachi Live.
The number of real-time playbacks on the video analytics I had open on my PC was steadily increasing, as were the number of likes.
“Amazing, it keeps growing! Wow, look, Nokia!”
“Y-yeah. I’ve never seen growth this rapid before… And look, we’ve already got uploads of people trying to do their own versions of our dance!”
Seeing the explosive buzz, Shibuya and Komae were buzzing, too.
I quickly looked away so no one would catch my smug grin of satisfaction. My plan had worked perfectly.
That’s when I noticed it.
Even Shiika, who was watching Impachi Live on her own phone, wore a happy smile, her eyes narrowed with pleasure.
Ah, that was the kind of face I wanted to see. It made this whole project worth it, at least for me.
But this whole thing was only possible thanks to Shiika and Komae trying to really understand hip-hop culture.
Harajuku had refused to collab with us at first, but she changed her mind after we put some real work into studying hip-hop culture and upping our game. And Azusa Harajuku had this to say about supplying the outfits:
“Students in the Fashion Department are evaluated by the number of views and likes received on the video that we provide the costumes for…but there’s no particular rule that says we can only provide costumes for one video.”
In other words, the more outfits the Fashion Department students supplied across multiple videos, the better for them. As part of her personal policy, Harajuku only wanted to give her costumes to those she judged to be worthy, but she never had any intention of giving Ryan Sengoku an exclusive collab.
She’s a shrewd one, that Azusa Harajuku.
“Ah! But wait! Sengoku’s team also uploaded a video! This could be bad!” Shibuya suddenly yelped.
“That’s true. Their video showcases Azusa Harajuku’s new designs. They could try to promote their video with that!”
The music video by Sengoku’s team was playing on Komae’s phone. On-screen, burly guys with edgy hairstyles and broad shoulders wore wild costumes as they performed high-level dance steps.
Sengoku wasn’t just resting on his laurels as a former member of the BRAVE school. His moves were designed to impress.
Azusa Harajuku’s costumes were also top-notch, with strong designs that complemented the masculine appeal of their dance steps and backing track.
However, despite this, the reaction to the Sengoku team’s video was lackluster.
“IT WAS JUST A REHASH OF WHAT THE SHIBUYA GANG DID.”
“SO DID THE ENTIRE FASHION DEPARTMENT COLLABORATE WITH EACH VID, LIKE AZUSA HARAJUKU DID? I DON’T GET IT.”
There were a lot of wishy-washy comments—no real spark of excitement.
All according to plan. I grinned evilly.
“Hee-hee-hee. I knew it. I knew it would turn out this way!”
“What’s that, Gakuto?” Shibuya asked.