In This World That Favors Men, I... ~Starting a Sweet School Life in a World With a 1:8 Gender Ratio~ - 133

Chapter 133: Chick Prince

ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー

“Am I supposed to wear this..?”

“Yes. Isn’t it cute? And look, it’s all soft and fluffy.”

It was fluffy. Was it called boa or something? It had a soft, pleasant texture, and the design was round and cute, but that was only if you looked at it from a distance. Lying there on the floor in front of me was a chick costume so huge that you’d need to crane your neck to look if you were standing next to it. 

“Isn’t it a little too big for a chick…?”

“That’s because you’re tall, Yuusei-kun. We made it to fit you, so it ended up being over two meters tall. The one for the other actor is about two sizes smaller.”

So it was my fault. The build looked sturdy enough, that was for sure. But was I really going to wear something this big? A chick over two meters tall. Huh? I was getting déjà vu. What was it?

“I see. So this one is exclusively for me. It looks heavy though—how many kilos is it?”

“Um, about 8 kilos? We used an air-suit design for both lightweight and aesthetic reasons, so it’s actually much lighter than traditional ones. Could you try it on, just to get a feel for it?”

“Got it.”

The chick costume had a plump, egg-shaped body, and a large hexagonal crown on its head. Apparently, the character was supposed to be a chick prince, and while I wasn’t wearing it now, there was a costume to match the theme too.

It had short legs and flappy wings protruding from both sides of the body. Big, button-like black eyes and an adorable orange beak. Being an air-suit, it was inflated with air. To put it on, I had to unzip the back and stop the fan to let the air out.

“…It really deflates like I’m shedding my skin. So it’s just full of air, huh?”

“Right? Pretty clever, don’t you think?”

Once deflated, the suit lay flat on the ground like a peeled orange skin.

“First, you put on this belt with a pouch for the battery at the waist. Like this.”

Following the instructional video Yoriko-san showed me, I strapped on the belt. Then I climbed into the suit and secured both feet into sandals with Velcro straps. Next, I connected the fan to the battery to start inflating the suit. Then I strapped the shoulder belts on to hold the air-suit in place. I pulled the costume over my head, zipped the double-sided zipper from the inside, and flipped the fan switch—on!

Whoa!

The suit puffed up in about twenty seconds, becoming nice and firm. Once inflated, the air pressure actually made the suit feel lighter than before.

“Yuusei-kun, can you try marching in place?”

“Uh… It’s a bit difficult keeping my balance if I have to march in place…”

“Then how about stepping to the sides?”

I slowly moved my right foot outward. The short legs of the suit made it feel like I was only moving from the knee down. I returned the right foot, then stepped out to the left.

“Now try walking forward. Keep your steps short and lift your legs a bit—kind of like a quick shuffle. Once you’re used to it, try walking a bit faster.”

Even if I wanted to widen my stride, I couldn’t. But moving with small steps from the knees down worked. The visibility was better than I expected. The big eye sections were made like one-way mirrors, so you couldn’t see in, but I could see forward and slightly downward.

“Can you try moving your hands too? I’d like to see you make some big up-and-down motions.”

The body was so wide I couldn’t reach the tips of the wings directly. That was why I had these thin, pipe-like control rods in my hands. 

Up and down like this? Like this?

“Adorable! It looks like you’re flapping your wings happily!”

Jun-san called out as I flapped the wings.

“Nice job! Now try shaking your head side to side, like you’re saying no.”

The inside was actually pretty spacious once inflated, so I could move fairly freely after getting the hang of it. I twisted my torso slightly and waved my hands side to side. Did that look like a “no-no” gesture?

“Perfect. Now try jumping in place!”

Since the suit was big but relatively light, I managed to jump right away. I didn’t get to jump that high though. 

“Now spread your legs shoulder-width apart and lean slightly to the right! Good! Raise one hand in a pose! Great! Now do the same on the other side!”

We practiced various set poses for photos and adjusted the suit’s eye line to match the camera’s position, and then wrapped up the fitting session for now.

“So, how does it feel being inside the suit?”

“I think I have a pretty good sense of how far I can move my hands and feet.”

“Excellent. For a beginner, you moved really well. Since yours is an LL-size suit, it probably feels a little more cramped in terms of movement range.”

“But it’s amazing. We just talked about a chick being the mascot for the pudding a little while ago, and now this whole thing is ready already.”

“Right after that, we got the proposal approved and had the designer start on the character design. This suit was one of the ideas from the planning meeting, and we rushed to make it in time for the shoot.”

“And I’ll be wearing this on location, right?”

“Exactly. Since your suit is huge, you won’t be on set the whole time. We’ll have you make grand appearances at specific spots.”

“Not sure how ‘grand’ I can look waddling around…”

“It’s fine. Since fast-paced walking with small steps is tiring, the costume company suggested using a cart for moving between locations. We’ve arranged for one. It’s not ready yet, but it’ll be done in time for the shoot.”

“It’s an end-of-year special, so the budget is generous. Plus, we’re using this as promotion for the character merchandise, so everything’s a bit over-the-top.”

“The character goods came out really well. I’ve got some samples—take a look. I’ve also prepared some souvenirs for you.”

After taking off the suit, we moved to another room. There were a bunch of different chick-themed items—keychains in various designs, plushies, eco-bags and many more. There were a lot more items than I had expected. Besides the prince-themed ones, there were fruit-themed versions like strawberry and kiwi, and even ones decorated with cream, turning the chick into a pudding donned in cream.

Cute. I kinda want this cream-covered one.

“When you shop at EXA or affiliated stores, you can collect points, right? You can exchange those points for items like these or collect stickers from the products to trade in, too.”

“They’re not for sale? Yui would totally want one if she saw them.”

All the designs were colorful and adorable—definitely appealing to girls.

“I’m glad to hear that. Out of all of these, here’s the one I recommend for you, Yuusei-kun!”

“This one’s even fluffier than the others.”

“The material is of higher quality. It cost quite a bit to make, so we’re saving it as a special prize. It’s designed to be cute, but it also has a short zipper on the back—you could fit something small like a house key in there.”

“So it’s like a keychain.”

“Exactly! Try hanging it from your pants’ belt loop. People will be like, ‘What’s that fluffy thing swinging from Yuusei-kun’s hip!?’ Guaranteed to catch everyone’s attention!”

I attached the fluffy, round chick—like a fuzzy ball—to my waist, just as I was told. It looked just like a big rabbit’s tail, and if it swung around, someone might not even realize it was a chick.

“Just as I expected, it looks great. We’ll need to get a shot of this too! Okay, let’s take a short break, and then we’ll talk about your appearance on EXA Kitchen and the year-end location shoot.”

A fluffy chick was hanging from Yuusei’s waist. The footage of him actually wearing it wouldn’t be aired on TV for a little while longer. Would it really become the highly sought-after, back-ordered prize?

ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー