"We'll be in your care for today's rehearsal. Please guide us!"
"We're in your care!"
After the manager led the three of them to greet the stage crew, she skillfully began to issue commands to the three young people:
"Ai, Uika, you two come with me to the backstage to greet the sound engineer first. Come back here after you're done. Chihaya-san, you should have Uika's and Ai's costumes with you, right?"
"Yes."
Chihaya Tetsuya nodded and lifted the small suitcase in his hand.
"And the two outfits for the finale are in here."
"Thank you for your hard work. Now, please work with the lighting director to create the best lighting plan to match these outfits."
The manager said.
"You can call me anytime if you have any problems... I'm leaving this to you."
With that, she coolly led the two idols away, leaving Tetsuya alone to face this completely unfamiliar, modern space—
"So this is the stage Ai and Uika are about to perform on..."
He raised his head, looking at the huge screen hanging in the center of the stage not far away.
Since it wasn't yet in use, the entire stage was only minimally lit. But even so, just from the lighting equipment within his line of sight and the modern, high-tech set design, he could already foresee the magnificence of this live.
Next, Tetsuya turned to look at the audience seats behind him.
According to what the manager had said earlier, this three-tiered, fan-shaped seating area held close to twenty thousand seats. Having always been focused on indoor work, it was hard for him to imagine what a grand sight it would be when all these seats were filled with spectators.
"...In reality, they'll be facing far more than just these twenty thousand audience members, won't they?"
Tetsuya muttered to himself.
"If you add the online broadcast and the viewers who watch the recording afterward... it's truly hard to imagine what an incredible number that would be."
On the day of the live, his costumes would be displayed to a worldwide audience along with the two of them.
This time, he wasn't facing fixed camera positions for a music video, nor was it a small stage where you could see every detail of the clothing up close. It was a whole new world he had never witnessed before.
To have his clothes appear on a stage like this... for him, whose goal was to become a "top designer," this was also a dream come true—
"...Whoops, I got carried away with my own excitement."
Realizing his state of mind had become a little flighty, Tetsuya quickly snapped back to his senses and slapped his cheeks firmly.
"Don't get ahead of yourself. I'm only here this time because I'm riding on Ai's and Uika's coattails..."
As a designer, and as a man, one day... he would send the two of them onto a stage like this with his own strength.
No, not just the two of them. Anon and Soyo's band might also have a chance to stand on this stage one day!
"You must be the Chihaya Tetsuya that [Watanabe Productions] told me about, right?"
Just as Tetsuya was steeling his resolve, a mature male voice suddenly spoke from behind him.
Tetsuya immediately turned around.
"Yes! I'm Chihaya Tetsuya, the designer in charge of the performance outfits for [Summer Zodiac] for this event!"
He bowed politely to the man who had spoken to him.
"I'll be in your care for the lighting direction this time!"
"Oh, very polite... And the designer this time is such a young man?"
The middle-aged man who had addressed him raised an eyebrow in surprise after seeing his face, then pointed a finger at the lights overhead, indicating his role.
"Just what I'd expect from someone [Watanabe Productions] brought in... Well, to save time, let's skip the pleasantries and get straight to the point."
"Ah, yes!"
This direct way of communicating surprised Tetsuya a little, but it didn't disrupt his train of thought.
In fact, for the highly motivated Tetsuya, getting to work right away was exactly what he wanted.
"Excuse me, are there any mannequins here for displaying clothes?"
"Yes, this place is equipped to host fashion shows, after all."
"!"
Hearing this, Tetsuya froze for a second before quickly asking:
"Then, may I ask if any designer has held a fashion show here before?"
"Not yet. This place only just opened less than two years ago. For designers who are qualified to hold large-scale fashion shows, they have long since chosen other exhibition halls or venues."
The lighting director shook his head.
"And for a fashion show, the various systems of this stage are clearly a bit too extravagant. After all, the main selling point of a fashion show is the clothing, right? If the lights and scenery steal the spotlight, wouldn't that completely defeat the purpose for the designer?"
"Is that so..."
Tetsuya's expression turned thoughtful.
Normally, designers hold fashion shows to better display their clothing. And to focus the audience's attention on their designs as much as possible, they usually don't use overly extravagant lighting or sets. At the same time, the participating models must not only strictly adhere to the standards for fashion models in height and figure, but they are also not allowed to have expressions like "smiles" that might attract the audience's attention.
Perhaps for the fashion world, there was nothing strange about this standard that had persisted for decades. But for Tetsuya, this kind of fashion show subtly conflicted with his own design philosophy.
Unlike those designers who hope to lead trends or interpret artistic concepts with their clothing, all of his principles and philosophies were built on the feelings of the wearer. If he wanted to comprehensively display all of his design ideas, then rather than the clothes themselves, the picture created by the clothes and the model together was the entirety of what he wanted to present.
In the future... if he were to truly hold a fashion show of his own, compared to those rigid, classic venues, he might prefer this grander, more modern stage before him...
"Hey, what's wrong?"
Seeing Tetsuya spacing out, the lighting director couldn't help but ask.
"Is something on your mind?"
"...It's nothing."
Tetsuya shook his head, pulling his thoughts from the future back to the present.
"Please take me to where the mannequins are."
"Hm? You're going to get them yourself? I can have the stage crew bring them over for you."
"It's fine, I can go myself!"
He raised his head, looking towards the end of the stage as he spoke.
"After all, it's not just for this one time. I might be using them again in the future."
Before deciding on the lights of the future, perhaps it was best to let him make a few more preparations.
Tetsuya quietly buried the seed of his wish in his heart and took a step forward.