Dress Codes and Slob Codes: The Results of Joining Shiina Otowa's Waist-Slimming Squad

Hello, it's been a while. I'm Iwao.

Looking at it now, the last time I wrote an article was February 10th, so it's been about three weeks.

Since I started on note last April, I've written an article once a week, so this is the first time I've had such a long break.

As for what I was doing during that time, the truth is...

I was hungry.

I was hungry throughout February.

What I mean is, I participated in the Waist-Slimming Squad, a limited-time diet project for February organized by Shiina Otowa.

I joined it.

This was a project where we would all work hard together for a month because it's difficult to try to diet alone.

When I found out about this project, I was facing a certain problem.

I am participating in the literary circle Chi-bu, which was formed mainly by Yuriyuriko-san and Janai Yamamoto-san, and the goal of that circle is to publish a book at the Literary Flea Market in May, but it seems that all the members participating in the circle are beautiful.

This was a problem... I am short, fat, ugly, and bald.

A dung beetle that wandered into a flock of beautiful swans... that was me.

If I tried to enter a restaurant where everyone else had cleared the dress code in stylish party suits (beautiful faces), the staff would say...

Customer!! You can't enter the store while completely naked!!

That's how it felt when I was told that.

What should I do?! Forget a party suit, I'm not even wearing clothes (short, fat, ugly, bald).

What should I do... what can I do... what should I do...

Hmm... short, bald, ugly... there's nothing I can do about those, but maybe I can do something about being fat with some effort.

It might not be a party suit, but if I lose weight, it might be worth at least a necktie.

If I lose weight, maybe I can enter the store without getting caught by the 'Dobusu' (ugly) code...

Height 169 cm, weight 95 kg, waist 122 cm... For the past few years, I had turned into a monster that would eat almost anything I saw, except for things that were clearly inedible like concrete or sofas.

If I keep turning into a monster like this, I might end up eating the sofa too.

This might be a good opportunity for me to turn back from a monster into a human.

To join the squad and to return to being a human, I decided to participate in Shiina-san's project.

The project involved posting what I ate and what exercise I did each day on a bulletin board, and Shiina-san would leave comments.

For example, my post on the first day was:

What I ate today

Morning
1.5 bowls of white rice, natto, egg, salted kelp

Lunch
Barikata (instant ramen), small ginger pork bowl

Evening
Snacked because I couldn't stand the hunger: dried kelp, dried mezashi snack

Night
Tomato soup pasta about 200 grams, frozen edamame 200 grams

Exercise done today
30 minutes of dodgeball with my child at the neighborhood park

Impressions:
I knew that if I tried too hard from the first day, I wouldn't be able to keep it up, so I had snacks when I got hungry, but I made sure they were healthier than usual.

It was something like that, and in response to that,

gave me this comment.

Iwao, the monster, saw this warm comment on the first day and...

Humans... are kind... Iwao... will lose weight... Iwao... won't eat... humans... won't eat...

Huh? ...Water is coming out of my eyes... What is this... Iwao... won't eat... humans... won't eat...

When I said that (in my delusion), Shiina in my delusion said,

Iwao-san, those are tears!! You are not a monster!! Those tears are the greatest proof that you have a human heart!! (Delusion)

She said that to me (in my imagination), and I made a serious resolution to return to being a human.

From then on, Monster Iwao, who posted on the bulletin board almost every day and was encouraged by Dr. Shiina, steadily lost weight.

Since there were more women participating in the project, I was worried at first if I would fit in, but gradually I stopped caring much about whether people were men or women, and everyone's hard work posted on the bulletin board became an encouragement to me.

By the end of the project,

my weight was 88.7 kg and my waist was 108.5 cm.

I had lost weight down to that.

My weight was down 6.3 kg and my waist was down 13.5 cm.

It was a truly wonderful project. If there is another project next time, I think everyone should participate because you will definitely be able to lose weight.

Shiina-san, everyone, thank you very much.

Thanks to Shiina-san and everyone, I was able to wear a necktie even though I was naked, and I managed not to eat the sofa.

I want to lose a little more weight, get a dress shirt and slacks, and enter the same restaurant as everyone in the 'Chi-bu' group.

Well, anyway, I didn't write enough articles in February.

I was having so much fun watching my waist shrink that I posted on the bulletin board 24 times in one month, and I...

my desire to write things

was satisfied by the posts on the bulletin board, and before I knew it, I hadn't written an article for about three weeks.

Also, when I was hungry, I didn't feel like writing very long sentences.

However, it's not like I wasn't doing anything at all.

Yuriyuriko-san told me about an open call for manga scripts with a February deadline on TALES, so I reworked two pieces I had written in the past, 'Sushi Man' and 'The View from the Bottom Was Flickering in the Light of a Traffic Wand,' to fit the submission guidelines and entered them.

Since I made the sequel to 'Sushi Man' private, there were a few people who said they wanted to read it, so please feel free to take a look if you'd like.

Sushi Man

The View from the Bottom Was Flickering in the Light of a Traffic Wand

Also, I'm thinking of starting on X, but I'm too scared to start because I'm worried that if I repost something, I'll get sued by people all over the world, so someone please teach me 🌊🌊🌊

It's getting long, so I'd like to wrap things up with a haiku for the first time in a while.

A fatty loses six kilos

Even after losing weight, no one around notices

Hototogisu

(2026, extra characters, Tokyo Local, Iwao)

Well then, excuse me 🌊🌊🌊