Ordinary Mirror

At a clothing store, I picked up a white shirt.

I had not come in to buy anything. It just looked a little cool on the shelf by the entrance.

A clerk showed me to a fitting room.

When I closed the curtain, the mirror in front of me reflected everything with unusual clarity.

Fitting rooms had come a long way, I thought.

Before I had changed, the person in the mirror was already wearing a shirt.

It was not white.

It was a pale gray shirt.

I looked down at the hanger in my hand.

The shirt I had brought in was still white.

Maybe this was one of those digital fitting systems.

It looked completely natural.

The person in the mirror pinched one cuff lightly.

His face looked as if he could not tell whether it suited him or not.

I put on the white shirt.

It was not bad.

It just made me look a little like I was on my way home from work.

When I looked back at the mirror, the version of me in the gray shirt seemed a little more convinced than before.

A voice came from outside the curtain.

“You may want to try this one as well.”

A hanger was passed through the gap.

It was a pale gray shirt.

The same one I had seen in the mirror.

So it was that kind of system after all.

It felt like a bit much, but the color did look better than the white one.

I changed into the gray shirt.

In the mirror, I was already opening the curtain with the shirt on.

I still had one button left undone.

A few seconds later, I opened the curtain in the same way.

The clerk came back and gave a small nod.

“That one looks good.”

I said I would take it.

At the register, I mentioned it casually.

“That fitting room is convenient.”

The clerk looked a little puzzled.

“The fitting room?”

“The mirror. Being able to get a sense of it before putting it on.”

The clerk glanced toward the fitting room.

Then she smiled gently.

“It’s just an ordinary fitting room with a mirror.”

She put the receipt into the paper bag.

Before leaving the store, I looked once more toward the fitting room.

The curtain was closed, and I could not see the mirror.

I left a little quickly.

As if I were trying to catch up with the version of me that had gone out ahead.