On May 18th, AKB48's Itano Tomomi and popular sub-unit French Kiss attended the release party for Seven and I Group's "Rain Style Collection".

When asked questions by the press about her close friend Maeda Atsuko's upcoming graduation, the date for which was just recently confirmed, Itano remained tight-lipped from beginning to end about the topic.�Since the AKB48 member was smiling in a strained way and seemed to be troubled by the questions, the press quickly left it alone and moved onto other matters.

The "Rain Style Collection" by Seven & I Group is a large expansion of their previous products that will begin sales on the 22nd. Itano, who showed how easy it is to open the cute and feminine new umbrellas to the audience gathered at the event, commented, "I hate rain, but with this I'd like to go out even on rainy days." Takajou Aki also noted with a smile, "I didn't know where I should buy umbrellas, but because of this, I'm thinking of looking for an umbrella to be my favorite."

A lightning advisory was given throughout the morning, leading Kashiwagi Yuki, who is seen by both herself and others as a 'rain girl, to say with a confident expression, "That's my speciality showing itself." Her fellow French Kiss member Kuramochi Asuka responded, "Her batting average is starting to be incredible. There's a typhoon coming too." Kashiwagi turned the conversation into a sales pitch, cheerily stating, "As a rain girl, my one dream was to appear in a commercial for products like these. I'm happy to appear in this CM with the members."

The four idols will appear in new commercials for the product, which will air from May 22nd until June 30th. In the meantime, take a look at some photos from the event below!

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Source + Photos: Oricon