Chapter 9

“Heyya! Glad to see you two!” Nadia waved upon seeing us.

The clock showed ten. The September skies were a bit cloudy, but that didn’t dampen my spirits. We met up in a shopping mall in Kelapa Gading, North Jakarta, a bit further away from my home. Last night, during study, Nadia off-handedly mentioned that she wanted to look for new clothes.

Apparently, one of the department stores there had a collaboration with a local brand, and she wanted to see their new collection. The conversation snowballed from there, and we ended up having this little meetup. A meetup featuring me, Nadia, and Carol. Nadia also invited Prez, but Prez said she had a cosplay event to attend.

“Still, I wish she could attend. She’ll be a great help,” Nadia murmured.

As a cosplayer, Prez had a lot of knowledge regarding clothes. Carol shook her head when she heard this.

“Sis Kesya isn’t someone you want to be picking your clothes.”

“Oh, so she does have a name.”

Carol gave me a side-eye. I know, how could I forget the name of my own senior? In my defense, I always called her Prez, and she never seemed bothered by it. If anything, she looked like she liked her title.

“Huh… Why? I thought she was a cosplayer?”

“That’s the reason,” Carol said, staring off into the distance. “She’ll put you into all kinds of weird clothes that only fictional characters wear…”

Well… Carol did become her victim once. Before Nadia joined, Prez and Carol were the only two active girls in the photography club. The rest were us boys. She didn’t have a lot of people to play dress-up with, so naturally, Carol became her victim. To make matters worse, Carol didn’t enjoy looking at clothes. I remember the look of dread on her face.

“You look like you’re going to die after a few more clothes…”

“Maybe I will, honestly.” She sighed. “She can be a real handful.”

All of a sudden, Carol tensed up. She reached out and held my sleeve.

“Carol?”

Nadia didn’t notice Carol’s change in expression. “Well… Enough talking about someone who’s not here. Should we get-”

At that moment, I saw a familiar figure walking through the mall. She wore a long robe, something that contrasted with her usual school uniform. A pitch-black scythe as large as her body rested on her shoulder.

She stopped and turned her gaze upon us. Carol turned around and ran.

“Come back here!” Prez called out, chasing after her.

•••

“I didn’t expect to see that face this quickly…” I said, looking at Carol. Carol tended to be calm and reserved, so to see her extremely annoyed look was a rarity.

“Now, now. Don’t be like that,” Prez said with a grin.

She stood near her cosplay group, and they worked together to put Carol in cosplay. They chose the outfit of a Japanese shrine maiden. It looked pretty normal, honestly. Nothing weird, just a regular shrine maiden.

I glanced at the person we came here with. Nadia had been dressed in a ninja outfit, and unlike Carol, she seemed to be having a lot of fun. A lot of people recognized her, and they didn’t expect to see her in cosplay. A line filled with people waiting to take a picture with her had formed.

At least I’m not the photographer in this case…

Someone else was willing to help, allowing me to take a breather.

While I waited for Carol, I checked my social media. I scrolled, looking through a few posts. While I was scrolling, I happened to come across a post from today. It featured this cosplay event. In one of the comments, someone attached an image of Nadia in costume.

I glanced at Nadia. The comment had been posted recently. The poster might still be around.

Nadia looked so happy.

I continued scrolling. When I saw the next image, my heart skipped a beat. It was a picture of Nadia on the bridge, with me somewhere in the background. This one had been posted around two weeks ago. Maybe the algorithm detected me seeing Nadia's photo and decided to show me this?

… Of course, I'm out of focus.

I didn't need to be worried. It was a regular post, mentioning how Nadia seemed excited about photographing trains. Someone mentioned that maybe she likes trains, while others said that she's probably part of a club since she was still in uniform. Not a single comment mentioned me.

“... Can I go already?” Carol's annoyed voice brought me back.

“Don’t worry, Carol. Just a bit more, and you’ll look like the cutest being alive!”

“Urgh…” Carol groaned.

“What do you think, Harto? You agree with us, right?” Prez threw the question to me.

“Yeah. She's cute.”

Carol's face went red, and she averted her gaze. The other members of Prez’s group stared at me. They began whispering among themselves. Was what I said that big of a deal?

“See? See? Even Harto agreed.”

“I wonder if we have outfits for boys…” another member of the group murmured and began looking through her bag.

“If it's for boys, then it's not a shrine maiden,” I spat.

“We don't need to be so strict,” Prez replied, continuing her work on Carol. “Just light makeup is fine, right?”

“I don't even need makeup…”

Carol didn't like doing makeup. Whenever we go out, she always has her natural look. Prez pretty much ignored her, though, and Carol didn't resist. Maybe she had given up.

“Still, I'm surprised you're here. I thought the event was somewhere else.”

“You didn't say where you were going yesterday.”

“Ah, right…”

When we talked about it, we simply asked if she could come. We decided where we would be going after she left.

“Finished!” Prez said with excitement. “Now you can enjoy your date in cosplay!”

“Da- date!? It's not a date!” Carol insisted.

“Well…” I glanced at Nadia, who was still busy taking pictures.

People kept coming, and the line continued growing in length. If people were reluctant to ask her on their own, the line made it easier. They didn’t just get the chance to take a picture of Nadia in a costume she didn’t normally wear; they could also talk to her, with no guards around.

“Shouldn’t we be worried about security?” I whispered.

“We'll take care of her, don't worry,” Prez said. “If things got bad, several of us knew how to fight.” She pointed to one of the girls behind her. She had a lot of muscle. I could see her snapping me in two.

“Alright.”

Just in case, I went to speak with Nadia first. The people waiting in line stared as I approached, causing me to gulp. Some of them hadn’t seen me with Nadia, so maybe they thought I wanted to cut. Or maybe, they thought I would be taking Nadia away.

“Oh, what’s up, Harto?”

“Umm… about going around…”

“Ah, right, right. Sorry. I know I’m the one who invited you, but I’m really sorry about this.”

“Don't worry. It's not your fault.”

Had the Prez not done anything, maybe the line wouldn't be as long. Heck, maybe there wouldn’t be a line in the first place. People often asked Nadia for pictures, but not everyone wanted to take one with her.

“We'll come back later.”

“Okay!”

And with that, we left the central atrium.

•••

“... You should have cosplayed as well.” Carol pouted..

“They don't have any men's clothes…”

The two of us didn't stand up as much as I expected, as there were a lot of people in cosplay here.

“... We really do look like a couple.”

“I guess so.”

Although from the outside, people would expect us to have come here for the cosplay.

“So… what do you want to see?”

Carol shrugged. “I didn't come here for myself, remember?”

“... Right… Want to grab some ice cream?”

“Sure.”

We headed to an ice cream shop. I decided to use the coupons I had. Carol looked at them curiously.

“Half price?”

I nodded and showed her my phone. There were several menus on promotion. The ice cream had a fifty percent discount, while the drinks had a forty percent discount. Not all menus have promotions, however.

“Do you use these coupons often?”

“Yeah.”

They could really save your money. Although you need to be careful as well. Sometimes, the promotion would make you buy things you wouldn’t normally buy.

After putting in our order, we went to take a seat. Carol pulled out some tissues. She probably didn’t want the outfit lent to her to be dirty.

It didn’t take long for the ice cream to be done. I went to the cashier to pick it up when I heard squeaks coming from where Carol sat. I took the ice cream, and to nobody’s surprise, some girls had recognized Carol. They were asking for a picture.

Carol glanced at me.

Maybe buying ice cream is a bad idea.

I smiled wryly. It took a bit of effort to hold the ice creams while holding the camera. Let’s just say I’m lucky I didn’t spill the ice cream.