Chapter 16

“Oh, wow! This is amazing! You mean this massive space is going to be filled with people?!” Mana said as we entered the convention hall.

“Yeah, Comikei always gets so many attendees they make three editions per year now. But even then, there will easily be 50,000 people here.”

“50,000…! I can’t even count that high up with my fingers!”

Of course you can’t, dummy.

“Urgh… do these people have no shame? They’re practically naked!”

Who was that party-pooper, you ask?

Well, none other than my dear sister Sunhi.

Why was she here with Mana and me, in an anime con, of all places? The thing she hated the most after men and artists?

To explain that, we’ll have to go back just a few days—

⬡⬢⬡⬢⬡

It was the aftermath of that disastrous stream, where Aru-chan very publicly challenged us—or I guess Nitro—to show up physically at Comikei. One thing led to another, and she eventually DMed us the pass for the artist alley she had promised.

“She really knows someone on the inside, huh?” I said with a sigh.

There was no getting around this anymore. If Mana didn’t show up, we’d get racked over the coals, and my social media presence would likely completely evaporate.

The problem was, I had never attended a con before. I had to print posters, keychains, and all of those things. And in just two weeks, no less.

This is cutting it close…

But the real problem was Mana.

“I wanna cosplay!”

“I’m not sure if that’s a good idea…”

“Why not?! It’s like… my entire brand at this point! It would be weirder if I didn’t show up in cosplay!”

“I… I guess so, but…”

That would be bringing even more attention to her.

In my mind, she’d go in, speak with Aru-chan, prove she’s real, and leave. No point in making a bigger scene than necessary. In fact, even having the booth was more of an excuse than anything. The more eyes Mana had on her—

“Imagine if people figure out you’re a fictional character. That would be a whole host of trouble, wouldn’t it?”

But then, Mana looked at me with a strange look on her face. As if she was saying, “Yeah, that’s the point”.

“I… I guess… But it’ll be fine! I’ll just lean into it!” She said, her tone not quite right. “If I’m gonna do this properly, then I’d need the best outfit I can get. And that means one thing!”

“Which is…?”

“I’ll need to ask your sister for help!”

⬡⬢⬡⬢⬡

“Absolutely not,” my sister said after Mana showed her the character she wanted to cosplay as. “I’m not helping you with such a l-lecherous outfit!”

“Why not?! It’s not that bad…”

“Your stomach is fully exposed! That skirt is basically non-existent! Not to mention your cleavage! This is no way for a lady to dress!”

“But that’s the appeal of it, duh! We’re trying to prove the girl in the photos is me. I can’t hide behind some lame clothes!”

“Ugh…”

“Give up, Sunhi,” I said. “Either you help her do this, or she’ll find a way to do it herself and risk an outfit malfunction.”

What brought this heated discussion? Well, Mana really wanted to cosplay as an idol/singer from an anime she saw the other day. The problem was that outfit wasn’t available at CosWorld, so she’d need my sister’s help to put it all together.

“Argh, fine, I’ll help, okay?”

“Yay! Thank you, Sunhi!” Mana said, giving her a big hug.

“Ugh, don’t cling to me like that!” She said, pushing Mana away. “But with one condition.”

I gulped. “Which is…?”

“I’m coming with you to the convention. There’s no way I’m trusting Juwon to take care of Mana’s dignity.”

Oh brother.

⬡⬢⬡⬢⬡

And so, two weeks later, there we were. Me, Mana, and Sunhi, of all people. Honestly, my jaw was still dragging across the floor at why she decided to come along in the first place, but looking back at it, having Sunhi here too was a good diversion. If only Mana and I came, Aru-chan might suspect the switcheroo, but with three people, it was a bit less likely.

Keeping that in mind, we waded through the convention floor in the early morning hours, trying to find our supplementary booth.

“Number 47… I guess that’s the one.”

“Woah! That’s lame!”

“Mana… decorum… please.”

“Eh-eh. But it’s true!”

I sighed; she wasn’t wrong. Supplementary was the really right word. Tucked away in a corner of the convention floor, it obviously was just a makeshift stand put together at the last minute.

Now I feel a bit bad about it…

“We’re out to get Mana dressed,” Sunhi said. “Are you alright setting up things on your own, Juwon?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. You two go ahead.”

“Alright! Be back in a jiffy! You’ll be shocked by my outfit!”

And with that, the two of them walked off to the fitting booths. Mana wouldn’t be the only one doing cosplay; far from it. The place wasn’t open to the public yet, but booth babes, invited cosplayers, and even some actual artists who were cosplaying were already buzzing around the place. Many of them were still only half-dressed, but you could already tell the electric atmosphere forming in the hall.

I bet Mana will blow everyone else out of the water.

I still hadn’t seen her wearing it. While I had been busy printing posters and other trinkets to sell, the two of them had been modifying some existing off-the-shelf cosplay items to fit the character Mana wanted to cosplay as. But she adamantly refused to let me see her try it on. “I want it to be a surprise during the convention!” She said. But I had no doubt she was going to absolutely pull it off. After all, she was basically the incarnation of an anime character already. She looked good in almost anything.

While my thoughts were idling like that, I heard footsteps approaching me.

“Oh, you’re back?” I began saying as I turned around, “That was quic—”

However, my voice got stuck in my throat when I turned around. For a moment there, I thought Mana had pulled one from under me and was cosplaying as another entirely different character from the one they made the costume for. But it was immediately obvious that this person was not Mana. In fact, I knew her fairly well.

“A-Aru-chan?” I asked, my voice trembling.

“Yes. In the flesh,” she responded, her voice a fair bit more serious than I expected.

There was no doubt about it. Even though she was in a full costume—a frilly, gothic lolita pink dress—and wore tons of makeup, I knew it was Aru-chan right away.

Shit, the worst person that could have showed up now!

“Who are you?” She asked. “Where’s Nitro?”

“Oh… Oh, she’s… getting dressed,” I said. “I’m just her helper. Setting up the booth and stuff.”

“Huh…” She said, looking at me like I was some sort of flea. “So she brought those along? Well, no matter,” she said, shrugging. “So she’s cosplaying too? Guess I’m not surprised.”

“Yup. Spent the past few weeks making the costume and everything, ah-ah.”

From Aru-chan’s frown, I could tell she wasn’t really paying attention to anything I was saying at all.

“So… are you, like, her boyfriend or something?”

“Well…”

Wait, why am I hesitating?

When my sister showed up, I had no problem saying Mana was my girlfriend. After all, it was the simpler explanation for our bizarre living situation. Keeping that ruse going would be fairly easy.

But now, when faced with Aru-chan, I just couldn’t outright state it.

“Well what?” She pressed. “Or is this one of those ‘situationships’ where neither of you wants to commit?”

“N-No, it’s not that,” I said.

“Then what is it? Huh?”

She’s… very insistent on this point.

“What does it matter to you?” I shot back. “All you need is to prove M—I mean, Nitro exists in real life, right? It doesn’t matter what her relationships with other people are.”

Now it was time for Aru-chan to go on the defensive.

“W-Well…”

“Sorry for the delay, Ju!” I heard the voice before seeing her.

Aru-chan turned around, looking right at the girl coming in our direction.

We both stared at her for a good while.

Frankly, she was dazzling.

The tailor-made outfit fit her like a glove. It was sexy, no doubt, with the low crop top showing off her chest and stomach—which, despite all the junk food she ate, was still toned—and the short frilly skirt flaring outwards. The tall boots only helped with the idol theme. And, for the first time ever for her cosplays, she was wearing a wig—a dazzling light blue, like the character she was cosplaying as.

“Oh? Who’s this?” Mana asked me. Then, she took a good look at the girl standing there, completely motionless, and a lightbulb went off in her mind. “Ohmygosh, you’re Aru-chan, right?!”

“Y-yes…”

“Ahhh, I’m so excited to meet you!” Mana said, grabbing her hands. “You were my inspiration to start cosplaying! And your costume is just gorg!!”

“Ah… t-thank you so much.”

Hmm? What’s this? It’s like she’s a completely different person!

“S-so… you’re actually real…”

“Duh! That’s what I’ve been saying since the beginning!”

“I… I’m sorry,” she said, turning her face away. “I was convinced the photos were actually just AI… And I made that big scene on stream… I’m sorry,” she said, bowing deeply.

“No biggy! I understand your position too!”

Aru-chan straightened her back and looked at Mana, smiling all the while.

So that’s it? We solved everything?

After the big hullabaloo of that stream, Aru-chan just saw Mana in real life and immediately apologized. It was honestly shocking how easy this went.

But why the hell was she so aggressive before this?

I didn’t know her very well at all, but Aru-chan wasn’t known to raise drama like that or anything. It was truly a mystery.

Just as I began pondering the mysteries of women, though, she spoke up again.

“After all,” Aru-chan began, “I couldn’t believe someone so beautiful wasn’t AI!”

…Huh?

“Your body is just so perfect! Like, how did you even get those curves, girl?! Those can’t be real, right? But from your photos… nah, fake ones don’t sag like that. Your skin is so smooth, not a blemish in sight! I can tell you aren’t wearing a lot of makeup or anything, so you must really be like that. And your face is just so perfect, too! Any model would be jealous of you. And that white hair, I can see it poking out of the wig. It’s real, isn’t it? Did you bleach it?! Ohmygod, you’re just so… beautiful! You must be some sort of goddess! You must must must become a model!”

It was like a switch had turned on in her mind. The composed, slightly cold Aru-chan was completely gone, being replaced by a panting, blushing girl that had absolutely no sense of private space. She was right up against Mana, their bodies basically touching.

Oh, so that’s it.

I finally understood everything. Every strange action Aru-chan had made so far.

She has a massive crush on Mana, doesn’t she?

I turned to the aforementioned “goddess”, and she looked at me with pleading eyes. “Save me, Juuuu!,” she was probably thinking.

I’m not getting involved, I said with my gaze. You deal with this.

“Huh… Aru-chan… c-could you give me a little bit of space?”

Apparently, Aru-chan had no idea she had lost control like that and quickly backed away.

“O-Oh, I’m sorry… I got a bit e-excited there.”

“It’s okay…”

The two girls stared at each other, not quite sure how to untangle the situation.

“Ahem,” my sister said, coughing slightly. “I’m sorry… Aru-chan, was it? We still need to set up the booth before the convention opens…”

“Ah! Right, right, of course. Sorry to keep you,” she said. “Anyway, I’ve done what I wanted to do. Sorry about everything once again. And I hope you enjoy the convention.”

“I will!” Mana said excitedly.

And, with a clearly sad wave, Aru-chan disappeared back into the buzzing crowd of cosplayers and artists setting up the booths. When she was far enough away that she couldn’t even see us anymore, Mana let out a big sigh.

“Juuu…. What was that?!”

“Congratulations! You got yourself your first fan.”

“But really, I never expected our main rival to be this head over heels for Mana… but I guess it all makes sense now,” Sunhi added.

“Ugh, that was awful! I didn’t even know what to say!”

“You know, Mana,” I started saying sagely. “I have a feeling this will happen a few more times today, so get ready.”

“…Huh?” She said, clearly not believing what I was saying. “Y-You’re joking, right?”

“Nope.”

This was one of those times I wish I hadn’t been right.