A Remarkable Resemblance and a Ridiculous Request

In unison, me and the Neri-nee lookalike, still yet to enter the room, let out at least five seconds of incomprehensible noise that consisted of every single vowel in the Japanese alphabet. Our voices created a not-so harmonious, audible expression of something between joy, fright and unadulterated disbelief.

"Mikarin?!" she squealed.

"Neri-nee?!" I squealed right back.

“Do you know Mika Kojima? He’s one of the romanceable characters from Once Upon a Hollow Night's Eve, OUAHNE for short. It’s a fantasy otome game. You’d totally be Mikarin with a pair of fox ears and a tail! You probably haven’t heard of it but I can’t let you go until I’ve made you properly aware of this uncanny resemblance”, she rambled.

I shook my head in response to the first question. My instincts were able to pick it out by her intonation – the rest of it sounded like a foreign language to me. I was still fascinated by her exterior: if it wasn’t for the testosterone in my system making physical expression of emotion practically impossible 95 percent of the time, I would have been brought to true tears by her beauty. She was so ethereal I wasn’t even sure I could count on my eyes to handle it. I just had to be dreaming about those crimson red curls that were, at their longest, tickling her collarbones. I probably imagined her soft face, brimming with the energy of someone hardworking, confident and generous. Strictly in my head, I must have envisioned those long fingers, decorated by a few silver rings with different kinds of engravings and gemstones. But her nails, short yet coated by a gentle pastel green, they were absolute. I could be sure of it; my other senses could still be trusted. The smell of nail polish definitely wasn’t my imagination and neither was the cutesy tinkling of the bracelets in her hand as she was frantically meddling with her smartphone. I was still there, assuredly standing in the dimly lit, strawberry-scented karaoke cubicle.

“Here we are. Look at him, isn’t he adorable?” she presented proudly.

Her face had taken on an extremely familiar expression – I had made that same face during my Neri-nee gushing sessions a million times.

I shifted my attention to look at the image she was showing me on her phone. She and her friends certainly weren’t wrong: this Mikarin guy resembled me about as closely as an anime character could parallel a real person. Besides the kemonomimi aspect, of course.

“Wait, that sounds like I’m calling you adorable. I mean, you are! After all, you look just like my oshi. But is that offensive to say to a guy? Mikarin’s a bit of a role reversal icon so I can see why you’d maybe not wanna be compared to him... Sorry, please take this as a compliment because you’re basically a god in my eyes. Can we take a picture?” she continued.

To be honest, I was happy to receive any kind of compliment at all. I’d be living off this high for at least the next 10 years.

“Sure, I don’t mind”, I replied all baffled.

As we took a selfie together, I had to crouch down a little. It was a nice ego boost for a short guy like myself.

“By the way, who’s that Neri-nee you mentioned? Is she an anime character too? Maybe I should get into it as well!” she pondered.

The girl was certainly a talkative one but when it came to talking about favorite characters, I was pretty convinced there was no one on Earth who had me beat. Whenever someone showed even the slightest bit of interest in Neri-nee, it was like flipping a switch that caused my brain to launch into emergency mode.

“Neri Tendou is a character from the idol mobage and multimedia project Kira-Kira Party and she’s the love of my life. At first, she may seem like your typical responsible, sisterly sweetheart, which she is and that is just one of the many things I adore about her but that’s not all! People often have this misconception that idol franchises are all the same superficial stuff created to milk money out of vulnerable incels but honestly most of the games I’ve tried out are actually pretty thought-over. At least in Kira-Kira Party, all of the characters have a lot going on and they’re anything but chained to their tropes if you’re the kind of person whose reading level is above that of an average first-grader's. As for Neri-nee, she’s originally from a small rural village in Hokkaido. Back there she used to be a diligent model student and a friend of all. She was adored by her peers to the point where the pressure eventually got to her. Actually, she had always dreamt of life in the big city but she didn’t dare to say a word because she was afraid of going against the expectations of the village residents. She didn’t want to let down those people who were so earnestly expecting great things from her. But one day, after a big argument with her parents, on the spur of the moment, she left her hometown without a word. She hasn’t gone back since and still regrets it. Once she got to Tokyo, she quickly realized that she needed a way to get by. Fortunately, a golden opportunity came her way after she was scouted to become an idol. Despite being the practical poster girl of her village, she was never the one to enjoy attention thus was hesitant about accepting the offer but ultimately convinced herself to give it a try. It was hard at first but as she befriended other idols in her agency, both those with big dreams and those with unfortunate circumstances that left them with no choice, she came to love it. Neri-nee’s actually the leader of her group, Akacho. She and her groupmates named themselves after butterflies, because they all found their freedom in becoming an idol. And you know, red symbolizes love and passion but in Neri-nee’s case, it’s also anger towards her past self. Her character has so many layers, I’ve never felt such a deep connection to a 2D character before...”

The flow of my speech was like the damless rapids: I kept on talking without thinking. But those minty eyes kept staring at me, glimmering with genuine interest. She kept nodding and reacting to every twist and turn I introduced and as I showed her a picture of her digital doppelganger, the same energy was present in her voice.

"What a cutie! She’s even got the same butterfly bracelet as me. Actually, I’m pretty sure I got this at a con a couple years ago, is it her merch?”

Before I had time to react, she hit me with yet another question. Maybe she had learnt from her previous mistake and decided to get a word in before it was too late.

“Say, wanna go out with me?”

This time around, my mouth acted faster than my brain and replied even before I had fully comprehended her question. Of course, I gave her suggestion an instant approval.

“Yes.”

But unfortunately, her friends weren’t ready to give us their blessing.

“What the hell? I can’t overlook this any longer, I swear nerds have no common sense! Are ya seriously thinkin’ of going out with a guy who hasn’t done anythin’ but admired another girl durin’ this short time you've known each other, Mecchon?!” the delinquent yelped.

“I don’t mind kissing or handholding before marriage but I’ve never heard of a couple who doesn’t know each other’s first names”, the calm girl added.

To be honest, I had kind of forgot they were still here.

“Relax, I don’t mean it like that! I was thinking more of a... mutually beneficial contract. Is it okay if we talk about this somewhere more private?” the Neri-nee lookalike asked, flashing her gaze at me to confirm my willingness.

I nodded. The black-haired girl put the final stamps on our passports.

“Don’t worry girl, Hana is just jealous you scored a man out of thin air just like that. I’ll console her, go flirt somewhere else.”

“Thanks, Kotori-chan! I owe you one”, the girl next to me sighed.

“You’ll owe me more than one after you two get married”, Kotori grinned.