Lost in Adaptation

<Voice talent! Who’s got voice talent? Looking for someone to play a young aquatic male! Anyone? We can’t pay you much, but it’ll probably be fun!> Tala uselessly shouted out to the littered streets.

Studio Rogue’s Con Alley was called that both because it resembled a convention hall and you were likely to get scammed there, intentionally or not- not every fan initiative worked out, and Frankie could see that most of the other booths here were starved for success already.

The moment Tara told her she could rent a little wooden table and conduct another business ritual, the younger tourist was into it. Ready to work her magic again, she’d get everything she needed to make a Percy pilot film- starting with the leading role.

“Why are we looking for the actor first…?” Supportive though she was, Katie couldn’t help but be a little confused as she rested on the only seat they had. “Don’t you have to like… write anime…?”

“I’ve already got the script. I’ve made fan films my whole life, remember?”

“Oh… so that was what you were showing me all those times when we were kids…”

“I told you this already!” Frankie steamed. “Whatever. Just watch, this’ll work. I’m a marketing genius.”

Despite her claims, not one cosplayer was stopping.

“Shit! What am I doing wrong?” The entrepreneur started to worry.

“Don’t think anyone wants to be a part of an unknown IP.” Tara took a gander around at the stalls. “Everyone else is making sequels and spin-offs to existing stuff, doujin or not.”

“But that’s-“ Frankie exasperatedly pounded their desk. “That's so boring…”

“Yours is an adaptation too, right? Only nobody knows about whatever it is you’re advertising… little piece of advice, you won’t get otaku on board through normal means.”

“I won’t…?”

“You’re one too to some extent, aren’t you? Picture this. You make your way out of the house to look for something to do and you stumble into Con Alley. Who are you gonna head towards first- the booth full of losers who look just like you making a carbon copy of what you grew up with, or the tiny setup run by two foreign girls and a known outlaw?”

“So how do we get ahead?” Frankie itched.

“That’s what I’m trying to figure out…” Tala rubbed their chin. “Dress up in raunchy outfits maybe? Or wait… how about we trick those nerds into revealing something juicy and then blackmail them? That’d do it-“

“That’s not ethical practice.”

Tara blinked. For a second they thought they’d finally found a customer, before their gaping eyes came upon his tired, young face as he stopped at their stall.

“Hey! You’re that guy from the hotel!” Katie immediately recognized. “We’re working again. Happy now?” She teased.

The salaryman scratched at his sweat-ridden black hair. His long empty frown never changed as he spoke to his old friend.

“Of all the places… didn’t see you ending up here.” He seemed to speak only to Tara.

“Gen, I- buddy, it’s been what, a year?”

“I didn’t come here to talk to you, Kaneko.”

“C-call me Tala.”

“Is this really where things wound up for you? Are all those rumors about you fighting children true, too?”

“Hey, those guys deserved it!” Katie butted in, still hating the worker’s attitude.

“How do you even make a living?” He stewed. “Do you take their money, too? And here I thought that one had to be gossip.”

Tara flinched. The truth stung.

“If you’re not here to talk to me, then why-“ Every word was painful to get out but they had to say something.

“I’m here to scout out decent projects.” The man hardly emoted as he adjusted his suit. “I work for Rogue’s marketing division now, just like I said I would.”

“W-why do you gotta bring that up now…” Tala giggled as if the mood wasn’t half as dark as it was now. “High school was an eternity ago.”

“That it was. Now you’re twenty. And what are you doing?” His cold, unblinking eyes rolled over to the sisters. “Manipulating foreigners into wasting their lives along with you. Couldn’t you just have given up and died by yourself? It’s pitiful to see you drag others down with you.”

Tala couldn’t process the situation. The gap between their image of Gen, their friend, and the man in front of them now was so wide and deep it kept them from reaching one emotion or another- they couldn’t retort- couldn’t yell at him for being the bastard he was, because he was their friend. But all the same, they couldn’t joke with him either, couldn’t so much as crack a smile- because right now he was saying the worst things they could’ve possibly hoped to hear from the only person they’d ever listened to.

“Gen, I-“

“I’m leaving.” He turned, refusing so much as to look at them. “Nothing good here today anyway.”

“Gen!”

Gen left without another word, leaving his best friend close to crying without feeling a single thing about it.