That work was something I liked back in the day.
I think I read some shonen manga, but I never finished any of them. Even among otaku, I was a serious one, and having a bit of a “chuunibyou” phase made it hard for me to find interest in the popular manga.
Besides, most of them had male protagonists, right? Even if there were significant female characters, they weren’t the protagonists, so the majority were male characters in manga.
Um, if I’m being honest, I think I actually preferred slice-of-life series with cute girls. If not, I would read something like a fantasy novel that matched my tastes at the time.
But as cosplay material, I wasn’t really drawn to either.
They say people are naturally attracted to things they can’t have.
Just a few months ago, I went through situations similar to a brutal fantasy with blood and gore, and now I’m genuinely surrounded by cute girls living my life.
If I really had to differentiate, I could say this situation is also a slice-of-life with cute girls like the ones I saw back then.
Maybe because of that, I didn’t really want to engage with either type of work…
Um.
Yeah, let’s be honest.
I wanted to do a cosplay of the character from the first light novel I read.
So the cosplay I did was—
“Should I say it honestly?”
Yuka, seeing my outfit, said this with a rather serious face, and I nodded.
I felt a bit nervous. After all, I wasn’t sure if it would suit me.
“Um…”
After tilting her head for a while, Yuka said, “If it weren’t for that yellow armband on your right arm, you’d actually look much less like a cosplay than when we went to school.”
Ah.
That’s… true. Our school uniform is a sailor uniform.
And it’s not just any sailor uniform; since it has red accents, it stood out to look even more like manga outfits.
To be more precise, for me, it fits with what a light novel outfit is all about.
So, does that mean I’ve been cosplaying the whole time I went to school?
On the other hand, the outfit I was wearing now was undeniably a school uniform.
A white blouse with a thin black ribbon. Originally, the character was famous for their winter outfit, but since it was summer, I was wearing a short-sleeved blouse.
The skirt had a checkered pattern in black and gray. I wore student dress shoes with black knee-high socks that reached just below my knees.
On the yellow armband on my right arm was written “President” in big letters, and I had a red headband with a ribbon in my hair.
“Weren’t they supposed to be a bit taller?”
“….”
I supposed that couldn’t be helped. In terms of height, a character from the same work would fit better, but I hadn’t thought of styling my hair that way right now.
To be honest, I could adjust my height. I could make my figure quite decent without needing to add padding to my chest.
But I didn’t want to do that. Just like Koko, I wanted to continue being myself.
I don’t think changing my body would make me not me… but doesn’t everyone have a certain standard or limit set for themselves? If I crossed that, I might exceed my limits without even realizing it, and in the end, not be able to go back.
I’d consider it if it involved a friend or family’s life, or if my own life was at stake, but I didn’t want to do it just to match a breast size.
Anyways, the character I cosplayed was… a character that represented the early days of the “tsundere” trope in this industry. They were one of the representative characters from that genre.
I liked them, but at the time, they were quite polarizing character-wise, and most importantly, early 2000s tsundere characters were… often rather rude. Over time, trends change, and characters become less polarizing, but…
“Still, it suits you. You’re pretty.”
Saying that, Yuka’s gaze turned towards Koko.
Even though we were twins, we didn’t both cosplay as the same character.
Koko had watched the anime, but didn’t particularly like any specific character, so I chose this character for her.
For Koko, I styled her hair with antennae.
Actually, it wasn’t real antennae – it was just slightly styled hair. Usually, this hairstyle is really hard to maintain in real life, but Koko cleverly understood my intent and styled her hair accordingly.
She didn’t bother with padding in her chest, either.
The uniform was a sailor outfit too, but instead of the dull colors we wore, it was a white sailor uniform with pink accents. The skirt was the same.
She wore slightly shorter socks and student dress shoes as well.
This character was an “otaku character.”
Both the character I imitated and the one Koko imitated were iconic in their own right, but… amusingly, that era had yet to come.
Manga and novels were still being serialized, with about a year and two years of lead time according to current standards, so while they had some popularity, they still hadn’t been adapted into anime. The animated version of the character I was imitating would come out next year from 2005, and Koko’s character’s adaptation would come out the year after that.
Click.
Yuka pointed a camera towards us.
“Wow!”
Koko excitedly exclaimed, lifting her arms in the air.
She looks great. I can’t exactly say that their personality is alike, but that pose itself was one of the moves from the anime’s opening. Just with that, I think they made a good choice of character.
As for me…
I crossed my arms and turned my head away, looking elsewhere.
Yeah. This is how a tsundere character should be.
“Uh?”
But Koko immediately reacted to my movement.
“Koto Ne? Are you mad?”
“Um? No, no.”
I quickly relaxed my expression and reassured Koko.
Puhahah.
And Yuka burst into laughter.
Seeing that atmosphere, it seems she knows what a “tsundere” character is, regardless of the character I am.
My face inexplicably flushed red.
Pouting my lips, click. The camera shutter sound went off again.
“Ah, this is nice. If your mom sees this, she might just have a nosebleed.”
“No, come on, that’s a bit much.”
I answered while feeling a bit disgusted, and seeing me, Yuka laughed again.
While she was in a maid outfit.
I muttered under my breath.
*
Kagami gave me a bunch of allowance, but to be honest, I didn’t really have much that I wanted to buy.
“Famous booth”… well, I didn’t even know the names of those booths well. And I can’t very well buy actual adult doujinshi here.
As I had heard before, most of the magazines, games, and goods sold are age-appropriate. Naturally, if we’re talking about what sells best or what’s shocking, it’s likely adult items, but the ones that are easy to make and fun to enjoy lean toward being age-appropriate too.
Still, I bought a few items focusing on works that I know.
“Do you usually read things like manga?”
“…. Not manga. Novels.”
Since most of what I was reading at this time was light novels.
What should I say.
I thought it might have been better to have some awareness of which booths were where before coming here.
I casually looked up at the ceiling, but thankfully, there weren’t any clouds of otaku hovering around.
It was a bit hot, but…
The three of us managed to blend in among people and wandered around the venue for a while.
Since there was truly only places to buy stuff, I was worried Yuka and Koko might get bored, but surprisingly, they seemed to be quite enjoying themselves.
“Wow, look at this.”
As she said that, Yuka lifted a magazine that was a game that we could play with the game console we had at home.
The game console that Yuka held had some games that any fan would recognize just by name, and among them was a series of RPGs where heroes go on adventures.
The illustrations drawn by famous Japanese manga artists featured heroines whose designs would still hold up today.
And some of those were still active in the doujin market now, in various senses.
Fortunately, the magazine Yuka picked up was for all ages.
The lines weren’t too long. Maybe it was their first time at this booth. Although it was for all ages, the drawings were cleanly done, and if I had nostalgia for that game, I might have bought one.
It seemed Yuka thought of it as a keepsake, so she decided to buy it.
“Thank you!”
The guy on the other side of the desk, who looked like a university student in a checkered shirt, seemed a bit moved as he said that.
“Ah, are you the one who drew this?” Yuka asked.
“Ah, yes, but…”
As the maid spoke, the guy’s voice suddenly shrank. Plus, behind him was a harem heroine with the same face as the one in the illustration but surprisingly, a different costume.
Even a normal person might feel a bit intimidated in this situation, and if I were an otaku like I used to be, it would be even more intense.
“Then, could you give me your autograph?”
Yuka cheerfully handed the magazine over.
“Uh, okay!”
At Yuka’s words, the guy in a daze took back the magazine.
He opened the front page, hesitated for a moment, then wrote a rather elaborate signature.
He didn’t ask for Yuka’s name or anything; he must have forgotten.
Still, Yuka cheerfully received the magazine, thanked him, and turned away.
“Do you know him?”
“No. Not at all?”
Just as I thought?
“Just thought I’d buy something as a keepsake. Look, at the back… it’s printed with a date, right?”
Ah, I see. The print date was from last month. It really could be called a keepsake. It’s something that would have been on sale only during that particular time.
“And, who knows? That guy could become a super famous person.”
Yuka said with a smile.
The illustrations were drawn very neatly. Perhaps it wouldn’t be today, but tomorrow it could go viral and sell out.
The content was overall a bit risqué comedy. It depicted things that could happen between couples, but instead of just comedy, the main focus was on service scenes.
If Kagami saw this, they might freak out.
“Maybe one day in an interview, my story might come up? There I was at a booth that wasn’t selling anything, and suddenly a maid appeared asking to buy a book and get an autograph.”
“…You’re more of an otaku than I thought.”
“Eh!?”
Yuka was quite taken aback by my assessment.
What should I say.
It’s one thing to simply buy a doujin for keepsake purposes, second to cosplay as a maid, but…
The fact that she thinks like that while buying an unsold magazine means she’s an otaku.
Well, I guess that kind of delusion is what keeps people enjoying being otaku to begin with.
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