8

A week passed, and it was finally time for the otaku meetup.

I followed the notes I’d taken while listening to Kokoro, starting to prepare almost two hours before leaving the house. I even wore the clothes she’d chosen. The sounds coming from the other bedroom told me that she was already up too.

During the past week, I’d watched the whole of Next Stage, since Kokoro had told me that knowing loads about the anime would be enough to have a conversation with most otaku girls. Even though I’d only watched it once, I felt like I’d be able to talk about it, at least superficially.

Meanwhile, she’d spent the week researching otaku content aimed at boys and learning more about the virgin-killer outfits I’d told her about.

She’d told me that she still needed to get more comfortable wearing everyday otaku fashion, so she’d change into her cosplay when we got to the event in case she met someone before or after it.

“Ichigaya! Are you ready to go?” Kokoro called from outside my room.

On the other side of the door, every otaku’s dream was waiting for me. She’d followed all my advice on hair, makeup, clothing... everything.

“Oh wow, check you out! But I guess it’s totally expected, since I chose your clothes and all that,” she said. I decided to take that as a compliment.

“So, what are we waiting for?!” she shouted. “Let’s go! We got this!”

“Yeah! Let’s go!” I replied, and we left the house all pumped up and ready to find our otaku dates.

We had to go all the way to Ikebukuro for the meetup. When we finally reached the event space, we were met with a huge line of people already waiting to get inside.

After making our way through reception together, Kokoro went to a changing room to put on her cosplay, and I, much to my dismay, was left alone.

I looked around and saw that, despite it being an event for otaku, there was a decent amount of attractive people, both boys and girls. Some of the cosplayers were pretty cute too.

It was at this point that I realized a fatal mistake in my plan. I’d bought decent clothes, groomed myself enough to look presentable, and I’d even watched an anime that girls like, but I hadn’t—not even for a second—thought to bother learning how to talk to girls I don’t know. Even if I found a girl I liked, I had absolutely no idea how I was supposed to act.

Thanks to my personal fashion advisor, I felt better about how I looked than when I’d joined that first otaku party, and having daily conversations with Kokoro should have made me more comfortable around the opposite sex, but... no matter how much I looked at the girls in front of me, I couldn’t imagine myself speaking to any of them.

Anyway, the cosplayer who caught my eye the most was actually a dude. Between his delicate facial features and the fact that most of the cosplayers at the event were women, I’d almost mistaken him for one at first. The giveaway had been his height—he was too tall to be a girl.

The cosplayer, in his gray suit, had blond hair and tan skin, unmistakably cosplaying Omuro from Detective Donan. It’s a really famous anime that everyone knew about.

The movie had recently been a huge hit, and Kokoro swore that, right now, it was the “hottest series among otaku girls.” She loved it too and recorded the new episodes every week.

The event had barely even started, but “Omuro” was already surrounded by a hoard of girls.

Tsk... Curse you and your good looks!

I briefly wondered whether I should have followed Kokoro’s lead and come here in cosplay, but she probably wouldn’t want me to dress up as a popular character that I knew nothing about. I still hadn’t miraculously gained the good looks I needed to pull it off anyway.

I noticed Kokoro coming out of the dressing room. Relieved, I started walking toward her, but a couple of strangers, two men, beat me to it.

“You’re Yumeno☆Saki, aren’t you?!” one of them asked.

“Y-Yes, I am!” she replied.

Her cosplay was already attracting attention, and I couldn’t say I was surprised. I thought it’d be rude to butt in now, so I kept some distance between us, letting her have her moment.

As expected of a cute girl cosplaying a popular character, before long, she was surrounded by men.

“I’m sorry, a friend is waiting for me,” she said after a while, cutting short the conversation with the strangers around her and coming my way.

“Why didn’t you help me back there?!” she demanded to know.

“Huh? Help? I didn’t want to bother you while you were talking with those people. I mean, I wasn’t going to intrude on your chance to find an otaku boyfriend.”

“Finding an otaku boyfriend?” she scoffed. “From those guys? Listen, like, it doesn’t matter how many people come up to me if none of them are actually my type! I don’t want to waste my whole time here prancing around for them!”

“So none of them were your type?”

“Did you leave your eyes at home?” she asked, pouting angrily.

I could see where she was coming from, but, as always, I wished she’d learn how to say it a little more tactfully.

You mean that out of all those guys, not even one was up to your standards? How handsome does a guy have to be to date you?!

“It’s not like I can tell. I’m not into men,” I replied.

“Okay, sure. Then, let’s do it like this. If I actually find someone cute, I’ll wink at you. So, if you see me winking, leave the two of us alone, or help me, like, approach him if I haven’t yet. But if I don’t wink, that means that the people around me are not my type, so come and help me!” she said.

“Am I your bodyguard or something?!”

“I’ll totally do the same thing for you, don’t worry! If you find a girl who’s your type, just tell me and I’ll help you talk to her for sure!”

“A-Are you serious?!”

Nishina! My savior! My angel!

“We have to look out for each other, right?” she said.

“Right! I’ve got your back then!”

With an ally like Kokoro by my side, I no longer had anything to fear.

We still hadn’t gotten our free drinks, so Kokoro and I headed toward the drinks booth.

“Wait, what?!” Kokoro stopped me, whispering in shock as she stared across the room. “That can’t be... No...”

“What is it?”

“I-It’s Bambi! My favorite cosplayer! A-And he’s cosplaying Omuro, my favorite character from Donan!”

I followed her gaze and found the handsome cosplayer I’d been directing my envy at a few minutes earlier.

“Isn’t that the guy you tried to hit up on Twitter and failed?” I asked her.

“Yes! That’s the one, that’s him! I totally can’t believe it! He’s really here! I get to see him in person!” she said, putting a hand over her mouth in awe.

He was attractive enough to even catch my attention, so I imagined that any otaku girl, especially one as obsessed with handsome men as Kokoro, would swoon all over the floor the second they saw him.

“He’s just as handsome as in his pics! It wasn’t filters! He really looks like that! Awaaaah! I can’t take this! Kill me, please, before I drop dead on the spot!” she squealed under her breath, growing even more excited. “What should I do?! Can I take a picture without him noticing?! Or is that totally illegal?!”

“Go and talk to him, dummy! You’re both cosplaying!”

“B-But there are so many girls around him... Anyway, you’re both guys, so maybe you can talk to him for me, r-right?!”

“I guess I can try and... Hm?” I froze, noticing Bambi walking in our direction.

Is he... approaching us?

“Hi!” Bambi addressed us both.

“H-H-Hello!” Kokoro managed to reply.

“You’re cosplaying as Yumeno☆Saki! Oh, I just love her!”

“R-Really?! Y-You do?!”

He probably wanted to talk to Kokoro because he liked her cosplay. Somehow, as if his looks weren’t enough, his smooth voice even made him sound attractive.

“Thanks! I love her too! I watch her videos all the time!” she said.

And who told you to watch her videos, huh? I did! Oh well, if it turned out to be helpful, I guess I’m glad I did...

“Oh really now? Do you cosplay often?” he asked.

“I, well... I really like IMS, so it’s one of the cosplays I do!” she said, shooting a glance at me.

“Wow, I love IMS too!” Bambi smiled, dazzling us both.

“I-Is that so?! Erm, please e-excuse me, but, are you Bambi? Actually, I follow you on Twitter!”

“Oh?! You know me? I never thought I’d meet a follower in a place like this! Thanks for the follow! Let me know how to find you, then I can follow you back!”

“Wha—?!” Kokoro choked.

“So, what’s your Twitter handle?”

“I-It’s 2-Heart! ‘At,’ number two, hyphen, Heart! Th-Thank you so much! And, I just wanted to say that your Omuro cosplay is super wonderful! I love Omuro! The Kaoru cosplay you posted the other day was awesome too! I never thought I’d be able to meet you in person! I’ve never been happier in my life!”

“Whoa, you’re making me blush! I’m happy I could meet you too. And this is... a friend of yours?” he asked, nodding in my direction.

“He’s just a friend, yes! From school!” Kokoro replied, offensively fast.

“He’s good-looking though,” he said.

“Huh...?” I replied, unable to process the fact that I’d just been called “good-looking” for the first time in my life.

Me? Good-looking? Is this guy all right? Is his tie on too tight or something?

“With just a little makeup, you’d look breathtaking in cosplay. Say, won’t you cosplay with me sometime?” he asked me.

He reached out with his hand and started caressing my face. At that very moment I heard a high-pitched squeal from across the room.

I was too distracted to notice earlier, but Kokoro had been joined by several other girls who were staring at Bambi and me, whispering to each other and, for some reason, looking completely infatuated.

What exactly is going on here?!

“I dig this pairing! Attractive x average!” murmured one of the girls to another one close to her.

Hey, I heard that! I thought, well aware that I wasn’t the attractive one of this duo, but I reasoned that, at least, it was better than attractive x abysmal.

“I-I’ll consider it, thanks...” I replied to Bambi’s offer, not wanting to seem impolite in front of such a crowd. I already knew I wasn’t attractive enough for cosplay, but if we cosplayed side by side, my mug would just make his look even more handsome.

“Want to add each other on LINE?” he then asked Kokoro.

“What?! Really?!”

This was a turn of events that I never could’ve predicted. We’d found a guy who was not only Kokoro’s type, but her favorite cosplayer, and he’d approached us all by himself. Kokoro would’ve pulled it off eventually, being as attractive as she is, but I didn’t expect it to happen this fast.

“And you too,” Bambi said, looking at me expectantly.

“What? Uh? S-Sure...”

This guy... He’s gotta be asking me too because if he only asks Nishina, it’d be way too obvious that he’s hitting on her.

I didn’t really want to add this dude, but, since I couldn’t really refuse, I showed him my QR code. He added both of us, that handsome smile never leaving his face for a second.

“I-I think I’ll go grab that drink,” I said, making my escape and leaving Kokoro alone with him.

Seeing Kokoro achieve so much in so little time left me both impressed and concerned. At this rate, she was going to end the day with a handsome cosplayer’s LINE contact while I remained empty-handed.

I didn’t want it to happen, obviously, but, now that I was alone, approaching girls felt impossible again.

I watched Bambi and Kokoro from a distance. He obviously had his sights set on her. He’d dodged that whole crowd of girls just to talk to her, and he’d even asked for her LINE. And Kokoro was already mad about the guy. I could just see it—it was only a matter of time before they started dating.

And then... I’d be alone in my quest. The only help I had, Kokoro, would be gone. There’d be no one helping me to find spots to meet girls, no one helping me to choose clothes... nothing.

I don’t want to think about it, but I can’t rely on her forever, I guess. I should at least figure out how to start a conversation with a girl by myself. Saying hello is probably the hardest part! Once I do that, I’m sure it’s going to be easy, I said to myself as I scanned the room.

There were several cute girls, and even some who you could say were my type. However, the cuter the girl, the harder it felt to even say hello. My fear of rejection kept me in shackles.

All the cute ones are probably having fun chatting with someone else already anyway... Agh, no! I can’t give up! I can’t make the same mistake as last time! Right now, I’m not the same guy who ran away from that otaku party. Thanks to Nishina’s advice, now I’m well-groomed and a pleasure to be around! I’m even wearing girl-approved clothes! And most importantly, I’ve also become familiar with the stuff that otaku girls like.

After the brief pep talk, I was beginning to feel that, maybe, talking to a girl was within the scope of my abilities. So I looked for a girl, any girl, that I could try and go up to.

Oh...!

I saw one, who looked around the same age as me. She was standing by herself not so far away, playing with her phone. She was slightly plumper than I’d usually go for, and her hair wasn’t that impressive—her outfit in general, actually. But...

I can do this.

She wasn’t even the kind of girl I’d want to make friends with, or even just talk to in any other circumstances, but that was the point. That’s what made her the approachable kind of girl. Looking as bored as that, she probably wouldn’t reject me, and, even if she did, it wouldn’t be that big of a hit to my newfound confidence. I just had to prove to myself that I could talk to girls. Look, I know it’s rude to think, but she was going to be my test dummy.

I walked up to her and, still more nervous than I thought I’d be, I started talking.

“H-Hello!”

“Oh? Hi...” she replied, expressionless, after the shortest glance in my direction.

This is going worse than expected... Am I so ugly that even this girl doesn’t want anything to do with me? But I can’t give up now! I have to start a conversation!

“D-Did you come here alone?” I asked.

“Uh? Of course not. I’m here with a friend, but she’s getting us drinks,” she replied in a low, annoyed voice.

“Oh, ha ha, right...”

I was ready to give up talking to women forever. Not only was she the opposite of cute, but she also had a bad personality—so much so that I cursed my own bad luck for making me choose her. So much for my crash course in conversation.

I began to concoct the perfect scenario to get away from her, when another girl, presumably her friend, came over to us.

“Erlina, I’m back!” she chirped.

My heart skipped a beat. This girl was slender, fair-skinned, and she had long black hair. She wore a cat-ear hoodie and a red checkered miniskirt with knee-high socks. Despite being very different from a virgin-killer outfit, this kind of getup would probably have a similar effect on any otaku guy. What’s more, she had big round eyes, even with so little makeup, making her face resemble that of a beautiful doll. In short, she was my ideal girl.

“And this is...?”

“This guy? He just came and started talking to me,” Girl Number One said almost smugly.

“Oh, really? I’m Mashiro Gojo! Nice to meet you!” Girl Number Two told me with a big smile. She was pretty, yet somehow still approachable, and had a really sweet voice.

“H-Hi! Nice to meet you too! I-I’m Ichigaya!” I replied, too nervous about speaking to a girl this attractive to think about using a cooler alias.

“Right, I forgot to tell you my name. I’m Erlina Kittenton,” the unfriendly girl from before said, reminding me of her existence.

Nobody asked! And no way that’s your real name!

In my head, I begged my bad luck to forgive me for the things I’d thought about it, since apparently I just had to go through the pain of talking with this “Erlina” girl so that I could meet beautiful, perfect Mashiro.

I need to find a way to add her... Maybe if I can find something to talk about... I need a topic!

“S-So, what kind of otaku stuff do you like?” I asked, finally absorbing what Kokoro had meant when she told me that I shouldn’t judge a girl for her hobbies. Mashiro could be into the most hardcore BL in the world, for I cared. That’d just make me want to learn about BL.

Still, I prayed that she’d reply with “Next Stage.” It was the only anime for girls I knew anything about.

“Well, as for mobile games, I like IMS, FG0, KanColle. Oh, and lately, I’ve been getting into Girls’ Frontline too!” she replied.

Is this some kind of prank? She’s cute AND has the exact same tastes as me?!

“Whoa, I love all of those games! I play them every day!” I said.

“Wow, really?!” she blinked up at me eagerly.

“I like IMS and TouRabu myself. I’ve been a fan ever since they were first released, so I can’t stand those normies who just know them from the anime,” Girl Number One Erlina Kittenton said, despite nobody asking for her opinion.

“Yay! We like all the same things! We’d make great friends!” Mashiro told me with a smile so cute that I was ready to melt.

How is it possible that I just ran into a girl who happens to be this cute and shares all my interests?! What sorcery is this?! I thought, staring at her. The more I looked, the prettier she became. She was on the shorter side, about five feet, and her voice was adorably high-pitched. I’d be pressed to even imagine a girl more perfect.

Blessed be the day I decided to join this otaku meetup! Now I just have to find a way to ask her for her LINE or Twitter or something.

“Erm, so, Ichigaya, are you on Twitter? If you are, we can follow each other, if you like?” she asked.

“What?! I... O-Of course! Yes! Please!” I said, my hands literally shaking.

She isn’t going to recruit me into some cult or something, is she?! I asked myself, scared by the turn in my luck today.

She told me her Twitter handle and I followed her immediately.

Mashiro Gojo, First Year HS. Streamer. Also on TikTok. IMS / KanColle / FG0 / Kana Hanazawa fan!

Her icon was a selfie.

“You’re a first year?! So you’re just one year younger than me!” I said.

“Oh, really?”

“This is my Twitter account. Here you go,” the other, annoying one Erlina Kittenton said, completely unprompted. Not having the gall to tell her that I couldn’t care less about it, I ended up following her too, noting to myself to block her as soon as I was back home.

“Thanks Ichigaya! You’ve got a new follower now!” Mashiro said.

“Thank you too!” I replied.

A staff member passed near us, shouting. “The meetup is almost over! Please make your way toward the exit!”

I glanced at the clock on my phone—only five minutes left.

“Oh, snap!” I exclaimed, suddenly remembering Kokoro. I’d received a text from her only five minutes ago.

“I’ll be in the changing room!”

“Hm? You gotta go meet someone?” Mashiro asked, her large eyes blinking directly at me.

“Yeah...”

“Okay then, see ya’ another time! It was a fun chat!”

“It was fun for me too! See you around!” I replied.

I left Mashiro and... Erlina Kittenton and went to the toilet.

I still hadn’t quite processed my incredible luck today. Not only had I finally met my dream girl, but she had asked me to become mutuals on Twitter! My heart was threatening to jump out of my chest with excitement.

I’m so glad I came here. Miracles really do happen if you put in the effort...

I entered an empty stall and sat down for a number two. Right after I flushed, I heard voices on the other side of the door. One of them was strangely familiar to me.

“You’re unbelievable, man. You got chicks all over you,” the first voice said.

“Haha, I gotta thank my cosplay for that. They all fall for Omuro,” the second responded.

Slightly disturbed by what I was hearing, I remained perched on my toilet seat to silently eavesdrop.

“Hah! Just the cosplay, my ass! How many did you add on LINE today?”

“About twenty, I think. You should be more impressed by how I managed to reject the ugly ones without any drama.”

“Haha, you never miss. You even added that cute Yumeno☆Saki cosplayer, right?”

“Oh, that one, yeah, she was totally dumbstruck. Looks like she was into me to begin with—one of my fans.”

This voice... It’s got to be that Omuro cosplayer from earlier! But he’s way ruder than before, and the things he’s saying are disgusting too! Wait... “that cute Yumeno☆Saki cosplayer”? That’s gotta be Nishina!

“So, who’s gonna be the lucky one?”

“Hey, choosing just one isn’t that easy. I guess I’ll have to date a bunch of them first.”

“Oh, screw you. I wish I could say something like that!”

I heard the laughter of the two men fade with their footsteps, getting gradually farther away from me. I was so shocked by what I’d just heard that I couldn’t get up for a while.

Kokoro had finished changing ages ago. When I finally left the toilet, she tried her best to be annoyed at me, but the trace of a grin remained at the corners of her mouth.

“What took you so long?!” she asked me, not waiting for a response. “I got to chat with Bambi more after you left! I’m so glad I came here!” she said.

“I-I see...”

I couldn’t help but sigh as I wondered whether I should tell her about what I’d just heard.

Do I really have to destroy her happiness?

That guy had sounded like he was only here to get into bed with as many girls as he could count on four hands, but maybe I was just overreacting. But even if I was overreacting, the dude didn’t have a single ounce of respect for girls and was disgustingly full of himself.

“What’s up with the sighing?” Kokoro asked.

“Well, it’s just...” I started looking around, making sure Bambi wasn’t nearby. “I just think you’d better stay away from him.”

“Huh?”

If I told her exactly what I’d heard him say, it would probably only hurt her feelings, and I couldn’t bring myself to do it. But I’d be the bigger asshole if I let a douchebag like that take advantage of her.

“Why?” she asked, surprisingly calm.

“I-I saw him add a ton of girls on his LINE, you know...”

“What’s weird about that? He’s super popular!”

“And, you know... coming to an event like this in a cosplay like that kind of means that he’s here to get girls...” I said, remembering that he’d said that himself.

“The same goes for me though! What’s so bad about wanting a little bit of attention? And he already said that he likes anime for girls too! Don’t tell me you’re jealous of how handsome he is?”

“What?!”

“A-And I wasn’t going to say anything, but now it’s come to this, I might as well—I saw you speaking with that girl earlier! She may have looked cute, but...there’s something really off about her. I haven’t talked to her, but I’ve seen her around other people, so I know for real! There’s no way that ear-splitting squeak is how she normally talks. She hit on so many guys, you should have seen her! A-And, I mean, did you see how she dresses? She’s totally here just to get a load of guys too, for sure!” Kokoro said.

“Wh-Where did you pull that one from when you haven’t even spoken to her?! You should know that she’s a really pleasant, wonderful—”

“Ohhh. So you fancy her.”

“Huh?! Ugh, fine! Whatever! You do you then!” I shouted, furious, storming off by myself to head back home on my own.

I was trying to warn her! For her sake! Why did she have to insult Gojo like that?!

I genuinely believed that I had Kokoro to thank if I managed to become friends with Mashiro. What she’d taught me about grooming, fashion, and otaku girl anime had given me the confidence to start up a conversation in the first place, and it’d made me presentable enough for Mashiro to be friendly with me. I wanted to tell her that I’d found the girl of my dreams, that I was very happy about it, and I owed so much of it to her. But then she went and ruined it by saying all that horrible stuff...

And so, as our conversation ended, the Cold War between me and Kokoro began.