Oh well, thought Kai. It’s no big deal. I’m not gonna ask the impossible when we’re just having fun.
Kai took a ton of pictures without sweating the details. He’d later save them to cloud storage.
Jun eventually arrived during their photo shoot. Beneath her iconic green cloak was a sleeveless white shirt that clung tightly to the curves of her body, a pair of long, green gloves and boots, and some bloomer-looking thing on the bottom. She wore a costume of the elf with a tragic past, Ryuu.
“I’m ready! Let’s get snapping!”
Jun made a cheerful little dash, causing her chest to bounce all around under her thin, skin-tight shirt. Kotobuki glared. Ryuu was rather busty for an elf (or at least, for an otaku’s typical idea of an elf), but Jun might have been too big even for that. Kotobuki might have had a point when she said it was easy to add what wasn’t there but hard to remove what was.
“Oh yeah, I borrowed a secret weapon from my dad!” Jun boasted as she pulled out a digital SLR camera.
“Was that wise, Miyakawa? It looks rather expensive...”
“I sure don’t know how you’re supposed to handle that stuff.”
“Don’t sweat it. My dad buys replacements for these without using ‘em to begin with, so we’ve got a ton lying around. Mom said she was totally fine with me breaking some of his crap to teach him a lesson.”
“You’ve gotta be kidding me...”
“I hear there are all kinds of SLR cameras, so perhaps it’s not as expensive as it looks.”
Kai and Kotobuki came to their own conclusions. They were shocked to later learn that it was a super expensive camera (costing six digits!), making them wonder what the hell her dad did for a living. That’s a story for another time, though.
“Well, as a show of my gratitude, how about we start by taking pictures of you first, Jun?”
“Hee hee, I feel kinda nervous now,” said Jun. Not that this stopped her from grinning ear to ear and making a peace sign. She must have been excited to wear the same outfit as her favorite character, Ryuu. And with a click of the shutter, that smile was captured.
“Well? Well? How’d it come out?”
“...Not great.” Being able to immediately check a picture was one of the positives of digital cameras. Kai didn’t hide the results, showing Jun the out-of-focus smile that had been captured. “This just isn’t Ryuu.”
“I believe with SLR cameras, you must manually adjust the focus to get a good picture. One of the knobs should do it.”
“Is that true, Hotey?!”
“It allows a skilled photographer to capture a particular effect in their photos, but for a beginner, a typical smartphone camera would likely yield better results by default.”
“Aww... I had no idea...”
And so, the SLR camera gently went back into its bag.
With that behind them, Kai took some smartphone photos of Jun. One of her strengths was her constant cheer, meaning she was always quick to bounce back after any disappointment.
“Well? Well? Am I a cute Ryuu? Am I?”
“Yep, you’re cute, totally.”
Kai praised Jun without reservation as he took pictures of her smiling and making peace signs. Jun even got a little too into it and hung her hands like cat paws, among other original poses that Ryuu would probably never make outside of an OVA.
“I mean, you’re definitely cute, but...”
The person inside was Jun, after all. Her costume was a design by the godlike Suzuhito Yasuda, after all. And she was wearing that green bloomer...thing, after all.
“You gotta actually act like Ryuu. Act like an aloof beauty. Don’t ruin Ryuu’s image.”
“Whaaat? No way. I’m too happy, my cheeks are gonna come out stretched. I’m breaking my cheek muscles for this.”
“Jun, for crying out loud...”
Nobody was trying to see a blushing Ryuu...unless? Maybe they could pass off their Ryuu with her powered-up boobs as different, but good in its own way? Could they get away with making die-hard fans angry? Kai agonized over these eternal questions and continued mashing the shutter button. Until...
“Nakamura, is it not about time to take pictures of me?” asked Kotobuki as something flared up deep within her eyes. “Cute ones.”
“Okay Hotey, let’s take some with the both of us!”
“My apologies, but I’d rather start with solo shots until I’m satisfied. Cute ones.”
She seemed awfully particular about them being cute. Still, Kai buckled against the force of the pressure she silently exuded, so he kept silent and followed along. When he pointed the smartphone camera at her, Kotobuki almost turned into a different person; she put on a cheerful expression as she gave a thumbs-up pose, just like Hestia would. She no longer hid her boldly exposed (fake) cleavage, instead showing it off front and center.
“Ooh, that’s good.”
“Am I cute?”
“You’re very cute. That’s a goddess for you!”
Kai perked up and pressed the shutter button with glee. That seemed to help Kotobuki’s mood as she finally agreed to take some pair shots with Jun. But the closer Kotobuki got to Hestia, the more out of place it felt to have a happy-go-lucky Ryuu.
Lastly, it was time to get photos of Kai in his Welf costume. He had pumped himself up to make some cool poses beforehand, but having the lens actually pointed at him made him nervous and embarrassed. He finally understood how Kotobuki felt. Still, he refrained from ruining the character’s personality like Jun did and managed to pose for a few satisfactory shots. They were good enough to get across the energy a promotional site needed.
Of course, he also got some photos with Jun and Kotobuki.
“C’mon, Kai! Do a peace sign! Yay!”
“Ignis the Everburning doesn’t do peace signs!”
“C’mon, just do a peace sign! Don’t be a buzzkill!”
“Jun, the only one killing the buzz around here is you!”
Kai complained, but he still found himself going with her pace. In the end, they came out with photos of a nonplussed Welf and a beaming Ryuu both making peace signs. They were some truly nightmarish cosplay photos that threw the atmosphere of the source material into a wood chipper. Kai wouldn’t dare use these to promote anything due to the fear of fan backlash.