Not only did he not look like a bad guy, but he even looked like the kind of guy I could be friends with. At least, he liked the same anime and games as I did. Of course, you couldn’t tell everything about a person just from how they acted on Twitter, but I had no reason to ask Kokoro to stop involving herself with him at this stage.
“Yeah, I guess so...”
“His account looks nothing like Bambi’s! He almost never messages girls, and I don’t get any fishy vibes from him!” Kokoro said.
Does this mean that she did get fishy vibes from Bambi?
“And you’re going to meet up with him at Comiket, right?” I asked her.
“Well, kinda. Since I know he’s going, I’ll check his Twitter while we’re there and try to find him.”
“Huh? You mean you haven’t even asked him?! You’ll ‘try to find him’?!”
“Y-Yeah... We’re not so close that I can ask him to meet up with me just yet!”
“This is Comiket we’re talking about! You aren’t going to message him at all? You’re never going to find someone in that crowd just from reading their tweets! No, no, that’s impossible. Just so you know, there are usually so many people around that you can’t even get reception on your phone.”
I’d gone to Comiket with Ai the previous year. Finding each other after splitting up had been anything but easy.
“I-Is it really that bad?” she asked, shocked.
“Of course. You follow each other already, so just send him a message saying that you want to take a picture of his cosplay or something.”
“What?! No way! I’ve only ever messaged him, like, one time!”
“Then it’s the perfect opportunity to fix that!”
“B-But... wouldn’t that be way too full-on? We only met each other once!”
“It’s not like you’re asking him to cosplay with you or anything. What’s so bad about asking for a picture?”
“Well... I guess you’re right.”
Looking convinced but nervous, Kokoro began tapping away on her phone. After running the message by me, she sent it there and then.
“There, I did it! But what if he doesn’t reply?! I mean, he has a ton of followers, and back at the event there were loads of other girls asking for pictures. Maybe he doesn’t even remember me.”
I doubted anyone would forget her, considering how cute that cosplay of hers had looked. Not that I’d admit that to her face.
“Now that I think about it, are you planning on cosplaying at Comiket?” I asked.
“Hm? That’s the plan, yeah. But I still wanna focus on helping Kisaki sell her doujinshi and then shop for the ones I want myself.”
“I just thought that if he saw you cosplaying again that’d make you more memorable to him, whether or not he already remembers you. Since he’s so handsome, you’re probably going to have a lot of competition to take his picture.”
“Oh, good point! Maybe I should do a HypMic cosplay too then. It’d fit with Kisaki’s booth, and if he’s doing Toppo again, we could even get a picture together! Maybe I could cross-dress as Lamta... But Kisaki’s doujinshi are about Toppo, so that might be kinda weird...”
While Kokoro was going on about her cosplaying plans, I also thought about what her best option would be. Cosplaying the same series would be fun and a good way to get a picture with him, but...
“I think you’d better cosplay something else,” I said.
“What? Why?”
“Even if it’s a cute cosplay, you’d still be cross-dressing. If you want to impress a guy, I think you’d have a much better chance cosplaying as a girl.”
“A-Are you sure?”
“Yeah. On his Twitter it says he likes Arimu from IMS. Maybe you could cosplay her.”
“You’re right, it does say that! I guess that’s what an otaku guy would want... Okay! I think Arimu’s cute too, so I’ll cosplay her!”
Immediately convinced by what I’d said, Kokoro started to look for reference pictures on her phone, hemming and hawing about whether her cosplay should feature Arimu’s normal clothes or her maid outfit.
That’s some fast decision-making as usual...
“Oh,” she then said, “but if I’m cosplaying a character who’s, like, unrelated to the doujinshi we’re selling, maybe I should ask Kisaki.”
“Nah, it’ll be fine.”
“You think so? I still need to decide what to wear apart from the cosplay though...”
“What do you mean?”
“Like, say that Yuya and I become friends during Comiket and decide to go have dinner together after or something. I should be ready for that!”
She doesn’t even know whether she’ll be able to find the guy, yet she’s already preparing what she’ll wear to dinner with him?!
“Since I’ll be wearing a wig and all, I’ll also have to fix my hair when I take it off! I need, like, a portable hair iron...” she said.
I mean, sure, I can imagine wearing a wig would ruffle your hair up a bit, but...
“So, what do you think?” Kokoro asked. “What should I wear?”
She was staring at me with puppy-dog eyes, practically begging me for an answer. Kokoro had obviously come to trust me and my opinion when it came to the tastes of male otaku.
Summer clothing that an otaku would like...?
“There’s only one choice, now that I think about it... A white sundress!” I told her.
Can’t go wrong with a white sundress. All otaku love those. I think.
“What...? That’s all? Something so simple?”
“Yeah. Look at how the heroines in anime and games dress in the summer. Lots of white sundresses, right? I’m a hundred percent positive that I’m not the only one who appreciates that.”
“I see... That’d be comfortable at least. I don’t have one, but I’m going to Shibuya with some friends later today, so I’ll try finding one there.”
So she’s going out... Am I the only one spending the whole summer at home? Not that I’d prefer being outside, but...
“Eeeeek!” Kokoro squealed out of nowhere, almost dropping her phone. “He replied!”
“Well, that was fast. What did he say?”
“Um, he said ‘you’re going to Comiket too? I’d love to meet you there! Are you going to cosplay?’” she read, making no attempt to conceal her excitement.
“Oh, that should make you happy, right?”
“Of course! He agreed to meeting me, and he even asked about me, so... I have a chance, don’t I?!” she shrieked.
“He sounds like he wants to be friends with you, yeah...”
“He does, doesn’t he?! He really does! Awaaaah! What now?! How do I reply?!”
“Anything! Just don’t let the conversation end! And you’d better talk about how you’re going to meet up that day so you can actually find him,” I said, trying to put myself in the guy’s shoes. If a girl stopped a conversation there, I’d assume she wasn’t particularly interested in me.
“O-Okay! Oh, snap! I have to leave soon! I’ll reply to him while I’m on the train!”
With that, Kokoro hurriedly got herself ready and left the house.
I can’t be certain, but this sounds like it’s going to end better than it did with Bambi—this Yuya guy seems pretty decent. That being said, all we know about him is what we read on his Twitter page, so it’s probably safer to be cautious here. After all, handsome male cosplayers, by nature, are used to being surrounded by girls. More often than not, they play around a lot.
Nishina’s too excited to see straight. I’ll have to check out this guy myself... for her sake, obviously.