Chapter 49
* * *
Inside a swaying bus, on the way to the event venue.
I turned off my phone screen.
The memo app that had been open disappeared into black. I didn’t need to look at it anymore.
‘I memorized them all.’
I had finally finished.
Before the event began, I had perfectly familiarized myself with the names and appearances of every character we would be selling.
Now I wouldn’t have to flounder because I didn’t know a name.
“We have to get off now.”
“Yeah.”
I followed Lee Seungah off the bus.
“Where do we go now—”
Asking where we were supposed to go—
Before I could finish speaking.
Lee Seungah gestured and pointed ahead. Her fingertip indicated one direction.
Following the tip of her finger.
I saw people in flamboyant outfits heading somewhere in scattered groups.
‘···Are we supposed to follow them?’
After following in silence, we emerged into a vast plaza.
Oh.
We really had arrived.
‘There are so many people already, even though it hasn’t started···.’
People in cosplay walked around here and there across the plaza.
It was truly an unusual sight.
It was my first experience like this, so I instinctively slowed my steps.
“But you said you were meeting a friend here.”
I hurried to catch up with Lee Seungah and asked.
I’d heard it was a school friend who often attended events with her.
Apparently, they had even set up their booths right next to each other.
‘···I don’t see anyone who looks like a friend.’
They were supposed to meet near the entrance, but no one seemed to be waiting for anyone.
People merely streamed past.
They didn’t pay this area any particular attention.
A few men merely glanced at Lee Seungah as they passed.
“She says she hasn’t arrived yet. It’ll take her a little while.”
Lee Seungah, who had been tapping at her screen as if texting, slipped her phone into her pocket.
“Let’s go inside first and change.”
Lee Seungah took the lead.
Her steps were lighter than usual. Even though she tried not to show it, her excitement was obvious.
*
“I’m dressed.”
After changing into the suit in the changing room, I came out to find Lee Seungah setting our luggage down in a corner.
“Come over here and sit.”
She took out a pouch and laid various things out from it.
“Do I really have to wear makeup—”
“Ah, geez···! Don’t move.”
“······.”
I couldn’t move from my seated position under Lee Seungah’s sharp command.
Her hands moved busily. I felt an odd sensation as brushstrokes spread something across my face.
···How much time passed like that?
“···There···okay. Done.”
Lee Seungah examined me, leaning her upper body from side to side.
“Hmm.”
— “···I might be kind of talented?”
Minimi huffed through her nose. It was a satisfied sound.
“Stand up.”
At those words, I could finally stand.
“Well, not bad.”
— “Fortunately, it doesn’t look awkward either···. Hmm, maybe it’s because you’re taller···?”
Minimi nodded as if satisfied.
“Here, put this around your neck, too.”
After putting on the pass she handed me and lifting the pad made as a prop, my cosplay was complete.
“Go take a look over there.”
Lee Seungah pointed at the wall. It was smooth metal, so I thought I could check my appearance to some extent.
There were too many people waiting to use the restroom.
‘It’s pretty ordinary.’
I checked my appearance in front of it.
Hair parted down the middle and a gray suit.
She’d said the character was a teacher. Just as she’d said, it was an ordinary suit look.
It looked ordinary enough that people wouldn’t recognize it as cosplay even if I simply walked around.
So I wondered what would happen if people couldn’t tell what I was supposed to be.
As I was examining my appearance like that.
“Seungah!”
Someone called to Lee Seungah from behind.
“You’re finally here.”
Lee Seungah grumbled as she looked at two girls approaching.
“Say hello. This is my older brother, who’s helping out today.”
“Hi.”
At Lee Seungah’s introduction, I gave them a slight nod in greeting.
“And these are my friends.”
It was my first time being introduced to Lee Seungah’s friends.
“···Hello. I’m Jin Sujin.”
“Hello. I’m Kim Dabin. Um, I look forward to working with you today.”
One had short ash-brown hair, and the other was blonde with a ponytail.
They say birds of a feather flock together; all her friends were stylish.
“Oh, nice to meet you.”
After returning their greetings in turn, the girl who had introduced herself as Kim Dabin looked me over.
“The cosplay quality is great. You’re Archive’s Teacher, right?”
“···How did you know?”
“Huh? Isn’t it obvious at a glance?”
Kim Dabin blinked as if puzzled.
‘···You can tell just by looking?’
I was surprised she recognized it immediately, but apparently it wasn’t that hard to distinguish.
I nodded to confirm she was right.
“Shall we go?”
It was just when I was wondering if we should move.
“Excuse me···.”
Someone I’d never seen before spoke to me. She was a woman in cosplay.
“Yes?”
I wondered what was going on all of a sudden.
When I showed my puzzlement.
“If it’s okay with you, could I take a picture with you? You’re cosplaying Archive, right?”
“···What?”
My confusion only deepened. She’d suddenly asked to take a picture.
“That’s normal here.”
Lee Seungah whispered, giving my shoulder a small tug.
She said taking pictures was common.
“You don’t have to if you don’t want to.”
“···Really?”
So that was how things worked here.
If so, there was no reason to refuse.
She had gone to the trouble of asking, and it wasn’t particularly difficult.
“Sure, I’d be happy to.”
When I nodded, she came up beside me and raised her camera.
···Was I supposed to strike some kind of pose?
As I wondered, not knowing what to do.
— “You could just smile.”
Lee Seungah’s Minimi touched its fingertip to the corner of its mouth and lifted it slightly.
I tried to smile as she said.
It was a slightly awkward smile.
Taking pictures was one thing, but I wasn’t used to having my picture taken in a place like this.
— Click.
“Thank you···!”
She gave a small bow and left.
I felt fairly satisfied with how it turned out.
This wasn’t bad either. It was quite an interesting experience.
“Then···.”
Just as I was about to move on again.
“If you don’t mind—”
Someone else approached and held out a phone.
They were asking if they could take a picture.
“···.”
Hmm.
Somehow···
As I took pictures one person at a time···
More and more people began gathering to ask for pictures.
“—Oh, really?”
As I responded appropriately to those who spoke to me.
Before I knew it, the cosplayers around me had started conversations with me. Apparently, they were all cosplaying Archive.
“···.”
Lee Seungah stared blankly at the whole thing, then.
“···Shall we get going?”
— “No, why are so many people swarming him···? Did I do his makeup too well···?”
Minimi pulled a sullen face, complaining that things were becoming a hassle.
“We have to change clothes, too. And get ready.”
“Yeah, let’s go.”
I had been planning to go inside anyway. After saying goodbye to the people, I moved.
Lee Seungah quickened her pace.
It was a gesture that said she intended to get inside before even more people swarmed us.
“We’re going to change clothes and come back, so go inside first.”
“Okay.”
I entered the event building alone.
Since I was a booth participant, I could enter before the event started.
The event venue was quiet.
Only a few people were moving about busily. Watching them, I felt strangely as if I’d become part of the staff.
‘Our booth···.’
I checked the location I’d received by text.
Here it is.
When I arrived at the booth, I sat there blankly. As I looked around to see how the other booths were doing.
“You’re Bebe, right?”
A man wearing a staff cap approached, pulling a package cart.
“Ah, yes.”
I nodded for now.
Bebe was Lee Seungah’s artist name, if I remembered right.
“Could you sign here to confirm you received this?”
I scribbled the name on the screen.
“Thank you.”
“Yes, have a good one.”
I gave a little bow. He disappeared busily to another place without even having time to return my greeting. He looked very busy.
‘Why are there so many of these···?’
Looking over the boxes on the floor, the amount of merchandise she’d made was substantial.
‘Can we actually sell all this?’
She was good at drawing. The quality was decent, too.
It was just that there was more than I’d expected. I wondered whether we could get through all of this today and tomorrow.
‘···She’ll handle it somehow.’
I stopped worrying about it.
It wasn’t anything I needed to be seriously concerned about. It wasn’t my money, after all.
I sat in a chair and let all my strength drain away.
I wouldn’t have anything to do until they arrived. I figured I’d watch short-form videos while waiting.
Ding—!
Just then, an alert appeared at the top of the screen.
— [Lee Sol: What are you doing right now?]
— [Lee Sol: (hamster emoticon displaying a question mark)]
It was Lee Sol.
It was the first time she’d texted me at this hour on a weekend.
— [Lee Seungho: I’m out.]
— [Lee Seungho: Why?]
I sent a suitable reply.
— [Lee Sol: Out? Where?]
Her reply came back almost immediately, unexpectedly.
— [Lee Seungho: I came to help my sister at an event.]
— [Lee Sol: An event with Seungah?]
I blinked at the message.
I had already started calling Lee Seungah by her name. Had we gotten close in the meantime?
— [Lee Seungho: An event selling anime art. She draws, you know.]
— [Lee Sol: Really?]
— [Lee Sol: (hamster emoticon in admiration)]
— [Lee Seungho: What about you?]
— [Lee Sol: (Photo of a workbook and pencil on a desk.)]
— [Lee Sol: Studying!]
— [Lee Sol: I was going to ask you about something I don’t understand, too. What a shame.]
— [Lee Sol: (hamster emoticon clenching its fist)]
“You’re working hard.”
Seeing that she was studying since morning, I felt proud of her.
Just as I was sending her an emoticon telling her to keep it up.
“Oh···.”
Lee Seungah and her group appeared, already in cosplay.
They let out exclamations of admiration as they looked at the sales table.
‘They’re all from the same game, too.’
They were the characters included on the merchandise we were selling. Every one of them was from a game called Archive.
As promised, Lee Seungah was cosplaying the mascot character Arorong,
Kim Dabin had attached cat ears to her head and was cosplaying Kasha.
Jin Sujin, who had been blonde to begin with, pulled off Doki, the maid character, perfectly.
“···.”
Opening time was drawing near.
I put my phone in the inner pocket of my suit and stood up.
* * *
A little while earlier——
Jinuri was looking around the venue, humming inwardly.
‘Wow, everyone’s quality is amazing···.’
Everywhere she looked, there were crowds of people who had put a great deal of effort into their appearances.
It was a veritable utopia where only people like her gathered.
‘There’s still plenty of time before it starts, but···.’
Going in early meant she could buy the merchandise she wanted.
She had already bought a special admission ticket for cosplaying. Without hesitation, she entered the changing room.
“Hmm~”
Jinuri took out the clothes she had brought.
Today’s cosplay was the pink-haired heroine from a band anime, chosen to match the performance. The character had a hikikomori streak.
She put on the pink tracksuit and pink wig in succession.
“Ow.”
The wig poked her eye slightly. The problem was that she had tried to put it on too hastily.
A few tears welled up.
“Ugh···.”
As she rubbed her eye, someone brushed past Jinuri.
A girl with a somewhat familiar appearance.
‘Huh···.’
Jinuri blinked and turned her gaze.
But.
Only the empty spot where she had already disappeared caught her eye.
“···.”
Jinuri gently narrowed her eyes as she looked toward the entrance.
‘···Just now···.’
I think I saw Lee Seungho’s younger sister.
‘No way.’
I must have seen wrong.
“Hmm~ Hm-hmm~”
Humming to herself, Jinuri headed out of the changing room.