So they were finally here. A convention event filled with people that had the same hobby as Waa. It seemed like fun was about to begin, but of course, they needed to check in their hotel first. Kouji and the girls couldn’t just carry all their luggage around the event.

So despite how badly Waa wanted to go inside, they made a detour to the nearby spot they were going to spend the night in. That went by rather smoothly, thanks to Himawari leading the way. Barely any time was wasted in getting their stuff up into their room.

And yes, that was meant to be singular.

“We only got one room?” Teru asked while everyone was getting some fresh clothes to be in public with.

“I’d rather not spend more than necessary for this trip.” Himawari answered, doing up some of her hair in twin pigtails. For this little trip, the girl wanted to try out a new style. The main reason was to see if she could impress him in a more subtle manner. Though, She had still yet to undress.

“It’s only for one night.” Kouji continued. “I promise that I won’t do anything inappropriate, plus you all outnumber me.” He hoped that they knew each other long enough that he would never try and take advantage of the situation. “I’ll just change in the bathroom and wait until you’re all done.”

“When we get to the convention.” Anastasia spoke up when Kouji was no longer with them. At the same time, they felt it was okay to start to strip off down to their underwear. “What is our plan?” That was something that no one had discussed, at least not with her.

“I don’t care what you all do.” Waa responded. Unlike all the other girls, she wasn’t wearing a bra, nor did she plan on putting one on for their trip. It annoyed Himawari the most, as she felt it was far from something proper for a lady of Waa’s status. And yes, despite all the things surrounding her, that girl did consider her to be of high status due to wealth and position. “I’m just going to make sure I get everything I marked down, and none of you are gonna get in the way.”

“Fine by me.” Said Teru. “This is all so lame. I think I’ll just stick around the food court or something.”

“Finally, something we can agree on.” Himawari backed her up in that statement. “I’ll probably get Kouji because he doesn’t seem to be the type to enjoy these sorts of things.” Of course, there was more to her reasoning than that. Even though Teru was going to be with them, that was fine with her.

“Actually, I was thinking of spicing things up a bit.” That mischievous grin on Waa’s face lead to the dread on most of the other girl’s faces.

“What would that be?” Yuma was the first to ask.

“Heh, how about we leave Kouji behind?” She offered. “I doubt any of us are sticking together, so why should he?”

“I do not know if I like that idea.” Anastasia responded to the plan.

“Yeah, where are you going with this?” Himawari glared and towered over the girl while they were still half naked.

“Just a little fun.” She replied, putting on an act of innocence. “Wouldn’t it be cool if he had to go around searching for any one of us? I mean, it’s not like you’re scared he’ll hang out with someone you don’t like... Right?” Waa was mocking her with a statement like that. It was bait, Himawari gobbled it straight up.

“Of course not!” She backed off, crossing her arms in defiance. “You know what? Let’s do it then.”

“That girl’s too easy to fool...” Teru sighed in disappointment. However, it was par for the course when a girl’s not willing to admit her feelings. Something that this tomboy could relate too. Which is also why she took the plan. Though she viewed it more as a gamble for a chance.

“Great, I’ll leave the note and we’ll all get going.”

***

“They’ve been taking a while now.” Kouji was still waiting impatiently for one of them to knock on the door. Sure, he was aware of the stereotype of girls taking forever to get ready, but it had been 15 minutes. That combined with how one of them wanted to get there as soon as possible meant they should be done by now.

He didn’t want to be stuck in the bathroom all day. So he slowly cracked open the door to check on them. The boy knew the risk he was taking with a move like this, since they could all be changing and still in their underwear or even nude. However, as he peered out into the room, there was nothing.

“Huh?” He audibly was confused, as Kouji exited the bathroom. “Where’d everybody go?” The only thing here to greet him was a piece of paper left on the table. “I don’t remember any of us bringing paper.” He commented as he picked it up to read.

‘Kouji, we all left without you.’ The noted stated the obvious. He could tell from the handwriting that Waa was the one responsible for this. That led to a very audible sigh from him. To Kouji, this was the second worst thing that could happen in this situation. The first being that they were all kidnapped.

‘Anyway, come one of us nenenene~” She honestly put that last bit in there to mock him with her annoying laugh.

“…” Kouji was silent for a moment, as he took the time to process the words. Then, he erupted into cheer. “All right!” This was amazing. Finally, he didn’t have to be stuck with any of them. None of these girls were going to ruin this day for him, and he couldn’t be any more happier.

It was so exciting, that he immediately left the room and locked the door behind him. There wasn’t going to be any time to waste on this opportunity. So the boy left the hotel in a hurry and rushed towards the convention center. However when he got there, Kouji realized one unfortunate fact.

What is he supposed to do?

This was an otaku convention for things like anime and manga. A convention about a hobby that he had essentially no experience in. Well, outside of that one regretable incident, but he didn’t want to talk about it. As he was walking through the area, Kouji was regretting that they didn’t invite Moku to join them. At least that guy could help him out here.

While moving about and considering his next plans. Kouji walked by a group of people gawking at others known as cosplayers. He remembered Waa mentioning it as they were getting their things together. These were people that dressed up as their favorite fictional characters.

Even though Kouji had no clue what they were representing. He couldn’t help but be in awe at how extravagant those costumes were. It was very respectable how passionate they were in the craft. The amount of time spent on those outfits must’ve been a fair bit of hours.

“Stop eyeing me!” A female voice in this crowd pierced through the air. It was a familiar voice to him. Immediately, his ears perked up to try and hear that voice better.

“Aww, she’s so cute.” Someone said.

“How did you get the makeup just right?” Another one spoke up.

“I have no clue as to what you’re talking about.” That condescending tone from the girl. Kouji felt it could only come from one person. Specifically one that he really didn’t want to run into. “Leave me alone, I don’t want to bother with you pigs.”

“Aha, she said the thing.” Members of the crowd seemed to enjoy being called that for some reason. Kouji couldn’t relate to wanting that sharp tongue turned on him.

“Excuse me.” He said, moving past members of the crowd. The boy tried to get to the center of this gathering, which allowed him to see who they were so interested in. “Himawari, is that you?”

“K-Kouji!?”