After Uriel had recounted his most recent encounter with his two brothers, Glenda couldn’t help but laugh in response, trying her best to hold back her laughter in the process. 

“Glenda, I don’t see how this is funny in any way, shape, or form,” Uriel said with mild annoyance. 

“But it is funny…” Glenda managed to utter in between her laughs. “...your brothers think I’m cheating on you…oh, what a misunderstanding that ended up becoming.”

“Glenda, they could have spotted you in your succubus form.”

“Oh, don’t worry about it. Remember that I still got my memory-erasing spell handy.”

“Yeah, but still…”

“You worry too much. Here, how does this one look?” Glenda said as she held up one of the costumes for Uriel to see.

Currently, Uriel, Glenda, and Sloane are going to different cosplay stores to try to find the perfect set of costumes for Glenda to wear at the convention. And since they were trying to look for the best of the best in terms of anime cosplay, what better place to find them than at Akihabara, the capital of anime culture itself. 

With Glenda’s portal magic, traveling from place to place—even as far as to the other side of the planet—was as easy as a walk in the park. To be honest, traveling all the way to Japan was not even the most difficult part; what’s difficult was finding the right costumes out of this massive collection of stores. 

Everywhere at Akihabara, the walls of buildings were plastered with enlarged images of anime characters and the streets were bustling with crowds of people. There were anime-related stores as far as the eye could see, the sheer variety of which was simply mind-boggling. Within each of the multi-story buildings, there was a different store for each of the floors, each specializing on a different array of merchandise—whether it be anime figures, manga, retro video games, or countless other types of merch. 

Akihabara truly was the capital of all things anime—an otaku’s paradise.

Nevertheless, exploring a place as massive as Akihabara was like navigating through a labyrinth. The experience can easily be overwhelming, even for seasoned otakus. Although there were plenty of cosplay stores throughout the area, trying to find top-tier quality cosplay out of all of them was like trying to find a needle in a haystack. A task like this requires a special eye that can discern the finer details of each individual cosplay, which is where Uriel comes in.

Despite being an otaku for a good portion of his life, Uriel had never been to Akihabara before, as he couldn’t exactly afford to buy himself a ticket to go to Japan in the first place. It took all the willpower he had to not simply nerd out the moment he arrived here. The purpose of this trip was to find the best cosplay for Glenda to wear. He shall not let himself be distracted from that purpose, no matter what.

Right now, Uriel and Glenda are going through a large collection of costumes within one of the many cosplay stores in the area. Glenda had picked out one costume at random and was trying to get Uriel’s opinion on it.

“Hmm…no, I don’t think this would work,” Uriel said as he examined the costume, labeled as the bunny-girl costume worn by Sakurajima Mai from ‘Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai’. “This wouldn’t stand out amongst the crowd.”

“What? But it’s a bunny girl costume! I would argue that it’s gonna stand out a lot,” Glenda said.

“Maybe in a normal setting it might. But definitely not in an anime convention, where there’ll be all kinds of wild cosplays wandering around,” Uriel explained. “We need something that will stand out even more, something that is even more eye-catching than a typical anime cosplay. This already excludes some of the potential options. Anything with a schoolgirl outfit—like Komi from ‘Komi Can't Communicate’ and Taiga from ‘Toradora’—are already a no-go as they are simply too plain. Also, anything with a traditional Japanese kimono—like Miyo from ‘My Happy Marriage’ and Yui from ‘Hell’s Paradise’—are out as well. Don’t get me wrong, those are all great characters to cosplay as, but if we’re trying to stand out as much as possible, they simply aren’t adequate enough.”

“Well, if you say so. You’re the expert here, after all,” Glenda said with a shrug. 

“By the way, where’s Sloane?” Uriel asked as he looked around.

“Don’t know. She was with us a while ago,” Glenda said, also looking around.

Uriel and Glenda looked around the store to try to find Sloane, only to find her sleeping on a giant Totoro bean bag. The way she curled herself up as she snoozed on top of that fluffy bean bag was just cuteness overload. 

“Aww…how cute!” Glenda cooed, cupping her cheeks with her hands as she gazed at her sleeping little sister with maximum adoration. 

Uriel cleared his throat before lowering himself to whisper into Sloane’s ear. “Jump Ultimate Stars.”

Sloane was immediately jolted awake. “Aah! That game was better than Jump Force!” After waking up, she looked around before seeing Uriel staring at her with a slightly disapproving look. 

“I thought you’re here to help,” Uriel said with mild annoyance as he crossed his arms.

“I am. It’s just that I saw this fluffy bean bag and couldn’t help but fall asleep,” Sloane said with a yawn as she got up from the Totoro bean bag. “I mean, it’s so comfy! Whenever I see places that look comfy to sleep on, it just triggers my sleeping tendencies more often.”

“Wow, can’t say I blame her,” Glenda said as she sat on a giant Snorlax bean bag right next to the Totoro bean bag, feeling her own body practically melt into the bean bag itself. “These bean bags are comfy! Mmm…even I want to sleep in one.”

“Well, I would prefer if you do less sleeping and more helping,” Uriel urged. “The convention is coming up soon and we’re gonna need all the help we can get in order to find the best costume for her.”

“Yeah, I know, I know,” Sloane said tiringly as she let out another yawn.

“Sloane, if you’re feeling tired, you can just go back home for now,” Glenda suggested kindly. “We can handle this by ourselves.”

“No, I want to help out my big sister!” Sloane said, trying to hype herself up despite doing so with her usual tired tone. “I promise I will not fall asleep again until I find those costumes!”

“Alright, then. Get to it. Chop-chop!” Uriel ordered.

“Aye aye, sir!” Sloane said with a mock salute.

---

And with that, Sloane continued scouring the store to try to find suitable cosplays for Glenda. While Uriel and Glenda focused their attention on finding the highly popular cosplays, Sloane was tasked with finding the slightly less popular and more obscure cosplays, used as backups in case the highly popular ones were either sold out or weren’t of a good enough quality. Even with the less popular cosplays, there’s still a good number of anime waifu characters on the list—some of which include Toga Himiko from My Hero Academia, Emilia from Re:Zero, and Speedwagon from JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure. 

However, as she wandered around some more, she came across a section of the store that had a couple of arcade claw machines, ones that allow you to win different types of cute, colorful plushies. Being both a big fan of gaming and collecting plushies, Sloane was immediately enamored by the slight of it. From the moment her eyes laid upon those claw machines, she was instantly hooked. 

She simply couldn't look away; it’s as if her eyes were glued to those machines. They were simply too enticing for her. Those cute, little plushies are practically calling out for her, begging her to liberate them from their cramped, plastic prisons. 

She could do it. She had the skills to do so, if her years of gaming were anything to go by. Winning at a claw machine was basically no challenge to her. With her leet gaming skills, she shall free them from their electronic cages. She shall be their savior!

But no, she cannot allow herself to be distracted. She promised Uriel and Glenda to help them find the cosplays. She cannot let them down, no matter what! But surely, she can at least afford to give it one single try, after which she’ll quickly return to her original task. Surely, that won’t take too long. What’s the harm in trying it just once?

And so, after much deliberation, she had finally decided to give it a try. With a heavy resolve in her heart, she stepped towards one of the claw machines, pulled out a coin, and inserted it into the coin slot.

---

Meanwhile, Glenda and Uriel continued searching for cosplays at another section of the store. Even though they’ve already spent nearly half a day searching through several different stores, it seemed as though they’d barely scratched the surface of what Akihabara had to offer. 

“I still don’t get why we couldn’t just use magic to do all this,” Uriel asked off-handedly as a way to make small talk more than anything else. “Don’t you demons have magic that could make this whole process a lot easier?”

“Well, we do have a quick-change spell,” Glenda said. “It’s a spell that allows you to swap between different sets of clothing that you own. You still need to own the clothing that you’re swapping with in order to link them to the spell.”

“What about a spell that can just change your appearance without the need of any sort of clothing? Or a spell that can change a piece of clothing into near-infinite possibilities?”

“Oh, now you’re going into straight-up illusion magic, one that offers high levels of modifiability. Those won’t be suitable for this particular situation. They are difficult to maintain for long periods of time; even highly-skilled magic users can only maintain it for a couple of minutes. Plus, they’re too expensive.”

“Wait, you’re telling me that an illusion spell costs more than all these cosplays we’re going to buy?”

“Yep, pretty much. Demon money works way differently than human money. Any product from the demon world is way more expensive than its human counterpart. They are made of literal magic, after all. Why do you think I’d willingly spend so much on food in the human world yet so reluctant to spend money in getting my spells fixed or replaced in the demon world?”

“Yeah, I guess that makes sense,” Uriel said.

“Of course, it all depends on where you buy them,” Glenda said. “John Milton’s probably has them at a cheaper price, though they’re often not as reliable.”

“Yeah, I’ve been meaning to ask. What exactly do you mean when you say you got your spells from John Milton’s? What’s up with that name?”

“Well, do you know about John Milton as a person from human history?”

“Well, yeah. He is a famous 17th century poet and the author of ‘Paradise Lost’, considered by many to be one of the greatest works of fictional literature that revolves around the biblical story. You know, the one about God and Satan, Adam and Eve, the Garden of Eden and all that. I mean, I have studied extensively in biblical studies after all. What about it?”

“Well, as it turns out, John Milton had ended up in Hell after he died. Well, ‘ended up’ isn't exactly the right term. More like he was ‘recruited’ to Hell by my daddy Satan himself. You see, Satan had appreciated how Milton had written a piece of literature that depicted him with a more nuanced and sympathetic perspective. And so, as a sign of appreciation, my dad recruited Milton to run part of Hell’s administration. While in Hell, he’d established a chain of retail department stores for its denizens—stores of which are named after him.”

“Wait, retail department stores?” Uriel asked with intrigued bewilderment. “So you’re saying that John Milton’s is basically the Walmart of Hell?”

“Yeah, pretty much,” Glenda said. “They typically sell a wide variety of low-quality products at inexpensive prices, similar to department stores like Walmart. Of course, John Milton’s is not without its competition. There’s also Alighieri, another chain of department stores that’s more or less a direct competitor to them.”

“Let me guess. It’s named after Dante Alighieri, a famous 14th century poet, the author of the ‘Divine Comedy’.”

“Yep, you guessed correctly. Satan also appreciated Dante Alighieri’s work and recruited him because of it. Alighieri and Milton have basically become rivals down in Hell, trying to see who is the superior provider of everyday consumer products. While the products from Alighieri are typically of higher quality compared to Milton’s, they are also more expensive, to the point that some would consider them highly overpriced.”

“So, while John Milton’s is basically the ‘Walmart’ of Hell, Alighieri is basically…the ‘Apple’ of Hell?”

“Yeah, basically. If Apple suddenly turns into a department store chain while keeping its same business philosophy, it’ll basically look like Alighieri.”

“Man…that is wild,” Uriel commented with surprise. To think that the famous historical figures he’d learned about in school have such drastically different lives once they’re in Hell. Never in his life would he have imagined John Milton and Dante Alighieri running department stores in Hell. That just sounds totally bizarre to him.

Afterwards, they continued working in silence for a while—concentrating on finding more costumes—before Glenda spoke up again.

“So, why don’t you sleep with other women?” Glenda asked suddenly.

“Woah, where did that come from?” Uriel reacted with a bit of surprise, feeling as though that topic came out of nowhere.

“I mean, it is only fair, isn’t it?” Glenda said, a hint of somberness in her tone. “If I get to have sex with other men, you should be allowed to have sex with other women. Plus, it’ll throw off the suspicion your brothers have on you.”

“Glenda, you’re only sleeping with those other men because you have a good reason to do so, and that is to collect their virginities for the competition,” Uriel said. “It’s not like you’re romantically involved with them. Plus, I don’t give a damn what my brothers think. I’m not gonna start sleeping with other women just to throw them off.”

“Really? Because I’m totally okay with you doing so. I really don’t mind if you start sleeping with other women.”

“Glenda…where is this coming from? What are you trying to say?”

Glenda took a deep breath to steady herself. “I just thought that…you know, it’ll make us more even. So far, I feel like there’s this ‘imbalance’ in our relationship. You’ve been such an incredible boyfriend to me. You’ve been so caring and supportive and understanding. Meanwhile, I—on the other hand—have been spending less and less time with you due to the competition. You have given so much to me and I just feel like…I haven’t given you enough in return, you know. I feel like…I haven’t done enough to deserve you.”

“Oh, Glenda…” Uriel pulled Glenda into a warm hug. Glenda could feel Uriel’s warmth permeate into her soul. It’s a wonderful feeling, being wrapped in your lover’s arms. She wished she could stay like this forever. “I don’t care about any of that. I don’t care about this imbalance that you think we’re having. Even if there is an imbalance, giving me permission to sleep with other women is not a proper way to fix that, because that’s not who I am. I support you because I love you. 

“Don’t feel as if you’re obligated to give something back to me because of what my brothers think of you, or what other people might think of you. I’m perfectly okay with the way things are right now. You are already enough. More than enough. And I won’t change a single thing about it.”

“Oh, Uriel…” Glenda leaned closer to give Uriel a warm, tender kiss. “I’m sorry for even suggesting the idea to you. I shouldn't have doubted you. It’s just…all I ever wanted was for you to be as comfortable with our relationship as possible.”

“It’s okay. No need to apologize. I’m already comfortable with the way things are right now,” Uriel said, looking at her with a loving expression. “Besides, if we’re really talking about an imbalance, I think I’m the one who’s actually getting the better end of the deal here. I’m mean, as a succubus, it goes without saying that you are way better at sex than me, which is a definite plus. Also, those other virgins only get to have sex with you one time, while I get to have sex with you as many times as I like. Overall, it seems more than fair to me.”

Glenda giggled with a flirtatious smile. “And you know what would make that sex even better? It's if you do it with me while I wear the cosplay of one of your favorite waifus.”

“Glenda…” Uriel muttered, feeling a sudden pang of arousal rising up from within him.

“Oh, please. Don’t pretend you haven’t at least fantasized about doing it with one of your favorite anime waifus. I know what Rule 34 is. I know what people fetishize about.” Glenda then placed her hand on Uriel’s bulge, feeling it grow as she gently massaged it. No matter the circumstances, Glenda always has a way of making her boyfriend feel incredibly horny within a matter of seconds. “And I can tell you like the idea as well.”

“Well, maybe just a little,” Uriel admitted with a slightly bashful expression.

“Just a little?” Glenda asked softly with a raised eyebrow. “Come on, be honest with yourself.” 

“Okay, you want my honesty?” Uriel turned Glenda around and pressed her against a shelf of anime figures nearby. “I want to fuck you hard as you wear the cosplay of every single one of my favorite anime waifus. How does that sound?”

Glenda giggled with a seductive smirk as she stared eagerly into Uriel’s hungry eyes. “I like your honesty.”

And with that, Glenda dragged Uriel into one of the fitting rooms in the cosplay store, where they proceeded to have raw, hot anime-cosplay sex.

---

After almost half an hour of going at it on the claw machines, Sloane had practically cleaned out all of the plushies inside them, leaving them barren and empty. She was supposed to try out the claw machines only once—and yet once she tried it, she couldn’t pull herself away from it. Claw machines are pretty much like a drug to her—they are an addiction. She kept trying and trying until she basically lost track of time. 

With her impeccable gaming dexterity, she was able to grab plushie after plushie out of those machines with a 100% success rate. What resulted was Sloane winning just a massive pile of plushies—a pile so large, she had to place it on the ground next to her. 

Once all the claw machines had been emptied, Sloane then looked at her winning pile of plushies with a satisfied smile before crawling on top of it and falling into a deep sleep. 

Sleeping on a large, fluffy bean bag is nice. But sleeping on a massive pile of soft, little plushies is also nice as well. 

As Sloane slept peacefully atop that massive pile of plushies, an employee of the store came by to see the bizarre sight in front of her, reacted with an expression of sheer confusion, and simply said, “Nani kore?!”