306 Portraits

Earlier that day…

"Do you think Ara will be alright?" Rin asked Midori as they entered the elevator taking them to Midori's cousin's office on the twelfth floor.

The two of them were in one of the many tall buildings on Otome Road, a huge area of Ikebukuro in Tokyo that was a major shopping and cultural center for animation and comics. It's located in the immediate West of Sunshine City near Ikebukuro Station.

This area in Tokyo had been a must-g-to place for all anime and comic geeks since the 1980s. A branch of a very popular anime store Animate was there, and most of the comic conventions and manga revolutions were held there.

It was natural for the place to be swarmed by people in costumes at a daily basis. In fact, not to see cosplayers walking around would be strange. It was also natural for the area to be where popular comic publishing companies had their main offices such as where they were now.