Showcase

The plan was simple, all Hifumi had to do was to get herself on stage. Of course, a simple plan doesn't mean an easy plan. And it wasn't because of any challenge to getting up there according to the rules.

No, that would be the utter anxiety she felt welling up inside at the idea of being on stage. In front of so many strangers, all while dressed in very revealing clothing. It sent shivers up her spine at just the thought of it.

Still though, she wasn't going to give up. There was a chance that it might be a good enough idea, so that she could wipe out that embarrassing memory he was going to have of her in this suit.

Once they finished eating, it was time for her to bring it up.

"So, what else are we going to do?" Yogi asked Arata. The two of them were taking out the trash, while multiple passerby's headed towards the exact location Hifumi was hoping they'd take.

"I'm not really sure." Arata answered. He only had the doujins as the only important things planned out. After all, it's not like they'd stay here the entire day. It's still Christmas, and he'd like to spend the night with his family. It would be wonderful to have a nice dinner and exchange some gifts. In fact, he found a nice book, he was certain Ayumi would love.

"How about over there?" Hifumi directed them towards where people were going. It was generating quite the crowd now. Mostly with the men and women dressed up as popular and well known anime characters.

"That looks like fun." Yogi commented, being fully on board with the idea. Yuki and Erina were cool with it as well, but Arata felt something was strange about that offer. He knew something was up, but wasn't about to argue with everyone on it. Instead, she sneakily confronted the girl that brought it up.

"You're planning on joining it, aren't you?" He questioned Hifumi, as they lagged behind the others.

"Fufufu, perhaps." She answered him in a vague manner. Though that was all he needed to confirm his suspicion.

"But, you're not even playing a character." He informed her, a bit annoyed at the idea. At least on the outside, but he would've liked to see more of that costume.

"Of course I am." She corrected him. As luck would have it, she did indeed look like the librarian girl of 'The Only One That Loves me, is You'. It was especially even more fortunate that character also had a bunny costume for an arc.

"Fine." He relented to her. It's not like he could stop her anyway. "But will you be okay? There's a lot of people here."

"I don't mind." She lied. "I think it'll be a lot of fun." Arata let her go on ahead, and talk to the person running the whole thing. Unsurprisingly, they let her enter, because why wouldn't they?

"What's she doing?" Erina asked him, as she noticed that those two were discussing something before she left. He told her of her plans, of which he kept silent on the reasoning. That wasn't really necessary information for his other friends to know.

"Anyway, I guess we can watch until she gets on." He telling her everything. However, all that did was get an idea churning in her mind.

"Wait a second, if I'm this costume." She looked down at herself, then towards Yogi. "I'm entering."

"Ehhh?!" He looked at her like she was crazy. Sure, if Hifumi got the idea, then it wasn't a stretch someone else would think of it. It's just that, he would've thought that she'd be against the idea. Yogi's not the only one watching.

"But he is watching, right?" She countered. "It's okay, I won't be too upset about everyone else, just as long as he notices me." Erina laughed, leaving before Arata had anything else to protest on.

Things were getting started for all of them now. While the event had been going on the entire day, this was at the point where it was at its most popular. There had to be at least 100 people, standing around with their cameras documenting the whole thing.

The trio that weren't participating were sitting near the front. This was probably the best view they could get, which Arata mainly directed them to for Erina's sake. It would be pointless if Yogi couldn't see a single thing.

"Hey Yogi?" Arata grabbed his friend's attention, while girls were walking by them, showing off their cosplay. "It might sound like an odd question to ask right now, but what's your type?" He was curious, because after all this time, he just couldn't get a grasp on the boy. The dude had a harem, but didn't seem to care all that much romantically about them.

"My type?" Yogi recoiled a bit from being bashful. It was a pretty personal question. "I'll tell you, if you tell me." Arata nodded, which finally prompted the answer. "I guess you could say, I'm really into girls with glasses."

Glasses? That wasn't what he'd expect from him. Then again, there's nothing wrong with that either.

"I think there's something so cute about a girl in glasses. Oh, and a bob too." He finished on the looks department of his description. "And, the ones that are so studious. Like, that they have it all together." It didn't sound so bad to him, too bad the girls that were in his harem weren't like that. Except, why did it sound like it described someone he did know? "Well, it's your turn now."

Arata hadn't really given it much thought. For most of his life, he had been content with fictional girls for his desires. So what did he really like on screen then? Well, there was that soft blonde hair, cheesy smile, blue eyes. Plus a really pretty outfit with a frilly skirt. A lot like Erina, actually.

"Ahh!" He yelled at what he just had as a thought. It caught the other two of guard, sending quite a fright among them. Quickly, Arata had to gain composure to not let out what he was thinking. "Oh um, blondes are nice."

Back to the event, the first out of the two that mattered, was Hifumi. Her heart was racing as it was about to be the start of her turn. With one deep breath, she walked out to face the crowd. She tried her best to prepare for their judgment, but hoped that perhaps being out in this light might show Arata something he hadn't seen before.

She stepped out, and the audience was a lot more quiet than before. There were even less flashes of camera lights as well. Did people, not like her? Even though she tried to block it out of her mind, she felt the poor judgments inside of everyone's minds. That feeling was most likely not true, but it still took its toll on her.

She started to have short breaths. This feeling, she felt like her heart was about to stop. Why was it so hard to breathe? Hifumi felt like she was about to collapse from the stress.

"Whoo!" She heard clapping, and a cheer. In fact, she knew who that belonged to.

"What are you doing?" Arata asked Yogi, the person who was making all the ruckus.

"I'm cheering her on." He answered. "She's a friend, and I'm sure that it took a lot of courage to do this." Couldn't argue with that, so Arata joined in on the cheering on. Doing so gave her some level of confidence, and she was happy to see her friends sticking up for her. While she didn't' cause the splash she might've wanted, it was funner than expected as well.

Next up was Erina, and boy did she make a scene. As she took a cautious step out, the entire crowd was awestruck by her majestic cosplay. Flashes were everywhere, and there were a lot of murmuring about how she looked. It appeared that the work she and Arata put into this was more than worth it. If this was a proper competition, she would've won hands-down.

However, being up there was blinding for her. There was so much going on, she wasn't sure what to do next. Her eyes scanned around for her friends. Even though Yogi was the one she was looking for, it was Arata who she found first. Sure, she could've easily found Yogi next to him, but something about the way he looked at her.

Their eyes met, and it felt as though nothing else mattered. As if the crowd didn't exist at all. It was only a fleeting moment, but something stirred in her heart as she passed him.

And she wasn't the only one who say that moment. Hifumi had stayed back to way for Erina to be done, so that they could leave together. She was watching, and she noticed what was going on, considering she was also keeping an eye on Arata. This made her feel… Upset.

Erina finished up her showcase with a lot of applause. She was ecstatic as she walked up to the other girl. Hifumi was about on the opposite of the spectrum.

"That was great!" She said to her. "I'm really happy you wanted to do this, I wouldn't have thought about it if it wasn't for you."

"I'm sure it was." She responded. "It looks like Arata really liked your costume."

"Arata? Oh yeah, I guess he really did." Erina laughed nervously. She realized just how much she forgot why she was there in the first place.

"It must be nice to dress up as his favorite character." Hifumi was fully aware of the revelation pointed out to him back at the store. It turned into her weapon.

"I-I guess." Erina felt a bit uncomfortable with how this conversation was turning out to be. The two of them had exited backstage, and were looking to find their friends.

"Right, but it's too bad that he wouldn't care that much, if you didn't." Hifumi didn't mean to hurt her, but she was hurt herself. For a moment, she didn't care about Erina's feelings.

"Yeah…" When she heard it, Erina stopped in her tracks. Hifumi continued without her, not noticing. She didn't' understand, why did that hurt so bad? She reached over her chest, it felt like something was hurting in her heart. It didn't make any sense, she likes Yogi. So why should she care about how Arata felt about her.

But that was the thing, she did care.