The Long Con

It was the day of the anime convention, which also happened to be Christmas day. On the train ride, he was filled with anticipation as they got closer and closer. It's a good thing that it took place in the next town over, so he didn't have to wait long. It was also a good thing for everyone else there, as they didn't have to deal with his constant fidgeting and questions about getting there for much longer either.

"We're finally here!" He was the first one off the train. His friends soon followed behind him.

"I'm surprised you're so… emotive." Himfumi commented. She certainly was aware of how into the hobby he was. But, he always struck her as more on the anti-social side. A convention didn't sound like something he'd be so happy to go to. "There's a lot of people that come to these things."

"Exactly." It being so crowded played to his favor. Now he was just a face in a sea of people. It's not like anyone would notice or care about some random kid here. "Now that we're here, what should we do first?"

"Actually, I have some things to take care on my own." Hifumi already begun walking away. "Don't worry, I'll see you all in about an hour… Especially you." She pointed the last part to Arata. He wasn't sure about what she had in mind. It wasn't like he was so ignorant that she liked him, and from the way she was talking. Well, it just filled him with worry about what her plan was.

However, this also presented an opportunity for him. So this wasn't something that he was going to waste.

"Maybe we should split up." He offered. "Me and Yuki can take care of our errands, you and Erina should walk around and explore the place." Yogi thought that sounded like an odd idea. Surely her cousin would rather be with him, as she always was. Arata thought fast, and gave an excuse that it would allow the important things the real fans of this hobby could take care of faster.

"Good enough for me." This easily satisfied his friend, who left with Erina. Secretly, the girl gave Arata the thumbs up as they exited our of view.

"Great, so Yuki." He turned his attention to the only other person with him. Since they already talked extensively online about stuff, this should be easy. "You want to get your stuff out of the way first?"

"Maybe you should go first." She spoke with a lack of confidence. A little disappointing for him, but this is the first time she's ever been to a convention. Perhaps she just needs a guide for some help.

"Okay." He pulled out his own list. One that was comically long. Being aware of what she was into, it wasn't a surprise that she might be a little apprehensive about buying the doujins she wanted. While she certainly enjoyed plenty of normal things, there were a few, less savory parts as well.

The two went around all the booths, generally the ones that Arata wanted to go too. Though she also had some things in common with him, so Yuki also picked up her own copies.

During all this, there was one thing that he knew for certain was consistent about every visited table. That would be the fact that he did all the talking, while she hardly uttered a word. Even when it was something that she wanted to pick up, he was the one that asked for an extra copy. Things weren't going so well, but he could also tell from that look in her eye. She wanted to be able to speak up, so the next chance he had, he took it.

While looking around, he found a rather popular artist sitting alone waiting for more patrons. Though judging by the small pile of manga they had on the table, it was clear that most people had already dropped by. The dojin they were selling wasn't Arata's cup of tea, but he knew that Yuki wanted it.

"Yuki, isn't that on your list?" He asked her, keeping a hand behind her to back to direct the flow of their walk to the table.

"It.. It is." She admitted, feeling shameful about it. For those unaware, she's also into boys liking… boys. Which is common within this hobby. In fact, Arata made it clear that Hifumi enjoy a book or two about that genre. He himself wasn't into it though, nor was he into the gender-bent version of it either.

"Then go ahead." He pushed her a little. Resistance was to be expected, as she tried to put the brakes on this train. Sure, she put it on the list. After all, she had been anticipating the release for months now. But now that it was right in front of her, it didn't look so easy. "Go on." He continued to encourage her, the girl had made big strides before, so he had confidence in her.

"Okay…" By herself, she walked up to the booth. The person sitting there welcomed them, excited that another fan had arrived.

"Hello." The artist smiled warmly to Yuki. The woman could tell that the girl was rather concerned. Not uncommon of a sight for her in this profession. Especially given the subject matter. So she knew that taking a softer approach was a good idea.

"H-hi." Yuki quickly responded. "Um… I just wanted to say that… I, um, really like your works."

"That's wonderful." The artist responded, surely she was about to make a purchase here. Arata was pretty excited too, it looked like she was finally going to be able to do it. However, Yuki shocked both of them, as she quickly turned around.

"Okay, well goodbye now." She said, beginning to make her move away. When she took a look at Arata, he was already signaling for her to turn around. At first, Yuki wasn't what the problem was, after all she did talk and compliment the woman. Then it hit her, she still needed to buy copy of the manga.

In embarrassment over that faux pas, she turned around once again. The artist smiled at her, holding up the product for her. Slowly, Yuki took out some money to pay for it.

"I… I'd like to buy one copy, pl-please." She struggled, her hands shaking as they exchanged items. "Th-thank you."

"No problem." This wasn't new to them, so it really was no big deal. "I even put it in a black bag for you, so don't worry about people giving you dirty looks." With that Yuki could finally return to Arata.

"Sorry for making you wait." She apologized, but he brushed it off. It was his idea after all, plus he was glad at how much progress she had been making. Even with her hesitations, the things she was doing were a far cry from the actions that the girl she was before would make.

Elsewhere, while those two were taking care of their errands. Erina had another opportunity with Yogi, this time without worrying about any of the other girls interfering. Seeing as they weren't even in this town.

Exploring this place was an interesting experience, what with how many other people were also like Erina. In the way that they were dressing as their favorite characters. The only difference between her and them, was that she was doing it for someone else. Along with having not much of an idea of who she was cosplaying as.

Judging from the looks she was getting from some strangers. Either there was something wrong with her outfit, or Arata did an excellence job in recreating a fictional character through her. From some of the comments she heard, it sounded like the latter.

"Wow, this place is huge." Yogi himself was in awe of how much there was here. It was like an entirely different world. These people certainly were big fans of the hobby, that much was evident.

"It is." She said, making a move. She took Yogi's hand and held it tightly. "Perhaps we should be careful, so we don't get separated." He accepted it for the publicly stated reason, but it was obvious to the both of them why she wanted this.

The two walked like this for a while. Enjoying all the cool statutes and posters surrounding them with people they didn't know of. There were even sets of scenes constructed, which looked nice, but had no emotional attachment to either of them. Erina, on the other hand, was doing a lot of physical attachment with Yogi at the moment.

"With how many people are staring at you." Yogi commented, noticing all the glances their way. "I should've gotten myself a costume too."

"Yeah." She replied, taking it as a compliment for her looks. "I bet you like my uniform too."

"Well it is cute…" He responded bashfully. "But, Arata's the one that asked you. Probably just because you look like her."

"Yeah…" She thought about that a little more. It really was just because she looked like that character. Everyone was looking at her, because of her startling resemblance, but they didn't care about her, as Erina. Then Arata probably didn't care about bringing her here, not for herself at least. Something about that felt a little wrong to her now that it entered her mind.

Once the time came for everyone to join back up, they did. However there was one person missing out of this group. That would be the girl that left on her own for some secret errand, Hifumi.

"Have you guys seen her?" Arata asked as he noted her lack of presence here. Surely of all of them, she'd want to be back here.

"No." Yogi answered. "Maybe she just got caught up in something?" He assumed with how many things there were to do, that someone that cared about this event might lose track of the time. As reasonable as that sounded to Arata, seeing the way she was talking earlier, it seemed that she had something for him. His gut feeling was right, as his phone beeped.

It was her, telling him to meet her at a certain area of the convention. Sounded simple enough, but before he announced it to the others, she followed it up with telling him to come alone.

Now normally, he would just roll his eyes in response. After all, that should sound like she was scheming of some way to get some alone time with him. But this message was different. It was very punctual, plus there was no teasing emoticon attached to that statement, as there usually was. This was serious, and if she wanted only him, then he would do as she asked.

"It looks like she needs help with something." He put his phone away to tell the others. "How about you guys find us a table to eat at. I'll go grab her, and we'll meet you there." That was good enough to get them off his trail. So they went their separate ways.

While walking to where she directed him. Arata wondered, what could she possibly have gotten herself into?