"I'm so sorry!" Alphy bowed her head towards the group of people collapsed on the ground.
Asako groaned. "Dammit, Fi. That's not what I meant when I said I wished we could cut in line..."
Rin laughed. "Well, I guess you should be more careful what you wish for, Ane- Aneki. Onee-chan doesn't know better."
Zhaojun grabbed Alphy's arm and started walking through the convention gates. Without looking back, she said, "Let us just hurry and enter before we cause a larger disturbance."
A few people from the crowd recovered from the daze caused by Alphy's gap moe. But before anyone could focus too much on the girls, they slipped past the gate and mixed in with the crowd. Fortunately, there was another commotion happening further inside so they managed to avoid gathering too much attention.
Asako sighed and adjusted the straps on her shoulders before taking a look around. "Let's hope that's the worst of the trouble."
Since they arrived a little later than the actual start of the event, there were already a large crowd of people inside. And a lot of cosplayers as well. As to what they were cosplaying though...
"What the hell?" Asako muttered.
Everywhere she turned, she could see people dressed up as a certain blue dragon queen. Some with horns and a tail. Others with just dyed hair or wigs. Some in casual clothes, others in a replica of her idol outfit...
It was like a blue invasion.
But that wasn't all. There were a lot of high school girls dressed as Hana as well, running around with orange hair wigs and school uniforms.
Asako came to a stop and muttered, "People are crazy."
What was so fun dressing up as her anyway?
Asako could understand dressing up as Hana. She was a cute and fun character. But Aoko... Wasn't her personality a turn-off? Or maybe that was why they were dressing as her?
Rin gasped and said, "Wow! There's so many Project MirAIs cosplayers! Oh! And look! There's a big crowd of Alfi supporters!"
Asako followed Rin's gaze and then froze. She blinked. And then she blinked again. And again. And... yep. She wasn't seeing things. "...I thought this was an Anime convention, not a sports tournament?"
It was a crowd of body builders, athletes, and all-around people in incredible shape.
The fact that there was a crowd like that in an Anime convention was weird enough. After all, there weren't many otakus who were in good shape. But then there was the fact that they were all wearing Alfi memorabilia.
Headbands with the words "Alfi-sama is our Goddess!" T-shirts and sweatshirts with a blushing Alfi face on the front and back and the words "Do it for her!" emblazoned across the top.
But more importantly...
"Yosh!" A buff man at the front of the crowd decked head to toe in official Alfi merchandise clapped his hands. Turning to face the crowd, he said, "Onto the next set of exercises! If we want to meet Alfi-sama, we have to live long!"
"LIVE LONG!"
"Train hard!"
"TRAIN HARD!"
"Alfi-sama!"
"ALFI-SAMAAAAAAAAAA!"
"Sei!"
"SEI!!!"
The crowd roared and then started doing some coordinated calisthenics. Burpees, jumping jacks, martial arts kata... After rushing through those at a blistering pace, the group turned and formed a single-file line. After that, they started jogging off into the distance, gradually increasing speed until they sprinted out of the convention center.
Onlookers took out their phone to film the event. Some media journalists took out cameras to take pictures. Other people pointed and laughed, while others looked on with envy and jealousy.
As for Asako... She turned towards Alphy with a blank look on her face.
Alphy blushed and then let out a happy smile. Watching her fans run off, she said, "Everyone's working so hard. That's wonderful."
Rin giggled and looked at Asako. "Maybe Onee-chan's the one who should be doing exercise streams, huh, Aneki?"
"...I don't think that her fans need it."
If that was how Alfi's fans looked with her just doing normal gaming, singing, and dancing streams... Wouldn't they become Olympic level athletes if Alfi started doing exercise streams? No, those guys were already crazy fit, so aren't they already world class?
Zhaojun smiled and patted Alphy's head. "It seems that you have become a wonderful source of inspiration, my adorable niece."
Alphy's smile widened, and she watched her fans leave, like a mother seeing off her children... or like a young wife watching her husband set off for war.
Asako shook her head and started walking off by herself. "Come on. We shouldn't just stand here." She took a look around and said, "We've got a lot to see, so we should get going before people come and stop us for pictures."
Rin jogged beside her older sister and said, "But isn't it nice to have people take pictures, Aneki? It means we've done a great job cosplaying!"
"Yeah. But you never know what kind of creeps you'll run acro-"
"Whoa! It's Tiffany from Last Delusion VII Rebuild!"
A male voice called out from the side.
Asako groaned and turned to face the person calling out to her. "I'm not taking pic...tures?"
It was a young Japanese man around the same age as her. Early to mid twenties. Unlike most of the guys around, he also didn't look half bad. Objectively, Asako thought that if the guy put some effort in, he could probably do pretty well playing the field.
Except he was wearing a garbage can as a costume and had a trash lid as a hat.
"Ugh." A fairly cute and young Asian woman in a brown furry fox costume walked up to the man and grabbed his arm. "Stop being a pervert and leering at all the female cosplayers."
The young man turned towards the woman and said, "W-What do you mean, pervert?! I'm just appreciating the good cosplay!"
"Pft. Sure. Whatever you say." She turned towards Asako and lowered her head. "Sorry about this guy. Seems like he's embraced his internet handle a bit too much recently..."
Asako cleared her throat and said, "I-It's fine."
Please don't notice, please don't notice, please don't notice.
"Hm?" The young man- No, StraightGarbage looked up at Asako and frowned. "...Do I know you?"
@#[email protected]!
The woman in the fox costume rolled her eyes and then pulled StraightGarbage away. "Sorry again, Miss." She looked at StraightGarbage and said, "Stop trying so hard! Honestly, that's like the twelfth girl you've tried that line on... Goldie's been waiting for us back at the concession stands for an hour now."
"Owowow! You're gonna pull off my arm, Foxy!"
"Maybe I will! Honestly! You've got this hot babe right here and the only thing you can do is leer at all the scantily clad women we pass..."
"Well, maybe if you stopped acting like a guy- Owowow! I get it, I get it! Geez!"
"Asshole."
Asako watched the pair leave, cold sweat running down the back of her neck.
That was close. She knew that those guys were crazy super fans from how much they donated, but to think that they'd show up in person...
"Oh!"
@#[email protected]!
Asako flinched and spun around. Seeing Rin standing right behind her, Asako sighed and said, "Don't scare me like that, Sis!"
"Sorry Aneki. But weren't those two part of Aoko's Three Musketeers?" Rin adjusted her bag and watched the pair leave. "How lucky... I wish I could meet some of Hana's fans too."
"Dummy." Asako poked Rin's forehead and said, "The whole point of this is for people to not know who we are. Can you even imagine just how much of a mess that would be?"
Rin rubbed her forehead, frowning. "You didn't need to poke me that hard, Aneki... And I know. Still, it'd be nice." She paused and then turned back around. "Though I guess I can see how that would be a problem from someone like Onee-chan."
Asako followed her younger sister's gaze. And then she sighed. "Oh come on... It's only been like two minutes..."
In the span of time between Asako walking off and meeting two of her three superfans... And thank god was she lucky that turned out well.
Anyway, in that brief span of time, Alphy and Zhaojun had already gathered another crowd.
"Wow! She looks just like Akane!"
"And that girl looks like Kurone too! Are they real sisters?"
"Hnnngh! She's so cute!"
Asako facepalmed.
Goddammit. She knew they should have gone with masked costumes instead...
"A-Auntie!" Perhaps remembering the previous incident, Alphy ducked behind Zhaojun, hiding her face. "W-What do we do?"
Zhaojun didn't respond, only looking around the crowd with a thoughtful expression.
Rin frowned and said, "Should we go help them, Aneki?"
Asako lowered her hand and sighed. "We should. Though..." She looked at the size of the crowd and frowned. "...That might be tough."
If she and Rin walked over to drag Alphy and Zhaojun away, they'd only draw more attention to themselves. And after that close call with her fans, Asako was reluctant to risk blowing their covers.
Those two had been easy to identify, but who knew how many other fans were around that weren't so easy to spot? And if one of them found out-
*SCHING*
The clean sound of steel being drawn. Zhaojun slashed her katana through the air and pointed it at the ground. At the same time, she swept her crimson eyes around the crowd, tilting her head. "...Should I eliminate them?"
Simple words. A melodic voice.
But with them, everything froze.
It was a fake blade. Nothing more than a prop that would break before doing any real damage.
Even so. Right there, right then, a terrifying aura filled the air. One that declared a single fate: Death.
Silence. The crowd frozen completely still, locked in fear.
And then a person flew through the air and landed on his back near Zhaojun and Alphy.
"God... dammit." A man in a roughed up suit with graying hair. Kai. He groaned and then stood up, brushing off his clothes. "Crazy son of a- Hm?" He noticed Alphy and Zhaojun and then blinked. "Hey. Aren't you two-?"
"Kahahah!" A mad cackle filled the air.
The frozen crowd quickly dispersed, making way for another man. One with a ponytail and decked out in fishing gear. Resting a fishing pole with a CapsuMon bobber against his shoulder, he smirked and said, "You flew pretty far, Kid- Hm?" The man noticed Alphy and Zhaojun and held up his spare hand. "Yo! If it if isn't Boss's kid and younger sister. What a coincidence!"
Kai grumbled and said, "Coincidence? You took aim and kicked me all the way over here... Crazy bastard."
Asako sighed.
...Just when did her life become a slice-of-life comedy Anime?
"I'm so sorry!" Alphy bowed her head towards the group of people collapsed on the ground.
Asako groaned. "Dammit, Fi. That's not what I meant when I said I wished we could cut in line..."
Rin laughed. "Well, I guess you should be more careful what you wish for, Ane- Aneki. Onee-chan doesn't know better."
Zhaojun grabbed Alphy's arm and started walking through the convention gates. Without looking back, she said, "Let us just hurry and enter before we cause a larger disturbance."
A few people from the crowd recovered from the daze caused by Alphy's gap moe. But before anyone could focus too much on the girls, they slipped past the gate and mixed in with the crowd. Fortunately, there was another commotion happening further inside so they managed to avoid gathering too much attention.
Asako sighed and adjusted the straps on her shoulders before taking a look around. "Let's hope that's the worst of the trouble."
Since they arrived a little later than the actual start of the event, there were already a large crowd of people inside. And a lot of cosplayers as well. As to what they were cosplaying though...
"What the hell?" Asako muttered.
Everywhere she turned, she could see people dressed up as a certain blue dragon queen. Some with horns and a tail. Others with just dyed hair or wigs. Some in casual clothes, others in a replica of her idol outfit...
It was like a blue invasion.
But that wasn't all. There were a lot of high school girls dressed as Hana as well, running around with orange hair wigs and school uniforms.
Asako came to a stop and muttered, "People are crazy."
What was so fun dressing up as her anyway?
Asako could understand dressing up as Hana. She was a cute and fun character. But Aoko... Wasn't her personality a turn-off? Or maybe that was why they were dressing as her?
Rin gasped and said, "Wow! There's so many Project MirAIs cosplayers! Oh! And look! There's a big crowd of Alfi supporters!"
Asako followed Rin's gaze and then froze. She blinked. And then she blinked again. And again. And... yep. She wasn't seeing things. "...I thought this was an Anime convention, not a sports tournament?"
It was a crowd of body builders, athletes, and all-around people in incredible shape.
The fact that there was a crowd like that in an Anime convention was weird enough. After all, there weren't many otakus who were in good shape. But then there was the fact that they were all wearing Alfi memorabilia.
Headbands with the words "Alfi-sama is our Goddess!" T-shirts and sweatshirts with a blushing Alfi face on the front and back and the words "Do it for her!" emblazoned across the top.
But more importantly...
"Yosh!" A buff man at the front of the crowd decked head to toe in official Alfi merchandise clapped his hands. Turning to face the crowd, he said, "Onto the next set of exercises! If we want to meet Alfi-sama, we have to live long!"
"LIVE LONG!"
"Train hard!"
"TRAIN HARD!"
"Alfi-sama!"
"ALFI-SAMAAAAAAAAAA!"
"Sei!"
"SEI!!!"
The crowd roared and then started doing some coordinated calisthenics. Burpees, jumping jacks, martial arts kata... After rushing through those at a blistering pace, the group turned and formed a single-file line. After that, they started jogging off into the distance, gradually increasing speed until they sprinted out of the convention center.
Onlookers took out their phone to film the event. Some media journalists took out cameras to take pictures. Other people pointed and laughed, while others looked on with envy and jealousy.
As for Asako... She turned towards Alphy with a blank look on her face.
Alphy blushed and then let out a happy smile. Watching her fans run off, she said, "Everyone's working so hard. That's wonderful."
Rin giggled and looked at Asako. "Maybe Onee-chan's the one who should be doing exercise streams, huh, Aneki?"
"...I don't think that her fans need it."
If that was how Alfi's fans looked with her just doing normal gaming, singing, and dancing streams... Wouldn't they become Olympic level athletes if Alfi started doing exercise streams? No, those guys were already crazy fit, so aren't they already world class?
Zhaojun smiled and patted Alphy's head. "It seems that you have become a wonderful source of inspiration, my adorable niece."
Alphy's smile widened, and she watched her fans leave, like a mother seeing off her children... or like a young wife watching her husband set off for war.
Asako shook her head and started walking off by herself. "Come on. We shouldn't just stand here." She took a look around and said, "We've got a lot to see, so we should get going before people come and stop us for pictures."
Rin jogged beside her older sister and said, "But isn't it nice to have people take pictures, Aneki? It means we've done a great job cosplaying!"
"Yeah. But you never know what kind of creeps you'll run acro-"
"Whoa! It's Tiffany from Last Delusion VII Rebuild!"
A male voice called out from the side.
Asako groaned and turned to face the person calling out to her. "I'm not taking pic...tures?"
It was a young Japanese man around the same age as her. Early to mid twenties. Unlike most of the guys around, he also didn't look half bad. Objectively, Asako thought that if the guy put some effort in, he could probably do pretty well playing the field.
Except he was wearing a garbage can as a costume and had a trash lid as a hat.
"Ugh." A fairly cute and young Asian woman in a brown furry fox costume walked up to the man and grabbed his arm. "Stop being a pervert and leering at all the female cosplayers."
The young man turned towards the woman and said, "W-What do you mean, pervert?! I'm just appreciating the good cosplay!"
"Pft. Sure. Whatever you say." She turned towards Asako and lowered her head. "Sorry about this guy. Seems like he's embraced his internet handle a bit too much recently..."
Asako cleared her throat and said, "I-It's fine."
Please don't notice, please don't notice, please don't notice.
"Hm?" The young man- No, StraightGarbage looked up at Asako and frowned. "...Do I know you?"
@#[email protected]!
The woman in the fox costume rolled her eyes and then pulled StraightGarbage away. "Sorry again, Miss." She looked at StraightGarbage and said, "Stop trying so hard! Honestly, that's like the twelfth girl you've tried that line on... Goldie's been waiting for us back at the concession stands for an hour now."
"Owowow! You're gonna pull off my arm, Foxy!"
"Maybe I will! Honestly! You've got this hot babe right here and the only thing you can do is leer at all the scantily clad women we pass..."
"Well, maybe if you stopped acting like a guy- Owowow! I get it, I get it! Geez!"
"Asshole."
Asako watched the pair leave, cold sweat running down the back of her neck.
That was close. She knew that those guys were crazy super fans from how much they donated, but to think that they'd show up in person...
"Oh!"
@#[email protected]!
Asako flinched and spun around. Seeing Rin standing right behind her, Asako sighed and said, "Don't scare me like that, Sis!"
"Sorry Aneki. But weren't those two part of Aoko's Three Musketeers?" Rin adjusted her bag and watched the pair leave. "How lucky... I wish I could meet some of Hana's fans too."
"Dummy." Asako poked Rin's forehead and said, "The whole point of this is for people to not know who we are. Can you even imagine just how much of a mess that would be?"
Rin rubbed her forehead, frowning. "You didn't need to poke me that hard, Aneki... And I know. Still, it'd be nice." She paused and then turned back around. "Though I guess I can see how that would be a problem from someone like Onee-chan."
Asako followed her younger sister's gaze. And then she sighed. "Oh come on... It's only been like two minutes..."
In the span of time between Asako walking off and meeting two of her three superfans... And thank god was she lucky that turned out well.
Anyway, in that brief span of time, Alphy and Zhaojun had already gathered another crowd.
"Wow! She looks just like Akane!"
"And that girl looks like Kurone too! Are they real sisters?"
"Hnnngh! She's so cute!"
Asako facepalmed.
Goddammit. She knew they should have gone with masked costumes instead...
"A-Auntie!" Perhaps remembering the previous incident, Alphy ducked behind Zhaojun, hiding her face. "W-What do we do?"
Zhaojun didn't respond, only looking around the crowd with a thoughtful expression.
Rin frowned and said, "Should we go help them, Aneki?"
Asako lowered her hand and sighed. "We should. Though..." She looked at the size of the crowd and frowned. "...That might be tough."
If she and Rin walked over to drag Alphy and Zhaojun away, they'd only draw more attention to themselves. And after that close call with her fans, Asako was reluctant to risk blowing their covers.
Those two had been easy to identify, but who knew how many other fans were around that weren't so easy to spot? And if one of them found out-
*SCHING*
The clean sound of steel being drawn. Zhaojun slashed her katana through the air and pointed it at the ground. At the same time, she swept her crimson eyes around the crowd, tilting her head. "...Should I eliminate them?"
Simple words. A melodic voice.
But with them, everything froze.
It was a fake blade. Nothing more than a prop that would break before doing any real damage.
Even so. Right there, right then, a terrifying aura filled the air. One that declared a single fate: Death.
Silence. The crowd frozen completely still, locked in fear.
And then a person flew through the air and landed on his back near Zhaojun and Alphy.
"God... dammit." A man in a roughed up suit with graying hair. Kai. He groaned and then stood up, brushing off his clothes. "Crazy son of a- Hm?" He noticed Alphy and Zhaojun and then blinked. "Hey. Aren't you two-?"
"Kahahah!" A mad cackle filled the air.
The frozen crowd quickly dispersed, making way for another man. One with a ponytail and decked out in fishing gear. Resting a fishing pole with a CapsuMon bobber against his shoulder, he smirked and said, "You flew pretty far, Kid- Hm?" The man noticed Alphy and Zhaojun and held up his spare hand. "Yo! If it if isn't Boss's kid and younger sister. What a coincidence!"
Kai grumbled and said, "Coincidence? You took aim and kicked me all the way over here... Crazy bastard."
Asako sighed.
...Just when did her life become a slice-of-life comedy Anime?
