439. The Anime Convention is On
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It felt like the misunderstanding had gotten a bit too deep, but explaining it seemed like more trouble than it was worth.
After all, back when she first met her junior, she did always proclaim herself to be a man and dressed like a boy. Now, if she had to explain, she might need to pull out that fake medical certificate again.
Lin Nan sighed at the hassle and decided not to explain. After insisting a few times that she was female, she left her junior to his own guesses and speculations. After all, he didn’t really belong to her social circle, and they rarely crossed paths anyway. Letting him believe what he wanted wouldn’t matter much.
Still, it did bother her a bit.
The two of them followed the cross-dressing junior into the convention hall, discovering that it was only about the size of a playground. Inside, it was filled with booths, and various cosplayers and staff—who were even prettier than those outside—were bustling around, doing last-minute preparations.
At the convention, the biggest booth was “One Person Below,” right at the entrance, a large and attention-grabbing spot, while the other booths mostly showcased lesser-known domestic anime, games collaborating with Japanese anime, or privately sold doujin merchandise.
“They’ll start letting people in about ten minutes, so feel free to look around. I have some stuff to take care of,” the cross-dressing junior said with a sweet smile, exuding the delicate charm typical of a girl. “I’ll come find you when I have time!”
“Okay, you go do your thing,” Lin Nan replied.
Still a bit in shock, she watched the junior leave, then turned to give Chen Yao a wry smile.
Chen Yao scratched his head, feeling like today’s experience had taken a turn into the fantastical. The junior, whom he’d considered a rival, was now in female attire?
But it wasn’t the time to let down his guard; after all, the junior’s s*xual orientation was still a mystery.
Once the junior left, the convention officially kicked off.
A flood of tourists streamed through the entrance, mixed in with a few cosplayers. Most of the crowd looked young, with hardly any middle-aged folks over thirty.
The convention, once spacious, quickly resembled a bustling market, and the noise made Lin Nan, who wasn’t fond of crowds, a bit anxious.
“Why are there so many people?” she muttered, inching closer to Chen Yao and grabbing his arm.
“Isn’t it normal for an anime convention to be crowded?”
Chen Yao was an anime and manga enthusiast, and as he surveyed the landscape, he recognized a good number of cosplay characters. Sadly, the quality of this convention wasn’t that high; there weren’t many who really captured the essence of the characters.
If they were in a city like Beijing or Shanghai, the cosplays would likely be of much higher quality.
He glanced down at Lin Nan, who looked as timid as a cat, and out of pity, he moved a bit closer. Since middle school, she had always been introverted and not one for crowds.
Back in their small county, that wasn’t a problem. The busiest it ever got was probably during morning exercises at school.
Now that they were in a big city, densely populated, just stepping into a slightly lively place made Lin Nan nervous.
“You need to work on your personality,” Chen Yao said wryly.
“I’ve improved a lot already…” Lin Nan muttered. “If I had to go out in girls’ clothes back then, I probably would’ve fainted on the spot.”
Recently, her body had feminized gradually, and she was becoming increasingly pretty. No matter how she walked down the street, she would attract attention. She had barely gotten used to it, no longer overly cautious and flustered, worried that people were staring because she had made some mistake.
Maybe she was a bit more confident now.
With Chen Yao by her side, she started to feel more stable, gradually blending into the atmosphere of the convention.
Here, all sorts of odd costumes became the center of attention, and no one mocked the wildly colored hair. No matter how poorly executed the cosplay was, people were excited to offer compliments.
Now and then, she spotted some particularly good-looking cosplayers. Wherever they went, they sparked a flurry of flash photography, striking iconic poses and reciting lines that sent the crowd into a frenzy, as if they were rock stars.
Although Lin Nan was a homebody, she didn’t really read a lot of anime and manga, so at this convention, it felt like treasure hunting. Whenever she spotted a character she recognized, she’d excitedly tug on Chen Yao’s sleeve to boast.
“Look, look! That’s Ryoko from ‘Tenchi Muyo!’ The cutlass girl!”
“Isn’t that from the anime that says it’s not wrong for men to be perverts?” Chen Yao echoed.
Lin Nan scanned around again but suddenly froze: “That’s Li Na?”
Chen Yao followed her gaze and paused, taking a while to recognize the character: “The Lina from ‘Slayers?'”
“No, that’s Li Na!”
She released Chen Yao’s hand and hurriedly dashed forward. Chen Yao blinked in surprise, then took a closer look, and indeed recognized that the cosplayer doing Lina was truly Li Na.
Standing next to Li Na was Lilith, dressed in a short sailor outfit with yellow pigtails.
At first glance, he didn’t recognize Lilith’s character, but then he noticed the two black-and-white cats with crescent moons on their heads at her feet, and it dawned on him.
So, this was ‘Sailor Moon’?
Why are you guys even dragging cats into the cosplay?
Li Na and Lilith didn’t have a very high level of character fidelity, but with their good looks, they immediately lit up the convention as dozens of flashbulbs went off. They happily soaked in the praise from the crowd, even though Lilith had no idea why she was dressed so strangely or why her hair had to be magically turned into pigtails.
Lin Nan made her way to the edge of the crowd, excitedly waving at Li Na, but the other girl didn’t notice her at all. Instead, it was the cat who seemed to glance at Lin Nan before losing interest and going back to sleep.
“Li Na!”
She called out, but the noise of the convention drowned her voice. Plus, being shorter made her less noticeable in the throng of people. She quickly got pushed to the back and started hopping in frustration, but it didn’t help at all.
Eventually, Chen Yao ambled over, looking at Lin Nan’s anxious face with a doting smile as he patted her head: “Come on, let her have her fun. Why force your way in?”
“What if she sees you and tries to put you in a sailor suit? They’re still missing a few ‘Sailor Senshi’!” Lin Nan fretted, though Chen Yao was trying to placate her. Suddenly, an image popped into his mind of Lin Nan in a super short sailor outfit.
He almost drooled.
But that image of Lin Nan would only be seen in their bedroom, yes.
Lin Nan, having never seen that anime, looked up at Chen Yao in confusion: “What ‘Sailor Moon’?”
That name sounded a bit familiar, like she’d heard it somewhere before.
“An old anime from back in the day. I only caught a couple of episodes online,” Chen Yao said, grabbing Lin Nan’s hand and pulling her towards other areas while grinning like a sly fox. “What if I buy you a costume from that anime online? You could wear it for me to see?”
“Like Lilith’s?” Lin Nan immediately shook her head. “That skirt is way too short! No way!”
“Just wear it around the house to have some fun.”
Lin Nan looked up at him as if he were insane: “Do you think I’m stupid?”
If she actually wore it, when Chen Yao got carried away, wouldn’t she be heading for a bowl of porridge again?
