Chapter 4: Offline Meeting
A week after. Saturday noon. Inside the mall, anime songs are being played in the activity area and a lot of cosplayers can be seen including artists with their displays. There were lots of tables filled with anime merchandise. Today is the day of the anime con being held in the activity area of FCC, short for Flaura City Centre.
One of the stalls was selling milk tea. The plastic cups were printed with a cute drawing which looks like a character from an anime. It seems that the milk tea is very popular as there was a long queue.
The last person in the queue was a girl wearing a cute bunny hat. She was typing on her phone while waiting.
After sending the message to Jin, she opened the her phone's front camera to use as a mirror.
"I wonder if I look weird."
Today is the day she’ll be meeting her internet friend, Jin, for the first time.
Last week, Wednesday, after dinner, Trisha went straight to her room and checked her phone. It looks like her phone is fully charged now. She removed it from the charger and checked her notifications. She saw some unread messages from Jin. The last message was sent almost an hour ago.
"I did say that... but I’m really nervous right now."
Trisha puts her hands on her chest. This is the first time she's going to meet an online friend. She hasn't seen Jin’s face before and hasn't even heard their voice.
"I wonder how Jin really looks like." She asked herself.
Trisha felt like the queue barely moved and gave up. When she turned around, she saw a figure of a guy wearing a black mask.
The guy continued walking. He checked his phone, and he removed his mask. It looks like he unlocked his phone using face id.
The place was noisy so she wasn’t heard.
Jake put his mask back. He doesn’t seem to want to be seen.
He continues to walk while Trisha followed him. She realized they’re heading towards the backstage.
Suddenly her phone vibrated, and she got a notification from Jin.
"No way. It’s just a coincidence right?!"
People looked at her when they heard her talking to herself.
Embarrassed, Trisha put her smartphone to her right ear, pretending that she was talking to someone.
Jake was at the back stage looking around for someone.
Jake was looking for a cosplayer. Actually he was not a fan of cosplay, but last year on the same event he saw someone who cosplayed his favorite character so accurately that he thought it was the character itself. The character is from a light novel ‘The Seven Children of Sin’ which isn’t very popular. So he really felt happy when he saw it being cosplayed, not to mention being portrayed accurately. He wasn’t able to take a picture last time. Hoping she will come again this time, cosplaying the same character he told himself that he won’t miss this chance.
Far from him, around 8 meters, he saw someone cosplaying a girl character with short black hair, red eyes, and a red cape.
When he was about to approach her, some guys are taking pictures with her. It’s normal to take pictures with a cosplayer, so he decided to wait.
Until he heard the conversation.
"Come on, just tell us your number. Let’s get to know each other." Said one of the guys.
"But…" The girl was hesitating.
"If you don’t want, then your Facebook account is fine too." The other guy said.
"I- I don’t use Facebook."
One of them snorted. "No way. Everyone uses them now. You have a Facebook page for sure!"
"Come on. Just tell us." He was about to touch the girl’s shoulder but his arm was stopped by Jake.
“Can’t you see she’s uncomfortable?”
"Kid… what’s your problem?" The guy said.
"Oh my… Are you lost?" Said the other guy.
Both of them burst out laughing.
"Hey watch your m*****f****** mouth!"
"I don't wanna hear it from some brat who cusses just to make himself cool." Jake snorted "Well, I guess you aren’t cool enough getting desperate for a lady’s number huh"
"F*** you!" The guy threw a punch but Jake easily dodged it. The other guy slightly moved his feet backwards about to give Jake a kick, but he dodged it as well, making the guy kicked his friend instead.
The guy apologizes but his friend punched him back. “It f***ing hurt, you idiot!”
One of the event organizers saw them and called the security. The fight was stopped and the girl explained everything to the security and the organizers. The two guys apologized to them and asked the organizers to not ban them for the event, in which the organizer responded and handed them a form.
“That’s for us to decide, now put your names here.”
After the scene, the girl talked to Jake.
“Thank you. You really helped me back there.”
“No problem. Are you okay?”
“Uhm… Have we met before?” The girl asked.
“Ah! I was here on last year’s con as well. I didn’t expect you’d noticeme.”
“...Last year, huh?” The girl tries to recall.
“Uh…” Jake tried to call her attention.
While Trisha was looking for Jake and Jin in the backstage, she overheard some people talking about the incident.
“I heard they were harassing one of the cosplayers.”
“They should ban them. They might cause some trouble in the future...”
“I heard it was a girl in the red cape. I don’t know what character is that though”
“Yeah… but I also heard she was saved by some guy with a mask”
Trisha thinking that guy might be Jake, she continued to look for him, but...
“Wait, I should look for Jin. Why am I looking for sir Jake?”
In front of her, she saw the girl cosplayer in a red cape.
“Ah, I know that character.” She didn’t read the series but she recognized the character when Jin recommended that series before. It was also the manga that Jake was reading last time.
“I want to take a picture and send it to Jin.”
The she noticed that the girl is talking Jake.
“Wait, what should I talk with them. Greet them? And ask for a picture? Yeah that will work.”
She kept talking to herself.
When she got near them, she heard the girl saying.
“Jin… T-thank you. I’m really happy to hear that”
When Trisha heard that name, she froze and fell on her knees. She was kind of expecting it, but still. She can’t believe it.
She then remembered their previous conversation.
“I wonder how he felt when I said that.”
She also remembered that time when she talked about the first BL she read and liked.
“Nooo.. I don’t wanna face him anymore.”
“I don’t wanna go to school anymore even if he acts like he doesn’t know me. Just no...”
“Patricia…?" She heard Jake’s voice.
“Oh my God. I wanna disappear right now”
“Patricia, are you okay?”
The cosplayer just stared at them wondering what’s happening. She’s also worried, thinking she might not be feeling well. However, she can’t help but stare at the girl’s hat.
“Cute… A bunny" And the girl realized something.
“Seeee?! He really is Jin!” Trisha’s thoughts getting louder.
“You’re Trish, right? Are you okay?”
The voice calling her name Trish isn’t Jake’s but from the girl cosplaying the character Ira.
Trisha looked and studied her face.
“Trish, it’s me Jin. Are you okay?” said the girl.
Trisha’s expression turn bright and she smiled and she gave her a tight hug.
“Jin. I finally met you!”
But she pushed her back, “But wait…”
She looked at Jake, confused at what she heard before.
This is the actual conversation few minutes ago.
“Uhm… Have we met before?” The girl asked.
“Ah! I was here on last year’s con as well. I didn’t expect you’d noticeme.”
“...Last year, huh?” The girl tries to recall.
“Uh…” Jake tried to call her attention.
“I’m a fan of the series! It’s too bad it isn’t so popular so I was surprised to see someone cosplaying my favorite character.”
“You like Ira too?” Ira is the name of the character Jin is cosplaying.
“Yeah so uhm… Can I… Take a picture of you?” Jake put his mask back to cover his embarrassed face.
Jin gave a cold expression and put her left hand on her left eye and glared at Jake.
"Huh! Humans are stupid beings."
Jin isn’t trying to be rude. In fact she was trying to act as the character she was cosplaying. TO Jake it’s as if his favorite character is in front of him, he can’t help but be amazed looking at her with his sparkling eyes.
"Amazing!" He said as he took some pictures.
"You really are like Ira! Did you make the costume yourself?"
“Yeah, it’s less expensive that way and I can make sure I get the details right.”
"Ira, are you joining the contest? I wish you luck!"
“My name is Jin… T-thank you. I’m really happy to hear that.”
Both of them are still at the same spot.
"What happened Patricia? Are you not feeling well?"
"I’m okay now sir. No need to worry."
"Sir?" Jin murmured. She thinks it’s weird for a young guy like him to be called sir by a girl who is about the same age as him. Was Trisha just being formal to stranger. She thought. But wait, he called him Patricia which seems to be her real name.
Jin studied the two of them. Cold sweat ran down from her forehead.
"Do you know each other?"
Trisha was about to introduce her teacher but Jake interrupted.
"We’re friends. My name’s Jake, by the way."
Trisha confused why he didn’t want her to say he is her teacher but she remembered the time when Jake asked her to keep his hobby a secret. She doesn’t really understand why but in the end she didn’t say anything and just nodded.
"I- I see" Jin replied. Trisha noticed Jin is being anxious.
"I have to check something so I gotta go." Jake told them. "You two be careful of creeps."
"Thank you so much for today." Jin bowed slightly.
"Anytime. Nice meeting you Jin." Then Jake just left.
In one of the nearby cafes, Jin and Trisha are sitting inside. It’s still 2 hours before the cosplay event to start. They are spending their time chatting but Trisha notices that Jin is being anxious.
“You should have told me you’re cosplaying Ira. So that I can find you easily.”
“I want to surprise you. Hehe…”
Trisha looked at Jin’s troubled face.
"Is something that matters?"
"Trish, tell me. Is that guy Jake, your teacher?"
"Eh? Why would you think that?"
"You called him sir just now."
"Ah- That was just a habit. I even call my friend’s father ‘sir’ sometimes, ha ha"
"He looks young but I remember you told me your teacher was often mistook as a teenager."
Trisha thought she could no longer lie to her friend.
"...Yeah, sir Jake is my homeroom teacher but please promise me you have to keep this as a secret."
"Ahhh what should I do? I don’t know how to face him anymore."
"I mistook him as a guy younger than me. No wonder why he was pissed off!"
"Huh? What do you mean. He doesn’t look pissed off when he left us?"
"But I was just doing my job."
"Wait Jin, I don’t really get what you mean."
"My aunt’s store has a strict rule to never let minors buy cigarettes or liquors"
"Wait, so you’re that cashier?!"
"Ah, yeah… Sorry for not telling you. I wasn’t sure how to say it. Plus, I didn’t expect to see him again."
"I see. But don’t worry about it too much. He’s probably forgotten about it now. It’s not like you did it on purpose, right?"
"Yeah! I really didn’t know! He looks just like a kid you know."
"Now now. It’s better if you don’t mention that when he’s around."
"Honestly, I thought you were a guy!" Trisha was laughing
"Really? Was it because of my name?"
"Yeah, it sounds like a guy’s name you know!"
"Why are you apologizing? I didn’t really mind." Trisha chuckles.
"I heard your real name by the way. Patricia… huh? So that’s why it’s Trish."
"Yup. How about yours? Is it Eugene?"
Trisha didn’t expect her name to be that simple but what surprised her more was the fact that she already met her before. Trisha smiles, feeling happy that her friend is now in front of her.
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