The Days That Must Happen

ARC II-ACT III

"Yesterday wasn't so bad, was it?" Hana yawned as she walked you out of the hotel and towards her car where Jason waited patiently for you both.

Due to how tired you were after the convention yesterday, and how quickly your social batter had run out, you had ran straight to your far too big room and went to sleep. Losing the chance to chat with Hana about today or anything of that sort. Thankfully though the convention had given you a burger to snack on so you hadn't gone to sleep on an empty stomach.

You nodded, sitting down and looking at her in the front seat. "Yeah, it wasn't so bad, but I know these next few days are gonna be the real kicker."

She playfully rolled her eyes but said nothing more, turning back in her seat and allowing you another loose ten minutes to rest your eyes.

You were right upon your prior judgement. The convention was going to be packed.

Outside of the building stood waves of anime fans, artists and pop culture lovers just waiting for the gates to open and let them in. As officials rushed to push them aside and make room for the car to drive in, Hana turned and smiled at you. "They know who you are, you should roll down your window and wave at them."

Doing as told, you chuckled at her. "I feel like I'm a celebrity." The window clicked to the bottom as excited cheers and greetings sounded out, cosplayers and anime enjoyers waving and taking pictures of you as the car disappeared through the gates.

Turning back to Hana, your smile grew. "Did you see how many Demon Slayer cosplayers there were?"

"Yeah!" She laughed. "I told you it got really popular out of nowhere! So many Nezuko's and Tanjiro's and Shinobus."

"Don't you like, love shinobu?" You laughed, watching her nod as Jason drove into one of the special guest parking spots.

"Yeah! That's why I'm excited to see everyone dressed as her!"

A chuckle left your lips, quickly silenced by Hana motioning for you to get out the car, and off started day two of ComicCon.

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"Thank you for coming to see me! You two look so cute!" Your hand instinctively moved and curved against the rough surface of the white page in front of you, slowly but surely making out your signature for the two Tanjiro and Nezuko cosplayers to keep. In their hands say their copy of the first book, the covers signed by you in black sharpie pen.

They bounced excitedly, smiles so wide you couldn't help but feel their enthusiasm pull at your own lips. "We've been wanting to meet you for ages! Thank you so much!" The nezuko cosplayer cheered.

You nodded with a chuckle, handing them their paper and leaning on your crossed arms against the table the convention organiser had sat you at. "Why of course, thank you for coming to say hi to me! Have a wonderful day you two."

"Thank you! And to you as well!" They turned and left.

As the line of fans waiting to get their books signed disappeared, you took this break to turn to Hana who was standing behind you. She smiled as you made eye contact. "Well? This convention is definitely a lot more entertaining than the last one you were invited to."

"Yeah..." you chuckled, turning to look through excited crowds and happy groups of cosplayers who waved when you looked in their direction. "It feels nice to finally be acknowledged."

"I'm glad." She sighed, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath in. "Alright then! Autographs are over and done with, now you have the Mangaka Talk Room to attend to so let's get going if we wanna get there on time!"

The Mangaka Talk Room wasn't one of your favourite events in conventions, but it wasn't horrible either. Practically a big table of manga authors who would sit together and chat to one another about their series, only sometimes accepting comments and questions from the crowd.

You nodded and stood from your seat, leaning down to grab your loose bottle of water that the convention had provided you with, but two hands slamming onto the table had tipped the bottle down and caused it to fall onto the floor with a thud.

"Huh-" looking up, a Mitsuri cosplayer stood before you, eyes wide and body shaking.

"You... are you Gotouge?!" She almost screamed, drawing in attention from those around.

You hesitated, surprised at the outburst, but smiled nonetheless. "Yes I am! Wow, I haven't seen a Mitsuri cosplayer all day! Your outfit is on point!"

Her hair moved almost naturally, eyes large and wide and beauty marks placed perfectly below her bright eyes. Her... body was more and accurate and... you squinted your eyes. "A little too accurate..."

She tilted her head. "Cos..cosplayer?"

Hana quickly pulled you back from your shoulders towards her, stepping back and building space between you both. The girls eyes quickly snapped to her as Hana spoke; "sorry but we're not doing auto graphs anymore! Come back tomorrow around noon and they'll do it then!"

"Art..graphs?!" The cosplayer gasped, but before she could continue Hana was already dragging you away towards the staff only hallways. "No! Wait-!" The Mitsuri cosplayer called after you, running towards you and a rushing Hana only to be stopped by Convention staff, halting her from proceeding into the staff hallways.

"Please! Let me go! I need to talk to them, it's important!" She tried to push past, but the two staff members could only shake their heads at her.

"Sorry, staff only. Please calm down or else we'll have to kick you out." One rolled her eyes.

A whine escaped the throat of the girl, tired and confused. Sharply, she turned on her heels and speed walked back the way she came, calling out; "shinobu?! Obanai?! Rengoku?!"

The two staff members watched her disappear behind a crowd of confused fans. "Weirdo." They laughed.

Behind the shut doors, Hana lead through mazes of corridors and hallways, greeting familiar faces and talking you through what would be happening during the talk show. Regardless of what she was saying, your mind stuck to the Mitsuri you had seen just seconds ago.

"Don't you think she looked a little too accurate?"

Hana laughed, hand grabbing tighter onto yours as she lead you further. "Yeah, you'll be surprised at how far some cosplayers go to look like the character."

"Yeah but... I don't know, her hair looked so real."

"Maybe it wasn't a wig then." Finally, she stopped running beside the opening leading to a dark stage, noises of excited chatter most definitely coming from the seating area for the viewers.

"Not a wig?"

She sighed. "Maybe she dyed her hair. Okay so, you just breathe and do your best to answer the questions as naturally as you possibly can, okay?" She instructed, completely brushing your concerns aside. You poured but allowed it, after all she had gone to too many conventions to count - she knew anime fans and the lengths they'll go to just to feel like a character they find comfort in.

In a way, it made you happy to know someone found so much comfort in Mitsuri to alter their looks to look like her!

"You ready?" Hana beckoned you out of your thoughts, snapping you back to reality as the announcer began introducing the manga authors that would be on the show. One by one, they walked on stage.

You turned to Hana and nodded, just in time for your name to be called.