Cosplay Shenanigans

4 - of cocky detective and princess charming

A/N: My depiction of Charlotte Song cosplaying as Midori! :)

***

Mairi Cabanila.

Aside from throwing a couple of transient gazes, Abel hardly associated himself with the aloof crossdresser. Nonetheless, he had already drawn a conclusion: this woman was one hell of a sophisticated - certainly not the best word to describe her, but his brain refused to function - human being.

Abel had lost count of how much they had gone past each other without a word, but never came those times where Mairi would address him out of the blue. No doubt, there must be something alluring about his current cosplay that ultimately tugged her towards him, as it should always be. If that was the reason, then he was supposed to flaunt his outfit and show her the true meaning behind cosplays... but the way her eyes scrutinized him made his skin crawl.

Why's she studying me like I'm sort of a rare specimen? Forcing a gulp, he defensively raised his hands in front of her, but that didn't stop Mairi from inching closer. Okay, maybe I am a rare one, but this is a little too much...

"W-What?" blurted Abel, miraculously growing a pair, but if this wasn't in public, he would have punched himself in the face repeatedly. Of all actions he could have done, he chose to stammer like some flustered idiot who had no idea what confidence was. Come on man, you're much better than this. She's just another cosplayer. Maintain your composure.

"I just happened to watch that show this week. It kept me up the whole night trying to figure out what happened next. I even lost track of time."

Yeah, he should not have discarded the alternate universe theory from this morning. This was the first time Mairi practically opened her lips and talked, waxing lyrical about his beloved show. Her inscrutable expression, however, remained eerily intact; not even the faintest of smiles were present. Not to mention, the pitch of her voice was rather deep - perhaps deeper compared to some guys out there - and lacked intonation.

She can be sarcastic for all I know... Abel scanned her face for any hidden clues. Unfortunately, it hatched no results. Damn it, what the hell is she thinking about? I can't even read her properly.

"You cosplayed that cocky detective very well," Mairi suddenly pointed out. As if it was out of approval, she nodded while she scrutinized his outfit up and down. "I would actually believe you if you said you're Kaito's twin. Even without dressing up, you look a lot like him."

She... she's more talkative than I thought. What's with her? Abel blinked twice at her... unexpected comments. She never seemed to be the type to throw compliments at people's cosplays, but in all honesty, he wasn't complaining. If anything, his confidence promptly swallowed her acclaim. No way would he turn down those praises, especially from this unpredictable cosplayer.

"Heh, of course I do. Kaito and I shared similar traits and had equal awesomeness. That's why I decided to be him today." Despite previous events, Abel yanked his senses back and slipped in a smirk, even though it was rendered ineffective since she barely budged. Well, he had no intentions of charming her, but the fact she was talking with him, wasn't that satisfying enough?

She could be lying though... Watch out.

Behind the blue-haired man, Adrian chuckled his heart out while Charlotte loudly groaned and rolled her eyes for the umpteenth time. No matter how much she had dissed her contemptuous attitude, it surely was never going to die down. Sure, his confidence might be admirable, but only if he did not take it up a notch.

Mairi hummed and bobbed her head. "I can tell. Both of your egos are twice as inflated."

Despite the stifled laughs from his friends, there wasn't any twinge of wrath to tickle his nerves. He had been endlessly stamped with these descriptions - especially from a particular someone - that he simply dismissed them and did nothing to deflect them. He sneered and brushed his gray suit. "I've been told that a lot of times so I don't really care." He then fired back at her. "How about you? Who are you dressing up as?"