Anime Convention Harem Ch. 04

By late afternoon on Friday, Animecon was simmering with excitement, a soup of colorful costumes and eager, chattering geeks. Pockets of empty space opened and closed in the packed multitude of people like bubbles on boiling broth as cosplayers were stopped for impromptu photo-shoots. Incredibly large, elaborate costumes towered over the press of people, and there were entire groups of cosplayers representing large casts from different animes. Intricately detailed monsters, gorgeous couples in splendid raiments, grizzled fantasy swordsmen, sarcastic robots and everything in between wandered about freely.

"I wasn't sure if I owed you an apology or not," Brian said to Stephanie as they continued down one of the hallways.

"An apology?" Stephanie asked, perplexed. "Wh-what would, I mean, why would you owe me an apology?"

"Er... for stealing a kiss back then in the cafe," he admitted, looking at her cautiously. "I'll admit, when you took off in a hurry I was kinda worried."

"Oh no! The kiss was fine! Uh, more than fine, the kiss was amazing. It was just the thing with my hair, I was really surprised and.... The kiss though, the kiss was amazing," she emphasized clearly. "Definitely um, it was definitely a more effective attack than I was prepared for. I guess you really do have a lot more up your sleeves than I thought," she admitted playfully, feeling her face redden.

"Arms, even," he joked, tugging his sleeve back to expose a forearm. The charm dangling from his wrist bobbed and twisted in the light.

"Haha, uh, yeah," she said weakly, momentarily enthralled by the glimpse.

Mmm... His forearm was nothing like her slender, feminine arms. It was thicker... rougher, with the subtle curves of muscle that gave them a deliciously shapely appearance. Even his hands look strong, she thought heatedly. What would... what would those hands feel like on me?

She imagined them tightly gripping her shoulders, tugging open her flimsy costume with ease and exposing her pale skin to the air. Would she feel heat rise to the surface wherever his rough fingertips roamed? Something deep in her tummy twitched reflexively at the thought. She could hold tight onto the corded muscle of those arms... or let his hands slid down her back to her rear. Would those hands squeeze, his fingers press deeper into the soft, pert curves of her buttocks? Another series of hot pink sparks seemed to sputter in her brain.

"So, any clue what happened?"

"W-with what?" she asked, blinking rapidly as her daydream evaporated.

"Your hair, the pink in it. I meant to ask, but we got kinda sidetracked by that Kelly girl."

"Oh! Uh, no," she answered sheepishly, "No clue. I mean, ah, it wouldn't come out with water at all, a-at least. Kelly uhm, she was sure you rubbed dye in my hair or something. How bad is it?"

Gently he reached up past her rabbit ear headband and ran his fingers through her hair, separating the aberrant pink strands with his fingertips. She found the gesture surprisingly... intimate, and gradually leaned into him. Her heart beat the excited doki doki of a pure young girl, but other parts of her were heating up in a much less innocent way.

"It's not bad," he said, making eye contact with her. "Actually, it looks nice."

"Really?" Hearing those words from him, it was as if the warmth within was beginning to radiate out through her smile.

"Excuse me, would it be okay if I got a picture of you two?" A petite Asian girl in a hoodie asked from behind her expensive camera.

"Of... us...?" Stephanie asked, flabbergasted. "Together?" Though too embarrassed to admit she'd never played a Fantasy Wars title, it was pretty clear their costumes were from entirely different genres.

"Of course," Brian said smoothly, drawing his fantasy pistol from his shoulder holster in a smooth motion. His other hand slipped around the small of Stephanie's back, delicately pulling her against him. Deep inside of Stephanie, a furnace was trembling into motion, small pink flames sputtering from glowing coals. With his feet squared, chest raised, and an arm around her, he looked heroic.

Caught off guard by the camera already pointed their way, Stephanie realized how stiff her posture was and nearly panicked. She put her arm awkwardly around Brian but was too self-conscious to put her hand on him, and instead it hovered, not touching, a bare inch off of his side. It'll look like I'm actually holding him in the picture, though, she tried to assure herself. She stared vacantly at the camera lense for a moment until finally something in the kindling pink fire within her popped, and a warm, safe feeling spread throughout her. She relaxed into a soft smile just in time for the flash of the camera.

"Thanks! I love your costumes!" The Asian girl said, smiling.

My first picture taken at a convention, Stephanie thought, disoriented with excitement. And it's with him. A picture of us. This is all really happening, and now there's actual proof! I want to see, I want a copy! She followed the thin Asian girl with her eyes.

"You know, Steph," he said in a low voice, "You can put your hand on me for photos if you want to."

Stephanie gulped, feeling her cheeks burn red in a hasty blush. "You, you noticed, huh?"

"Yeah," He chuckled, looking at her. "You seemed... tense."

"Yeah! I'm good, uh, great. Was just a little nervous. That was the first time someone's, um, taken a photo. Of me, I mean, at a convention like this. In costume..." she trailed off meekly.

"You're joking," he said, eyeing her carefully. "You're a virgin?!"

"What?!" she sputtered, eyes wide. "W-well yes, but--" Is it that obvious? Wait, where did that come from?!

"A convention virgin, I mean. This is your first time cosplaying?" he asked playfully, gesturing to her Flamituff gijinka.

"Um, yes," she said, exhaling slowly. "That. This is my first anime convention."

"Oh wow, I just assumed..." he said, chuckling, "I mean, your costume doesn't look like a first-time cosplay. You made it yourself?"

"...I did." She said, pleased with herself.

"Now I feel bad," he said, shaking his head. "Here I've been taking up all your time, and you must be excited to go around and see everything."

Her gaze flicked across the breadth of his chest as he held open his jacket to re-holster his prop pistol. Everything, huh...

"Uh, yes! I mean, no! That is, I am excited, but you're not taking up my time. Or it's ok-okay if you do. I like you. Like taking up time with you, I meant to say! Er, s-spending time with you," she corrected herself. Stop stammering!

"...Me too," he said. "But did you need to meet back up with your friend? The Pandape girl?"

"Ah! Right. Her," Stephanie remembered. "She, told--ah, she asked me to meet her in the vendor's room, but... I mean, I'm sure she's shopping and, well. I can hang out for a little bit longer. With you. If-if you want to."

"Cool! Let's walk for a bit, then." Brian proposed, offering his hand, and Stephanie giddily took it, relieved. I have him to myself. For a bit longer, at least.

Holding hands, they carefully traversed their own convoluted route across the packed main lobby. Convention staff bottlenecked traffic into the vendor's room, talent show auditions stage, viewing theaters, and gaming tournament with badge checks, and haphazard lines had begun to criss-cross the area. Troupes of fans milled about, squatted, or sprawled out on the floor in the lobby, creating an ever-changing topography of areas to navigate.

"So we've established that you're a Monster Battlers fan," he began, "Are you real into anime too, or just games?"

"I've only seen the... 'mainstream' anime, so I don't feel like I'm a very serious fan," she admitted shyly. "Just stuff that's been dubbed into English and aired here in America."

"So, things like Shinobi Souls and Magi Hunter?"

"Yeah, pretty much," she said, feeling lame. "But I read a lot of shoujo manga comics online... which, uh, you're probably not into... Obviously. Hah, sorry."

Although there were compendiums of comics focusing on specific genres such as sports, horror, or science fiction, Japanese comics were also often categorized simply by their target demographic. The latest shounen, meaning comics for boys, might be collected into a thick monthly magazine such as Shounen Leap on convenience store shelves all over Japan. Likewise, the newest shoujo comics for girls could be found in a release such as Shoujo Anthology, emphasizing romance and drama rather than action and heroics.

"No, that's normal. I think the only shoujo I've really read was Key Catcher Sakuro."

"Ah! That's a good one. I was really into it when I was in high school, but still. Good series." She said, nodding her approval.

"Oh!" Brian exclaimed as he remembered, "Actually I read about half of Vampire Crusader, that's about as shoujo as they get. I quit following it, though, seemed like they were all drawn with the same face. I couldn't tell anybody apart, even their hairstyles were too similar."

"Oh I know, right?" Stephanie laughed in agreement. "It just gets harder to follow the further in the series you get. "Like, you can't tell the vampires apart to begin with except for their hair color, and then they do that dramatic style thing and the colors invert. Then there's Akuma's long-lost twin and a longer-lost triplet! And then that incubus guy is always using his magic to disguise himself as other characters..." she trailed off in embarrassment, realizing she was rambling.

"A triplet, too? Geez, that's awful," he said, chuckling. "There's a Vampire Crusader cosplayer over there past those girls, did you see him?" Brian gestured towards a distant young man in an overly posh white-and-black school uniform.

Stephanie laughed abruptly, and quickly covered her mouth, glancing sheepishly back to Brian. "I was wondering how often he gets asked which vampire he is."

Smiling knowingly, Brian sighed. "A couple years ago I had this uniform right but couldn't get the hair perfect, so people couldn't tell if I was Lance or Leonus from Fantasy Wars.

"I think you're perfect." Stephanie said, blushing. And I don't know who Lance or Leonus even are.

"Thanks," he said with a chuckle. You know, my friend who gave me the charm's been trying to get me to do a Shinobi Souls cosplay, but I can't figure out who I'd be."

"Shinobi Souls? You'd be a great Sousuke!" Stephanie exclaimed.

"Sousuke Salladin? No way, he's a badass, but I don't have the body to pull it off. Love the character, though."

"But you're, um. Well I think you definitely could. Probably. Yeah." Brian would be perfect as Sousuke! The pink flames licking through her imagination seemed to conjure Brian in the ninja assassin's outfit. An almost completely bare upper body, toned muscle criss-crossed with long scars and the leather straps for ornate armor plates protecting his arms. A middle-eastern keffiyeh worn around his neck like a scarf hid his face from enemies when necessary and occasionally revealed glimpses of chiseled, gorgeous features... Almost too sexy... I would love to see him in that! Or out of it...

"Well, she cosplays Akane Kurokawa from Shinobi Souls, maybe you'll see her on Sunday."

Stephanie did a double-take. "Ah, y-your friend that gave you the charm is a-, a girl?" And bold enough to cosplay something as risque as Akane Kurokawa?! Akane was widely considered a 'fan-service' character, recognized more for her bodacious body nearly spilling out of her skimpy outfit than her skill as a ninja.

"Yeah, that's Emily. She's that friend I told you about who was pushing for me attend, forget my ex, quit dwelling on things. Emily gave me that charm and told me to meet some girls here, start building myself a harem." he laughed.

"Harem, haha......wait, that's it! Harem!" Stephanie lit up, flashing him a smile. "Er, uh, may I?" she asked, reaching into his sleeve for the dangling charm. She adjusted her glasses and took another look at the complex character carefully carved onto its face.

Modern Japanese was written in a simple alphabet called hiragana, but they also used the roughly three-thousand symbols of kanji when writing something old-fashioned and traditional, like a family nameplate... or an omamori charm. While Stephanie had taught herself many of them, even kanji like these that she understood were difficult for her to recognize without a context to place them in.

"I knew it looked familiar... I do recognize this! The symbol for 'inner' together with the symbol for 'palace'. When you put these two kanji together, it means 'harem'! It's a harem charm!" she exclaimed proudly, giggling. Huh... this omamori isn't on a pin after all. What was that feeling earlier?

"That's amazing, you can read kanji? We had to look it up and we could still barely believe it. Emily's cousin bought it from a shrine somewhere in Japan."

"W-well I can only read some kanji. And, uh, usually I have to use my reference book all the time... hah. They sold something like this at a shrine?!" Stephanie laughed, turning it over in her hands. "Do you know which shrine it was?"

He shook his head. "If they told me, I don't remember it."

"It's hilarious," she decided, "And clever. And..." Sporting a shy smile, she looked past the omamori and up into his eyes. "H-hey, do you, uh, do you think it works? The charm, I mean."

"...It just might," he said sharing a grin, "But I don't believe in magic or charms. Luck is just being ready for the right moments when they come, right?"

"That's, ah, from Seneca!" Stephanie recalled. "He was a Roman philosopher. 'Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity'."

"You have a sharp memory," he said, impressed. "I always seem to butcher famous quotes when I try to remember them."

"N-no, you got the idea of it, what was important," Stephanie insisted, "Philosophers explored ideas, it was, um, only those who followed after that turned their work into neat little aphorisms like that. What Seneca actually wrote wasn't something easy to fit into a bumper sticker or fortune cookie."

"Guess that puts things in perspective," Brian chuckled. "But what I mean to say is, rather than put my faith in a magic charm, or even get full of myself, I'll thank Emily and you."

"What do you mean?" Stephanie asked, cocking her head.

"Emily could've kept her hands out of my problems, but she didn't. She helped me realize that things were really over with my ex, she... well, prepared me. To move on. She gave me this silly little token to remind me of that, and then you gave me an opportunity. You two are why I feel so lucky right now. I'd rather believe in the people who've helped me rather than... abstracts like luck, fate... fortune, or whatever."

"What? How did I give you an opportunity?" she asked, tilting her head.

"Well, pinning me to the ground and planting your panties on my face wasn't an opportunity I was gonna miss," he remarked playfully.

"H-hey, that's not, um, exactly..."

"What I mean is, even if someone else had seen me drop that charm, they probably would've just pocketed it. You returned it to me, which means a lot. And it means even more to me that you had the courage to talk to me after that, ah... that little accident we had. I can tell how hard it was for you. Well... or was that really an accident?" He wondered aloud.

"It was. So much. So much accident. Such," she blurted. "I never would have... uh, well...accidentally..."

"Of course. If you'd just wanted me to go down on you, you could've just asked," he teased.

"W-what!? I d-don't want you to, ah, I mean I didn't want y-you to, uh, that's not something that I--" she cried, flushing scarlet and hiding her face.

"Sorry, kidding." he said. "Truce?"

"...Truce," was all she could manage, too flustered to say anything else. Is it even possible for a guy to go down on a girl...? For a girl who loved to read and prided herself on her knowledge, she was finding her own understanding of sex disappointingly... rudimentary. Well, going down on a guy is when his... um, his thing is in her mouth. So maybe...?

The warm pink flames she'd felt in her belly rose up and spread out into a scorching conflagration as she pictured his lovely jawline nuzzling between her naked thighs... perhaps playfully nibbling the insides, in delightful sensitive places where even the slight exhalations of his breath would be enough to make her quiver. Perhaps he would make his way towards her labia with soft, puckered kisses and then spread her--

"But, uh, t-that aside, I like the way you think," she decided, gulping. "That you believe in your friends, and in, uh, you know, people, rather than random happenstance. I like that."

He shrugged his shoulders and raised his other hand in an empty gesture as if to say, Well, it can't be helped. "That's what I'm like after watching too many shounen animes."

"Uh... I've been meaning to ask..." Stephanie began as they passed one of the gaming rooms. In this one a dozen players were carefully setting up miniature armies atop a tabletop covered in the labyrinthine ruins of a tiny city.

"What did you mean earlier, exactly?" She asked, feeling her face redden. "Right before Kelly left, when you were going to... when you said you were going to show me something later," she said with difficulty.

"Oh no, I'd really have to show you, I can't just tell you about it," he said playfully. "Why, are you... curious?"

"Um, yes. A little. How... how would... you show me...?" Stephanie said meekly.

"Actually, I think it's your turn," Brian said. "I attacked last, right?"

"R-right," Stephanie laughed, suddenly nervous. Nervous but willing. "Okay. What would, erm, if I did, what sort of... what do you want me to do? To, ah, 'attack'."

He deliberated for a long moment as they wandered past the darkened LAN gaming room, where two dozen glowing computer monitors outlined the silhouettes of gamers competing in a cacophony of gunfire sound effects and explosions.

"When I kissed you back in the cafe, it was 'cause it felt like you were daring me to, and also just... well, me expressing my feelings at the moment," he decided. "I don't want to pressure you into expressing something you may not really feel, you know?"

"I want you... to want to 'attack' me, sure," he explained. "But I won't tell you to. Having someone simply follow direction isn't nearly as... well, exciting, as seeing someone express their feelings in their own way, you know? Telling you what to do would be more like I was... using you."

Of course it wouldn't be that simple, Stephanie chided herself, uneasily swallowing down her own naiveté on the complex nuances of courtship. Her keen mind bravely tumbled on through the blur of this unfamiliar terrain. This isn't a campus administrator telling me, "This and this and this much, and you've passed." It's the prospective employer casually brushing aside those... quantifiable expectations and simply daring me to impress them. Can I impress Brian? She realized that she wanted to, more than anything. With her feelings, and her courage in expressing them.

Express my feelings. In my own way, she thought to herself, not disappointed with his reasoning in the slightest. I love that. Her stomach suffused with a nervous pink firestorm. But what... exactly... should I do? She'd always rolled her eyes at magazine headlines at the supermarket like Ten Tricks to Drive Your Man WILD.

Not something like that. I want to do something honest and meaningful... not just a kinky gimmick to catch his attention for a moment, She decided. Hundreds of the novels she'd read had gleanings of romantic knowledge in them, and in her head they slowly began to coalesce into an answer, fuel feeding into the voracious combustion of emotion throbbing through her. I need to... I need to surrender myself. To my feelings. To him. Let go of propriety and...the fear for a moment and... just let my body act. 'Heart of mine, do as you will,' she commanded resolutely.