"Cos is short for cosplay."
[Can you hear me talking?]
Kitagawa Marin looked up and began sharing her greatest hobby.
"I want to dress up exactly like the characters from anime, manga, and games. Cosplay lets you express your feelings for the characters you love. Isn't that amazing? It's practically…"
"The ultimate expression of love!!"
Kitagawa Marin clenched her fists, her eyes sparkling with golden longing.
Saiki stood to the side, listening to this long-winded speech with a completely blank face.
"Are you listening, Saiki-kun?"
[I'm listening. Finally finished, right?]
"Yeah, I'm done. The reason you ran into me in the Handicraft Club yesterday is because I don't have a sewing machine at home, so I was working on it at school. But after a few days, I realized there still wasn't enough time, so I talked to the teacher. They said I could buy one of the school's sewing machines at a low price to take home and practice with."
[I see. That sounds pretty good!]
"But… I'm really bad at it. I don't have any friends who are good at sewing either."
[Then just join the Handicraft Club and ask the members who know how — the upperclassmen can help you.]
"No, no way."
Kitagawa Marin waved her hands in distress.
"That's actually why I never joined the Handicraft Club before. I heard that once you're there every day, everyone has their own tasks to finish, and there's basically no time to help others."
"So…"
[So you want me to help you.]
"That's right."
Kitagawa Marin nodded firmly, then quickly stepped in front of Saiki, tightly grasped both of his hands, and earnestly pleaded,
"Saiki-kun, I'm begging you. Please help me. Could you make a cosplay outfit for me? I'm really begging you."
Kitagawa Marin lowered her head. A flicker of anxiety passed through her eyes as her grip on Saiki's hands trembled slightly. "If you can't, just say so directly. It's okay — be honest. I can't do it at all by myself, but I really, really love Shizuku so much."
Kitagawa Marin was extremely nervous right now, terrified that Saiki would refuse. But even if he did refuse, she wouldn't hold it against him. After all, she had spent the whole day secretly following him — even though her intentions were good and she wanted to help — only to end up being the one who got helped instead.
Kitagawa Marin didn't hold much hope. In her mind, she could already almost hear Saiki's rejection. [Saiki-kun probably won't help me anyway. We're not even that close, and…]
[Sure, okay.]
"So that's how it is… Wait, what did you say?"
Kitagawa Marin looked up in surprise at Saiki.
[I said sure.]
(This way we'll be even — no debts on either side.)
"Really?! That's amazing! Yes!!"
Kitagawa Marin raised both hands and cheered loudly.
(Yare yare, I just finished making clothes yesterday, and now I have to do it again today. But the sooner I finish, the sooner this is over.)
Ahem ahem
Saiki cleared his throat twice, then said,
[Then bring me the materials for the outfit you want to make, along with any reference pictures or designs.]
"Okay! But Saiki-kun, are we doing it at school?"
[No, I'll take it home and make it. It'll be quick. I'll bring it back to school for you next time.]
"Then… can I come home with you?! I really want to see how you do it."
[Ah, right — I almost forgot. The one at my house got left behind during the move. Guess it's better to do it at school after all.]
"Ahh~ I see. That's too bad."
[Stop dawdling and just hand it over so I can take a look.]
"Okay."
(seriously, I was planning to take the patterns and materials home, finish it in a flash with three or four moves, and just give it to Kitagawa-san next time.)
(But if she says "come home with me" like that, it's going to cause misunderstandings. Since there's no machine at home anyway, I'll just spend a little time making it here at school, pretend I took the materials home, finish it instantly, and be done. Yeah… that works.)
Kitagawa Marin squatted down, opened her backpack, rummaged around, and her expression slowly changed from excited and bright to panicked and frantic.
"Ah! Could it be…"
[Hey hey, no way.]
Kitagawa Marin scratched her head awkwardly. "I forgot to bring it!"
[I knew it. Don't you work on this every day? How did you forget it today?]
"S-sorry! Yesterday I took the sewing machine home from school, so today I accidentally forgot to bring the stuff."
Kitagawa Marin clenched her fists, looked at Saiki cautiously, and spoke in a small voice.
"So… do you want to come home with me?"
(Don't phrase it in a way that's so easy to misunderstand.)
[Ah! Never mind. In an hour I've got a show I want to watch. Just bring it to school tomorrow and give it to me then!]
"But… but tomorrow's Saturday!"
[No way!]
"And I really want to become Shizuku as soon as possible. The sooner the better, if possible."
Kitagawa Marin was practically breathing fire with excitement as she stepped right up to Saiki. "How about you come to my house tomorrow instead!"
[Hey!]
"Saiki-kun."
Kitagawa Marin advanced step by step. Saiki instinctively backed up until he hit the wall.
"Saiki-kun 罒▽罒"
[Don't look at me with those eyes!]
...Super long dividing line.
[Yare yare, I never thought it would end up like this. Wasting my weekend on something like this.]
Saiki walked along the street, feeling troubled.
(Originally this weekend I planned to just take some snacks and sweets, go to the moon, eat in peace, and enjoy some personal space.)
Saiki opened the note and looked at the address.
[Ah, found it.]
Saiki looked up at the luxurious apartment building in front of him — clearly much fancier than the ordinary apartment where he lived.
[Yeah, this is the place.]
Ding-dong
Saiki pressed the doorbell. From inside came the sound of someone yelling "Dinosaur crash!" followed by,
"Oww!"
The door opened. Kitagawa Marin stood there looking disheveled — skirt straps slipping off her shoulders, hair messy, no makeup, plain black pupils — clutching her head.
"S-sorry… I overslept."
[It's already past 10.]
"Sorry! Last night I got so excited thinking I could become Shizuku faster that I couldn't fall asleep."
Kitagawa Marin scratched her head. One of the straps on her skirt slid further down her shoulder.
Saiki closed his eyes and took a few steps back.
"Saiki-kun?"
[Your clothes.]
Kitagawa Marin slowly turned her head, caught sight of the mirror by the entrance, and realized her completely messy, unmade-up, bare-faced appearance was on full display.
Her face instantly turned bright red. She covered it with both hands and slammed the door shut.
"I'm doomed — I didn't bring my colored contacts!"
[The focus is the colored contacts? Don't just focus on the contacts!]
After a while.
Kitagawa Marin reopened the door. She now had her usual red contacts in, hair somewhat fixed, and had thrown on a casual jacket.
"Sorry sorry! Thanks for waiting — come in!"
Kitagawa Marin led Saiki inside.
She was still extremely nervous. [That was way too scary. Saiki-kun actually saw my bare face… and worse, without my colored contacts.]
(Yare yare, I really never noticed before. Honestly, just changing the eye color doesn't make that much difference.)