stjorthotic Chapter 580 575: Exchange
Chapter 580 575: Exchange
Ruri felt she had used up a lifetime's worth of self-control to keep herself from turning all these "excitement-seeking" group members into cats.
Of course, mice would work too.
She was simply scuffling with Kirino-chan, while Marin stood to the side, looking panicked and not knowing which of them to stop first.
Meanwhile, Asakura and Saori were nearby, "eating melon" (spectating).
"Speaking of which, where is Sawamura-shi?"
Saori looked around, asking curiously: "Could it be that her body hasn't recovered yet..."
After all, the reason they had left the corporate booths early was because Eriri couldn't stand the crowding and stuffiness of the venue; she looked like a dehydrated fish about to kick the bucket.
"Probably being interrogated," Asakura responded casually, "Most likely."
"Interrogated?" Saori looked at Asakura in confusion.
"The friend she tricked into wearing a cosplay outfit to work for free at a booth found her," Asakura said.
"...I see."
Saori immediately understood the situation, showing an expression of 'offering silent tribute': "It's entirely Sawamura-shi's own doing."
"Right?" Asakura agreed.
Thus, the two of them, like elderly people enjoying life, simultaneously revealed serene expressions.
"How peaceful~"
"That's right~"
"No, you guys come over and help!"
Marin, not knowing how to stop the conflict between Ruri and Kirino, hurriedly called out to the two for help.
"Don't worry, Kitagawa-shi, this is just a way for Kuroneko-shi and Kirino-shi to show their friendship."
Saori said to her.
Asakura nodded in agreement from the side.
After all, if Ruri were truly upset, she would have thrown a curse out a long time ago.
"Isn't this a bit too intense as a way of showing friendship?!" Kitagawa still found it hard to understand.
"This is just how someone who is 'kou-ken-tai-choku' (tsundere) acts," Asakura asked Marin, "Besides that, I haven't explored this area yet. Are there any fun cosplay recommendations?"
"Well, if I had to say, it would definitely be Juju-sama's cosplay." Probably because he had hit her sweet spot, Marin instantly forgot about the two who were still scuffling and spoke to Asakura happily: "She's so small and cute, looks so soft and fragrant, and you can tell the costume design isn't the low-quality ready-to-wear kind bought from online
shops, but rather a very exquisite and delicate custom-made version. As expected of Juju-sama, this time she's also perfectly and exquisitely recreating the original game The Demon's Little Sister General's Hide and Seek!"
"Another eroge (adult game)..." Asakura felt a bit helpless.
"Well, although I really want to say it's a masterpiece... well, the reputation in the Critique Space is indeed a bit subtle, and a boy's perspective might be a bit different."
Marin thought for a moment and pointed in a direction: "If we're talking from a boy's perspective... there's someone over there cosplaying as a Gundam."
"Nani! Gundam da to?!"
Asakura's eyes lit up as he rushed over.
Then, in the direction the girl pointed, he saw the Daizyujin Megazord taking photos with people.
Immediately, Asakura went OTZ (collapsed in disappointment).
Damn it, although Power Rangers is good too, I really wanted to see a Gundam!
Is it true that the average girl can't tell the difference between Gundam and Transformers... although Daizyujin isn't a Transformer either.
Despite this, Asakura still took out his phone and stepped forward to join the queue to take a photo with the other party.
"Asakura-shi is quite high-spirited."
Saori, who had also followed him over, looked at Asakura's happy appearance and couldn't help but say: "This might be the happiest I've seen Asakura-shi all afternoon."
"After all, it's Daizyujin; it counts as a childhood memory," Asakura replied happily while looking at the photo of himself and Daizyujin on his phone.
"Asakura-shi's childhood is unexpectedly ancient. The US version? The Japanese version?"
"The US version."
"I see. For me, my childhood memory would be Hyakujuu Sentai Gaoranger."
"Saori, you actually watch Tokusatsu too?" Asakura asked, somewhat surprised.
After all, the impression she gave him was that of a 2D-loving otaku girl who was slightly more normal than a fujoshi but not quite that normal—the type whose interests usually leaned toward anime and games.
"My full name is Saori Bageena, you know!" Saori puckered her lips like a cat, pulled a rolled-up poster from her backpack, and made a gesture as if drawing a beam saber: "Giant humanoid final battle weapons—I like them very much too. It's romance! Nin-nin!"
"Your affected verbal tic doesn't sound at all like a character that would appear in a mecha show."
"It's fine. Recently, even Wataru has joined Super Robot Wars, so I feel like I might have a chance. Nin-nin~"
"No, no, no, that person is at least the little savior who saved Mount Soukai, okay..."
"..."
"..."
"I feel like if we keep talking, we'll reveal our ages, so let's just stop here for now."
"True."
The two of them silently ended a conversation that would make no one happy, staring emptily at the cosplayers' performances.
"Taku-kun, so you're here."
Suddenly, Utaha's voice came from not far away.
"Is it over already? That was unexpectedly fast," Asakura said as he turned his head, "I thought you'd be 'interrogating' her for at least half an hour—"
Before he could finish, he was stunned by the girl's appearance: "This outfit..."
At this moment, what Utaha was wearing was no longer that provocative school-swimsuit maid outfit that one could practically wear to work at a nightclub; instead, it was a set of stylish, midriff-baring casual clothes that looked normal at first glance, though a closer look revealed that wasn't entirely the case.
She was wearing a coffee-colored T-shirt that looked vaguely familiar to Asakura, but the garment was clearly a size too small. It relied entirely on the excellent elasticity of the fabric to maintain its shape against her frame. Even so, the tight chest area still gave off a sense of being overburdened, as if it might burst at any second. The hem had been forced upward, revealing a section of her flat, firm abdomen; the girl's slender waistline shimmered faintly under the afternoon sun.
Her lower half consisted of casual shorts made to look like denim. While they looked slightly better than the upper half, one could still feel from her full, rounded curves that these pants were clearly not a proper fit either. The fabric of the pockets peeked out from under the hem, swaying gently with her movements.
Likely because the weather was too hot and the venue was very stuffy, Utaha was currently holding an iced cola. Her scallion-white, slender fingers were slightly curved, and a few water droplets clung to her pale pink nails. It seemed she was the type who didn't care much for manicures, though her healthy-looking fingers were indeed quite beautiful.
Although it looked rather provocative and even gave off a subtle sense of "flaunting," it had to be said that even so, Utaha's current attire was far more normal than the school-swimsuit maid outfit.
"I stripped it off of Sawamura-san... well, she 'sponsored' me out of friendship." She said nonchalantly.
Saori's eyes narrowed behind her glasses. She pursed her lips and leaned her head back imperceptibly, wearing an expression that said, "this child is terrifyingly powerful."
"Which means Eriri is currently na—" Asakura rubbed his chin thoughtfully and muttered.
"I am not naked!" Eriri's voice, filled with grief and indignation, came from behind Utaha.
Asakura's gaze shifted over Kasumigaoka's shoulder to look behind her.
Eriri's disheveled figure appeared in his line of sight.
The girl had, correspondingly, changed into the maid outfit Utaha had been wearing just moments ago.
However, unlike the way it had fit Utaha perfectly, Eriri looked like a "child secretly wearing adult clothes." Especially at the chest, which looked empty and deflated like a leaking balloon; just looking at it inexplicably gave off a sorrowful atmosphere...
"I told you I didn't want to! Do you not understand human speech, woman!" Her twin-tails were a mess, and her mask had disappeared to who-knows-where. Looking as if she had been kicked through a trough, the now "withered" Eriri had a face full of shame and anger. While clutching her chest, she said to Utaha: "Dammit, I finally managed to beg Asakura-kun to help change you back, and this is how you repay your benefactor!"
"My benefactor is Taku-kun; you're just someone who rode his coattails to victory." Utaha snorted softly.
"You are alienating my efforts!" Eriri bared her little tiger fangs, fuming with indignation.
"Taking a step back, I acknowledge the favor of your help, but that has nothing to do with you tricking that guy into using my body to wear those kinds of clothes!" Utaha haughtily crossed her arms over her chest (an action that made the fabric over her bosom look even more precarious) and looked down upon the blonde girl: "As the saying goes: do not do unto others what you would not have them do unto you."
"I don't understand words that are that difficult!" Eriri said with righteous indignation.
"Though I was somewhat aware of your ignorance..." This time even Utaha was a bit stunned. She pressed her hand to her forehead and said helplessly: "But to not feel ashamed and instead say it so openly, you have truly surpassed my expectations..."
"Ehehe, is that so?" Eriri blinked, looking a bit surprised.
"...Just to be clear, she isn't praising you, okay?" Asakura, standing aside, added.
"She isn't?! Damn you, Kasumigaoka! To think you'd set such a trap!"
"No, no, no, it's just that your own national language grades are too poor!"
After the two fussed for a while, Eriri was the first to admit defeat.
"Dammit, the chest is all empty, the clothes are wrinkled, and I feel like I'll accidentally expose myself. I can't move around freely at all..."
"It's fine, it's not like you have anything that could be exposed anyway," Utaha consoled.
"I don't feel consoled at all?! If anything, after being worn by you, Kasumigaoka, there's no way my clothes can be worn anymore!"
"Is it because you'll feel inferior?" Kasumigaoka asked.
"Because they'll be stretched out by you!" Eriri gnashed her teeth.
"It's because you're too thin, Sawamura. The hip area is actually fine, but the key is the chest... it was so tight I couldn't even breathe smoothly."
(Note: The height difference between Utaha and Eriri is 10cm. In terms of measurements, the chest difference is 10, the waist difference is 5, but the hip difference is only 2—indicating that Eriri is the wide-hipped child-bearing type~)
"I'm so sorry my chest size didn't allow you to breathe smoothly!" Eriri said, sniffing her nose aggrievedly: "Ugh, I feel like so many people are looking. I can't take it... I just want to go home... why did it turn out like this..."
Asakura sighed.
As if performing a magic trick, he made a gesture with his hands similar to "fake news~," and a cloak-like black trench coat appeared out of thin air.
Asakura draped the coat over Eriri: "Use this to cover up for now. If you've learned your lesson, don't do this kind of thing again in the future."
"This clothing..." Eriri was startled, looking at the somewhat familiar trench coat. Her cherry lips murmured: "Could it be..."
"That's right, it's that 'could it be'." Asakura nodded.
"Could it be a design from a project I drew in the past? It feels unexpectedly familiar..." Eriri continued.
Asakura reached out and rapped her on the head.
"Ow?! What was that for!" The girl clutched her head, looking at him indignantly.
If it weren't for her twin-tails being messed up by Utaha, she might have already launched a twin-tail attack by now.
"Well, it didn't make the sound of being empty inside," Asakura retracted his hand after giving her a flick: "This is the uniform you helped me design a few days ago. Have you forgotten it completely already?"
"Oh? Now that you mention it, it really is..." Eriri looked carefully at the coat Asakura had draped over her, forgetting her shyness for a moment: "It was actually made this quickly? And the workmanship feels so exquisite; even my father's haute couture suits don't seem to have craftsmanship as good as this... those handmade custom workshops take forever just to finish one suit."
"Don't worry too much about magic matters," Asakura replied with a straight face.
Because the Ministry of Magic uniform provided by the system came with its own Confundus Charm, after Eriri put on Asakura's uniform (which made her look even more like a little girl wearing her father's clothes), the surrounding people indeed stopped paying attention to her appearance—even if, beneath the jacket, the girl in the school swimsuit actually looked even more provocative.
Utaha, on the other hand, had a look of regret from the moment Asakura took out his clothes to cover Eriri.
If she had known, she wouldn't have swapped clothes with Eriri.
That said, Eriri no longer had any interest in continuing to browse the Comiket exhibition.
Not just her, but the small group and Marin, who were participating in this kind of event for the first time, also seemed... no, should be said to be quite exhausted.
So, after a bit of weighing the options, Saori felt that it wouldn't matter if they didn't go to the remaining peripheral halls, and thus declared this offline meetup a complete success.
The group then left the Tokyo exhibition hall in a grand fashion, preparing to take the train home—even Asakura had to honestly buy a ticket to board, since his "vintage car" had exploded and wouldn't refresh until tomorrow.