Darker than Black Cosplay Convention
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Author's Comments: Thanks to Dear4life for suggesting doing this one-shot. There are points in the story I didn't name the character cosplayer, but I do have their names at the end of the story.
Enjoy.
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Gai sat behind his desk in his office smoking a cigarette. The sun was shining during the warm afternoon, which made him crack the window open that allowed a slight breeze to whistle through and cool the office. An ashtray and a bottle of soda pop occupied the space on his desk.
A train ran by to rattle his windows, the stuff on his desk, and picture frames.
Gai blew out dissipated tobacco while smothering his cigarette butt in the ashtray. Business had been slow after the case concerning Kirsi. He wished something would come up before he decided to sell Kiko's brain to a science lab to pay his bills.
A knock came at his door. Gai freaked and hid behind his desk, figuring the power company was here to collect on his back pay, but he only had two hundred fifty-five yen in his drawer.
"Excuse me?" said a beautiful voice.
Gai stood while straightening his suit and ran over to his door to open it. A young woman entered. She wore a white t-shirt that had light blue strips along the chest, stomach and sleeves, and a short brown skirt with matching sandals. She had a gold bracelet on her right wrist, and an S-shape tattoo with a curved line through it on her left shoulder. She had short red hair, brown eyes, and c-cups that seemed to jump out at him.
His face plumped up, as if it were a rose pedal blossoming, and his nose burst with steam while his mouth fell open. He gestured for her to take a seat on the couch while storming over to sit next to her.
"What can I do for you?" Gai asked.
"Well, I was wondering if you could stalk someone for me at a cosplay convention?" said the woman.
Gai looked at her shocked. Was this some kind of game Kiko was playing on him?
"I'm sorry, but I don't stalk," he stated.
"Not even for five hundred thousand?" she asked.
She reached down her shirt, pulled out a check between her fingers, and waved it in front of him. Gai's hormones shot through the roof, causing his nose to bleed.
He gathered himself while dabbing at his nose, hid the tissue paper behind his back, and coughed away his anxiety.
"Of—of course, who is it?" he babbled, as he smiled gleefully.
He would stalk the Emperor or the Prime Minister if she wanted. It wasn't because of the money she was offering, but for her to pull out something else from her breasts. It was like some kind of magic trick.
"My boyfriend."
Gai's jaw dropped at her comment.
"Boy—boy…friend?" he stuttered.
"Yes. He always goes to these cosplay conventions. I asked him to stop since I'm not into it, but he refuses. I think he's seeing another woman."
"What makes you think that?"
"Well, he likes to dress up as a One Piece character and gets his picture taken with this girl."
The woman reached into her shirt, which made Gai's cheeks perk up, and raise his head to peek at her exposed skin. Unfortunately he missed his opportunity, as she pulled out a photo and closed up the gap, causing his jaw to slump open. She held out the photo before him in which he shook away his bitterness state, and looked down at it to see three cosplayers. One guy was dressed in a red vest, blue shorts and a straw hat. The man standing next to him was presented in a black suit with circular eyebrows. However, his attention was on the girl that had big breast, and was wearing a black short dress.
He drooled at the girl and thought about checking out the anime they were cosplaying.
"The characters are Luffy, Sanji and Nico Robin," said the girl. "I asked who she was, but he had said she was nobody. I don't think so."
"Why not go yourself?" he asked.
"Are you kidding? Most of those people are always dressed up and I would stick out like a sore thumb."
"Wait a second?" Gai frowned. "Are you saying I need to dress up?"
"You don't have to, but you'll blend in more to make yourself less conspicuous."
"Tsk, I could blend in with the bushes without using camouflage."
It was more like Gai would get Kiko to stalk him since she had experience, and she loved that anime stuff. He wouldn't be caught dead in a place like that.
"Thank you so much," she said while bowing.
The young woman stood from the couch and exited the office. Gai smiled with glee at the image of the young woman printed in his brain. He also wished she would have coughed up some of the cash; at least three-quarters of it.
The door swung open to show an ecstatic Kiko entering. Gai didn't need to have his detective skills to know what was making her happy.
"He was there again!" she chimed, her fist balled up under her chin. "Oh, those collarbones and his hungry appetite, I just want to lick him up like a lollipop!"
"Are you still stalking him?" Gai asked.
"Of course! What made you think I wasn't?"
"You haven't been talking about him for the pass two weeks, so I thought you gave up on him."
Kiko huffed at him, as she perked up like a cat and said, "I haven't been talking about him because we were too busy helping that French guy help find Yin, and then I've been spending my time hanging out with her reading a lot of manga and fan-fiction."
"Is that so? Well, while you've been goofing off, I got a young lady to hire us to stalk someone for her at a cosplay convention."
Kiko narrowed her eyes at him and growled, "It better not be Li-san!"
"No, her boyfriend. She wants us to follow him at that cosplay convention. I'm making you…"
"Not going to do it." Kiko stated, as she turned away and crossed her arms while closing her eyes. "I will only stalk Li-san, and I have other plans at the convention with my friends. You do it."
"Wait one minute! I'm your boss and I order you to do it!"
"Is that so? Then I'm taking a few vacation days, Boss. Bye-bye!"
Kiko stormed out of the office before Gai could say anything else. He frowned and wondered what he was going to do?
---
Hei lay on the bench with Mao lying nearby on the ground while Yin sat on top of the slide. The clock on the small brick building read quarter past twelve. Huang waddled into the park looking displeased as he puffed on his cigarette.
Mao lifted his head while perking up his ears and noticed his partner's gloomy mood.
"Trouble sleeping?" he asked.
"Far from it," barked Huang. "We got a mission."
"Why the long face about it? Something we have to do that seems impossible?"
"Worse. The Syndicate wants us at a cosplay convention."
"A cosplay convention?" Mao asked while tilting his head. "Why do they want us in a place like that?"
"Apparently two organizations are meeting there under cover as cosplayers."
"Eh?" Mao's head straightened, as he slanted his eyes. "Cosplaying as what?"
"Not sure.
"So they want us to find out who they are and what they are posing so we can take them down. Sounds simple enough, so why are you upset about it?"
The corners of Huang's lips drooped while he narrowed his eyes, as sweat ran down his left cheek.
"They want us to dress up to look less conspicuous," he stated.
"Seriously?" Mao asked, as his fur stood on edge. "As what?"
"I am going with Kiko as Goro," said Yin.
Huang and Mao turned to look at Yin shocked.
"Seriously?" Mao asked.
Yin nodded.
"Hei's outfit matches Black Cat's outfit," she said. "Sousuke Sagara's outfit works too."
"I plan on going as myself," muttered Hei.
"The hell you are, Hei," growled Huang. "If I have to dress up in a ridiculous outfit then so do you. You already have a working position there, and they will have an outfit ready for you since they are making it mandatory."
Hei frowned at the thought of wearing a costume. He already spent most of his days pretending to be a college school kid, and at night he plays dress up as a haunting character that found his way onto Ootsuka's fan-fiction story.
"You, Huang, dressing up?" Mao asked. "What are you planning on going as?"
"Never mind," said Huang. "One other thing. We are to find and contain the groups before they use their powers."
"Why does it matter?" Hei asked. "The Syndicate can use ME to wipe memories."
"There will be over a million people at the convention. Do you know how much it would cost the Syndicate to use ME; especially during this economy crisis."
Huang shook his head as he turned to walk off. Hei sighed and hoped he wouldn't run into anybody he knew there: mainly that pink girl.
----
Misaki stood in Commander Hourai's office listening to him talk about a meeting at a cosplay convention. She sweated slightly after him telling her what was required.
"We have to dress up?" questioned Misaki.
The thought of playing dress up worried her since most of the female anime characters wore skimpy outfits. She would have to spend most of her time finding one that covered her body.
"Yes," replied Hourai. "The more you blend in, the less you'll look suspicious."
In her opinion, everybody there would be spending most of their time gazing at cosplayers while trying to figure out who they are and their anime. They wouldn't bother giving non-cosplayers a second glance. Unfortunately, orders were orders.
"How are we to make costumes in such a short time, and what anime?" she asked.
"Don't worry about that. It's already been taken care of," informed Hourai.
"What?"
Misaki began to hyperventilate at the thought of her bosses having a costume for her that revealed too much skin. With her luck, they'd make her dress in a schoolgirl outfit. It was bad enough she had to wear it during her school days.
---
Kiko was dressed as Morris from Bara no Morris, her big-breasted friend was wearing John's outfit, and Yin wore Goro's clothes. They marched down the sidewalks towards the convention while Kiko rubbed her hands in anticipation. They arrived moments later to see the place was swamped with thousands of cosplayers.
Kiko's eyes sparkled with delight as she awed.
A dozen fans of Bara no Morris ran up to them, asking if they could take their pictures. Kiko nodded in which Yin, her friend, and she gathered next to each other and posed. The fans took their snap shots, as others came over to get their own pictures.
After twenty minutes of posing for thirty people, Kiko, Yin and her friend entered the complex and began roaming through it. The place was vast, enough walking space for four groups to trot about. The walls were painted bright white, and triangle metal beams held up the roof.
Kiko giggled at other Bara no Morris cosplayers that had done a poor job on their costumes.
"We got the best outfits of Bara no Morris," chimed Kiko.
"You think?" her friend asked.
"Of course! Did you see that group? And plus, I made sure I got every detail down!"
They continued marching through the building, heading towards the section where trinkets were being sold. They stopped a few times to let fans of the anime snap off pictures. Kiko walked with her nose stuck up in the air at her outstanding work. Suddenly she frowned at the sight of another Bara no Morris group that had a giraffe in their mix. The giraffe looked to be a two-piece set, which required two people to move it, and the neck stood two meters tall.
She bolted over to them steaming mad.
"HEH!! No way?" Kiko shouted. "You stole our idea!"
"What are you talking about, you did," said a guy dressed as Morris.
"Liar! I had this planned since Bara no Morris first showed!"
"Really? I had this planned when it was first announced in Newtype. Besides, our outfit's look better than your guys' getup."
Kiko perked up like a cat, causing her head to burn red, and shoot out steam from her ears.
"Like hell!" she barked.
"How about we prove it?" the Morris cosplayer smirked. "Let's sign up for a competition concerning Bara no Morris!"
"Eh?" Kiko blinked at him baffled. "You—you want to compete against us? No way."
"What? Scared?"
Kiko glared at him devilishly and said, "Far from it. You're on! We're not going to lose to you!"
"Same thing here!"
Kiko and the Morris cosplayer turned on their heels and walked off. As she reached her group she clenched her fist and grinded her teeth in frustration.
She had decided to sign up for the competition before they had made the bet, and she knew she and her friends would win first place, but now they had a fight on their hands. How dare they make a good giraffe costume.
Suddenly a physically weak teddy bear walked past her and her friends. Her eyes sparkled at its cuteness as she muttered, "So… so cute."
Her body tensed and punched the teddy bear, sending him skidding on the floor, as his face morphed into Golgo Thirteen. "BUT WHAT THE HELL IS IT!!"
"AHHH!! What the hell?" the teddy bear growled.
----
Misaki and her colleagues entered the anime convention feeling sheepish, especially Saitou and Kouno. Misaki was dressed as Hinata, Saitou portraying Choji, and Kouno dressed as Kiba from Naruto Shippuden.
"Why do I have to dress in this?" Kouno asked. "It's embarrassing for guys, and this make-up hides my handsome features."
"Be lucky you got someone skinny, I have to pose as a fat guy," complained Saitou.
"Both of you shut it and keep your eyes open," demanded Misaki.
"At least it's not embarrassing for you since it's casual for women to cosplay, Chief. And also you got a good one."
"Don't call me Chief! And do you think these contact lenses are easy to wear?"
"Sorry, Chief, eh, Misaki-san. Maybe we'll get lucky and BK201 will come roaming around here."
"What makes you think he's coming here?" Kouno asked. "You think he's going to walk passed us saying, 'Here I am?'"
"Here I am!" shouted someone.
They turned around and saw a person dressed in a trench coat wearing a white mask. Saitou and Kouno stared at him shocked, and then stormed over to throw him onto the ground.
"You're under arrest!" they shouted, as Saitou slapped on the cuffs.
"Oi, what the heck!" shouted the masked man. "Get off me!"
Saitou and Kouno picked up him smiling with glee. Misaki crossed her arms while shaking her head, knowing it couldn't be this easy to capture the infamous Black Reaper. Saitou removed the mask to show who the person was. Saitou and Kouno looked on shocked, as Misaki smacked her forehead.
"Matsumoto, you're BK201?" Saitou asked.
"Of course not!" he shouted. "This is my wife's costume! She's a big Gackt fan and loves the Luna outfit. When she heard I was going to the convention she made me wear this, and unfortunately it's a little too tight around the waist. Now get these cuffs off me!"
Saitou and Kouno frowned, as Saitou removed the cuffs. They then noticed people were taking pictures of them.
"Oh, how awesome!" shouted a girl dressed in a Gravitation outfit. "Naruto and Gackt yaoi!"
Saitou, Kouno and Matsumoto cringed. Misaki sighed; knowing today was going to be a long one.
"All right, that's enough," she said. "Let's get going."
The Foreign Affairs began to walk through the convention, as they scanned the area for any unusual behavior.
"Oi, where's Ootsuka, Matsumoto?" Kouno asked. "I thought she was coming with you?"
"She went off on her own," said Matsumoto.
"What, why?" Misaki asked while looking over her shoulder.
"Something about getting to the booths and getting her hands on the good stuff."
---
Ootsuka, dressed as Onihime from Bleach, ran from booth to booth, starting with Bara no Morris, and running through Naruto, Bleach, Gravitation, Vampire Knight, Katekyo Hitman Reborn, and many others, already racking up in little trinkets to fit in her little apartment.
She was excited about today's event, and she was overwhelmed that she was able to get here early thanks to her work. Every time she arrived later in the day, all the good shokugan, (sophisticated miniature figures sold with sweets,) were gone.
Today was like a holiday for her, and she wasn't going to miss the chance to get what she wanted.
----
Huang sat on a bench in the mist of the crowd. He was dressed as the Dwarf, Ghim, from Record of Lodoss War. He hated wearing the outfit, but he had no choice. He already had been asked if people could take his picture. Huang moaned, but let them take their shots.
A few young girls giggled at him, and muttered, "Isn't he a little too old?"
His jaw line tightened at the comment. He hoped Hei was wearing his costume and experiencing the same shame he was feeling.
"We're here, Huang," said Mao into his earpiece.
"You see anything?" he asked in his cardboard axe.
"Not in the halls," said Mao.
"What about Hei? Does he see any thing?"
"I don't see anything around the booths," said Hei
"Eh, aren't you two together?" Huang asked, as his eyes slanted.
"No, we got separated," said Mao. "Security said in no way I could be allowed in. One: because I'm a real cat, and two: the Anime Hei is dressed up in doesn't have a cat as a companion."
"What? What is he dressed as, himself?"
"A character with yellow hair and blue eyes," said Hei.
Huang snorted and said, "Keep looking. The sooner we find the person, the sooner we can get out of these clothes."
----
Mao hid in the shadows, jumping and walking along the I-beams to keep out of view of the cosplayers. There were so many, mostly girls, dressed in flashy outfits, or skimpy ones. In his days as a human, he would have drooled at the sight of them, but being a Contractor and a cat he didn't give them a second look.
Suddenly he noticed a girl dressed in what looked to be a black hip length witch's outfit that had cut off sleeves with draped fabrics, black knee length boots, and a brim hat that was bent and circular at the top. Her hair was dyed purple and she wore yellow contact lenses. Mao awed at her for a second, but shook it away as he remembered those dreadful days back in spring.
He continued jumping from one triangle beam to the next while keeping an eye out. A familiar brown cowboy hat and brown coat caught his attention. He gazed down at it, causing his hair to stand on end, as sweat poured down his face.
"You've got to be kidding!" said Mao. "Why is that idiot here?"
"What, Mao?" Hei asked.
"That stupid detective is here!"
"What?" Huang shouted.
"Are you sure, it might be a cosplayer that looks like him," said Hei.
"It's him. After having his face stuffed before mine, I'll never forget it."
"He's probably lost."
"He's not leaving. In fact, he's checking out faces to see if they match a picture he's holding."
If the day they were having could get any worse, it did with him showing up. If that moron spotted Hei, he'd be following him left and right while wondering why he was here. That idiot of a detective would somehow think Hei was apart of his case, if it weren't already.
---
After hours looking for the place, and getting lost, Gai arrived at the cosplay convention. He looked around the area for the person he was supposed to stalk. He couldn't believe a bunch of people would waste their time dressing up like fictional characters. It was ridiculous and embarrassing.
"Look at that guy," said a girl wearing a black kimono. She had shoulder length black hair with a strand hanging between her blue eyes, and had a made-up Japanese sword on her left side. "I think he's dressed as that detective from Lupin the third."
"No, no, Sven from Black Cat," said another girl wearing the same outfit. However, she had spiky orange hair, and a huge sword wrapped up in white cloth behind her back.
"Idiot! Sven wore white. Perhaps the detective from DN Angel."
"Now who's the idiot? He never wore a hat!"
Gai frowned at them while scanning the halls for his client's boyfriend.
A girl wearing school clothes headed in the opposite direction, She had black eyeliner, her black hair came down to her shoulders—a few strands dyed purple that hung in front of her right eye like a lighting bolt—and blood red lipstick on her lips. Her face was powdered in white, which made her have a ghostly look to her.
Riku, from the fan-fiction Sentimental Black Reaper, held up a victory sign, and smiled gleefully at making a cameo appearance.
---
Ootsuka continued her rampage through the booth. She had two bags full of shokugan, mangas, and a few DVD sets. She had hit the jackpot today. She had never gotten this much stuff before due to work. Ootsuka hoped Contractors would continue to try to have meetings at cosplay conventions in the future.
A teddy bear walked past her. She looked over at it, her eyes sparkling and said, "So… so cute." Her body tensed and socked it to send it flying into a booth and knocked things over. "BUT WHAT THE HELL IS IT?"
"AHHH!! Son of a BEE…!" it growled
---
Kiko roamed around the place depressed, but cheered up as she posed for pictures. They had signed up for the competition behind their opponents. She was furious that they had good costumes. Kiko had spent hours, days, and weeks working on the costumes to get them perfect.
She noticed there were more fans taking pictures of them instead of her group. She cursed at them. Kiko began to walk around the store booths burning red hot, ignoring the different shokugan, as she pondered on how to stomp out the competition.
Suddenly a familiar collarbone caught her attention. Her eyes shot around as they sparkled with delight and her anger disappeared.
"It's him!" she chimed.
Li Shengshun wore a Naruto Shippuden outfit with his zipper down and his hair dyed yellow. He was walking in a different direction in which she followed. She pushed and shoved her way through cosplayers; irritating them as they dropped their bags and feared one of their items had been crushed.
Kiko fell farther behind her dream man. He turned a corner in which Kiko fought her way over. When she rounded it, her prey was lost in the crowd.
"AH!! Is this day going to get any better?" she screamed.
----
Misaki walked around the place, eyeing fans to see if they were acting suspicious. A few times her and her colleagues were stopped to have their pictures taken, which began to get on her nerves. Many J-rock fans kept on swarming around Matsumoto.
She wondered if they would be able to find the Contractors in time before they went ballistic. She didn't think so, not in this crowd, and being stopped every ten minutes didn't make things any easier. Misaki, Saitou and Kouno were invited to a group section where all the Naruto cosplayers were getting together for a big photo shoot. They were also told they should sign up for the competition since their costumes were perfect.
Misaki and her team didn't have any free time for fooling around, which reminded her she had to lecture Ootsuka for running off on her own.
Suddenly she bumped into a man wearing an orange suit, causing him to drop the stuff he was carrying while losing his balance. He tumbled forwards, and pulled her down with him to fall on top of her. Misaki looked up to stare into blue eyes while Li looked down at her flabbergasted.
Cameras flashed around them, which told Misaki that Naruto fans were trying to get as many shots of them as they could.
"Ki—Kirihara… san?" Li asked baffled.
Misaki couldn't speak, as she noticed his partial exposed collarbone and chest centimeters from her breast. A three-piece crystal necklace wrapped around his neck lay on her chest. Her heart pounded twice as fast as it should while her blood sizzled to the boiling point, making her face burn blood red.
Li—Li-kun? She said to herself
Suddenly she found herself passing out.
----
Amber moseyed around the convention cosplaying as little Medusa from Soul Eater. She knew of an attack concerning two organizations, but she didn't care about that since she was here to hire someone from them. She also figured Hei and the Syndicate would be here too. It was a risk she was taking being present, but she needed the woman for her purpose.
"Oh, Medusa!" shouted a girl dressed as Niwa from DN Angel.
Amber posed to let the fan take a picture of her. She bowed and took off into the crowd. A group wearing Bara no Morris caught Amber's attention. She followed them to a room that had a reserved sign in front of it and peeked in. Amber saw the Bara no Morris cosplayers talking with people dressed as Malice Mizer. Amber smiled as she recognized the woman she was looking for dressed as Mana.
"So what's the deal?" the person dressed as Morris asked.
"We plan on putting the convention in a hostage situation," said the cosplayer posing as Mana. "That way we can show the world Contractors exist."
"I'm fine with it, but we wait until after the competition."
"Wait after the competition? Why?"
"We need to beat a flat-chested little girl and her friends."
"I don't like waiting. We are in a position to get the party going. We're not waiting until after you beat some human."
"If we win, I'll give you twenty percent of the prize."
Mana stared at the Morris cosplayer. She crossed her arms and said, "Forty percent."
"Thirty."
"All right, we'll wait, but it better not be all day."
The Contractors headed for the door, which Amber decided to run away from it. She needed to find Yin so that she could warn Hei and have him cause a diversion for her.
----
November Eleven entered the convention looking depressed. He was in town for something that was going on with EPR. He was also ordered to give Misaki and her colleagues a hand today, which required him to dress up for the occasion, along with April and July.
April was cosplaying as a woman wrapped in bandages named Nygus, and July was posing as a person called Crona from Soul Eater. November Eleven dressed like someone called Kakashi from Naruto. He disliked having to have his left eye covered with his bandana, and what made matters worse was that MI-6 had forced him to wear a red contact lens in his eye as well. He frowned at having to pose for pictures since he wanted to get the mission over with and leave the building.
He wondered what Misaki was forced to dress in. No doubt she wasn't having fun, and probably forming wrinkles while worrying about capturing the culprits.
Suddenly he noticed a little girl wearing a black hood with snake sleeves walking around barefoot. He smiled devilishly.
"What is it?" April asked.
"I found February," replied November Eleven, as he pointed towards her.
April followed his finger. Her eyes flinched in surprise at recognizing Amber. They began following her while trying to keep their distance in the crowd.
---
Yin had her finger in her cup of water to watch Hei trying to wake up a woman who had fainted. Occasionally she would scan the area for threats that might be forming, but she had no luck. To her it was like trying to find a needle in a haystack.
Her friend Kiko was miserably roaming around hoping to find Hei, but she was nowhere near where he was, which in her opinion was a good thing. Yin didn't know how Kiko would take it if she saw him with another woman.
Suddenly she spotted the MI-6 agents, and then noticed Amber. Amber stopped rampaging through the crowd as she saw her spectre. She smiled at it and gestured her to follow her to a secluded area.
"Kiko, I have to use the toilet," said Yin.
"Eh, really?" Kiko asked. "I'll guide you."
"It's all right, I can find my way. I'll catch up later."
"All right, don't be late for the competition. It starts in a few hours from now." Kiko clenched her fist, as her eyes burned with fury, and twirled around on her heels to strike a pose. "We just have to beat that Bara no Morris group."
Everybody around them awed at her performance.
Yin nodded and headed off on her own. She cautiously walked amongst the crowds, stopping occasionally to let someone snap a picture of her, and met up with Amber moments later. They continued walking, as Amber kept her eyes forward so that the MI-6 agents thought she was merrily a cosplayer.
"I'll make this quick," said Amber. She told Yin what she had heard.
"Do you know where they plan to attack?" Yin asked.
"No." Amber shook her head. "Find Hei and tell him what I had told you."
"All right," nodded Yin.
She turned down a hallway, expecting to be followed by one of the agents, but she wasn't. She hurried on back to meet up with Hei.
---
Misaki's senses began to wake as she heard commotions rampaging around her, but she couldn't understand what was being said. Her mind was swarming with embarrassment from passing out concerning a trivial thing. However, she wouldn't have expected to bump into Li and have him fall on top of her.
Suddenly things started to clear for her to where she heard muttering from people, and then began to make out Saitou's voice, as he said, "Misaki-san, Misaki-san?"
She slowly opened her eyes to see his face. She turned to her right to see a dozen Li's, as if he had done Kage Bunshin no Jutsu. She rubbed at her eyes to make them focus, and then looked back at Li to see his other selvesdrawing into one being. He wasstaring at her looking concerned in which made her blush slightly.
"Kirihara-san, are you all right?" Li asked.
"Ye—yes," she squeaked in a high-pitched tone, surprising her that she had gotten that high.
"Oh, she sounded like Hinata!" said someone in the crowd gathered around her. "Can you do that again so I can record it?"
Misaki frowned at the comment. She was more embarrassed now than when she had been at Alice's party wearing the Chinese dress.
"Oi, can we give her some room here!" demanded Saitou.
Everybody around them moaned and walked off. Li held out his hand to help her up in which she took, causing goose bumps to form on her arm, and send a shiver down her spin. Misaki stood and found her eyes staring into his again, which caused her to avert them as her cheeks burned red.
"What are you doing here, Li-kun?" Saitou asked.
"I'm working in one of the booths two rows over," smiled Li.
"Really?" Misaki questioned while looking back at him. Her voice still had a high pitch sound, which made her clear her throat. "I—ah… I wouldn't have guessed you were into this?"
"I'm not. I'm just helping. They made me wear this outfit to fit in. I take it you're into this stuff."
"Eh, sort of."
"We're in…" began Saitou.
"Saitou!" barked Kouno and Matsumoto.
Saitou frowned while looking embarrassed.
"Well, I'm glad you're feeling all right," said Li. "I have to get back to work."
"Of—of course," smiled Misaki.
Li smiled at them while waving and walked off. Misaki watched him until he disappeared into the crowd. She sighed heavily to extinguish some of her nerves, as her heartbeat slowed down. What a day she was experiencing, and she was grateful Kanami wasn't around to tease her about it.
----
Hei walked away from Misaki and headed back to where he was working. He couldn't believe she and her colleagues were around. With them present it meant that his job at stopping the cosplayers was going to be ten times harder, like it had at Alice's party. He had everything set up to take out Alice, but Misaki had to show up.
Although apart of him was happy that had happened. She was attractive, especially in the Chinese dress. He had been lucky she had met him that night, if she hadn't she would have thought he was BK201 in the clothing store.
He shrugged off the thought. Now wasn't the time for him to get distracted. He was here to do one thing, and he was going to get it done as soon as he could.
Suddenly he noticed Yin standing amongst the crowd. She gestured for him to follow her, which he complied. They entered an emergency staircase and stood in a corner.
"What is it, Yin?" Hei asked.
"I found the intruders," said Yin, and then gave him the description of what they were wearing.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes," nodded Yin.
Hei gazed at her for a second, and then said into his mike, "Mao, Huang, you get that?"
"Yes," they responded.
---
Kiko and her big-breasted friend headed for the competition. They were half there when they ran into Yin.
"Ready to kick those guy's butts," said Kiko. Yin and her big-breasted friend nodded. "Okay, let's get going!"
They marched down the halls with Kiko in the lead and her nose stuck up in the air. She felt they would crush their competition. Her attention shifted to a teddy bear gathered in the crowd. She awed at it, as it began to sweat.
"So… so cute," said Kiko and her big-breasted friend. "But…?" They cocked their arms back and smashed its face between their fists. "…WHAT THE HELL IS IT?"
"AHHH!! What the fu…?"
Kiko's big-breasted friend kicked it across the face.
---
Gai was getting furious with people asking who he was and from what anime. To get them off his case he had said Sven from Black Cat.
"Oh, you did a terrible job!" said two girls.
They were dressed in school outfits. Their shirt was white with red line along the sailor-style collar, and a red vest. The skirts were brown and had a white line with an upside-down V-shape in the center.
The tallest girl and long brown hair with a ribbon tide on the back, and the other girl had shoulder length red hair.
"Obviously you're not a fan," said the brown-haired girl.
He moaned while continuing to gaze around the place. He drooled at the sight of a girl with long blond hair wearing a skimpy armor suit and pointy ears.
"Deedlit!" a girl yelled to her. She was dressed in a white and blue maids outfit, and blue hair with two strands sticking outwards like antennas.
His eyes trailed onto a girl dressed in a schoolgirl outfit under a robe with a lion patch and a red and gold scarf. She had long and curly brown hair, and she held a stick in her right hand.
"Oi, Hermione!" a boy shouted while pointing at the girl.
Suddenly he had a terrible nosebleed, as he fell to the ground after seeing a girl with yellow hair tide into two ponytails, whiskers drawn on her face, and blue eyes posing for a bunch of guys. She only wore made up smoke around her private parts.
"The hottest Haaremu no Justu ever," said a boy.
"I love Naruto's Naked Woman Jutsu," said another boy.
Gai shoved two pieces of tissue paper up his nose and began to think this anime stuff wasn't half-bad. Perhaps girls were using cosplay as some way to take over the world, and maybe they were the so-called monsters people had mentioned seeing.
Suddenly he saw the One Piece characters he was paid to stalk. He awed and drooled at the sight of Nico Robin.
Gai ran over to her while pulling out his phone.
"Ex—excuse!" he babbled. "C—can I get a picture?"
"Sure," they said.
The Luffy character put his left hand on his shoulder while darling back his right fist, as Nico Robin struck a sexy pose, and Sanji lifted up his leg for a kicking stance.
"W—wait, only the girl."
Luffy and Sanji looked at him startled and then frowned while stepping aside. Gai took his pictured, ran over to a corner, and drooled at it some more. He chuckled to himself, but then realized why he was here, and turned around to see his prey and the hot girl were gone.
His face and featured imitated the Scream painting as he yelled, "NNNNOOOOO!!"
----
Huang and Mao spent two hours looking around for the culprits, but they couldn't find them. The costume competition was drawing near, which Huang figured they could spot them there, and headed over to it.
He cursed concerning about how many anime fans had signed up and how many different categories there were. Huang was dumbstruck that someone had dressed up as Mahha Go Go Go. He had used to watch that program when he was kid, and believed the Americans renamed it Speed Racer.
After so many different competitors, including Yin's group, one of the organizations they were looking for appeared on stage. The audience awed at the sight of them, as Yin's friend burned with fury.
"You got them, Hei?" Huang asked.
"Yes, I got their appearance memorized," replied Hei through the earpiece.
Unexpectedly the doors to the competition room burst in. A group dressed up as Malice Mizer appeared. The one dressed as Mana highlighted in blue and shot a rubber band into the ceiling to make it explode. The spectators gasped.
"This is a hostage situation!" shouted Mana.
"Oi, I said after, not when we're on stage!" shouted cosplayer Morris.
"We didn't feel like waiting. Everybody on the floor!"
The audience looked around confused concerning the situation. Mana noticed their expression, which made her furious, and aimed another rubber band upwards.
"Wait one second!" shouted someone, stopping her. She and everybody else gazed around the place to see who had spoken. "Up here!"
The audience looked up to see a guy dressed in a black tank top, white heavy pants with spiky light blue hair, and a star on his right shoulder. He stared down at them from on top of a backdrop while his arms were crossed.
"I, Sakurai, dressed as the great Black Star, will teach you to interfere with the competition, especially when I'm next!" he said.
"Oh, ho, ho, ho!" laughed a woman on the other side of the backdrop.
She was dressed in a skimpy leather outfit that barley covered her feature. She had a skull over her breast, spike shoulder blades, and long purple hair. All the guy's eyes bulged out of their socket and drooled.
"You are so naïve when it comes to posing and making an entrance," she said while pointing at Sakurai. "I, posing as Naga the White Serpent, will teach you the right way."
"Posing is nothing unless you have Justice behind you!" shouted someone else above them.
Everybody looked up higher. Mana gazed up irritated from the cosplayers interrupting her interruption. Their eyes gazed at a young girl dressed in white with what looked to be her father beside her dressed in white. She pointed her index finger down at the Naga woman while her fingerprint burned red.
"I, Rika, and my father, representing the Seyruun Royal family, will show everyone how justice prevails!"
Mana glared up at them angrily. This was her moment to shine. How dare they steal the spotlight from her?
Suddenly the power went out. She looked around shocked and knew things had gone from bad to worse.
----
Misaki's mind swirled around with the situation concerning Li. She had let her guard down again, and she had made a complete idiot of herself. No doubt right now some of the fans are E-mailing pictures to their friends, and then by tomorrow the whole world will see it. Misaki hoped her father wouldn't come across the pictures.
"Eh, Misaki-san, you all right?" Saitou asked.
She turned her attention towards him to see he was looking at her worried.
"Yes, I'm fine, Saitou," she replied. "Notice anything yet?"
"Nope. Nothing seems out of the ordinary, and we have only four hours left until things start shutting down."
Misaki nodded. Suddenly the power went out. Misaki gazed around, waiting for the back-up system to kick in, but it never clicked on. Saitou, Kouno, Matsumoto, as well as everyone else, looked around puzzled at what had happened.
"Ah? A picture I took is no good!" said someone cosplaying as Tsuna from Katekyo Hitman Reborn. "One more take with the flash on."
Misaki felt a disturbing feeling enter the pit of her stomach, and knew whom to blame for the power outage.
"What's with the power loss? Blown fuse?" Saitou questioned.
Her phone rang in which she pulled it out of her purse and answered it.
"Misaki…" began Kanami.
"BK201 is active around the cosplay convention," finished Misaki.
"Yes, how'd you know?"
"He just knocked out the power here."
"EH??" shouted Kouno, Saitou and Matsumoto.
"Seriously? Misaki, get out of there!"
"Not without arresting him first," said Misaki. "I'll talk to you later."
She hung up her phone and returned it to her purse.
"Why would he be here?" Saitou asked.
Misaki sighed at his intelligence for not figuring out the obvious answer.
"The same reason we're here," she informed. "The question is; where is he?"
A girl dressed as Rin Ogata from Rideback came running up to a group of Hare and Guu cosplayers looking ecstatic.
"Oi, you got to see this, everybody is going crazy!" she shouted, and then blabbered what was going on in the competition room.
Misaki's eyes shook from shock and ran over to the girl while placing her arms on her shoulders.
"Are you sure?" she asked.
The girl looked at her confused and then nodded while saying, "Yes."
Misaki glanced over at her comrades and said, "Saitou, Kouno, Matsumoto, were going to check it out."
----
Gai searched high and low for the boyfriend. Two hours, fifty-five minutes and one second later he found them. He continued stalking them, hiding behind plants, pots, and cosplayers who looked at him peculiarly.
Suddenly the power went out in which Gai bumped and fell on top of someone. He was going to stand up, but his hand instead grabbed something round and soft. Gai stared down to see a girl with pink short hair, and wore a red head bandana with a circular pointy insignia dressed in a red ninja outfit.
He blushed, but then stood as he waved his hand in apology. The girl stood while holding a sign with a drawing of an angry outlined anime character. The writing next to it said, "Sakura's inner thoughts." The girl clenched her right gloved fist, cocked it back, and socked Gai in the face to send him flying down the hallway.
"Damn pervert!" yelled the Sakura cosplayer.
He slammed into a guy that had silver spike hair and a blue bandana with the same insignia as the girl, and knocked him to the ground. The silver-haired man stood and looked around.
"Damn. You see where Amber went off to?" he asked a bandaged woman standing next to a boy.
Gai thought the kid was a boy, but with him wearing a dress he wasn't too sure.
"I lost sight of her when you got knocked into," replied the woman.
"Amber?" said Gai, as he stood. "How interesting? I take it that's her name."
"I beg your pardon?" the silver-haired man asked. "Are you with some organization that is looking for her too?"
"Organization? Do you want to hire her to organize something?"
The silver-haired man and the bandage woman looked at him baffled.
"What are you blabb…?" began the silver-haired man.
"I got it! You're trying to organize a way to break up my client and her boyfriend. I won't let you get away with it!"
The silver-haired man tilted his head curiously and asked, "Who are you?"
"Kurasawa Gai, Private eye detective. I was hired to follow my client's boyfriend and see if he is cheating on her." The silver-haired man straightened out his posture, as he narrowed his eyes. Suddenly he began to chuckle. "What's so funny?"
"Obviously you're not a good detective. Oi, she's right behind you."
Gai turned around to see a bunch of people watching them. He then looked back to see the silver-haired man was gone. He didn't remember where, but he had a funny feeling of Déjà vu.
----
Mana looked around frightened from the blackout. Everything had gone wrong because the cosplayers had thought the situation was an act. She should have known better than to make a statement at a cosplay convention. Even with the power knocked out the audience still thought everything was part of the show.
The Seyruun cosplayers and Naga the White Serpent were pretend fighting against the Black Star moron. The stupid audience cheered in excitement as they took pictures of the whole fiasco.
"Oh, ho, ho, ho!" laughed the Naga woman. "Give it up, boy. You are still too young to duel in a match like this."
"That's right," said the Seyruun girl named Amelia, as she turned around to point. "With the hammer of Justice, we will smite the evilness out of you."
"Succumb to reason and give into pacifies," said the father.
"With Tsubaki in my hand, I won't lose on my grand stage performance!" said Black Star.
This had gone too far. Mana may be a Contractor, but she knew what being pissed off felt like, and it was boiling her blood to the exploding point.
Suddenly someone recoiled from the ceiling and landed in the mist of the audience. Everybody turned to face him. He wore a white mask that had a lightening bolt on it and a black trench coat.
"HEH, NO WAY!!" shouted the pink girl dressed as Morris. "The masked man from Mayu mayu's Morris Night story!"
"HEH, NO WAY!!" shouted half of the audience.
"Crap, the Black Reaper!" shouted Mana. She looked at her colleagues on stage. "Guys, get out of here!"
They looked at her perplexed. BK201 ran on stage, as they readied themselves while turning blue. The guy dressed as Morris threw a rock, which BK201dodged as it exploded. He ran up to throw him to the ground and electrocuted him. BK201 moved out of the way of a silhouette knife and knocked out the Goro cosplayer. Suddenly he fell to his knees while grabbing at his left chest, as the cosplayer wearing the front section of the giraffe started crushing his heart. BK201 threw his wire to wrap it around the cosplayer's neck, and electrocuted him. The cosplayer controlling the back end of the giraffe started to highlight in blue, but he wasn't quick enough to perform his ability, as a double-edge blade struck his heart.
Mana's own colleagues charged at him, which made her yell, "You idiots!"
The Black Reaper jumped into the crowd, and he began fighting her men head on. Her colleagues gave a good performance, but they were no match against his speed, and they were knocked out within seconds.
The audience was going ecstatically insane now, as they cheered on BK201 and took pictures. Mana frowned and decided to run for the door.
Unfortunately BK201 was right on her tail.
---
Misaki entered the Atrium to hear the audience screaming with enthusiasm while chattering, "The Masked Hero!" Groups of people were lying on the stage and on the floor, and she knew BK201 was behind the monstrosity.
Saitou, Kouno and Matsumoto ran over to the knocked out Contractors, pushing cosplayers aside, and began surveying the scene. Misaki tried to talk with two girls dressed as James Potter and Lily Evans, but they and everybody else were too much into the whole fiasco.
"It seems Mr. 201BK did our work at capturing the culprits," said November Eleven behind her.
Misaki jumped, and looked back to blink at his, April and July's costume.
"Wha—what are you three doing here?" she asked.
"It doesn't matter. What matters is 201BK. I saw him bolting out of here to the right. We'll help your friends; you go handle him."
Misaki nodded and ran out of the room.
----
Mana pushed and shoved her way through the crowd, causing a few of them to curse or use an improper hand gesture. She barged into a dimly lit and empty area while breathing heavily.
"Things didn't go your way?" a girl asked behind her.
She turned around to see a girl with orange eyes. She wore a white yukata and had short black hair with bangs. Someone dressed in Alphonse's armor suit from Fullmetal Alchemist stood to her right and, to Mana's surprise, the Naga woman was standing to her left.
"You!" she said while pointing at Naga. "You ruined my hostage situation!"
"I had ordered her to do so," said the girl.
"You?" Mana asked. "Who are you so I know who I am going to kill?"
"You won't get the chance," said the Alphonse cosplayer, as he raised his left hand.
"Amagiri," said Amber, as she stepped in front of him to pull down his arm. She looked over at Mana. "My name's Amber."
Mana stared at her for a second before saying, "You're not Amber. Amber has green hair.
"I'm cosplaying as a girl named Saya," she said while pulling off the wig and then putting it back on. "I was posing as someone else, but I had to change due to November recognizing me."
Mana narrowed her eyes. She had no idea who November was, but she could care less.
"What do you want?" Mana asked.
"I want you to join us," said Amber. "Help us take down the Syndicate, and I promise to expose ourselves to humans."
"And if I refuse?"
"We go on our separate ways."
Mana's right eyelid rose and said, "That's it? You aren't going to try to kill me?"
Amber shook her head in response. Mana stared down at the floor and thought for a few seconds on the proposal.
"All right," she said, as she looked back up at her.
Amber smiled with delight. Suddenly her attention shifted behind Mana. Mana turned around and saw BK201 behind them. She readied herself for a duel, but Amber grabbed her hand to stop her.
"You're welcome to join too, Hei," she said.
"I refuse!" shouted BK201.
"Hei, I will tell you everything if you'll come with me."
BK201 ignored her proposal and threw a knife at her, forcing Mana to knock Amber out of its path and shoot a rubber band. BK201 tried to turn away from it, but it struck the corner of his mask, and shattered it. BK201 threw his wire to wrap it around Mana's wrist, causing the armor man to hold out his palm and shoot a wave to snap the line. BK201 and Mana stumbled backwards.
"Britta, get her out of here," ordered Amber to the Naga cosplayer.
"Right," said Britta.
She kissed Mana on the cheek and disappeared with her while leaving their clothes behind.
Amagiri shot another wave at BK201 in which he rolled out of its path and threw a knife. Amagiri destroyed it with his ability. He then aimed upwards and pulverized the ceiling to have it crash down on Hei.
"Amber, we need to get out of here," stated Amagiri.
Amber nodded and followed him out of the room. Hei struggled to push off the debris, but it was too heavy, and thought he was going to be trapped for eternity. Suddenly someone grabbed his arm and pulled him free. He looked to see who had saved him and stared at Yin puzzled.
"Why'd you help me?" he asked.
"You had saved my life from the I-beams," she replied.
Hei looked at her baffled for a second before smiling and said, "Thank you, Yin."
He was about to run after Amber, but Yin grabbed his arm to stop him.
"Hei, please don't kill her," said Yin.
Hei stared at her lost for words. What had Amber told her that day at the shrine? Surprisingly Yin let go of his arm. Hei shook away his thoughts and ran out of the room to pursue Amber.
---
Misaki looked around the place but saw no signs of BK201. She noticed a metal suit running with a girl dressed in a white yukata at the corner of her eye, but she ignored it until someone stormed by in a black trench coat. Misaki realized the person wasn't wearing a mask.
She ran down the hall and turned the corner. There was only a couple talking about the convention near a window.
"Oi, did you see where those people were running towards?" Misaki asked the couple.
The guy had red hair pulled back into a ponytail and an X-mark on his left cheek. He wore a blue kimono, white hakama, and a made-up Japanese sword on his left side. The girl was dressed in a white Kimono, wrapped up in a blue and red sash. She had long black hair with bangs that was held back with a red tie.
Misaki recognized them as Kenshin and Tomoe.
"You mean the Fullmetal Alchemist guy, and the Saya and Train cosplayers?" the guy asked.
"We tried to stop them and get their pictures, but they kept on running that way," said the girl, as she pointed down the hallway.
"Thank you," said Misaki.
She charged down the hallway, hoping to catch up with them.
---
Hei was surprised he had caught up with Amber and figured it was because the armored man was slowing her down. They ran out onto a parking garage floor and charged up the emergency staircase. Hei followed as the armored man shot his wave down at him to destroy the stairs. He jumped the gap, galloped up a few more floors, and charged out onto the garage's roof.
The metal man sent another wave to rip off Hei's coat. Hei threw a blade, which made the metal man snort at the trick while blasting it, but he didn't realize there was a second blade, and quickly held up his arm to shield his face. He also noticed the wire connected to the hilt and ripped the blade out before being electrocuted. Hei whipped his wire around and sent it at Amber, but the blond naked woman appeared in front of it to have it stab the back of her left shoulder.
Hei sent a volt through the wire, but missed the woman as she teleported away Amber and the metal man. He cursed while glaring down at the kimono and armor left behind.
The door behind him burst opened. Misaki stepped onto the roof behind him and pointed her gun at his back. She was persistent at getting her man.
"Don't move!" she ordered.
Hei raised his hand, but then flung his connected blade and wire to stick it into a car, and used his ability to blow it up. Misaki shielded her eyes from the flash of light. She was engulfed by a thick layer of smog and coughed while waving her hand, as Hei flew off with smoke trailing behind him.
Misaki ran over to the edge and pointed her gun at him, but he was already out of her range. She sighed at him continuously slipping through her fingers, and cursed at only getting his back view. How it was so similar to Li's.
----
Outside the convention hall, dozens of cosplayers were posing for group pictures. An explosion sounded and shook the ground, causing them to look around and wonder where it had originated.
Suddenly a black figure flew by with what looked like wings on his back and disappeared behind a building structure.
"Ah, that was Dark Mousy from DN Angel!" shouted a guy wearing an Edward Elric costume from Fullmetal Alchemist.
"No way?" said a girl dressed as Winry Rockbell.
----
The day was ending and Gai had no clue where to find his client's boyfriend. Perhaps they had run off home after the power outage. Maybe they had caught on to Gai following them and used it to lose him?
He sighed and exited the building to light a cigarette. Many fans were still hanging around the place trying to get in a last few pictures. He had enough of it. If he had another cosplayer ask who he was pretending to be, he would say himself.
Suddenly he caught sight of the One Piece cosplayers leaving the building. Gai narrowed his eyes and began to follow them. He wondered where they were going at this late hour.
They came up to a subway entrance, descended the stairs, and stepped onto the platform. Gai took cover behind a pillar and peeked around it to keep his eyes on them.
"All right, that's enough!" shouted the Luffy cosplayer. "I know you've been following us all day! Show yourself!"
Gai freaked as sweat poured down his face. How did they realize he was following them? It must have been from his body odor.
He stepped out from behind the pillar while straightening his hat and glared at them. He was a private eye, and he was going to get the truth out of the Luffy cosplayer of why he was roaming around with another girl.
Gai opened his mouth to say something, as his client stepped between him and the cosplayers. The Sanji cosplayer's eyes transformed into hearts, as his mouth dropped.
"Nami-swan!" he chimed.
The Nico Robin cosplayer's eyes slanted, as her head tilted.
"Miyuki?" she asked.
Gai's body froze in fright, but shook it off so he could hide behind his pillar, and watch what was going on.
"When did you notice?" the girl asked.
"Since this morning," said the Robin cosplayer.
The Sanji cosplayer twirled on his toes over to Miyuki, and gazed into her eyes with his heart eyes, as he clasped his hands together.
"Miyuki-chwan, you wore Nami-swan's outfit!" he sweetly babbled. "How romantic!"
Miyuki's teeth grinded together, as she balled up her fist, and socked him to send him skidding across the platform and smash into the wall.
"Can you stop the act for one minute and tell me who she is!" she shouted while pointing at Luffy.
Gai looked on puzzled at why his client was pointing at the Luffy character and not at the hot woman.
"His cousin," said Nico Robin.
Suddenly Gai stepped out from his hiding place, pointed at Luffy, and said, "You've been dating your own cousin? Not to mention, a guy?"
"Who are you?" Luffy asked, as he crossed his arms and tilted his head curiously.
"Kurasawa Gai, private eye." He straightened his composure, closed his eyes, and tilted his head downward. "I don't condemn you two for being Yaoi, or that you two may have not known your heritage, but continuing your guys' relationship is wrong."
Luffy started to laugh.
"Very funny. Although, you got it all wrong," he said. "I'm a girl and I'm not dating him. If I were, I would have dressed up as Nico Robin and he would have gone as Luffy." She pointed with her thumb over her shoulder at the Nico Robin cosplayer.
Gai's body stiffened, as it turned white and his mouth dropped to the floor while snot drooped from his nose. He had had improper thoughts about a guy posing as a woman character.
"ARE YOU SERIOUS??" he yelled at the top of his lungs.
"Yes," nodded the Nico Robin cosplayer. He reached down his shirt and pulled out fake boobs. "I like to once in a while cross dress."
"AHH!! You still look so hot. I can't believe it. Maybe you got some small breast!"
"IDIOT!! Didn't you noticed his Adam's apple!" screamed Miyuki, her eyes burning white and her teeth sharp like a shark.
"EHH!!" Gai looked back at her baffled. "All this time I thought I was stalking a female character for you!"
"MORON!! Don't say something like that out loud!" Miyuki looked over at Luffy. "If you're his cousin, why didn't he tell me?"
"It wasn't important," smiled Luffy.
Miyuki glared at her devilishly and socked Luffy, having her plant her face on the ground and her butt sticking up in the air.
"Since that's settled," said Miyuki, as she dusted off her hands. She walked over to Gai and gave him the check. "As I promised."
Gai's eyes widened at the amount. Miyuki grabbed her boyfriend's collar, as the cross dresser took a hold of Luffy's, and dragged them onto the train. Within seconds it departed. Gai cheerfully walked up the stairs, as he hummed to himself, and headed towards the bank.
"Five hundred thousand yens," muttered Gai.
The things he was going to buy when he paid off his debts. No doubt he wasn't going to let Kiko touch any of the money since she didn't participate in the case.
Suddenly something on the check caught his attention.
"Five hundred thousand… beri?" stuttered Gai. "Beri…? BERI??
"NNNOOO!!"
---
Misaki stood before Hourai the next day. He sorted through the report she and her colleagues had written out, except Ootsuka who hadn't shown up for work yet. No doubt she had too much excitement and decided to take the day off. Unfortunately for her Misaki wasn't going to let her hear the end of it.
Hourai threw the report on his desk and looked up at Misaki.
"So the person behind the matter got away," said Hourai.
"Yes," nodded Misaki. "BK201 was there, as well as a few other Contractors. How are we going to wipe people's memory of what they had seen? Is there going to be a problem about the cost?"
"We're not going to bother with it. As it seems; the guests thought it was some kind of act."
"What?"
"It gets better. Apparently a production group is making an anime about it. I think the writers are known as 'bones.'"
Misaki sighed and thought, only in the cosplay world.
---
"Serious? The Syndicate is letting it be since people thought it was all an act?" Mao asked Huang.
"Ah, I'm just glad to be out of that costume and away from all that cartoon stuff," said Huang.
"Not cartoon, anime," replied Yin.
Huang looked at her displeased, and left while snorting, as he puffed on his cigarette. Mao watched him with his ears twitching until he disappeared behind a building. He turned his head around to look at Hei lying on the bench.
"Oi, Hei, are you upset Amber got away again?" Mao asked.
"Ah, she has answers and I want her to tell me without any of her games," said Hei.
"What are you planning to do if you see her again?"
Hei thought on it. His first instinct was to make her tell him what happened to Bai, and if she had anything to do with her disappearance, he would kill her. If she didn't, he didn't know what he would do.
"I take that as undecided," said Mao.
---
Gai sat in his chair thinking about the events at the convention. He knew there was something about the silver-haired man, but he didn't know what. Perhaps he was some kind of stalker hired by another private eye.
He grabbed his pack of smokes from his table, pulled out one to place it in his mouth, and threw the box back on his desk so he could light his cigarette.
As for his so-called case, he believed everything that had happened to him was all a hoax put on by Kiko to embarrass him in front of her friends. He wasn't going to let her get away with it. He figured of having her mop the floor, wipe the windows, and clean the couches for a week without pay.
The door burst opened, causing Gai to choke on his smoke, as Kiko stormed in holding a trophy and a check for ten thousands yens. She was smiling ear to ear, as her eyes shined as Yen signs.
"We got first place!" she shouted. She held out her right hand with a victory sign. "We beat those other morons with ease!"
Kiko skipped over at her desk, set the trophy down carefully, and sat in her chair. She stared at the check, as if she had found a pirate's lost treasure.
Gai glared at her displeased while puffing on his cigarette and said, "You only got it because your opponents were disqualified."
Kiko glared over at him angrily, stood from her chair, and bolted over to step on his foot.
"AHHHH!!"
----
Amber stood in the apartment they were renting as she gazed out at the city. Everything had gone according to how she had seen things. She was pleased about the private eye being around. If he wasn't, then she might have not gotten away from November Eleven and April.
Soon she would show November Eleven the truth concerning the Syndicate and MI-6. No doubt it would change his mind, but it was going to cost his life as well. At least it would solve one of her problems for later.
She wished Hei would side with her. If he was with them, then everything would go smoother for her.
---
The cosplay convention had ended for the season. The booth owners packed up their vehicles with stuff they hadn't sold, as cosplayers gathered for one last photo.
In front of it, a guy, wearing a Gintama outfit, was sitting on the stairs bummed.
"I thought my character was the one who was supposed to make fun of animes," he said. "This anime called Darker than Black took my spotlight."
"Your character, what about mine?" shouted a girl dressed as Excel. "My show was the greatest, but it only had twenty-six episodes. Yours has what, over one hundred now?"
"One-hundred fifty."
"Eh, whatever. I guarantee I can out perform you any day!" Excel began to skip across the parking lot towards the street. "Across, across, across, across," she sang.
She hopped onto the street and then a bus ran over her. Gintama blinked at the scene baffled and muttered, "No wonder why it didn't last."
"You're telling me," said the teddy bear cosplayer.
Gintama looked at it for a second. His eyes sparkled and said, "So… so cute?"
Kagura ran up to the teddy bear, and swung her umbrella to strike its face and send it air born, as two blood trails from its nose was left behind.
"BUT WHAT THE HELL IS IT??" she screamed.
The teddy bear flew over Tokyo Tower and slammed into Hell's Gate. Its mask fell off to show Eric Nishijima's mangled face. He began to peel from the wall and fell to the ground.
"AAAHHHH!! I give up! I tried to blend in with the cutest costume to spy on things, but I am instead beaten up by a bunch of cosplay maniacs! Next time I'm dressing up as Kisuke Urahara from Bleach."
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Names of Anime not named:
Excel: The Puchuus; a physically weak teddy bear. The teddy bear's face morphed into Golgo Thirteen.
Soul Eater: Blair; a black hip length witch's outfit that had cut off sleeves with draped fabrics, black knee length boots, and a brim hat that was bent and circular at the top. Her hair was dyed purple and she wore yellow contact lenses.
Bleach: Rukia; a girl wearing a black kimono. She had shoulder length black hair with a strand hanging between her blue eyes, and had a made-up Japanese sword on her left side.
Bleach: Ichigo; another girl wearing the same outfit. However, she had spiky orange hair, and a huge sword wrapped up in white cloth behind her back.
DN Angel: Riku and Risa; two girls were dressed in school outfits. Their shirt was white with red line along the sailor-style collar, and a red vest. The skirts were brown and had a white line with an upside-down V-shape in the center.
The tallest girl and long brown hair with a ribbon tide on the back, and the other girl had shoulder length red hair.
Mahoromatic: She was dressed in a white and blue maids outfit, and blue hair with two strands sticking outwards like antennas.
Naruto: Sakura; a girl with pink short hair, and wore red head bandana with a circular pointy insignia dressed in a red ninja outfit. Held a sign with a drawing of an angry outlined anime character with the writing next to it said, "Sakura's inner thoughts."