Since I'm not popular, I'll try cosplaying!

Tomoko Kuroki was an otaku. She read nothing but manga, she watched anime every chance she got and played video games like nobody's business. This, you think would make her a repeated convention attendee but you'd be wrong. You see, due to Tomoko's extreme shyness and tendency to stutter like a maniac when faced with something as simple as talking to another human being, she had yet to visit a convention. Not to mention that all of them took place in other cities and she had neither the guts nor money to travel. She'd asked her brother once if he'd take her but all she got out of the deal was a "Get out." and a door slammed in her face. Tomoko refused to blame herself for being pushy however and simply assumed that he was about to masturbate. He WAS a teenage boy after all; they could barely go a week without it.

Hence why Tomoko was very surprised when her best and only friend Yuu invited her to one.

"A video game convention?" Tomoko asked, laying like a log on her small, plush bed, her purple plush man-thing lying next to her like an equally lazy roommate. "Of course! Of course! I'd love to go!"

"Really?!" Yuu squealed eagerly. "That's great! It's next Saturday at the mall we like! They're going to announce when that new game will be released!"

The social outcast groaned. She remembered the mall Yuu was talking about. Last time she'd been there, she had picked out a pair of perfect pink panties to wear to school, only for her to expose them in the middle of class. Needless to say, said underwear was promptly torn apart next chance she got and thrown in the bin. 1,680 yen down the drain.

"And don't forget, it's cosplay!" Yuu continued, her voice pulling Tomoko kicking and screaming from her memories to reality.

"Don't worry! I'll remember!" Tomoko chuckled confidently, putting on an air of false courage. "Bye!" And with that, she turned off her phone before Yuu could say another word.

Now the plucky young woman was in a pickle. What was she going to wear? She could always wear her troll maid costume from that time in first year when her class did the cosplay café… But that wasn't from a game. Unless of course, she passed it off as being a boss from Touhou…

"Woah! Tomoko-chan looks so cute!" Squealed a fat, greasy otaku. Soon enough, a hoard of nerds surrounded the young girl, foul-smelling drool pouring from their mouths.

Deciding to give the perverts what they wanted, Tomoko gave an adorable little twirl and a girlish giggle.

"Oh, you like it? It's a boss from Touhou." She smiled, giving a little wink.

"NO, IT ISN'T!" Screamed a large, sweaty pig from some distance away, sprinting over with a large book. "This official guidebook has every boss in it and your costume doesn't match any of them!"

There was a long silence. Everyone stared at Tomoko for quite some time before pointing at her and chanting simultaneously.

"Liar! Fraud! Fake! Cheater!"

Tomoko tried to block out the noise. Her hands clamped as hard as they could over her small, delicate ears yet the horrible truth still managed to worm its way in...The accusations slid into her brain, ringing throughout her head…

She could almost hear the *Poof!* her mind made when her fantasy dissipated back into her subconscious.

Tomoko sighed and put the costume away into the messy abyss she called her closet.

Best not to risk it, she thought to herself. Some jerk who can't keep his mouth shut will ruin it for me

Folding her arms, she came to a conclusion: She'd have to buy a whole new costume.

It was after school the next Friday when Tomoko rode the escalator. Peering around, she could see posters of famous video game characters such as Sonic the Hedgehog and Super Mario stuck around the mall, each one more spectacular and loud than the last. The only reason the girl was here was that she had no luck anywhere else. She hadn't had any luck at the small store she had bought her Oni costume and all the costumes she had spent last week looking at online were way out of her price range. Thus, she had been forced to try her luck at the cosplay store at the very mall she was going to the next day.

Of course, she'd have no luck here. All the costumes would have been taken already, she just knew it. There was no way that that Samus Aran costume she could barely see in the distance was real.

SAMUS COSTUME?!

Her feet soon touching the solid floor of the mall, Tomoko forgot all her manners and sprinted over to the store like a serial killer was on her heels. Screeching to an immediate halt, she grabbed the plastic-encased costume before anyone could stop her. The comfortable, light material, the shining colours... There was no mistake: It was Samus Aran's zero suit. The bright blue one-piece looked even better in person than it did on a TV screen! It was perfect! Sure, it didn't come with a wig but she was willing to take what she could get.

Grasping it tightly, Tomoko giggled and allowed herself to twirl giddily. Nearly all the costumes were sold out; seems like God was on her side today. Wandering over to the cashier, she couldn't resist chuckling to herself.

Stupid sluts, thinking that they can just buy a costume on the day, She thought to herself. Well, they can't and it'll serve them right.

Grinning, the girl silently thanked the gods that she was not born stupid. True she had born unattractive, unwanted and not particularly intelligent but hey, that was better than being a complete and utter bitch who thought they could away with everything just because she was pretty.

Still, perhaps having blonde hair would be a plus on this occasion. It'd add to the realism if nothing else…

"Excuse me? Miss?" Came a voice from the heavens.

A tall, handsome and extremely handsome bishonen in a work uniform stood before her. Gasping, Tomoko stared back at him.

"He…He's gorgeous!" The girl thought to herself.

Gasping desperately for air, Tomoko nervously handed her costume to the young man. The contrast in their confidence and poise was simply awe-inspiring; the male effortlessly scanned the price tag while the female was fighting to simply stay on her own two feet, which like the rest of her not-so-beautiful body was shaking like she'd been caught in the Arctic Circle.

"H...H...How much?" Tomoko asked, feeling as if she was about to faint.

"That'll be 3000 yen please," The beautiful bishonen smiled, holding out his hand. Is it a gift for someone?"

Tomoko barely survived handing him the money.

"N…no…It…It's…for me…" She whimpered.

Gasping, she grabbed the outfit and briskly walked out of the store. Why'd he think the costume was for someone else? Was she not attractive enough to wear it? The sad thing was that he was probably right. Still, she might win a consolation prize if they had a costume competition. Pulling her head up high, Tomoko let herself smile.

Tomorrow was going to be a good day.

"And that's when I not only got a killer outfit but I also got the guys number." Tomoko bragged to her brother that night, giggling to herself as she presented her costume. The other person in the conversation looked much less interested than he ought to, not-so-secretly wishing she'd leave.

"You got the number of a guy you just met?" He asked his younger sister, sure that one day she'd choke on her own stupidity. Of course, she hadn't really got his number but he decided to humour her.

"Of course!" The newly-crowned "Bitch" chuckled, feeling oh-so-very triumphant.

She wasn't sure if Tomoki was buying it or not but it felt damn good to be able to boast about her victories. "And when I go to the convention tomorrow, everyone will be fawning over me. You'll see! I'll come home with at least ten men behind me!"

"And pigs may fly." Tomoki spat.

"Oh, poor naive little brother," Tomoko smiled, walking out of the room with a smirk stretched across her face. "Poor, poor little brother."

And with that, she left to hang up her costume, still laughing to herself. Tomoki watched her leave with a sense of relief.

"Didn't even shut the door behind her." He muttered to himself.

The great day arrived at last. Tomoko had dragged a brush kicking and screaming through her tumbleweed of black hair, taken a shower for the first time that week and gotten five more minutes of sleep than she usually did. Opening her cupboard, she unhooked her secret weapon. Fresh out the packaging was the way to go. That way no embarrassing wrinkles or creases would ruin her sexy suit. Opening the packaging in one swift motion, Tomoko slipped one leg into the suit. Then the other. With one final pull, the suit slid up her body…

"SNAP!"

Tomoko felt like time itself had gone on a lunch break. Forcing her head to look down, her eyes popped out of their sockets as they gazed at her exposed socks. The suit was way too small for her! No way! This couldn't be happening! The girl snatched the packaging and stared at it, flipping it this way and that as she looked for an answer.

Then she saw it.

"Age 9-12" Read a small, yellow star on the back.

At this point, Tomoko gave up acting like a decent, somewhat dignified human being and flung herself into insanity. Wriggling wildly on the floor, the disgrace of a teenager screamed over and over, adding the occasional flop to her cocktail of madness. How could she have messed up like that? How could she have forgotten this one tiny detail! It wasn't her fault! It must have been that handsome guy! She'd been so distracted by those dreamy brown eyes...And that chestnut hair that swept over to the left...

Dammit! No wonder he'd asked if it was someone else!

Having spent the last five minutes having a meltdown, Tomoko got up and mopped her brow, cold sweat seeping down her hand. Crying like a brat wasn't going to solve anything. What she needed to do was find an alternative costume to wear. When most people think, they either take a dump or put on a thinking cap but Tomoko had a much better way of thinking: Flopping down on her bed. And that's exactly what she did.

Staring down at her sheets, her mind kicked into overdrive to think of a solution. Right now all she wanted to do was curl up under the covers and never come out…

And that's when she got an idea. It was risky. It was unorthodox. But it had to be done. Now, where were the scissors?

Yuu Naruse looked around the mall, eyes like searchlights. She'd texted her friend several times and she had not once replied. Tomoko wasn't the kind to break promises to her, she must be running late. All around her, people were dressed up as heroes and villains of games present and past. It made the teen feel a little depressed, wondering if she had the right to stand amongst them. There was no telling how many made their own costumes after; She'd just bought hers online!

"Hey, Yuu-chan." Came a little voice.

The girl turned around to find a blue sheet with two small holes for eyes staring back at her. Only one person she knew would do something like that.

"Oh! Mokochii! I'm glad you could make it!" Yuu cheered, smiling like a kindergartner after being given a piece of candy. Looking down at her friend, she could tell that she impressed by her costume. "Do you like my costume?" Yuu smiled, doing a little twirl and swishing a string of beautiful honey-coloured hair out her eyes. It's the Zero Suit Samus from Metroid wears!"

Tomoko resisted the urge to choke herself right there on the spot. How dare Yuu cosplay as Samus?! Was she trying to taunt her?! She truly must be a slut. Why else would she wear something so tight? The Mojyo glared from under her costume, forgetting that she almost ended up wearing the same thing.

"I like yours too." Yuu continued, oblivious to Tomoko's inner hatred of the entire situation. "You're...a ghost, right?"

Her friend chuckled weakly.

"Y… Yeah. I'm a ghost from Pac-Man. She said, trying to twirl like Yuu had done not a moment ago.

Unfortunately, it turned into more of a repulsive spin than an elegant twirl, nearly falling over onto the cold, hard floor. Gym was never her best subject after all.

"So, what gave you the idea to choose it?" Yuu asked, leaning in.

Tomoko let out a small, sad sigh.

"I don't wanna talk about it." She groaned.