I've always liked Gumi as the "Otaku" type, so this is another one of my renditions of our favorite green-haired manga-lover :D

-For all of my past readers: Ah, good to be back! It's been such a long time! sorry about such delays, I've been swamped with AP exam review, work, etc. so to make up for my protracted absence i will be updating two of my stories in addition to publishing this new one!

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A Conventional Relationship

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Today was the day! It came around only once a year, but it was the highlight of my rather lonely existance. One of the largest gatherings of nerds, otaku, and general geeks; Anytown, USA's Anime & Comic convention!

I had saved up just enough to afford admission and to buy the mangas and comics I wanted, and the occasional small snack. I was going alone, as usual. Since I didn't even have enough money to pay attention (sorry, bad joke) I couldn't build a cosplay to join a group. Yes, my existence is pathetic. But then again, it could be worse, right?

I managed to rope a friend into going at the last minute, but I got the feeling he would try to leave at the first available opportunity. He was notorious for his excuses; once he even said that he couldn't help me with my math homework because he was, and I quote, "Grieving over the recent loss of his pet hamster, Frank." The funnier thing is that Frank died three years before that.

I gathered the things I would need and threw them into one of those cheap drawstring backpacks. Wallet, phone, checklist, extra shirt... That was about it.

The drive there wasn't too painful. Around the convention center the traffic was a veritable hell on earth, but you'll get that at any large event. My friend had already started complaining and making excuses about leaving early, which really didn't make navigating the maze of downtown streets any easier.

After a half an hour of trying to park, and a rather heated argument over me "stealing" someone's spot, we arrived at the convention center gates. After passing through the security lines and paying our admission fees, my friend and I proceeded in.

The place was huge! The corporations that were running the convention this year had rented a much larger place than last year, and it definitely showed. Huge lines were all over for each booth, snack stand, and forum. Even the bathrooms had massive lines.

The one thing that never failed to impress me, however, was the girls. They were all just as geeky as i was, but they were magnificent. You never realize just how provocatively designed anime and comic book characters are until you see what appears to be a supermodel wearing nothing but a rather thin white tunic and a plastic sword.

An hour had passed, and already i had bought most of the merchandise I wanted. I decided to head over towards the new manga expo when I overheard a rather heated debate between a man in a batman cosplay and an extremely attractive girl... with green hair. It didn't look fake; it was probably dyed though. Hard to tell.

"...LISTEN, asshole. Marvel has every single X-men. Every one of 'em. Don't even try to bring that whole 'superman is invincible' bullshit over here. Just go back to your little DC kiosk over there before I have to ram my foot up your ass!" The girl seemed really fired up. Her friend came over to her, sporting BLUE hair. Or, maybe teal. I wasn't sure

"Gumi, calm down, it doesn't really matter..."

The girl, apparently named Gumi, spun around to face her friend. "Oh, shut up Miku! You agreed to come to this thing, so don't question my methods!"

The teal haired girl was taken aback at her friend's anger. Eventually two security guards came over.

"Is there a problem here?" one of them asked.

A minute later Gumi was being escorted by the two guards. I kinda wanted to meet this girl for some reason... Like an instinct, I just knew I had to. The guards were sure to kick her out if something wasn't done, so I had to think fast. I saw an extra security guard shirt slung over a chair near a security checkpoint. I quickly grabbed it and threw it on over my tee-shirt. It was hot having two shirts on, but shit had to get done.

I raced over to intercept the guards. I just had to hope my plan worked. I put on a pair of black sunglasses, hoping to conceal the fact that I was just some random otaku kid past the disguise.

"Hey! Yeah, I'll take her from here, you guys don't look too thrilled to be dealing with her. Go back to your posts." I was nearly sweating bullets. If this didn't work...

"Yeah, alright. I'm kinda sick of this girl, and I'm pretty sure Larry is too. They ain't payin' us enough for this crap." the guards handed the girl named Gumi over to me. I walked her away as quick as I could.

After we were about fifty yards from the guards, she turned to me.

"You're a little short to be a security guard..." (Star wars reference FTW!)

I removed the sunglasses. Without the dark frames obscuring her complexion, I took a glance at her face. She was much prettier than I had initially thought. Hell, she was hot! I finally got up the gumption to speak.

"Y-yeah, I'm not. You looked like you were in a bit of trouble so I thought I'd help you out." I said nervously.

"Why the hell would you do that? You could've been perma-banned from these conventions for that!" She actually got a little angry. Shouldn't she be thanking me!

"Hey, listen, I just saved you from getting kicked out! Shouldn't you be thanking me?"

She stopped being angry for a moment. "I- yeah, I guess I do sorta owe you my thanks." she said, obviously reluctant.

As she spoke, i noticed something. I had heard her voice before. I'm not sure where, and I couldn't peg it for the life of me, but I knew that voice.

"So, i overheard your name was Gumi, right?" I asked.

"You the creepy stalker type?"

"What? No!" I protested, "I just happened to overhear!"

After a short pause, she cracked a small smile. "Relax, I was only kidding. So, I think I owe you a drink for saving my ass."

"Oh, n-no, it's fine! R-really!" I managed to stammer out. Was she hitting on me? I thought that was my job!

"C'mon, I have to go meet my friend anyways."

She was very convincing. I found myself with a sprite in my hand before I could even object.

Her friend was waiting at the drink stand chatting with another girl, this time with a vibrant shade of pink hair. What was with these girls and their weird hair colors?

The pink haired girl spoke first. "Gumi! Miku and I thought you got thrown out! We had no idea where you were until you texted!"

Gumi just brushed her off. "Sorry Luka. I got a little held up, but out of nowhere this guy here pulls my ass out of the fire."

Miku and Luka scrutinized me closely. It was actually a bit uncomfortable having them that close...

"Alright, he's not too ugly and he doesn't smell like Gakupo's cooking, so he's good in my book." Luka said with a small grin plastered on her face.

Miku, Gumi, Luka, Gakupo... I had heard all of these names before! Where though!

Then it hit me. Maybe I had just brushed it off as a couple of cosplayers, or maybe i really was that stupid... I slowly turned my head toward the three girls.

"You... You guys belong to VOCALOID don't you?"

All three of them turned white as a ghost.

"SSHHHH!" Gumi slapped a hand over my mouth.

I removed her hand. "And you're Megpoid Gumi! No way!"

The other two slapped THEIR hands over my mouth, determined not to let me utter another word.

"Dammit, Gumi! You said no one would recognize us here! I swear to God, if we have another fan stampede like we did back in Tokyo last year..." Luka was visibly pissed.

"Relax, I'll think of something! Uh... we could kill him...?"

My eyes went wide. Oh, hell no!

"Be serious, Gumi." Luka turned toward me, hand still over my mouth. "Do not yell, scream, panic, or freak out. Got it? We came here because Gumi wanted to go to a convention without all the publicity we would get back in Japan. But even here, in this backwater American town, we have to be careful. We usually just play it off as cosplay, but obviously that didn't fool you."

They removed their hands. I looked at them and nodded. "I guess it would suck to always be followed by the media, especially when you're just trying to enjoy yourselves."

"FINALLY someone understands our plight!" Miku said.

"Hey, Luka, I know you're bilingual, but I didn't realize you two were as well." It was a question that had floated to the surface of my mind. "And it's flawless, too!"

"Oh, we've all been taking English since 1st grade. We just prefer Japanese."

"Huh... fair enough"

Gumi took my hand for some reason (not complaining, of course!) and motioned for Miku and Luka to follow.

"Alright, I got something to show you guys."

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Thanks for reading everyone! please review, it is my lifeblood! New chapters for most if not all of my stories should be up soon!