In The Emerald City
Cast:
Cure Tender, Hikawa Maria - age 16
Cure Bomber Blue, Megan Johnson - age 14
April, 2014
"Hey, would you two mind if I take your picture?"
"Yeah, sure!"
Before Maria can respond, the girl beside her, Megan, has already agreed and pulled her into a duo pose. A few moments later, the strange man with the scruffy beard has finished snapping photos, thanked them, picked up his [looking for majical girls] sign, and wandered off.
"That felt very strange," Maria says. "I wonder if he knew his sign was misspelled?"
"Was it?" Megan responds. "I haven't learned that much Japanese yet."
Maria nods. "One of the characters was mirrored. I'd be embarrassed."
"Wait... so you'd be embarrassed by misspelling a word, but not by walking around wearing those butterfly wings? I at least can say that I'm cosplaying."
"I could say that if I needed to, not anyone has asked."
Megan is one of only a few Pretty Cures who live outside Japan, and she has flown in from another state to spend time with Maria at this convention. She is dressed up as a magical girl from a popular anime, with a fancy red dress, red boots, a scarlet wig styled into a ponytail, and a long fake spear. She was surprised to find out that Maria owns her 'Dark Tender' outfit, a mostly black ensemble with lavender accents and huge purple butterfly wings.
Megan holds a door open so that Maria can get her wings through. When Maria notices that they have emerged onto the street, her eyes widen, but only for a moment.
She smiles. "You know... back home, nobody would think of leaving an event like this in costume."
Megan covers her ears. "No! Please don't destroy the Akihabara of my dreams!"
"Akihabara, huh? That's another place I've heard of, but haven't ever been."
"Like this convention?"
"Exactly," Maria answers. "Maybe I don't really know as much as I thought? I'm almost tempted to find out."
"Almost?" Megan asks, hopefully.
"Coming here was your idea, remember? I don't dislike this, but I'm actually more of an outdoor type."