Chapter 93: Fans

When I arrived at the building where NovaCon was being held, I stood looking up at it for a while.

Giant banners hung across the glass exterior, almost completely covering the windows on the upper floors. The contest’s name was displayed on both sides of the entrance. Among the people gathered outside the doors, I could see metal armor, long capes, and weapons larger than the people carrying them. One person’s wings were wide enough to hit whoever stood behind them in the face whenever they moved.

The page Eris had shown me on her phone suddenly seemed far too small and harmless.

“This place really is huge…”

I made my way through the crowd toward the entrance.

“May I see your ticket?”

The staff member beside the door raised the device in their hand.

“I’m a contestant.”

I opened the registration page on my phone and held it out. They looked at the screen, then at my face. When their gaze lowered as though searching for my costume, I explained that I hadn’t changed yet.

After checking my registration, they put a wristband on me and pointed upstairs.

“The contestant areas are upstairs. Your spot number is on your registration page.”

I thanked them and went inside.

The crowd outside had only been a small fraction of the one inside.

Lines stretched in different directions across the entrance hall. On one side, people walked around carrying printed bags and boxes. On the other, a crowd had gathered around a group in costume to take pictures. Announcements from overhead mixed with conversations, and every few steps, the light from another screen fell across my face.

When I reached the upper floor, I stopped at the entrance to the contestant area and looked around.

A cosplayer in silver armor was meeting a small child’s toy sword with their own. When the child’s mother took the picture, the cosplayer knelt as though defeated. A few meters away, someone wearing a long red cape placed a hand over their chest and bowed to a woman, while the friends nearby laughed and raised their phones.

Someone else wasn’t smiling at all.

They sat on a dark throne, beckoning people who wanted photos closer with a small movement of their hand. The line in front of them stretched almost to the area opposite.

My steps slowed.

Am I supposed to do things like that too?

I pressed my good hand against my forehead.

There was a big difference between making my skirt ripple in front of a mirror at home and acting in character in front of dozens of people here. No one was even looking at me yet, but I could already feel my face warming at the thought of the embarrassment waiting for me.

As I walked around a little more, I spotted a few familiar faces.

I remembered them from the profiles Eris had shown me on her phone. Small lines had formed in front of some of them. One person had so many people gathered around them that I had to take several steps sideways just to see their costume.

There were nearly a hundred people.

The cosplayer changed their pose as they turned toward a phone camera. The person who had been talking to fans a few seconds earlier was gone, replaced by a character who seemed to exist only for that photo. Once the picture was taken, they smiled again.

KuroNeko.

Eris had said they were very good at bringing characters to life onstage. They had over two million followers.

Even the brief moment I watched was enough to understand why they were getting so much attention.

Meanwhile, I didn’t even know how I would pose if someone came up and asked for a photo.

My phone vibrated.

Eris was calling.

“Where are you?”

“On the second floor. Near the entrance to the contestant area.”

“Did you get inside?”

“Yes. They can’t keep the Great Noctis waiting at the door.”

Eris fell silent for a moment.

“I’ll be there soon. Don’t wander off.”

When the call ended, I put my phone in my pocket.

I could get ready before she arrived.

I followed the restroom sign toward the door, but a man coming out stopped in front of me. His eyes moved from my face to the sign above the door.

“Um… This is the men’s restroom.”

I took a deep breath.

After everything I had been through since last night, I had no patience left to explain this.

“I know. My dick’s bigger than yours, so you don’t need to tell me.”

The man’s mouth fell open.

Without waiting for his answer, I went inside and closed the door.

Once I entered an empty stall, I moved Umbrella again. The black layer rose over my clothes, and the white hair, crown, and wedding dress formed again within a few minutes.

I was careful not to disturb the part supporting my arm.

I left the stall and stood in front of the mirror. I checked the tips of the crown, the way the hair fell around my face, and the folds at the waist of the wedding dress. Finally, I turned the raven on my shoulder slightly to the side.

The Evelyn in the mirror tilted her head.

There was no trace of the nervousness I felt on her face.

I parted my lips, then closed them again. Thinking about how I should carry myself in this form, I relaxed my shoulders.

“All right,” I whispered. “We can do this.”

I took a deep breath and stepped outside.

The man I had met at the door was still in the hallway.

When he saw me, his gaze moved from my wedding dress to my face. His eyebrows drew together before he looked at the restroom door.

This time, I didn’t say anything to him.

Using the number on my registration page, I made my way to my assigned spot.

Within the first few steps, I noticed people looking at me as they passed. A woman stopped in the middle of speaking. Two people walking ahead turned to look at me. Someone raised their phone but didn’t immediately take a picture.

When I reached my spot, I stood near the wall.

I moved the hem of the skirt slightly. The raven on my shoulder turned its head toward the crowd.

I waited.

A few people slowed down.

Then they kept walking.

People were looking at me, but no one approached.

Remembering the lines I had seen in front of the other cosplayers, I changed my posture. Did I look too serious?

Or was I scary?

I looked at the bloodstains on the wedding dress.

Maybe no one here liked this sort of thing.

Evelyn was a character from my old world. These people didn’t know her. They didn’t know the scenes that came to mind as soon as I saw her, her voice, or what made that outfit cool.

A bad feeling suddenly settled inside me.

Was Evelyn only cool by my old world’s standards?

I looked at the crowd. A few meters away, three people were lined up in front of a huge, round mascot.

The space in front of me was completely empty…

“These sons of bitches have no sense of style,” I muttered.

“Excuse me…”

I turned my head.

A young woman holding a phone stood a step away, looking at me.

“Could we take a picture together?”

I immediately wiped the displeasure from my face.

Raising my chin slightly, I turned toward her. The raven on my shoulder turned its head with me.

“Of course.”

I kept my voice calm. As I gestured to the spot beside me, the skirt of my wedding dress rippled gently.

The woman paused for a moment before approaching. Then she smiled and stepped beside me.

When she raised the phone, I looked at the camera. I opened the raven’s wing slightly and gave a small, cold smile.

The photo was taken.

Her smile widened when she checked the screen.

“It turned out great! Thank you.”

I dipped my head slightly.

After she walked away, I watched her for a few seconds.

Was that it?

Maybe this wasn’t as difficult as I had thought.

Just then, I spotted crimson hair among the crowd.

Eris was walking around, looking from side to side. She checked her phone screen, then raised her head to scan her surroundings.

She was looking for me.

The corners of my lips lifted.

I walked over and stopped right in front of her.

Eris looked up at my face. It was obvious that she didn’t recognize me at first. Her eyebrows drew together slightly, as though wondering why a stranger was blocking her path.

I widened my grin.

Her eyes moved across my face again. Then her gaze suddenly changed.

“Noc?!”

“Yes. In the flesh. The Great Noctis Evernight.”

Eris grabbed both my shoulders and shook me gently.

“You look incredible!”

She stepped back to look at the wedding dress. Then she began circling me, examining the hair, crown, and raven on my shoulder in turn.

“How did you do this?”

“It’s a secret.”

Eris raised her head.

“Another secret?”

She began to frown, but her expression changed when her gaze dropped to my arm.

“Your arm!”

She looked at the shoulder she had just grabbed and immediately pulled her hands back.

“Does it hurt? How are you moving around?”

I gave a small wave with my injured hand.

“I think I can manage for now.”

“That’s not an answer.”

“Don’t worry. This is nothing for me. I’ll rest once the contest is over.”

Eris looked at my face. The costume hid the bruises she had seen that morning, but her eyes lingered on my cheek as though she was still searching for them.

“Tell me if it hurts,” she said more quietly.

I nodded.

Then my gaze shifted to the bag in her hand. The handle of a makeup brush was sticking out.

She had kept those supplies with her after leaving my apartment that morning.

“You brought all those supplies for nothing,” I said.

Eris looked at the bag, then back at my face.

“I guess so.”

A small smile appeared on her lips. Seeing it reminded me of the things I hadn’t been able to say at the door that morning.

“Eris, I—”

“Hello!”

Two girls had approached us. One held a phone, while the other smiled as she looked at my wedding dress.

“Could we take a picture with you?”

I returned to Evelyn’s posture.

“Of course. Come closer, beautiful ladies.”

I ignored the look Eris gave me.

The girls stood on either side of me. When they came a little too close, I straightened my back but kept the calm expression on my face. As the phone’s camera turned toward us, I moved the raven slightly.

One of them looked at my shoulder in surprise.

“It looks real…”

I answered with a small smile.

They took the photo and thanked me. Even as they walked away, they were still looking at the picture on the phone.

Eris folded her arms.

“You seem happy being so close to girls.”

“I’m just doing my job.”

“You’re grinning.”

“I can’t turn away my fans.”

Before I could hear Eris’s reply, an overweight young man with glasses approached. He held his phone in both hands. When he stopped in front of me, he swallowed before speaking.

“Um… Could I take a picture with you too?”

I gestured for him to come beside me.

“Come closer, piggy.”

Eris’s head turned toward me.

After a short, nervous laugh, the young man stepped beside me. I posed for the photo while maintaining Evelyn’s cold expression. Once he thanked me and left, I turned to Eris.

She was looking at me like I was a scumbag.

“What?”

“The girls get ‘beautiful ladies,’ and he gets ‘piggy’?”

“That’s how my character talks.”

“It didn’t sound that way to me.”

“I’m the fairest person in this world.”

Eris narrowed her eyes.

As I prepared for her answer, another phone entered my field of view.

Then another.

A short distance away, the first woman who had taken a photo with me was pointing me out to her friend. Several people had stopped to watch the raven on my shoulder. When I moved it, surprised voices rose from the crowd.

My assigned spot was no longer empty.

Eris stepped aside to make room for people to pass. When someone asked her to take a photo, she accepted their phone. She tried to keep that stern expression as she aimed the camera.

But when I turned the raven toward the camera at the same time as myself, I saw her lips curve.

For the next photo, I slowly moved the folds of the skirt. The person beside me turned for another look, so we had to take the picture again.

Then someone else came.

At first, I had been worrying about where to put my hands. After a few photos, the same movements began to feel more natural. I was figuring out how to turn my head when people approached, which angle to face the camera from, and when to move the raven.

The noise of the crowd no longer bothered me as much.

Seeing someone happy with their photo made me curious about how the next one would turn out.

I must have gotten a little too caught up in my role.

“Next…”

I turned my head toward the person approaching.

First, I saw blue eyes.

Then the blond hair falling over her shoulders, the cute, light-colored outfit she wore, and that face that reminded me of an angel even in the middle of a crowd…

The smile I had prepared froze on my face.

A voice inside me screamed.

‘YUKIEEEEE!’