The shrill school bell rang, signaling the end of another tedious day at Fuji Academy. But for Kenji, Haruto, Daiki, and Itsuki, it was the moment they could truly live for their passions.
In the Manga Club room on the third floor, tucked away in the oldest building, was an oasis isolated from the world. Outside, the late afternoon sun was brilliantly golden, filled with the laughter of students bustling home. Inside, the four boys were immersed in their own world.
"Hey, Kenji, have you read the new chapter of Black Angel yet?" Haruto, the boy with thick glasses, exclaimed excitedly, holding a tankobon high. "That mad doctor killed another person! He sewed her eyes onto the corpse he's assembling from the bodies of girls he's collected. He's almost completely recreated the girl he once loved! So romantic!"
Kenji, the group leader, looked up from his computer screen playing a bland harem anime. His eyes were still dazed. "Not yet. I'm researching this Emotionless CEO series. The main character is just like a robot, married for decades without ever cracking a smile. Even when his wife died, he didn't know what his own emotions were. Chilling."
"Boring!" Daiki, the boy with golden hair always wearing earphones, protested. "If you're reading manga, it has to be something supernatural like my Crimson Moon! The main vampire is handsome, charismatic, only drinks women's blood. And he transformed into a woman after drinking too much of their blood and fell in love with his own feminine self! Such great LGBTQ+ representation!"
Itsuki, the quietest member, said nothing. He silently turned the pages of an old manga. On the page was the image of a young prince, breathtakingly beautiful but with soulless eyes, his body immobile in a wheelchair. Surrounding him was the coldness of the palace, where even the king and queen had turned their backs on him. Only a maid silently cared for him, offering the sole bit of warmth in his life.
"Faded Blossoms on the Stone Bench again?" Kenji glanced over and sighed. "Itsuki, you're always lost in those sentimental tragedies. A prince who's blind and paralyzed, in love with a maid who's actually an enemy, about to confess but gets killed by her in a massacre. So dreary."
Itsuki shook his head gently, his voice soft: "It's precisely the fragility and the vague ending that leaves one with a lingering ache, Kenji. He died without anyone knowing, without anyone aware of a love that never had the chance to bloom."
The group continued their heated debate, completely oblivious to the disdainful glances from others. In everyone's eyes, they were genuine "otaku": eccentric, reclusive, living only in a two-dimensional world. To their classmates, they were just weirdos, not on the same level. And the girls in class, especially the Gyaru group, saw them as disgusting germs.
But everything changed after they met Kaito, a former senpai who was also a passionate otaku, now working as a trainer at a gym. He showed them that to truly understand and embody the characters they loved, they needed a physique worthy of them. And so, after school hours, the club room became not just a place to read manga, but also a mini gym. Dumbbells and a pull-up bar were neatly placed in the corner.
Six months of diligent training under Kaito's guidance had sculpted four strong, toned bodies beneath their loose uniforms.
Today was Valentine's Day. While other boys and girls in the school were busy with chocolate gifts and confessions, Kenji's group had a special plan.
The club room today was darkened with drawn curtains, illuminated only by multi-colored LED strips. They had transformed it into a small stage.
Behind the door, the four boys were in the final moments of preparation.
Kenji donned an elegant black vest, his hair neatly gelled back. He looked at himself in the mirror, trying to mold his face into a perfect expression of cold indifference. He was embodying the mysterious CEO, the one who knew neither joy nor sorrow.
Haruto wore a white doctor's coat over a black outfit. In his hand was a fake scalpel. His eyes behind his glasses shone with a strange excitement. He was the incarnation of the Murderous Doctor, obsessed with recreating the image of his deceased lover.
Daiki was resplendent in vampire attire: a deep red cape, a high white collar, and vivid red contact lenses. He pursed his lips, trying to project the deadly charm of an immortal creature fascinated by blood and feminine beauty, with the secret ability to change genders.
And Itsuki sat on a wheelchair intricately decorated to resemble a marble garden bench. His eyes were lightly made up to appear vacant, his body limp and immobile. He wore a white silk prince's outfit, highlighting a fragile, sorrowful beauty. He was the suffering prince, both blind and paralyzed, awaiting a redeeming love.
"Remember," Kenji said, his voice as low and cold as his character, "Today isn't ordinary cosplay. We will reenact the scenes our characters yearn for, or the moments they never had the chance to experience. Let's live fully for them."
The group nodded. This was their way of expressing love for the characters who had captured their hearts.
Outside in the hallway, a group of Gyaru, led by Yumi—a girl notable for her tanned skin and bright blonde hair—were striding along. Their loud chatter echoed.
"I heard those otaku in the Manga Club are up to something weird again for Valentine's Day," one girl in the group sneered.
Yumi smirked: "They're just a bunch of pathetic losers, always lost in their fake world. Let's go give them a scare."
They stopped outside the club room. A haunting, melancholic soundtrack played from inside. Yumi took a breath, then kicked the door open.
"Hey, you weird otaku…!"
Her words caught in her throat.
The light from the LED strips shone down, illuminating four figures at the center of the room.
These weren't the eccentric, sloppily dressed students they usually saw.
Before them was a breathtaking scene.
A stunningly beautiful prince with blind eyes, sitting motionless in a wheelchair, exuding a sorrow that made hearts clench.
A Doctor with a crazed and passionate gaze, holding a scalpel, as if immersed in his own bloody world of creation.
A dangerously captivating Vampire, with deep red eyes and a sinister smile, possessing a mesmerizing allure.
And a cold, impeccably handsome CEO, whose eyes were empty, devoid of any emotion, making one both fearful and curious.
The lighting, music, and atmosphere they created were perfect. This was no longer ordinary cosplay; it was a living, breathing work of art, full of haunting depth.
Yumi and the Gyaru girls stood rooted to the spot, mouths agape, eyes wide. All the taunts and scorn they had ready vanished. All they could do was stare at the four "male gods" before them, with speechless astonishment and shock.
Kenji, or rather, the Emotionless CEO, slowly turned his head. His gaze swept over the girls frozen at the door, cold and distant, as if looking right through them.
In that moment, Yumi felt her heart stop.
The noisy, bustling world outside seemed to disappear. All that remained was this mesmerizing dark room and the four boys whose transformations were utterly captivating.
They had opened a door to a world they had always nurtured and striven for, and these uninvited guests, having stumbled in, were completely swept away.