⊙▽⊙!
⊙▽⊙?
The two girls stared blankly at Shinju's chest, completely dumbfounded, wondering where Shinju had hidden her massive breasts. Before they could even agree, Rin Ito had already grabbed the shy Shinju and pulled her to their side.
"Uuu..."
Being targeted by so many camera lenses for the first time, Shinju, who already suffered from an inferiority complex, instinctively lowered her head and curled up her body, wanting to escape. However, the camera lenses perfectly captured her shy, embarrassed expression.
So scary.
The cameras are so scary.
Big Sister and Sister Marin are incredible, being able to pose under so many lenses.
I can't, I can't.
I absolutely won't—
"Kyaa~"
Shinju suddenly let out a cute yelp. It wasn't that Rin Ito had activated a switch on Shinju in front of all these cameras... they weren't wearing any toys today.
Rin Ito placed one hand on Shinju's shoulder and lightly patted her lower back with the other, causing her to instinctively straighten up and snap back to reality. From behind, Rin Ito gently embraced Shinju, holding her hands in his.
The characters Rin Ito and Shinju were cosplaying, Sakuya and Souma, were an official couple in the anime. Striking such an intimate pose wasn't out of place at all; it even drew gasps of admiration from the other cosplayers dressed as Shion and Mao, who eagerly asked to join the photo.
Shinju, breathing heavily with flushed cheeks due to her nervousness, looked exceptionally adorable. Although he wasn't quite used to Shinju's current appearance, seeing how cute she looked, Rin Ito couldn't resist lifting her chin, gazing deeply into her eyes, and slowly lowering his lips to hers.
Being lightly kissed in front of the cameras, Shinju's mind went completely blank.
"Juju-sama, I'll grab Souma, you grab Sakuya."
After saying that, Marin ran behind Shinju, grabbed her uniform, and pretended to pull her with all her might. Sajuna was stunned for a second, then ran behind Rin Ito and mimicked pulling him with all her might as well.
In the world of Retsu!!, Marin's character, Mao, liked Shinju's character, Souma, while Sajuna's character, Shion, liked Rin Ito's character, Sakuya.
Souma and Sakuya liked each other, leaving the sisters, Shion and Mao, as the losing heroines. In the story, the older sister, Mao, became corrupted and turned evil precisely because she couldn't win Souma's heart.
What a deeply sinful, messy love polygon.
...
"We are incredibly sorry, but we are a bit tired and will take a break here."
Posing individually and together, the four of them had struggled in front of the cameras for nearly an hour. Being a model was physically demanding work; even in the winter cold, a layer of fine sweat had formed on Shinju's forehead. Seeing that they were tired, Rin Ito finally called for a break.
After stopping, several photographers approached them, phones in hand.
"Hello, teachers. Could I add your contact info? I'll send you the retouched photos later."
Usually, professional photographers will ask for a cosplayer's contact info after a shoot. Once the convention is over, they select the best shots, retouch them, and send them back to the cosplayer.
On one hand, it's a sign of respect; on the other, it's a way to expand their network and clientele. If a cosplayer loves their work, they might book a private shoot... and for private shoots, some photographers charge a hefty fee.
Of course, some photographers are just after the cosplayer's body, though there are also cosplayers who prefer to pay with their bodies rather than cash.
Right here and now, Rin Ito saw quite a few 'welfare models' intentionally wearing revealing outfits, and even some pretending to accidentally expose themselves just to generate hype.
If the mainstream cosplay circle was this messy, the adult doujinshi circle was inevitably far worse.
However, Sajuna and Marin cosplayed purely out of personal passion. Sajuna had always played by herself, while Marin only cosplayed with a few close friends; neither of them mingled with the broader 'circle'.
"Just a moment..."
Marin was just about to pull out a card with her QR code when Rin Ito subtly stopped her. Rin Ito presented his own QR code instead.
"I am the head of Baumkuchen Studio, and they are all members of my circle. If you have photos to return, just add me. Thank you for your hard work."
A few photographers originally wanted to get their personal contact info, but since Rin Ito spoke as the head of the circle, they had no choice but to back down and add Rin Ito's contact info instead.
As the crowd gradually dispersed, Shinju lightly patted her chest, letting out a long breath of relief.
"Shinju... your chest..." Sajuna stared at Shinju's chest in sheer bewilderment. Even now, she couldn't fathom how Shinju managed to compress such massive breasts down to practically nothing.
"Ehehe..." Shinju smiled sheepishly and explained that Rin Ito had helped her buy a chest binder. "Sorry... I wanted to give you a surprise, Big Sister, so I kept it a secret."
"Honestly..." Sajuna smiled helplessly.
Aside from wanting to surprise her, Sajuna could guess that Shinju had chosen to hide it from her because of her inferiority complex. But now... both she and Shinju had been trained by him into slutty virgins who could climax just through their asses.
Coupled with the fact that Shinju had adapted well during the group shoot earlier, Shinju was no longer as resistant to cosplay as she used to be.
"What about you, Sajuna? How does it feel cosplaying at a convention for the first time?" Rin Ito looked at Sajuna with profound meaning in his eyes.
Unlike Shinju, whose inferiority complex was obvious, Sajuna hid her insecurities beneath the tough exterior of being the 'older sister'.
"I..." Sajuna guiltily averted her gaze, her eyes landing on another cosplayer taking photos not far away, her gaze gradually becoming distant. "It feels... pretty good."
Rin Ito followed Sajuna's gaze. The endpoint of her stare was a cosplayer with distinctly muscular arms. Like Rin Ito and the others, he was cosplaying a character from Retsu!!, and had even come over to take a group photo with them earlier.
He was cosplaying... Mirai.
The main heroine of Retsu!!, an energetic loli character with red twin-tails.
The dark blue sailor uniform was stretched tight over his bulging muscles. Framing his rugged, masculine face were fiery red twin-tails, and beneath his pleated skirt, the legs extending downwards boasted prominent, defined muscle lines. At that very moment, the man was proudly flexing his biceps for the cameras.
"So dazzling..." Sajuna murmured.
Rin Ito: "The muscles?"
"Of course not!!!" Noticing Rin Ito's teasing expression, Sajuna blushed and loudly retorted. Her lips trembled slightly, her expression complex. "How can he look so confident posing in front of all those cameras?"
Rin Ito obviously knew Sajuna wasn't attracted to bulging muscles. What Sajuna cared about was the fact that a muscular macho man could cosplay a loli magical girl with such overwhelming confidence.
"That's definitely because of his passion!" Marin looked in that direction and said confidently. "Only pure passion can make him that confident!"
Rin Ito also looked at the cosplayer.
Aside from the 'welfare models' trying to drum up business or influencers dressing scantily to gain followers and sell nudes, the vast majority of cosplayers do it out of pure passion, doing everything in their power to accurately recreate the character. They were completely different from the welfare models who threw on a blue wig and claimed to be Rem, or a pink wig and claimed to be Ram.
But well... expecting a muscular macho man cosplaying a loli magical girl to be 'accurate' was asking a bit too much.
"Even if he can't be accurate, even if the gap is massive, he still cosplays. That is passion." Seeing Sajuna's conflicted expression, Rin Ito smiled. "How about you try cosplaying Sakuya sometime?"
"No!" Sajuna refused instinctively. "I only cosplay magical girls... doing it for Shinju was an exception, but for myself, I will only cosplay magical girls! I won't cosplay characters I can't accurately recreate."
Aside from breaking her rule for Shinju during the Coffin group shoot, Sajuna had always stuck to this principle. It wasn't that she disliked non-magical girl characters; it was simply that, due to her figure, she could recreate petite magical girls much more accurately.
"Is that so..." Rin Ito smiled mischievously... Aside from feeling that accuracy is the only way to respect a character, the most crucial factor is her inferiority complex.
The younger sister has her inferiority complex, and the older sister has hers.
For a petite girl like her to cosplay a busty, mature older sister—wouldn't that just be asking to be laughed at? Sajuna could easily picture the malicious comments online just by closing her eyes.
Therefore, she only cosplayed the magical girls she could recreate most accurately.
She claimed it was for accuracy, but in reality, it was still driven by her inferiority complex.
But now...
The muscular macho man cosplaying a loli right in front of her was far more absurd than her cosplaying a mature woman. At least if she cosplayed a mature woman, the gender would still match. But he and the Mirai he was cosplaying were at two absolute extremes.
"Do you think he's insulting Mirai?" Rin Ito asked with a smile. "Do you think he's disrespecting Mirai?"
"No, he... he's not," Sajuna answered without thinking. "He's absolutely not insulting Mirai."
"What if I cosplayed Mirai?" Rin Ito said out of the blue.
Sajuna took a step back, the image of Rin Ito wearing a sailor uniform flashing in her mind, and her face instantly scrunched up in disgust.
"Pervert! If you dare to cosplay Mirai, you're just a massive pervert!"
Sajuna wasn't entirely sure if other people cosplayed Mirai out of pure passion, but if Rin Ito cosplayed Mirai, it was absolutely because he was a massive pervert!
It was none of Sajuna's business if others were perverts, but if Rin Ito was a pervert... Sajuna definitely didn't want the image of him cosplaying Mirai to pop into her head whenever he hugged her in the future!