“Maybe I’m feeling a bit neglected.”
“He was pretty charming,” Rosie interjected. “She’d be crazy not to find out more about him.”
Olivia sent Rosie a grateful look in the mirror. Usually she was all on board the man-hating train with Nadia, but something about this guy was rubbing her the right way. Unlike that jerky jock from the picnic who’d tried to question her dedication to the genre. What was his problem anyway? She veered quickly away from that train of thought. Today was not a day to think about jerks, no matter how attractive they were. Hopefully, Deadpool was just as cute.
“Okay, we’re ready!” Jade announced as she entered the bedroom. “Let’s go kick some cosplay ass!”
The convention center was buzzing with activity. It seemed the second day was busier than the first. Other cosplayers milled around. There were tables where fans could meet their favorite voice actor ormangaartist along one wall, then there were panels in separate rooms for various interests like drawingshonenstyle. Mostly people hung around and chatted with fellowotaku, or anime nerds.
Olivia soaked in the energy of her fellow geeks. Here she was among her people. Crowds usually bothered her, but not this one.
Somehow they were the only full group of Sailor Guardians at the convention. As one of the most popular anime shows that ever broke out of Japan, it was odd that more people hadn’t dressed up as the characters. She and the squad posed for hundreds of pictures, both with and without other people. They were having the time of their lives.
Turning, she scanned the crowd gathered around them, and her fear soared. The hairs on the back of her neck lifted, and Olivia’s hands turned clammy inside her gloves. Nadia, Rosie, and Mia recognized him, too. The creeper from yesterday was back and staring at her. And she was trapped in a sea of people who all wanted her squad’s photo.
“Do you want me to call security?” Nadia whispered to her.
“I don’t want to make a scene. Maybe he won’t recognize me.”
“They already kicked him out once. He shouldn’t be back here,” Rosie said, then turned to Jade to point him out to her. They’d filled her in on the events of the previous day over dinner last night when she came into town.
“Just stick close to me, and don’t let him linger,” Olivia said. They nodded. When his turn rolled around, the girls pressed in closer to Olivia. He had a buddy with him this time to take the photo.
As the flash went off, he grabbed Olivia’s ass again. Fury took the place of her nerves, and she brought her self-defense training immediately into play. She put all her weight on her stiletto heel and slammed it into the arch of his foot as her elbow came up to his solar plexus. Creeper stumbled back, his arms flailing as people around them gasped.
Murmurs of “What did she do that for?” circled the squad as they turned on him. Olivia’s face flamed with her rage, as Creeper stared up into the faces of five pissed-off anime superheroes.
“Sailor Moon! Is this guy bothering youagain?” A confident voice called to her. Looking up, Olivia gawked as a man in a tuxedo, cape, top hat, and white mask came running up, two security guards flanking him.
“How did you get back in here?” one of them growled, as they picked Creeper up off the floor.
“You’re looking at a life ban, pal,” the other said, as they escorted him out for the second time that weekend.
Olivia gazed into kind green eyes hidden behind a full-face mask. Had Deadpool returned as Sailor Moon’s mysterious boyfriend? Who else with that height, that build, had been there yesterday when Creeper pulled it the first time? Tuxedo Mask, Sailor Moon’s love interest in the show, had only worn that weird mask in the first season’s opening song sequence, before the characters knew whether he was bad or good. The cosplayer pulled the full-face mask back and winked at her, showing his harlequin mask underneath. Whoever he was, he was a dedicated fan.
“Thank you for backing us up, Tuxedo Mask.” She barely managed to get the words out. Hehadto be Deadpool from yesterday. Otherwise he wouldn’t know that Creeper had targeted her before.
Her heart pounded in her chest. He’d sought them out!
She probably shouldn’t be so excited about a stranger. But it was hard to ignore the crush she was developing on this fellow nerd.
“I have full confidence you could have handled him yourselves. But I’ll always be there for you.” His voice seemed so familiar, yet she was sure she’d never heard it before.
Oh, this guy was either smooth, or in character. Either way, it was hot.
“Good luck with the group contest, Sailor Guardians.” He tipped his hat to them, then fished inside his tuxedo jacket and pulled out a red rose with a piece of paper rolled around the stem above the first leaf. He held it out to Olivia, who grasped it. Then he melted back into the crowd, in true Tuxedo Mask form. “Farewell, Sailor Moon.”
Just like in the show,she inwardly swooned.
