Chapter 22
The moment the door creaked open, a burst of vibrant energy spilled into the hallway. Katsuragi Kokoro, still holding the heavy box in his arms, took a cautious step into the cosplay clubroom—and immediately felt like he had stepped into an entirely different universe.
The room was wide, larger than he expected. The back wall was covered in posters of popular anime characters, ranging from magical girls with oversized wands to armored warriors mid-battle. Mannequins stood by the corners, dressed in intricate costumes: some frilly and pink, others dark and menacing. Long tables lined the center of the room, stacked with sewing kits, makeup palettes, and sketchbooks opened to half-finished outfit designs.
Wigs of all colors were perched on stands—bubblegum pink, sky blue, electric green. A group of girls huddled around a laptop near the window, their eyes locked in unison as they studied a scene from an action-packed anime. One of them scribbled rapidly in a notebook, pausing only to rewind a certain movement. It looked like they were dissecting a character’s behavior or gesture, studying it with the intensity of scholars preparing for final exams.
It was chaos—but the good kind. The kind of organized mess that only passionate people could produce.
The girl with black hair, still slightly out of breath from carrying the boxes, gestured politely.
"You can just set that over there in the corner, thank you," she said, her voice soft but clear.
Kokoro nodded without much fuss and walked across the room. A few heads turned as he passed—unsurprising, since he was the only boy in sight.
"Wait... who’s that?" one of the girls whispered.
"Did we even recruit a boy this year?" asked another, blinking in confusion.
"Maybe he’s... her boyfriend?" someone guessed, looking toward the black-haired girl.
That suggestion caused a visible ripple. The girl’s expression froze for half a second before her face turned beet red.