Note: This story was dynamically reformatted for online reading convenience.
 
 Cosplay at a Convention

   By Emi Tsuruta

   Note: this is one in a series of posts about my life.  If you'd like to
know more about my friends and me, drop by my home page at:
/~emitsuruta/

   One day, my friend Satomi and I were having lunch in the cafeteria on
campus.  We were just sitting there, eating and chatting, the same as
always, when something caught Satomi's eye.  I turned around to see what it
was.  She seemed to be looking at this guy heading our way.  His hair kind
of stuck up at a strange angle, but it gave him a unique look, and his eyes
were dreamy.  Sure enough, he waved to Satomi, and she flashed him this big
smile, and waved back.

   "Who's that?" I asked.

   "Who?" she answered, playing dumb.  I nodded towards the handsome guy
she'd just said hi to.

   "Oh him.  It's no one.  He's just in one of my classes."

   I knew there had to be more to the story than that, but for some reason,
Satomi wasn't talking.  I watched him as he wended his way through the
cafeteria, and soon realized that the girl behind him was following him
around.  'Is that his girlfriend?' I wondered.  Maybe that's why Satomi
doesn't want to talk about it.

   "He must have a name," I insisted.

   "Adam," she whispered, looking down at her plate now.  Before I could
ask more, Satomi got up, and walked away, tray in hand.

   "Hey!  Where are you going?" I called after her.

   "Lunch is almost over," she noted, nodding towards the clock.  "We have
to get to class."

   She was right of course, but I was still curious about this guy.  Satomi
is usually so shy, so how did the two of them know each other?

   Anyway, I got up, put away my tray, and came back for my stuff.  Satomi
was half way across the cafe by then, in a rush all of a sudden.

   "I'll call you later," I yelled after her.  I headed to class myself,
still wondering about the guy.  Eventually, I managed to settled down, and
concentrate on the class.  Afterwards though, I gave Satomi a call.

   "I have to go to the museum," she told me.  "There's an exhibit my
anthro prof asked us to check out." The museum is on campus, but I hadn't
spent much time there.

   "Do they have Halloween costumes in the gift shop?" I asked.  Halloween
was coming up, and a few people had asked me if I was going to one of the
Halloween parties.

   "I don't know.  Maybe."

   "Oh OK.  How about I meet you at the gift shop?  In an hour or so?"

   "Yeah, sure."

   I stopped in a few places along the way, but when I got closer to the
museum, I saw Adam again.  There was no sign of his 'girlfriend' this time.
He went into the building next door to the museum.  I wondered if I should
follow him in to see what he was up to, but I should probably find Satomi
first.  He is cute though.

   I went into the museum, and found the gift shop.  It wasn't that large,
but it was packed with all kinds of stuff.  The shopkeeper looked to be
Japanese, a smartly dressed older man with a hint of grey in his trendy
beard.  He smiled when he saw me, probably recognizing me as a fellow
Japanese, and motioned for me to come on in.

   I found their clothing section near the back, next to what looked like a
change room.  They had lots of museumy-type outfits - cowboys and Indians,
union and confederate soldiers, Egyptian pharaohs, that sort of stuff. 
They did have an Indian dress sort of like Pocahontas wore, but most of the
women's outfits weren't that sexy.  They didn't seem to be Halloween
costumes at all, but more like uniforms made for the wax figures in the
museum.

   I finally spotted Satomi outside.  She was chatting with Adam in the
entrance to the shop.  I waved to her, but she was too fixated on Adam to
notice me.  Ah well.  I guess I should try to find a costume anyway.

   They did have a nice pair of thong sandals, but what would go with that?
There was a lot of Indian stuff - cowhide vests, deer-skin loincloths and
feather head dresses.  I wonder if I can put together something with these.

   I signaled to the shopkeeper that I wanted to use the change room, and
he motioned for me to go ahead.  I brought the sandals, grabbed a top and a
loincloth, and disappeared off into the back.  After pulling the curtain
shut, I stripped out of my clothes, trying to figure out how to put this
stuff on.  There was a strip of cowhide at the side of the loincloth that
you use to tie it on.  My undies were going to show, so I ended up taking
them off.  I was trying to focus on dressing, but I was getting a bit
excited stripping naked.

   I finally got the loincloth on.  At the front and the back, there were
flaps made of grey and white fur - plush and fuzzy - that felt nice on my
bare skin.  It was completely open at the sides though leaving my hips and
backside pretty much exposed.

   The 'top' I'd grabbed wasn't much better.  It wasn't even a top at all,
more like a bib or a collar made of deep red cloth that just barely covered
my shoulders and breasts.  It was completely backless with just the strap
around my neck there to hold it up.

   I knew I shouldn't go out dressed like this, but there was no mirror in
the change room.  I pushed back the curtain, and peered out.  Satomi was
still talking with Adam.  I wonder - should I go out, and show them? 
Satomi always complains whenever I prance around half naked, but I didn't
think Adam would mind.  It would be fun to see how he would react.  Getting
up my nerve, I came out, and padded over their way, getting a bit of a
thrill from walking around with so little on.  It was pretty exciting.

   I didn't get as much of a reaction as I'd hoped.  Satomi ignored me, and
Adam just glanced at me for a split second, before turning back to Satomi.

   "Are you going to the party at the James?" Adam asked Satomi, in his
husky voice.  For whatever reason, he seemed more interested in her than he
was in me.  I turned away to look at the head dresses on the shelves.  My
top swung forward leaving my bare breasts exposed.  Adam didn't notice, but
one of the boys outside saw me, and came rushing into the shop!

   "Emi!  Is that you?"

   Embarrassed, I straightened up, flattening my little nothing of a top
over my breasts.  The boy was Kazuki, one of the guys I know from the
Japanese Students Union.  He stared down in wonder at my backside.  When I
tried to fix my loincloth, I think I might have given him a peek at my
pussy.  Whoops!

   "What a coincidence!" Kazuki grinned.  "Imagine meeting you here!"
Kazuki is a nice enough guy I guess, but up until then, I'd mainly thought
of him as an anime nerd.  He seemed pretty thrilled to see me though,
especially the way I was dressed.

   "Oh Kazuki.  Wha-wha-what are you doing here?" I stammered.  He looked
as pleased as punch, and even Adam was watching now, finally noticing the
way I was dressed.

   "I was just on my way to the library, but I'm glad I bumped into you. 
Would you like a job?"

   I felt nervous with the two of them staring at me, but my ears perked up
when he said 'job.' I had been looking for extra work.

   "Job?  What kind of job?" I asked.

   "There's a comic convention coming up, and I was wondering if you could
work our table with us."

   I'd never been to a comic convention before, and had only the vaguest of
ideas of what goes on.

   "Um, what would I have to do?" I asked.

   "Have you met Masa?  He and I rent a table at these conventions, and
sell manga and anime DVD's.  A lot of the other booths have girls working
them - cosplayers - and they kind of steal our business.  If we had you
though...  I mean, man, we'd clean up for sure," he grinned.

   "Cosplayers?  Oh no, I'm not...," I rushed to correct him.  Worried by
the way he was gawking at me, I felt for my loin cloth.  Somehow it had
gotten twisted off to the side, leaving my backside exposed.  I hadn't
really meant to show Kazuki my bottom, so I quickly turned to face him,
patting my butt cheeks in embarrassment.  I peered back at Adam.  He was
still talking with Satomi, trying not to stare at me.  Actually, I wouldn't
have minded so much if Adam wanted to check me out.

   "You could wear that," Kazuki offered, grinning from ear to ear.

   "This?  No, this isn't mine.  I was just trying it on," I explained.  I
pawed at the back flap, trying to get it to lie flat, but Adam was staring
even more deliberately now.  I could feel the air swirling all around my
behind giving me goose bumps all over.

   "You look gorgeous," Kazuki beamed.  "I can buy it for you if you'd
like."

   "Um, no, thanks," I demurred.  I glanced back at Adam again, but he
seemed embarrassed for me.  I quickly beat my retreat before anyone else
came.

   "Hey, wait," Kazuki called after me.  "You could wear something else
then.  We have tons of costumes at the comics store."

   I paused outside the change booth, and asked,

   "What kind of costumes?" Unfortunately, all this fiddling with my
loincloth was causing the bows on the waist ties to come loose.

   "Bat girl bikinis, super girl bikinis," he rhymed off.  When he said
'bat girl,' at first I thought he was talking about baseball.

   "Anything else?" I asked, catching my loincloth before it fell.  Kazuki
was so fascinated by my ass he was barely listening anymore.

   "Um, what?" he gawked.  Did Adam leave?  I couldn't see him anymore.

   "Anyway, it doesn't matter.  We can talk about it some other time."

   I scurried into the change booth, and quickly pulled the curtain closed,
breathing heavily.  What on earth did I go, and do that for?  I barely even
knew Kazuki, and now he probably thinks I'm some kind of nympho.  Anyway,
I'd better get out of this, and go set the record straight.

   I peeked out to make sure that Kazuki hadn't followed me back here.  It
looked like he had gone to the front to talk to Satomi, so I took the
loincloth off.  I had a hard time calming down though after that.  My hello
kitty was purring, and I wanted so much to have sex.

   Anyway, I finally got dressed in my jeans and t-shirt, and came out to
find Kazuki and Satomi.  Kazuki was telling Satomi about the convention.  I
tried to avoid any commitment, but he was pretty insistent.  He said I
could just wear a schoolgirl uniform if that was easier.  Anyway, I told
him I'd think about it, and headed out with Satomi.

   That night though, when I got home, I found myself musing about this
convention.  I could wear my schoolgirl uniform, he'd said.  I guess that
wouldn't be so bad.  I didn't have it with me in the States, but perhaps I
could find something similar online.  Our school's was a bit old-fashioned
- Prussian navy blue with two white stripes on the sleeves and on the hem
of the flare skirt.  Our scarf was red, but maybe if I could find a blue
scarf and a grey collar, that would look conservative enough.

   I looked on the web.  There were quite a few white sailor blouses, but
the navy ones tended to be longer, not like a cosplayer wears.  Oh well. 
If I can't find one in time, I'll just tell Kazuki that I can't do it. 
There must be other jobs I could do.

   Over the next few days, I trawled the web some more.  I did finally find
a uniform that might work.  The sleeves on the blouse were a bit longer
than my old one, and there were no stripes on the skirt, but otherwise it
was a pretty close match.  On a whim, I went ahead, and ordered one.  I
wasn't sure if it would arrive in time, but a few days before the
convention, it came in the mail.

   Kazuki called me around then.  He was pretty nice about the whole thing,
saying I didn't have to do anything I didn't want to.  I finally told him
yes.

   The convention was held in a big hotel downtown.  When the day came, I
headed down dressed in my street clothes, but packed my uniform in my
backpack.

   The hotel was gorgeous.  The lobby's ceiling was incredibly high.  There
were paper chandeliers and a luxurious red and brown color scheme.  There
were even escalators to take us down to the basement.  Kazuki gave me a
frilly wristband, so security would let me back into the hall.  Both Kazuki
and Masa seemed so pleased that I'd come.

   In the ball room where the convention was held, there were all these
long tables set up in the middle and along the edges.  The other vendors
seemed cool enough, dressed neatly, not as geeky as I had pictured.

   There were a few other women there: dojinshi artists, cosplay models,
sales assistants.  I said hi to the Chinese girls at the table next to
ours. They had on these incredibly long wigs sort of like Rapunzel.  One
girl, Sue, was supposed to be a maid, and the other looked like one of
Santa's elves I guess.  The other cosplay girls were wearing costumes based
on anime heroines or western superheroines.

   It all looked peaceful enough, and the people seemed friendly.  I
eventually decided it would be safe to change.  I went back up to the front
desk, and asked where the ladies room was, and they directed me up the
escalator to the second floor.  It was really quiet up there.

   The color of my schoolgirl uniform was really dark, almost black more
than navy, but it felt crisp and new.  Once I'd got it on, I came out to
check myself in the mirror.  You could see my bare thighs, tummy and
bellybutton, but it wasn't all that indecent.  I guess it'll be alright.

   Once I finished changing, I went back down, and showed Kazuki and Masa.

   "Nice!  You look great," Kazuki smiled.  I was actually a bit worried,
because my uniform was nowhere near as flashy as what some of the other
girls were wearing, but Kazuki and Masa seemed quite happy.

   Eventually, the convention started, and they let all the customers in.
People just kind of wander around, but sometimes a whole bunch of people
would congregate at one table.

   I tried to be friendly, but most of the guys were pretty shy.  They'd
come up, and leaf through the bins of comics, only sneaking the occasional
peek at me.  I'd smile sweetly at them, but most of them would avoid my
gaze.

   A bit bored, I started talking to Sue, the Chinese maid girl at the next
table.  She was an anime fan, and had designed her costume herself.  It did
look kind of home-made, but it must have taken forever to make, and showed
off her shoulders to nice effect.  She didn't seem embarrassed at all.  She
seemed proud of not only her costume, but her body too.  She seemed pretty
cool.

   Masa kept peering over at me and blushing.  He was so shy.  It was nice
that he liked me, but I hadn't really talked to him at all.  Kazuki started
reminiscing about other conventions.

   "Do you remember that girl in her underwear?" he beamed, talking more to
Masa than me.

   "What?  She was there panties and a bra?" I asked, surprised.

   "No, not exactly.  I think she was wearing a skirt at first, but took it
off later.  Here.  I think I have a picture." Kazuki found a pic on his
smartphone.  The girl was definitely Japanese, some kind of model I guess,
and there she was in a white sailor blouse, running shoes, and these
incredibly tiny little panties.  "If you could do something like that...,"
he mused.  I glanced over at Masa, but he just blushed even more.

   I looked down at my skirt, trying to remember what kind of panties I had
on.  Some of them the weave is so loose they are almost see-through, but I
was pretty sure these panties were a heavier silky material.  I definitely
hadn't planned on showing them to anyone when I got dressed that morning.
As far as I could remember, these ones were fairly low rise bikini panties.
They are nice and cool in the warm weather, but they hung fairly low on my
hips, so you could see a bit of the crack of my ass at the top.

   I looked back at Kazuki, but he had turned away to deal with some
customers.  It was kind of a crazy idea taking off my skirt, but then again
there was Sue in her shoulder-less maid uniform, some girl in a tank tee,
and other girls in pretty revealing costumes.  I didn't exactly stand out
the way I was dressed.

   I actually wanted to talk with Kazuki some more about it, but he was
busy.  Instead of taking off my skirt, maybe I could just pull the hem up
to give our customers a peek at my panties.  That wouldn't be quite so
embarrassing, but it might get a rise out of some of them.

   I wandered off to the side to hide from the crowd.  I lifted up my skirt
peeking down at my panties, and sure enough, they were the sparkly white
low rise ones.  Shoot!  If I'd known this would happen, I would have
brought a more decent pair.

   I slid my fingers in to the waistband of my skirt, and undid the hook at
the side.  I could resize the waistband.  I pulled the skirt up, and did it
up a bit tighter.  Some guys were watching me, but I just ignored them, and
tried to act normal.

   After I'd raised the waist, the hem hung loose at the back just barely
covering my bottom.  I was a bit worried, but I stood up, pushing the hem
down at the back.  Kazuki peered over at me, a bit surprised that I'd
actually raised my skirt for them.  He'd seen me fooling around half naked
at the gift shop, so I don't know why he was so surprised.  I guess he
still thought of me as a good girl.

   I went back to dealing with our customers, but now guys were gathering
behind me staring at my ass.  I tried to ignore them, but it was kind of
embarrassing.  I began to wonder I'd pulled the skirt up too far, but when
I went to fix it, Kazuki motioned for me to leave it.

   "It's okay, Emi!  Don't worry.  You look fine."

   I wasn't so sure about that, but in any case, we did seem to be getting
more business.  Guys would come, leaf through the bins, and sneak the
occasional peek at me and my indecent outfit.  I was actually pretty
surprised that such a small thing would make such a difference.

   Feeling a bit nervously, I pressed my crotch against the table.  Sue
looked over at me, but she just smiled, not seeing anything strange about
how I was dressed.

   Masa leaned over, and whispered something to Kazuki.

   "What?" I asked.

   "No...  Masa was just saying that you are a very beautiful woman,"
Kazuki said.  I looked at Masa, even more surprised.  I wasn't sure how to
respond.

   "Um, thanks, I guess."

   After a while, the crowd kind of died down, as people went off to see
the TV stars in the other room.  Business slowed, and I tried to think of
some way I could help.

   At a table on the other side, there was a cute girl - maybe Japanese -
with a green wig on.  She was dressed all in white - white lace up boots, a
white mini-dress and white panties.  She had beautiful features and creamy
white thighs, but her eyes were so dark, evil-looking.  She kept looking
over at me, but not in a friendly way.  I think she thought that I was her
rival somehow.  Now that business was dying down, she was looking for
someone to blame, and seemed to think I had something to do with it.

   I got kind of tired of her icy stares.  It kind of spurred me on though
to up the ante myself.  I undid my skirt again, and folded the waistband
over on itself again.  There was kind of a limit with this skirt though. 
I'd folded it so many times that it was starting to look all bulky.  I
glanced over at the green-haired girl.  Her skirt was so short you could
see her panties clear enough.  Hesitantly, I pushed my own skirt down my
thighs, and took it off.

   Kazuki looked even more surprised.  Innocent Masa was going into
convulsions to see me, his precious little angel, tarting myself up this
way.  Sue smiled though clearly approving.

   Self-conscious, I kept adjusting my panties, trying to get them to cover
my butt cheeks.  That wouldn't work, so I tried pulling up the waistband
instead to hide the crack of my ass.  These panties were pretty mini
though, so I couldn't keep everything covered.  I finally just let them be.

   One problem was that there was a photographer there that day.  I thought
he was over in the other room, but suddenly, I realized he was back,
angling to take my picture.  I was about to tell him not to, but Kazuki
intervened, asking if I'd just go along with it.  He was all like 'it'll be
good for business,' but I think he and the other guys were enjoying seeing
me embarrassed.

   Sue, on the other hand, thought it was wonderful that the photographer
had come, and wanted to get in on the pictures.  She clearly loves the
attention.  She came over next to me, and posed, blowing him kisses.  I
turned my back, and ignored them, but the photographer guy told Sue to tug
on the waistband of my panties.  Before I knew it, she'd pulled them open,
showing him the crack of my behind.  I tried to shoo her away, but Kazuki
was all excited now, cheering her on.

   Sue made like she was going to pull her own panties down, but at least
she had a dress on so you couldn't see her behind.  The photographer
motioned for her to go after me again.  She pulled my panties down so far
that practically my whole bottom was showing.  I was pretty shocked, even
more so, because people kept streaming in.  The show in the other room must
have finished.  Sue didn't realize though.  I kept trying to get her to let
go, but she was having too much fun, teasing me, and hamming it up for the
camera.

   I had to just stand there, and take it, as all these fan boys rushed
over to get a look at my bare behind.  It was so embarrassing, but despite
myself, I was getting excited.  The guys were all clapping and cheering
loving it.  My face got all hot, but I did my best to soldier through for
Kazuki's sake.

   Eventually, Sue twigged to the fact that a huge audience was gathering.
She let go of me, and pulled up her own panties.  I was about to do the
same, but Kazuki begged me not to.  People were all flocking to our table,
trying to see what all the fuss was.  I knew it was kind of crazy to stand
here, letting all these people ogle my bottom, but it all happened so
quick. I was kind of in a daze.

   Slowly, I pulled my panties back up.  Kazuki and Masa especially seemed
so disappointed.

   Kazuki wanted to organize some kind of photo shoot at their store, but I
told him some other time.  Masa looked so sad, when I pulled my skirt back
on, but I was starting to feel pretty embarrassed about the whole thing. 
I'm not sure what happened to the photographs.  I guess the photographer
would need me to sign a release if he wanted to sell them.

   Emi Tsuruta
/~emitsuruta/