Chapter 37: Guardian Angel

    Emily hadn’t been in an immediate rush to find Brian—even if that jerk wasn’t answering her texts. Confident she knew exactly where he was supposed to be at noon—the Hero Hero Haruki meetup—she’d gone over her hair and make-up, double-checking everything, conscious now more than ever of the way she would look to him. The impromptu run earlier had put her out of sorts, but now she was more or less presentable, as ready as she would ever be.

   I look… cute, she gave herself a weak smile in the mirror of the restroom. Not beautiful, or sexy. But, cute. Hey, at least cute’s SOMETHING, right? Swallowing down her fears as best she was able, she carefully adjusted her shaggy bangs to fall over her brow just right, and cinched her obi a little tighter. Emily boldly stepped out of the ladies room and back into the lobby… to discover there wasn’t a single Hero Hero Haruki cosplayer in sight.

   What the hell. No heroes, no villains, not even one of the scattered Darkmask minions from earlier was in sight. She frantically checked her phone— it was only a little past noon. Where the hell are they?

    A sinking feeling settled deep in her gut as she realized they’d already gone somewhere. It was a photoshoot meetup, but the lobby itself wasn’t really a venue appropriate for group pictures. Of course they went somewhere! I just HAD to dick around preparing for this and I fucking missed them! Fuck, fuck, FUCK!

    Emily scanned what she could see of the upper level, and then hurried down one hall to the next trying to catch sight of them. Presumably, a large group of cosplayers would have trouble getting organized at all, let alone moving together through any of the congested areas inside the con. Searching one corridor after the next and not finding anyone, however, that frantic feeling was taking hold of her. Where the fuck are they?! I should be able to spot stragglers somewhere, for sure. Darkmask minions are easy to spot. Right?

♥ iXi Cerulean iXi ♥: Brian we here at the con ♥ iXi Cerulean iXi ♥: where the f are u???

    She glared at her phone in frustration—but just like before, there was no response. She angrily kicked out at the air and then stormed over to take a seat along the edge of the planter in the hallway, flicking her browser open on her phone. The AnimeCon forum was where she’d discovered the time for the Hero Hero Haruki meetup in the first place—perhaps they’d posted a last-minute update or something.

    There was nothing.

   Okay. Calm down, Emily. It’s not the end of the world, she told herself, feeling her emotions ready to boil over. Don’t be impatient and ruin this. Any second now, he’ll answer his phone. Or, someone’ll post a pic from the photoshoot early. Or I’ll run into them somewhere.

   Maybe they’re on the upper level, after all? Exhaling slowly, she hopped back up to her feet and then ducked and weaved her way through the slow-moving crowds back to the lobby. The shoulders of her yukata kept slipping down in an obnoxious way, and she had to remind herself not to shrug them off entirely. She needed to remember that the fishnet body stocking beneath did little to obscure her nips from everyone’s view, because the gel breast petals she’d held high expectations for this year had failed her before even getting inside the doors of the con.

    Taking a moment to carefully sweep the entirety of the lobby from the overlook, she then turned and made her way around the loop of the upper level, glancing between her surroundings and her phone as she walked.

   Nothing, nothing, nothing. Fuck! Emily thought grimly, pausing outside one of the upper level’s rooms to catch her breath for a moment. That side-stitch from running earlier had started creeping back in after she’d taken the stairs up two by two. Inside the nearby panel room, she could hear the familiar sound of that creep voice actor Vic Magnolia telling another one of his dumb stories, the same ones he went through every year. Brian—fuck, where the fuck are you?

Ara Ara (the Con Mom): First look at the hero hero shoot, deep in the heart of Locus Solus!!

   Finally, SOMETHING cuts me a fucking break! Emily was tapping open the photos as they appeared in the Hero Hero Haruki photoshoot thread almost as quickly as they were uploaded and posted. The Darkmask minions were lined up somewhere… dark? With red lights? Emily frowned, her brows scrunching up as she tried to discern where the heck they actually were. There was concrete all around them in the background, support pillars, pipes… wherever it was, it was a fantastic place for a shoot. Often the fights in that anime took place in half-finished skyscrapers, or ones in the middle of reconstruction after the constant bouts between caped supers and masked villains.

   There! After tapping from picture to picture, looking past the costumed subjects at the background, she finally caught a glimpse of a nearby parked car. They’re not even IN the convention center, they’re in that one big parking garage the next block over! That’s such a brilliant idea! Fuck!

    Bursting into a run back for the escalators down to the lower level, Emily nearly smashed into a Folken Tail cosplayer who’d been hobbling along.

    “Sorry!” Emily yelled guiltily, slowing her scrambling dash down to a more reasonable jog. She hopped down the stairway between the escalators four steps at a time, pinching the front hem of her yukata closed and even more conscious of how out of sorts her outfit was with every bounce of her little breasts. Fuuuck! Next year, it’s gonna be a costume with a sports bra, no matter what.

---

    “Hello?” A young woman called out as she raced into their parking garage. It was another one of those ninja girls that Kelly had seen everywhere around the convention, although this one was petite and looked rather tomboyish. The girl ran while holding the front of her yukata closed with one hand, her split-toed ninja boots tapping a steady rhythm across the pavement and echoing within the confines of the concrete structure. “Is this—is the Hero Hero Haruki meetup in here?!”

    Resplendent in the black grandeur of the gothic lolita outfit, Kelly was leaning over a waste receptacle that’d been placed near the stairwell exit. Though bereft of her own purse, one of the photographer ladies there for the shoot had been able to lend her a handful of napkins. Now, Kelly was using them to meticulously clean every last trace of mustard off of her fingers. The Magical Doll Himari—almost definitely Chloe—had fled the scene with nothing but an impossibly venomous glare, so furious she was unable to speak.

    Kelly had intended to badger and browbeat the bitch into handing Brian’s phone back over, but wearing the impossibly expensive outfit Brian had entrusted to her made her vulnerable, complicating further confrontation and—for now—making pursuit impossible. She already had to be careful to keep the mustard-covered hand away from the fabric—it wouldn’t have been wise to chase after and tackle the escaping girl to the pavement while wearing all of this. Despite how incredibly satisfying that would have been.

   Mustard. How petty, Kelly sighed to herself. That just HAD to have been Brian’s ex. Who else would have THAT kind of vendetta?

    “Yeah, the meetup was here,” One of the Darkmasks answered. “We just finished up.”

    “Uh,” the newcomer, that ninja girl around looked from cosplayer to cosplayer. “Brian?”

    Brian? Kelly went still at hearing the name, and glanced back over at the girl with new interest. Could be a coincidence… but it probably isn’t.

    Dropping the napkins soiled with condiment into the waste bin, Kelly slowly turned and sidestepped, slipping into the darkness. After they’d wrapped up the photoshoot, the cosplayers had pulled all of their red bulbs back out of the fixtures, and then replaced all of the original garage lights. All except right where Kelly moved to—because they’d broken one of the garage lights.

    “Was there another Skullfie here? One with a plastic helmet, like that one?” The girl pointed towards faux-Brian that Kelly had used in her ruse earlier. “I’m looking for a Brian.”

   Unlike that Himari girl, this one has a pretty keen eye, Kelly thought in approval, tapping a finger to her lip as she watched from her hiding place in the shadows. She could tell that one wasn’t Brian right away.

    “Another plastic helmet one? I don’t think so? Hey, do we gotta Brian, here?” The henchman called out. A scattered chorus of nopes and nos answered back, some of the Darkmasks shrugging in an exaggerated way and shaking their heads.

    Kelly watched with mounting interest as the girl’s expression fell. Well, THAT sure took the wind out of her sails. What’s her angle, though?

    “Oh. I’ll just, uh,” The girl seemed at a loss. “Wait? Just in case?”

    “We’re already done with all the pictures,” the Akari Dakumasuku told her, carefully hefting up the battered Christmas box full of red bulbs. “Unless you wanted a picture with one of us? Sorry—I don’t think anyone else is coming, at this point.”

    “...Oh,” the girl simply stared at the pavement, her hand still clutching the front of her kimono thing closed.

    “Sorry?” the Akari said again. With that, the Hero Hero Haruki group started to disperse, some of the heroes loudly inviting others out to lunch with them downtown in the city, with most of them heading back towards the convention itself. That petite girl in the shinobi cosplay remained standing there at a loss, finally pulling out a phone, so Kelly remained quiet and motionless, just a short fifteen feet away from the girl but still completely unnoticed.

    “Rebecca?” the girl asked into her phone. “I know you’re probably busy doin’ sword stuff, but, I uh. I can’t find Brian anywhere. He still won’t answer his phone, and he wasn’t at the Hero Hero meetup. Might try checking the hotel next, give them his name and see if they can give me a room number. Um, if you run into him, could you call me, like, right away? Thanks. Bye.”

    Done leaving her voice message, the girl—Emily, Kelly now surmised—let out a long, wistful sigh and dropped down into a crouch, clamping her hands on top of her head in aggravation.

    “Aaaah!” Emily yelled out loud, apparently relieved in thinking she was alone in the parking garage now. “Why the hell can’t anything ever go right?! Briannn…”

    There was something wistful and lonely in the way this Latina muttered that name now, and Kelly’s smile widened, growing more intrigued by the moment. Moving as slowly as possible, Kelly unbuttoned the top of her dress, quietly dipping her hand into her cleavage to withdraw the room key she’d been given.

    “Ah!” Emily looked up and gave a startled yelp. Peering forward into the dark, she cautiously stepped forward, crossing half the distance to Kelly, and then… picked up a forgotten shopping bag up off the pavement.

    “This is Brian’s!” Emily exclaimed, digging through the contents of the bag as if she’d find a clue as to his whereabouts therein. “Fucking fuck. Brian, you were here!”

---

   “I can help you,” A sensuous voice called out from the darkness. A close voice, too close, impossibly near to her—as if someone had appeared right next to her out of thin air, conjured out of the darkness itself.

    Emily jumped half a foot into the air, whirling, stumbling, and sending half the contents of Brian’s Komari-mart bag tumbling out across the parking garage. She let out a strange sound of surprise somewhere between a squeak and a shriek, and drew back from the apparition with wide eyes.

   What the fuck what the fuck what the fuck what the fuck, Emily failed to forcibly untense her posture. She considered herself to have decent spatial awareness. She’d been snuck up on and surprised before, but never out in the open like this. I was alone a second ago. Alone in the middle of a large, open space. What the fuck.

    Alluring laughter, charming and beautiful, sounded out, and one of the most intimidatingly attractive girls Emily had ever seen—with looks rivalling even that of her mother Mrs. Rivera—appeared out of nowhere beside her. As if the unreal, bewitching beauty wasn’t enough, she was dressed in a gorgeous black gothic gown that made her seem not of this earth.

   Oh fuck. This is for real. This is for real, and this is a vampire or a demon or something. Emily’s mind went blank as moments from dozens of different animes flashed through her mind. There always seemed to be an otherworldly femme fatale with a sadistic laugh who would step into the scene out of nowhere. Usually to abduct or murder a side character. Oh fuck, that’s me!

    “I can help you, Emily.”

    A chill went down Emily’s spine at hearing her own name, and it felt like her blood was going cold. Everything about this situation, from her own out-of-control emotions to the inexplicable manner in which this girl had appeared, were touching upon that latent superstitious side of herself Emily had trouble dealing with.

    “I-I’m just looking for my friend,” Emily blurted out weakly, involuntarily taking a step back. The gorgeous young woman with the sexy smile advanced after her. “He isn’t, uh, he won’t answer his, his phone.”

    “He can’t answer his phone,” the woman said, looking amused. “A certain Magical Doll stole it away, so she could play her little tricks.”

    “Wh-what?” Emily froze in place, equally surprised, confused, and bewildered. Magical Doll—Chloe? Chloe stole his fucking phone?! “Where’s Brian? Is he okay?”

You are reading story AnimeCon Harem at novel35.com

    “He’s just fine,” the demoness purred, beginning to circle around Emily in slow, predatory steps. “He doesn’t even know she’s here, yet—I put him somewhere safe.”

    “Can I see him?” Emily stammered, standing still. What is this? Who are you? WHAT are you?!

    “That depends on you, Emily,” the young woman sounded as if she was issuing an ultimatum. “Why do you want to see him?”

    “I…” Emily’s voice faltered and she fought the urge to retreat again. “Who are you?”

    “Today, I can be your guardian angel.” The young woman’s horrifying smile widened, and with a flick of her delicate fingers, a hotel room keycard appeared in her grasp. “Are you really prepared to see Brian?”

---

    “Is this… a good idea?” Stephanie whispered, turning to look at Brian with an unsteady gaze. Around them, the packed panel room was alive with laughter and applause as the veteran voice actors engaged in back and forth exchanges of funny questions regarding their characters. Stephanie wasn’t paying any attention to that, however—beneath the skirt of her dress, Brian’s fingertips were playing with the band of her underwear.

    “If you tell me stop, I’ll listen,” Brian paused his teasing ministrations. His mottled green eyes seemed to be looking deep inside her, and Stephanie couldn’t stop herself from giving him an uneasy grin. Holding her gaze for several long moments and still receiving no response, his fingers began to inch down inside her panties.

   His hand’s in my underwear, Stephanie thought to herself, her face flushing a fierce shade of red as she hurriedly glanced at the girl seated next to them, and then the attendees crowded in on the seats behind them. We’re in public. We’re surrounded. We’re RIGHT NEXT to someone, and Brian’s hand is creeping down towards my...

   And… Stephanie gulped, a nervous smile frozen into place across her features. I don’t want him to stop?

    She was giddy with fear, with excitement, with anxious anticipation and trembling, barely constrained lust. Brian reaching into her clothes to such an intimate place had her extremely conscious of his every movement. Guiltily looking around her again, everyone else was paying attention to the voice actors hosting the panel. Stephanie was instead completely focused on the foreign feeling of another person’s hand jammed into the front of her panties, fingers stretching towards her private parts.

   We can’t be doing this here, though, Stephanie reminded herself, steeling her nerves. It’s too... inappropriate. Illegal? We could get kicked out. This isn’t smart. I need to tell him to stop. But, no matter how she rationalized her protest in her head, after opening her mouth… no words came out. Because she really didn’t want him to stop, even if it wasn’t sensible.

    The moment his first exploring finger touched her, she realized to her shame that she was already very, very wet. Carefully cramming his hand further down her panties, he slid a fingertip down pussy lips that were already slick with liquid arousal, and the pink heat his touch ignited turned her mind molten shades of pink.

   I’m going all… soft, Stephanie stifled a gasp, obliquely thinking of herself as glowing with heat, her surface tension had just been broken by this single finger of Brian’s. The constricting anxiety and rigid sensibilities that had in so many ways molded her identity were beginning to deform in this blinding heat, going slack and losing their shape. Then, thoughtless sensation overwhelmed her incoherent thoughts, and she lightly shuddered against Brian—with every tiny shift and squirm in her seat on Brian’s lap she could feel his single finger silently strumming along her slippery labia, and it felt absolutely delicious.

    “Steph?” Brian whispered into her ear. A husky, handsome whisper. He was so close that she could feel his words, his breath on her neck—never had a voice sounded so sexy to her. “You’re shaking.”

    “I-is that all you’ve got?” She tried to put on a brave face, but there were indeed twitching tremors travelling down her legs, and both of them could feel it.

    “You sure you wanna keep provoking me?” Brian warned in a low murmur, pausing to press his lips to her skin and nibble. “You seem pretty sensitive as it is.”

    “Wh-what’s the worst that could happen?” Stephanie stammered in a nervous whisper.

    “We could be caught in the act,” He playfully said, swiping back up and down the cleft of her sex and finally feeling the soaked Stephanie parting to give way to his finger. His digit sunk deep inside of her, and she felt her mouth fall open.

    “Hwuuh…”

    “We’d be kicked out of the convention,” Brian continued, slowly slipping the finger out of her and then pumping it back in. “Probably charged with public indecency. Maybe sexual misconduct, too?”

    “Hwaah, haaaah…!”

    “So, shh, sshh, Stephanie. You can’t be too loud.” Brian sped up, the single finger pistoning in and out of her faster and faster until he was fingerfucking her at an intensity Stephanie found impossible to believe—she clenched her teeth and shivered in his lap, tightly hugging Brian’s Darkmask helmet against herself. She could now faintly make out the sound of it, the rapid schlick schlick schlick slightly audible even through the commotion of the crowded panel room.

    After another thirty seconds of torturous bliss with no response from her, he finally eased up on her and slowed down to languid, sensual strokes, and Stephanie belatedly realized that at some point she’d collapsed back against Brian, and almost dropped his costume helmet to the floor. Letting out a slow, shaky breath, she started righting herself.

    “Y-you!” Stephanie whispered. “Y-you’re going to, to get us in trouble!”

    “You started it,” he growled back into her ear, suckling her earlobe into his mouth and nibbling.

    He was still only fingering her slowly, but at this point—it didn’t matter. The pressure was still slowly, unstoppably building towards a climax, in an inevitable way that had Stephanie biting her lip in frustration and writhing against him. At first she’d thought he was relenting; now she realized he was just prolonging her pleasure by allowing her back to lucidity.

    “Are you asking me to stop?”

   Yes! She wanted to hiss out in vexation, but once again as she started to speak, the word clung stubbornly to the tip of her tongue. Or maybe… no? I don’t know!

    When he reluctantly slipped his finger out of her, she felt a unique mixture of relief and frustration… until his movement stopped and he poised at a particular eager little hooded nub.

    “N-no, no way,” Stephanie protested in a hushed voice, frantically tapping at his arm. “Brian—n-not here. I’ll be loud. I’ll be so loud.”

    “Alright, fine,” Brian chuckled. He worked his hand back out of her panties and gingerly withdrew it from her skirt, lifting a glistening finger to his mouth.

    Stephanie watched in open-mouthed shock as he cleaned every trace of her arousal off.

    “Isn’t it, um, you don’t think that it’s… gross? Weird?” She asked, leaning in close to him so no one would overhear.

    “Did you forget last night?” Brian asked incredulously, arching an eyebrow at her. “I like the way you taste.”

    “Oh,” Stephanie said, still feeling a little stunned. Stunned by his words, stunned by what he just did—no, what they just did. She was as complicit as he was for not stopping it… maybe even more so for enjoying it so much. While she hadn’t been brought to orgasm, the journey towards it had been immensely delightful all the same. And, we didn’t get caught after all. Look—no one’s paying any mind to us. Why would they?

    “Oh?”

    “I-I mean, oh, that’s good,” Stephanie flustered. “Right?”

    “Guess that depends on how often you want me tasting you,” he replied, giving her a somewhat cocky smile. “But, that’ll be it for my turn, this time. Go ahead.”

    “Are… are you being serious?” She asked with an amused smile.

    “Of course,” he replied. “I got to do whatever I wanted to you, it’s only fair that you get to attack me however you please.”

    “Um,” She blinked. Rather than urging her on, what he said actually seemed reasonable, the more she thought about it. But, what do I do?

    “So, then I said—listen, you guys—I’m not short! I’m bite-sized, vertically efficient, adorably dainty and great for hugging!” Vic Magnolia’s voice boomed through the room’s speakers, and the assembled audience burst into cheers and applause. “Okay, but I’m never saying that again! Seriously!”

    “What did he say?” Stephanie turned back to Brian in confusion.

    “I dunno,” Brian shrugged, “I musta missed the setup for the joke.”

    Although she was tempted to relax for a moment and listen in on the panel they were sitting through, more than anything else, Stephanie was feverishly racking her brain trying to think of a way to attack Brian. A way to impress him, something she could do even while in the middle of this room full of people. For several distracted minutes, she listened to the voice actors relate the story of how they were first hired into the industry, before Stephanie ultimately decided her course of action.

    “May I?” Stephanie whispered, hefting Brian’s helmet and making to place it back under their seat.

    “Sure.”

    Carefully placing it beneath them, Stephanie took a deep breath and stood for a moment. When she sat down again, she’d adjusted herself to sit slightly side-saddle on Brian’s lap, or at least, as much as she was able to without jamming her knees into their neighbor, that young woman seated next to them. Now able to twist more comfortably to face Brian, she regarded him with a shy, blushing smile.

    “Brian… I like this. Th-this, this spending time with you. Doing these things, being with you. A lot. So much. I… I don’t want it to end with the convention. I want to see you afterwards, if that’s okay. As much as I can. I-I want to be your girlfriend.”

You can find story with these keywords: AnimeCon Harem, Read AnimeCon Harem, AnimeCon Harem novel, AnimeCon Harem book, AnimeCon Harem story, AnimeCon Harem full, AnimeCon Harem Latest Chapter