Chapter 1: Love and SMILE

    The weekend at BLAZE Convention Hall was going to be very busy. Two big events happening at the same time as the building was separated into two halls. A Lovethread Concert, and Anime SmileFest, side by side. It created such a buzz on social media for better or worse, as it would mean an enormous flow of people in the area. The traffic would also be bad, so staying around the vicinities would be better for the visitors. To top all that, the hotel fees were expensive.

 

Hanamiya Sakuya, a fan of the rising and popular girl band Lovethread, was a little peeved by the announcement. She stayed not far from BLAZE but there was no way she would want to go through the traffic hell. The concert was on for two nights, after all, and she certainly would watch both days given how they usually had a slightly different setlist. Fortunately for her, the Organizer had a sharing package for the duration, in which the ticket holder would be roomed together with another fan in a twin-bed room. 

“Sharing with a fellow Lovethread fan will not be so bad, after all. Perhaps I can even make new friends.” Arisa said to herself as she booked the room. The package was decently priced too, so it was a win-win solution.

 

Little did she know that both events were held by the same Organizer. With the package being an extremely popular option, they tried their best to match the interest of both sides. However, they still had one spare Deluxe room and two different packages. It was a mix-up by the hotel so they had no choice but to mix the two guests from different tickets into the same room. After all, what was the worst thing that could happen?

 

Sakuya was so excited as she checked in to the hotel one night before the event; the package was for 3 nights in total so the guests did not need to rush during the day. As the receptionist informed her that her room would be upgraded to the Deluxe Room upon checking in, she was delightfully surprised. “Lucky!”, she thought, unaware that she only get so because of the ‘mishap’ from the Organizer. 

As her house was not that far from the hotel, Sakuya took her sweet time going to the hotel only after dinner, which meant that her roommate for the event would have already been there. She opened the door gently as she saw another girl already on top of her bed, playing with her phone.

 

Their appearances were quite in contrast with each other. Sakuya had soft pink hair, long enough to go past her shoulder to the waist length. Wearing her plain white t-shirt underneath the band’s light blue iconic jacket, with a long jeans skirt and black stockings. On the other hand, the girl was just wearing her light green bedwear, looking a bit more simple with her black, shoulder-length hair as she was already resting on her bed. 

“The name’s Hanamiya Sakuya, nice to meet you.” Sakuya introduced herself as soon as she put her stuff down. 

“Nice to meet you as well, Hanamiya-san. I’m Hifumoto Iroha.” The girl put on her glasses as she said that so that she can look at her roommate better. 

“Don’t be strangers, we are both fans so we are basically sisters!” Sakuya was pretty easygoing as she was just so excited to meet a fellow Lovethread fan. “So, who’s your favourite girl group?”

Iroha was surprised at the sudden question. She immediately thought that it was about group anime song (anisong) singers as she said, “Try Sphere. What about you?”.

Sakuya was naturally unfamiliar with the name as she wondered if they were indie groups. She made a mental note to search it next time.

“Ah, that would be HoneyFlower. But I like girl bands overall, so I often went to BLAZE to watch them. This place is just like, 30 minutes from my house on normal traffic. Although as you can see, it’s going to be very crowded so that’s why I take the room package.

 I’m glad that I do, though. You seem fun to talk with.” The pink-haired girl said with a wide grin. 

This time it was Iroha that was wondering what ‘HoneyFlower’ was. She had yet to hear anything about any song sung by that group, but not that she followed every anisong each season. She might have missed a couple or two… 

Both of them had yet to make the connection as the conversation shifted to the more general stuff. Sakuya was older so she kept talking in her more casual tone, and she found out that Iroha was from another city. She only went to Tokyo (and BLAZE) at best three times a year for similar events. Even when they were completely different, opposites do attract as they seemed to hit it off pretty well, united by their love for (2d/3d) girls. Apart from fashion, they seemed to have similar tastes in food. Even the (non-anime/manga) books and movies. It seemed that they were saving the topic of the concert/convention afterwards so that they could nerd it out and had a lot to talk about after the next day. They still had two nights together, after all.

 

It was already quite late when they met in the first place so it was close to midnight by the time they finished talking. Iroha excused herself to rest. She had to wake up early morning on the next day, and as she was already in her bedwear she lay down on her bed to rest while turning the lights on her area off. Sakuya on the other hand still needed to take her bath as she slowly walked toward the bathroom; the other girl was already asleep by then when Sakuya took her warm shower. Not long after, she got changed into her sleepwear and laid on top of her bed before eventually falling asleep as well.

 

    The next morning, Sakuya woke up to Iroha about to leave. The black-haired girl excused herself to depart early for the merchandise. Sakuya was still groggy from waking up as she got confused; the merchandise for Lovethread would just be open at noon at the earliest. She was still half-asleep so she let it pass. “Have a nice day…” she said, as she returned back to sleep. Sakuya was not really a morning riser after all. She only woke up close to lunchtime as she departed to get the merchandise in the afternoon. The hotel room was nicely divided as each guest had their own wardrobe so the two did not know what each other bought. Coincidentally, that time when Iroha returned to store her early bird purchases, Sakuya was already resuming her sleep. On the other hand, Iroha was still in the anime convention during Sakuya’s return.

 

That evening, Sakuya went to have her early dinner first because the concert would have ended pretty late, not to mention she needed the extra strength to support her idols. “Ah, I forget to ask for Iroha’s contact…” She only remembered as she wanted to ask her to tag along. “Maybe I’ll meet her in the concert hall.” she hoped; watching a concert side by side with someone was generally a pleasant experience. As the concert started, she could not find Iroha around. There were a lot of people, after all, so she gave up and just hoped they could walk home together. The opening act had started so the pink-haired girl was lost in the moment, which was amplified when Lovethread appeared.

 

Even until the concert ended, Sakuya waited a while for the audience to clear out yet she had yet to see her roommate. “Maybe she’s already back,” she said as she walked to the hotel that was just a couple of minutes from the concert hall. The anime convention was still ongoing, fortunately so the human traffic was manageable. Inside the room, there was no one yet as apparently, Iroha had yet to return. Sakuya rinsed herself while wondering where might the other girl go. Perhaps as she was from another city, she had time to meet her friends from Tokyo. 

This time she was the one relaxing on top of her bed with a t-shirt and shorts as bedwear when the door opened.

“Ah, welcome back Iroha-”

Sakuya’s words were interrupted by the sight of a beautiful, long-haired blonde with red eyes. She immediately wondered who the girl was, as she could not be in the wrong room given how her key managed to open the Deluxe Room. “Are you by chance Iroha’s friend?” she asked, still puzzled by the unfamiliar girl.

“It’s me, Sakuya-san.” the blonde said, getting confused herself. She kind of forget that she was still cosplaying.

“How do you know my name- Wait, that voice, Iroha-chan?!”

It took several minutes for the confusion to settle in as the two noticed what had happened. Iroha’s cosplay, as well as Sakuya’s Lovethread t-shirt certainly explained the confusion they had these past nights.  

 

Even when they realised the mix-up, at this point the two of them already enjoyed each other’s presence and chose not to fuss over it too much. The ‘blonde’ put her stuff down as she took a seat on the chair, resting for a bit after a long day before taking her bath.

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“You really look so different though! What are you cosplaying as? You’re beautiful, almost like an idol!” Sakuya said excitedly as she observed her roommate’s clothes. 

“I’m cosplaying as Megu-chan from IdoLive7, an idol anime.” In contrary to last night, Iroha was in high spirit as well, as she talked about her favourite anime character. She took out her phone to show her character’s image and Sakuya was impressed to see the resemblances.

“2D idol, huh... Pretty interesting.” Sakuya recalled that she had seen their posters when she went to the Electric District, alongside the crowds forming in the CD shop whenever the artist had a new single. Iroha added that the main difference between the 2D idol genre and other anime was that the voice actress ended up being an idol as well nowadays, even holding concerts annually. 

“Ah, the voice actress of Megu-chan is cute as well.” Sakuya stumbled upon her when she searched for the character’s information. “Now let’s hear how her song is.” This time, the pink-haired girl was the one that searched proactively for the character’s theme song. As Megu-chan was one of the main characters, she had her character song and several group songs available. 

 

Sakuya was pleasantly surprised when she heard the song. Granted, it was slightly different from the girl groups she used to see and hear, especially when the movements involved the anime character than the girl band members. The dance moves were not that sophisticated as well as they rely more on the visuals, with the voice on par with some of her favourites. As Iroha saw her roommate lost in the music, she slid herself to the bathroom to take a shower and get changed.

 

“Ah, Megu-chan’s gone…” she teased the black-haired girl as she walked out of the bathroom. It was Sakuya’s turn now to show the wonder of her girl group as she had already opened the music video tab. Iroha, while blushing, sat at the edge of the bed to observe the laptop screen. There were indeed some parallels between the 2d idols with the girl group, especially on the rhythm. Although, the girl group members do have powerful dance moves that Iroha would love to see from her favourite idols (and their VA counterpart). Sakuya smiled as she saw her roommate seem to vibe in love with the music. Good music is good regardless of the genre, after all.

 

As the two were lost in each other’s music, time really flew as it was already midnight, once again. Sakuya recalled that her roommate needed to wake up early as she asked, “Don’t you need to queue up for the merchandise?” 

“There’s no new merchandise on the second day so I will just arrive at the opening hours. I’ve bought everything I want, and what’s left are just the stage events and meet-and-greets,” she said while opening her wardrobe full of anime goods. 

“What about you? Want to sleep longer?” 

“I don’t have to go to the venue before the concert time as well. And same here, there’s no new goods for day 2…” Sakuya thought for a bit. Perhaps they could have lunch together if Iroha was not busy. Or the early dinner. 

But before Sakuya could propose her idea, the otaku immediately asked,

“Want to join in the anime convention? They sell daily entry tickets.”

 

    Hanamiya Sakuya had never expected that she would actually join an anime convention. They bought the ticket online last night, as she walk side by side with Iroha who was already wearing another cosplay. As she was not in a hurry, she wore her costume and did her makeup in the hotel earlier, with Sakuya’s help. This time her character was called Hiyori, another idol of the same unit franchise. The character was also raven-haired so she did not have to wear any wig, only styled it differently and wear her blue contacts.
“I feel like walking beside a real idol.” Sakuya could not help to tease her when they entered the Anime SmileFest.

 

It was a completely entirely different world as Sakuya did not expect that it was actually inside BLAZE, on the other side of the concert hall. She might not be into anime yet but she had found an interest in the idol anime genre. The music, at least as she had yet to watch a single episode. Iroha immediately brought Sakuya to the IdoLive7 booth as they were selling the CDs with autograph tickets. Sakuya ended up buying a CD containing the main theme and the character songs of the main characters. 

The live autograph event happened not long after as she queued behind Iroha who looked super excited. The autograph session was similar to an idol meet-and-greet, as the voice actress sign the cd cover, and shake their hands with a smile. 

‘So this is what they call 2.5D…’ Sakuya thought to herself as she thanked the idol. 

 

    The duo spent their time walking around the convention and when they were done, it was already close to evening. They took their break by having an early dinner before the Day 2 concert started. “Too bad the Lovethread concert tickets are sold out… I’d love you to join me…” Sakuya sighed as she sat down to rest.

“It’s fine, I have my anisong concert at night, after all. I also need to head back to the concert hall soon.” Iroha smiled as she started eating her meal. The two exchanged their contact number before they part ways; so far they had been walking together the whole day. 

 

The second day’s concert eventually ended as Sakuya walked toward her hotel room. Usually, she would have just gone back to her house after the concert ended but she was thankful that the package had her extra night because she would be able to bond with Iroha further. Her phone chimed as Iroha messaged her and told her that she was already back in her room. When Sakuya entered, the younger girl was busy packing her goods as she needed to check out early the next day to catch her bus. The pink-haired girl rinsed herself and helped Iroha right after, admiring the cosplay outfits when she folded them. Iroha also helped Sakuya to pack up right after, it was just a hand-carry suitcase worth.

The two were exhausted after packing up that they ended up sleeping on the same bed. The extra warmth and comfort helped them fall asleep almost immediately.

 

    The next morning, Sakuya woke up with Iroha already all packed up and ready to go. Her bus would arrive within an hour but the bus stop was just in front of BLAZE which was next door. “I’ve got to leave soon, but I am happy to have met you.” the black-haired girl said. Sakuya washed her face and got changed to walk together with her new friend. As they reached the bus stop, the two of them recommended more songs to each other,  as the two dwelled further in the world of the 2D and 3D idols. 

“The next time I come to Tokyo again, I’ll tell you,” Iroha said as she was about to depart on her bus. Perhaps next time they could watch the next IdoLive7 concert together, which should be held later that year.

“Likewise, if any of my favourite idols have nationwide tours to Nagano I’ll tell you. Next time, let’s watch it together.” Sakuya said as they waved their hands at each other to say goodbye.

 

After she watched Iroha’s bus departs, Sakuya went back to her hotel. She looked at the CD she had bought yesterday and played it on her laptop. She spend the next hour listening to the full album while remembering the ‘mishap’, and was grateful that it happened.

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