Chapter 37

"Lingmeng! Lingmeng! Where are you?" Shiori called, looking around.

Just then, she spotted the cosplayer who had bumped fists with Lingmeng.

"Um... Excuse me, do you know where the girl you were just hanging out with went?"

Shiori stopped the cosplayer, who turned around, pointed a thumb at themself, and declared:

"Ko no Dio da!"

"Huh?" Shiori tilted her head, unable to understand why the cosplayer had done that.

The cosplayer seemed to notice the awkward mood and quickly cleared their throat.

"Uh... Sorry. I did that without thinking." The cosplayer scratched their cheek, then replied, "You mean that pretty girl? She seemed to realize you were missing and left to look for you a little while ago."

"Do you know where she went to look for me?"

"Sorry, I didn't notice."

"That's okay. Thank you. I'll be going, then."

Shiori bowed in thanks and continued searching for Lingmeng.

"Ahh, where did Shiori-chan go? I lost my date. Some date I turned out to be."

Lingmeng stood in the middle of the convention, looking around with a troubled expression.

After bumping fists with the cosplayer, she had planned to take Shiori somewhere else. But when she turned back, Shiori was gone.

At first, Lingmeng had tried calling Shiori to ask where she was, but for some reason, the call wouldn't go through.

What Lingmeng didn't know was that Shiori hadn't brought her phone today. She had left it in her original men's suit when changing yesterday. No matter how many times Lingmeng called, no one would answer.

Should I use my powers to find her? Lingmeng wondered.

She considered using her mental abilities to locate Shiori, but quickly abandoned the idea.

There were so many people here. Using her abilities would mean using Spirit Power, and if any AST members were at the convention, she would be in trouble if they detected her.

The odds were slim, but why risk it? With Lingmeng's luck, she might actually run into one. Then her date with Shiori-chan would probably end right there.

"Ugh. I'll just have to keep looking." Lingmeng rubbed her head and sighed, then plunged back into the crowd.

"Ahh, where on earth did Lingmeng go?"

Elsewhere at the convention, Shiori raked her fingers through her hair in frustration. She had spent half an hour looking for Lingmeng and hadn't found her anywhere.

Just as Shiori was about to cry, someone tapped her shoulder, and a clear voice rang out.

"Um... You looked upset just now. Did something happen?"

"Huh—"

Shiori turned around instinctively. Before her stood a beautiful girl with brown eyes, long chestnut hair, and a frog hair clip.

She wore a beige short-sleeved shirt and a brown plaid sailor-style skirt that looked like part of a school uniform.

Beige safety shorts, white scrunch socks, and black shoes completed the lower half of her outfit.

Over it all, she wore a black coat with white trim and held an incredibly cool longbow in her right hand.

"Um, who are you?" Shiori asked, puzzled.

"Oh, I'm just a visitor. You looked upset, so I wanted to see if there was anything I could do to help."

"I see..." Shiori nodded, then immediately asked, "Have you seen a girl about this tall, with blonde hair and pink-and-blue eyes?"

As she spoke, Shiori indicated Lingmeng's height with her hand.

"A blonde girl..." The girl frowned and touched her chin in thought. "Sorry, I haven't seen her."

"Oh..." Shiori's shoulders slumped.

"If you don't mind, would you like me to help you look?"

"Really? You would? (?o?)"

Shiori sounded surprised. The girl gave her a lovely smile.

"Sure. I'm not doing anything else." She waved a hand casually.

"Thank you so much!" Shiori exclaimed, grabbing her hand in delight.

Looking at Shiori's delicate features, the girl suddenly blushed.

She's so pretty...

"Why is your face so red? Are you sick?" Shiori asked worriedly.

"Ahem. It's nothing. Let's get going..."

The girl cleared her throat twice, trying to sound composed, then took Shiori's hand and led her away.

Feeling the girl's soft hand clasped tightly around her own, Shiori couldn't help blushing too.

"Tch. Why haven't I found Shiori yet?"

Lingmeng was growing impatient. Just as she was about to use her powers to find Shiori, an unfamiliar voice called out.

"Are you Qian Lingmeng?"

"Who's calling me?"

Lingmeng turned around in confusion and found a girl with long chestnut hair and another with long blue hair behind her.

"Ahh, Shiori! Where did you go? I was so worried!"

Lingmeng ran up to Shiori and hugged her, rubbing her cheek against Shiori's.

"Sorry... I went to the bathroom. When I came back, you were gone." Shiori scratched her cheek awkwardly.

"Lingmeng, could you stop for a second...? Someone's watching us."

"Uh..." Lingmeng noticed the chestnut-haired girl beside them and let go. Pointing at her, she asked, "And this is...?"

"She helped me look for you. Her name is..."

Shiori froze. Come to think of it, she and the girl hadn't introduced themselves.

"Oh, my name?" The chestnut-haired girl caught on and patted her chest. "I'm Liangyi Mengyue. You can just call me Mengyue."

"Mengyue..." Lingmeng repeated, then smiled.

"I'm Qian Lingmeng, and she's Shiori Itsuka. You can call us Lingmeng and Shiori. Thanks for helping her."

"Don't mention it. It was nothing." Mengyue waved off the thanks modestly.

"Mengyue..."

"What is it?"

Lingmeng had spoken up suddenly, leaving Mengyue puzzled.

"You're cosplaying Kirito and Misaka, aren't you? You've nailed the look! (≧▽≦)"

Lingmeng's eyes shone as she examined Mengyue's outfit, then the longbow in her hand.

"I don't recognize that longbow. Did you make it yourself? It's so cool!"

"You could tell!? ('.?ω?.｀)"

Mengyue looked delighted by the praise.

"I wanted to cosplay either Kirito or Misaka, but I couldn't decide which. So I combined their signature features."

Mengyue raised her longbow confidently. "And this bow is my pride and joy. I've been designing it since my second year of middle school. I call it Ratziel, the Dawn Sage!"

"Wow, you started designing it that long ago? What can it do?"

"It has computing power like a supercomputer and can hack into any computer in an instant. I can even fire a Railgun with it. Like this!"

The two sections of Ratziel, the Dawn Sage, folded into the shape of a cannon. Blue light appeared at its muzzle and shot toward Lingmeng.

It wasn't a real Railgun, just an ordinary laser. Even so, Lingmeng played along, clutching her chest and collapsing to the ground as if she'd been hit.

"Haha! The effects on your Ratziel, the Dawn Sage, are pretty convincing."

Lingmeng sat cross-legged on the floor and chuckled.

"Oh, it's nothing special." Mengyue rubbed her head bashfully.

What on earth are these two talking about?

Shiori, who had been watching them, felt the corner of her mouth twitch. She didn't usually watch anime and couldn't follow a word they were saying.

For a while, Lingmeng and Mengyue chatted happily about anime, while Shiori remained utterly lost.

Ahh, wasn't today supposed to be my date with Lingmeng? What are you doing, Lingmeng!?

Shiori wanted to cry. If Lingmeng kept talking, she would never get a chance to raise Lingmeng's affection for her.

"Oh, we've been talking for ages. Sorry, Mengyue, but we have to go."

Lingmeng seemed to notice Shiori's expression. Pretending to check the time on her phone, she turned to Mengyue apologetically.

"You're leaving?" Mengyue blinked, then caught on. "Oh, right, you two are on a date. Sorry for taking up your time."

"Don't worry. I had fun talking with you. Before we go, want to add each other?"

"Sure."

Lingmeng and Mengyue smiled, took out their phones, and exchanged contact information.

"Good luck with the rest of your date, Lingmeng. If it doesn't work out, maybe I'll start pursuing Shiori myself. Shiori-chan is so cute, after all."

Mengyue gave a mischievous smile and looked at Shiori behind Lingmeng.

"I wouldn't say I'm cute..." Shiori waved her hands hurriedly, her face bright red. Being called cute by a girl was far too embarrassing for a guy.

"Oh, really? Well, Shiori is cute."

Lingmeng smiled and pinched Shiori's cheek.

"We'd better go. Bye, Mengyue."

"Mm. Bye."

Lingmeng waved to Mengyue and left with Shiori.

Lingmeng and Shiori had left the convention and were walking along the street.

"Is there anywhere you'd like to go, Shiori?" Lingmeng asked, glancing at her.

"Somewhere I'd like to go? Why do you ask all of a sudden?" Shiori tilted her head, looking adorably puzzled.

"Consider it my apology for leaving without waiting for you," Lingmeng explained lightly.

"Oh. But there isn't anywhere I particularly want to go right now."

"Nowhere?"

"Mm."

Just then, someone approached Lingmeng and Shiori and handed each of them a flyer.

"Tiangong Haunted House opens today. Come check it out if you're interested."

With that, the person walked away.

"A haunted house?" Shiori looked at the flyer. Her gaze immediately locked onto the four large characters announcing "Half price today."