"Cheers! To our success of not losing any money."
"Cheers!"
As the whole squad celebrated along with me, we drank the glass of beer or juice in our hands.
Last year, we decided to open up a booth in Comiket by selling our homemade doujinshis. It was a reckless move as the doujinshi we produced was not a well known one but we did it out of our love for the characters. For some miraculous reasons, we earned enough money to be out of the red and had enough profit to celebrate the earnings over some barbeque meat.
We were in a local barbeque restaurant. Thankfully it was an affordable all-you-can-eat barbeque place that we could barely afford with our earnings. With all the worries out of the window, we drank and ate our hearts out as we talked about the fun we had during our first Comiket booth experience.
Of course, I couldn't have done it without the friends I have at this table.
Junpei Aozaki was a friend I made during my 3rd-year at Niwa Mura High. He had very short black hair and wore a pair of very thick glasses. He was very nerdy looking. And despite being in a separate class, I learned very quickly that he was just as much of an anime fanatic as I do. We had similar taste in anime and hit it off quickly.
After graduation, we kept in contact. After some dumb discussions and meetings, we both decided to open a booth during Comiket to sell doujinshis. He wasn't an artist but he was in charge of almost everything else such as promoting our group and looking for printing services.
Junpei ended up being our 'Treasurer' that day as he was in charge of collecting the money and keeping track of our earnings.
Gin Kanade was a deskmate during my 3rd-year. He had thick silver hair and a pair of small eyes that became his most distinct feature. He was just as tall as Junpei. Of course, he was also a fan of the otaku culture and was the most enthusiastic one among us all. If anything, he was the one who pulled this group together.
He was studying English in a prep school that was aimed to transfer their students overseas for studies. He had always wanted to be a musician in Europe and made sure to work hard on it.
Gin became our 'Translator' that day as he would help us communicate with foreigners that approached us. He also brought along his trusty harmonica as our background music provider.
Ryouta Kinichi was my classmate during my 3rd-year. He had long brown hair and he was one of the tallest students in our class as far as I could remember. He was into anime during his high-school time but fell out of it after entering university. However, he would always be the one who brought up the most interesting conversations among the group.
He was a weird one. Not to say he did anything bad but his actions do raise a few eyebrows. Regardless, he was fun to be with and when the time called for it, he would always be there to help the gang.
Ryouta was just there. And that was all we needed him to do.
Rumiko 'Kirumi' Chiaki was a junior of mine by two years back at Niwa Mura High. She had short hair and was dressed like a tomboy. She was the shortest among the group of boys. I knew her through Gin and quickly learned she was just as much of an otaku as the rest of us. Despite being into anime that focused on boys-love and girls-love, she was a great addition to the team.
As an art student, I could confidently say Kirumi was a better artist than I am. Her drawing speed and skill was beyond my understanding and being satisfied as my 'Co-Artist', she helped eased my burden a lot.
Kirumi became our 'Mascot' that day and was willing to draw commissions on the spot for the visitors that day.
They were all great friends and I was glad to have them.
"I still can't believe we did it in the end," Junpei said as he grabbed a piece of medium-well cooked meat from the centre. 'Not many people played 'Divine Entrance' and the anime was even a flop. I'm surprised we somehow managed to cover our cost."
"Honestly," I said with a mouthful of meat. "Thank God it went well. I was sure I would have to lose tens of thousands of yen. I'm so glad I don't have to go broke."
After swallowing the meat in my mouth, I turned to look at Kirumi who is still drawing something on her sketchbook. She looked up and realized that I was about to turn the conversation around and direct it to her.
"Well, I have to say Kirumi was the MVP of the day. If it weren't for her commissions, we were sure to be in the red. I'm so glad you didn't want to keep the money. Kirumi, you were our saviour."
Kirumi noticed Junpei and I was bowing down to her as if she was our Messiah. She quickly retorted by being her usual humble self.
"I wanted to draw for free anyways. If it was the money that you want, you can keep them. Besides, we got to come out for barbeque so it was money well spent."
Gin who was sitting beside her had already finished five orders of meat. As if about to order for more, he praised Kirumi even further.
"You all better be grateful! In a way, this meal was thanks to Kirumi. If I don't see you praising her even more, then you better cough up your own money."
"Thank you, Kirumi-sama."
"Thank you, Kirumi-sama!"
Junpei and I said in unison as we bowed our heads to Kirumi. Kirumi played along as she acted all high and mighty.
"Yes. Praise me more, you mortals." After laughing it off, she directed the conversation over to Gin and Ryouta. "Though I still can't believe you all went your way to do all those stupid things at Comiket."
"Oh yeah!" Junpei said as he leaned back towards his seat. "Gin was playing the anime opening songs as the cosplayers of that anime walked by him."
As the conversation was leaning towards Gin's musical skills, Gin redirected the attention to Ryouta who was sitting at the side eating quietly.
"And then there is Ryouta who promoted my pre-uni with some dark anime humour…"
Ryouta who realized it was his turn to shine, immediately reenacted his actions at the Comiket. He got up from his seat and imagined holding a stack of pamphlets. He then air-grabbed one pamphlet with his other hand and handed it over to an imaginary client with the funniest looking smile and said…
"Manma may have died, but not your future."
The whole gang laughed as we recalled the great times we had at Comiket.
I got up from my seat and once again called upon another cheer.
"Here's to a great memory for our future self, and to many more that are yet to come. Cheers!"
"Cheers!"
"Prost."
As everyone except Ryouta said cheers in our mother language, we all drank another glass of whatever beverage was in it.
Gin then turned to face me and raised a question that he was curious about for quite a while.
"So how were things with your girlfriend? Seeing how you have succeeded, she must have been happy for you, right?"
I who heard every single one of his words gave him a confident answer with the largest smile I could give at that time.
"Oh. Her? We broke up last week."
The gang went silent as I stuffed another mouthful of juicy meat into my mouth.