"This is the best 'Demon Sword' cosplay I've ever seen!"

"The swords actually sparked when they clashed against each other. Could they have been using real swords?"

"Judging by the swords' quality, the sounds of the swords clas.h.i.+ng, and the sparks as well as other details, they're probably real iron swords. Amazing!"

"Incredible performance! Just how long did they practice for it?"

"10 points for the clothing, 10 points for the makeup, 10 points for the props, and 100 points for the performance!"

"I strongly recommend the makers to come find these two cosplayers if they decide to make a movie out of 'Demon Sword!'"

"It's a minus that a guy is cosplaying as Renha!"

"It's a plus that a guy is cosplaying as Renha!"

"Renha's a female disguised as a male in the original story, so there's no problems with a guy cosplaying as her. Of course, the prerequisite is to have a sufficiently excellent appearance first!"

"Is this cosplayer really a boy? Maybe the cosplayer is actually a girl."

After reading such messages, Seiji didn't know what expression he had anymore.

He silently closed the forum, poured himself a cup of tea in the living room and drank it to calm himself down. Afterwards, he returned to the study and logged on to his chatting application.

"Seigo, I saw your cosplay today! It was amazing~"

He received a message from Yukari.

"You actually cosplayed with someone else! Why didn't you notify me? I wanted to see you cosplay in person!" Chiaki sent him a message as well.

"Senpai, your cosplay was wonderful, and your performance was incredible as well!" This message was from Hos.h.i.+.

"Seigo, I think your cosplay was awesome! Although Renha is a female character, you seemed perfectly suited to cosplay as her, it was beautiful! Your friend's cosplay of Frost was awesome as well, and your performance was excellent!" This message was from Kaho.

"That cosplay was so cool! Were you using real iron swords? With milord's physical abilities, a performance of this level is probably a cinch. Your friend's abilities are quite something as well. Well, I do have to say that I never expected our king to cosplay a female character. Was it in order to experience the feelings of our game's characters?" Hisas.h.i.+ sent such a message.

'Give me a break…'

Seiji slumped over in his chair, staring at the ceiling with his head angled at 45 degrees with an expression as if there was no more meaning to life.

The other Knights of the Round Table of his game creation group kept pa.s.sionately discussing their Idle Fish King's cosplay for quite a while.

"Next year, if possible, let's all cosplay together!" was the end result of the discussion.

As for the arrangements for the doujins.h.i.+ convention's third and final day…

Seiji would go together with Hos.h.i.+, Rion, Kotomi, as well as Kaede.

Yukari was busy and wasn't going to go.

Kaho wanted to go by herself.

Hisas.h.i.+ strongly requested to join Seiji's team, but all the female members rejected him, so he could only sadly go by himself.

Mika wanted to take a rest.

Chiaki said she wanted to sleep in, so she wouldn't go.

Those were the arrangements.

Hana still hadn't logged on.

Seiji sent Hana a message asking if she wanted to watch the last day's stream of the doujins.h.i.+ convention… There was no response.

He also asked s.h.i.+ka if she still wanted to watch the stream, but she answered that she didn't need to watch it anymore with her face reddening.

He had no clue what his adopted sister was thinking. He figured she was going through the awkwardness of p.u.b.erty… Sis-con Seiji felt like his power to influence his sisters was decreasing!

Luckily, he still had the angelic Reo to accompany him tonight, so he could still sleep together with such a cute loli.

Hos.h.i.+ barely slept all night.

That was because he was incredibly looking forward to today! Being able to tour the doujins.h.i.+ convention together with his Harano-senpai and his twin sisters.

This was also going to be the first time that he was meeting his senpai outside of school or the confectionery store, as well as the first time going outside to have fun together.

He was feeling excited, antic.i.p.atory, delighted, and blessed… all these emotions caused him to have difficulty sleeping.

He got up super-early in the morning, made some breakfast for himself, ate it, changed clothes, freshened up his appearance, and walked out of his home with a backpack on his back, heading to the arranged meeting location.

It was rather cold this wintry morning, but Hos.h.i.+ felt like he was filled with warmth inside.

As he walked, he imagined seeing Harano-senpai again and couldn't help but smile.

He arrived at the arranged meeting location and waited quietly.

A cold wind was blowing, and the temperature gradually dropped.

Then, it began to snow.

Hos.h.i.+ was beginning to feel a little cold.

He checked the time on his cell phone and saw that there was still slightly over an hour before the arranged meeting time.

'Should I go sit down for a while in a nearby restaurant?'

Hos.h.i.+ thought about it but decided against it, electing to wait instead.

He put some more heat pads on himself, then took out his thermos and started sipping some hot water.

His breath turned into a white fog that disappeared in the air.

Then, he took out an umbrella and unfurled it, holding it up to block the snow.

Waiting was something that was supposed to be boring, and it would only be more difficult to wait on a cold and snowy day like today. However, Hos.h.i.+'s heart was filled with nothing other than hope.

He didn't even feel like looking at something on his cell phone. He silently watched the falling snow while filled with expectations, and even began humming.

He hummed the national idol Miyuki Sakuraku's newest hit solo, "Flashy Snow."

The beautiful boy holding an umbrella while waiting in the snow and humming this song that was supposed to be a sad song actually made this all seem warm and happy.

Time pa.s.sed just like this.

Rion and Kotomi, who were sharing one umbrella, arrived at the intersection that Hos.h.i.+ was waiting at.

"Good morning, Hos.h.i.+, did you wait long?"

"Good morning, Rion, Kotomi. I just waited for five minutes." Hos.h.i.+ smiled.

The twin sisters looked at him.

"Rion, Hos.h.i.+ is lying."

"Yep, Kotomi, he must have been waiting here since long ago."

The twin sisters easily saw through the truth.

"I didn't arrive here that early…" Hos.h.i.+ felt somewhat embarra.s.sed.

And then, he saw his sisters each taking off a glove and reaching out to him.

Rion and Kotomi both placed one of their hands on their younger brother's cheeks.

Hos.h.i.+ felt a warm and soft sensation.

The twin sisters felt a cold and hard sensation.

"Idiot brother…"

"Your face is almost frozen solid."

They gently began rubbing his face.

"Mmm…" Hos.h.i.+ felt really comfortable.

His sisters' hands were warm and soft, and felt quite nice on his face that was semi-frozen.

While he felt warm on his face, he felt blessed in his heart.

A while later, Rion and Kotomi retracted their hands.

Then, they put away their umbrella and stood by their brother's side, staying close to him and wrapping their own scarves around his neck.

"Thank you… Rion, Kotomi."

"No need to say thanks."

"We're siblings."

Hearing them say that they were siblings… Hos.h.i.+ almost felt like crying for a moment. He hurriedly took a deep breath and barely managed to stop himself.

He kept feeling like he was more and more fortunate.

The snow quietly continued to fall.

He watched the falling snow and felt his sisters beside him. He even felt like thanking this snow.

'Idiot, what does the snow have to do with anything?' A voice spoke up in his own mind.

'What you should be truly thanking is that person.'

As for that person, no matter how much he thanked him, he felt like it wouldn't be enough.

Hos.h.i.+ thought about Senpai as he hoped for Seigo to arrive.

Suddenly, he heard a song.

"Flashy Snow"—the song that he was humming earlier.

His sisters were the ones singing softly.

They sounded much better than he did.

The twins sang in unison with their voices overlapping perfectly without a single second's difference.

Hos.h.i.+ enjoyed their song and felt that they sung better than anyone, even the national idol Miyuki Sakuraku.

He temporarily closed his eyes and listened.