ComiConclave was less of a convention and more of a human tsunami. The moment the doors opened, a wave of pure, unadulterated otaku energy flooded the exhibition hall. It was loud, it was crowded, and it was glorious.
"This is insane!" Kenji yelled over the roar of the crowd, his eyes as wide as dinner plates. "I've already seen three different Gokus and a guy dressed as a literal vending machine!"
"Stay focused," I ordered, clutching the bag with my precious artbook to my chest like a holy relic. "Objective: Ectiqa's booth. We move now!"
We plunged into the sea of people, a chaotic ballet of anime fans, gamers, and cosplayers. It was a sensory overload. Every direction we looked, there was something amazing to see. But we had a mission.
Meanwhile, in a sterile backstage area, Rina was making her final preparations.
"Mask check," Miki said, adjusting the ornate mask that covered the top half of Rina's face.
"Wig check," Hana chirped, making a final fluff of the massive, sky-blue wig.
"Okay," Rina said, her voice slightly muffled by the mask. She took a breath, feeling the familiar transformation wash over her. The shy, tired Rina was gone. The confident, ethereal Ectiqa took her place. "Let's go."
Escorted by convention staff, she walked through the private corridors. When she stepped out onto the main floor and into her lavishly decorated booth, a ripple went through the nearby crowd, which quickly turned into a roar.
"IT'S HER! IT'S ECTIQA!"
Within minutes, a massive crowd had formed, and a line began to snake its way back, seemingly for miles. At her own small booth across the aisle, Haruka "Hime-Hime" Ito, dressed as a generic fantasy princess, watched the commotion with a furious scowl.
It took Kenji and me a full fifteen minutes of pushing and apologizing to even get within sight of the line for Ectiqa's booth. When we saw it, our jaws dropped.
"You've got to be kidding me," Kenji wailed, pointing at the sign held by a staff member: 'LINE ENDS HERE. APPROX. 3 HOUR WAIT.' "Three hours? We'll die of old age before we get to the front!"
"We're not giving up," I said, my voice filled with grim determination. I could just barely see her over the heads of the crowd. She was a vision in white, gold, and glowing blue, standing there like a true goddess descended from a video game. She was even more stunning in person. "We're getting in that line."
And so our epic journey began. The Great Line of ComiConclave. We stood, we shuffled forward an inch at a time, and we waited. The air was thick with the scent of popcorn and passionate nerd debate.
"There's no way the Archon's celestial spear could beat a fully-powered lightsaber," the guy in front of us argued to his friend.
"Dude, it's literally powered by a divine star-core. It erases things from existence!" his friend shot back.
I wasn't listening. My eyes were fixed on the figure at the end of the line. I was going to meet her. No matter what it took.