Volume 4 Chapter 52: I Was Dragged Here to Work!
“Beep beep beep~ beep beep!”
Uh…
When the ringtone from the phone in the girl’s small costume pocket started ringing, Lin Lin looked at the phone in her rival’s hand and felt both embarrassed and scared.
No way…
Did he figure it out?
I should have left my phone in the dressing room! I finally found a pocket in this outfit and just put my phone inside…
And now…
Now I trapped myself!
Gao Liang stared at the place where the sound was coming from, the exact same ringtone as Lin Lin’s phone. The corner of his mouth twitched.
So… it really is her?
“Ah—what a coincidence!” Lin Lin said with shaking teeth. She quickly took out her phone from her pocket, randomly swiped the screen, then hurried to stop the ringtone and put the phone next to her ear.
“Hello~ Moshi moshi, hello, bonjour, I can’t hold it anymore…”
She pretended to be talking on the phone and turned around, trying to escape.
But Gao Liang looked at the phone in her hand, it was still vibrating like crazy.
D-D-Damn it! Why is it still vibrating?!
Lin Lin quickly pulled the phone down, about to hang up the call, but the person on the other side had already ended it.
She looked at the dark screen of her phone.
When she turned around again, her rival was already standing behind her.
“Lin Lin!”
This time, Gao Liang was completely sure.
It was Lin Lin. It had to be Lin Lin.
No doubt at all.
“Lin Lin… why are you dressed like this?”
“Uh… hahaha…”
Lin Lin slowly turned around. Her expression was awkward beyond words. She rubbed her hands nervously and said,
“Well… um… big brother, did you get the wrong person? I’m not Lin Lin, haha~”
How did he recognize me? I’m dressed like this already!
“Stop pretending. I even remember how long your eyelashes are. I can’t be wrong!”
“Uh… are you a pervert or something?”
She knew she could not keep acting anymore, so she switched back to her normal voice.
Even though she felt extremely embarrassed, this was not the time to act weak.
She had to act confident first, make him forget why she was wearing a cosplay outfit at the anime convention, and change the topic!
“Whether I’m a pervert or not is not important. But pretending to be a stranger and tricking me at the comic convention doesn’t sound like something a good girl would do.”
Gao Liang sighed and grabbed her hand.
Lin Lin panicked and struggled.
“I-I was just joking! Why are you so serious? Hey, wait, there are security guards here! Where are the guards? Security!”
“Stop shouting, Lin Lin…”
Gao Liang let go of her hand and looked her up and down curiously. After a moment, he asked,
“This outfit… who are you cosplaying as?”
“Ah… this? It’s just a normal cosplay outfit.”
Changing the topic failed.
He still asked about it.
Lin Lin could only turn her head away awkwardly and mumble her answer.
“Cosplaying… who?”
Gao Liang’s tone suddenly became sharp.
Lin Lin froze.
Ah…
This is the one topic I absolutely cannot talk about!
If he finds out about Ari-chan, sooner or later I’ll be exposed.
No… no way.
Lin Lin shook her head and put on a blank, silly face.
“Yes… who is it? Hmm… I’m not really sure… Uh… Kagarino Kirie? Dracula? Shalltear Bloodfallen? Dio Brando? Ahem… no, no idea.”
“……”
Gao Liang looked at Lin Lin with suspicion and asked carefully, “You… don’t know? Then how did you buy the cosplay clothes?”
“Ah, well… actually, I didn’t buy this. Um… I came here to work today, haha. Didn’t expect that, right, Gao Liang? I… I also work part-time to earn money. Someone thought I’m a naturally pretty girl, so they invited me to be a cosplayer at the convention. I can earn two or three hundred a day, you know~”
“So this outfit was given to you by them, and you don’t even know which character it is? They didn’t tell you?”
Gao Liang frowned.
If what Lin Lin said was true, then it explained why she was here. And… it did sound reasonable. Maybe the Little Vampire Girl and the others really did hire someone to stand at their booth as a cosplayer.
But…
Lin Lin and the Little Vampire Girl meeting like this?
Isn’t that too much of a coincidence?
“I didn’t expect you to take this kind of job, Lin Lin… You actually have the potential to be a model.”
Gao Liang said this half-believing, half-doubting.
Lin Lin was not good at handling praise. When her rival said that, she felt happy right away and nodded proudly.
Mm… I think so too!
“But you really don’t know which character this is? If someone asks to take a photo with you, won’t it be awkward? They really didn’t tell you? And who is paying you?”
She had just been praised and was feeling light and happy. But suddenly, her rival asked again, making her freeze.
Uh…
Why does he care so much about which character I’m cosplaying?
I thought… he would think cosplay itself is strange.
She had expected him to be unhappy that she was wearing strange clothes behind his back. But instead, he kept asking about the character she was playing…
The character…
“……”
Wait!
Lin Lin took a deep breath and suddenly thought of something scary.
Her rival…
Is it possible—
Is it possible that he actually knows the character she is cosplaying?
That means…
Gao Liang… does he know Ari-chan?
Hiss—
Is her rival actually her fan?
Lin Lin took a sharp breath and was completely shocked.
Her rival is her fan?
No no no no no…
The girl quickly shook her head to deny this idea.
It’s not that it’s impossible…
It’s that she doesn’t dare to imagine it.
That would be too scary. If that really happened, Lin Lin would be so shocked that she might faint on the spot.
No… that can’t be right. Her rival shouldn’t be a virtual streamer fan, right?
Maybe… maybe he is just guessing randomly? Maybe he is just worried that she might get tricked?
Lin Lin could only comfort herself like this.
Anyway… her rival shouldn’t be an anime fan.
Even though… even though they met at the comic convention.
…………
“I… I really don’t know…”
Her mind was in complete chaos, so she could only shake her head blankly and say she truly didn’t know.
Gao Liang still looked doubtful. And in his heart, he began to form a deeper suspicion.
At least at this moment, it seemed that Lin Lin and the Little Vampire Girl were not completely unrelated after all.