"Uh, this…" Honestly, when she heard that, Tohka instantly felt a little weird. What kind of joke was this? If she was going to cosplay, just putting on her Astral Dress and walking into the event would be 100% accurate—not cosplay at all, she'd literally be the character. But since this was a different world, and since she was in an anime herself, wearing armor wasn't going to have any effect. If this were her original world, she wouldn't need any costume at all—she could just show up as herself. But here, it was different.
So right now, Tohka really couldn't make up her mind. After all, long black hair was definitely the easiest thing for her to cosplay. So, she decided she'd better watch some anime first and pick someone with a similar vibe. That would be safest—besides, the woman in question was as much of an experienced otaku as she was. If she did a sloppy job, it would definitely have the opposite effect.
"Um, give me some time. Let me catch up on a few shows." Blinking, Tohka decided to browse online. After all, this world was different from the other one, and besides, she hadn't seen anything here related to Honkai Impact 3rd. Otherwise, if she showed up in Raiden Mei's Queen armor and started flying around, she'd definitely get recognized. But given the current situation, she didn't need to worry about that. So, she had more or less given up on the idea of going full Raiden Queen.
"Alright, but you'd better hurry. I don't have unlimited time. Getting all that prepared takes time too." Hearing her answer, Kotori didn't object but still gave her a reminder before hanging up.
"What should I pick…" Tohka muttered to herself. "I'd better decide before Miku and the others get back. Otherwise, knowing those people…" Who knew what strange, embarrassing outfit they'd force her into—she wasn't even joking. From what she knew of them, especially Miku, odds were nine out of ten they would absolutely pull something like that.
...
"Let me see… Hmm, this one's probably not bad." Flipping through titles, Tohka quickly settled on a character she felt was a decent match. In this world—maybe with help from the Great Cosmic Will—they actually had that anime from her previous life that always gave her a headache: Akame ga Kill. As for the character she picked—it was the true protagonist of the series, Akame. Same long black hair (by the way, in the novels Tohka is explicitly described as having straight black hair—the anime coloring likely just made it look not-quite-black). Same natural airhead tendencies, same obsession with food, same… Uh. Tohka suddenly wondered if she might be beyond saving.
"Hey, I've decided. I'll go with Akame from Akame ga Kill. You handle the costume. And make sure you make her sword too. The more authentic, the better—she's really picky about cosplay quality." Having made up her mind, Tohka called Kotori directly. For an ordinary person, pulling this together in a day would be tough—but for Kotori's group, who commanded enormous resources, it probably wasn't hard at all.
"Mm, good taste. As long as you tone down your expressions a bit, you two actually match quite well." For once, Kotori actually complimented her, then added, "Honestly, I was worried you'd refuse to pick, and I'd have to drag you to choose something myself."
"Hey—hey—what's that supposed to mean?" Hearing her say that, Tohka's expression darkened. What was that supposed to imply? Akame was a walking bag of comedic flaws! Did that mean she was the same—a gluttonous, clueless airhead? And besides, she did have some dignity!
"It's nothing. Hehe. I've already ordered it. They'll finish by tonight and deliver it." Hearing Tohka's faintly angry tone, Kotori only chuckled. Getting under Tohka's skin was always fun—so she hung up without giving her time to retort.
"Ughhh—she's driving me crazy!" Because she still needed Kotori's help, Tohka couldn't really yell back. So, all she could do was stand in her living room, stomping her foot in frustration.
...
"These people are fast; I'll give them that. But all I asked for was something that looked right—did you really have to deliver me the real thing? Was this stuff sitting in storage all along?" That night, Tohka was standing there with her mouth twitching as she stared at the huge crate in front of her. She'd thought it would take until morning, but here it was, delivered that very evening. But—what was with this sword inside?! Did they really not understand, or were they pretending? How was she supposed to bring a real sword into a crowded event? As far as she knew, in places with huge crowds, there were always security checks. And besides—even today, forging a real blade like this took several days.
"What are you doing? Why do you have clothes and a sword? Hm—what's this?" Unlike Tohka's expression of disbelief, Miku was just curious as she poked around the crate. Soon, she noticed a small box, opened it, and said, "These are colored contacts. You'd better not wear them. They can hurt your eyes."
Seeing the little box, Miku frowned. But then she seemed to realize something. "Wait—I remember. You're not planning to cosplay, are you?"
"Uh—no—uh—" Seeing Miku staring at her with such a weird expression, Tohka nervously took a step back. Instinctively, she tried to deny it. But when she met Miku's look that clearly said don't bother, I'll never believe you, she just couldn't finish the sentence.
"Good grief—so you actually like this kind of thing, Tohka? You should've said so sooner! I've got tons of stuff collected." Miku didn't even wait for her to answer. Suddenly, her whole demeanor turned excited. And as Tohka watched in horror, she pulled out a big pile of bizarre outfits and dumped them in front of her.
"Look, I have this bunny girl costume I bought before. Black bunny ears and stockings—perfect for you. And here—maid outfits. Conservative ones, revealing ones, backless ones—anything you could want. Oh—and here's Ryuko's Kamui Senketsu…"
"I have to go out. I'm not coming back tonight." Seeing Miku clutching that pile of incredibly skimpy clothes, Tohka finally snapped. She stuffed everything she'd ordered back into the crate, picked it up in her arms, and without another word, jumped straight out the window.