The neon lights of Neo-Kyoto pulsed with electric energy as though the sprawling city itself was alive. Towering holographic billboards projected anime characters, mecha warriors, and game icons that cascaded into the smog-covered skyline. Crowds thronged the streets below, dressed in elaborate costumes—fighters with glowing swords, witches with luminescent staffs, and androids with fluid, bioluminescent tattoos that bent and shifted in synchrony with the ambient beats of synth pop blaring from the speakers. It was the height of CosFest, the largest cosplay festival in the world—a haven for gamers, dreamers, and misfits alike.
Mika Takano adjusted her sleek jacket made of iridescent, reflective fabric that caught the light like liquid metal. Her short blue hair glinted under the streetlamps, styled into jagged layers that framed her high cheekbones. A subtle scar bisected one of her dark brows—part real, part an intentional part of her cosplay as Cerelia, a renegade pilot from the retro sci-fi series Stellar Requiem. The scar was her calling card, her trademark, if you knew what to look for.
She stepped into the cosplayer-filled crowd, the oversized belt she wore clinking faintly with faux metal buckles. Her boots were heavy, utilitarian, intentionally scuffed to look as though she had stepped out of Cerelia’s gritty spaceship. A lone orange planet loomed on the horizon, mimicking the setup of Stellar Requiem, its artificial glow an eerie but mesmerizing addition to tonight’s theatrics.
“You see the target?” came a voice in her ear, calm but clipped. Her comm implant was discreetly tucked behind her ear, hidden behind strands of dyed hair. It was Noah’s voice—her hacker partner, and the only person she trusted in this whole city.
“I see her,” Mika muttered, eyes honing in on a young woman in the middle of a small crowd. The woman was cosplaying as the Queen of Etherion, a flamboyant character, draped in robes adorned with thousands of tiny lights that simulated endless constellations. Her glittering dress sparkled against the city’s artificial light, but Mika wasn’t looking at the dress. She was focused on the necklace resting at her throat—a glowing amber gem encased in a lattice of futuristic silver filigree. It was dubbed “The Nexus Shard.”
Of course, the gem wasn’t really from some fictional universe. It was real-world priceless—a one-of-a-kind artifact stolen from a private space lab last year. People thought the gem’s mysterious radiation signature was a breakthrough in renewable energy; Mika and Noah thought it was very lucrative.
“Looks like she’s got at least two bodyguards,” Noah said in her ear. “Bald guy at seven o’clock, katana strapped to his back. Girl with VR glasses at three. You think you’re good, or should we move Phase B up?”
She smirked, slipping seamlessly deeper into the crowd. “What, and miss the show? I’ve got this. Just keep her distracted.”
“Copy.” Noah’s voice carried the faint sound of keystrokes in the background, no doubt manipulating the Queen’s social accounts as the first part of their carefully-planned con unfolded.
A City that Breathes Chaos
The venue was a sensory overload—a synthetic paradise where cosplay enthusiasts danced, posed for photos, and traded stories about their favorite universes. Mika’s sharp amber eyes scanned her surroundings. The air reeked of fried street food and cheap perfume, and the sound of laughter mingled with synth beats and the mechanical clank of stage machinery. The Queen’s entourage had stopped near a glowing fountain, the backdrop perfect for pictures. They were distracted but wary.
As Mika glided closer, adopting the casual swagger of her character to blend in, her shoulder brushed briefly against a cloaked figure holding a prop sniper rifle. She glanced to her side—an unspoken signal—and the figure nodded almost imperceptibly. Backup. You never pulled a heist at CosFest without contingency plans.
“Eyes on the Queen,” Noah reminded her. “Five seconds till her virus-loaded ‘fan messages’ flood her iHUD.”
Right on cue, the Queen of Etherion’s glossy VR glasses flickered with a waterfall of holographic projections—messages from “fans” begging for selfies and fawning over her costume. Confused, she raised her gloved hand to adjust the settings, her attention momentarily splintered. At that moment, Mika made her move.
She ducked low, using the noisy throng of cosplayers around her as living cover. Her hand darted like a striking serpent to the Queen’s neck, unclasping the necklace in one fluid motion. The luminous gem fell into her palm, its faint warmth brushing against her skin. In the chaos of the crowd, no one noticed—except Mika felt a strange sensation ripple up her arm, like static electricity, as though the shard pulsed with awareness.
Unseen Complications
“Got it,” she whispered as she pocketed the shard and turned to move back into the crowd, her breath quickening. But the bald bodyguard at seven o’clock wasn’t distracted like the rest. His head snapped in her direction, his sharp eyes narrowing. A flash of realization bloomed on his face.
“Noah,” Mika hissed, moving. “We’ve got a problem.”
“Running interference. Keep moving,” was Noah’s calm response. Somewhere in the distance, a jumbotron displaying highlights from the latest CosFen tournament flickered violently before shutting off, the crowd letting out a collective groan of confusion. That gave her just enough cover to slip past the bodyguard, heading for the exit point.
And then, something hit her chest—a shockwave of unimaginable force, as though her own body was suddenly a bell being rung. She staggered, clutching her ribs. The shard in her pocket was glowing brighter now, a heat emanating from it that was impossible to ignore.
“Mika!” Noah’s voice was sharp with panic. “Something’s—something’s off! That thing’s active! Where are you?!”
“I don’t know!” she gasped, momentarily disoriented. The pulsing lights of the city around her seemed to blur, the noise warping until it became a low, omnipresent hum that crawled under her skin. It wasn’t just the shard. Something about Neo-Kyoto itself—the air, the people, the world—was… changing.
The Tipping Point
She sprinted now, pushing past confused spectators. Her heart thumped in her chest like a war drum. She needed to get to Noah, figure out what was going on. But as she turned a corner near an abandoned holo cafe, she stopped dead in her tracks.
Her reflection stared back at her from a shattered glass window. Except it wasn’t her reflection anymore.
Another version of Mika stood there—her hair longer, streaked with white. Her eyes glowed faintly as though lit from within. And in the reflection’s hand, she held the same Nexus Shard Mika had stolen minutes earlier, its light pulsing like a heartbeat.
The reflection smirked, then mouthed a word Mika couldn’t hear. But she knew. She felt it.
“Run.”
The Source…check out the article that inspired this amazing short story: Do people still cosplay?
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