I saw her standing there, garb in a flowery pink yukata, the cascade of fireworks dousing her in flashes of green and purple. She was awestruck by the light show, but she must have caught me in the corner of her eye. She turned to me and smiled, curling a finger into her long black hair. On her head was a shiny silver ornament, shaped like a piston in a rotor that generated steam.
"Hey. You made it to the festival... I'm so happy you're here."
She spoke with a fake eastern accent, which was odd considering she was clearly a western woman.
"Anything caught your eye? One Way Heroics? La Mulana?"
She was talking of course about what they were selling in the booths nearby. Oh, man—I should have known. She here to promote the otaku shovelware they're selling to all the guys drifting through here from the anime forum nearby inbetween stuffing pocky in their mouths.
"Nah... Not really into that kind of thing."
"O-oh... Well, maybe you'd like eXceed or Touhou? We're getting that in stock today!" she said, clasping her hands together and looking at me with sparkling hopeful eyes.
I sighed and shook my head. "I gotta get going."
"Wait!" She grabbed my sleeve and tugged my arm, her expression suddenly turning desperate. "Uhm.. uhm..." Her grip tightened and her eyes darted around my face, embarrassed to look into mine. "Please take a look before you go?"
I gave a weak smile and chuckled. The way she begged made me feel a little sorry for her. Would she be punished if she didn't make a sale?
"Alright," I agreed, "let's see it."
She put on a relieved smile but she didn't loosen her grip, rather she entwined her arm with mine and pulled me closer.
I thought she would lead me to one of the booths to see some of the cheap outdated shit they had leftover from years prior at these events, as they're completely disconnected from the actual summer doujin games festivals that happen in Japan, but instead she took me to a secluded spot behind one of the booths. I shot her a confused look, and she wordlessly pushed me against the steel fencing behind.