Tales of Anime: The Novel!
April 6-8, 2007

...Day 3: Sunday
I sat on my bed staring into space. Today would be the day I face Reuben. It was never the actual kiss that concerned me, or obtaining physical evidence thereof. Sure it would be a nice bonus if he agreed, but I do not cheapen my relationship with Dante in such a way, not when someone as high on the Dante pyramid as Reuben is concerned. Dante means a lot more to me. My feelings for him are one of the very few things I know that can override my inhibitions, and I use them to push myself out of my comfort zones. Dante is a vehicle I use to become stronger and truer to myself. The Dante that I kissed, the Masquerade show... they were but steps leading to the Gates of Fear, and Reuben was the Gatekeeper. If I could master my fears and pass this final test, I could do anything! I would become Neo in the Matrix of my own mind.

But how? I mean, there’s no real way to avoid the awkwardness of it all, but at least it might go over smoother if I worked up to it: “Can I have a picture with you? *click*... Can I have a picture of me hugging you? *click*... And, umm, could I possibly have a picture of me kissing you?” However, we were technically only allowed one picture, and I was sure Jo would notice me taking my sweet time with Reuben.

Reuben is special. I couldn’t just come up to him and bluntly ask like I would some random guy cosplaying Dante. I had to carefully court Reuben, build a subtle relationship with him. My most promising plan involved my actions on Saturday. Dressing as a character from DMC obviously attracted attention, and if he didn’t see me in the hallways, I was there for the first Autograph/Photo session and he indeed commented on my costume. Phase two of the plan was to remind him of myself again through participation in the Masquerade. Ideally, this was all supposed to set me apart in his head so that he would be more receptive to me when I approached him. But what good did that do if it was Sunday and I was out of Vergil cosplay?

I had to try another way, and a way to catch Jo off-guard. CaT and I knew that Reuben spoke fluent Japanese. I pondered coming up to Reuben together and having CaT explain my situation and present my request in Japanese. After all, Reuben was familiar with CaT because she was constantly in the press row asking questions. But after thinking about it, we figured even Jo might know enough Japanese to catch kisu-shite. And besides, it would defeat the point of my personal Fear lesson. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t struggling with the fangirlish element in my desire to kiss Reuben, but I had to keep my objectives straight. The kiss didn’t matter, the point was to see if I had the guts to ask! (Right?? >_>;)

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