At first I’m confused, but then the sun hits one of the things coming out of the sculpture and I see it’s made of glass. I search the ground until I find a small plaque embedded in the sidewalk. It’s a Wahoolie, all right. I could do without the reminder right now.
“What are you doing up there?”
She beams. “This is the rendezvous spot.”
“Who are we rendezvousing with?”
She doesn’t have to answer, because just then a familiar-looking SUV pulls up to the curb and Moby hops out. He’s wearing a set of Superman pajamas that I haven’t seen him wear in three years. His stepmom rolls down the window and waves.
“Hi, Maciek!”
I’m not sure if it’s the fact that Megumi invited him without telling me, or that his pj’s are so small they look like they are made of body paint that makes me unable to respond. A horn blares behind his stepmom and she takes off with another wave.
Moby shuffles over to me. He’s even wearing the matching red Super Slippers that go with the pj’s. “Hey, Chub.”
“Hey, Mobe. What are you doing here?”
“Megumi invited me. Where is she?”
Megumi drops from the sculpture and sticks a perfect superhero landing between us. “Surprise!”
She studies my face and the smile disappears from hers. “What? I thought you’d want to have all your friends here.”
Normally she’d be right, but I thought it was just going to be me and her and Ronin Girl. I don’t want Moby to feel awkward, so I change the subject. “Why are you wearing pajamas?”
He looks himself over. “It’s co-splay.”
I slap my forehead. “I think you mean cos-play.”
“I think he looks awesome,” Megumi says. “Are you making a statement about how comics let us stay kids forever?”
That is definitely not what he’s doing.
Moby nods. “Um, yeah.”
Megumi lifts the cape attached to the back of his shoulders, fluttering it like he’s flying. “You are too funny.” She fishes in her pocket and pulls out the ticket envelope, handing one to each of us. There’s still one left in the envelope.
I’m about to ask her if she got an extra ticket by mistake when the Arch steps out of the crowd wearing a Wolverine T-shirt. When she sees him, her smile gets even wider.
CHAPTER 22
“Awkward” does not begin to describe what it’s like with all of us standing in line together. What I’d hoped would be a chance for Megumi and me to bond over our mutual love of rare comics is now the world’s weirdest pajama party.
Megumi slides up next to me. I can tell she senses my tension. “Were you surprised?”
I try to sound happy. “You could say that.”
She looks down. “You’re mad, huh?”
The question catches me off guard. Am I mad? “No, I just thought . . . I guess I thought it was going to be just us.”
Her eyebrows shoot up. “You always have your friends around. I thought you liked it that way.”
I glance back at Moby standing next to the Arch. She doesn’t know the whole story. I guess I can’t be too mad at her for assuming the Arch and I are actual friends. Then something else occurs to me. “You didn’t invite Shelby?”
“I did, actually. She had something she had to do with her Grammie this weekend.”
I don’t want it to get any more awkward than it is. “Thanks for inviting them. You didn’t have to do that.”
She takes a deep breath. “I didn’t exactly do it one hundred percent for you.”
Great. Here’s the part where she tells me she’d rather read Ronin Girl with the Arch than with me. “Okay?”
She thinks for a minute before she says, “My dad doesn’t even notice me. All he thinks about is stupid Ronin Girl. So I’m going to talk to him here, where he can’t ignore me. I figured it would be easier with my friends around.”
There’s one huge flaw in her plan. If she embarrasses him, and he thinks we put her up to it, the chances of him signing anything for us will be drastically reduced. I’m about to ask her if she’s sure this is what she wants to do when she nudges me on the shoulder.
“I’m sorry to put you through this.”
Even though she doesn’t show it, I bet she’s supernervous. And when I’m supernervous, nothing makes me feel confident like knowing my Cadre has my back.
But then I think about her huge smile when she saw the Arch, and my head starts to sweat. I’m not surprised she likes him. Pretty much every girl at Alanmoore thinks he’s the greatest thing since Wi-Fi. But why does he have to like the one girl who might have a chance of understanding who I really am? Is that something a true friend would do? I’m so busy asking myself that question a thousand different ways that I barely notice Megumi splitting off into the bag check line. When I look up again I’m walking through the metal detector and through the doors.
When I’m finally inside and get my first look around, I want to fall to my knees and weep. The hall is jammed with people dressed as their favorite characters from comics, video games, and movies. Some of the costumes look homemade, like the guy in the green sweats with the paper-mache Ninja Turtle shell on his back. Some of them look straight-up movie quality. One lady is dressed like Pikachu, but her leotard has a huge tear right in the middle of her chest. At least Moby’s pajamas aren’t the most embarrassing outfit here. As I take inventory, I’m actually starting to kick myself for not wearing a costume. I’m about to take off my jacket and the shirt covering my League of Honor tee, when an old-school Cylon walks by me and glances down.
“Check out Mini Me!”
The guy next to him, Undead Super Mario, turns and looks. “Naw, that’s Lex Luthor.”
The Cylon nods, impressed. “Way to commit, kid.” He rubs a hand over his own chrome dome.
At school that comment would’ve meant something entirely different than it means here. Here, it’s a compliment. These are my people.
Even though she’s the smallest of the four of us, Megumi leads us through the crowd like the only scout with a compass. We find a spot out of the flow of traffic and circle up to discuss our plans.
Apparently, Megumi is the only one not dumbstruck. “What do you guys want to see while you’re here?”
I’m here to meet Kobayashi, so I let someone else go first.
After we all glance around at each other, the Arch raises his shoulders. “I want to check out the League of Honor booth.”
That makes me pause. “Me too.”
Megumi checks out the map and taps the LOH booth. “Okay. Moby?”
The look on his face makes it obvious which “booth” he needs to visit first. I quickly scan the perimeter of the room and find what he’s looking for.
After fifteen minutes of waiting for Moby to coach the Browns to the Super Bowl, we are all ready to take on Emerald Con. Kobayashi’s signing starts at noon. That leaves us forty-five minutes of free time if we want to get in line an hour early.
The League of Honor booth is everything I hoped it would be and more. Pretty much every issue of the comic is available to buy, as well as collectibles and some props they used in the movies. There’s even an actor dressed in the actual costume of Doctor Truth. It wasn’t the same guy who played him, but that doesn’t make a difference to me. It costs ten dollars to get your picture taken with him, so I act like I’m not interested as the Arch and Megumi jump in line. Seeing them giggle as they wait behind the rope barricade makes my stomach flop, but it does a full seizure when Megumi says something to Doctor Truth and he hands her the most powerful weapon in the League of Honor universe, the Lance of Knowing. I should be the one holding the Lance of Knowing, or at least the one up there posing with Megumi.
When they’re done with their photo shoot we regroup and check the time. We need to head over now if we want to get a good spot in line. The closer we get to where Kobayashi will be signing, the tougher it gets to maneuver through the crowd. I get slapped in the face by severa
l tails and one huge foam sword before we make it to where the line begins.
Megumi, who’s been leading the way, turns around. She has a nervous smile on her face. “Well, here we go.”
I turn to make sure we’re all still together. The Arch is right behind me, but Moby is nowhere in sight.
“Archer, where’s Moby?”
“He was right behind me a minute ago.”
I scan the area again, looking for a pair of Superman jammies that are stretched to their limit. Megumi already has one foot in the line.
“He’s fine, Chub. He’s probably in the bathroom again.”
With Moby, aftershocks are not uncommon, but neither is disappearing when he gets nervous. I take another glance at the forming line. The couple of seconds I’ve spent looking around has already cost us a lot of space.
I look at Megumi again. Her face pleads for my decision.
The Arch makes an ushering move at us. “You guys go. I’ll find Moby and meet you on the other side.”
Before I can tell him to check the men’s room first, Megumi has me by the wrist and we are surfing a wave of her dad’s fans through the rope barricades. We end up pretty far back, behind a girl dressed like a samurai. She’s holding a vase in one arm and a copy of Ronin Girl in the other. The vase looks just like the one they put my Uncle Stosh’s ashes in after the funeral. Maybe she’s bringing her uncle to Emerald Con one last time.
After a few minutes of silently creeping forward in line, I decide I better say something to break the tension.
“I guess your dad’s more famous than I thought.”
“Yeah, he’s a big deal.” She looks around at the crowd and sighs. “Do you think this is stupid?”
As someone who spends most of his time trying to avoid being noticed by his parents, trying to get yours to pay more attention to you does strike me as odd, but I keep that to myself. “I don’t think it’s stupid. I think it’s actually pretty brave.”
She smiles and stands up straighter. “I’m sorry to put you through this.” When I don’t respond she puts her hand on my arm just like I saw her do to the Arch. The touch makes my legs feel like a stack of blocks that will topple if I try to move them. “And I promise, as soon as this is over, we’ll sit down and read Ronin Girl.”
If I’m not on a slow boat to Eastern Europe.
At exactly noon a murmur runs through the crowd. The curtain behind the signing table rustles, then parts, and Kobayashi steps through. The murmur erupts into cheers. People draw their homemade samurai swords in salute.
The line moves slower than Moby’s insides that week he didn’t eat anything but red meat and peanut butter. After an eternity we reach the merchandise table near the front of the line. The guy behind the table looks like a bean bag with eyes. A ring of fuzz that looks like a chinstrap for a nonexistent helmet sprouts from his third chin. “Kobayashi will sign one item.” He motions to the collection of graphic novels and comics fanned out on the table. “Choose wisely.”
I quickly scan the inventory and pick up a sleeved copy of Ronin Girl in English.
Neckbeard puts his hands up like I’m handling a live bomb. “Please be careful with that.”
I ignore him and flip it over, trying to look casual as I check the price. I almost drop it when I see the number. “One hundred dollars!” The end of the word “dollars” comes out as an embarrassing squeak.
“Sir, that is a Ronin Girl number one, which will only become more valuable. I cannot imagine a better investment. I would, however, recommend asking Mr. Kobayashi to sign the sleeve so as to preserve the mint condition of the piece itself.”
I take a look at the cover one more time and then set it down. I can’t afford that kind of investment.
Megumi moves over next to me. She fishes in her bag and pulls out her Japanese copy. When neckbeard realizes what she’s holding, he gasps like a five-year-old who just spotted a unicorn. She waves it around casually, meaning to tease him, but making my stomach flutter too. “I’ll get him to sign this one for you. I know where to get more.”
A gap has opened in front of us, so we hustle to catch up, and before I know it, we are next in line. We watch as the girl in front of us proudly introduces Kobayashi to her dead uncle. He smiles a polite smile and makes small talk with her for a moment before she rolls up her sleeve and he signs his name on her biceps. She bows deeply to him before bounding away toward the exit.
The lady in charge of the line pulls back the rope, letting us through. My legs are rubbery as I walk toward the table. Megumi holds onto my arm again, but this time I’m not sure who’s helping who.
Kobayashi is reaching under the table when we get there. He comes up with a water bottle and opens it without looking up. Without hesitation Megumi drops the comic on the table. Kobayashi recognizes it and the corner of his lip curls in a small smile. Then he raises his head and sees who is standing in front of him.
His smile disappears when Megumi speaks. “Hi, Dad.”
He looks at me, then back at her. “Megumi?”
She takes in a deep breath and says the words she has no doubt been rehearsing. “You’re always busy at home. Is this a good time?”
Kobayashi’s eyes flash, but he must realize everyone is watching him, so he forces a calm look back onto his face. After a deep breath he folds his hands and says something in Japanese.
Megumi shakes her head. “This is the time and place. Besides”—she turns around and raises her voice enough for the people in line to hear—“I waited in line. I should get as much time as anyone else.”
Kobayashi smiles slyly. He whispers something to the assistant beside him and stands. A muted “booo” floats through the line.
Megumi folds her arms. “Where are you going?”
He smiles, but it’s meant for the crowd, not for her. “Not here.”
Before I know what’s happening, they both disappear behind the curtain. The line lady comes over and gently pushes me toward the exit. I don’t resist, but as soon as she turns around I slip back under the ropes. I sneak along the curtain until I’m behind the stage where Kobayashi was signing autographs. No one can see me here, so I move along the curtain looking for a gap. When I finally find one I stick my head through it.
Instead of the luxury dressing room I’d imagined, the backstage is cluttered with crates and supplies. In the corner there’s a table. Kobayashi and Megumi sit on folding chairs at one end of the table, facing each other. He does not look happy.
They speak quietly in Japanese, but no matter what language, there’s no mistaking a good old-fashioned parent lecture. Megumi looks sad at first, but when it’s her turn to speak she sits up straight and looks her father in the eye.
He listens, taking in her words. But then she pauses, picking at a fingernail nervously. When she speaks again she doesn’t say much, but whatever she says makes her dad fume. He looks away from her.
Then he’s back in lecture mode, and her resolve is gone. He keeps lecturing for a few more minutes, but it loses intensity as Megumi shrinks down in her chair. Suddenly the look on his face changes. He stands and walks around to her side of the table. Then he kneels down and puts his arms around her. After a moment she puts her arms around him too.
I’m about to close up the curtain so I can be by the exit when she comes out, when a hand clamps down on my shoulder.
CHAPTER 23
I’m yanked backward out of the curtain like a mouse being dragged from its hole by the tail. I knew Emerald Con was too good to last. I didn’t get to meet Kobayashi, and I couldn’t afford to buy anything anyway. Why not top it all off by being tossed out by security? But when I spin around to face my judgment, it isn’t neckbeard like I expect; it’s Moby and the Arch.
The Arch looks at me like I’m crazy. “What are you doing?”
I catch my breath and explain what I just witnessed behind the curtain.
“Wait, her dad wrote Ronin Girl?”
“Yep.”
He
shakes his head. “Wow, that’s pretty cool.”
I guess so, but I think I’d rather have parents who care about me, even if they show it by making me work all weekend doing jobs it would be illegal to make a kid do if he wasn’t related to you.
The crowd still waiting to meet Kobayashi lets out a collective “booo!” We race around the corner to see what’s happening. The cattle chute of ropes is emptying. The faces of the people drifting away all show the same thing: disappointment.
I stop a girl dressed like a stormtrooper. “What happened?”
She pulls off her helmet. “They just came out and said that Kobayashi had an emergency and wouldn’t be signing any more autographs. I can’t believe I missed him.”
I thank her, then scan the crowd. Megumi comes bounding out of the mass of people, a huge smile on her face.
“I saw your dad yelling at you. What happened?”
She’s grinning, but her eyes look like she wants to apologize. “My dad canceled the rest of the appearance. We’re going to go talk right now.”
Even though he’s just disappointed a conference hall full of geeks, he’s made the one geek that matters very happy. I’m glad for Megumi, even though nothing today has worked out the way I’d hoped. I guess I should just consider it practice for the rest of my life. It’s hard enough being the weird foreign kid at Alanmoore. But at least I’ve sort of figured out a way to fit in, at least within the Cadre. If I end up back in Poland, I’ll be a double foreigner (if there’s any such thing).
“So, I’ll see you guys at school?”
I look at the Arch. He doesn’t seem like he wants to think about Monday morning any more than I do. “Yep, see you there.”
With a small wave, Megumi slips off behind the curtain and disappears, leaving the three of us standing alone.
The Arch breaks the silence. “So, what else do you guys want to do while we’re here?”
Now that the excitement has died down I feel the weight of Monday morning lying on me like a dead walrus.
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