"So gross, so gross, so gross..."
Sajuna muttered continuously under her breath beside Rin Ito.
Sticky, wet, slippery, smelly, and gross.
These five words perfectly described Sajuna's current mood.
Because Orie had considered that Sajuna was attending Winter Comiket, she had used relatively thick fabric for the outfit. Rin Ito hadn't actually left that much on her chest, but it was incredibly viscous, making it feel extremely sticky.
It couldn't soak through the thick fabric, nor could it slide off. It clung like a layer of film between Sajuna's skin and the fabric of the dress.
The weather was cold, and covered by her clothes, the moisture couldn't easily evaporate, leaving her feeling constantly wet.
The slightly coarse fabric, now coated in a layer of biological film, had its friction greatly reduced, feeling uncomfortably slippery against her skin.
The rich, distinct scent wafted up through the collar of her dress directly into her nose. Every breath Sajuna took was filled with that distinct, smelly odor.
Combining those four things resulted in one overwhelming feeling: pure grossness.
It wasn't that Sajuna rejected Rin Ito's bodily fluids. Whether it was her top mouth or her bottom mouth, Sajuna had swallowed plenty of it. Even if he asked her to scrape it up with her fingers and eat it right now, she'd have no problem with it.
But this sticky, slippery sensation reminded Sajuna of those slimy, gooey villains in magical girl anime... This must be exactly what it feels like when a magical girl is enveloped by a slime villain.
"Juju-sama~~~ Over here, over here~~~~"
Not long after re-entering the venue, Rin Ito spotted the towering Shinju and the bouncing, waving Marin from a distance. Both were carrying several shopping bags, clearly the spoils of war from their shopping spree.
Noticing the items in their hands and her own empty hands, Sajuna guiltily looked away.
"Everything was sold out. We didn't manage to buy anything."
"Sold out, huh... Well, it can't be helped then." Marin pressed her lips together, her face full of teasing mischief, while Shinju snickered beside her... Seeing Sajuna's condition, they obviously guessed exactly what Rin Ito and Sajuna had been up to.
However, Marin didn't tease Sajuna too much; she simply smiled and looked at Sajuna with profound meaning. Shinju also just pressed her lips together to hold back her laughter and didn't say much.
"Speaking of which..." Rin Ito glanced at Marin's current outfit. "Sajuna, do you want to try cosplaying Sister Mao? Since it's a character from Retsu!!, the clothing style is similar, so it should be pretty easy to modify."
The character Marin was cosplaying, Mao, was the older sister of the character Sajuna was cosplaying, Shion. After both sisters turned evil in the story, they wore similar military-style outfits.
The only difference was that Shion used a cape to completely cover her neckline and neck, while Mao's neckline was wide open, revealing her collarbones and a short stretch of deep cleavage.
"Mmh..." Rin Ito studied Sajuna and pondered for a moment.
Modifying her cosplay costume now was definitely too late, and cosplaying a busty character—even if Sajuna agreed—would have to wait until next time.
Shinju had built her confidence by seeing Sajuna expose her shameful side in front of her. Sajuna could use a similar method.
He had already established a baseline of confidence for her by achieving a rapid climax using her flat chest. Next, he needed to find a way to desensitize her to massive breasts, making her realize that huge breasts were no big deal, and ultimately curing her inferiority complex.
Rin Ito winked at Sajuna, the corners of his lips curling into an amused smile.
"W-What are you planning to do?" Sajuna instinctively stumbled a step backward. Rin Ito's look was exactly the same as the one he had right before he decided to train her ass!
He definitely has some perverted plan!
"Nothing much~"
Rin Ito wore an expression of pure delight. He had easily guessed what Sajuna was thinking, but well... Setting aside whether it was perverted or not, you couldn't deny its effectiveness. Just look at Shinju right now—putting on a cosplay outfit, attending a convention, and standing openly and confidently in front of the cameras!
"Eeehhh???"
Marin's gaze darted back and forth between the two... It looks like something very interesting is going to happen!
...
After chatting briefly, Rin Ito and Shinju went to the dressing room to change out of their cosplay. Rin Ito actually didn't care either way.
He was just wearing an ordinary high school boy's uniform; taking off his wig was all it took. But beneath Shinju's uniform was a tight chest binder. You could easily imagine the immense pressure required to flatten her terrifyingly massive breasts; it definitely wasn't suited for long-term wear.
Since neither Rin Ito nor Shinju were hardcore cosplay addicts, they changed back into their regular clothes. But Sajuna and Marin still wanted to take more photos, and Shinju returned to her role as Sajuna's personal photographer. Compared to being photographed, Shinju vastly preferred taking pictures of Sajuna.
Marin took Shinju and Sajuna to continue having fun in the cosplay area, while Rin Ito headed back to the hall where Baumkuchen Studio was set up. Rin Ito noticed Utaha and Eriri, both wearing face masks, standing not far away from the booth.
Rin Ito was just about to head over when he saw Megumi Kato sitting at the booth, frantically waving at him. Rin Ito had no choice but to head to the booth first.
"Ah... Ito-kun, are there still game discs and pre-order bonuses left in the car? We only have about 100 copies left right now." Megumi Kato glanced at the long line stretching out in front of the table. "I don't think it'll be enough."
Megumi Kato was so busy she almost completely forgot about the toy hidden deep inside her body.
"We sold that many?" Rin Ito raised an eyebrow in utter shock. "At 3,000 yen a copy, it's not exactly cheap, yet we sold that many? I already brought in everything we brought today. I'll have someone bring more over immediately."
Rin Ito had printed 2,000 copies in total, selling for 3,000 yen each... This price wasn't cheap; it was on par with games released by established circles or even commercial companies. However, being fully voiced in the all-ages sections, along with a stellar script and top-tier illustrations, completely justified the price.
Generally speaking, selling 1,000 copies of a galgame at Comiket was enough to be considered a famous circle. Factoring in his, Utaha's, and Eriri's fan bases, Rin Ito had printed 2,000 copies.
He never expected that on the very first morning, in less than two hours since opening, they had nearly sold out 500 copies... Bringing 500 copies for the first day was already Rin Ito being highly optimistic.
He had completely underestimated their appeal to their fans. However, considering the immense hype of the first day, Rin Ito estimated they would sell around 1,000 copies today, and roughly 1,500 to 1,800 copies over the full three days.
Actually, estimating the numbers was largely meaningless at this point... Printed materials like bonus illustrations could be rushed and printed locally at extra cost, but the game discs and their associated packaging couldn't be produced in time.
However, if fan enthusiasm was truly that high, they could switch to selling 'Bonus Item + Download Code' packages. Actually, quite a few booths at Comiket already used this method to sell their games, as it allowed small circles to significantly reduce their costs.
Besides, the era of buying three copies—'one to use, one to keep, one to preach'—had largely passed. Many people's computers didn't even have disc drives anymore. For collectors, the physical pre-order bonuses were more than enough; they didn't really need the physical disc.
"Aki-kun has sold quite a lot too," Rin Ito glanced at Tomoya Aki's almost empty booth. Although Rin Ito hadn't asked how many copies he prepared, it had to be around one to two hundred.
For a completely unknown, brand-new circle, achieving this level of success was incredibly impressive... Utaha had mentioned that Tomoya Aki was an admin on a major ACG news aggregator site, and his writers and illustrators were all enthusiasts recruited from the site.
Rin Ito guessed that Tomoya Aki had promoted his game extensively on his own site, and perhaps even released a demo version online to build word-of-mouth. He might have even leveraged his connections to have galgame reviewers review the demo.
Rin Ito had also considered releasing a demo version first, but since it was Rin Ito's first time making a game, and the others were still students, their project schedule management was absolutely atrocious.
Many aspects of the game were only finished right at the deadline, leaving them absolutely zero time to polish a demo and build word-of-mouth. They had to rely entirely on Rin Ito, Utaha, and Eriri's names to sell the game.
"You stay here and keep selling. I'll contact someone to transport more stock over... If we sell out before the stock arrives, just have Utaha and Eriri hold an impromptu signing session to pacify the fans. Most of the people here should be their fans anyway."
"3,000 yen. Thank you very much... But what about your fans, Ito-kun?"
"I only helped promote the game. I wasn't deeply involved, so it didn't feel right to slap my name on the cover. Plus, I have nowhere near as many fans as they do... If there really are fans of mine who couldn't buy a copy, I can just sign for them... But by now, the morning crowd should all be inside. The afternoon session hasn't started yet, so these remaining hundred copies should be enough to hold the line."
After organizing the booth, Rin Ito walked out of the hall to a quieter spot and called Shion, asking her to arrange for someone to go to Baumkuchen Studio and transport the pre-packed game discs and bonuses left at the entryway.
As for why he didn't just call Kaguya or the Fujiwara sisters, who were closer... they were currently inside the Comiket halls themselves.