Part One of Three:
Does Cerridwen Dream of Being a Bunny Girl?

I've always wanted to attend an anime convention. I've always wanted to cosplay too. All summer long, I've been working my little fingers to the bare bone, doing all manner of work, from washing dishes and busting the tables down at the local maid cafe. Stocking the shelves and working out trucks at the local general store, heck I'd even started a small, and somewhat successful dog washing business. I'd even walk them too for a small fee of course. Heck, I'd even turned to mowing the overgrown yards of the elderly citizens of Benton. Pretty much any way to turn a dollar I've tried it this summer.

I'd not only limited myself to mowing overgrown yards, but also pulling weeds from flower beds and planting flowers. I'd even spent a few, long, sunny afternoons helping a few of the older people bring in the first fruits of their harvest from their gardens. Not only that, but I'd also hired myself out to clean people's houses. All of this of course was hard, back breaking work. But all of this hard work meant that I'd managed to earn around twelve hundred dollars. Add that to the eight or nine hundred dollars I had tucked away in my personal banking account in town and I had little over two thousand dollars I could lay my hands on.

And with that much money on hand and with my summer vacation about to come to an end I decided it was now or never. With my mind firmly made up, I decided I would attend Vicksburg Anime. A kind of location anime convention being held at the convention center in Vicksburg, Vicksburg was a port on the Mississippi River and was roughly sixty miles from Benton by car, or an hours train ride away or if I was the kind of witch who could fly on a broom, I could be there in under an hour. Slightly faster than a car. Vicksburg Anime was also the last of the summer anime conventions in the region. Soon school would once more be back in succession and once more I would find myself shackled to a school desk. And once more the sole focus of my life would be passing one test after another.

Anyway mom and I of course to come and ladies understanding if you will. Mom had agreed that I deserved a break because I'd been doing so much work in and around Benton and helping her tend to her herb garden and keep the house spotless. So she was willing to drive me to Vicksburg to attend the convention. Since I'd only had a learners permit and not a drivers license. Anyway mom had set a few hard conditions down. The first condition being that I had to pay for the petrol that would be used up in driving to and from the convention. The second condition was that I had to pay my own way into the convention. The third condition was that anything I bought at the convention would come out of my own pocket.

The fourth condition was I could only attend a weekend convention. The fifth and final condition was that mom had the final say so on the costume I wore to the convention and she had the power and right to veto any outfit she might deem a bit too risque.

It was the forth and final condition that made me a bit worried, you see, there was one character that I really wanted to cosplay as, and that was Mai Sakurajima, who was the main female lead for the popular Rascal Does Not Dream Of.. series of light novels. Mai Sakurajim was famous in the anime community. Mostly because in her maiden appearance in the first chapter of the first novel of the series Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai. She is introduced to the reader as a former child star actress who is spotted wandering around the reading room of an local library dressed in all things a bunny suit!
Anyway my boyfriend sometimes girlfriend Daisy often quipped that I'd often just act like Mai Sakurajima, since I was prone to pouting, shouting the word Baka at the top of my lungs, I was also prone to sulking when things did not go my way or the way I wanted them. And according to her I often employed her brutal sense of humor.

And so with that in mind, I took a deep breath as I made my way into the kitchen. Now our kitchen is kind of rustic. The floor is wood, and from the rafters there hangs bundles of herbs drying. Mom uses these herbs to make her potions. In the middle there is a weather worn kitchen table. The table kind of sits in the center of things, with the sink and the fridge on the left hand side and the stove and such on the right hand side.

Mom of course was there, standing over the stove, the savory smell of tenderized pieces of venison steaks being fried till they were a golden brown filled the air alone with the sound of popping grease. Mom's hands were coated with flour and her baby blue eyes seemed both altered and dull at the same time.

“Hey mom.” I said as I eased into the kitchen.

Mom smiled as she looked up from her cooking and fixed me with a look. The dullness of her eyes seemed to vanish in an instant.

“Good afternoon daughter. Good to see the smell of frying meat has lured you from your room. Want to help your old mom with dinner?” She asked me as she reached over and took down an extra apron from the hook it was hanging from. With one flick of the wrist she tossed it toward me.

“Sure.” I said as I caught the apron and quickly tied it around my waist. “Also I was wondering if you and I could talk, I've settled on a cosplay.” I said blushing a little as I walked up to mom. A quick glance around showed me that she had a glass plate filled with raw deer steaks that had already been tenderized and sprinkled with seasoning salt.

Beside the glass plate there was a plastic grocery bag filled with flour that was next to a heavy iron skillet that was filled with bubbling oil. Next to it was another glass plate that had a few squares of heavy paper towels placed on it. A few pieces of steak were resting on the bed of towels, I counted seven of them, all had been fried a golden, amber brown.

“Sure.” Mom said, smiling a little. “Something going on between you and Daisy?” She inquired as she laid another piece of meat into the skillet.

“No.” I said blushing. “It is about the cosplay I want to wear for the upcoming annual Vicksburg Anime Convention in Vicksburg .” I said blushing a little.

“Go on.” Mom gently placed a few more pieces of meat into the skillet. “Would Daisy be going with you?” She asked as she started to stir the pieces of meat with a metal fork.

“No, Daisy is going to have her tonsils taken out that weekend. I kind of wanted her to go but that was the only time they could have the operation. And it's an all day deal. Like she needs to over at MMC at three o' clock that morning to check her in and her operation not till like five or six.” I said, shrugging my shoulders. “Though I promised to get her a signed copy of How I Spent My Summer Vacation: I Became a Girl! Cause that her favorite light novel..”
“That is very sweet of you. So what character are you wanting to cosplay as?” Mom kept one eye and the meat and one eye on me. I could tell she was trying to weigh the pro's and con's of what she was going to say.

“Mai Sakurajima!” I said blushing again. I had no idea why I kept blushing. “I want to cosplay as her, and wear a bunny suit to my first anime convention! Because she is known for wearing a bunny suit!” I said expecting her to drop the piece of meat she was flouring into the oil and splashing the oil over the side of the skillet. And adding another layer of grease to the already greasy stove.

There was indeed a pause and mom just eased her piece of meat down into the bag and then she slowly turned around and folded her arms across her chest right under her breast and smiled a little as she cocked her head to the side.

“Okay! I was expecting you to cosplay as either Sailor Mars from Sailor Moon, since that was your first anime. Or Kagome Higurashi from Inuyasha since that was your favorite anime for a while.. but really Mai Sakurajima that the girl from that weird anime about a girl who can't be seen because of something something? But that aside, a bunny suit?”

“Yes.” I said bracing myself for mom to either say just 'no' or launch into a counter argument. And for sixty painful seconds I waited till at least mom just seemed to smile.

“I guess. You are after all growing up. Plus, I don't feel like repeating the fight we had when you wanted to wear a two piece bikini when you volunteered to staff the dunking booth. And I gotta remind myself that I was a teenager at one point too.”
I blinked.

“So? When you say bunny suit you're talking about the kind of Playboy Bunny kind of suits? Or something else?” Mom said casually as she returned to breading the meat, one by one she dropped them into the oil.

“I guess it's kind of like the Playboy kind I've seen in daddy workshop..” I said, smiling a little.

At that mom seemed to freeze she turned around and looked me dead in the eye, and well I'd quickly took one step back and then another and then another. Mom looked madder than hell. But then just as quickly as that fit of rage had come over her it passed. Like rain in a meadow in summer time.

“Okay..” She said, taking a deep breath as she turned to face the stove. “Here is what is going to happen. I will approve of it, only because you're my daughter and I know telling you no will make you want to do it even more and I remember how I was when I was your age. Plus, I'm sure since you've been on HRT for about two years now you've developed enough now.” Mom paused. “Plus, I'm sure you want to show off how much you have developed.”

I nodded my head.

“Plus if I tell 'No' I'm sure you will do it anyways, no matter if I threaten to ground or even spank you. And I wish to avoid a fight if at all possible. I would have done the same at your age. And you are my daughter after all. So here is what is going to happen. You buy the cosplay, you buy the pass, and you buy the gas to get there and back. And I will buy my own ticket and buy dinner.”

I nodded my head. Things seemed to be going in my favor right now. Why jeopardize myself now and open my mouth.

“Now, don't worry I'm not going to hover over you. I know you're going to be busy doing fan things, posing with people who have also dressed up, looking at what you call them? Manga? Those weird Japanese comic books? The ones you gotta read backwards.” Mom was snapping her fingers as she rattled off all these words. A sure sign that her mind had been pulled in one to many directions.

“But I do want to be there just in case something happens to you. I mean I don't expect anything to happen to you. I'm sure the convention staff will be on top of their game. Just as a mother I want to be close by in case something happens.” Mom paused. “Make sense?”

I nodded my head.

“Good.” Mom said, smiling a little.

And then something happened that I ever expected to happen. Mom stopped frying the meat and walked over and pulled into a hug, she nestled my head between her breasts and smiled a little as she wrapped one arm around my shoulder and used her other arm to hold my head into place.

“Hard to believe my little Cerridwen's growing up so quickly. I remember when you first cracked the egg. You've come a long way since then and I'm really, really proud of you.”

And so that's how I gained permission to cosplay as a bunny girl for my first anime convention.