Chapter 229: Close Contest

Next, I ran into Milagros and Zepaul.

Since they had come at the last minute, neither of them was in costume.

Perhaps because of yesterday’s incident, both of them seemed a little awkward.
I hadn’t expected Zepaul to show up at all, but he had decided to come and take a look.

“Milagros, Zepaul, hello. I’m glad you came.”

“Of course. We can’t participate, but it looked interesting, so we came to watch.”

“I’ve never heard of this event before, but it’s quite an interesting idea. I was surprised by some costumes that looked so realistic, I thought they were actual monsters.”

“I’m glad you’re enjoying it. Later in the cosplay party, there will be a voting session and a buffet, so please vote for whichever costume you think is the best.”

The moment Zepaul heard the word “buffet,” his eyes widened.
He’d enjoyed yesterday’s food, and it seemed I’d completely won over his stomach.

“I can’t wait for the buffet! That means we’ll get food like yesterday, right?”

“The genre will be different, but we plan to serve equally delicious dishes.”

“Sato, you’re incredible. To eat such delicious food at this pace—it’s rare.”

“This place is special. You can’t take it for granted elsewhere.”

“I see… So the good food can only be had here. I wanted to let my father, my sister, and the people in town taste it too… but that seems pretty difficult.”

“It might be hard to replicate the same quality, but I’ve come up with a plan to help solve the food shortage. Soon, we should be able to provide decent meals.”

“Really!? I want to hear all about it!”

Zepaul grabbed my shoulders and shook me enthusiastically.
It was a bit intimidating, but I could feel how genuinely concerned he was.
His attitude yesterday had been harsh, but now it made sense—it was out of concern for various things.

“We’ll discuss the details after the party. I’ll give my full support.”

“Seeing this village, I can only feel reassurance! Thank you, Sato.”

“That’s why I’ve been saying all along.”

Milagros muttered, but since she ultimately understood, all was well.
As I said, the details would wait until tomorrow… for now, it was time to enjoy the party.

After mingling with various participants, the last person I encountered was Velvet.

To my surprise, Velvet’s costume was her school uniform.

It seemed she had made it herself based on the shoujo manga I had given her, and the quality was extremely high.
I hadn’t expected her to choose a uniform, and it really captured my heart.

“Velvet, the quality is amazing! I didn’t expect you to make the uniform yourself.”

“I’m glad you said that. I worked hard on it while staring at the manga, so I was worried you’d laugh at it.”

“I definitely won’t laugh! The uniform itself is great, and it suits you perfectly.”

“Really? Thank you for the compliment.”

Velvet twirled to show me the full view.
If she were a high school student, she would undoubtedly be the top idol at school.

“I really wanted to see Velvet’s costume, so I’m glad I met you last.”

“Me too. I’m glad I got to see Sato’s zombie costume.”

After that conversation, the cosplay party reached its conclusion.
Next was the voting time—each person had three votes.

Then the results would be announced, and everyone would move on to the buffet while still in costume.

I had a hard time deciding who to vote for, but Velvet’s final impact was strong, so I chose to vote for her.

After voting, I helped behind the scenes to tally the votes.

The overwhelming majority went to Rozzo and Sid.
Almost everyone had voted for these two—it was a clear first and second place.

The next highest vote-getters were Sheila, Lua, and Velvet.
The competition for first and third places had been intense.

“The results are in. Starting with third place… Third place is… Lua! Lua, please come forward.”

After a close contest, Lua took third place.
…However, Lua had already run off, so third place remained empty.
I would have liked to see her one last time, but that had probably been the limit.

“Lua will be called later. Now, for second place and the winner. Second place is… Sid! And the winner of the first cosplay contest is Rozzo! Congratulations!”

Rozzo, dressed as the mechanical soldier, won the competition by a single vote.
Rozzo got all votes except one less for Sid, suggesting he likely hadn’t voted for Sid himself.

I wanted to declare a tie in spirit, but by the rules, Rozzo was the official winner. I sincerely congratulated him.
Next time, I might keep the three-vote system, rank first through third, and award points accordingly.

With that in mind, everyone applauded Rozzo, the winner, while I thought about new rules for the next cosplay party.