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“Tsuka-chan,” he heard the celebrity’s whiny voice stretch out the honorific from the phone’s speaker. “Please we really need your help with this one and it’ll only take three days at most!”
“Raise the numbers and I might consider it,” He grumpily answered. Gen, who was invited almost two years ago to be part of an upcoming Doraemon movie as a voice actor for one of the new side characters, was very enthusiastic about the whole thing and delved into almost every aspect of it from the story writing to the advertising out of curiosity. The movie was about to be released in a month and they were planning on sending out mascots to the streets to promote the film. Gen had called him in a panic asking him for a favor as supposedly, the mascot operator for the Doraemon costume had a breakdown and would take three days at least before they could work again.
“Fine, I’ll talk to the management but if they don’t budge then I’ll be taking money out of my own wallet to pay you.”
“Is that a promise?” Tsukasa asked for assurance and his friend let out a long sigh.
“Yes, so will you do it?” He hopefully asked.
“Sure, pick me up in five.”
“Holy shit, no wonder you were desperate it had to be me.” He was surprised that the mascot was as tall as him especially since he was used to most mascots being slightly smaller than him.
“You see, the suit’s kinda more technologically advanced than usual mascots. There’s a cooling system in it since it gets hot and stuffy in there easily as well as a mini ventilation system that’s way better than the mascot fans you’ll find in most suits. There are also proximity sensors to alert the person in it if there’s someone or something nearby to avoid accidents since sight could be quite an issue. Since there’s a bit more systems in it, it’s been designed to be bigger to accommodate all these features.” A man named Chrome, a junior staff member that accompanied Gen and Tsukasa explained. He was informed that he played a huge role with the development of the technology that aided the operation of the mascots.
“Please watch this video to know how you should move and for how long. There’s a routine to this and even though you’ll be stepping in temporarily, we’d like to keep everything consistent with all character mascots.” He was handed a memory card that contained said video. “Drop by tomorrow and we’ll drive you to and from your station.”
The first day for Tsukasa wasn’t at all that bad. He did have concerns with all the technology involved and wondered if there were any chances of it short circuiting with him in it but it was comfortable in there with the cooling system and improved ventilation. There were the usual children and teens asking for photos and wanting hugs and the day passed on without any casualties and he took a little pride in the fact that he was able to successfully mimic the movements of the tutorial video provided to him the day before.
It was on the second day that Tsukasa encountered a strange high schooler in the afternoon. He was performing the routine as instructed in the tutorial when a boy in a black uniform approached him.
“This is amazing!” Tsukasa let out a soundless amused breath of air at the teenager’s enthusiasm. He was not one to judge and thought that it was quite endearing that a teenage boy around his age was fawning over a beloved character in public. He did the usual, taking selfies and photos but when he lingered around for more than a moment, he couldn’t help but feel uneasy. The boy sat on one of the benches nearby and simply stared and stared for the next hour or so. Around 4pm in the afternoon, an hour after he arrived and simply stared at the mascot, he stood up and approached once more. He circled Tsukasa and although there was a giant Doraemon suit covering every inch of his being, he still felt uncomfortable under the gaze of a pair of calculating eyes. The high schooler got behind him and he felt the area of Doraemon’s butt jerk.
“Warning! Unknown object that may cause harm in close proximity.” Rang the cheerful recording of Doraemon’s voice from the suit’s sensors
“Damn, that’s good."
‘What the fuck just happened? Did he just pull the tail?’
“I am so tempted to just drag you home and take you in my special room where I'll slowly and carefully take that Doraemon mascot off and greedily explore every inch of you.” He heard him mutter in a low voice as he got close to the suit’s face.
Tsukasa could've cried right then and there. ‘This guy is a pervert.’
Around 6pm when the sun was about to set, the boy left and Tsukasa has never felt so much relief in a person’s departure before. Night quickly came as he spent the rest of his shift internally crying at the thought of all the pictures that boy took especially since most of them were taken with Tsukasa making cute poses that were in the video.
‘Is he the type to do such things with those types of photos?’ He shuddered at the thought. ‘I wonder how one could get off of a Doraemon mascot.’
“I have some good news for you!” Gen happily announced as he drove Tsukasa back to the studio to return the suit before he dropped him home. “They fixed up the robot’s mechanics so today is your last day as the suit operator.”
“Oh, thank God,” he sighed.
“But they’re requesting for you to spend tomorrow observing the robot in action since everyone will be busy with other stuff. Just watch it for a while and see if it breaks down among other things.” He was getting paid for this either way so he agreed to the conditions.
“Oh, hello are you the mascot’s operator?” The boy excitedly asked which caused Tsukasa’s concern for the boy’s state of mind to deepen. He did what was asked of him and he was only waiting for Chrome to show up so he could leave and get home but the boy must have noticed him observing the mascot and approached him.
“Yes, I was.” Tsukasa could not help but feel the chills run down his spine when not a single trace of shame was found on his face and the fear that pooled in the pit of his stomach increased as the excited grin widened into a Cheshire smile. He would have thought that the boy was cute if not for the perverse mind he had that creeped him out to the max.
“There you are, Tsukasa!” He heard Chrome’s voice call out. “So, how’s it doing? Oh, hey, Senku.”
“I have to say, Chrome, the robotic system inside looks insane! I watched it for a couple of hours yesterday and the movements are very fluid and natural. I could’ve thought there was a person inside it! The system looks kind of stiff compared to yesterday, though. Is there something wrong with it? Is that why you guys are here?”
“Oh, I’m here to check on it since it’s the robot’s first time in that suit since it didn’t work for a couple of days. This is Tsukasa by the way, he was the one manually operating the mascot yesterday and the day before.” Senku’s smile faltered at this. “Sorry for getting you excited over robot operated Doraemon mascots too early and for forgetting to tell you that we had problems with the machinery. There really was a person inside the suit yesterday and it was this guy.”
He cleared his throat in embarrassment. “So, you… you were inside the suit the whole time yesterday?”
“Yes. Yes, I was.”
“I see. I apologize for yesterday then. Congratulations on your success with this project, Chrome. If I may be excused, I need to get home now.” He rushed the words out of his mouth and speed walked towards his bicycle and escaped with red ears and a straight face.
“That was weird, is he sick?” Chrome wondered. “Anyway, how’s it looking?”
“It hasn’t done anything weird so I guess it’s fine. I’m not a robotics expert but it hasn’t broken down so I could assume that the system is doing well.”
“Well, hopefully it stays that way. Thanks again for your help.” The younger smiled at him and handed him an envelope that contained his reward for his hard work.
“Oh, by the way, what was his name again?”
“You mean Senku? His full name is Senku Ishigami, he’s a good friend of mine. Did anything happen yesterday between the two of you? I could imagine him getting in your face because he's really fond of Doraemon and he's a huge nerd as well so the robotics part really excited him when I told him about it.”
“Nothing important, really. Do you have his number?”
Senku almost threw his phone across the room in shame when he saw the message notification from an unknown number flash on the screen.
‘Hey, it’s mascot boy.’