• version 1.0 by Hitoshi Doi, 1994.03.28

[ The following story is a piece of fiction. Any similarities with some real live people and events are coincidental. ^_^;; - H.Doi ]

On March 14, 1994, Tofu-sensei got on a train from Shinjuku to head out to Ohmiya, a little north of Tokyo. Tofu had never been to Ohmiya before, but he somehow managed to get a ticket to meet Tendo Kasumi, who was having a "shaking hands" session. (Tendo Kasumi had recently released a CD and image video.)

Tofu arrived at the Ohmiya station and easily found the Seibu department store, where the Yamagiwa record was located. Tofu took he escalators to the 6th floor and found Yamagiwa. Since there was more than one hour before the event was going to begin (at 16:00), Tofu just walked around the store looking at the posters of Tendo Kasumi, which were all over the store.

At 15:00, Tofu went around to the front of the store, because he had mentioned to some of the people on a certain ML that he would be there. He quickly found some other Tendo Kasumi fans, as one of them had brought a very nicely framed cel of a cartoon character that Tendo Kasumi played. Tofu and that person had a very suspicious exchange of goods, and Tofu got his ticket for the handshake session. Tofu was number 123. (But the numbers did not mean that much because everyone would get a chance to shake Tendo Kasumi's hand anyway.)

Then the people running the event put up a sign saying that the people waiting for the event should go to the rooftop of the department store to wait in line. So Tofu and his friends all went to the roof to wait and talk. Also there were some other acquaintances who were supposed to come.

At 15:50, they made Tofu and all other Kasumi fans line up in order. They said that they were going to let 50 people go down at a time. Tofu noticed that the line moved very fast. After several minutes, they called on the group that Tofu was in. So Tofu went along and entered the building. There was a long line of people winding down the stairs to the 6th floor.

After a few more minutes, Tofu was on the 6th floor, and just several meters away from where Tendo Kasumi was sitting.

 | stairs |
 |   ||   |      Kasumi
 --+        +-------+  +---

Kasumi was sitting behind a small table which had a stack of her signature boards. All around her were posters of her CD.

Kasumi was wearing a flower design one piece dress with a white lace collar. "Very pretty!" Tofu thought.

When Tofu got close enough, Tofu snapped some pictures of Kasumi. (They did allow people to take pictures and videos.) But since Tofu's brain had already started to melt, Tofu didn't remember if he had focused or not. He just kept his finger on the shutter.

Then it was Tofu's turn. What little of Tofu's brain was remaining started to evaporate. Tofu went up to Kasumi and said, "Ganbatte kudasai."
Kasumi said, "Thank you," with a very gentle voice. Then they shook hands. When Tofu felt Kasumi's very soft hands, his brain stopped.

A few minutes later when Tofu came to, he was holding one of Kasumi's signature boards and walking around with several friends. Tofu didn't remember anything.

The event only lasted several seconds, but it was still the best event that Tofu had ever gone to..

Just a few days before this event, Tofu had won a signed booklet that he had sent in for. The booklet was the same as the lyrics/picture booklet that came with the CD, except that it was signed on page 4.

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