[Kafka Cosplay] Painful Yet Joyful Record of the Random Dance at the Tsinghua University Club Fair

On the second day of the Tsinghua University Club Fair, I directly experienced a double challenge to my physical state and energy level.

My period hit early in the morning, and unable to endure the pain, I took a painkiller. Then something even more devastating happened—I turned out to be allergic to the painkiller, and my lips swelled up like a "sausage mouth." With an aching stomach and numb, swollen lips, I had only one thought: if I don't finish this Kafka cosplay today, all the makeup I woke up early for would go to waste. Stomachs hurt without food, but taking painkillers swells my mouth—it was a true dilemma.

But since I was already there, I decided to push through. During makeup that day, to recreate the character's details, I used seven makeup brushes alone, blending eyeshadow layers and creating glossy lip textures, while layering foundation and concealer multiple times. Brushing across my face repeatedly in the hot weather with nervous tension felt like sparks were about to fly. Luckily, paired with the red wig and those iconic round black sunglasses on my head, the facial structure distorted by the swollen lip was salvaged quite a bit through wig framing and makeup touch-ups.

As for props, that giant purplish-red long sword carries real weight. Shouldering it for photos while maintaining a sharp and natural angle left my left shoulder muscles aching gently. The black coat with white grid lines paired with a large white bow actually demands good body proportions; a slight mishap makes it look bulky. Fortunately, wearing gloves and wrist guards achieved the intended sharp and handsome visual effect.

The most painful part was actually post-processing photo editing. Due to the swollen lip, corners of my mouth and jawlines looked awkward in photos. So I had to edit furiously in post, liquifying and reshaping lip contours bit by bit, while tweaking facial light-and-shadow transitions to offset the allergic swelling as much as possible. It's safe to say that a third of the effort for these final photos went into post-editing retouching.

Although the process was brutal, the random dance session was profoundly joyful! I even played into a meme back then—that sentence about "With a mom like this spinning at high speed into Tsinghua University Club Fair," which brought the atmosphere to its peak. During the random dance, I let go completely with my movements and posed for photos without holding back, fully immersing in the pure atmosphere of fellow fans gathering together. This joy of dancing and fooling around with everyone washed away all physical discomforts.

Participating in the Tsinghua University Club Fair and doing cosplay with friends from the Tsinghua University Student Next-Gen Anime Club was indeed a very special experience. Though my body let me down and caused pain that day, wearing this outfit to shuttle around campus, taking group photos, and playing random dance with everyone brought immense satisfaction. I'm not quite sure how to apologize for such an unexpected episode, but I'll apologize first anyway, as every casual cosplay journey feels like an adventure full of the unknown.

This painful yet happy experience is both an unexpected mishap and a precious memory. If there is another club fair random dance next time, I'll definitely come back—after all, in this community, everyone gathers together out of shared passion, making physical hardship secondary. The random dance was wonderful, and I'll see you next time; let this post record this slightly chaotic yet immensely fulfilling moment.