Mandate of Heaven Arc (2024)

For the fictional manga, see Mandate of Heaven.

The Mandate of Heaven Arc is the eleventh story arc in My Dress-Up Darling.

Marin is unable to confess her feelings to Wakana as the latter is too focused on making the perfect Haniel costume for her.

While they work on making the "Heaven's Will" costume for Winter Comiket, Christmas rolls around...

For the first time, a giddy Marin gets her lucky underwear ready. Meanwhile, creating Haniel's costume is proving trickier than Wakana anticipated, and he's at his wits' end...^[1]

Summary[]

The misunderstanding between Marin and Akira is finally resolved and Marin was over the moon at knowing she had a fan. Meanwhile, Sajuna explained why, despite her dislike for anything horror, she still went through with the Coffin group cosplay. She did it so that Shinju could enjoy the things that she did without having to hide her love for horror.

Later, Suzuka and Miyako asked everyone if they would attend the Winter Comiket later at the end of that year. Wakana asked Marin if there was any cosplay prop she wanted to see, and Marin answered that she wanted to see "Haniel" from Mandate of Heaven. When Wakana search for the cover online, he made up his mind that he would make the costume. He wanted to leave immediately so he could buy all the manga and start reading, and thus he would not be able to join their afterparty. Marin tried to stop him since she was planning on confessing her feelings for him right after, however, Wakana was determined to start on the costume right away.^[2]

After Wakana finished reading all the available Mandate of Heaven manga, he called Akira to get her insights on the manga. They talked about the author and how he refused to allow adaptations of his works because of the standards that he set for them. Wakana decided to do some more research on western dolls so he could learn how to capture Haniel's "not human at a glance" look. His research led him to a Japanese doll maker who went beyond Japanese dolls so they could expand their craft.^[3]

Wakana was able to finish his design for the Haniel costume early. Marin realized that Wakana was too engrossed in the process that she figured that it wasn't the right time to make her confession. She decided to do so during Christmas Eve and invited herself to dinner at the Gojo's.^[4] Wakana and Marin shopped for the materials needed for the costume. When they were at the fabric store, Wakana was not able to make up his mind on the type of fabric he should use. Marin offered to shop for the remaining items while Wakana stayed to look at the fabrics in detail. Marin was able to buy most of the things they needed. She came across a lingerie store where she bought some lingerie for the Christmas Even dinner with Wakana.^[5]

Wakana had left the fabric store to buy another copy of Volume 13 of Mandate of Heaven. He was going to cut out the pictures so he could use them as references when making the costume. After he and Marin met up, he explained that he was not able to buy the fabric for Haniel's haori. Marin offered to help searching for the fabric by consulting her stylists who might know of textile stores that they might not know of. This would give Wakana time to work on the other parts of the costume while Marin searched for the fabric.

Before they went home, Marin has Wakana buy a padded jacket for him to wear during the Comiket. While Marin was gushing at how cool Wakana looked, he was looking gloomy because of how uncomfortable he was. They ran into Murakami who complimented his new look. However, Wakana insisted that he looked weird and uncool, unlike Murakami. Without responding, Murakami invited Wakana to eat ramen,^[6] which Murakami paid for. Later that evening, Marin made preparations for her Christmas Eve dinner with Wakana.^[7]

Wakana started to make the props for the Haniel costume, with Akira on the phone who provided him with tips on how to make them. He received a call from Marin regarding her search for the fabric. However, the search was once again unfruitful because Wakana still does not think they are the right kind of fabric which he had pictured in his head.^[8]

After some time, Wakana was able to finish parts of the costume and had Marin fit them. He started on Haniel's nails but his mind was still preoccupied with Haniel's haori and the fabric needed to make it. He decided to go out and take a walk so he could clear his head. He came across a convenience store and bought a bagful of energy drinks.^[9] When Wakana arrived home, he stayed up all night to work on the costume. He pitied himself for lacking the experience to draw inspiration from. He began to wallow in self-pity. He quickly pulled himself together and took a bath. He visited their store's display room to look at the hina dolls. Something suddenly dawned on him, and he quickly rushed to his computer to do some more research. He finally remembered what fabric he wanted to use for the costume. On his computer screen was a picture of an antique kimono.^[10]

On Christmas Eve, Marin was having her hair and makeup done by her stylists. She went to a grocery store to buy the ingredients she was going to use for the dinner at the Gojo's. When she arrived at Wakana's house, she made all the food preparations. Kaoru informed her that Wakana was still in his room, busy with the costume.

During dinner, Wakana barely ate anything and was in a daze all throughout dinner. He quickly excused himself so he could keep working. Marin was initially annoyed by this, but Kaoru explained that this is normal behavior for anyone who creates things. They have a picture of what they want in their head, but they are never truly satisfied with the outcome. Kaoru then asked Marin to make sure to praise all of Wakana's work, to which Marin replied that she always loved everything Wakana made.^[11]

Some time later, the antique kimono Wakana ordered arrived at his house. The previous owner thought that he was a girl because of his name, so they included a few freebies with the kimono. Among these freebies was a white obi which Wakana thought had a calm and brilliant gloss. Looking at the corset which he already completed, he thought of remaking it using the obi.

After a few days, he sent Marin a message saying that he was already done with the costume.^[12]

On the day of the Winter Comiket, Marin went to Wakana's house to have her make-up and costume ready. There, Wakana revealed that the reason he wanted to make Haniel's costume was for selfish reasons―he wanted to see Haniel brought to life. And the only way for this selfish desire to become reality was with Marin's help. Marin hesitated at first, since the way Wakana described Haniel felt contradictory. However, Wakana assured her that because she was who she was, she could definitely pull it off. After much preparation, Wakana and Marin headed to the Comiket venue, with Marin fully dressed up as Haniel.^[13]

At the venue, Marin caught the attention of some attendees who gathered around her, eager to take a picture of her as Haniel. She and Wakana had planned to meet up with Suzuka's group, so they didn't know how to accommodate the long line of photographers. An attendee suggested that they do a circle photoshoot instead to save them some time. After Marin prepared herself to pose as Haniel, she remembered Wakana's instructions on how to give Haniel's emotionless smile. She successfully projected Haniel's smile, much to the delight of the photographers.^[14]

Chitose, Suzuka, Miyako and Akari arrived at the venue and look for Wakana and Marin. After some searching, they found a huge crowd gathering around a cosplayer. They saw that the cosplayer was Marin and they tried to quietly observe. However, Akari got overwhelmed by Marin and began to shout and called her "Princess." The other photographers were also overwhelmed and they, too, began shouting "Princess." Marin's Haniel was posted online and went viral.^[15]

While this was all happening, Marin hoped that she was doing a good job at conveying Wakana's vision for Haniel. At the same time, as Wakana observed the commotion brought about by Marin's cosplay, he realized that he was once again captivated by Marin, much like what happened when she cosplayed as Rei Kogami.^[16]

Marin wrapped up her circle photoshoot with the help of her friends. Even though she was exhausted, she enjoyed it and hoped that she could cosplay with Wakana forever. A while later, an agent for a company named Sparkle Company came to recruit her as a professional cosplayer. Before she could respond, she remembered her wish to cosplay with Wakana. When she looked for him, she saw him with a somber look, much to her surprise. Later, they spent the train ride home in silence and as they parted ways, Wakana left without uttering a single word.^[17]

Elsewhere, a mangaka named Kougami Mamoru received a call from his editor telling him about the viral Haniel cosplay. They were so impressed by the costume and the cosplayer that they tried searching for her with only the name "Princess" to go by, but to no avail. Kougami, who was also a big fan of Mandate of Heaven and a friend of Tokio Shiba, called the author to show him the cosplay. Tokio was also impressed and showed his approval by tweeting a link to the viral cosplay with the caption, "Well done." At home, Wakana was oblivious to these events and was at bed seemingly miserable.^[18]

Story Impact[]

Characters Introduced[]

Cosplays[]

References[]

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