Page 53 of Summer Haze & Tokyo Craze
Just what is the deal with the maid café? Why is everyone’s reaction so amused?
"I mean, we've done our tourism spots," she says once she’s stopped laughing and glances up at me through her thickeyelashes. "But if you want to go to a maid café, I'm more than happy to take you."
"I'm an adult, Lily. I can also go to a maid café alone if you have other plans."
"You sure are." She reaches up and pats my shoulder, eyes darting around and relaxing when she sees that nobody is paying attention to us. My fingers are itching with the urge to lay at her hips and I flex my hands to force them to relax. "You are the adultiest of adults. And I absolutely know you could go alone, but it's a possibility that you will have no idea what's happening because they will very likely only speak Japanese."
I catch her eyes and narrow my eyes at her, and then my shoulders sag in defeat and I shake my head at myself.
"You're right," I admit with a sigh. "I should have thought of that.”
I can't remember the last time I've been to a non-English speaking country, and it's for sure taking some getting used to. It completely slipped my mind that they might not speak English.
"Okay. Then let’s go to a maid café this afternoon." She nods, then checks her wristwatch for the time. "This is supposed to go on until four, so let's say we leave at four thirty?”
I give her a quick nod, and before I can even open my mouth to elaborate the answer, Felix walks around the corner, shouting for Lily and holding up a plastic bag from the convenience store and Lily shoots me a wink before she walksoff.
At four thirty on the dot, I am in front of the hotel, looking at the sky skeptically. I forgot my umbrella in my room and I’m suspicious whether the weather will hold.
"Come on, let's go." Lily suddenly appears beside me, a smile tugging at her lips, and she has a slight spring in her step as she guides the way.
"What's going on?"
"Nothing," she says way too quickly, underlying laughter making her voice shake.
"Why is everyone so goddamn giddy at me visiting one of these maid cafés?" I ask her, stopping and cross my arms in front of my chest.
"I'm not telling you," Lily says as she turns around, reaching for my wrist to pull me along with her.
“So there is something. Tell me.”
"Don’t be so impatient. You will see in a bit."
She lets go of my wrist and I’m about to sigh disappointedly when she glances up and down the street, nods satisfied and then laces her fingers with mine instead. Instantly, I’m in a better mood as we walk for around ten minutes. We’re in the middle of an ordinary street where she pulls me into an inconspicuous house entrance.
"Here?" I ask her, my eyebrows drawn together in confusion, and look around. It looks like she’s pulling me into an office building.
"Yes, here." She nods, sounding very sure of it, and pulls me further into the building and then into an elevator.
"Are you sure?" I ask her and look around. “Like, sure, sure?”
"Very sure.” She rolls her eyes at me. “I've been here before, a few years ago. And yes, I checked if the maid café is still here beforehand."
She grins at me, and I lean my back against the cold metal wall of the elevator. Reaching out, I grab her forearm and pull her to me for a quick hug, inhaling her flowery scent greedily and humming happily against her hair.
"You know, this ‘nobody can know’ business is harder than I thought it would be," I admit and squeeze her a bit tighter.
“Yeah.” I feel her nod against my shoulder, and she melts into the hug, leaning her head back against my shoulder and taking a deep breath. “But we have to.”
When the elevator doors open, she quickly steps out of my grasp and pulls me out into a hallway that still very much looks like an office building. And I still wouldn’t be convinced that we’re at the right place, if it weren’t for the very loud, very cutesy and happy music.
We follow the sound and then step around a corner, and I start laughing. Everything is pink and cute and glittery, and I think I understand now why Eve was so amused.
Lily is giggling as well as she pulls me with her until we reach anentrance to a café.
"I won’t be able to translate word for word, but I’ll give you the gist, alright?" She looks up at me with her wide eyes that I couldn’t say ‘no’ to if I tried, and I raise my eyebrow at her.
"Sure," I say, sounding anything but.
