Page 42 of Summer Haze & Tokyo Craze

“There will probably be rain,” I tease her, and she purses her lips in a pout as she reaches for the sign to her right.

“Ya think?” She rolls her eyes and touches it. Just like we thought, the sign disappears and the projections turn to rain. Even the music changes.

“What are the other characters?” I ask her curiously. There are so many more that look completely different to the two she’s already touched.

“That one is flowers.” She points to my left. “And that one is birds. And I think that’s it.” She lets go of me and turns aroundherself. "I'll just stay here. Come get me in like three hours, and I'm good. I'm just going to keep touching these."

"How about we check out the rest first?" I gently lead her away from the room with a chuckle. When we walk through another thick curtain, we find… “Bunnies?”

A uniform row of bunnies marches down the corridor walls in rows. We stop right behind the curtain and take it in, utterly confused. I definitely didn’t expect animals to suddenly show up.

Some children are running along the corridor, shouting in delight as they put their hands on the walls right next to the rabbits and it makes the figures turn their heads to them.

“I know all of this is interactive," I whisper to her, leaning close. Damn, her shampoo smells amazing. Like flowers and spring with an undertone that’s just her. Back to topic, Adam. "But all of these still surprise the fuck out of me."

"Same," she admits softly, and we continue walking. We find butterflies in the next room, then blooming sunflowers and more animals. There's even a room that's set up to look like an aquarium, with a little drawing station where you can color in your own fish with crayons and have it swim along the walls with the others.

"Are we doing it?" I ask her, eyebrow cocked, and she looks up at me unsurely. I’ll take that as a ‘yes.’ "Come on," I beckon her, and each of us grabs one of the templates to display our artistic talent.

Hers looks cute—it's a pink squid with big eyes and a little, happy smile—while I make the shark I picked look angry with harsh eyebrows and an open mouth with teeth on full display.

We bring them over to the scanner in the corner, and within seconds, they join the rest of the swarm.

"That is so cool." I immediately take out my phone and take a quick video of it. "I'm going to have to show this to my brothers." I’m not sure they’ll appreciate it quite as much as I do, but it’s a brag-able experience none the less.

Walking on, we find even more rooms with all kinds of flowers and animals, but one of my actual highlights is the room with lily pads. Not only because they have the same name as Lily, but because they actually set up little installations, reaching about knee-high for both of us, that make it seem like we’re walking through a magical lily-filled pond, all of them illuminated with light dancing along them.

"This is amazing," Lily keeps whispering, and I agree.

They are so incredibly pretty, I can’t even find words for them. But a steady stream of other visitors makes us continue until we’ve reached the end of the room where the exit and reality await us.

Once the door closes behind us, the two of us look at each other in awe.

"I kind of want to go again," Lily says, and I find myself nodding. I’d go back in there in a heartbeat, but just in that moment, a voice tells us from the speakers that closing time is approaching.

Lily

“You wanted to talk,” I remind Adam as we walk out of the building. Like magnets, our hands found each other, now that the rain has stopped and we don’t need to cling onto our umbrellas for dear life.

I’ve been fearing this conversation. As much as I’ve tried, I just couldn’t manage to make up my mind. I want him. I know that much. But I love my career and I’m so fucking scared of destroying it, hoping by just ignoring it, all of this would go away.

But then I saw him waiting in the hotel lobby with an iced coffee for me in his hand and I just knew that wasn’t going to happen and now, with his hand automatically having found mine, I’m even more sure that this isn’t going away anytime soon.

"Right," he says with a nod, looking around the place. "I did. And we do. Let's find a quiet spot."

Subconsciously, we fall into step with each other, walking toward the general direction of the station and looking around for a dry place to sit.

"There," he suddenly says, pointing to our right, a grin slowly spreading on his face. "We should go there."

I gulp when I follow his gaze and my eyes find the giant Ferris wheel in the distance.

A few orange sun rays break through the clouds, which is going to get us an amazing view of the skyline. But this thing looks really damn high.

"Okay," I tell him, swallowing down my anxiety. Breathe, Lily, it’s going to be fun!

I’m okay with heights if I have sturdy ground under my feet. A skyscraper, even planes are mostly fine, unless they get caught in turbulence and make walking an adventure in itself.

But a Ferris wheel?

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