Page 61 of Summer Haze & Tokyo Craze

"The flight," he quickly clarifies, his gaze turning hungry. "Don't worry, I'll get you there on time."

"You better." I grin and walk ahead outside as he approaches the register to pay for the souvenirs he got his brothers.

It’s cloudy today, but at least it’s not raining. Although, the dark clouds approaching make me glad I brought my umbrella just in case.

“Okay, I’m done.” Adam appears next to me and I take out my phone to pull up the address of the store I’ve been waiting to go to, starting to walk once I know into which direction. Thankfully, it’s right around the corner.

He might have come here for the anime merchandise for his brothers, but I have something entirely else in mind.

Because after I told Lucy I’d be in Tokyo, she did a bit of snooping and sent me a video that appeared on her for you page on some social media app, asking, no,demandingme to go there.

“Let me live vicariously through you,"she'd said, disappointed that the video only showed very few snippets of the store. "I need to know about every cool and funny thing they have. Very detailed descriptions, please. Or sneak pictures, I don’t give a fuck."

And when the store comes into sight, my mouth curls into a grin. God, this is going to be so much fun.

"This is it," I tell Adam and nod at the store, giggling under my breath when his eyes go wide.

"Listen, I might not speak the language, but even I know that's a naughty store," he says amusedly and slowly starts to grin. I nod excitedly and reach for his hand to pull him after me.

"Japan's biggest sex store," I say proudly and grin at him over my shoulder. It’s more fun to put this on Lucy, but honestly, I was super excited to come here as well. For the giggles, curiosity, and who knows, maybe I might find a new favorite silicone friend.

God knows I’ll need their assistance in getting over Adam. But those are depressing thoughts for later.

"Alright." Adam straightens his back and rolls his shoulders, looking giddy all of a sudden. "Let's see what they got."

As soon as we step inside the store, the whole atmosphere changes. It’s eerily quiet, despite the music playing through the speakers. Everything is very shushed, and the first thing we see are several signs prohibiting photography and videography, in all kinds of languages.

"Wow," Adam says astonished, turning around to take a good look at everything.

And no wonder. I’ve seen sneak peeks of the store and even I find it almost overwhelming. I don’t even know where to look first.

All the aisles are cramped as hell and very narrow, stacked from floor to ceiling with all kinds of curiosities. And this is only the beginning, because, in all, the store has seven floors.

"Ah, we’re starting off low-key," I say and lean a bit closer to the shelf to take a better look. Flesh lights. At first glance, they kind of look like containers for sports drinks. But then I see the advertisements for ‘better grip’ and ‘velvety inside’ and close up, the pictures make more sense.

"Interesting," Adam says amusedly, and I shoot him a teasing glance. "Not my style, though."

We continue down the aisles, and at one point, I catch him taking out his phone and using the photo translator to check out a few products. But when we reach the section that has real-looking silicone replicas of women’s nether regions, he shakes his head and pulls me right along.

"Definitely not.”

“Also not your style?" I raise my eyebrow at him, and he chuckles lowly, shaking his head.

"This might sound pretentious, but if I want something real, I'll look for something real. Not silicone."

"Makes sense," I admit and shrug. I can’t quite relate, because sometimes, I just need something that looks real without theawkward small talk or doubt whether the condom is staying on attached. But each to their own.

We walk up a flight of stairs to the second level and are greeted by silicone boobs and a whole bunch of… costumes? Right, this must be the role play section.

"Oh." Adam's face lights up like a child's on Christmas as his eyes scan all the stuff on the walls, his grin becoming wider and wider. "A sexy secretary."

He points at the costume excitedly, and I roll my eyes at him. Of course he’d have to point that one out.

"Is your secretary sexy, too?" I can’t help but tease him, even though a part of me does not want to hear it. What if she is?

Well, even if she is, that’s none of my business. And that realization stabs my heart with a thousand pointy needles.

"Oh, God," he mutters and pinches the bridge of his nose. "Don't bring Barbara into this."

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