"Come back to your senses, Nishikata. Where should we go first?" Tsuna waved his hand in front of Nishikata's eyes.
"Let's go to the bookstore first?" Nishikata glanced around and pointed to a bookstore on the left.
Tsuna followed his direction. It was a three-story shop with windows covered in 2D stickers and several colorful gashapon machines placed in front of the window. Two one-to-one scale Ultraman fluorescent standees flanked the entrance.
The first impression was very Akihabara-esque. If Shin-chan were there, he'd probably be striking the same poses as the Ultraman standees.
"Let's go, let's see if there are any good manga."
With that, Tsuna withdrew his gaze from the shop and started walking.
"By the way, Nishikata." As they were about to reach the shop, Tsuna suddenly stopped and turned to look at Nishikata. "Are you looking for serious comics?"
Nishikata didn't answer, but slapped him on the arm and walked up alone.
There was no answer, yet it seemed as if there was one.
Tsuna watched his pace quicken with what seemed to be shame and anger and shook his head. "We're all adolescent boys, it's not like we can't understand." He then slowly followed.
"Welcome."
Tsuna had just reached the glass doors when they opened automatically, accompanied by a mechanical sound.
Tsuna's entrance only caught the attention of the front desk staff; the others continued to pore over their comics.
Tsuna walked to the sign, glanced briefly, then looked away, quickly browsing the three floors.
First Floor: New Releases, current season's hottest works.
Second Floor: Categorized by genre, such as boys' manga, girls' manga, youth-themed, BL, etc., with a life-size standee featuring current season's anime works hanging at the corner of the staircase.
Third Floor: Used comics, doujinshi, and R18 books locked in a glass case.
Proof of age is required to view these.
"Nishikata, what's going on?" Tsuna, finding nothing to buy, asked a disappointed-looking Nishikata in the third-floor doujinshi section.
As soon as Nishikata saw who was coming, his expression instantly cleared. He shook his head and said regretfully, "Let's go, let's go somewhere else."
Tsuna glanced at a row of locked R18 comics not far away, nodded, and walked downstairs with him. Under the watchful eyes of the staff, they left the shop empty-handed.
He felt certain that if he bought this comic, Shouko would definitely confiscate it within two days unless he kept her in the dark.
But she came into his room every day, poking around, making it hard to avoid her.
They spent the whole day browsing almost every store in Akihabara, but didn't visit any of the same type of stores. They also spent most of their time in the arcade.
"Okay, Nishikata, it's time for the main event of the day."
Tsuna pulled his phone from his pocket, checked the time: 4:31 PM, and pulled Nishikata, who was still walking, with a slight smile on his face.
"What?" Nishikata looked at him in confusion.
He really didn't know what the highlight of Tsuna's speech was.
Tsuna looked at his dull expression, sighed softly and said, "Let's find a maid cafe to rest, have afternoon tea, and go back."
How can we not go to a maid cafe when we come to Akihabara?
"This..." Nishikata was a little hesitant.
Tsuna patted his arm, raised his hand, and pointed at a maid cafe casually: "Let's go, it's my treat, order whatever you want, as long as you can eat it and don't waste food."
Seeing Nishikata's hesitation, he assumed he was short on cash and embarrassed to speak.
But that was true; they'd both been shopping for almost a day, and after spending so much time in the arcade, Nishikata might be running low on pocket money.
"Thank you, but I'll do it," Nishikata followed him, thanking him and no longer hesitating.
He felt a little embarrassed. He wanted to go, but the enthusiasm of the pretty maids was a bit overwhelming.
"Welcome home, Master!"
Before either of them even reached the entrance, a girl in a maid outfit with cat ears and purple hair approached and greeted sweetly.
Nishikata froze, his breathing quickening as he frantically thought, "Is it too late to run now?"
He'd known this was going to happen, and that was why he hesitated. He didn't know how to respond, so he had to let Miyamura, who was standing beside him, handle it.
Tsuna was speechless at the frantic glances Nishikata was giving him.
It was his first time in a shop like this, and with such enthusiastic girls, how could he possibly know how to respond?
Normally, he would have simply nodded and ignored it, or let Shouko handle it, but it was obvious that neither of these options was feasible right now.
He pointed decisively at the maid's headband and complimented her, "Those cat ears suit you perfectly. They look so cute."
But he had a surefire formula: when meeting someone for the first time and didn't know what to say, he'd just point at something on the girl and give her a serious compliment.
Of course, this formula was a bit model-dependent; if the modeling wasn't perfect, it could backfire.
"Thank you, Master, your outfit looks great today too," the maid said, studying Tsuna's face carefully and smiling sweetly.
Tsuna could clearly sense the maid's sincerity and her cheerful mood.
After a brief conversation with Tsuna, the maid went off to attend to other customers.
Tsuna and Nishikata approached the glass door covered in fluorescent posters. Tsuna motioned for the other to open it.
Nishikata's finger hovered over the doorknob for several seconds, unmoving, as he listened to the sweet, saccharine voices drifting from within.
Through the crack in the door, they could glimpse the maids' fluffy lace skirts and swaying cat-ear headbands. The aroma of burnt omurice mixed with the fragrance of strawberries wafted to their noses.
"Nishikata, can you really see clearly through the crack in the door?"
"No, no, no," Nishikata panicked, waving his hands and hastily explaining, "I'm not peeking, okay!"
Tsuna nodded, not choosing to tease him, and reached out to pull open that half of the glass door.
"Welcome home, Master!"
Before either of them even entered, the maids in the shop rang out in unison.
Tsuna nodded and greeted the green-haired maid at the front desk, then pulled Nishikata Naoto, who was visibly frozen beside him, to an empty table for four. As they sat down, a girl with gray cat ears approached, holding a pink quill and two sheets of white paper.
"What's that for?" Tsuna looked at the items in her hands, puzzled.
The maid handed Tsuna the pink feather pen and explained the meaning of the two papers.
They were asking the two to sign the "Master Contract Paper" in katakana and choose the exclusive name the maids would call him.
(End of Chapter)