Japan Trip (3)

Akihabara.

A place that used to mainly sell electronic goods but has now become the holy land of otaku. Like a mecca, it is somewhere every otaku is expected to visit at least once.

The four (+1) set foot in that place. Akihabara Station was packed with people moving through suffocating crowds. Countless office workers, ordinary people, otaku, and everyone else were tangled together, creating not only the heat of summer but also the heat of humanity.

“Why are there so many people?”

It happened to be summer. It happened to be morning, with the sun already high in the sky. It wasn’t quite the hellish subway rush hour, but there were far more people than in Hongdae or Myeongdong at their busiest. They took the full force of Japan’s heat and somehow crawled out of the station.

“I’m dying. It’s so hot.”

“I feel like I’m going to be boiled to death.”

The two people complaining were Iseo and Seoha. Though she didn’t look it, Hyein also had wrinkles etched between her brows. The only people in the group even trying to move were Myeongjeon, a mental old fogey thinking things like, ‘If you calm your mind, winter is summer and summer is winter,’ and Hyuna, who was more delighted to have returned to her ‘spiritual homeland.’

“Come on, come on! Let’s get moving! We don’t have much time. There are so many places to see!”

Seeing Hyuna behave in the exact opposite way from usual, Myeongjeon wondered just how happy she was. Then again, there was probably some joy in finally visiting a place she had only imagined until now…...