Traffic Safety written on it. She was still in grade school. What, seriously? Tokyo is full of surprises. Grade-schoolers read Tabelog? “Ooh, lucky me!” A long-haired girl, also in elementary school, boarded the bus and took the first girl’s place. “I thought I might get to see you, Nagi!” she said, running happily toward the back seat. My eyes followed her involuntarily. “What the—?!” The kid sitting on that back seat with his legs crossed (in shorts) couldn’t have been more than ten or so. “Hi, Kana,” he said, giving the girl an elegant wave. He took her backpack with a smile, like a gentleman escorting a lady. He had a silky short bob, sharp eyes, and childlike but symmetrical features; he seemed rather princely. Did this kid have a girlfriend for every bus stop? The bus set off again, and I tore my eyes away from them. Behind me, I could hear them flirting. “Hmm? Kana, did you curl your hair?” “Oh, you can tell? Yes, just a little. Nobody else noticed it today, but of course you would, Nagi! So? What do you think? Does it look good?” “Yeah! It’s looks great—kinda grown-up, like a middle schooler.” The girl gave a little chuckle. It was embarrassing just hearing how happy she was, and I started to feel excruciatingly awkward. This kid was in grade school, but he probably had multiple girlfriends, and on top of that, those girls were making reservations at Tabelog cafés. The guys who get all the girls start so young. Is this what they call cultural capital? “Tokyo is seriously something else,” I muttered as I got off the bus at my stop. I opened my umbrella and, squinting at Google Maps, made my way through a blue-collar shopping district. When I turned right, as Google instructed, the atmosphere of the street abruptly changed. Several small printing companies sat in a row on the hill road, and the faint smell of ink mingled with the rain. “…This is the place, right?” The address on the business card turned out to belong to a small, run- down building that looked like a shop. A patently old-fashioned awning sign jutted out from the front; the word SNACK was written on it in letters that had all but disappeared, indicating this was one of those low-key hostess bars. I checked the address on the card against Google Maps one more time. This Page 20 Goldenagato | mp4directs.com