We got off the train at AEON. The weather was very hot and scorching. Mahiru repeatedly made gestures like she was fanning her face with her hands.
We walked through the park and came to a cafe that stood across the street. There were a few customers and you could see them through the glass window. We went in and paid at the cashier, then cleaned our hands with alcohol.
"Wow, it's really big."
The allowed visitor capacity is 50 people and they are charged by the hour. Of course, it would be expensive, but I guess it's worth it for the decor and facilities provided.
From the very beginning, this cafe was created so that visitors could interact with cats. But rather than that, the main purpose is to be able to share the space with the cats. There are a few chairs and tables available, but not many, they don't want to stress the cats out with the crowds.
"Phaaa... so cute~ come here, come here, Kiyotakaa, have a look at this cat"
Mahiru whispered as she grabbed my pinky and pulled me closer. Either she was the cute one or the cat was now. She rarely talked about animals, but she seemed to like them.
"Yes, that one looks cute."
"So, so, come here sweet cat... what's your name?"
A cat approached us, and Mahiru knelt and held out her hand slowly.
I took the book that contained the names and photos of every cat here.
"Her name is Silk."
"Silk? Silk-chan~ come here."
The cafe prohibits visitors from making direct contact that could startle the cat, so all visitors have to do is approach slowly and steal the cat's attention.
The cat had black fur on its tail and face, while the rest of its body was white. Its eyes are sky blue and its body is thin. The cat's nose twitched as she sniffed Mahiru's hand. She said, "how cute...."
The cat walked away after smelling Mahiru's scent, and that made her sad.
"It's not that he hates you, he just left after greeting you."
"I guess so..."
"Let's find a seat first," I took Mahiru's hand and led her to an empty spot in the corner, on the sofa facing out the window. From here if you turned your back, you could see the full view of the room.
The one that approached Mahiru was a Siamese, but there were also American Shorthairs, Russian Blue, Exotic Shorthairs, Munckins, Bengals, and various other breeds.
Mahiru looked at the cat curled up in the lap of a customer next to us.
" So sweet..."
She was jealous of the other customers who could play with the cat to their heart's content.
I opened the menu and looked at the types of food on sale. The most interesting one seems to be the Cat Latte, which seems to be the specialty of the workers here. I've heard that many customers come just to take pictures with this menu and upload them to social media.
It's such a trend nowadays, I don't understand the habit of most people uploading photos of food or drinks to social media. But I do have accounts on social media like Twitter and Tumblr.
But it was Sotomura and Kikuchi who created it. They forced me to sign up and make an account on Twitter, and then they would borrow my account for their research. Since I wasn't interested, I let them do it. But I still protested why my name was being used there.
