Chapter 6: A Guided Tour
"Well then, let's get mew-ving!" Katie purrs and mews as she marches us through the streets like a regular tour guide.
Deciding to just go with the flow, I walk obediently behind.
My Big follows, clutching the hem of my shirt for some reason.
"You're making it hard to keep up with her," I protest.
"Hasn't anyone ever told you not to go anywhere with strangers?" she fires back.
"Well yeah, but…"
"You know Alice followed a rabbit and got lost in Wonderland. I wonder if it's such a good idea to follow this cat around," she continues.
"I doubt she's leading us into Wonderland, Big."
With that, Katie whirls around and stares at us, jumping right into our conversation.
"Meow-ha-ha-ha!" she laughs. "Akihabara is already a purr-fectly strange wonderland, don't mew think?"
Packing backwards now, both hands behind her back, she flashes us her wide Cheshire grin.
"Is this Mister and Mi'Lady's first trip to Akihabara?" she purrs.
"Um…yeah," I reply, "We thought we'd take a little trip to Tokyo."
"I see! Well that's just meow-velous then, isn't it!"
Katie places her hand coyly over her mouth and looks back and forth between us before turning back around. We start walking again.
What's so marvelous about that?
Forget the strangeness of Akihabara…this cat girl was more than strange enough!
We continue walking through the crowded streets when suddenly Katie veers left towards a deep alley.
I immediately get the sense that a human presence has disappeared. Little Big tugs on my shirt.
"So you're into girls who purr and talk like cats, then?"
"I dunno," I reply. "I mean…it's definitely something different."
"What if I got into that sort of character?"
"Big, you're adorable just the way you are."
I feel an open-handed smack across my back.
Instinctively I whirl around. Big is standing there with her head down, ears bright red.
Huh. I guess I really embarrassed her.
Cute.
Big and I go back and forth, all the while being led deeper and deeper into the alley. There's not another soul around.
We walk a bit further before Katie again changes direction…this time turning right. The scenery changes completely.
Small shops line both sides of this new passageway. They seem to be selling all kinds of electronic gadgets. I don't recognize a single one.
Still, it seems like the kind of place I've seen before…maybe in a photo or something.
Akihabara was originally an electronics center, so it's no surprise that they still carry all kinds of gadgets and parts that the average person doesn't know about. It's a bit like walking through a time capsule left behind in a different era.
Like time never passed here at all.
Actually, the place is starting to really grow on me.
Just as I'm getting carried away with the mystery of it all, little Big tugs on my shirt again.
"Are you sure there's going to be a maid cafe way out here?" she asks.
"Maybe we're just taking a shortcut," I offer.
She had a point though. It did seem like it was way too far. It felt like we'd been walking forever since Katie first appeared. It was no big deal to follow her, but there was no way we'd be able to make it back on our own.
I call out to our guide. "Miss Katie?"
"Meow?" She answers without turning around. "Mew don't have to be so formal," she says. "You can call me Katie-chan."
"Miss Katie..." I repeat.
I probably shouldn't ask. But I have to. "Listen, we've walked all this way. Where is this maid cafe of yours, anyway? And where the hell are we?"
Katie finally turns back to look at me.
"What are you talking a-meowt?" She puts her hands behind her back teasingly and flashes that Cheshire grin again.
Fluttering her little apron suggestively as she wiggles her kitten ears and waves her tail, Katie peers back at us with a mocking expression.
"You said you wanted to go to A-K-I-B-A, didn't mew?"
Just then, I notice that Katie is standing in front of an enormous building. It's a classic Western-style building made of brick, looking completely out of place in the little Japanese electronics town.
"Welcome to the AKIBA maid cafe! "