“Hey, hey, sweetcheeks. What’cha got there?”

Ah. Bummer. You’ve been walking down Ikebukuro for a solid five minutes and you couldn’t last that long without getting hit on. This place is crawling with opportunistic males on the prowl. They have zero standards too, just hitting on whatever looks moderately female.

A pick-up guy—a nanpa—has set his eyes on you and you know it will be hard to shake him off.

“Ah! Cute! You’re one of them otakus?” He tries to peek at your shopping bag. You did just exit the Animate store. Too bad you couldn’t stop to take pictures.

He beams at you, long strides keeping up with your fast pace. “C’mon. Gimme a smile. Just a bit? I know a good place.”

You don’t even wanna glance at him. But that’s impossible when he suddenly jumps in front of you, halting your movement. You stagger in shock. A look of surprise crosses his face and he gives you a toothy grin as he holds you steady. “Whoa, there. Easy. Don’t wanna drop that goodie bag of yours.”

Kou is young. Good-looking with chestnut brown hair in a shaggy mullet you’ve only ever seen on hosts and J-Pop idols, yet somehow he pulls it off. He’s got an obnoxious amount of leopard prints, bracelet, and is wearing ridiculously low-rise cargos. Is that a whale tail? Wow.

He leans forward, a sleazy grin on his face. You note how his necklace dangles. What a gaudy fellow. “So, how ‘bout it, sugar?”