Grounded (Up in the Air #3)(92)
We devoted an entire Sunday to Harajuku Street and the Meiji Shrine, since they were vast, but within walking distance of each other.
I tried not to be rude, but I couldn’t help but watch as one of the intricate wedding processions moved through the Meiji Shrine.
James wrapped himself around my back. I watched for a long time, fascinated by the lovely spectacle of it. I glanced at James when we moved on. I’d been expecting him to make a few cracks about weddings, but he’d been unusually silent through it all.
“That was beautiful,” I told him.
He just nodded, pursing his lips and looking down at our joined hands.
Harajuku Street was everything I’d imagined and more. I stopped and watched every time one of the Harajuku girls passed by, sometimes in packs, dressed like lollis, and gothic lollis, and some in full-on cosplay. I always got excited when I recognized the anime that they were imitating. James found this adorable, telling me so with his most indulgent smile.
I found us some matching T-shirts in an anime-themed shop. They were mock versions of school uniforms from an anime I liked. One was black, one white. I held them up and was startled when James shrugged out of his own shirt. I was as good as ogling his smooth golden chest as he pulled the white anime shirt on. It was tight as a glove.
I used a dressing room to change into my black version of the same shirt. The shop girl was giving James very wide eyes as he paid, and I couldn’t blame her. He had just given her quite the show. James baring that much skin was a mouthwatering display, no matter the reason.
I thought it was so sweet that he was willing to indulge me by wearing the shirt for the rest of the day. The material was soft and thin, and I couldn’t seem to keep my hands off his chest in it as we walked the crowded street. He didn’t mind.
We spent an evening in Akihabara, the Electric City, even wandering into one of the famous maid cafés. There were cute Japanese girls that looked too young to be working serving us food, and kittens wandering the café, one even jumping onto our table to be petted. It was charming, but would have been more so if not for the older men that seemed to be there to ogle the way too young girls.
James was a big hit with the girls, of course. The maid that served us couldn’t even look at him without blushing, and several asked to take pictures with him before we left, though there was a sign in English clearly stating that it cost forty-seven hundred yen to get pictures with them.
By the time we departed the city for the Mount Fuji portion of the trip, I felt I had seen and done every imaginable tourist attraction we could come up with.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
Mr. Forever
We took a train to Hakone to enjoy a day and night of hot springs before we climbed the majestic Mount Fuji. James had rented out an entire property for us to spend the day. It wasn’t a Cavendish property, but it was impressive nonetheless. It was so huge that I honestly couldn’t tell if it was supposed to be rented out as a hotel or a house.
The property boasted traditional Japanese structures, the back half of the property lining up with the lake and dotted with countless natural hot springs.
It was the most relaxing day we’d had since we’d gotten to Japan. We stayed in and made love for what felt like the entire day.
We weren’t in the house for thirty minutes before James had dragged me to the hot springs, stripping us both as we walked.
The hot water felt delicious, the weather near the mountain marked degrees colder than in Tokyo. He shadowed me as I moved into the water, gliding to the very edge of the pool to gaze at the spectacular view.
He made love to me there, pressing me hard against the side of the pool as I gazed at a perfect view of the mountain while he f**ked me senseless.
We got a late start on the climb up Mount Fuji the next day. James reassured me that we didn’t need an early start if we were camping out, and that the views were even more beautiful in the summer’s afternoon sun. So we had another lovely soak in the springs and then a leisurely lunch before finally heading out.
“Summer is best for Mount Fuji,” James told me as we began our climb. “But we need to come back to Japan in the spring for the cherry blossoms.”
We hiked side by side up the pronounced stone trail. I carried only the tiniest hydration pack. James wouldn’t hear of me carrying anything else, but he and Clark had weighed themselves down heavily with camping supplies.
“Is there anything in the world that you haven’t seen?” I asked him. “I’d love to go someplace that’s actually new to you.”
He stopped to give me one of his most intense, heart-stopping looks. “Everything feels new, now that I have you. The world’s gone into color now, and I want to see it all again with you.”
We made good time up the mountain, since we were all in good shape, and the ones’ weighed down with heavy packs were in great shape. We stopped often to enjoy the views, but we made up for that by setting a brisk pace otherwise.
James handed me a lychee rice energy drink in a silver bag. It was a strange little on-the-run meal that we’d picked up a few times. It hardly fit in with his usual dieting standards, being mostly sugar and simple carbs, but he’d been pretty lax about that on vacation.
I drank the strange drink, which was basically a packet of calories on the go, and enjoyed the view.
I felt such a sense of wonder about where I was as I watched the great shadow of the mountain move across the land. The world felt so big here, and I so small, and I felt that was a good thing. So often in my life the world had felt too small, as though no matter where I went, all of my problems could still follow and devour me. I felt the opposite of that here—my problems becoming too small to even worry me.