The morning after her arrival, Youko immediately set out to get formally acquainted with the city she was staying in. Despite only having passed through a portion of Inner Maruishi the previous night, she caught a glimpse of just how alive a city could be even after the sun had set. She would definitely venture out again at evening, if only to see all it was the city could offer. Though for now, she would have to learn its streets when there was daylight to keep her from getting too lost, and into needless trouble.
Getting out of The Pearl Tenements had been easy. The hospital served as an excellent point of reference, and she had only decided that it was better to find it as one than the hotel she was staying at because it was the taller building. Despite having slept soundly overnight, a luxury which she hadn’t experienced quite as satisfyingly in a while, she was still in disbelief about having been given such a lavish room to stay in. Once she was out of what she determined to be a housing district of sorts, The Pearl Tenements as it was called, she let her feet take charge, mainly taking note of which ways she was turning and some interesting store fronts to act as landmarks.
In one of the larger streets she found store after store, displays of products both familiar and strange was all she could see lined up in the path in front of her. Youko found herself frequently crossing the street to and fro, haphazardly checking out stores whose windows had captured her interest.
One in particular was an secondhand bookstore.
She didn't hesitate to veer off her course to a dango stall and excitedly head towards the bookstore with the intention of spending as long as she wanted looking through the shelves for studies in the field of medicine in hopes of finding one on a topic she'd already read, but this time from a different perspective.
The bookstore had two display windows with the door in between them, open and inviting. The window left of the door had an arrangement of the new arrivals they had with a sign at the bottom indicating that they received shipments of new secondhand books every week. The name of the bookstore was painted on the right window and offered a clear view of a cozy reading area. Upon entering, Youko found it worth noting that although it seemed like a small building from the outside, the inside was quite spacious. Just behind the door was the counter with an old woman sitting behind it, engrossed in what looked to be a thick book. Behind her were shelves. The counter itself was made of shelves. As she made her way deeper inside, it seemed that the only part of the room that wasn't covered in books was the ceiling, where a large round light fixture was installed instead. It illuminated the whole room softly, giving it the warm ambience. Past the counter would be more books, kept in six rows of shelves. The far right of the room was occupied by a soft sofa and some plush armchairs, though each seat was unoccupied themselves.
It seemed that she had the entire bookstore to herself, and the idea made her grin. It was definitely more comfortable than the main library back at the clan house, and more so than any public library. She headed further in and towards the first shelf, pulling out whichever spines or titles had piqued her interest. Without really noticing it, she'd easily slipped back into her habits as a child and got herself lost in literature. By the time she was moving on to the fifth shelf, she was already carrying a stack of books tall enough to nearly go above her head. Although strong enough to carry them herself, she didn't have anything that would allow her to see through the reams of paper.
Getting out of The Pearl Tenements had been easy. The hospital served as an excellent point of reference, and she had only decided that it was better to find it as one than the hotel she was staying at because it was the taller building. Despite having slept soundly overnight, a luxury which she hadn’t experienced quite as satisfyingly in a while, she was still in disbelief about having been given such a lavish room to stay in. Once she was out of what she determined to be a housing district of sorts, The Pearl Tenements as it was called, she let her feet take charge, mainly taking note of which ways she was turning and some interesting store fronts to act as landmarks.
In one of the larger streets she found store after store, displays of products both familiar and strange was all she could see lined up in the path in front of her. Youko found herself frequently crossing the street to and fro, haphazardly checking out stores whose windows had captured her interest.
One in particular was an secondhand bookstore.
She didn't hesitate to veer off her course to a dango stall and excitedly head towards the bookstore with the intention of spending as long as she wanted looking through the shelves for studies in the field of medicine in hopes of finding one on a topic she'd already read, but this time from a different perspective.
The bookstore had two display windows with the door in between them, open and inviting. The window left of the door had an arrangement of the new arrivals they had with a sign at the bottom indicating that they received shipments of new secondhand books every week. The name of the bookstore was painted on the right window and offered a clear view of a cozy reading area. Upon entering, Youko found it worth noting that although it seemed like a small building from the outside, the inside was quite spacious. Just behind the door was the counter with an old woman sitting behind it, engrossed in what looked to be a thick book. Behind her were shelves. The counter itself was made of shelves. As she made her way deeper inside, it seemed that the only part of the room that wasn't covered in books was the ceiling, where a large round light fixture was installed instead. It illuminated the whole room softly, giving it the warm ambience. Past the counter would be more books, kept in six rows of shelves. The far right of the room was occupied by a soft sofa and some plush armchairs, though each seat was unoccupied themselves.
It seemed that she had the entire bookstore to herself, and the idea made her grin. It was definitely more comfortable than the main library back at the clan house, and more so than any public library. She headed further in and towards the first shelf, pulling out whichever spines or titles had piqued her interest. Without really noticing it, she'd easily slipped back into her habits as a child and got herself lost in literature. By the time she was moving on to the fifth shelf, she was already carrying a stack of books tall enough to nearly go above her head. Although strong enough to carry them herself, she didn't have anything that would allow her to see through the reams of paper.
