Shiho blushes and giggles and kisses Akira's lips lightly.

Akira kisses back, and snuggles.

After a little while...

"Want to come along with me to the secondhand shop, see what we can find? Maybe explore the neighbourhood a little?"

Shiho nods with a smile. "I'd love to." She gives Akira one last squeeze before letting her get up.

Akira gets up and tries to smooth out her mussed-up hair, then takes Shiho's hand again. 

"Alright, let's go."

She leads Shiho back downstairs. 

Sojiro is absently washing a pot while watching the news with the elderly couple. It's covering Kamoshida at the moment, talking about how much of an unfortunate shock it was and raising questions about why he confessed. Sojiro nods to the girls.

Akira nods back, and leads Shiho out of Leblanc and off to the secondhand store. It's not far; in fact, it's right at the end of the alley that Leblanc is on. 

"Hello, girls," the owner greets them cheerfully. "Let me know if you need any help."

Today, the shop contains a variety of clothing (mostly women's), some strings of Christmas lights, some children's toys, two romance novels, a pulp detective book, a biography, a variety of unidentifiable glass and ceramic objects, some dubiously stained ceramic dishes, a bunch of colorful plastic dishes, a bunch of clocks hanging from the walls, some vases, a few stepstools, a boombox, plastic storage bins and organizers, a few sets of shelves, a CRT TV, a DVD player, a stack of frankly sad-looking chairs, several umbrellas of varying condition, a bicycle, a few guitars on the back wall, a waving cat statuette, this poster, a few boxes of playing cards, two posters for bands that Shiho and Akira don't recognize at all, a threshold-sized bead curtain, a bowl of plastic petunias, a fake apple with a real chunk bitten out of it, a few fake potted cacti, a travel-sized shogi set, a hockey stick and puck, and a couple fake plastic panes of stained glass.

Akira gravitates immediately to the books. Each of the four gets a close inspection of its back cover for any details that can be salvaged.

The first romance novel, Forbidden Flames, has a cover featuring a redheaded woman wearing a sexed-up reimagining of a barista's uniform leaning against a customized racing car, with a handsome black-haired man behind the wheel. The back cover has a summary:

In the bustling streets of New Orleans, fiery-haired barista, Scarlett, finds herself tangled in the dangerous world of underground street racing when she meets the enigmatic bad boy, Ryder. Despite the warnings from her overprotective brother, Scarlett is drawn to Ryder's mysterious allure and his adrenaline-fueled lifestyle. As they navigate the treacherous twists and turns of the illegal racing scene, sparks fly between them, igniting a passion that burns hotter than the scorching Louisiana sun. But when a rival racer threatens to tear them apart, Scarlett and Ryder must fight for their love against all odds, risking everything for a shot at forever.

The second, Seduced by the Billionaire's Heir, features a man in a very sharp-looking suit, and a waitress with a pleading expression.

When struggling waitress, Mia, crosses paths with the charismatic and obscenely wealthy heir, Alexander Sterling, her life takes an unexpected turn. Drawn to Mia's innocence and inner strength, Alexander offers her a deal she can't refuse: become his pretend girlfriend for a high-profile family event in exchange for enough money to solve all her problems. But what starts as a business arrangement quickly turns into a whirlwind romance as Mia discovers a passion she never knew existed. As they indulge in the opulent world of the elite, Mia finds herself falling for Alexander, despite knowing that their love is forbidden. But when a dark secret from Alexander's past threatens to tear them apart, Mia must decide if she's willing to risk everything for a chance at true love with the billionaire's heir.

The detective novel features a man in a trench coat holding a revolver on the cover, and is titled Shadows of Noir.

In the gritty streets of 1940s Chicago, private investigator Jack Malone prowls the shadows, a cigarette dangling from his lips and a Colt .45 snug in his trench coat. When sultry nightclub singer, Veronica Valdez, walks into his office, claiming her sister has vanished without a trace, Jack smells trouble.

As Jack delves deeper into the seedy underbelly of the city, he uncovers a web of deceit, corruption, and betrayal. From the smoky jazz clubs to the back alleys of Chinatown, Jack follows a trail of clues that leads him to a dangerous mob boss with a vendetta and a crooked cop on the take.

With danger lurking around every corner, Jack must rely on his wit, grit, and a femme fatale with secrets of her own to crack the case before it's too late. But when a deadly game of cat and mouse ensnares them both, Jack realizes that in a city where everyone has something to hide, the truth is the most dangerous weapon of all. Will Jack solve the mystery and emerge unscathed, or will he become another victim of the shadows of noir?

The biography appears to be about Oda Nobunaga, a powerful and influential daimyo (feudal lord) during the Sengoku period of Japanese history, who played a key role in the unification of Japan under the rule of the shogunate in the late 16th century. Known for his strategic brilliance, military prowess, and innovative tactics, he was one of the first to effectively use firearms on the battlefield.

She's actually more interested in the book about Oda Nobunaga than the rest of these, honestly. 

... well, she could maybe pick up Forbidden Flames. It promises to be trash, but perhaps it could be enjoyable trash. 

She passes Forbidden Flames to Shiho with a raised eyebrow, keeps the biography of Nobunaga, and moves on down the shelf. 

The next thing that catches her eye is the small games section with the card decks and the travel shogi set. They're hardly going to break the bank, and she could use more things to do with people when she invites them over. Two decks and the shogi set go on her stack as well. 

"What do you think, should I bother with the trashy romance novel or wait until i can get to an actual bookstore?" Akira looks back at Shiho. 

Shiho giggles at the romance novel. "Might be worth a laugh? It's pretty cheap, at least. Could hit a bookstore on your way home tomorrow, though."

"I'll think about it while I browse, I guess." She smiles and moves on down the row. Vases, miacellaneous ceramics... Oh, that beckoning cat figurine looks nice. She passes it to Shiho. "Think that'd look good on the desk in my room?"

"Yeah, I think that'd be cute," she replies with a smile. She adds it to the stack, then looks over toward the holiday decorations.

"Huh. Some of these are single-color," she notes, holding up a string of lights. "There's a set of white ones, and a set of red ones, along with the usual multicolor ones."

"Huh. The red ones might actually be half decent as a room decoration, honestly. They could maybe be a nightlight? You'd want a switch or something for them, but that's something you could pick up..."

She goes over, and that's when she spots it - sitting atop an old CRT TV, there's an aged but apparently still functional DVD player.

She picks it up and gives it to Shiho. "Keep this safe for me? I don't want to be fumbling with it while I'm going through the shelves."

Shiho trades the red lights for the DVD player with a quick little peck to Akira's cheek.

Akira pinkens a little, but accepts the string of lights. "Okay, I'm starting to run out of space to hold this all..."

She tucks the lights under her shoulder, and moves on. 

"You know, I could use an umbrella for when the rainy season comes. Let's see if any of these are serviceable."

She sets down her stack of purchases atop a nearby shelf and starts going through the pile of umbrellas, looking for the most intact of the lot.

Shiho grabs a decent portion of the stack while Akira's hunting umbrellas.

There's a large forest green one in near-perfect condition, a small yellow one in very sketchy shape, a nearly wrecked indigo one, and a smallish serviceable orange one.

She'll take the orange one, since it'll fit in her bag where the large green one won't. A shame, really, but if she gets one that doesn't fit in her bag she'll inevitably lose it, which is a waste.

Akira does one last survey of the shop, then picks up the remainder of her stack of purchases and nods to Shiho. "Let's see about paying for this all, and then we can go set things up and maybe try a game of Shogi?"

"Sure," Shiho nods. She carries her share of the stack over to the clerk.

"8,500¥, girls," the clerk replies after tallying up everything from both stacks.

"Alright," Akira says. She gets out her wallet and pays cash for it all. "Can I get a bag for all this?"

The clerk nods and starts bagging everything up in a pair of brown paper bags with a nod, then passes a bag each to Shiho and Akira.

"You two are cute together. Have a nice day, girls."

Shiho blushes and smiles and takes her bag.

Akira blushes as well. "Um. Thank you." She bows, for a lack of anything else to do.

Then it's back to Leblanc's attic to set things up.