After it was decided Souta would enter, he was welcomed at the entrance,
and a cast member dressed like a maid named “Moon” gave him the rundown.
This place was a show pub meant to entertain male customers.
It was like a concept cafe, but the whole shop itself was built around an “other world” theme.
The cast members’ looks went way past cosplay, the real thing, and you were supposed to enjoy them as the real thing.
No tickets for cast members, no too much touching, no rough treatment, that gets you kicked out.
One drink minimum, entry fee, how to use tickets, how to have fun with the cast, all explained,
and after paying the entry fee, he was led to the back of the shop.
Souta got a business card made for him, and on it was the nickname he’d given himself, written in hiragana: “Sou.”
His name was made by taking the two characters from “Souta,” and the cast members would call him that inside the shop.
They told him, so nobody would be rude, that depending on the cast member they might drop the honorific or get his name wrong, so please be forgiving and respond with a big heart.
The loud BGM and bright lights from before had settled down, and a unique mood welcomed Souta in.
Just like the concept, it was a place that made you think of a medieval European tavern.
There was a stage at the back of the shop, nobody on it now, but you could still feel the heat from whatever show had been going on earlier.
Whether he wanted it or not, Mio, who’d been clinging to his right arm earlier, came over quickly and without asking hugged him with meaning, a hot embrace like they’d been friends for years.
Souta pulled back a little while responding, and through his clothes he felt the press of her full breasts.
”Been waitin’, meow! I’ll show you to table 6, meow! Um… your name is… Sou, right? Nice to meet you, meow!” Mio chirped cheerfully.
After the warm welcome, Souta was pulled by the hand, led by Mio, and shown to what was probably table 6, and he sat down in a chair.
A wooden chair with a sorry little cushion, not comfortable by any stretch, but he was impressed by the decorations that showed they cared about the mood.
Looking around, the shop’s light came from lamps on the walls and a chandelier, and instead of the blasting BGM, a woman was now playing a harp at the back.
But nobody was really listening to the harp; female cast members and male customers were chatting about nothing, and some were making a two-person space like lovers.
The number of customers wasn’t that many, like Nono had said in the front room-counting Souta, about 8 people.
About 10 tables, a counter near the stage, and about 4 chairs there too, looking at it you could guess the rough capacity.
But next to the stage there were sofa seats sectioned off by partitions, and from the structure you could tell there were other rooms too.
As Souta looked around the shop, from behind him Mio wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him from behind again.
”This spot new to you, meow? First, what do you want for your welcome drink, meow?”
Still clinging, Mio showed him a board that looked like a menu.
The drinks were the usual stuff, but the food on the back was a list of things he’d never seen or heard of at any shop.
Probably just a normal concept cafe, but he couldn’t help being impressed by how they stuck to their theme.
Souta glanced at the board and offered, “Um… for now, a beer and this… sweet-and-spicy boiled slime? Can I get that as a snack?”
”Yes, meow! Right away, meow!”
With a bouncy reply, Mio let go of his neck and headed to the bar counter, swaying her hips, swaying her tail.
He’d been impressed several times already, but the tail growing from her butt wasn’t just decoration, it moved like a living cat, carelessly, and he was amazed.
Waiting alone at the table for her to come back, Souta’s spine froze for a moment-not cold, a shiver of fear.
Before he could turn around, a hand was placed on his waist, and still sitting in the chair, he was lifted high into the air.
”Fanaa, thanks for earlier. I’m Nono, nice meetin’ ya, Souta,” Nono bellowed.
He knew from the voice behind him who it was: the cow woman, Nono, who’d shown up with Mio in the front room and who Souta had named.
After being lifted, he was spun around, and face-to-face with Nono, he was squeezed tight.
Not a bear hug, a cow hug, Souta would later name it, she was holding back her strength… or so he thought, but for a second he heard his bones creak from her intense hug.
”Agh, augh, No, Nono, nice to meet you,” Souta wheezed.
”Nice to meet ya.”
Soon released from the cow hug, she gave him an American-style greeting, cheek to cheek.
”Mind if I sit next to you?”
Before waiting for an answer, Nono sat down in the other chair at Souta’s table.
Looking at her calmly, real-looking cow horns and cow ears, a finish beyond cosplay, and her own huge breasts, he peeked and Souta swallowed hard.
Slapping her knee, “Ushi-shi, don’t stare at my tits so much! If you’re into it, I’ll let ya touch ’em later.”
Feeling Souta’s hot gaze, Nono laughed big.
Sure, they looked like they’d be fun to touch, but would he get eaten alive?
The chill from before held back his urges.
Still, his eyes kept getting stolen by her ripe, delicious-looking chest; feeling his manly nature, he nodded along to Nono’s talk and waited for Mio to come back.
”Um, Sou? I am Lime, a pleasure to meet you,” a soft voice called out.
Souta noticed he was being called by the nickname he’d written at entry, and turned to the voice.
There stood a woman, slender and thin, with skin like it was see-through.
Souta, sitting, naturally had to look up, but even if she wasn’t as tall as Nono, she was pretty tall, standing straight with a model-like figure.
”Um… Ms. L-Lime?”
”‘Ms.’ is far too formal, simply call me Lime.”
Looking at her again, it wasn’t just clear skin; he could clearly see the background through her.
About 20% transparency, enough that he could see the scenery on the other side.
He didn’t know how it was done, but things really did show through her body.
Lime hugged the confused Souta just like Nono, and greeted him cheek to cheek.
Finally getting that this was how the shop greeted people, Souta tried a little too much skin contact himself.
To hug her back, he put his arms around Lime’s back and pulled her close…
Marching over with drinks in hand, “Aaah! While Mio wasn’t lookin’, you’re stealin’ him, quit it, meow!”
”This fanaa ain’t settled as yours yet, right?” Nono smirked.
”Oh my, the night is young, so I shall return later, Sou-chan,” Lime demurely offered.
Lime, who’d been hugging Souta, slipped right out of his hands just like she said, gave one smile, and dropped her words.
Leaving a smile that pulled at him, Lime walked off to another customer, another fanaa, as they called them here.
For a moment Souta’s face relaxed at the harem feeling, but looking around he realized there were still plenty more female cast members.
He was interested, but right now he couldn’t afford to pay attention to others.
He had to calm things down before Mio and Nono started fighting.
Setting the mug down with a clatter, “Here, beer, meow! The slime stew will be brought by another cast member later, meow!”
”Ushi, Mio, work hard, work hard!” Nono teased.
”I don’t need to be told, today’s my shift so I’m gonna work, meow!” Mio huffed back.
Told by Nono, Mio put the beer in front of Souta and went off to another fanaa.
Every time Souta watched her walk away, he wondered how her swaying tail was made to move.
”Ushi, then I’m gonna go make the rounds and say hi too!” Nono announced.
Having chased Mio off from Souta, Nono stood up too, and with her 2-meter-plus huge body and huge breasts swaying, she left for another table.
Trivia:
- The shop’s greeting is a hug and cheek-to-cheek contact, and Souta realizes this only after Lime does it, showing that the cast are trained to a single standard greeting rather than each doing their own thing.
- Nono’s “cow hug” lifts Souta off the ground while he is still seated, hinting at her abnormal strength that later gets named as a joke but is quietly terrifying.
- Lime’s 20 percent transparency is treated as normal by the cast and by Souta after a moment, suggesting the shop’s “real thing” concept includes actual non-human bodies, not costumes.
Translation Notes:
NOTE_1 | fanaa | The shop’s term for male customers, a made-up word used by the cast. It sets the in-world vocabulary apart from real hostess clubs and shows the “other world” theme is enforced even in staff slang.
NOTE_2 | -san | Standard Japanese honorific used for polite address. Lime rejects it because it feels distant, showing that cast members push for casual closeness with customers as part of the shop’s service style.