Fragments of Desire | Jo Togame

CHAPTER TWELVE

"Ready and..." TOGAME'S VOICE lingered in the air from behind you as he took the current customers picture. Then cheers of people letting out 'cheese!' and laughter crowded the stall when the shutter camera rang.

"Will it be just the five of you?" You asked the other group of people that stood in front of the cash register.

Soon after having your first customers of teenagers, the day flew by fairly quickly when your photoshoot booth began booming among the stalls. Lines formed in a matter of minutes when dark fell from the sky and the night festival was now in place.

Tons of teenagers, families, and children roamed the shrine area where the night market took place. It was loud, with hundreds of customers looking from place to place and thankfully, many stumbled across the booth you and Togame ran and it immediately went popular.

Just like the dark-haired man claimed, countless people were willing to take photographs and polaroid pictures—your main customers usually being dumb middle schoolers to high school students.

"That was so fun! I want to take more pictures guys!"

"No way. We can't. Just look at the line forming at the entrance..."

Every 20 minutes, you and Togame would switch places to make it fair. You'd take photos for the customers, he'd ring up the customers, and then flip the roles again. It didn't take long when the number of films Togame had bought began to run out right before your eyes when another group of consumers came one after another. It was probably the most speaking you've ever done since working at your last part-time job in the summer.

"Alright next!" Togame shouted when you gave change to the group of people that paid for photos while the previous customers left the stall.

You huffed trying to see how many more people are left in the line till you witnessed another flock of people join the thread. You shifted your body to the left to take a closer look and behold, at least another 20 more people were still waiting in line.

You were getting tired with being on your feet for the last 3 hours and a half, not once sitting down due to the high demand of people till Togame quickly finished up taking the last few pictures of the group that just came in.

The 6 foot tall man made his way to the cash register startling you, "Listen up," He shouted causing every customer and passer by to look up at the commotion. "We only have 12 films left for photographs! We will now have a limit of the amount of pictures the last remaining people in the line will receive, during this time we are no longer accepting anyone else that tries to join the line."

"We thank you to those who purchased and waited patiently for tonight!"

—

You wiped the whiteboard down and wrote "CLOSED".

Taking the last picture of your customers, Togame and you let out sighs of relief when the both of you finally had a break. You slumped over the cash register table while the raven-haired man crouched onto the floor and used the table to rest his arms to keep his body up.

It was amazing that your business managed to flock out within hours that you and Togame had to clock out early. Nothing but pure ecstasy engulfed your body when your legs made contact with the foldable chair you sat on hours ago.

"Ahh, my feet are killing me..." The man beside you groaned out loud with his face facing the floor making his voice muffle.

You roughly breathed out of your nose and perked your head up on the table. Looking around, the festival was still going on with multiple people still going from stall to stall and waiting for the fireworks. The night lights set up along the street kept the path bright creating a lively atmosphere.