“Bicycles? Cool!” he exclaimed.

“I see you like the idea, huh?” she smiles. “Niichan, we’ve come to collect the bicycles, come out now, which of you are going to lend his?” Hyun Hae called out.

Kenichi and Kenjin then ran outside upon hearing their cousin’s voice.

“Wiw, you two look like a couple”, Kenichi laughs.

That’s when both Hyun Hae and Minsoo thought of looking at their clothes. They both wear loose white tops, and both have sunglasses on. Minsoo grins. Hyun Hae shrugs it off.

“Yeah, it’s hot, white shirt is the best. Anyways, this is mine, the butterfly, this one’s Kenji niichan’s dragonfly”, she motions for the larger one, “and this one’s obviously Kenichi niichan’s fly.”

“What fly? This one’s the beetle, Hyun Hae-chan!” Kenichi defended his beloved bicycle from his abusive little cousin.

“Niichan, if you’re gonna call it the beetle, it wouldn’t rhyme to mine and Kenji niichan’s bikes!” she stood by her choice of names. “Listen, butterfly, dragonfly, fly… sounds fit, right? As compared to butterfly, dragonfly, BETTLE?? Absolutely incorrect, niichan, absolutely wrong”, she finishes slightly shaking her head as if to convince the older guy to name his bike after a not-so-nice insect.

“Speak for yourself when yours was named after a beautiful insect, how come mine would be the one who stinks?”

“Why, have you smelled a fly before?” she’s mocking him.

Kenji and Minsoo just watched the two duel a nonsense battle. Hyun Hae sealed the debate by asking, “So, whose bike are you going to lend him?” cocking her head on Minsoo’s direction.

“Oh, he can take mine”, Kenji immediately answered. “I’ve already prepared this for you, Minsoo-kun, everything is A-okay!” he smiles at him.

“Oh, really? Thank you so much!” he smiles with glee.

“Good decision, probably Kenichi niichan’s fly stinks”, she laughs at Kenichi’s expense. “We’re going! See you!” she turns to push her bicycle out of the gate, Minsoo trailed behind after nodding goodbye to the two.

“Minsoo-kun!” Kenji called out. Minsoo turned to look at him. “Take good care of her”, he said.

“Don’t worry about Noona, I’ll watch over her for you both”, he assured him with a smile.

“Well, I’m talking about my dragonfly, but of course, I’d ask you to look out after our dear cousin, too, it’s a great thing that it came from you first, you’re a good guy. Thank you Minsoo-kun. Enjoy your day”, he smiles approvingly at him.

Minsoo got a little shy from the compliment. He answers with a simple nod before turning to follow Hyun Hae who by now has exited the premises and is waiting for him outside of the gate by the sidewalk.

“Took you so long to bid your goodbyes, huh?” she said smiling, she’s already riding her bike with one foot on the pedal, while the other is balancing herself on the ground, both her hands clasps the handles. “Let’s go?” he nods and mounted his as well, then they pedal off.

Hyun Hae leads the way and Minsoo follow behind. Since it’s the two of them alone, they started conversing on Hangeul which is to Minsoo’s joy—his English is decent enough but, nothing beats his native tongue.

“Yah, we’ll head to the convention after we had lunch, arasso?” Hyun Hae said as she slows her pace down for Minsoo to catch up—they now pedal side by side.

“Alright, but it’s still early, where are we heading first?” he asks.

“You know Sunako?” they took a right turn.

“Yamato Nadeshiko?” he said as he watches the street, and the people that they passed through.

“Dae”, she nods, though Minsoo couldn’t see it as he is staring at the random scenes in the street. “How do you like her freaky collections and ?” she looked at him, anticipating his reaction.

This got Minsoo’s full attention back on her. “Her collection of human skeleton, human organs, and other icky wicky stuffs in jars?”

“Well, icky wicky is a very masculine term to use”, she laughs, he smiles of embarrassment. “So, what do you think of those?” she suppresses a greater laugh upon seeing his flushed face.

“They’re cool, I always deem Sunako as cool”, he shrugs.

“Really? We’ll see about that”, then she pedaled faster, leading the way.

Not long after, they reached Meguro Parasitological Museum in the quiet Meguro neighborhood.

“Whoa, we’re here!” Hyun Hae beams, joy and excitement evident in her voice as she alight from her bike. Minsoo followed suit, observing the building in front of them. They secured their bikes outside then headed inside the establishment.

“What’s this place?” he wanna understand her excitement.

“You’ll see”, she beams at him. Admission is for free so they just walked inside.

The ground floor seems ordinary, lights flashes in huge maps of Japan to show where different parasites are present. Minsoo let his gaze trail off the whole place, unknowing of the things he is seeing. Hyun Hae motions for them to go up stairs, her smile never leaving her face, which only got Minsoo more curious.

When they reached the second floor, it dawned on Minsoo what this place is about, their little talk along the way of Sunako’s fascination on human organs and other grim creatures in the world floats on the surface of his thoughts.

Housing over 45,000 immersed and prepared parasite specimens in its collection, Meguro Parasitological Museum is the only establishment in the world that is entirely dedicated to parasites.

As he roams his eyes across the room, he saw photographs that show the severely swollen of the unfortunate human host of a tropical bug. He knows he has to process these things right. Absorbing the first knowledge he has of the place, he know that he has entered a different realm in reality. This is beyond usual, extreme, if he would coin a term to name the place. And what’s more, he’s enjoying it! He now finally understood Hyun Hae’s excitement. This excites him as well.

Hyun Hae, seeing that Minsoo is more than okay with the place, stride beside him and started being his tour guide.

“So, how do you like the place?” she smiles.

“Very much, noona, I didn’t know this place existed”, he said in utmost honesty and wonder.

She mocks a little frown. “I thought you’ve been doing your assignment.” He chuckled.

“Well, I guess, not comprehensive enough.” They both laughed.

Nearby, they saw a giant herpetological parasite poking out of a bottled turtle's head. Walking around, they saw jarred and jellied tapeworms, some as long as football fields, ticks, lice, tiny fish inside a bigger fish, worm eggs, dead worms, pictures of withered and mostly swollen organs, limbs and faces, more ticks, and, finally, more worms.

Hyun Hae has to explain most of the preserved collections to Minsoo as everything are written in Nihonggo.  Though they have seen worms of different types and state, the prize attraction is undoubtedly the world's longest tapeworm - all 8.8 metres of it - accompanied by a rope the same length that you can "play with" to get a real "feel" for its dimensions.

They tried experiencing the length of it through that sample rope for a while.

Afterwards, Hyun Hae drags Minsoo into the small gift shop that sells a cheery range of parasite-themed T-shirts, key rings, and birthday cards.

“Would you want some souvenirs?” Hyun Hae asked as she is looking for something to buy for herself. Minsoo started looking at the shop as well. They went around the shop full of ‘interesting’ stuffs to buy. Minutes have passed when Minsoo settled for an authentic looking mutilated finger key ring. He showed it to Hyun Hae.

“Wow, that one’s nice!” she took it from him to see it more. She smiles then give it back to him.

Still searching for something that might be the ickiest of them all, she settled for an eyeball and a tongue cell phone charm (if you could really call it a charm). She winks at Minsoo then said, “Hara eonnie is outrageous about things like these! Should I give her the tongue or the eyeball?”

“Give her the tongue, she’ll be more freaked out, keep the eyeball”, he grins at her, happy that they both share and enjoy this quirkiness.

She laughs, “I guess, I’ll take your advice.” They paid for it and headed out.

As they are mounting their bicycles, he asks. “Where to next?”

“It’s only eleven thirty; we should be in the convention by one, one thirty, so, maybe lunch first? Those worms boost up my appetite”, she laughs at her suggestion.

“Yeah right, with thoughts of those mutilated limbs and swollen human organs, I’m suddenly famished”, they both laugh.

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anime and manga geekiness starts here :)

how do you like those things in the parasitological museum?