《Host Me!》 Chapter 1: The best day ever. July 2020 update: Check out the updated and partially re-written ''Host me'' here: Host me! This version on RR is old and has many mistakes and errors. ==== Yuuto Shimizu had just turned eighteen a week before his parents kicked him out of the only place he had ever called home. He was informed he was cut off from all and any family relations. It wasn''t really a major surprise to him. Okay maybe it was, just a bit but for years he hadn¡¯t been getting along with them so he should have seen it coming. On the other hand, his three sisters two who happened to be twins while the third was younger than them, were always treated like princesses. Never getting grounded or even scolded when they did something wrong. The worst punishment they had ever gotten was a light smack on the hand and getting told not to do it again. But if Yuuto had done anything wrong, he would have been grounded for months. However, now he was sitting in a library looking through the classifieds for jobs. He only had enough money to last him a month and it had only been two days since he had become homeless. His job prospects were not looking good. All the interviews and phone calls would end the same way, not qualified or suited for the job. Yuuto sighed and looked up through the high placed glass windows. He could see the orange tinted sky getting darker, it seemed to be getting late and soon the library would close. Skimming over the contents one last time, checking for anything he could apply for quickly, he noticed an ad for a telephone salesman with no prior experience needed. ¡°Finally I found something I can do,¡± he muttered to himself. He went to one of the phone''s mounted on the walls, it was one that the library let job hunters use and dialed the number on the ad quickly. After a few rings, he reached their answering machine and left his details, leaving a message telling them how to contact him. Then he hung up and walked back to the homeless shelter he was staying at. The days were getting warmer as spring had just arrived. The shelters were less crowded when it was warmer outside. He checked in at the office to sign in and let them know he was back before curfew. He went to the cafeteria and was just in time for the kitchen to open up and start serving dinner. He stood in line until it was his turn to grab a lunch tray and have the cooks slop a bunch of mystery food onto it. ¡°Thanks for the food,¡± Yuuto thanked them. He walked over to an empty table and ate his meal quietly. After finishing, he dropped the tray off into the dirty dish bin and went to the shower room to get clean from the day¡¯s grime. After drying off and putting on clean clothes from his bag, he jumped into bed and took out a book and read until it was lights out. The next day, when he went to his usual table to look through the ¡®Help Wanted¡¯ ads, a librarian called out asking ¡°Is there anyone by the name of a Mr. Shimizu here? A message is waiting for you at the front desk.¡± Yuuto hurriedly went and retrieved the message, quickly reading it. The telephone salesman job¡¯s company wanted him to do an interview over the phone before noon. He rushed over to the phones and dialed the number. After two rings, a rough-sounding male voice answered. ¡°Who''s calling?¡± ¡°Hello, my name is Yuuto Shimizu, I called the other day for the salesman job. I am calling you to do the interview.¡± ¡°This is an easy job so it''s not too hard to get hired. Are you eighteen? Do you have a drug or an alcohol problem? Any prior experience as a salesman? If you lie in your answers to the questions in this interview and if it is found out you did, you will be fired,¡± the rough voice said in an agitated tone. ¡°Yes, I am eighteen, I have no experience in any jobs so this would be my first. I have no drug, drinking, or smoking problems.¡± ¡°How soon can you start?¡± ¡°Today.¡± ¡°Then you''re hired. Our office is in Tokyo. I''m guessing you will need to travel here so I will fax a map to you with directions starting from the Shinjuku train station.¡± ¡°Thank you very much. You won''t be disappointed.¡± ¡°I have a feeling you are right, I expect to see you tomorrow at 8 am. Have a safe trip.¡± Yuuto went back to the homeless shelter and informed the office staff that was on duty that he was leaving and needed his belongings. After the baggage room was opened and he gathered all his belongings, he thanked the office worker and left the building. He walked to the train station and bought his ticket to get on a bullet train headed to Tokyo. He eventually stepped off the train a few hours later and stretched his arms and legs. His money had taken a big hit from using the train to get here but it was worth it now that he had a job. There was still enough money to last for a while if he stayed at a capsule hotel. As he walked to the hotel, he had planned to stay at and entered through the front entrance. Walking up to the empty front desk, he rang the service bell. ¡°One moment please,¡± came a voice from the under the desk. A short man climbed up from behind the counter and fixed his uniform. ¡°How many I help you, sir?¡± ¡°I would like to rent a room please.¡± ¡°The price will be 4000 yen a night. The bathrooms and capsules for males are on the right.¡± Yuuto paid for the night in cash, ¡°Here is your key for the footlocker to keep your belongings in.¡± An ordinary key was handed over to him. It had the number of his capsule and footlocker on a metal tag. After storing his bag and other belongings inside the footlocker, he went to the lounge room to waste time watching the news. He spent a restless night tossing and turning unable to get a good night''s sleep. He got up early the next morning and walked back to the Shinjuku train station, and pulled out the printed map from his pocket quickly checking the directions. After a short 20 minutes of walking, he reached the address of the business. The building in front of him was a shabby two-story concrete office building that looked quite old. He walked up to the door, reached out his hand and knocked loudly. ¡°Who is it?¡± Said a voice muffled from behind the door. ¡°My name is Yuuto Shimizu, I was offered a job and given this address,¡± shouted Yuuto. ¡°Alright, you don''t need to shout, I can hear just fine. Let me open the door¡± The sounds of multiple, different types of locks could be heard. The door opened and a middle-aged man stood to the side of the hallway looking Yuuto up and down. ¡°My name is not important, just call me boss. Now. hurry up and get inside, will you? We haven''t got all day you know.¡± said the agitated man holding a folder. Yuuto quickly stepped inside the door which was shut behind him and he was ushered into a room two doors down on the right side of the hallway. The room was empty except for an old phone, a desk that could have been two times older than him, and an equally old and uncomfortable chair. ¡°This is where you will be doing your job from. That is after you sign the papers.¡± He said pointing at a pile of papers on the far corner of the desk. Yuuto went over to the chair and pulled the papers closer to him and took a few minutes to read through the documents. ¡°Where do you want me to sign?¡± asked Yuuto. The Grubby fingers of his new boss picked up the papers and put them into his folder. He started to shift through the papers finally pulling out two of the pages placing them before Yuuto, and stabbing his finger at the lines he needed to place his signature. Yuuto quickly signed and checked to see if he missed anything. The signed papers were picked up by his boss, who put them under his right arm and limped out the room slamming the door behind him. ''What am I supposed to do now.'' thought Yuuto. He decided to inspect the room further. After looking at every nook and cranny of the room the door behind him slammed opened. Boss limped in carrying two large binders, walked over to Yuuto and slammed the smaller one into his chest and tossed the larger one onto the desk. Pointing at the one, the binder Yuuto was holding he said, ¡°This has all the items to be sold and all the information on them. Remember the greetings and responses to questions that are on the first 10 pages.¡± Then he pointed to the one on the desk, ¡°That has all the numbers of the people you are to call. Lunch is at noon and lasts until 1 pm. Here is the key to the building and I made you this, it''s a special company credit card. Use it for all expenses related to work and food expenses while you''re at work. I expect you to work diligently and not to slack off. Now get to work.¡± With that, he left as fast and loud as he had entered.If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. Yuuto walked over to his desk and chair, sat down, opened the binder and quickly read through the guidelines along with the answers to common questions. ''Simple enough'' thought Yuuto. Picking up the larger binder he opened it and looked at all the numbers. There were 100 or more numbers on one page, ''''Well better get started.¡± Picking up the phone and while looking at the numbers, he dialed the first number and started his work as a phone salesman. Ten minutes before his lunch break was supposed to start, he started to get phone calls asking for a Mr. Yuuto. After hanging up the tenth time, he finally decided to answer the call. ¡°Hello may I ask who it is calling?¡± asked Yuuto. ¡°Is this the ¡°Quagmire¡± sales company?¡± asked a male voice while ignoring Yuuto''s question. Yuuto looked at the name of the company on the Binder to see what the company''s name was. ¡°Yes, that is correct how...¡± he was cut off before he could continue. ¡°You tell the owner, Yuuto Shimizu, that I want my money he owes me. I have been waiting a long time for it and it better be paid.¡± the man shouted into the phone. ¡°Sir you''re mistaken, I am Yuuto Shimizu. I just start working here today. I am not the owner of the company but an employee. I haven''t bought or borrowed anything from you or your company whoever you may be.¡± ¡°I just had a letter with documents delivered to me by courier and it states that the businesses was sold and handed over to a Yuuto Shimizu. The papers have your signature on them. If you don''t believe me, I can come over to your business and show you the paperwork. Since you are now the owner you now own the debt. I expect you to come up with the money soon. It would be wise to not try and avoid paying off your debt.¡± The man on the other side ended the call with those words. Yuuto put the phone down and hurriedly walked out of the room into the hallway and went to every door, opening them looking for his boss. Every room was empty. Some even had a large layer of dust over the carpet. There was no one in the building but himself. He was stunned with it being his first day in Tokyo and he had already been conned into taking someone else''s enormous amount of debt. And now, some of the not too friendly debt collectors had become more interested in him. It was not a good type of interest, the type that caused problems down the line. Yuuto decided to exit the building and lock it up so he could go cool his head off by eating something and see if he could figure out what to do next. He walked the streets until he found some restaurants, most of which had long lines of people waiting to order their food. He decided to find someplace less crowded and farther down the street, and off on a side street was a small ramen shop. There were only two other people eating at the booth. So he ordered the specialty of the shop and waited for the food to be served. After he finished eating and paying the shop for the food, he started to wander around town not paying attention to where he was going and just thinking. He was jolted out of his thoughts when he was roughly bumped into by someone who told him to watch where he was going. Yuuto looked around and found himself in a large crowd of people walking every which way. He had been too deep in thought to know where he had been walking so he had to search for the street signs and figure out where he was and how to get back to the building. While searching his pockets for the map, he noticed his secondary wallet was missing. Luckily, that wallet didn''t have his money or important documents or his photo id but it did have the credit card that he had used to pay for lunch. Cursing under his breath, he got the map out and started walking first back to the ramen shop to see if he had dropped it near that area or left it at the shop. He had no luck finding it. He gave up and started walking back to the office. Now he would have to call the credit card company to notify them that it was stolen. He quickly reached his destination and fumbled with the key and opened the door. Back in the room with the phone, he dialed the credit card company who answered the call and asked him to wait one moment as all representatives were busy at the moment. He was put on hold for twenty minutes. Finally, a female voice picked up, ¡°Hello my name is Dementia, how may I help you today?¡± ¡°Hello I''m calling to report that my card was stolen,¡± replied Yuuto. ¡°I''m sorry to hear that may I ask your name and last 4 digits of your individual number.¡± ¡°My name is Yuuto Shimizu. Last 4 digits are 0169.¡± ¡°May I ask at what time and day was the card stolen?¡± ¡°Around 1 pm after I had eaten lunch.¡± ¡°One moment while checking the system for your information.¡± a minute later she spoke in a cold tone. ¡°Hello sir, it seems that you have several problems right now. An update to your account just this morning shows your company is in a large amount of debt with many defaulted payments. This has greatly lowered your credit score so we can''t issue you another card. And the information on your card it seems someone has charged multiple large amounts on it before the time you say it was stolen it was stolen. We will be able to cover the charges that were made after it was stolen but you will still have to pay for the others.¡± ¡°What You gotta be kidding me. Things keep getting worse. I only used it for food at lunch today. Don''t you have policies to protect the credit card holder?¡± asked Yuuto. ¡°I''m sorry sir but those charges are from before the time you stated and they seem legitimate as it shows you had the card in your possession at the time and later that day used it at a ramen shop. We will send you the amount due on your next statement. Is there anything else I can help you with?¡± ¡°No. are you sure there is no way to fix this?¡± ¡°Sorry sir, there is nothing we can do. Thank you for calling and we hope you continue doing businesses with us when you sort everything out. Good day.¡± Yuuto put down the phone after the support disconnected the call. It was the late afternoon and he was exhausted from the all that happened today, he decided to go to his room, he was renting at a capsule hotel. He stood up and left the building making sure to lock the door and its multiple other locks. While he was walking down a street, he heard an unfamiliar scream echoed out from a side street along with the noise of a struggle reaching his ears. Yuuto picked up his pace and started walking faster towards the sound of the scuffle. When reaching the side street, he looked to see what was happening and saw a young female office worker and two equally young delinquent males arguing with each other. The delinquents were getting violent pushing her into the wall of the building behind her. As he started to walk closer the female noticed him and one of the delinquents saw her attention change from them so he turned to see who it was. ¡°Hey what are you doing to her?¡± asked Yuuto. The delinquent staring at him grabbed the other¡¯s shoulder and whispered something to him. They quickly said a few last words that only the female office worker could hear and gave her a hard shove to her body, banging her against the wall and then quickly left. Yuuto quickly ran up to her and asked, ¡°Are you okay?¡± ¡°Yes I am thanks to you, I''m just a little shook up is all. I need to catch my breath and get my head back in order,¡± as she said this she leaned against the wall and put the back of her left hand against her forehead and let out a loud sigh. ¡°Is there any place I can take you to?¡± asked Yuuto. ¡°Yes, thank you. It''s a small restaurant it''s quite a nice place. Would you care to join me for a drink and an early dinner? Of course, it''s my treat for you saving me.¡± ¡°No problem, I''m sure just about anyone would have helped you out. Just lead the way and I will follow. I''m looking forward to the food and drink.¡± They walked silently for five minutes until they stopped in front of a small family specialty of the day restaurant. She opened up the door and they quickly went inside and sat down at a table in the far left corner of the back. They were greeted by the head cook behind the counter who was currently cooking something. A black waiter that was at least 6ft tall, the uniform he wore made it hard not to notice that his body was packed full of muscles. ¡°What can I get for you today?¡± asked the waiter. ¡°Two specialty dinners and drinks to go with it.¡± Yuuto''s female companion confidently ordered for both of them. ¡°Coming right up.¡± After the waiter left Yuuto asked, ¡°Do you eat here often?¡± ¡°No, this is my first time here also. I just wanted to eat at a small restaurant and relax a bit. I always wanted to try out a place like this so it''s nice to have someone else come with me.¡± she replied. The wait was short and their food was placed before them, it was a type of thick stew with a mixture of vegetables and meats. On the side was thick pieces of freshly baked bread. They ate in silence enjoying the flavor of the stew. When finished, they made small talk while drinking and buying refills when their glasses emptied. Yuuto was feeling very sleepy and could barely keep his eyes open. ¡°I have to use the restroom I will be right back,¡± she told him. so he rested his head on his hands on the table while he waited for her. While waiting he drifted off to a light drunken slumber. He was jolted awake when someone was shaking his left shoulder. Yuuto looked up to see who it was and saw it was the waiter standing over him. Then he looked out a window and saw that it now the middle of the night different from when he had first sat down. ¡°Sir the restaurant will be closing soon you can''t sleep here any longer,¡± said the waiter. ¡°Sorry I must have slept from too much drinking. Where is the girl I was with? Did she leave already? I didn''t even get to ask her for her name,¡± Yuuto groggily mumbled to the waiter. ¡°She left a hours ago when you decided to fall asleep. If you would please pay your bill and leave so we can close up, it would be greatly appreciated,¡± a bill was placed in front of him. He looked back at the waiter and asked, ¡°Didn''t the girl pay the bill already? She said she would.¡± ¡°She told me that you would be paying so please pay now.¡± The small slip of paper the bill was printed on was shoved into his face. Yuuto grabbed it and looked at the cost. The shocking total made his jaw drop. The outrageous prices for everything were ten times higher than what was normal. Plus, there were extra service fees on the bill such as table usage fee and entertainment fee. He looked back at the waiter confused. ¡°What is this bill. are you sure there is not a mistake with the prices? What is up with these extra service fees?¡± asked Yuuto. ¡°The prices are correct. And you should have read the notice on the fees posted over the entrance and on the menus. Don''t tell me you don''t want to pay us and want to try and skip out on settling the bill¡± said the waiter who started to flex his muscles and cracking his knuckles. ¡°Well you see, it''s not that I don''t want to pay you, it''s just I recently have gotten into a few financial problems and can''t pay something like this even if I wanted to,¡± said Yuuto while slowly trying to back away. Before he knew what was happening the waiter jumped at him and was able to put him in a chokehold. He was unable to breathe. He tried to pry the waiters armed off his neck but was losing strength as he was slowly losing slowly losing consciousness. And finally his arms dropped and he was out like a light bulb. ¡°Hey boss, I got another debtor here what you want me to do.¡± shouted the waiter as he handcuffed the unconscious Yuuto on the ground and tied his legs. ¡°See who he owes the money to if it''s a large enough amount of money then call the old man and see if he wants to buy his debt. If not, then call the yakuza to come pick him up and let him work it off,¡± replied the cook behind the counter. After rummaging through Yuuto''s belongings some businesses cards fell to the ground and the waiter picked them up and read the name off to one of his loan shark friends he was talking to on the phone. ¡°Wow you sure that''s the right company?¡± the loan shark asked in awe.¡°If it is, that guy is in really deep debt. Not your average small-time loans.¡± ¡°Would his creditors mind if the debt was bought from them?¡± ¡°I''m sure they would much rather have the cash then have you give him to them to do ¡°work¡± with this sort of price on his head.¡± Yuuto was slowly regaining consciousness and trying to move but something heavy was sitting on his back. ¡°Thanks for the information. I have to go now, the big fish just woke up and I have to put him back to sleep.¡± the waiter hung up and took his boot off of Yuuto''s back. Then he swung his foot back and kicked Yuuto in the head making him lose consciousness again while saying, ¡°Go back to sleep.¡± Chapter 2: Its just a hobby. Yuuto woke up with an aching headache partly from the drinking the night before. Was it the next day? He couldn''t tell as there were no windows in the room. His aching head was more than likely caused by being kicked in the head. He rubbed his temples while his hands were still handcuffed. It was able to lessen the ache, clearing his head and allowed him to sit up. At the sudden movement, the uncomfortable metal cot creaked in protest. Looking around the dimly lit room there was nothing out of the ordinary, bare walls, a desk with a face towel next to a steaming hot bowl of water, and an old man sitting in a chair next to him. Nothing out of the ordinary, just a small room and an old man sitting next to him... wait a second. The old man sitting next to him who seemed to be in his early 60s was staring at him. He was resting his head of gray hair on his hands that were also both relaxing on top of a carved cane which had a dragon carved for the handle. They stared at each other for a few more minutes before the old man spoke. ¡°Hello Young Man. It seems you''ve had a bit of trouble lately,¡± said the old man. Before Yuuto could reply back he was interrupted, ¡°Don''t talk. I don''t need your long-winded life story or your excuses and complaints on why the world has wronged you. You are here because you have racked up some pretty large amounts of debt to a number of influential people, who you are unable to pay back. How that came to be, does not matter to those you owe that money to. Now I...am here to perhaps help you with your problem. That is if I deem you physically fit and mentally stable enough. I can''t have a nut job working for me, it would cause problems for the customers and for me. If everything checks out right then I will be able to take care of the debt for you. In return, you would then be an indentured servant, working for me until you have completely paid off your debt. What do you think?¡± ¡°Who are you and what will you do if I refuse to cooperate with you?¡± asked Yuuto. ¡°I am Kentaro. If you refuse, I will have to hand you over to your creditors. You should know the Yakuza are not kind to those who borrow vast amounts of money, they are unable to pay it back causing them to take losses. You would be doing many unsavory tasks and ''odd jobs''. Some that could cause you bodily harm.¡± ¡°What sort of job will I be doing to pay off such a large debt?¡± ¡°My wife and I run a small host and hostess club. You will work as a host in club Winter Night. That is if we both come to an agreement.¡± ¡°What do you need me to do so we can reach that agreement together?¡± asked Yuuto. ¡°I will give you some time to think things over, there''s no need to hurry and rush things. I will leave you for a short time to think it over. You should freshen yourself up with the towel and warm water in the basin. There''s aspirin and a jug of water with a glass to help you get over your hangover. When I get back we will start your test. You can decide then or anytime during the test whether or not you want my help¡±, said the old man as he stood up using his cane to walk out the door. The door shut with an audible click of a lock being turned back in place. Yuuto rose up from the cot and hobbled over to the table with the water basin and jug of water. On top of the towel was a key, most likely for the handcuffs and an aspirin. He fumbled while picking up the key, finally grabbing it and unlocked the handcuffs. Rubbing his sore wrist, he then bent over and untied the rope from his feet. It felt much better to be able to move freely again. Pouring a glass of water, he popped the aspirin in his mouth and chugged down the water. Grabbing the hand towel, he dipped one end of it into the steaming water of the basin and started scrubbing his face clean. He soaked the towel again and wiped down his neck, shoulders, and under his arms. Dipping his hands into the water, he ran his fingers through his hair trying to sort the messy hair. Yuuto lifted his arms and sniffed himself to see if he smelled any better. He shrugged to himself, he couldn''t tell if he did or not. Pouring another glass of water, he drank this one more slowly. He then walked back over to the cot and plopped down on it, lying down and started to contemplate his options. Ten or twenty minutes had passed while thinking when he heard footsteps coming back towards the room. Deciding to try and escape when the old man opened the door, he walked over to the door and waited for it to open. When it opened wide enough, he jumped out into the hallway and got ready to run. Before he could step more than two feet forward a cane shot out and jabbed him in the stomach and whacked him on the head. Forcing him to his knees and making him clutch his gut and trying to catch his breath in shallow breaths. Running seemed like a bad idea now. ¡°Not a good start, if you''re trying to wear my patience it''s working. Now if you''re done horsing around, we can go and get the test started. Or I can hand you to the Yakuza. Doctor Doi would you please pick him up and then we can be on our way to the gym.¡± said the old man. Someone behind Yuuto grabbed under his armpits and lifted him up. He had been to busy trying to escape to notice that someone else was with the old man. He was being half carried half dragged down a small dim hallway. Stolen story; please report. They stopped in front of a closed door which was then opened by the old man to reveal a staircase leading underground. Which they continued to descend the stairs and entered a large room where it was very dim until Dr. Doi flipped a few switches lighting the full room. There was a large variety of exercise equipment far away at the back of the room. The majority of the room was open enough that you could play many different types of sports or have a large group of people exercising. It was currently empty and eerily quiet. ¡°I will leave you in the capable hands of Doctor Doi who will be taking care of your physical tests. When you¡¯re done come back to the room for the interview,¡± The old man replied before turning around and walking back up the stairs. While doing some stretches Yuuto asked, ¡°What exercises do you need me to do doctor?¡± ¡°Well to tell you the truth I''m not a doctor, it''s just one of my many hobbies. It''s true I try to fix people up when they get hurt at the gym or in the club. The truth is I''m just a physical fitness trainer here, just trying to keep everyone in shape. Due to my hobby, I got the nickname.¡± ¡°I see so you have an interest in helping others stay healthy.¡± ¡°Well, I guess you could say that. I''m more interested in practicing my skills and experimenting with things, cutting them open and seeing what''s inside. Although it is quite hard to put everything back together. I stillhave to work on that part.¡± Yuuto started to inch away being weary of the Dr, Doi lest he tried to do something. Dr. Doi noticed it and said, ¡°Oh don''t worry, I''m not an evil genius or mad scientist that would slice you open and do weird experiments on you, although I''m sure they would be fun.¡± while rubbing his hands together and examining Yuuto with his eyes. ¡°Well back to business. For the first task, get into a pushup stance and hold a plank pose for 2 minutes. We will begin when you are ready.¡± Yuuto knelled down and got in position looked over at Dr. Doi to signal he was ready. ¡°The time will start now.¡± A beep was heard from the stopwatch in Dr. Doi''s hand as he pressed a button to start the timer. When the stopwatch beeped again, the 2 minutes that felt like an eternity where over. ¡°Now, stand up and squat your bodyweight twenty times.¡± Yuuto was able to complete the squats quick and easily. ¡°For the rest of the exercises, we need to move over to the back of the room where the equipment is. I need you to do twenty unbroken pull-ups,¡± said Dr. Doi as he pointed to a pull-up bar on the other side of the room. Yuuto walked over to the bar and jumped up and grasped the bar. Using a wide grip, his hands were spaced out at a distance wider than his shoulder width. He struggled to do all twenty but finished it successfully. ¡°Now go to the rowing machine. See if you can finish 500 meters of rowing in 90 seconds or less.¡± Sitting down at the rowing machine, he placed his feet on the footrest and strapped them in. Testing if they were tight enough by moving back and forth a few times. Picking up the handle, he got into position with his chest out, lower back in and keeping his core muscles tight and arms out straight. He waited for Dr. Doi to set the distance and resistance. At the word ¡®go¡¯, he started to row in good form, arms out straight and letting his legs pull the weight first until the handle was past his knees where he then used his arms to pull it the rest of the way to his mid-body. And reversing the process going forward and repeatedly doing it over and over again until the machine read 500 meters. He was able to complete it in 89.4s. ¡°You can rest for 3 minutes. Then I''ll have you do the last test. Which you will have to run a mile under 9 minutes.¡± Unstrapping his feet, he took a small blue water bottle that was handed to him and took a drink of what seemed to be an energy drink. Yuuto took three minutes of rest, he then got on the treadmill and waited for Dr. Doi to set the timer and he replied with an OK to Yuuto who pressed the start button and was off running at a decent speed. After a short warm up, he pressed the button to turn up the speed. He was able to run the mile in 8:46.9s. ¡°You¡¯re no superhuman but you''re physically fit enough. You can go clean up in the men''s locker room on the right which has its own showers. There are some clean clothes you can change into after your shower. I believe they should fit you just fine. When you¡¯re done, we can go back to the room and do your interview.¡± After showering and changing Yuuto walked back to the small room with Doctor Doi. The old man was sitting on the chair reading a newspaper. He had been waiting for them to finish so he could test Yuuto to see if he had any mental disorders or problems. Standing up from the chair he pointed to a booklet and an answering sheet and commanded, ¡°Answer the questions honestly.¡± He then sat down on the bed to let Yuuto use the chair and desk. When Yuuto finished 30 minutes later, Dr. Doi graded the test and handed the results to the test. ¡°Well it looks like you''re are a normal human being but that''s not much of an achievement because humans are a crazy and dark-minded species. You''re a bit naive but we can work with that. Since you are both physically and mentally fit, I will allow you to work for me. That is if you are willing to accept the conditions set forth. What will it be?¡± asked the old man. ¡°I rather work here then be pawned off to the Yakuza. I have no choice but to accept.¡± ¡°Then read this contract and sign it.¡± A contract and a pen were handed over to him. Taking his time, he slowly read every word to see if there were any scams or disagreeable conditions. After finishing reading the front, he turned it over to see if there was any more text but the back was blank. Summarized what the contracted wanted of him was to work as a host for the club until his debt was paid off. When his debt was paid off, if he wanted, he could stay employed or retire. He would share a dorm room with other hosts. A bill for staying in the room and the cost of food would be added to what he already owed monthly as rent. If he tried to escape or started to slack off and stopped cooperating, he would be given over to his creditors. He quickly read it over again and signed the document. Doctor Doi picked the paper up and handed it over to the old man. ¡°Well I will let Doctor Doi escort you to the room you will be staying at while in training. There you can meet your new roommates. Tomorrow you will start physical training, along with lessons to start learning how to be a proper host. If you pay attention, you will have an easier time later on.¡± With that, he left the room carrying the contract in his left hand. ¡°Well, I guess congratulations on joining club Winter Night. Let''s get headed to your new room and say hello to your new future co-workers. ¡° They walked through a maze of hallways and stairs until they were several floors above the one they had been on all day. The current hallway they were walking in was wide enough for two people to walk side by side, and its length stretched out long enough to have multiple doors on each side. This floor was lively with different noises coming from each room. They stopped walking at the end of the hall in front of the last door on the right side of the hallway. Dr. Doi stepped forward and opened the door while motioning Yuuto going inside. As he entered the room, two bunk beds could be seen one on each side and further in a couch was in front of a mini fridge that had a flat screen TV placed on top of it. ¡°Everyone this is your new roommate Yuuto. You all know the schedule and how things work around here so bring him up to date, and please do get along with each other. Now if you''ll excuse me I left some of my experimental dissection unattended, and I have to get back to them.¡± said Dr. Doi in a hurry. Just before he left the room he turned around one last time and looked at Yuuto while saying, ¡°One last thing I should remind you about Yuuto. Don''t try and escape, it never ends well.¡± Chapter 3: Dont try to escape. The only wooden bunk bed open was on the bottom right, which Yuuto walked over to and sat down on. It was made from a dark wood and the bed seemed nice enough. Everyone was staring at him waiting for him to say something and them. He broke the silence by saying, ¡°Hello, I am Yuuto Shimizu. It''s nice to meet you, I hope we get along with each other.¡± Encouraged, the other three roommates introduced themselves. The person sitting across from him on the other bottom bunk bed named himself to be Motoki Ono, he was nearing being overweight. Above him was Rinji Matano who was the exact opposite to Motoki with his skinny body and glasses. Lastly, there was Yuuto''s bunkmate Takaji Nagata who looked like a pretty boy. Yuuto memorized the first two¡¯s names and secretly named Takaji ¡®Pretty boy¡¯. ¡®No one likes pretty boys, go die¡¯ thought Yuuto. ¡°What landed you here?¡± asked Rinji. ¡°I was scammed into signing papers that gave me a business with a vast amount of debt and then things kept piling up. It has been a rough last few days. What''s all of your stories?¡± Yuuto could hear Pretty boy trying to muffle his laughter muttering, ¡°You''re so gullible.¡± ¡°Sounds like it was rough. The reason why I was sent here was that I had a large number of gambling debts that couldn''t be paid off. Things were getting out of control with my creditors getting really angry. So I was offered this opportunity to clean the slate and work off the debt as a host. It was kind of a no-brainer, this or constant fear of creditors,¡± said Motoki while looking wistfully at the ceiling. ¡°I won the lottery, so I quit my job, met new rich friends and things spiraled from there. I couldn''t stop my spending, and I was soon out of money. I kept borrowing from loan sharks to keep up with my rich friends. In the end, when they found out I had no more money and was in deep debt, they wouldn''t answer my calls or acknowledge me when we saw each other outside. This offer was the only way I could pay off my debt, as the job I worked at before declined to let me work for them again,¡± Rinji lamented while staring mournfully at the ground. Pretty boy dropped down in front of Yuuto from the bunk bed above. He turned around and looked straight into Yuuto''s eyes and said, ¡°Well I guess it''s my turn to share my sob story. I was married to a gorgeous woman at a young age, I was always financing new gadgets and buying things for her because it made her happy. My debt was climbing so I started to lessen the gifts and then stopped buying gifts for her. Our marriage was getting worse as the months passed and then a year later, she demanded a divorce. She wanted a large amount of money; I argued for a more reasonable split. I lost and was forced to pay the settlement and the legal fees for the attorneys. I didn''t have any money to pay them, nor any for my other debts. So here I am soon to be a host so I can pay off my debts.¡± ¡°Sounds like everyone had a crappy experience. At first, I wasn''t so sure about this place but it seems like it is a haven for those of us who get mired in large debt. So then, what''s it really like living here?¡± asked Yuuto. Pretty boy scoffed, ¡°It isn''t that great living here. But at least we don''t have to worry so much about the money owed to the creditors.¡° ¡°Agreed,¡± said Rinji. ¡°I have to agree with Rinji, it''s a good place to escape your debts and pay them off over time. The only problem is your freedom of things you can do is limited. Although I hear if you are good at being a host and don''t cause problems, you can spend time outside in the city. That''s good I guess.¡± replied Motoki. ¡°Well, I''m going to the restroom. Just so you know our rooms don''t have a bathroom, this floor shares one and we all try to not wreck it. The restroom is the middle door in the hallway on the right, the one on the opposite side is the room with the showers,¡± Pretty boy said as he walked to the door opened it and exited the room. ¡°How come there are no locks on the doors here? Are they not afraid you or someone else will try to escape?¡± Yuuto asked. ¡°It''s not that they aren''t afraid, it''s because whoever tries escaping never gets that far. And always ends back up here. Trust me, you are better off following the rules.¡± Rinji answered. ¡°Yeah, we learned that the hard way,¡± Motoki replied. ¡°Motoki you make it sound like we are the ones who tried escaping. It wasn''t us who tried to escape, it was our former roommate. The one who used to have that bunk bed.¡± said Rinji. ¡°Well, where is he now? What happened to him?¡± asked Yuuto. ¡°He was always complaining about it wasn''t his fault he was in debt, and was never in a happy mood. He tried escaping four times, each time he was brought back by someone different. Two of the people were cops and one who looked like a cook at a restaurant. Couldn''t tell who the fourth was. After the fourth escape, the owner must have had enough of his escape attempts. He didn''t come back to live with us, and was sold off to a garbage company everyone knows is owned by the Yakuza. A few weeks passed where no news came up which I guess was good. Just last Tuesday there was a news story of a garbage truck man somehow having an accident when trying to fix his garbage truck compressor and was found crushed and mangled along with the trash. They were only able to identify him by his wallet that had his ID. My guess is he caused some problems for them and they didn''t want to deal with him anymore. This is why it''s a foolish idea to try and escape, if you think it''s bad here, it is 100 if not more times worse with the Yakuza.¡± Rinji explained. Everyone in the room became quiet after the story was finished. Not looking at each other and staring at the wall ceiling or floor thinking. They were startled by Pretty boy bursting open the door and looking at everyone''s glum face. ¡°So you guys were talking about that. Here''s some advice, don''t do stupid things and you won''t end up like him. It''s simple really; Not all that hard to do,¡± said Pretty boy. ¡°True, well I guess there¡¯s no need to dwell on the past only need to learn from it. Well on another note, I guess I can explain what we do every day. We don''t actually do any hosting yet as we are all in training. We normally do physical training in the morning, and then in the afternoon, we learn about the rules and regulations of how to be a host. That is pretty much what it is like every day. Once the old man thinks we are ready, we are then moved to a room with one other host, and start getting paid to work at the club,¡± said Motoki. ¡°The physical training is no joke, the doctor runs us ragged. Forcing everyone into even better shape than they already are. The hosting classes are a little easier,¡± said Rinji. ¡°We should get some sleep, we''re going to need it for tomorrow. It was nice getting to know you,¡± said Pretty boy as he climbed the wooden ladder to the top bunk. Motoki reached up and over from his bed to the light switch that was close to him and turned the lights off. This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Yuuto was able to fall asleep rather quickly, due to the stress and training he had gone through all day. He was woken up the next day from the bright light overhead being turned on. The light along with the groaning sound of the wooden ladder being used by Pretty boy, and with him jumping off the ladder onto the floor with a loud thud helped Yuuto wake up abruptly. ¡°Rise and shine buttercup. We have a long day ahead,¡± said Pretty boy in his best drill sergeant voice as walked by and exited the room. Yuuto sat up, yawned and slowly stood up scathing his chest while exiting the room and walking to the bathroom. The hallway was packed with people half asleep milling around. After using the restroom, he then shaved and washed his face. Feeling refreshed, he walked back to his room. ¡°You ready to go to the cafeteria?¡± asked Pretty boy. ¡°Yeah, I finished up and am ready to eat. Is there anything good to eat?¡± Yuuto asked. ¡°Normally just miso soup and steamed rice. Let''s go, I''ll show you where it is.¡± They walked through the crowded hallway and down the stairs, Pretty boy explained about of the ten floors of the building and what was on each floor. The gym was in the basement, on the 1st floor were the offices and holding cells and the front desk, next to the elevator for customers to get to the club. 2nd floor was the kitchen and storage rooms. 3rd floor was the host club where the men would be working. 4th floor was the VIP rooms. 5th floor was the hostess club where the old man''s wife was in charge of running. The 6th floor onup was split into two separate buildings. The one on the right was for the men and the one on the left was for the women. The 6th floor contained the cafeteria and classrooms. Floor 7 and 8 were for host/hostess in training and 9 and 10 were for host already working. By the time Pretty boy was done explaining, they had reached the cafeteria and entered the large room one floor down. The cafeteria was filled with an abundant number of round metal tables. Yuuto and Pretty boy picked up a tray that had two bowls, one miso soup, the other steamed rice. They found an empty table, sat down and started eating. ¡°So women work here also? How come I haven''t seen one yet?¡± Asked Yuuto. ¡°Like I said the males and females are separated from each other. The only time you will see them is if you are working in the kitchen with them,¡± Pretty boy replied. ¡°Oh,¡± said Yuuto who quickly became uninterested in the subject. They continued to eat their food in silence. Two minutes later, Rinji and Motoki sat down next to them without saying a word. When they finished breakfast, everyone went to the gym and waited for Dr. Doi to come and supervise everyone through the day''s exercises. They stayed at the gym until it was time for lunch. Everyone hit the showers and changed clothes before going to the cafeteria. Yuuto and his roommates sat together again and ate their lunch. Lunch was rice, fish, and a salad. Washing it all down with cold tea. Yuuto, unsure where to go after finishing eating, followed his roommates to the classroom where the lessons on how to be a host would be held. As they entered Yuuto could see at the front of the classroom there stood a man wearing a flashy neon blue suit and red dyed hair. ¡°Hello and welcome to those of you who are new and welcome back to everyone else. I am Instructor O. Now everyone, please sit down and get ready. Today we are going to get into the details of training on how to pour and serve customers. First, let us review the core rules of being a host. For you, new people listen closely.¡± Instructor O walked up to a chalkboard and began writing. When finished he turned around. ¡°#1) Your number one job is to act as a servant, entertainer, and as a boyfriend for the customer. While encouraging them to buy food and drinks. This is where you will earn your money. #2) Host are not gigolos. You do not sleep with a customer for money. #3) You are allowed to date BUT it must not cause any problems with work. #4) When working you will only use your performance name. When talking to other colleges, you will use their performance name. #5) If your customer is unable to pay the full cost of the bill, you have to pay for it. That customer cannot come back unless they pay what they owe. For those of you who don''t understand this rule, it means know who your customers are and estimate how much they can spend. Don''t offer expensive drinks to those who can''t afford it otherwise you will be paying for it yourself. #6) Lastly but not the least important major rule. Don''t talk or ask about these things with your customers: Age, three sizes, weight, or about their work. These are not all the rules of being a host, you will learn more as you prove yourself and start hosting.¡± Instructor O walked over to his desk where a wine bottle was sitting in a bucket of ice with a stemmed wine glass placed next to it. Reaching under his desk, he brought out a bowl that was filled with ice and placed it next to the glass. ¡°Now onto today''s class. To create a drink for your customer, you will first use ice tongs to pick up and add ice until it reaches the top. Our club¡¯s ice cubes are rather large so it won''t take that many.¡± Instructor O used the tongs to add four large ice cubes to the glass. ¡°Adding ice will make the bottle of Shochu, sake, or wine last longer. This allows two things, getting the customer to buy a drink and feel satisfied that it lasted longer than it normally would. It also allows customers to be enticed to order appetizers from the food menu. Next, you take the bottle and open it with the correct tool. Do not move the glass or pick it up. You will use the stem of the glass to steady it and pour the drink having the label facing the customer.¡± He showed the class how to correctly do it. ¡°In no time, you grab the glass anywhere other than the stem. This is so you do not leave fingerprints on the glass and make it look unclean. On to the last topic, before you start the work of making drinks yourself. Water is free for customers who already bought a drink. you will not earn any money from it. If after their first drink or two, they order water do not be rude or stiff. Ask them if they would like a lemon with it. This lets them know you are there for them and you will more than likely get more positive reactions than negative. Now on each of your tables, you will find a wine bottle filled with water, ice, ice tongs and a stemmed glass you may begin practicing with.¡± Thus everyone practiced pouring drinks until Instructor O deemed they were good enough and let them return to their rooms. Yuuto was one of the last in the classroom to be allowed to leave. They spent the rest of the day watching TV and reading manga from the small library on the floor. The next day, Pretty boy who had been in training the longest of the four roommates was promoted and moved to a room for hosts on another floor and started his hosting career. The routine of waking up training than learning new things kept going on every day until a week had passed. Yuuto and the rest of his roommates did not see or hear anything from Pretty boy. During that week, they learned more about how to serve customers, about eye contact, small talk, along with other tips on how to be a good host. Yuuto was constantly being reprimanded an untold amount of times throughout the week of training. After training on the first day of his second week, Dr. Doi gave him a slip of yellow paper asking him to go to Instructor O''s office which was next to his classroom. He entered after knocking and receiving the OK to enter. The room was messy books and papers stacked everywhere. Instructor O was sitting behind his desk looking at some papers. ¡°You may sit down,¡± said Instructor O while writing something on the papers with one hand, not looking at Yuuto and pointing with his other hand at two chairs in front of his desk. One of the seats had multiple books haphazardly stacked in it. Yuuto sat down in the empty chair. Instructor O finally looked up from the paperwork on his desk and stared at Yuuto. ¡°You know what I thought of you at the beginning of the week? Well, I will tell you my thoughts anyway. I was amazed!!¡± he paused and Yuuto started to feel proud of himself. Then Instructor O continued. ¡°I was amazed at how goddamn awful you were. You must have been one of the worst students I have ever trained. But it seems you have managed to squeak by. The old man has told me to inform you that you are being promoted to a probationary rookie host. I don''t know what he sees in you, but I guess congratulations are due on passing your training.¡± ¡°Thank you,¡± replied Yuuto. He didn''t know whether to be happy he passed or sad that he was pretty horrible and was just able to pass and start his new job. Chapter 4: First day on the job. ¡°The old man will be here shortly to escort you to your new room,¡± said Instructor O. When he came the only words spoken were ¡°follow me.¡± Yuuto followed him to the room he was currently sharing with Rinji and Motoki. ¡°Gather your things quickly,¡± growled the old man. Yuuto picked up and gathered his few belongings then followed the old man to the floor reserved for active hosts and walked to his new room. The door had the number #23 on it. They entered a small room with only two beds. His new roommate was already inside and leisurely sitting on top of the bed on the left. To Yuuto''s great relief it was Takaji aka Pretty boy, his former bunkmate. ¡°Look what the cat dragged in,¡± said Pretty boy. ¡°Yeah, nice to see you too,¡± replied Yuuto. ¡°Glad to see that you two know each other and won''t cause trouble for me. You two will be working the same shift as each other so there should be no problems of people messing around when you''re trying to get some sleep. Be sure you''re ready for tonight''s meeting before the club opens, you will finally be able to start paying off your debt and pay for your rent and food,¡± said Kentaro. He exited the room leaving only Pretty boy and Yuuto in the small room. ¡°So it looks like we are going to be teaming up together at least for now, keeping our friendship strong,¡± said Pretty boy. ¡°So how is it being a host? Is the work hard? Are the customers nice?¡± asked Yuuto. ¡°I wouldn''t know. If you''re a new host you will be stuck doing the crappy jobs of cleaning the bathroom, then you help the other hosts clean the club rooms and kitchen. You have to make sure everything is set and ready for the night. Then when the club opens, we new hosts have to go outside, gather girls off the streets and persuade them to come to the club. Until the boss lets us stay inside and greet the ladies, we won''t be getting paid that much. You''ll get the full details at the meeting in a few hours before we start working.¡± With that they talked for a while, to get caught back up on things that happened to them while they hadn''t seen each other. Later, they turned on the TV and watched some anime until it was time for the meeting. Yuuto followed Pretty boy and they leisurely walked through the hallways and down the stairways until they reached the 3rd floor, and then into a medium sized room with two rectangle tables joined together end to end with chairs placed on both sides. On the wall was an eraser board with the names of the hosts listed. They were listed in the order from top host to the lowest host, a number was next to each name recording the amount of cash they had earned the club so far this month. Yuuto wasn''t on the board yet. They sat down in a chair and waited for the supervisor of today''s shift to started the pre-work meeting. On the table was a paper for new hosts, all it was asking for was a name they would be using when they were hosting. Yuuto thought about it for a while and then wrote the name ¡®Yasuo¡¯ down. The other hosts filtered into the room and sat down when everyone was seated, it only took a few minutes until the old man opened the door, walked in and stood at the head of the table next to the rankings. ¡°Now that everyone is here, a few explanations and rules for those of you who are new,¡± he looked at Yuuto, ¡°Those of you who are new will be in charge of cleaning the bathrooms and helping the other host with setting up and cleaning the club room and making sure everything is ready for opening hours. When we open the doors for the customers, all new hosts will go to the streets and invite and lead customers to the club. If you try to escape and do not return back to the club after work hours are over, there will be no second chances you will be fired. You will be paid a flat 5000 yen a night as base pay. If you bring in a client, you will be immediately paid 5000 yen for each client brought. When you pass probation, you will be allowed to host inthe club and you will get your base pay plus 30% of the alcohol and food sales your clients make. If you are able to make it to the top and become the number one host you will be able to get 40% of what your clients spend. More guidelines will be given when you start hosting. Some other rules, I expect everyone to be wearing the working suits provided, and to keep them and yourselves presentable at all times while working. You are expected to get along with your co-workers. Lastly, no host is above going to the streets and getting customers on slow nights. Now get the club ready to open.¡± With the end of the old man''s speech, everyone stood and bowed to him and then left the room. Yuuto walked with Pretty boy to the cleaning supply closet that was just down the hallway to get supplies for cleaning. At the closet, Yuuto was handed a pair of yellow rubber gloves, a black rubber cleaning apron, and an air filter mask. ¡°Trust me you will need these, it''s not pretty inside the bathrooms. It''s like germ warfare inside,¡± said Pretty boy. Then they each put their cleaning gear on and picked up their buckets that had sponges, washcloths, and a scrubber. In their other hands, they were holding a toilet scrubber. Pretty boy also had a mop bucket on wheels with the mop inside. Now properly armed to fight, they charged valiantly into the nearest bathroom ready to do battle. ¡°Retreat commander it''s too much, we''ll be wiped out!!¡± said Yuuto whose voice was muffled through his mask. The smell was horrible even through his mask. There was puke everywhere the sinks, the toilets, the walls, and floors. It was so bad it almost made him want to puke as well.Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. ¡°This is only the first bathroom, we still have another to do. You better get used to it, we will be doing this until we get done with probation,¡± Pretty boy replied. They spent the rest of the hour mopping floors, scrubbing the sinks and toilets, and wiping down walls and counters. They took the tools and protective gear and went back to the cleaning closet and used the water hose to rinse off and clean them, the gloves and aprons before placing them back inside and the wash clothes into the dirty laundry basket. Yuuto and a Pretty boy then walked to the club room and entered. It was Yuuto''s first time seeing the club room. It was dimly lit with artificial candles in glass bowl containers, along with flashing strip lights on the ground on the walls were a few shelves holding pieces of artwork that were lit up. Near the entrance was an L shaped bar, above it was the top ten host''s pictures with their rank and their hostname under the picture. Farther into the room were booths with flat-screen TVs hanging down near each table. At the back was a large number of couches and a dance floor that was raised a few feet above the rest of the club¡¯s floor. There were multiple microphones and a large screen for singing karaoke. Right now the room was bustling with hosts wiping down chairs, tables and the counters. Along with others setting the tables that had been cleaned. ¡°What an interesting room,¡± Yuuto commented. ¡°Nothing much when you get used to it. They probably haven''t vacuumed yet so we can do that when they finish wiping down everything,¡± Pretty boy replied. They went and gathered two vacuums and brought them back to the club room where it looked like they were done wiping down things. ¡°You go over to dance floor and start from over there, I will start here,¡± commanded Pretty boy Twenty minutes later they were finished vacuuming. Everything was clean and ready for the doors to open. Everyone went to the locker room, freshened up and changed into their suits. When Yuuto looked at Pretty boy in his suit and cursed to himself. Pretty boy had leveled up!! He was now Pretty boy v2.0 while wearing his suit. ¡°What are you staring for?¡± asked Pretty boy v2.0. ¡°Go die,Pretty boy v2.0.,¡± said Yuuto. ¡°What are you talking about?¡± Oops thought Yuuto. He ignored the question and asked, ¡°So what are we supposed to do next?¡± ¡°Well, the hosts on probation can go to the kitchen and get a quick dinner, most of the time a random soup and sandwich. Everyone on probation eats just before the shift starts because we will be out most of the night with no break until the shift is over. The other hosts will be eating and drinking all night.¡± ¡°Well, I guess we should go eat and drink something before we have to go out.¡± They went to the second floor and entered the kitchen. On a silver metal counter, there was a number of plastic lunch trays with soups and sandwiches cut into two triangles. Yuuto and Pretty boy each picked one up and went over to a corner of the kitchen where there were two small square tables with four chairs around each one. They sat down at one and started eating. Their meal for the night was a vegetable soup with a few thin noodles added. On the side was a basic cheese and ham sandwich. The table had some basic condiments placed on it. Yuuto kicked up some ketchup and added it to his dry sandwich making it more edible. When they finished, they walked down to the 1st floor and stopped at the front door with the few other hosts who would be gathering clients from the streets. They waited for the time the doors would automatically unlock signaling that club Winter Night was open. They did not have to wait long. With a loud thunk and click, the front doors unlocked themselves signaling the start of Yuuto''s first night as a probationary host. ¡°I''ll try and help you out tonight.¡± said Pretty boy. Together they went outside, breathed in the night air and started to walk down the streets of Shinjuku lit by billboards, signs, restaurant and bar lights. The streets were teeming with people out enjoying shopping, eating, and drinking at bars. This was the nightlife of Shinjuku. ¡°Okay Yuuto, let''s test your skills on getting customers.¡± Yuuto walked up to a passing middle-aged lady and called out to her, ¡°Hello, I''m a probationary host...¡± ¡°No thank you.¡± The lady kept walking by quickly. On his next try, a group of girls were walking by and he tried to talk to them, ¡°Hello, I''m trying to recruit....¡± ¡°We''re not interested.¡± said one of the girls briskly as they walked by. Pretty boy was laughing at him. ¡°That''s all wrong. You were telling them that you''re a novice. That''s not going to get them interested in coming to the club. And your last try, you sounded like you were a salesman trying to sell something or a shifty person trying to recruit girls to take pictures or videotape them. That''s a major no, and you also need to not sound so needy. Before you talk to possible customers, you need to judge if they are in a rush or meeting someone, if they are too drunk to want to go to the club, if they even want to be talked to or not, and lastly if they can even afford to pay. Now that I have given you some tips, I''m going to start working.¡± Pretty boy walked over to the opposite side of the street to get to the people on the other side. ¡°That''s all you''re going to say? That''s not much help,¡± shouted Yuuto at Pretty boy¡¯s back. With a huff, he went back to trying to get customers to go to club Winter Night. He was repeatedly shot down, some of the replies were extremely rude while other¡¯s reactions were just cold replies, and a small group of girls apologizing that they were to busy. Yuuto watched as many of the girls that had rejected him all seemed to be picked up by other hosts from different clubs. That stung a lot. It wasn''t long before Pretty boy came back over to where Yuuto was. He was with a girl hanging on his arm and gave Yuuto a thumbs up and said, ¡°Keep trying you will get better.¡± Yuuto didn''t see him for the rest of the night and early morning. The morning light was shining. the signs were being turned off and the people on the streets were changing from drunk and sloppily dressed people out for the nightlife to the fresh and clean suit wearing office workers busily walking to the train station to get to work. On his first night of work, he was unable to get any customers to go to the club. He looked at his watch, it was 7 am, it was time to go back to the club. He was hungry and his feet were killing him, he was happy to get back and eat something then go to sleep. As he walked to the club, he picked up his pace spurred by the thought of food and sleep. He was greeted by Pretty boy at the front doors. ¡°Not much luck huh? Well, we have to go to the staff room and do the end of shift meeting before we can eat and then sleep.¡± The meeting was quick, it was held to just write down and add up the money people had earned for the night. There were several names at the bottom of the list that had little to nothing tallied. Yuuto and two other names were added on to the list and a big 0 was put next to his name. The people who earned money the first time were applauded for a few seconds. The meeting was over just like that. It was time to go to the locker rooms and shower, and then change back to regular clothes. The people who hadn''t eaten breakfast, headed to the cafeteria on the 6th floor. Yuuto tore through his food devouring it quickly. He then walked to his room, flopped down onto his bed and fell asleep. Chapter 5: Succeed or you’re fired. Yuuto was in a deep sleep until an hour before he had to go to work. After going to the bathroom and cleaning up, he jogged to the gym spending twenty minutes on exercises and waking up. He quickly rinsed off in the locker room shower. Having worked up a large appetite, he walked to the kitchen to get a quick bite to eat before the meeting. As he exited the kitchen, Yuuto met up with Pretty boy walking past. ¡°Ready for another night out on the streets?¡± asked Pretty boy. ¡°It''s a harsh life being a host, and a hard job trying to get customers,¡± replied Yuuto. ¡°Don''t worry, I wasn''t able to get anyone for the first few days myself. With more experience, you will be able to make more money and advance out of probation.¡± Reaching the staff room, they entered, sat down, and stopped talking. Everyone in the room was already quiet and waiting for the old man to join them. They didn''t have to wait long as they were able to hear the taping of his cane on the floor as he got closer and then entered the room, walking to the head of the table. ¡°No new probationary hosts joined today so the speech will be short, without the rules needing to be explained again. But there is something to explain to those who don''t know. Every day, kitchen helper and front desk duty is shuffled between the hosts who are not in the top 10 ranks. Today''s pair will be Yuuto and Takaji. When you are done with the daily cleaning, one of you is to report to the front desk, the other to the kitchen. Do not slack off, if you perform well it will be a great help towards getting out of probation. That would be of course after you have shown you can consistently bring in customers. That is all, you may start the preparations for opening,¡± said the old man. Yuuto and Pretty boy both went to the supply closet and got their battle gear on and when ready, they marched off to clean the bathrooms. The second day of cleaning wasn''t any easier than the first but Yuuto managed to not die from the germ warfare. They finished their duties of cleaning and when the club was deemed ready to open, everyone freshened up and got into their suits. Yuuto and Pretty boy played rock-paper-scissors to see who would be working in the kitchen. Pretty boy lost and so Yuuto went to the front desk where another host was waiting for him. ¡°I''m rank eleven Kan. I''m here to explain the few simple rules you have to follow. You do not accept any payments, you are just here to greet the customer. The front desk supervisor will take the payments. If they have any questions, you are to answer to the best of your knowledge. The main priority is you have to check if the females are old enough to enter. You are to ask if they are returning or if it is their first time. If it''s their first time, the cost to enter is 2000 yen instead of 5000. If the customer came in by themselves, you are to escort them to the elevator and then press the button labeled number one, as that leads to the club room. You are to be polite to all customers. If there is a problem, press the big ''I''m not red'' button next to the blue one right here. Security will show up shortly after and take care of the problem. That''s all there is to it. If you do a good job here it will help you out later,¡± said Kan. ¡°Thank you for your help,¡± replied Yuuto. Kan waved his hand as if to say no need to thank me and left the lobby, using the elevator to get to the club room. Yuuto waited behind the desk while the other probationary hosts were waiting for front doors to unlock. When they did open, it was only a few minutes before the first few ladies started to enter the front lobby. A slow trickle, one at a time. Many women commented on seeing Yuuto for the first time, asking how long he had been a host for. He politely replied to them all, ¡°This is my second day. Thank you for coming to club Winter Night. Please enjoy your stay.¡± Some of the women acted very coldly to him and only spoke the minimum few words they needed to, to be allowed to go up to the club room. The night wore on as more and more women either came themselves or were brought in by other probationary hosts. The front desk supervisor would pay the 5000 yen to the host who brought in the female customers after they had been escorted to the elevator and gone up to the club. Late into the night when Yuuto was starting to get hungry, Pretty boy came to the front desk and offered to cover for him so he could go eat. Yuuto gladly took him up on the offer and walked to the kitchen. He ate another one of the kitchen¡¯s famous dry sandwiches with soup. They didn''t dare serve the customer''s them, so the hosts were forced to eat them. When he was finished eating, he was getting ready to leave when the head cook tossed an apron at him. ¡°Now that you''re finished eating, help me prepare more appetizers,¡± commanded the head cook.Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. ¡°But I''m supposed to be working at the front desk,¡± Yuuto protested. ¡°Takaji told me that you would be taking over for him after you eat so stop daydreaming and get over here and help me.¡± Yuuto cursed Pretty boy under his breath ¡°He tricked me into switching with him.¡± He spent the rest of the night helping the head cook with chopping, mixing, and cooking the appetizers needed to fill the client¡¯s orders. When the Winter Night¡¯s opening hours ended and all orders stopped coming, Yuuto gave a big sigh and was getting ready to leave the kitchen when the head cook placed a hand on his shoulder and stopped him. ¡°Where are you going? We still got to clean the kitchen, and do the rest of the dishes before you leave.¡± Yuuto groaned and started putting away the cleaned dishes. He wiped down the counters, cabinets, stove, and oven. Then mopped the floor thoroughly. When the head cook deemed the room was clean enough, he gave a nod and let Yuuto leave. The post work meeting was already finished when he got to the staff room. Yuuto walked to the locker room and changed out of his suit and took a quick shower all the while thinking about when he saw Pretty boy, how he would give him a nice hearty manly smack on his back for tricking him. When changed, he went to their shared room. Pretty boy wasn''t back yet. Yuuto flopped into bed and waited for his evil best friend to get back. But before he could get revenge, he fell asleep. Pretty boy quietly entered the room to try and not awaken Yuuto. He slipped into bed and fell asleep. Yuuto woke up earlier then Pretty boy the next day and decided to play a prank on him. He put some shaving cream on Pretty boy¡¯s hand then started to run a dry washcloth back and forth over Pretty boy''s nose until he tried swatting whatever it was that was on his nose and ended up waking up from the cold shaving cream being smeared onto his face. Yuuto quickly exited the room into to the hall quietly listening from rightoutside of the door. ¡°Huh? What is this all over my hand and face?¡± muttered Pretty boy. Yuuto was trying to stop himself from laughing but a few muffled chortle escaped, forcing him to escape to the bathroom. After cleaning up, he went to the gym for his daily training, and then off to get some food. When it was time to hit the streets that night, Yuuto decided to go down a different street from what he had tried already. The wind was blowing harder today than normal. While walking and trying to entice people to go to the club, he saw a scene of fliers being blown everywhere by the wind. A frantic girl was chasing after them trying to gather all that had escaped from her basket that had been holding them. Yuuto bent over and began picking them up as he walked towards the flyer girl. When he drew near her, she noticed Yuuto helping pick them up and thanked him. The rest of the night was uneventful and again, he was unable to get a single new customer to go to the host club. It was the same for the next two nights. During the 3rd night¡¯s post-work meeting, the old man stood in front of the hosts. He looked at Yuuto and then a few other hosts and said ¡°If you are unable to bring in a customer by the end of your first month then you will be fired. I suggest you try harder. This job is a great opportunity for you all.¡± With that he dismissed everyone. Yuuto went to sleep worrying about not being able to get anyone to go to the club before the month ended. He still had two weeks. Over the next 8 days, he tried experimenting but failed to bring someone back. Late into 9th day''s work shift (early morning), someone tapped his shoulder from behind, trying to get his attention. Yuuto looked and saw it was the cute flier girl whom he had seen quite a few times over the past 8 days. ¡°Um, hi, I''ve seen you out here over the last week or so trying to get people to go to your club. What was its name?¡± she asked. ¡°The name...? Ah yeah, its name is club Winter Night,¡± said Yuuto who had gotten tense and almost forgot it. She placed her hand in front of her face to try and stifle a giggle, ¡°I would like to go. Would you please take me?¡± Overjoyed that he wouldn''t be fired, Yuuto mindlessly gave her a hug. It was only for a few seconds until he realized what he was doing and let go. He quickly bowed and apologized. ¡°I''m sorry for being overly formal, I was just overcome with emotion and it got the better of me.¡± ¡°Don''t worry, I don''t mind it too much.¡± While looking at her, he could see the shade of her face was a light shade of red. She offered her arm to him. Yuuto remembered seeing Pretty boy escorting the women to the club with their arms linked together. So he linked his arm with hers and started leading her to club Winter Night. A minute into walking to the club she quickly blurted out, ¡°My name is Misa Hayami. You may call me Misa if you want.¡± ¡°Well Misa, that is a fine name you have there, it¡¯s very nice.¡± ¡°Thanks, I¡¯m glad you find it so pleasing,¡± she giggled. ¡°Allow myself to introduce myself, I go by the name of Yasuo. I will be escorting you to the club tonight,¡± replied Yuuto using his work name. ¡°Oh, Yasuo meaning honest man. A nice name,¡± She smiled at him as she replied. A few minutes passed filled with small talk, they entered the front lobby and decoupled their arms. He walked her up to the front desk where she was greeted and asked for ID. After she was OK''d, she paid the first time entrance fee to the front desk manager and then Yuuto escorted her into the elevator and pressed the button #1. The elevator dinged as it reached the floor with the club room. ¡°It was nice meeting you,¡± said Misa. Yuuto bowed and replied, ¡°The pleasure was all mine. I hope you have a wonderful time during your stay.¡± She exited the elevator and he pushed the button for the lobby. When he was back into the lobby, the front desk manager waved him over. He smiled at Yuuto as he handed him 5000 yen and said, ¡°Nice work on earning your first bit of money.¡± ¡°Thank you,¡± said Yuuto as he half bowed. Yuuto went back out onto the streets to recruit more customers. He was unable to get anyone else the rest of the night. Yuuto was still happy that he was able to get a customer to join. Now that he wouldn''t be fired. During the staff room meeting, when they tallied the money gain by everyone, the zero was erased from next to Yuuto''s name and the number 5000 was added. Everyone gave a few claps congratulating him for his first gain. Pretty boy slapped him a few times on the back and said, ¡°See I told you would get used to it with a little more experience.¡± Yuuto smiled. That night, he was able to soundly sleep without worrying about being fired. Chapter 6: YOU!!! During the next day''s meeting, the old man said he had some news for everyone. ¡°Takaji has proven he has what it takes to work as a host for the most part. He will be promoted from being a probationary host and join the ranks of regular hosts. We have two new probationary hosts, Motoki and Rinji, I hope everyone will get along. Yuuto, you will help them if they have any questions about the duties of a probationary host. That''s it for the special news. You are dismissed.¡± Yuuto had not noticed his former roommates were in the room until it was mentioned. The four roommates met in the hallway. Motoki had slimmed down a bit and Rinji had put some muscles on his former slim stick figure. ¡°Look at you guys, Dr. Doi must have run you ragged to get you in shape,¡± said Yuuto. ¡°You don''t know the half of it plus I had to go on a strict diet. I''m still supposed to watch what I eat and work out but at least it''s not as hellish as morning training was,¡± said Motoki. ¡°Well, I had it slightly easier, no diet needed. Just getting fit,¡± said Rinji. ¡°Oh yeah before we start work and forget, congrats Takaji on being promoted,¡± said Yuuto while he slapped him on the back a few times. ¡°Thanks, but I have a feeling the hard part starts now. Guess we all need to get to work on clean up. Well I will leave the bathroom cleaning to you rookies.¡± said Pretty boy. Yuuto groaned and said, ¡°Stop rubbing it in our faces.¡± Pretty boy split from them to join the other hosts in the club room. Yuuto led Motoki and Rinji and got the tools and protective gear to start cleaning the bathrooms. When entering, their reactions were just like Yuuto''s when he had first started. After finishing cleaning the bathrooms, they helped clean up in the club room and then ate a quick dinner. Yuuto gave them a few tips on how to get customers to go to the host club. Of course, they were just tips he had learned from Pretty boy. After walking onto the streets and spitting up, Yuuto walked down the busy streets he normally did, inviting females to join. An hour later, while walking he heard his name called out from the direction of the crowded sidewalk in front of him. Looking to where the voice was, he noticed a female waving at him. She looked to be in her late teens or early 20''s. Compared to the people around her, she really stood out from the crowd with her medium length hair dyed blue, a slender body and medium height. Yuuto was shocked to see someone he knew calling out to him, Yuuto waved back casually. The person''s name was Kana Sakata, she was the older sister of one of his friends from school. Kana was just two years older than him and Shogo her younger brother. Yuuto had spent a large amount of time with Kana when hanging out with her younger brother at the manga cafe their family ran. When he was at their house, they would often get into heated discussions of anime, manga, and eroge. Kana was like the nice older sister he didn''t have at his own house. She was always a very athletic person and you could say she was a tomboy while growing up. She ran up to him. ¡°Yuuto what are you doing out here on the streets of Shinjuku dressed up like that?¡± ¡°Work,¡± said Yuuto before he could think up of anything else to say. ¡°Oh really? What do you do?¡± Yuuto mumbled, ¡°I work as a host at club Winter Night.¡± ¡°What! A host club? I didn''t think that was your sort of job you were interested in.¡± ¡°Some crazy things happened after I was kicked out from my parents¡¯ home. I moved here for a different job and it ended up causing me to owe a large debt to many people. Now I''m working to pay it off.¡± ¡°Wow, that sounds really bad. My little brother told me that you had moved but didn''t tell me you got kicked out.¡± ¡°I didn''t tell him about it. I was trying to get everything sorted out. You''re the only one who knows I work as a host.¡± ¡°Don''t worry I won''t tell anyone about it if you want to keep it a secret. So what is it like being a host?¡± asked Kana. ¡°I''m still a probationary host. So far it''s not all that great of an experience. It''s a lot harder then people would think. Enough about me what about you and Shogo?¡± asked Yuuto ¡°My life is fine and Shogo is doing okay, also we both are still working at the manga cafe. So all this talk about your new job has gotten me interested in club Winter Night. Will you take me there?¡± ¡°Now who''s the one acting strange. Are you sure you want to go?¡± ¡°Yes. It will help you get paid right?¡± ¡°Well okay, I''ll take you,¡± said Yuuto. He then held out his arm offering it to her. Her small hand clasped his lightly. ¡°Let''s go!¡± she exclaimed cheerfully. ¡°I forgot to tell you my name is Yasuo while working.¡±You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. Kana only gave a hearty laugh at the name as she linked her arms with his. Yuuto escorted her all the way to the building and up to club Winter Night¡¯s main room on the 3rd floor. He left her with a few words, wishing her well and hoping she had a happy stay. Yuuto received his payment from the front desk supervisor and went back out onto the streets. He was able to escort one other customer to the host club during the night. Overall it was his best night making 10,000 yen. Bringing his total to 15,000 yen going towards paying off his debt. Motoki and Rinji both had a 0 written next to their names on the board. After the meeting was over, Yuuto and co. went to get something to eat. While Yuuto was eating, he saw Motoki and Rinji looking down so he decided to try to cheer them up. ¡°Hey don''t be down guys. It takes time to for you to learn and be as good as me.¡± ¡°If that''s your way of trying to cheer us up, you suck at it,¡± said Motoki. ¡°I just want to sleep,¡± said Rinji. They finished eating and walked to their rooms. Yuuto found out that everyone was living across from each other, with Motoki and Rinji in room 24 across the hallway from Pretty boy and Yuuto. After bidding each other good night, they went to sleep. *** Yuuto gave a loud sigh, he had been chosen to help in the kitchen again under the strict head cook. After cleaning with Motoki and Rinji was over, he headed to the kitchen. It was getting busy inside preparing for when customers would start to come. He picked up a tray of food and brought it over to the small table in the corner while looking at what the food was tonight. It was a tasty bean soup with fried fish on the side along with steamed white rice. As he set down his tray and sat down, he looked up and noticed someone else was sitting at the table across from him. Yuuto had been too busy inspecting his food to notice that a female was sitting at the table. He guessed she was a hostess helping in the kitchen like he was. She wasn''t paying him any attention. He only looked at her face for a second before it had caused him to become agitated. ¡°YOU!¡± he pointed at her. She looked up annoyed she was being bothered,¡°Wha...YOU?¡± she said shocked at seeing who it was that had sat across from her and started talking. ¡°You scammer! What are you doing here?¡± asked Yuuto with his finger still pointing at her. ¡°Just my luck to run into you of all places. Don''t you know it''s rude to point? It''s also none of your business why I''m here. If you must know something, I''ll just say I started to work as a hostess on the 5th floor.¡± she said. ¡°You had me fooled, I thought you were a nice and beautiful person after talking with you over dinner. But you went and did something like taking me to that ripoff restaurant. I thought you were the ideal Yamato Nadeshiko with your nice silky long black hair and your light smooth skin. Miss scammer.¡± ¡°It''s not like I''m happy that you praised me for being beautiful, but thanks. It wasn''t my fault that you got scammed. I didn''t target you out of everyone in the world to scam. You just happened to be the one who showed up. You naively accepted my offer to go together. I was doing an odd job to help lessen my parent''s debt.¡± ¡°How rude of you to say I''m naive. And you''re welcome on the compliment.¡± ¡°Hey, you two. Stop flapping your jaws and finish eating so you can help with preparations,¡± shouted the head cook. Now that Yuuto''s food wasn''t able to burn his mouth and that it had cooled off while talking, he was able to scarf down the food with gusto. Scammer girl looked at him with distaste as there was soup and other bits of food getting flung onto the table from his speed eating. He placed the tray with the bowls and silverware into the dirty dishwater bin. Then went and washed his hands and put on a hairnet, gloves and an apron. He was ready to work. Scammer girl also finished eating, geared up and waited with Yuuto for the head cook to give them instructions. They were both ordered to help start preparing food for the main appetizers that were ordered often. While walking through the kitchen getting items and delivering them, they kept bumping into each other and stepping on each other''s feet. Yuuto gave a yelp of pain as Scammer girl stepped on his foot with the back of her heel, making him nearly fall to one knee. So the next time she walked by, he had his foot stuck out making her nearly trip. ¡°Will you kids knock it off! Am I going to have to hit your heads together to make you stop squabbling? Stop messing around while in the kitchen and get to work. It''s not only childish but dangerous also.¡± the head cook roared at the two troublemakers. There was no other mishaps for the rest of the business hours. Just plenty of cold stares and glares back at each other. ¡°I''m leaving the cleaning and the rest of the dishes to both of you. Don''t screw around, do the job right.¡± said the head cook. Yuuto started to wash the dishes that had piled up. He rinsed the plates, glasses, and silverware with the spray hose, then placed them into the tray and slid it into an industrial dishwasher. He looked over at Scammer girl who was just standing around doing nothing. ¡°Hey YOU, can you please dry the dishes and put them away?¡± asked Yuuto. She looked over at Yuuto and gave an exasperated sigh. Then picked up a towel and started to dry the dishes and put them away. ¡°I have a name you know. It''s Niko Ogiwara.¡± ¡°Well, it would have been better if you had told me it when we first met. On the other hand, Niko, you have a nice name.¡± ¡°You don''t need to praise my name. It''s not like I''m that easy to please.¡± ¡°So I''m here because I was scammed by a lot of people on my second day moving here causing me to rack up a large amount of debt. How ¡®bout you?¡± Niko was quiet for some time then blurted out, ¡°Look, it''s like I said before, I was trying to help get my parent''s debt lowered by helping those guys out when we first met. My parents died in an accident where a piano fell on top of them when they were out on a daily jog. Leaving me and my two younger siblings, a brother and sister both in elementary school. Now that debt has been passed onto me and I can''t take care of it. We don''t have any other relatives, so in order to keep the creditors off me and keep my younger siblings safe, I''m working and living here with my siblings. Happy? Or do you need the rest of my life story?¡± ¡°Oh, I''m sorry that your parents died. I know this is not comparable but I don''t have any contact with my parents or any other family members myself.¡± ¡°Thanks, I guess.¡± Niko quietly replied. They finished washing the dishes and cleaning in silence. The head cook came in and after checking told them they could leave. Before they parted ways in the hallway Yuuto called out. ¡°It was a wild ride working with you. It was interesting to know more about you, Niko.¡± Yuuto said in his best gentleman host voice while giving a slight bow. Niko looked away and said, ¡°Thanks,¡± and then walked towards the stairs that led to the woman''s side of the building. As Yuuto watched her walk away, he wondered if what she had said was true or if she was just trying to trick him again. ''Why does it even matter if it''s true or not.'' thought Yuuto. Chapter 7: Co-hosting. Yuuto was looking at Pretty boy as he styled his hair in the mirror and was wearing some plain clothes. He had told him yesterday that today was the 4 bros¡¯ day off today. ¡°Why are you doing up your hair? You''re just going to be hanging out with the other two bros and me. We don''t care if your hair looks good,¡± said Yuuto from his bed. ¡°Ha, you think I would stay cooped up here in this place on my first day off,¡± scoffed Pretty boy. ¡°What? Where could you go when we''re all stuck in here.¡± ¡°You forget I''m a regular host now, I can go outside on my days off.¡± ¡°I didn''t know that. Then what are you going to do?¡± ¡°I didn''t know either until I was told yesterday. As for what I am doing, I have a date with someone.¡± Yuuto stood up, walked over to him, took some styling gel and squeezed a liberal amount onto his hands and then said to Pretty boy, ¡°Here let me help you.¡± Yuuto started to mess up Pretty boy¡¯s hair that was almost set the way he had wanted it and quickly turned it into a mohawk crudely shaped in the form of a bird with wings spread out. ¡°Would you stop messing around with my hair,¡± said Pretty boy as he slapped away Yuuto''s hands. ¡°Well, I think I made a new piece of art. It was hard and the material wasn''t that good. But I persevered.¡± Yuuto said matter of factly. ¡°I''m so sorry that my hair isn''t good enough for you, oh great artist.¡± said Pretty boy as he destroyed the masterpiece of a century and put his hair back to the way he wanted it. ¡°It''s okay, I wasn''t expecting much,¡± said Yuuto. ¡°Well, I''m off to my date. Try not to die from boredom while I''m on gone,¡± with a last look in the mirror, Pretty boy walked out of the room. Yuuto spent the rest of the morning with Motoki and Rinji. They decided to play some card games. While playing cards, the three of them had different playing styles. Yuuto would go all out. Motoki was always trying to make the other two think if he was was bluffing or not. Rinji was the type of card player that thought for 5 minutes before deciding and then changing his mind again. When they got bored of the card games, they started watching anime and reading manga while discussing their experiences on being a probationary host for the rest of the day. *** Over the next two weeks, Yuuto was getting better at talking to customers and inviting them to club Winter Night. He was able to earn 100,000 yen towards his debt. He was now sitting in the pre-work meeting listening to the old man talk. ¡°Yuuto you will be promoted to a regular host today if you can pass the live test tonight. You will be co-hosting with #7, Zenko. Meet with him after the meeting is over. After tonight''s shift is finished, you will come to my office along with Zenko and he will report to me on how it went. I will decide what to do after.¡± The meeting continued for five more minutes and then they were dismissed. Yuuto walked over to Zenko and greeted him, ¡°Hello, I am Yuuto. I will be in your care tonight.¡± ¡°Can you tell me your work name?¡± asked Zenko. ¡°It''s Yasuo.¡± ¡°Good, that''s a decent and easy name for the customers who may become your clients to remember. I have permission to skip cleaning duty tonight along with you to do some mock training before the doors open tonight. Let''s go to a table and get started with explaining everything in more detail.¡± They walked to the club room where a table was quickly set up with glasses and a glass bottle of water and a few different plates of appetizers. Yuuto and Zenko both sat down at the table. ¡°Okay, I will walk you through what you will need to know to get through tonight as a host. We will start from the beginning,¡± said Zenko. Yuuto listened intently to the explanations on how to be a proper host. He spent the rest of the time practicing and kept getting scolded for messing up. ¡°That''s enough for now. We need to go get changed, the clubs going to open soon,¡± said Zenko. After getting dressed, he met back up with Zenko and was handed a flip phone and a stack of business cards. Upon further inspection, Yuuto could see the cards had the Winter Night logo, along with his host name and what he guessed was his new cell phone number. ¡°You need these now that you are a host. I will act as the secondary host. I will only be helping fix any mistakes you make. The clients I normally host will be taken care of by you tonight. Now get ready, it looks like the first clients and customers are here.¡± said Zenko. Yuuto stood with his back straight next to the table that was picked by Zenko. He watched as the room filled up and started to get louder and more lively. He noticed one of the customers staring over in this direction. She was medium height with shoulder length brown hair wearing a tight black and white striped dress. Yuuto watched as she walked up to them. ¡°Zenko, who is this with you?¡± she asked. ¡°Good evening madam. He is my kohai, Yasuo. He will be hosting you tonight and I will be helping him.¡± replied Zenko. ¡°Oh, two for the price of one! It must be my lucky night.¡± she laughed.Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. Yuuto''s hands were sweating slightly but he quickly wiped them on his suit causing Zenko to glare at him. Yuuto started to go through what he was supposed to do in his head. ¡°Hello madam, may I help you sit down?¡± Yuuto asked her. ¡°Yes, please do.¡± She held out her small hand for him to take. Yuuto took it and brought her to the left side of the U shaped booth and held it until she had sat down. ''Next step,'' thought Yuuto. He took a lap napkin from a pile and place it over her legs. He then offered her a steamed towel taken from a container holding multiple towels so she could wash her hands. After finishing with the preparations Yuuto asked her, ¡°May I join you?¡±. ¡°You may.¡± Yuuto walked to the right side of the booth and entered sitting down next to her. He then slightly bowed to her and held out his business card with both hands. ¡°My name is Yasuo. It is a pleasure to meet you.¡± Yuuto said while still bowing until she took the business card. ¡°Thank you. It''s nice to meet you Yasuo.¡± ¡°May I join you Madam?¡± asked Zenko. ¡°Yes, you may Zenko. You know how much I like your company,¡± she said smiling. ¡°If it pleases you, may I know your name?¡± asked Yuuto. ¡°It''s Katsuko¡± Yuuto guessed since she knew Zenko¡¯s name and was on good terms with him, that she wasn''t a first time customer. So he grabbed a menu and asked while offering the menu to her, ¡°May I offer you something to drink or eat madam Katsuko?¡± ¡°Let me see¡± she replied while lightly taking the menu from his hands. She took her time looking through the menu which had appetizers for 5,000 yen. The main money maker for the club was the drinks. There were multiple tiers of drinks the cost for each costing more than the last. There was the 10,000 price for a bottle of shochu or sake. Shochu was normally a drink mixed with tea, milk tea, orange juice, or any other juice the club may have. For sake, ice was added to the glass so that it would take longer to drink the bottle. The next tier was the 200,000 yen for a custom shaped and painted figurine decanter of brandy. The host will get up and sing any song for his client and maybe he might even take off his shirt. The most expensive thing on the menu was for the 1 million yen hermetically sealed double heart shaped club specially produced FuwaFuwa DokiDoki champagne. If a client ordered this, every host would surround them and sing the club special drinking song. When a client buys either the brandy or the champagne, it would not be consumed in one night. A small portion would be poured each night they came. After the purchase, a tag would be put on the bottle with their name. Every time they came, the bottle was to be placed on the table so they could show it off as a trophy while at the club. ¡°Today, I will have a bottle of sake for now.¡± Yuuto waved over a waiter and gave him the order. A minute later, a sake bottle that was sitting in a bucket of ice was delivered to the table along with an ice container that had the large ice cubes used for drinking. ¡°May I prepare the drinks?¡± asked Yuuto. ¡°Please do,¡± Katsuko replied. Yuuto was still nervous enough that he had a hard time picking up the ice cubes and putting them into the three glasses, one for each of them. He then opened the sake bottle and held it so the label was shown to her as he went to pour. His hands were shaking so bad that the bottle hit the glass and nearly knocked it over, but Zenko saved the day and only a small drop escaped dripping onto the tablecloth. Yuuto revived a sharp kick from him. ¡°Look at the poor little rabbit he''s so nervous,¡± said Katsuko. ¡°My apologies madam it is his first night, can you forgive us?¡± asked Zenko while picking up her hand and kissing it. ¡°Oh, all right. If it''s you asking how can I refuse.¡± Yuuto finished successfully pouring the other two glasses, and place the half-empty bottle back into the ice bucket. He looked at Zenko and raised the glass closest to him.¡°A toast to the beautiful madam Katsuko.¡± ¡°Well said,¡± cheered Zenko as all three of their glasses clinked. ¡°Zenko, I do believe he may have some talent after all,¡± laughed Katsuko after finishing taking a drink. ¡°Of course, we don''t let just anyone become a host.¡± Yuuto continued to entertain Katsuko along with the help of Zenko the rest of the night, drinking and listening to her problems and commenting every so often. After the two hours she paid for were up, she declined to extend her time and both Yuuto and Zenko escorted her all the way outside bowing and wishing her well. He made less and less mistakes as the night wore on. Meeting the many different clients of Zenko. After the last person left the club room when it was closing time, Yuuto and Zenko went to the meeting room. During the meeting, they were both asked to stay after it was done. Yuuto quietly fidgeted while waiting, wondering if he had done something wrong. Ten minutes later, only Yuuto, the old man, and Zenko were left in the room. ¡°Yuuto wait outside while I talk to Zenko¡± commanded the old man. ¡°Yes sir,¡± replied Yuuto. He exited the room and closed the door. He could hear a low mummer as Zenko started to talk to the old man. Yuuto started to worry that he wouldn''t be able to continue as a host. Five minutes later, the door opened and Zenko left the room. ¡°Come inside Yuuto.¡± Yuuto entered the room and saw the old man was sitting in the chair at the end of one of the tables. ¡°This meeting is about whether you have what it takes to be a host. Zenko told me that you had made many mistakes tonight.¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°He also said that you got better as the night went on. Seeing as that is the case, I will give you some leeway and have you co-host with others for the next week. If you improve then you will be a permanent host in the club as long as you don''t do something that would warrant me firing you.¡± ¡°Thank you, sir, I will not disappoint you.¡± ¡°You may leave now.¡± Yuuto exited the meeting room and gave a sigh as he walked into the changing room. Thinking to himself, ''The first hurdle has been jumped. Now I just have to keep getting better. And become a top-ranked host!'' On Yuuto''s next day off, he had finished eating lunch and decided to do his laundry which had started to grow into a small mountain on his side of the room. He reached the laundry room and started placing the clothes into one of the two washing machines. He heard the door open and someone else walked into the room. Taking a quick glance around he was able to see who it was. ¡°What a coincidence meeting you here Niko. Must be fate,¡± said Yuuto. ¡°Not really. I just wanted to make the best use of my time today and do the laundry for my siblings and myself,¡± replied Niko haughtily. She began putting clothes that were clearly too small to be hers into the washing machine next to him. ''So she was telling the truth last night,'' Yuuto thought to himself. ¡°So how are your siblings doing living here with you? Must be tough with your schedule.¡± ¡°They''re fine, better than if we were on our own being hounded by creditors. What¡¯s with you being so interested in my family?¡± ¡°Just wanted to know more about you. Seeing as we will be dating soon,¡± said Yuuto with a smile. ¡°Wha... what are you talking about! We don''t even know each other that well. How can you say something so embarrassing.¡± Niko said as she kicked his shin and started fidgeting with the clothes in her hands. Her face turning a light pink from blushing. Yuuto laughed while rubbing his sore shin, ¡°Don''t worry, I was just kidding. It''s good that you and your siblings are doing well.¡± ¡°Oh... yeah, well it''s not an ideal situation for us but we can get through it.¡± Yuuto finished putting in his coins and the detergent into the washer machine. Before he left the laundry room carrying the empty clothes basket, he turned around and asked, ¡°What do you say we let past bygones be bygones and have those events wiped clean so that we can start off again as friends?¡± Niko stopped loading clothes into the washer machine and looked at Yuuto. ¡°That''s fine, I don''t really have a problem with it as long as we''re just friends.¡± Chapter 8: Demon Yuuto spent the rest of the next week learning and improving his hosting abilities. He saw Niko a few times during the week and the relation between them was thawing a bit. The old man had agreed he was now ready to host on his own. Giving him a boost to his confidence. While changing into his work suit, Pretty boy showed up and slapped him on the back. ¡°Great job at being promoted to a full-time host.¡± ¡°Thanks. It took forever, but here I am getting ready for my first night on my own.¡± ¡°Don''t think about it too much. You passed the old man''s test so you should be able to handle anything that comes at you tonight,¡± Pretty boy said as he lightly punched Yuuto''s shoulder once and then left the locker room. Yuuto finished dressing, closed his locker and walked towards the club room where he waited for a short time until the customers started to enter the room from the elevator. Some returning clients immediately walked to the host they always paid to be with. While a few first-time customers were escorted to tables and then surrounded by several hosts who were free, each trying to be the best salesman while trying to woo her and have her pick them as her permanent host after the two-hour time limit was reached. After four hours of not being picked, Yuuto decided to sit back and cool down at one of the booths nearest the bar. Some girls noticed that he was not going over to them and trying to curry favor with them. The majority of them thus ignored him in response. As Yuuto scanned the room, he noticed a small, slim, mid 30''s female customer standing up from her table and walking away from two other hosts who were entertaining her in the hopes she would choose them. She was wearing a pink dress with black polka dots that hugged her body tightly. Her hair was a dark black that was tied up in a nice and neat bun. A moment later, she stopped in front of the table Yuuto was sitting at. ¡°Is this seat taken?¡± she asked while pointing at the space next to Yuuto. Yuuto quickly stood up and bowed to her. ¡°No, it is open for anyone to sit. If you would like, I can help you sit down,¡± said Yuuto ¡°No need to help me. I can handle sitting down by myself,¡± she sat down next to him with barely an inch left between them. Yuuto gave her a cloth lap napkin and a steamed washcloth to clean her hands. ¡°My name is Yasuo. It is a pleasure to meet you.¡± Yuuto said while bowing and holding out his business card. She took the card and placed it inside her wallet. ¡°May I know your name madam?¡± ¡° It''s Risa. Yasuo, why are you sitting over here by yourself?¡± Before he could give an answer to her question. The two hosts that she had been with before came over to Yuuto''s table and gave a slight bow to Risa. ¡°May we join you?¡± the taller host of the two asked her with a bright smile. ¡°No. I don''t like you two. You''re boring. You may leave me now.¡± The two hosts faces twitched nearly turning into a scowl after being shot down so ruthlessly. But being professional hosts, they were able to keep the smile on their face with the edges quivering. Risa had seen it and gave a snort at their expressions. Yuuto started to sweat thinking ''What type of demon have I encountered.'' He loosened his tie. Of course, Yuuto''s fidgeting was picked up by the perceptive Risa. She turned to Yuuto ignoring the other two hosts, placing her hand on his shoulder and leaned over, her mouth next to his ear. Her breath was tickling his ear. He wanted to scratch it to stop the sensation but held off. ¡°Did I make you nervous? Don''t worry I don''t bite...hard,¡± she said while playfully taking a quick nibble at his ear. Then she blew into his ear. Both the nibbling and breathing into his ear had startled him. Making him give out a muffled yelp and nearly jump out of his skin. ''Who is this demon to do such crazy things out in the open in front of others. What have I done to deserve her attacking me,'' thought Yuuto. ¡°How cute. You seem to be more my type.¡±She looked over at the other two hosts who had their jaws dropped. Risa gave them a cold look and asked, ¡°What are you two still doing here?¡± Yuuto looked at them silently pleading with his eyes to have them to stay. The two hosts looked at each other and then turned around and walked away. Yuuto stared holes into their backs and screamed in his head ''Don''t leave! Someone save me.'' ¡°Now let¡¯s see, what to drink tonight,¡± she picked up a menu before Yuuto could offer it to her and scanned the contents. ¡°I think I will order a decanter of brandy.¡±This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. ¡°Ma... Madam are you sure? This being your first visit to Winter Night, the sake and shochu are free.¡± ¡°Yasuo, I know what I want,¡± she whispered into his ear. Making Yuuto shudder. Yuuto called over a waiter and gave him the order. While waiting for it to arrive Yuuto remembered that with the purchase of a decanter of brandy, he would have to sing some songs for her. How dreadful. ¡°With your purchase of the brandy is there any songs or something you would like me to sing to you?¡± asked Yuuto. ¡°You don''t have to sing anything for me but in exchange for that, you can be a good little puppy and bark for me when I command,¡± she smiled evilly. ¡°If that is your wish madam,¡± said Yuuto with an awkward smile on his face. ''What a sadist.'' thought Yuuto. Yuuto was tortured the rest of the two hours she had paid for. At the end of her the time, she stood up and gathered her purse and wallet. ¡°Iguess my two hours are now up,¡± she gave a sigh. ¡°Time flies when you''re having fun. You may escort me out,¡± she said. Yuuto picked up the decanter of brandy that only had a small portion gone and brought it with him as they walked up to the register of next to the elevator. ¡°Hello ma''am, I trust you had a good night. I believe this is your first night visiting Winter Night am I correct?¡± asked the host manager who took care of the cash register. ¡°Yes I had a good time, and indeed it was my first time.¡± ¡°I''m glad we were able to entertain you. As this is your first time, if you want to come again you will need to choose a host of your likening. That host will entertain you whenever you come back to Winter Night. Is there someone you wish to assign as your host?¡± the manager asked. ¡°I will choose Yasuo.¡± ¡°Great, the assignment will cost you 2000 yen. It will be added to your bill which is.¡± He looked at the bill Yuuto handed him and raised an eyebrow. ¡°A total of 202,000 yen for the brandy and assignment fee.¡± She rummaged through her purse for a few seconds causing Yuuto to fret and wonder if she even had the money to pay. Her hand soon came out and had two 100,000 yen bills and two 1000 yen bills clutched in it. She handed them over to the manager. ¡°Would you please put your name on this tag so we can label your purchased brandy. This way we can have an easier time finding it when you next come,¡± said the manager as he handed her a small round white tag with a loop of blue string hooked through it. Risa neatly wrote her name and handed the tag to Yuuto who was holding onto the decanter of brandy. He took it and placed it around the neck of the pouring spout. And handed it over to the manager. ¡°Thank you for coming to Winter Night,¡± said the manager with a slight bow. Risa grabbed Yuuto''s arm and dragged him into the elevator. It seemed like she was the one escorting him, opposite from what it should be. He walked out the elevator and to the doors with his arm linked with hers. She let go and turned to him. ¡°Don''t lose too much sleep from worrying about when you will see me again. I will come again then we can continue where we left off,¡± Risa said coyly. She then waved goodbye and exited the building. Yuuto shuddered. ''What a demon. On the bright side, I made 60,000 yen from the brandy purchase while gaining my first client.'' He went back to the club room, got a washcloth and cleaned his table. After everything was sorted back in order he sat back down and gave a sigh. Trying to recover the energy that had been sapped from him over the last two hours, he closed his eyes and rubbed his temples. He felt a light wind of someone passing him and then someone plopped down right next to him. He opened his eyes to see a young 20+-year-old female with brown hair sitting next to him. ¡°Welcome...¡± ¡°Shut up. I want to order some sake and fruit,¡± she interrupted him coldly. ''Why do the crazy''s keep coming to me?'' thought Yuuto. He placed an order with the waiter and sat quietly. Not sure what to do. His dilemma was solved when the lady next to him started to talk. ¡°I don''t want you to talk, just sit there and listen.¡± Yuuto nodded quickly to show he understood. He spent an hour and a half listening to her rant about her boss and co-workers. By now after many bottles of sake, she was getting quite drunk. The last 30 minutes had been something about her co-worker doing something she didn''t like. She leaned forward getting close to his face. She was breathing hard from all the talking she was doing, her breath reeked of alcohol. ¡°And then... and then ¡­ out of nowhere, he asked me to go out on a date. I mean who does that? Who exactly would do something like that then ask me on a date,¡± she said She pointed at Yuuto nearly poking him in the eye. ¡°I''m sure that''s something you probably would do.¡± He gave a quick shake of his head to deny whatever she was accusing him of again for the hundredth time. She gave a snort as if she didn''t believe him and then took a large gulp finishing off another glass of sake. He had lost count of how many she had drunk. She plucked the last grape off her plate and tossed it in her mouth. ¡°That''s enough. I''m done talking to you. Take me to pay the bill so I can leave,¡± she commanded. He stood up and held out his hand to help her stand up. She stood up quickly and nearly fell back down but Yuuto griped her hand and placed his other arm around on her back steadying her. ¡°Whoa! Note to self, don''t stand up so quickly. I think I drank a little too much. Where''s the bathroom?¡± Yuuto led her towards the female bathrooms and waited outside while she took care of her business. He could hear someone hurling inside the bathroom. Five minutes later she exited, her hair a bit messier than when she went in. Yuuto offered her a steamed wet towelette which she took and wiped her face and hands on. Then tossed it back at Yuuto who put it in the dirty towel basket under the wooden stand holding the towel steamer. ¡°I feel better now. I''m ready to go pay the bill.¡± Yuuto led her to the register. ¡°Good evening Madam I hope you had a good time.¡± the manager greeted her with a smile. Yuuto handed him the bill. ¡°Hmmff¡± she replied. ¡°Ahahaha well, then the cost then the total for tonight is 70,000.¡± She reached into her purse and pulled out a 10,000 yen bill. ¡°I seem to have misplaced my wallet and only have this on me.¡± Yuuto cursed under his breath, earning him a glare from the manager. He just lost all the money he had gained earlier. ¡°I''m sorry to hear that. If that is the case we will have to ask you to not enter our club unless you plan on paying what you owe.¡± said the manager, his smile had disappeared and turned into a rock hard serious business face. He printed off a picture of her that was taken from the cameras over the entrance and then wrote down the amount owed and posted onto a bulletin board. Yuuto escorted her out of the building and bid her a good night. Due to this misfortune, he was only able to earn 6000 yen for the rest of the night after paying off her unpaid bill. Chapter 9: Check up Over the next few days, Misa and Kana had picked Yuuto as their main host. Misa had invited him to go to the Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden on his next day off for a picnic before she had to go to work. Yuuto agreed to her proposal. Kana had also asked him to go to the park for lunch. Yuuto Immediately accepted not wanting to disappoint his longtime friend. He spent the rest of the time until his day off thinking how to fix his overbooking problem. A light bulb turned on as he had a bright idea to bring along his other host friends so everyone could have a great time together. Kana and Misa had both showed up at the meeting point they had set with Yuuto next to the entrance of the park. They were both carrying baskets with the food they had prepared earlier that morning. After seeing each other waiting for someone they started chatting. ¡°Hey Misa, you waiting for someone also?¡± asked Kana. ¡°Yeah, how about you Kana?¡± Misa asked shyly. ¡°Yup, the person I''m waiting for should be here soon.¡± They both looked at the crowd of people walking by searching for Yuuto. Moments later, they found him walking towards them with a group of three other guys. ¡°Yuuto over here,¡± both Kana and Misa shouted out at the same time. ¡°Huh? You''re waiting for Yuuto?¡± asked Kana. ¡°I asked him to the park for lunch on his next day off,¡± said Misa ¡°Me to...¡± said Kana, lost for words. Just then Yuuto and his group of friends arrived. ¡°Hey, you guys were here for the picnic¡± shouted an energetic Yuuto. ¡°Yuuto!¡± ¡°Yasuo!¡± both Kana and Misa shouted at Yuuto angrily. They both stomped down on one of his feet. ¡°Why are you attacking me?¡± yelped Yuuto. ¡°Why did you accept both mine and Misa''s invite for lunch,¡± asked Kana while grinding her foot on top of his. ¡°Ow, ow, stop that. I didn''t want to disappoint either of you so I decided to accept the two of them and bring my other friends along also. How do you two know each other?¡± asked Yuuto. With a last stomp on his foot, Kana took her foot off his and replied, ¡°You''re so hopeless. We used to work together. That''s how we know each other.¡± ¡°So your name is Yuuto. Not Yasuo,¡± said Misa. ¡°Yeah, my work name is Yasuo. Anyways, these three guys are my friends I work with. Takaji, Rinji, and Motoki.¡± said Yuuto as he pointed to each person and gave their name. ¡°Nice to meet you,¡± All three said as they gave a slight bow to Kana and Misa. ¡°Well let''s go find a spot to eat,¡± said Yuuto. He turned around and walked to the entrance of the park paying the entrance fee while ignoring the daggers being glared at the back of his head. They found a nice spot to lay the blanket out under the sakura trees which shaded them from the sun. Both Kana and Misa placed down the boxed food they have made and opened them up. Yuuto inspected the contents of each. Misa had made a salad, tamagoyaki (Japanese-style omelet), and three different types of onigiri (rice ball). The flavors being pickled plum, salmon, and tuna mayonnaise. While Kana had made kara-age (boneless, bite-sized Japanese fried chicken), takoyaki (grilled octopus balls), and ebi-fry (breaded fried shrimp). Both Misa and Kana Looked at Yuuto expectantly waiting for him eat some of their food they cooked. Motoki tried to reach for something but his hand was slapped away. ¡°Yuuto has to eat first,¡± said Kana. Taking the hint, he thought for a moment on which person¡¯s food to eat first. He didn''t want to upset either of them. Then it came to him, in the form of a bright idea. ¡®I¡¯m quite smart aren''t I,¡¯ thought Yuuto. All he had to do was eat some of Misa and Kana¡¯s food at the same time. He picked up his chopsticks and dove in snatching up some tamagoyaki and kara-age shoving them both into his mouth at the same time. This earned him some angry glares from both of the girls. ¡°What?¡± asked Yuuto confused at why they were getting so mad over his smart ideas. Soon after Yuuto started eating everyone else was allowed to start eating as well. After the food was devoured. they all rested while making small talk. Getting to know each other better. Yuuto was laying down on the blanket. Rubbing his stomach in a content way. ¡°What a feast. You guys sure know how to cook,¡± Yuuto complemented both the girls. Smiles appeared on both their faces. As they thanked him for the compliment. An hour after they had finished eating, they packed up the food and left the park. ¡°Let''s do this again sometime soon,¡± said Kana. ¡°Yeah, I had fun. I might know another person who would want to join us next time. Is it okay to bring them?¡± asked Yuuto. ¡°Sure, the more the merrier,¡± Kana readily agreed. After finishing their goodbyes, they each separated and went there own way. *** Today''s work day was an odd day for Yuuto. If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Then again when was it ever normal. He had been ordered by the old man to escort the government inspectors on a tour of the working areas of the club. This way none of the top hosts or management were bothered. Since the government was the one that gave the host clubs their license to operate, they checked up on the clubs every few months to see if everything was in order and no violations of the laws were being committed. Yuuto was waiting at the front desk for the government inspectors. Right on time, a man in a nice black striped suit and a woman wearing a matching black striped shirt and skirt walked up to the desk. Yuuto saw the man was trying to stand as far away from the female as he could get without being too obvious. ¡°We¡¯re here for the scheduled inspection.¡± said the familiar cold voice of the female inspector. Yuuto turned to look at her to see who it was he knew that was talking. He gasped it was her! ¡°Hey,you! Why are you standing there so haughtily, you owe the club 60,000 yen. I had to pay it for you. You took away almost all the money I made that night. Are you even allowed to be here?¡± asked Yuuto. The female Inspector gave him an annoyed look. The male inspector looked at her and gave an exasperated sigh, ¡°Senpai, you went to see a host at this host club and racked up an unpaid bill again. How many times does boss keep telling you to stop going to the clubs you have to inspect and not paying them.¡± She clicked her tongue in annoyance. The male inspector walked over to Yuuto took out his wallet and pulled out six 10,000 yen bills. He then gave a slight bow and handed over the money to Yuuto. ¡°I''m truly sorry that my senpai caused you and club Winter Night trouble. This should cover the debt she owes.¡± the male instructor said humbly. Yuuto handed the money over to the front desk manager. ¡°We will take care of it for you. Thank you for paying.¡± said the manager. ¡°Again, truly sorry and thank you for accepting.¡± the male inspector said. ¡°Stop groveling and let''s get on with the inspection; We don''t have all day to waste chatting. Who will be showing us around the premises?¡± asked the lady. Yuuto sympathized with the man. ¡°Hello, my name is Yasuo, I will be escorting you around today,¡± Yuuto said with his host smile and he gave a slight bow to each of them. ¡°May I confirm where you need to inspect?¡± asked Yuuto humbly. ¡°Everywhere,¡± she said briskly. ¡°I was told you only needed to see the work areas,¡± replied Yuuto. ¡°I said we will be checking the whole building. It is my job to sure there are no laws being violated here,¡± she said haughtily. Yuuto looked at the front desk manager to see if he knew what to do. He only gave a shrug as if to say I don''t know what to do either. ¡°Very well. I can lead you on the tour of most of the building.¡± ¡°Most? Why not all?¡± asked the female inspector. ¡°There are areas men cannot go, we will have to have a female guide you in those areas. There are other places where females can not go so I will have to lead your co-worker for the inspection of those parts, ¡± said Yuuto. He looked at the manager and asked, ¡°Can you arrange for a female host to help escort her?¡± ¡°Will do. She will be waiting for her on the 6th floor.¡± ¡°Hmpff... Let''s go.¡± Yuuto lead them through all the offices on the first floor. Where they just walked around looking and then left. They then went to the basement to check out the gym. It was currently in use. They stood off to the side and watched Dr. Doi wiping everyone into shape. ¡°Impressive gym you have here. The trainer seems to love his job.¡± said the male inspector admiring everything around him. ¡°Well, we do have to keep in shape. Just drinking and eating isn''t enough to stay healthy.¡± From the gym,they went on to the 2nd floor to inspect the kitchen and the storage room. It was too early in the day for the head cook to be here yet so the inspectors fiddled around with things, opened boxes and bottles, messing up the head cooks kitchen while inspecting. The female instructor was furiously writing things down on a clipboard and checking things off. Yuuto knew there would be hell to pay when the head cook came in and found his kitchen messed up. They then went to inspect the 3rd-floor host club looking at the booths, tables, and dancing floor. Then the female inspector went behind the bar and started taste testing the drinks behind the bar. On the 4th floor where V.I.P. rooms where they inspected each room carefully. Next was 5th-floor hostess club where they rummaged around, moving things and making it all a mess. They finished writing on their clipboards and looked at Yuuto expectantly. ¡°We have to split from here. Your female escort will be waiting for you on the 6th floor of the woman''s side.¡± Yuuto said to the female Instructor. They split up and Yuuto and the male inspector walked to the male''s section of the 6th floor and up. ¡°I am sorry for my senpai being so rude. Lately. she has been acting weird and I don''t know what caused it and what to do about it.¡± said the male inspector dejectedly. Yuuto kept quiet. They went through the rest of the floors inspecting the cafeteria, classroom, and individual rooms. Without causing much trouble or making a mess like the earlier floors. When everything was finished they walked down to the 1st floor and waited for the female inspector. She showed up ten minutes later led by a hostess he did not know. ¡°Did you correctly inspect everything on your end?¡± asked the female investigator while staring at here co-worker sternly. ¡°Yes, I checked everything thoroughly.¡± said male hurriedly, afraid if he didn''t respond fast enough she would lecture him. She turned to Yuuto then said, ¡°Tell whoever you need to that the final assessment report will be sent in the mail a week from now. Now that we have finished here we are leaving come, Shinsui.¡± Shinsui scurried after her as she stormed out of the building. Yuuto gave a sigh what a crazy day. Then he remembered Niko was also here with him. ¡°So you were chosen to escort her. How was it?¡± asked Yuuto ¡°She seems to be a very cold person. That''s all I could tell from the short time I was with her.¡± replied the hostess. They parted ways. Yuuto decided to go to the mail room and check if he had any mail had come When he reached the room, Niko walked out and almost collided with him. The shock of meeting her so suddenly caused Yuuto to remembered about the upcoming picnic and decided to ask Niko. ¡°Hey, would you like to go to Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden park for a picnic on our next day off?¡± ¡°What? I... um¡­well... I guess so.¡± said Niko, flustered thinking he was asking her on a date. ¡°Great, the others will be glad to meet you.¡± ¡°You idiot,¡± she shouted and kicked him in the shin then ran up the stairs that led to the women''s floor. While hopping on one foot from the pain Yuuto was confusedly thinking ''What did I do to make her kick me again. She''s always kicking me.'' *** The female instructor walked to her bosses¡¯ office room, Ignored the secretary and knocked on the door. ¡°You may enter,¡± said a gravelly voice. She opened the door and walked in quickly and slamming the door behind her. ¡°How many times do I have to tell you to act like you have a brain and not slam my door. Give me your report on this week''s inspections. Any violations we need to look into further?¡± asked her boss behind his desk. He was smoking a cigar that was nearly only a stub left. ¡°Out of the ones I''ve inspected this week, only one needs to be added to the list we have already formed that is,¡± she stopped to look at the name on her notes. ¡°Club Hardwood. All others seemed to have no violations I could find.¡± ¡°Keep up the good work. We just have to keep an eye on these clubs and pounce on them if they mess up. You¡¯re dismissed,¡± she exited while he kept muttering ¡°Soon soon soon¡±. Chapter 10: X Yuuto was talking to Pretty boy in the club room, sitting on the bar stools. The night shift had just ended and the security personnel came out of the elevator disheveled and frantically looking around he spotted Yuuto and Pretty boy, hurriedly walked over to them. ¡°Please come and help us, there is someone causing problems on the 5th floor. We need more people to subdue him,¡± pleaded the security person. ¡°What a drag,¡± replied Pretty boy while getting up. ¡°Sure, we''ll help,¡± Yuuto said to the man. They used the elevator to go up to the 5th floor. When they exited, they could hear someone shouting and cursing at another person. Yuuto found the man causing the uproar and walked over to him along with Pretty boy. He was holding onto a female host¡¯s arm while screaming and cussing at her. There were a few security guys who had been knocked out around him, one of them seemed to be waking up. The angry man hearing footsteps behind him turned, allowing Yuuto to see the female''s arm he was grabbing on to was Niko''s. She had a frightened face as she looked over to see who had come as well. ¡°What do you guys want?¡± he asked. ¡°We were told someone was causing problems here so we came here to help solve them,¡± said Pretty boy. ¡°It''s none of your business, leave us alone, we¡¯re just talking,¡± he spat at them. Yuuto put his hand on the rude man''s shoulder and said, ¡°Sir you''re causing problems for the business. It also looks like you''re yelling at and hurting one of my friends. So I will ask you to please leave the premise.¡± Niko''s arm was let go but in the next second, a fist came flying at Yuuto''s head. It only grazed the side of his head and hitting his ear. Sending Yuuto reeling into a table. He then aimed for the security guard and landed a hit on his stomach sending him to the floor. Pretty boy quickly dodged out of range from him. ¡°F*ck off,¡± said the man. He then turned around ignoring them and grabbed for the cornered Niko. Yuuto looked over at Pretty boy to see if he was ready to help take care of the rude man. Pretty boy gave him a thumbs up gesturing for Yuuto to go first. ''Screw you Pretty boy. You''re just scared to go first.'' thought Yuuto. Yuuto stood up and crouched down, then launched himself at the man tackling him from behind. They both fell to the floor with Yuuto on top. Yuuto was struggling to keep him from getting back up. ¡°Hurry up and help me will you?¡± Yuuto said glaring at Pretty boy and the security man still on the ground gasping for breath. Yuuto watched as Pretty boy walked up to one of the unconscious security guards and took some zip ties from his belt. Then sat down on top of Yuuto and the man. ¡°Get off me. What are you doing,¡± said Yuuto. Pretty boy was able to grab the man''s legs and used two large zip ties to secure his feet. After another minute of struggling the man''s hands were restrained with the zip ties. He then got up offof Yuuto and the angry man. Yuuto stood up leaving the man on the floor to wiggle like a fish out of water. Yuuto glared at Pretty boy. ¡°What you wanted help so I helped you stop him from moving,¡± said Pretty boy. ¡°You didn''t need to sit on top of me you''re heavy. I could barely breathe,¡± said Yuuto. Pretty boy shrugged then walked to the man''s head and shoved a wet towel into his mouth to stop him from cursing and shouting. Yuuto walked over to Niko who seemed to have calmed down slightly. ¡°Hey Niko, mind telling us who this man is and why he was being so violent?¡± asked Yuuto. She took some time to gather herself further and then spoke, ¡°He is my ex-boyfriend. He wanted me to quit working her and start working with him for his boss again. I told him I wanted nothing to do with him I have to keep my siblings safe and make sure they have food. I can do that here but not with that lech.¡± ¡°Your ex huh,¡± said Yuuto. ¡°You sure know how to pick men.¡± said Pretty boy. That earned Pretty boy a kick in the shin from Niko. Yuuto laughed and said ¡°You better be careful of Niko''s special move. the ''Steel-toed shin kicker''.¡± This earning himself a kick in the shin. ¡°This isn''t manga or anime so why are you giving me special moves. Anyways. shouldn''t you be taking care of him,¡± said Niko pointing at her ex. ¡°Your right. Should we just call the police or let him go?¡± asked Yuuto. ¡°I''ll go call the bosses¡¯ office. See what he wants,¡± said Pretty boy who then ran off to a phone on the wall behind the bar. Several minutes later, he walked back. ¡°The boss said he knew who the guy was and called the man''s boss. We are to take him to the entrance and wait for the people that are supposed to come pick him up,¡± said Pretty boy. After hearing this, the man stopped squirming and trying to get free. Both Yuuto and Pretty boy put an arm under Niko''s ex and dragged him into the elevator. Where they descended to the lobby for the men''s host club. The desk manager was startled seeing them dragging a tied up limp body out of the elevator. He timidly asked, ¡°You didn''t kill him, did you?¡± ¡°No, why would we. Some reason he''s gone quiet and stopped moving,¡± said Yuuto. They dragged him to a chair and lifted him onto it. Where he just slumped down into it. Yuuto and Pretty boy stood on either side of him. The wait for the people coming to pick him up wasn''t that long. A black Mercedes Benz with dark. tinted windows pulled up to the door and two men with buzz cuts and black suit stepped out of the back of the car and walked into the building. Just then the elevator dinged and the old man walked out. The two men in suits bowed to old man Kentaro. The taller one looked up and said, ¡°We''re sorry one of our men has caused you trouble. Our boss has told us to let you know he did not send him here to harass your workers. He asks if you would please forgive him for any problems caused.¡± ¡°Tell Your boss I do not blame him for a rogue worker causing problems. But I hope in the future he can have a better handle on his own people,¡± said the old man sternly. ¡°Thank you for understanding. We will carry your message to him. May we take him now?¡± asked the smaller of the two suited men. The old man nodded allowing both of them to go over cut off the zip ties. Then roughly standing him up and ordering him to walk in front of them. They exited the building and left in their car. The next day. Yuuto got a call on his cellphone waking him up way too early before he had to get ready for work. He rummaged through his pants pocket on the floor that contained his cellphone. Only his customers and a few friends knew this number. He brought the still ringing phone to his face so he could get a better look and see the caller ID. It was Niko. Yuuto sat up more alert and answered the call. ¡°Niko, what is it you need?¡± ¡°He''s here!¡± said Niko frantically. ¡°Who, and where is here?¡± asked Yuuto. ¡°My ex is out on the escape ladder/platform that is next to my window to my room. He keeps banging on the window telling me to open up.¡± ¡°Okay. Pretty boy and I will see if we can corner him on the escape ladder. Get out of the room and see if you can stay in another person''s room.¡±Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. Yuuto walked over to Pretty boy and lightly slapped him a few times. Waking him up. ¡°The guy from last night is causing problems. Let''s go take care of him,¡± said Yuuto. ¡°Why do you need me. You didn''t need to wake me up.¡± said Pretty boy as they walked outside and went to the emergency ladder. Looking up they couldn''t see anyone there. ¡°Let''s go up and see if he left or just climbed to the roof,¡± said Yuuto. They both climbed up but they didn''t see any windows broken into. So they continued up in search of the ex. They reached the roof and searched it but found no one there. ¡°Damn it, he must have gotten away,¡± said Pretty boy. ¡°Waking me up to go on a wild goose chase. Not cool.¡± Yuuto dialed Niko''s number and told her that he had escaped before they could catch him. ¡°He''s not there anymore but I don''t know when he might try coming back. Just make sure to lock your windows and report this to the old man and his wife.¡± He hung up then both, he andPretty boy went back to their room and back to sleep. When they woke up and went to start work that night they noticed that security had been beefed up. Nothing was reported out of the ordinary the whole night and into the morning. Just before Yuuto was going to go to sleep, he received a text. It was from Niko, he hurriedly read it. It said she checked the room before bringing her brother and sister back from a friend¡¯s room who had watched them while she was at work. No one was in the room but someone had broken into her room and stolen some of her undergarments. She had to take her siblings to school and was worried she might see him along the way. Yuuto text her back and offered to help escort her siblings to school, to which she agreed. He went to the cafeteria and made a cup of strong coffee, then walked to the front lobby where he waited for Niko and her siblings. After a few more sips from his coffee, Niko appeared herding both her younger siblings. Both her siblings were wearing their elementary school uniforms, their name tags pinned to their shirts and randoseru backpacks. The little sister had twin pigtails sticking out of her hat. Yuuto greeted Niko then turned to the younger siblings. ¡°Hello, my name is Yuuto. What''s yours?¡± ¡°I''m Tabito, I''m in the 5th grade,¡± said Tabito. ¡°I''m Eri, I am in the 6th grade,¡± said Eri. ¡°It''s nice to meet both of you. Well shall we get going?¡± asked Yuuto looking at Niko who nodded her head. Halfway to the school, Niko''s ex-showed up, trying to block the sidewalk. He seemed surprised to see someone else walking with her. ¡°Why do you keep ignoring me?¡± he asked Niko. ¡°Hey take a hint, you need to lay off and leave Niko and her siblings alone,¡± said Yuuto sternly. Yuuto shoved him aside allowing Niko and her siblings to walk by. The young siblings when walking by, both kicked the ex in the shin. ''What are you teaching these guys Niko'' thought Yuuto. ¡°I won''t give up,¡± shouted Mr. X to their backs as they walked away. There were no other incidents after being ambushed on the side of the road. Niko and Yuuto both returned to the Host club. In the lobby, Yuuto stopped Niko. ¡°Hey I think you should say at a friend¡¯s room to sleep today if you don''t mind, me and Pretty boy can do a stakeout in your room and catch whoever entered before,¡± said Yuuto. ¡°You''ll do that for me?¡± asked Niko. ¡°Yeah since I don''t need to work tonight. Remember tomorrow is the picnic.¡± ¡°Okay. Just make sure you don''t do anything weird to my stuff in my room.¡± Niko said looking suspiciously at Yuuto. ¡°Come on, cut me some slack, I''m not going to do anything you don''t want me to be doing. If you wait here, I will go get Pretty boy,¡± said Yuuto who sped off to his own room. A few minutes later he was dragging a groggy Pretty boy behind him meeting back up with her. Niko led them to her room and unlocked it. It was larger than Yuuto''s room. It had two small bedrooms, a living room, and kitchen. There was a nice smell inside, way better than his room that smelt like old laundry and air fresheners. Before leaving her room she sternly gave them one last warning, ¡° Don''t do anything weird.¡± ¡°Guess I will take up the watch first,¡± said Yuuto. Pretty boy grumbled something unintelligible and walked over to the couch, plopped down and went to sleep. Yuuto decided to inspect the room and see where anyone could get in. He walked into one of the rooms and looked around it looked to be Tabito¡¯s room. The window had no ladder or anything else connected to it. Yuuto made a mental note that this room wouldn''t have anyone breaking into it. He exited the room and walked into the one opposite it and entered the room. Yuuto was able to guess that this room definitely belonged Niko and her younger sister from all the stuffed animals and pink items. He went to the window and checked outside. This was the room that had the ladder connected to the escape system. ¡®This is most likely where the intruder will come in.¡¯ thought Yuuto. He decided to stay in this room and start the stakeout. He closed the curtains then sat down on the bed. ¡±Hmm this is a comfortable bed,¡± Yuuto said to himself. The coffee he had drunk was wearing off and he kept on trying to shake his head to clear it and stay awake. He decided to lay down and rest his head for a while. As he drifted off to sleep he thought ''It smells nice.'' He was woken up by the rattling of the window. Someone was trying to unlock it and get into the room. Yuuto immediately rolled off the bed and crawled into the living room and shook Pretty boy awake. ¡°Someone''s breaking in,¡± said Yuuto urgently who was now fully awake from the rush of adrenalin. They both crawled back into the room showing off their secret agent moves and arrived at the bed hiding on the opposite side of the window. Yuuto was able to move a pillow under the blankets to make it look as if someone was sleeping in the bed before they heard window slide open. They ducked down quickly trying to quiet their breathing and waited for the person to get closer so they could subdue them. They were easily able to hear the footsteps that were clumsily trying to be quiet in the dark, slowly walk over to the bed. A few seconds later, the footsteps stopped on the opposite side of the bed. Yuuto and Pretty boy looked at each other and were getting ready to jump when they hear the sound of cloth ripping. ¡°What she''s not here?¡± asked a familiar voice. Both Yuuto and Pretty boy didn''t know what had caused the sound a few seconds before but they decided now was the time to capture the intruder while he was preoccupied. Yuuto waited for Pretty boy to get in position at the head of the bed to tackle the legs while Yuuto would tackle the upper body. Pretty boy gave a thumbs up and they both sprang out from behind the bed at the same time. As they collided with the surprised intruder, something metallic flew out of his grip and clattered into the corner of the room. The surprise was only momentary the intruder shook off Yuuto and kicked at Pretty boy to try and get him off his leg. There was the sound of a switchblade being opened, the intruder swung his arm at Yuuto who was able to block the attack, or so he thought. He felt a sharp pain as something grazed his hand causing a small wound to start bleeding. ¡°He¡¯s got a knife,¡± Yuuto warned Pretty boy. Pretty boy renewed his struggle with the man trying to trip him. Yuuto kept dodging and trying to block the attacks from the knife, receiving minor cuts. Yuuto was looking around for anything he could use to fight with, as he was dodging he stepped on a pillow that had fallen on the floor. ¡®Better than nothing¡¯ he thought as he picked the pillow up off the floor and swung it at the man''s face. It was a success as the sudden attack had startled him and allowed Pretty boy to trip the intruder and force him to the ground. Yuuto quickly went for the man''s hand and stepped on it until he dropped the knife. They had brought some large zip ties from the night before and Pretty boy had used them already on the legs. After a minute or two, they both were able to subdue the man¡¯s arms and zip tie them as well. Pretty boy walked over to the lights and turned them on blinding everyone in the room for a few moments. When they looked to see who the intruder, they could see it was indeed Niko''s ex and the metallic item that he had been holding when they had first tackled him was a large kitchen knife, and the other knife was a small pocket knife. Yuuto looked over at the bed and saw the blanket and pillow had a large slash cutting them open. ''That was a dangerously stupid move, tackling him while he had a knife'' thought Yuuto. He checked the pockets to see if there were any other weapons. What he pulled out wasn¡¯t weapons but some underwear and bras belonging to a female. ¡°So you''re also the mysterious panty thief,¡± said Yuuto. ¡°The Old man and security are on their way. They called the police.¡± said Pretty boy, as he hung up from a call on his cellphone. Two minutes later, the security people dragged him out of the room and went to the lobby where they waited for the police to hand him over. Yuuto had some bandages applied to his cuts while they waited. Niko walked over to them and asked worriedly. ¡±Are you guys okay? Were you hurt?¡± ¡°We¡¯re fine just a few small cuts. If I hadn''t woken up, I might have been stabbed or sliced instead of just your blanket and pillow,¡± said Yuuto. ¡°What you slept in my bed!¡± she asked angrily. ¡°Yeah, it kinda happened where I just dozed off while waiting ahaha, but don''t worry your bed didn''t smell bad. In fact, it smelt pretty good,¡± said Yuuto ¡°Yo.. you smelt my bed and pillow!! YOU IDIOT!¡± Niko repeatedly kicked Yuuto''s shin. ¡°Ow! What are you kicking me for now?¡± asked Yuuto in a pained voice. ¡°I told you not to do anything weird and you went and did something as perverted as sleeping in my bed and smelling it. Get out!¡± she kicked them out of her room and slammed the door in Yuuto''s face. ¡°Um... Niko, don''t forget tomorrow is the picnic,¡± said Yuuto. ¡°Shut up,¡± shouted Niko through the door. ¡°Should I take that as a yes?¡± asked Yuuto. The door opened and a shoe was thrown at his head. And then the door slammed shut again. ¡°Guess that''s a maybe,¡± said Yuuto. *** The next day. Niko had joined Yuuto and the other three guys as they walked to the park. When Kana and Misa showed up they all greeted each other. ¡°This is my friend who I told you about last time. I''ll let her introduce herself,¡± said Yuuto. ¡°Hello, my name is Niko Ogiwara. And my hobby is beating up Yuuto,¡± said Niko. Misa and Kana both burst out laughing. ¡°Yuuto, what did you do to her?¡± asked Misa. ¡°Nothing I swear, she''s just always getting angry and kicking me,¡± said Yuuto defensively. ¡°Hmph,¡± said Niko disagreeing with him. ¡°It seems we will be good friends with Niko,¡± said Kana. ¡°Yes me too,¡± agreed Misa. The three of them spent the rest of the time at the picnic secretly talking between themselves and laughing while every once and awhile looking back over to where Yuuto and the other guys were sitting playing cards. ¡°I think we are being made fun of,¡± said Yuuto. ¡°Not us but you more likely,¡± said Pretty boy. Chapter 11: Exchange A week had passed since Niko''s crazy ex-was arrested. Yuuto sat at the table in the staff meeting room while watching and listening to the Old man tally up everyone''s monthly score and rank. Pretty boy was moved from unranked to #15, and Yuuto was also moved from unranked to #18. ''Woo moving up in life'' thought Yuuto. They were dismissed but before Yuuto could leave the old man called out to him. ¡°Yuuto could you stay here for a moment? I have something to discuss with you.¡± Yuuto walked back to his seat and sat down. The Old man waited until everyone had left before he talked. ¡°I have an old friend that has offered me a large amount of money to borrow a host to cover for one of theirs that has gotten sick. Seeing as you have the largest debt out of everyone this money would go towards paying off some of your debt if you agree to go and work for them. It should only be for a few days, starting on Monday. Are you interested?¡± asked the Old man. ¡°Yes, of course, this would help me out a lot,¡± replied Yuuto immediately. ¡°Good then, I will arrange everything be ready by Monday. You may leave.¡± It was Saturday, a day off for Yuuto. He wasn''t going outside for any fun because Niko had asked him to help watch her siblings while she worked. Agreeing to take care of them was an easy decision; they were nice kids. Yuuto had gotten to know them over the last week as he had helped walk them to school. Both Tabito and Eri had started to call him Oniisan. He waited in the front lobby for Niko and the two kids. When they arrived Yuuto walked over to them. Eri was wearing her twin pigtails like always and had a blue bunny hair clip pinning back her bangs, wearing a blue shirt and matching skirt. While her brother Tabito had his hair cut short and wore a Dragon Ball Z t-shirt and jeans. He was carrying some of his Gundam toy models. ¡°Hey Eri, Tabito, how''s it going,¡± said Yuuto while giving them each a high five. ¡°They have already eaten breakfast so they are good to go,¡± said Niko. ¡°Ah Niko, I won''t be able to help out with the kids during the week, I have to help work at another host club for a few days this week. Don''t worry it''s not permanent, I''ll be able to help out again after I get back.¡± ¡°That''s fine. Well, I have to get going thanks again for watching them.¡± Niko replied. ¡°Not a problem,¡± said Yuuto as he waved goodbye until she left. ¡°Well let¡¯s go so we can start having fun.¡± Yuuto led the siblings to his and Pretty boy¡¯s room so he turned on the TV and switched to the station that had Saturday morning anime running. The room was nice and clean as Yuuto had spent two hours making sure it was all clean. Pretty boy had already gone out to meet up with someone on a date leaving the room empty. All three of them sat down on cushions around a small table. In front of the TV. Yuuto took out some cards ¡°Do the either of you want to play some cards?¡± he asked. ¡°No¡±, ¡°Not yet¡±, they both replied to busy watching what was on TV. Yuuto shrugged and watched the TV with them the rest of the morning and into the afternoon. After eating lunch, they played card games and made origami until they got bored and started to watch anime again all the way until Niko came back and picked them up. ¡°Did they misbehave?¡± asked Niko. ¡°No, they were great. No problem at all,¡± replied Yuuto. ¡°Well thanks again you really helped me out.¡± ¡°If you need anyone to watch them again and I''m free just ask.¡± Giving their last goodbye. she left with Tabito and Eri. *** Monday. Yuuto entered the back seat of the black car that club Hardwood, the club he was going to work at for a few days, had sent to pick him up. The driver seemed to be angry and very serious. They drove in silence for over ten minutes until the car stopped in front of a tall sturdy brick building the sign read Club Hardwood. ''What an odd name for a host club'' thought Yuuto. Before he could open the door, someone he didn''t notice before standing outside opened it for him waiting for him to exit the car with an impatient face. Yuuto unbuckled his seatbelt and exited the car. The door nearly hitting him as it was slammed shut. With screeching tires the car sped off like they were escaping a crime scene. ¡°Welcome, Yuuto is it?¡± asked the man who had opened the door for him. ¡°Yes, I go by Yasuo during work,¡± replied Yuuto. ¡°Yes well, that doesn''t matter. I was told by the owner of the club to meet you personally. Although I don''t know why boss wanted me to personally escort you. Oh right. I am the manager of club Hardwood. I will be your boss for the few days you are here. Let''s head inside and continue our talks.¡± Yuuto followed the manager into the building walked to some doors that were locked and swiped an electric key then walked down a dimly lit hallway to an office room that they entered. The manager sat down behind a desk. ¡°You may sit.¡± said the manager gesturing to an armchair in front of the desk. Yuuto sat down and sank deep into the cushion. It was almost like sitting on a waterbed. Before the manager could start talking again, the door opened and a familiar voice that caused Yuuto great suffering before spoke. ¡°I heard the person the old geezer sent arrived is he in here?¡± That¡¯s right it was her! Yuuto secretly peeked around the side of the chair that was hiding him from her. He let out a quiet groan. Yep, it was her alright. Hearing the groan coming from the chair she walked over to him and looked to see who it was the old man had sent.Stolen novel; please report. ¡°Aha! I wasn''t expecting much from that old geezer who is such a penny pincher. I''m amazed and more than slightly happy. Hah.... for him to send me such a gem I guess I have to admit I''m very happy I asked him to loan me a host. See I did tell you not to worry about when you would see me next as fate has a way of bringing people together.¡± she said. That''s right it was that she-demon or she was more like a boss class succubus who tortured him during his first night alone as a host. ¡°Ahaha... um...Hi. Nice seeing you again,¡± replied Yuuto with a stiff awkward smile on his face. ¡°Have you explained things to him yet? ¡° she asked the manager. ¡°I was just about to before you entered if you want you can do it.¡± the manager answered meekly. ¡°Yasuo, this club is different from Winter Night. So you shouldn''t be surprised when you see odd things happening. I can trust you to take care of your job hosting and not worry about the other things that happen, Right?¡± she asked while caressing the side of his face with her fingernails that if she wanted to could cause him to bleed from how sharp they were. Yuuto was able to mumble out a yes. ¡°Good boy. Well, then I won''t be seeing you for a while as I do have a business to run. But it was nice meeting you again I hope you do a good job and earn your keep.¡± she said as she patted his head like he was a dog. Then she turned and left the room. The rest of the afternoon was spent learning the new rules and the manager showing him around to where the locker room and club room where along with the room he would be using while he was working here. Night came and Yuuto who was as nervous as he was on his first night at Winter Night. He was waiting for the clients of the host that he was covering for normal took care of. After waiting for a half hour after the doors opened. A muscular male in a black suit wearing black sunglasses and surrounded by 4 different girls entered the room. Yuuto recognized the man from a picture shown to him by the manager earlier in the day. Although the picture was of the man without a shirt showing off his many tattoos. He walked up to the man and bowed. ¡°Hello, I am filling in for your regular host tonight. My name is Yasuo,¡± said Yuuto. ¡°Hmm, you''re a new face I haven''t seen before. Are you sure you can handle my girls?¡± asked the muscular man. ¡°I assure you there will be no problems with that,¡± reassured Yuuto. ¡°Then, by all means, lead the way we will follow.¡± Yuuto led them to a large booth in the far corner of the room. The booth was almost a full O shape with only a small section opened to let people enter and exit. It was one of the larger booths used for when there were a large number of clients. Yuuto had learned earlier in the day that is was normal for hotshot rich men and yakuza to bring a lot of girls to the host clubs and pay for the host to entertain the girls. While the male customer sat along with them. This was very awkward for Yuuto and he was unsure how to go about entertaining them while not angering the male client. He started out getting everyone drinks. After everyone had a few drinks, they were loosening up and getting rowdier. The girls kept pouring Yuuto drinks and ordering him to give toasts and chug it down while they cheered him on. It ended up as a contest who could drink more between Yuuto and the male customer. Empty bottles were piling up on the table and some rolled off and fell on the floor. During a lull in the contest. the muscular man, who was now very drunk, spoke up talking to Yuuto in a prideful voice. ¡°You know I have killed seven people so far. It''s not like I wanted to but what can I do its part of my job, I can''t complain.¡± ''Whoa, that''s a little too much information dude. Getting into some dangerous territory. I had a feeling that he was a member of the Yakuza but damn dude, keep it to yourself.'' thought Yuuto. The girls looked at each other then gave off a few drunken laughs to hide any discomfort they had with the topic. Yuuto hurriedly poured two glasses and pushed one over to the man and said ¡°Speaking of hard jobs. here is a toast to you sir and the hard work you do for your boss.¡± trying to change the topic of murder. ¡°Yes yes, I do work hard. There was this one time...¡± and he continued on explaining about all seven of his killings and didn''t leave out any detail. When he got to the seventh one. Yuuto was told it was his most recent one. Something about a guy who had annoyed his boss and was taken care of with the help of a garbage truck. One of the girls who had been clinging onto Yuuto all night chimed up after the muscular man had finished his boasting ¡°Yasuo, can you escort me to the bathroom I think I drank too much and need to use it.¡± Yuuto was slightly relieved to be able to leave even if it was for a few minutes. ¡°Please excuse me, I will be back after escorting her,¡± said Yuuto with a tipsy bow. The muscular man waved it off and chugged another drink he poured himself. While Yuuto led her to the bathrooms he noticed a lot of the customers were doing all types of drugs along with the host. He saw many of the host and clients leaving the room and entering other rooms for a long time doing who knows what inside. When Yuuto and the female client reached the bathroom she grabbed his hand and started dragging him into the bathroom. He was halfway through the door when it registered in his tipsy head what was happening. He stopped and tried to get her to let go of his hand. In the struggle, he tripped and fell inside of the bathroom. The door shut and she locked it then quickly hopped onto Yuuto''s stomach causing him to lose his breath and gasp for air. Sitting onto of Yuuto, she started undressing his pants. ''Oh shit, what is she trying to do to me? Is she trying to get me killed! I can''t do anything to make that killer angry.'' thought Yuuto as his vision faded and he went unconscious. ¡°Hey...¡± Yuuto felt someone slapping his face, ¡°Hey wake up.¡± He sat up he was sitting on the cold floor without his pants. ¡°Huh what happened how long was I out.?¡± said a worried Yuuto. ¡°Don''t worry not a lot of time has passed and I took care of both of us,¡± she said coyly. ¡°Took care of?¡± asked Yuuto questioningly. ¡°Hurry up put on your pants we need to get back to the group before they send a search party.¡± He pulled up his underwear and his pants for some reason his lower body smelt like it had been washed with the bathroom soap. ''What the crap happened? I''m so screwed, gotta get back to the other clients'' thought Yuuto his head was still muddied from drinking too much. They left the bathroom and walked through the den of immorality until they reached his table with the other clients. ¡°What took you so long I was getting worried and almost wanted to go see what was taking you so long. It was almost as if you scurried off to another room to do adult things.¡± shouted the drunken muscular man with a laugh. The other three girls gave the one beside Yuuto a jealous look. To which she stuck her tongue out at them and smiled triumphantly. ¡°Sorry, there was a line at the bathroom so it took some time.¡± said the girl he had escorted. To that, the muscular man gave a disinterested huff and continued on drinking. When the time was up Yuuto escorted them outside and before they left he received a kiss on the cheek from the clingy girl. He didn''t have anyone else to host the rest of the night so he changed and went to sleep in his temporary room. The second night he hosted to his surprise the rude and brisk inspector lady. He didn''t know if she knew it was him as she acted as it was the first time meeting him. The night was spent with her complaining and drinking up a fortune. Leaving Yuuto the dread of her not paying the bill. Luckily, she did pay. There was also a major brawl that happened until a group of muscular men in fancy blue suits beat all the participants to a bloody pulp and threw them out the doors. Thus his second and last night ended. The next morning as he waited in the lobby for the car to take him back to Club Winter Night. The succubus startled him by walked up behind him, and while leaning on Yuuto she whispered into his ear. ¡°It seemed you had an exciting time while here. It''s a shame it couldn''t have been me that was with you. I''ll let the old geezer know that you did a good job and that you should be rewarded.¡± With a sharp pain in his ear as she bit it, she left him stunned until an angry voice called him from the front doors. It was the angry driver who drove him here a few days ago. ¡°Stop standing there like an invalid and get into the car.¡± he barked at Yuuto. The ride was quick and quiet. Yuuto exited the car and walked into the building and went to the front desk to ask them to call the old man and tell him he was here and ask for a meeting. After a few minutes on the phone, the manager hung up and told Yuuto ¡°He says you don''t need to report to him, he got a call from the boss of the other club. You will be rewarded the amount promised to you.¡± Yuuto gave a fist pump two night of hell worked out all right he had made a killing. Over the next weeks, until the next monthly ranking, he was able to make it to rank #11 with the help of the money he made from working at the other club. Chapter 12: Shes an X. Yuuto was using his usual aloof strategy in getting girls just waiting at his table for someone to join him, whether it was a new customer or regular client. The problem was the girls that normally joined him were a bit... odd. Maybe he should think about changing his tactics sometime later. He watched as new people came and went from the room. After some time went by, he saw someone he knew from before his time as a host enter the club room. She was wearing a complete black dress and looking around the room as if searching for someone. Yuuto instinctively slouched down in his booth, but it seemed she had noticed him and started to walk over to him with a smile on her face. Yuuto stood up and greeted her with his gentlemanly host voice when she stopped at his booth. ¡°Hello, my name Yasuo. Nice to meet you,¡± He gave a half bow and offered his business card to her. She took it and placed it inside her bra. ¡°No pockets,¡± she explained after seeing Yuuto''s puzzled expression. Yuuto helped her sit down. After asking to join her, he sat next to her. ¡°May I ask you your name?¡± Yuuto pretended to not know her name. ¡°My name is Rinako,¡± she replied. ¡°Is this your first time or have you come here before?¡± asked Yuuto. ¡°It is my first time,¡± she answered. ¡°Okay, regular drinks are free for your first time. You will only have to pay if you buy a non-regular drink,¡± Yuuto explained. He offered the menu to her, after skimming through it, she chose a beer. Yuuto placed the order and made small talk while waiting for the drinks. As time passed and they drank more alcohol, the topic changed. ¡°You know I saw you some weeks ago, out on the streets gathering people to come to club Winter Night. I wasn''t sure if it was really you so I decided a few days ago to come and see if you really do work here. How exactly did you start working as a host?¡± asked Rinako. Yuuto thought for a moment before answering, ¡°It''s complicated. A lot of things happened and now it''s as you see I''m working as a host.¡± ¡°I see,¡± she said disinterestedly now that she couldn''t hear any more details. For a short time they just quietly drank while watching the TV then Rinako grabbed his shoulder getting his attention and began to speak. ¡°You know, I have been thinking about this for a long time now. We should get back together.¡± This caused Yuuto to choke on his drink and start loudly coughing from her unexpected words. ¡°What are you talking about? Didn''t we both agree that it wasn''t working out?¡± asked Yuuto ¡°Yes, well I have thought about it since then. After seeing you again it started me wondering if we should try and work it out and see if we can start dating again,¡± she said in a straightforward manner. ¡°I don''t know. I think we should stay friends for now. Maybe in the future, we can talk about it then, if things change,¡± said Yuuto. ¡°Fair enough,¡± she replied. They spent the rest of the night talking about people Yuuto used to know. Along with other small talkabout things happening in the world while drinking. The two hours quickly flew by and so Yuuto led her to the register to pay her first time fee and registering a host fee if she wanted to come back to the club. When Rinako was finished paying, Yuuto escorted here to the front door of the building. She stopped before exiting and said, ¡°You know I''m serious about this. It could work.¡± ¡°Well, we will just have to wait and see how it all turns out. It was a pleasure to host you tonight,¡± replied Yuuto in his gentlemanly host voice. She looked at him for a few seconds before leaving the building. Yuuto gave a sigh and thought, ''What am I going with that woman. She''s a handful.'' Over the next week, she kept coming to club Winter Night and choosing Yuuto. On one of the nights, they were drinkingshe kept forcing him to drink until he passed out. Yuuto woke up and looked at his watch and let out a moan, he had slept through the whole night and it was now already past work hours. He decided to walk to the boss''s office and report in. But was stopped by the head manager before he left the club room. ¡°I have a message from the boss. Since you passed out and were not able to work for the whole night. You lost the club some potential money it could have made, thus the rule states you will be fined 30,000 yen for passing out and not being able to work. You can get out of your work suit and go to your room. No need to report to the boss.¡± said the manager. Yuuto was stunned and cursed himself. He had been doing good lately. Slowly paying off the debt and not getting any new cost added other than his rent. 30,000 yen wasn''t a lot compared to his current debt but it could add up quickly if it happened too often. The fine was two or three nights worth of average earnings, depending on the customers he had. ''Never again will I pass out.'' thought Yuuto as he made a sacred vow to himself. On a separate night, while hosting Rinako, she was drinking a lot and seemed very drunk she was getting loud and acting crazy. She tried to dance on top of the table but Yuuto stopped her. When he offered to take her to the dance floor so she could dance she said, ¡°Don''t wanna.¡± Yuuto was forced to babysit her the rest of the night while she was his client. He had to repeatedly pull her off the table as she kept trying to dance on top of it. Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. While he was embarrassed for her as she complained that it was too hot and tried to strip out of her shirt and skirt she was wearing. He was successful in stopping her. When the time was up, he called a cab for her and escorted her to it. On the night before his day off, he was again hosting Rinako. She was not acting crazy. ¡°So have you thought of going on a date with me?¡± Rinako asked. ¡°Yeah I guess we can try it out and go on a date,¡± said Yuuto after thinking for a while. Rinako gave a screech of happiness and hugged Yuuto and said, ¡°Thank you, thank you so much! This will be great, you''ll see.¡± *** Yuuto was dressed nicely and got up an hour before he normally did, only getting a few hours of sleep. Just so he could be early at the designated area that Rinako had asked to meet up at the night before. He had a little trouble finding the meetup place but eventually found it. He found a bench and sat down, then began watching people go by, searching for Rinako while drinking coffee. The time for the meet up came, he got up and began waiting for her. After some time, he gave up and decided to sit back down and wait. Three girls came up to him. It wasn''t who he was expecting. It was Misa, Kana, and Niko. Yuuto then remembered Niko saying something about the three of them hanging out together on their next day off. ¡°What are you doing here Yuuto?¡± asked Kana. ¡°I''m just waiting for an old friend. They are a bit late though," said Yuuto a bit worried. ¡°You want to hang out with us since they are late?¡± asked Misa. ¡°No, I promised to wait here so that''s what I will do,¡± said Yuuto. ¡°Well, I hope you are able to have a good time with your friend. We¡¯re off to do some shopping, ¡± said Niko. They left and Yuuto waited... and he waited some more. Seconds became minutes and minutes became hours. Soon it was lunch time, his stomach began growling in hunger. He had skipped breakfast for coffee earlier. Thinking that they could get a snack along the way while on their date. ''I''m so hungry'' thought Yuuto. He decided to go to a vending machine nearby and buy a canned soup to eat. He picked up the can and popped the tab. As he was about to drink the soup, the familiar voices of the trio called his name. He turned around and saw three girls standing behind him. It was Misa, Kana, and Niko again. ¡°You''re still waiting here?¡± asked Niko. ¡°Yeah they''re a bit late,¡± replied Yuuto. ¡°You still don''t want to come with us and hang out?¡± asked kana. ¡°No, I think I will still wait for them. You guys can go ahead and keep having fun without me,¡± replied Yuuto. He went back to the bench. Where he drank the soup. When he was finished, he put the can into the can recycle bin that was next to the vending machine and waited a few more hours back on the bench. His phone started to ring in his pants pocket. He stood up so he could get to it easier and pulled it out. It was a text message from Rinako. She had to go to the hospital because her grandmother broke her hip and she went to support her for the time being. She wouldn''t be able to join him today for the date. Yuuto gave a huge sigh and walked back to the club. ''Great my day off was wasted sitting on a bench.'' thought Yuuto. *** The next night at work Rinako showed up and apologized. ¡°There wasn''t anything I could do. Please let me make it up to you. We can go on another date, and I will come to the club every day.¡± During the whole week of work, Rinako kept her promise and kept coming to the club and drinking a lot, earning him a good sum of money. In a happier mood at the end of the week, Yuuto accepted her invitation to go on a date again but told her to contact him sooner if something happened. The same location was picked as the meetup place, so Yuuto was able to get there faster than before because he knew where it was. He was kept waiting again until he received an excuse in the form of a text saying she had to do urgent errands for her family. Yuuto placed his head in his hands and wondered why he even tried to do this a second time. It was nearing lunch time so he decided to go to a near fast food restaurant. As he entered a burger fast food restaurant, there was a burst of loud laughter coming from the tables on the far left. He looked over and question marks appeared over his head. What was she doing here? Wasn''t she supposed to be doing errands? ¡°I bet he''s would have still been waiting if I hadn''t texted him with an excuse,¡± said Rinako. Her friends all began laughing loudly again. Yuuto''s face grew red with anger. ¡°There won''t be a third time,¡± he said to himself. ¡°Sir you''re blocking the door.¡± said a cashier behind the counter closest to Yuuto. Yuuto mumbled ¡°Sorry¡±, exited the place and nearly ran into a group of people. He again mumbled the same thing, not bothering to look at who it was this time. ¡°Hey it''s Yuuto, did you finish eating lunch?¡± someone asked him. He looked up to see it was the trio of girls again. ¡°Jezz. Are you guys stalking me or something? No, I decided not to eat there I''m going to find someplace else to eat,¡± said Yuuto. ¡°Want to come with us? We were going to get some food from here. I guess you don''t want anything from here. We can go somewhere else if you would like to,¡± asked Kana. ¡°Sure why not,¡± He agreed. He spent the rest of the afternoon with the group eating lunch then going to all types of different stores. It seemed they liked embarrassing Yuuto and taking him to the women section of the clothing store, talking about bras and underwear. They then had him be a judge on clothes they tried on which lasted forever and after that, he became the bag holder. When the sun was setting, he handed the bags back to them and they parted ways after saying their goodbyes. The trio went to a package delivery store and dropped off their bags, wrote the address of where to send them after paying for it. They still had business to take care off. They went back to the burger restaurant. Luckily, the people they were looking for were still there. Still making a lot of noise. They walked up to them ¡°Which one of you is the one that Yuuto was supposed to meet?¡± asked Niko. That''s right, they had been sneaking around watching to see who Yuuto was meeting. Niko didn''t want to go but was dragged along by the other two. Thanks to that, they were able to see the look of anger on his face when he looked at the loud mouth girls during lunch. How dare they mess with Yuuto. ¡°Who are you? And why do you want to know,¡± asked the girl who seemed to be the leader. All three of the girls zeroed in their attention on her. ¡°Stop messing around with Yuuto,¡± Kana said sternly. ¡°What are you guys? His babysitters?¡± asked one of the girls at the table. ¡°I''ll do whatever I want, and toy with whoever I want to toy with,¡± Rinako shouted. In a flash, Misa picked up a glass filled with pop and dumped it on top of Rinako''s head. Everyone was shocked into silence, the only sound was Rinako sputtering and trying to wipe her face. ¡°What you do that for? Now we have to leave... and quickly too,¡± said Niko in an urgent but hushed voice. ¡°Whoops,¡± said Misa. Kana burst out laughing as they exited the restaurant. ¡°I guess we might have gotten our point across to her. Hopefully, she can take a hint,¡± said Kana. They all parted ways after getting to the train station and agreed to meet up again the next time they all had a day off. Yuuto was quite happy when he did not see Rinako show up even once. He didn''t know how he would handle it if she showed up and pretended nothing was wrong. ''Got to be more careful with who I date'' Yuuto thought to himself. *** A group of girls were sitting at a burger restaurant quietly talking with angry faces voiced filled with hate. ¡°Those beeps. Think they can beep with us. It''s not over yet.¡± Chapter 13: VIP Yuuto was getting dressed when he heard his name called out by the manager. He walked over to him while still buttoning up his shirt. ¡°You''re to go to the VIP floor and wait in room #6.9. Someone has paid for the VIP service in advance,¡± said the manager. Yuuto was shocked, the cost for a VIP room was extremely expensive. The cost of the room would go towards his debt. ¡°Do you know who paid for it?¡± asked Yuuto. ¡°The note I was handed just says it''s a group,¡± the manager replied and then left the room. Pretty boy walked up to him and said, ¡°Well look at you, rank number 10 and already getting your first VIP order.¡± ¡°But I don''t know anyone who would want to spend so much money on a VIP room,¡± said Yuuto. ¡°Just be happy that someone did and don''t worry about it,¡± replied Pretty boy as he walked away. Yuuto finished dressing and went to the VIP Floor. He walked from door to door looking for room 6.9. He found it after a few moments of searching and entered the room. There were multiple plush couches all around the room with tables in front of them, in the center of the room was a dance floor. And a TV screen on the far wall, with a disco ball hanging from the ceiling. ¡°What a weird room,¡± said Yuuto to himself. The tables had multiple types of drinks already in ice buckets waiting for someone to drink them. Yuuto sat down on a couch that faced the door, so he could see when his guest came into the room and be able to greet them. He turned on the TV next to him and watched some news while waiting. He waited for over an hour and still the clients had not arrived. After being bored with the news, he turned on a game show and then started changing and refilling the ice buckets to keep everything chilled. As he was finishing filling the last bucket he heard multiple loud voices in the hallway coming closer to his room. The door was jerked open nearly slamming into the wall. A group of 20 girls streamed into the room. They were all chatting while looking around the room inspecting it. ¡°Hello, I am Yasuo. I will be your host tonight. If there anything I can do for you just ask.¡± said Yuuto in his gentlemanly host voice while half bowing. The group of girls acted as if he wasn''t there, and pretended that they didn''t hear him. He repeated his greeting with a strained smile, this time louder than before. They still ignored him. He looked at them closely for a second to see what was up and noticed that they all looked familiar. Almost like he had met them before. Then a flicker of understanding turned into a flood of memories. He knew each and every one of the girls in the room, he had seen them many a day over the past 3 years of his life. They were all his former high school classmates. ''What''s happening. How did they know I was a host here. What am I supposed to do.'' Yuuto frantically thought to himself. ¡°I don''t see how people find these clubs fun,¡± complained one of the girls to a small group on one of the couches. ¡°That''s not the problem, our problem is that we got a crappy host,¡± replied another on her left. ¡°Yeah did you see some of the other hosts? They were totally way better looking than THIS one,¡± a third girl on the right said in agreement. Yuuto looked over to another group of girls, who were talking rather loudly almost as if on purpose. ¡°The service here sucks,¡± complained one of the girls. The others around her gave out similar complaints loudly. Yuuto quickly walked over to them and gave a small bow. ¡°Thank you for choosing our club. My name is Yasuo...¡± before he could continue one of the girls complaining interrupted him. ¡°No it''s not,¡± she shouted giving him a look as if to say why are you talking to me. ¡°A...Anyways how may I be of service to you? If there is anything you need help with just let me know.¡± said Yuuto. ¡°Hmph¡± snorted one of the girls showing her displeasure of having him talking to her. They just ignored him and went back to talking among themselves. ¡°Hey, servant! Over here! Hey, are you listening servant?¡± shouted a girl near the dancing floor. ''When did I become a servant? What did I do to get all these troublesome people!'' thought Yuuto. ¡°I''ll be with you in one moment!¡± replied Yuuto as he started walking over to her weaving through the group of girls that mysteriously started clogging his path to her. When he finally reached her she looked displeased at being made to wait. ¡°My name is Yasuo. I will be your host tonight. How may I help you?¡± he asked with a slight bow. ¡°Is that so?¡± she said with a doubtful expression, ¡°How do I change the music to something better?¡± ¡°Ah that would be the tablet on the table, I will go get it for you. You can control the TV, music, and the lights with it,¡± answered Yuuto. He weaved in and out of the maze of girls blocking his way to the table and grabbed the tablet. When he reached the girl again she was looking even more impatient than before. ¡°Took you long enough. Jeez how incompetent can you be to take so long,¡± she complained as he handed over the tablet which she snatched away.This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. ¡°Hey, waiter! Serve us some food and drink!¡± shouted a girl on a couch near a table that had drinks and snacks already laid out on trays. ¡°Yes right away,¡± replied Yuuto. When he was next to them he gave a short bow. ¡°I am Yasuo. What drinks and food would you like?¡± he asked very politely. ¡°I don''t care. You pick something out for us.¡± replied the girl sitting with three other girls. Yuuto turned around and walked a few steps over to the table. He thought for a moment and then reached for a sweeter drink and poured four glasses of it for the girls. He carried the drinks on a tray and had each of the girls take one of them. As the last girl took her drink the girl who had called him over gave a loud shout. ¡°Eww, what is this gross drink?¡± she questioned. Yuuto turned to her and said, ¡°If it does not suit you then I can get you a different drink.¡± ¡°Fine do it, but this time pick a better drink,¡± she complained. Yuuto reached out to take her glass but before he could, she poured the contents of the glass all on the floor. ¡°What are you doing!¡± shouted Yuuto losing all composure from such a sudden and unexpected action. Before getting an answer, he sprang forward taking a towel from the table and started to soak up the drink from the carpet. Luckily it wasn''t a drink that would stain but it would leave it a bit sticky, if not cleaned properly. After a few minutes, he had finished cleaned as best he could for now. The girls had been giggling and laughing at him the whole time. ¡°Please don''t pour your drinks on the ground. If you''re unsatisfied with the drink, I can replace it for you,¡± said Yuuto with a sterner tone while looking at the troublesome girls. ¡°O so scary.¡± joked one of the girls. ¡°What are you doing, go get my drink. We''re still waiting for the food,¡± demanded the main troublemaker. Yuuto brought her a different drink and was on guard ready to stop her if she tried to dump it again. She didn''t dump it out on the ground instead she had the contents fly into his face and soak into his work suit. After sputtering and wiping his face off he looked at her while his face was turning an angry red. Trying to keep his anger in check. ¡°What? you said not to dump it on the ground, So I didn''t,¡± she said as if it was only natural to come to that conclusion. ¡°One moment and I will get your food,¡± replied Yuuto. ¡°Hey I still want a drink!¡± said the troublemaker. ¡°I''m sorry but we seem to be out of drinks,¡± Yuuto replied with a blank face. ¡°Stop lying there are drinks on the table still,¡± she said angrily. Yuuto ignored her, while he started filling plates with some of the appetizers and other snacks. He handed the less troublesome girls their plates first, before handing her a plate. Which she held for few seconds looking at the food and then said ¡°Oops¡±. Letting the plate fall to the ground scattering food all over the floor. Yuuto grumbled to himself while picking up the food and then took a wash rag to try and clean up the messier food. When he finished, he gave a bow and said ¡°It was a pleasure to serve you.¡± and walked away quickly to stand near the door. He was ignored for a half hour before one of the girls stood up and shouted for the music that was blaring to be turned down. ¡°Hey girls what do you think about we have some real entertainment?¡± she shouted to the other girls. ¡°What kind?¡± a few of the girls asked? ¡°Let¡¯s have our host do a striptease!¡± she exclaimed. ¡°Eh I don''t know about that,¡± said one of the girls and others agreed with her. ¡°Come on it will be fun. Strip, strip, strip,¡± she started to chant. And the other girls took it up and started to chant it also. Yuuto was like a deer caught in the headlights of a car. The girls were chanting while looking at him. Two girls came up to him and dragged him to the middle of the room to the dance floor. ¡°Um¡­ Striping isn''t part of what our club offers,¡± Yuuto tried to protest. ¡°Don''t worry we''ll pay you extra for your trouble,¡± said the girl pulling his arm. ¡°But..¡± Yuuto tried to protest. ¡°No butts unless it''s you showing yours,¡± she and the other girls laughed at the joke. The dance floor was cleared and all 40 eyes were staring at him he started to get nervous. ¡°Hurry up and strip!¡± jeered a voice from the crowd. They started chanting again. Yuuto gave up and decided to give in. ''I won''t take off everything and I''ll get more money this way'' thought Yuuto as he began to strip. The girls became quiet, he slowly and normally took off his suit¡¯s jacket and tossed it into the startled crowd. Showing off his muscles that he worked on getting during training before every work shift. ''If I''m going to do it then might as well do it a bit showily.'' he thought. He loosened his tie and then threw it onto the ground. The room had grown eerily quiet, enough that he was able to hear the girl''s breathing. As he was unbuttoning his shirt, the door to the room was slammed open. All the girls turned around and glared at the person intruding in on their fun. In walked a middle-aged woman who was smiling while looking at what was going on. ¡°Oh this looks like fun,¡± she said to herself. ¡°Who are you?¡± demanded one of the troublesome girls. ¡°Yasuo I came to have you be my host tonight. My maiden heart was saddened when I was told you were up here in a VIP room entertaining others. So I decided to come and visit you,¡± said the succubus while looking at Yuuto, who had stopped striping and was looking at her with dread. The succubus ignored the girls and walked up to Yuuto. ¡°Hey lady, this is our room if you want to have him then you have to wait until we''re done with him,¡± shouted one of the girls. ¡°Don''t fool around with us saying your a maiden.¡± shouted another. ¡°My, you girls... I see you guys have been playing around with Yasuo like he''s a toy. That''s not right, you have to treat him kindly and spoil him.¡± said the succubus as she grabbed his face and gave him a kiss, a deep kiss, shocking both Yuuto and the girls. ¡°See isn''t this better and more entertaining,¡± she said while unbuttoning Yuuto''s white shirt. Tearing the shirt off him and flinging it to the girls she admired his muscles while lightly feeling them. ¡°You have some nice muscles on you,¡± she purred to Yuuto in his ear. The girls watching started to fidget from embarrassment watching the two. She took off the belt and pulled down his pants, and then looked at the girls. ¡°Is this all you wanted to see, or did you want to see this and this?¡± she asked while grabbing his manhood and his butt through his boxers when she said ''this startling Yuuto. ¡°H..hey I think it''s time to go.¡± said a flustered girl. ¡°Oh it''s that time already?¡± said one of the troublemaker girls whose face was beet red from watching the embarrassing strip act. The girls quickly walked out of the room. Leaving only the succubus and Yuuto left inside. ¡°Poor Yasuo you shouldn''t let those girls walk all over you and toy with you. Only I''m allowed to spoil you,¡± she whispered into Yuuto''s ear. ¡°It''s for work,¡± mumbled the troubled Yuuto. ¡°Well looks like I won''t be able to have any more fun tonight I''ll come some other time and hopefully you will be free and I can have you all to myself for the night,¡± she said while walking to the door. Yuuto was standing still stunned by everything that had happened. ¡°Oh and you might want to get dressed walking around like that might cause the club some problems,¡± she said while blowing a kiss towards him with a wink and then exited the room. *** Although the night had been rough on him, he had earned a large amount of money towards his debt from hosting them in the VIP room and it seemed they indeed did add extra money for the striptease. All in all, he was the winner when you looked at the results. He just wondered how almost all his female classmates had known he worked here and why they picked him as their host for the night. Chapter 14: Contest Yuuto was able to keep his rank at number 10 due to a large number of clients spending a lot of money along with the recent VIP room fiasco that had happened to him the week before. He was currently watching TV with Rinji, Motoki, and Pretty boy in their own room. They stopped talking during an interesting commercial and listened intently to what the TV station announcer had to say. ¡°That''s right you heard me! Our TV station will be broadcasting a contest live! In order to find the best host in the city! There are many host clubs in our fine city. Each club will only be allowed to send one host as a representative of their club. The host will then have to go through three stages during the contest to determine the winner. A large sum of money will be rewarded to the winner. There are also smaller money prizes for the 2nd and 3rd ranks and there is also a good luck award awarded to the host that comes in last. We will give you more info about the contest during the live show. Be sure to tune in to watch this first of its kind contest broadcasted live!¡± The four of them looked at each other, Pretty boy began grinning when looking at Yuuto. ¡°Well if Yuuto was chosen it might be troublesome for the club.¡± teased Pretty boy. ¡°He''s hopeless with women, it''s a surprise he''s ranked so high,¡± replied Motoki. ¡°He''s a magnet for S women. So it''s not that weird for him to be popular,¡± said Rinji ¡°Hey, guys I''m right here. I''m not a magnet for them, I just have bad luck that''s all,¡± said Yuuto defensively. ¡°Bad luck enough for 10 people.¡± joked Pretty boy. *** Yuuto was walking to the old man''s office and dreading what was to come. He didn''t know if he had messed up the night before or if it was some other mistake he had done. He reached the room and was allowed to enter and waited for the old man to speak. ¡°You have been doing well in earning money for the club and paying off your debt. I''m sure you are aware of the host contest being broadcasted?¡± asked the old man. ¡°Yes I saw the commercial on TV with a few other friends,¡± answered Yuuto. ¡°Well, then you know each club will be sending a person to the contest. They made a troubling rule that it had to be a person from the top 10 hosts of the club. I don''t really care for it but it may bring in more business so I''m sending you. That way, with you on the TV show, it won''t hurt our money making potential like it would if I sent anyone else in the top 10.¡± ¡°I''m honored (I guess),¡± said Yuuto mumbling the last part. ¡°Don''t mess around while you''re there. You are the representative of the club and I expect you to act decently whether or not you win. Your time there will be compensated don''t worry. ¡° the old man said while staring down Yuuto. ¡°R..right I will not disappoint you sir,¡± said Yuuto stiffly. ¡°You may go now,¡± said the old man. allowing Yuuto to leave the room with many troubled thoughts. *** Yuuto was picked up early in the day around noon by a black businesses car of the TV station and was driven to one of their studios. He was now walking in the large backstage room where fifty or so other hosts were mingling around with others still arriving. Some were talking to each other while others kept to themselves, doing exercises, fiddling with their phones, or looking at their reflection in a mirror. Yuuto was holding back, watching everyone and wondering if he should join in on some of the conversations and try to get to know some of the other contestants and fellow host. He worked up his courage and walked over to a large group of hosts talking and spoke up when there was a lull in the conversation. ¡°Hello, my name is Yasuo. It is a pleasure to meet all of you,¡± he said in his most host like self. ¡°Who is he?¡± asked a tall host. ¡°Never heard of you before¡± a skinny host inserted. ¡°What club are you from?¡± asked a medium sized host who looked to be a major bodybuilder with his large muscles. ¡°I''m from club Winter Night.¡± replied the nervous Yuuto. ¡°Ha, they sent a nobody. Figures.¡± replied the tall host. With that they ignored Yuuto and continued on with their conversation about customers and clients they had hosted before, a few gave out some famous actresses names. Yuuto went back over to a couch that had only one other host sitting on it. He was too absorbed in his phone that he didn''t notice or care that Yuuto sat down a few feet away from him on the opposite side of the couch. After an hour of waiting, the crowd of the hosts had risen to over 100. ''Was there really this many clubs in the city?'' Yuuto wounded to himself. During that time he had met a host he knew from the host club Hardwood run by that Succubus, and also met many other rude or indifferent hosts. A loud megaphone bullhorn rang out in the room getting everyone''s attention. A middle-aged female was standing up on a chair with an electric megaphone and began speaking. ¡°We would like to welcome everyone to our studio and thank you all for coming to participate in this contest!¡± she and other studio members behind her clapped for a few seconds then she began her speech again. ¡°You''re here early so that we can show you around the studio where the broadcasting will be done and explain each of the three stages so that you can prepare and be ready for them when it''s broadcasted live. After the tour and explanation, we will allow you to come back here, rest and have food and refreshments while you wait for the contest to start. So if you would all follow us through these doors we can begin the tour and explanations.¡± she said over the loud megaphone. For a short half hour, they walked around the large building, seeing the different rooms that they used for everyday news shows and even some used by popular game shows. The three stages of the game seemed a little too simple compared to what Yuuto had thought. He was dreading something more challenging or other dreadful things. They returned to the waiting room and continued their conversations from before until the time came for the show to begin soon. They were led to another room and told that the show would start in ten minutes. Yuuto shook his arms and slapped his cheeks to try and calm down his nerves. This was his first time being on TV. The timer shown ticked down slowly to 0:00 and a red light above it switched to green indicating the show was now life and broadcasting. There were multiple cameras in the room filming everything from multiple angles but most were centered on the female host that was holding a microphone and welcoming the audience that was watching. ¡°As we said in the commercials there will be three stages that the hosts will be having to pass in order to win the contest. That''s not all, you the audience, will be able to vote at the last stage for the host you want to win by sending a text to the number x-xxx-xxx-xxxx. Now let¡¯s introduce all the hosts with their name and which host club they work for!¡± said the giddy female contest host announcer.The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. The cameras all moved while filming all the hosts and focusing on the host as one by one, they introduced themselves from alphabetical order of the club name. Yuuto was almost the last person to introduce himself where he stuttered on the club''s name and had to repeat it. Causing him a huge amount of embarrassment and tinting his face red. ¡°Now onto the first stage! What could it be? It''s....a Pop Quiz!¡± shouted the announcer. There were many shouts of ''''What?'''' ''''Huh?'''' ''That''s not what you said was going to be the first stage'' thought Yuuto. ¡°It seems that the contestants are confused but don''t worry it''s an easy test and those who are able to answer all three questions will be able to pass to the second round!¡± said the female announcer. A male announcer walked onto the large stage next to her with a microphone of his own. ¡°That''s right Kumi, the way this one works is the question will be asked and the contestants will have two minutes to decide between the two answers offered. There are two large boxes drawn on the stage. Each will represent one of the answers. The host will have to go stand in the one that they think is the correct answer. A wrong answer will mean you failed the contest and will be ejected. Now, how about you give the first question Kumi.¡± said the male announcer. ¡°How many earthquakes a year does Japan have 1:100-500 2:1000-1500,¡± She asked. ¡°The left box will be answer 1 and the right will be for answer 2,¡± said the male announcer. Yuuto looked around at everyone who was all deep in thought trying to decide which answer to pick. Some people moved early and there was an even spread between the answers. Yuuto had no clue which one to pick the time was getting close so he just walked over to answer 2. A loud sound effect sounded and the host spoke up again. ¡°Well look at that a nearly even split! Well there can only be one correct answer so Kumi what is the correct answer!?¡± asked the energetic host. ¡°Its...Answer 2!¡± She shouted into her microphone. ¡°Tough luck for the 50 that picked the first choice. This leaves sixty hosts left,¡± said the male announcer who seemed to be having too much fun over a large number of people being failed. The next questions were given and Yuuto didn''t know either so just picked one and was able to pass through to the 2nd round. There were many loud shouts from the host disqualified complaining about the unfair changes or outright lies that the TV station had given them about the stages events. ¡°Well the first round was more about brains and if you don''t have any then I guess you could say it was about luck. Both of which I am told a host needs.¡± said the female announcer. ¡°That''s right. Now the host has been filtered down to thirty it''s amazing at the large amount that failed. The second round will have the hosts show off their muscles by doing a few races!¡± said the male announcer. ¡°That''s not all, this isn''t a regular race. They will be wearing speedos and will be required to run with a balloon between their legs and not drop it if they do they have to go back to the start line and start over. If it is popped while running, they will automatically be disqualified. When they reach the finish line, they have to go to one of the ten posts near the finish line. Each post has a pin that they will have to use to pop the balloon.¡± explained the female announcer. ¡°With that, we will take a break to let the contestants get changed. See you after the break.¡± said the male announcer. The tv crew rushed the thirty hosts to a changing room which had speedos laid out for each person with their names taped on the front and back of the speedo. They were urged by the producer to hurry up so they quickly changed walked back onto the stage before the commercials finished. ¡°Welcome back to the race will start soon, there will be four races in total. The first two races will have fifteen each. The first ten to be able to run to the finish line and pop their balloon on the post will be able to participate in the next race. After ten people have been disqualified, there will be two more races each with ten people. And the first five to pop their balloons will move ahead to the 3rd round leaving only the top ten hosts,¡± said the female announcer.¡± Yuuto was able to barely win in the two races he participated in. It was extremely embarrassing to try and run in a speedo with a balloon between his legs. What was more embarrassing was it looked like they were humping the post when they were trying to pop the balloon. The cameras were filming it all letting thousands, if not millions watch it. ¡°Well that was exciting!¡± said the female announcer a little flustered. ¡°Calm down... well with that we have our top ten hosts who have moved on to the 3rd stage. This is the final stage to see who is the best. This stage is where you will be able to see them show off their skill at being a host. Unknown to the contestants, we had their clubs call some of the host¡¯s regular clients and asked if they would like to help out their host they normal visit on live television. After the commercial, we will introduce the one female client for each of the hosts that have accepted to participate. We would like to say that the names have been changed to protect their identity and they will be wearing a face mask,¡± said the male announcer. Yuuto was deep in thought wondering who it could be that accepted to come on the show. He hoped it was one of the more tame clients. The 10 females were called out onto the stage one by one and introduced. Then they were told to stand by their host. Yuuto was the last to have his client to enter onto the stage. His face showed off its horror as he saw who it was. He quickly changed his expression to a blank one. Just from her voice, he was able to know that it was the Succubus that came to stand next to him. Wrapping one arm around his shoulder. ''Of all the people, why does she keep showing up to torment me'' Yuuto screamed inside his head. ¡°Well, now the ten tables are set out with food and drink for each host and client. They will be showing off their skill and what makes them a host worthy of the top ten spot at their club.¡± said the female announcer. There were ten cameras filming each host which was being shown all at once on the screen with ten boxes on the screen. Yuuto took the succubus''s hand and led her to the table. He made sure to pull out a chair, allowing her to sit down and then pushed the chair in.. He gave her a bow and went back to his chair on the other side of the table. Where he picked up the wine bottle and presented it to her and then when she nodded he uncorked it and poured two glasses one for her and one for him. He handed her the glass and offered a toast. He looked nervously around the room at the other host. ''So far so good.'' thought Yuuto who was scared to death that the Succubus might go wild on even on TV. ¡°Don''t worry about them,¡± said the Succubus as she noticed his glances around the room. She stood up and dragged her chair over right next to him and sat down next to him putting her right arm around his shoulder. She leaned in and quietly whisper into his ear. ¡°Let''s give them a show why don''t we?¡± ¡°W...Well, I''m not an exhibitionist. So I would like to just normally show off my hosting skills,¡± said a red-faced stuttering Yuuto. ¡°My... I''m beginning to wonder who it is that has the dirty mind between the two of us,¡± she teased as she shoved some of the food into his mouth. ¡°Well table ten seems to be getting really cozy with each other, table ten¡¯s client has moved to sit next to him and they are talking quite intimately,¡± shouted the overexcited female announcer her face turning a light shade of red. ¡°Jeez calm down Kumi, you and all the other single ladies watching can enjoy such treatment if you like by going to the club Winter Night which he works at,¡± commented the male announcer. ''Don''t tell them that!'' Shouted Yuuto in his head angrily at the male announcer. ¡°During this time you can vote for the host you like to win. Send the text to x-xxx-xxx-xxxx,¡± said the female announcer. For the next ten minutes, the female announcer excitedly gave a play by plays of everything that happened between the hosts'' and their clients. While the male announcer had to keep calming her down. ¡°We will go to commercials, let the last votes come in and when we come back, we will tally the votes and announce the winner and runner-ups!¡± said the male announcer. Yuuto and the succubus stood up and lined up with the other host as the tables and chairs were removed from the room. ¡°Welcome back! The results are in. Quite fast I know but we will now announce the winners,¡± the female announcer said energetically. ¡°First we will announce the host who received the good luck at being a host award for coming in the absolute dead last place,¡± male announcer. ¡°That person is Yaichiro of club Limp Noodle!¡± said the female announcer. The muscular host Yuuto had seen earlier in the day stepped forward with a face that was constantly changing from a smile to a glare that wanted to pound someone into the ground. The male announcer winced as he shook his hand and handed him over the certificate saying, ¡°Congratulations on being dead last good luck at being a host!¡± ¡°Okay, we will now announce the winners now, starting from the first place! 1st Masanori from club Harpy. 2nd Kakuzo from club Cougar. And lastly coming in 3rd is Yasuo from club Winter night!¡± The announcers walked to the winners and handed out the gold, silver and bronze medals. ¡°We want to thank all of the contestants for participating and the audience for voting on the hosts. This is Kiyoshi from the tv station xx69 wishing you a good night! We will see you again on the next major contest we broadcast live.¡± Yuuto was stunned at winning 3rd place it was beyond anything he had expected. This was a wild ride for his first experience on TV. At least he earned a large amount of money that he could use to further pay off his debt. Chapter 15: Being popular is tiring. In a distant town away from Shinjuku, three girls sat in front of the TV watching it while waiting for a special program to begin. They had been sent a text from a person they had known in high school who had graduated before them. The text had said they should watch it. That it was an extremely interesting show and would be worth it for them to see. Not sure what to expect, they watched it until the end in silence. ¡°So that''s what they meant saying that it would be beneficial to us.¡± said one of the girls. ¡°Right! This is pure gold! What do you think should we go pay a visit?¡± asked the second girl. ¡°Do we really have to?¡± asked the 3rd girl reluctantly. ¡°Of course how could we let a chance like this slip by.¡± replied the 1st. *** A week had passed since placing 3rd in the contest for finding the best host. The contest had been a blessing and a curse for Yuuto. He was always exhausted after each night of work. Since he had placed so high on the show there were more clients that wanted to have him as a host. Sometimes he was entertaining two or three girls at once. With a large number of new clients, he was able to make a large amount of money. Thus his rank moved up to 7th place. The reason he was exhausted wasn''t because of the large number of new clients. It was because of the type of clients he had attracted. Yuuto was now sure his luck was the worse. All the women that he hosted were older than him. Their personalities were just no good. They acted out their fantasies with him as their secret lover. Some treated him as a son, others a younger brother and only a few treated him like a servant. ''These women are no good,'' thought Yuuto. It troubled him that so many of them kept choosing him as a host. He finished dressing up for work and chugged down an energy drink to keep up his energy. He placed a few small energy drink bottles in his suit pocket in case he needed them later. *** Yuuto noticed a boisterous group of five people walking towards his table. The group had three girls younger than him and two males around their age. The two guys were dressed really expensively in what looked like name brand suits, along with gold watches, and multiple necklaces were being shown off. Yuuto frowned as he looked at the girls. He was not happy to see them. All but one of them along with the rich playboy''s were looking at him with smirks and smiles on their faces. They stopped in front of his table and just stared at him not saying anything. ¡°Welcome to club Winter Night. My name is Yasuo,¡± said Yuuto with a bow, while giving off his best host smile. ¡°Hey Oniichan!¡± said one of the girls with a bright smile. Yes, they were his sisters. ¡°H...hi Akiko,¡± said Yuuto. ¡°Long time no see,¡± said Maya who wasn''t hanging all over one of the rich playboys. She looked uncomfortable being here along with the other two. ¡°So you do work here in such a place, Yuuto,¡± commented Mitsuko with a smirk. ¡°I am working so my name is Yasuo so please keep that in mind.¡± Yuuto reminded them. ¡°No worries about that. Why would we even remember your real name,¡± said Akiko. That made the two rich playboys and Mitsuko laugh loudly. ¡°Would you like to join me at the table?¡± asked Yuuto keeping his smile on his face. ¡°Of course that''s why we''re here,¡± said Mitsuko who was looking at him as if it was a stupid question to ask. Yuuto moved to help them to their seats but he was pushed away by the playboys. ¡°Move you''rein the way,¡± one of the playboys said while glaring at Yuuto. ''This is going to be another long night'' Yuuto complained to himself. He offered them his business card which only Maya took one while the others refused. Yuuto spent a few minutes explaining things to them on how the club worked, about the food, and the drinks. He was able to spend the first half hour without too much of a problem. So he decided to ask a question he had been pondering for a while. ¡°How did you guys know that I worked here?¡± asked Yuuto. ¡°Duh it''s because of the contest you were in,¡± said Akiko. ¡°But that was a local broadcast for the city. It wouldn''t be seen in other city''s,¡± said Yuuto. ¡°Oh my god you don''t know?¡± said Mitsuko with a smile on her face. ¡°Everyone back home was able to see it as the tv stations were paid by someone to rebroadcast it,¡± said Akiko. ¡°You''re quite infamous now. The talk of the town is how you somehow got to be 3rd place as the best host,¡± said Mitsuko.This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. ¡°I don''t see what''s so good about you.¡± commented the rich playboy next to Akiko. ¡°I mean look at us we could be a host and do it better than you. Am I right?¡± said the playboy next to Mitsuko and looked at her for confirmation. ¡°Yeah, you would be able to take number 1¡± she confirmed. ¡°I don''t think you guys know how hard it is to be a host. It''s not such an easy thing as just saying you will be the best,¡± said Yuuto. ¡°Says who?¡± said the playboy abruptly standing up and glaring at Yuuto trying to look tough and intimidate him. Yuuto let out a quiet sigh. This guy had rocks for brains it seemed. Mitsuko hurriedly tried calmed him down. ¡°Don''t worry about him he''s nothing. Oh, I just had a good Idea! I can tell you embarrassing stories of when he was younger!¡± Yuuto was tormented with jeers and laughter for the next hour about stories from the past. Some of them they embellished to make them sound even worse than it had actually been. They then turned to the topic of how well they were doing in life. They were going to expensive colleges and we''re supposedly getting good grades. From there talk they were the idols on campus. They loved to flaunt out the fact they had rich boyfriends. They laughed about how he had been kicked out and all connection with the family was cut. The rest of the time was spent poking fun at him by the first two sisters and their rich playboy boyfriends. When they were leaving after paying the sister that had been quiet and not joining in the merriment of the others asked to speak for a moment with him. ¡°Don''t take to long or we will leave you,¡± said Akiko. He walked her over to a stool at the end of the bar and sat down with her. ¡°What can I help you with?¡± asked the suspiciously curious Yuuto. ¡°I''m Sorry that they put you through that. It seems they never listen to me when I tell them not to do these kinds of things.¡± she blurted out apologizing sincerely. Yuuto scratched his head with a troubled look on his face. ¡°Um... yeah no need to analogize. I''ve had to deal with these types of stuff a lot recently. I guess it comes with the job of being a host,¡± said Yuuto. ¡°Well, it''s also me apologizing for when we were younger. I know I was part of them in getting you into trouble. I just wanted to apologize,¡± she said with a serious face. ¡°What brought all this up?¡± asked Yuuto. ¡°W...Well, after you left everything was OK for a month. Then It seems that I became the new Scapegoat for the other two. Along with all their pranks and jokes being directed at me.¡± Yuuto had a small amount of Sympathy for her. He didn''t and would never wish the type of treatment he had endured his entire teen years, on anyone. Even if they were enemy or former tormentor. ¡°I''m sorry it turned out that way. The only thing I can offer is to tell you to stop interacting with them and try to distance yourself from them or move out,¡± said Yuuto. ¡°I just wanted to let you know I now know how much trouble I had put you through. And ask for forgiveness,¡± she said meekly. ¡°You don''t have to worry. I forgive you,¡± said Yuuto. She gave out a loud sigh as if a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. ¡°The last thing I wanted to ask was, how did you end up being a host?¡± ¡°Ahahaha that''s a complicated and troublesome topic. I managed to get myself in major debt so now I''m working here to pay it off. It''s not the best job but it''s not as bad as it could be.¡± replied Yuuto. ¡°Ah I would try to help you pay it off but I''m currently working multiple part-time jobs to pay for college,¡± she said apologetically. ¡°I got myself into the mess so I''m working it off little by little. No need to trouble yourself about it,¡± said Yuuto. ¡°Well, I guess I need to go or they really will leave me behind. I have your Phone number so I will give you a call sometime so that you can get my number. Feel free to call me if you like.¡± She said standing up and left the room without another word. *** In the locker room after work ended Yuuto was sluggishly changing out of his clothes when Pretty boy walked up to him. ¡°Hey, some night you had lots of rumors going around now. About you when you were younger.¡± He said smiling teasing him. ¡°What people heard that?¡± asked Yuuto. ¡°How could they not your evil sisters were loud enough for every and anyone that wanted to listen to your conversation,¡± said Pretty boy. ¡°Dam,¡± moaned Yuuto. ¡°Hey man, you seem pretty bent out of shape. Take it from me because I should know, Being popular is tough. So you have to do things to relax and go into reset mode to get through it all until the next reset. How about you join Motoki, Rinji and me tomorrow, we''re going to the pool.¡± ¡°Well, that sounds really nice. Would It be OK to bring others along?¡± Asked Yuuto. ¡°Let me guess you want to invite Niko and the others? I don''t mind but you might want to think about only inviting Niko or you might get kicked.¡± ¡°What for?¡± asked Yuuto thinking why she would want to kick him. Although he thought she always found something to kick him for it seemed. ¡°Jeez you''re hopeless,¡± said Pretty boy. Before he went to sleep he called Niko and asked her to go to the pool with him and that she could bring her siblings along with her. He assured her she was the only one he invited to go along with the other three stooges. She happily agreed. *** Yuuto and the three stooges met up with Niko and her siblings in the lobby. They all walked to the subway and travel to the stop near the indoor swim pool they would be going to. When they got to the pool Niko and Eri split up and went to the female change rooms. While Yuuto, Tabito, and the three stooges went to the men''s change room. They quickly changed and walked out of the other door in the changing room connecting to the indoor pool they sat down at a table and waited for Niko and Eri. When they came out Yuuto''s eyes were glued to Niko admiring her one-piece swimsuit and small chest. The one-piece suited her well it wasn''t too tight or to lose. It was neither too revealing nor did it cover everything up it was just right. He was able to see her bare slender arms and nice firm legs. Yuuto could also see her bare neck from her hair being pinned into a bun. It was the first time he had seen her in such a thing with this large amount of skin showing. She looked at him and started to fidget shyly. ¡°What? Is there something wrong?¡± asked a red-faced Niko. ¡°No nothing! Nothing is wrong it''s all good. I was just admiring you in your swimsuit,¡± Yuuto tried to hurriedly blurt out a compliment not wanting to get kicked. He got kicked anyway. ¡°Don''t look at me with such perverted eyes in front of others,¡± said Niko. ¡°So I can do it when we¡¯re alone?¡± he asked rubbing his leg. Earning him a kick on the other leg. ¡°Yuuto 10/10!,¡± said Pretty boy. ¡°Um...8 or 9/10,¡± said Motoki. ¡°Eh, it was decent. 7/10,¡± said Rinji. ¡°What are you guys giving scores for?¡± asked Yuuto. They were interrupted by a familiar voice behind them. ¡°Oh, you guys are here also.¡± ¡°Yuuto what happened to your speedo you wore during the race in the contest?¡± another asked him jokingly. Everyone Turned around and looked at the people who joined to find Kana and Misa standing with bikinis on and holding bags. ¡°Why are you guys here? you''re ruining my date,¡± demanded Niko. ¡°Date?¡± asked the confused Yuuto looking questioningly at Niko. ¡°What else would you call this,¡± Niko replied while sticking out her small chest with pride while looking at the other two girls. ¡°Don''t tell me you finally sunk your teeth into innocent Niko?¡± Asked Misa. ¡°What are you talking about?¡± asked the flustered Yuuto. ¡°You guys nothings happened yet. Let''s not talk about this in front of the kids. We''re here to swim. So let''s have fun,¡± said Niko. The rest of the day Yuuto spent his time being dragged around by all three of the girls. He was exhausted from it all when he got back from the pool and flopped into bed. ''What part of that was supposed to be a reset to my exhaustion it just made me work even harder'' complained Yuuto to himself as he slipped off to sleep, with with the memory of Niko laughing in the pool and thinking how nice she looked in her swimsuit. ''If only she would stop kicking me.'' Chapter 16: End of a career. Yuuto, Pretty boy, Motoki, and Rinji all sat around a table playing monopoly. Pretty boy was winning while Yuuto was in the last place almost out of money. ¡°Hey did you hear that there have been a few problems with one of the top ranking host lately?¡± Rinji questioned the group drawing their attention away from the game. ¡°No. What happened?¡± asked Yuuto. ¡°It seems clients have been reporting dissatisfaction with #3 Norihide. It seems he has been bad talking and getting rough with them the last few days. The club hasn''t been able to catch him in the act, so they let him off with just a warning,¡± replied Rinji. ¡°Anyone of you work on the same day as him?¡± asked Motoki. ¡°Both Yuuto and I work will probably be working the same day as him tomorrow,¡± said Pretty boy. ¡°Why?¡± asked Yuuto. ¡°If they cause problems for the club and it negatively affects the club. It will affect us also,¡± replied Rinji. ¡°Ah, I see what you''re getting at. So you want us to keep a watch on them?¡± asked Pretty boy. ¡°If you could that would help everyone out. We will keep an eye out if we work with him also.¡± Rinji assured Pretty boy and Yuuto. ¡°I guess if we have to. It would be troublesome if I couldn''t pay off my debt,¡± said Yuuto. *** The next few days, they kept an eye on him and couldn''t see him doing anything that could be seen as detrimental to the club. Yuuto was taking a break from working and as he was walking back from the bathroom was when he heard a female''s voice down the hall near the female¡¯s restroom door. ¡°Let go of me! You''re hurting my arm!¡± shouted a female client with a pained look on her face. ¡°Come on why don''t you come with me to a special room so that we can be by our lonesome selves,¡± said Norihide with an evil smile on his face. ¡°No, what''s gotten into you? You weren''t rude like this before?¡± she asked. Yuuto sent a quick text to Pretty boy and then walked up behind him and tapped him on the shoulder. ¡°I''m busy. What is it?¡± Norihide asked annoyed that he was interrupted while still holding onto the client''s arm tightly. Yuuto slugged him in the gut, causing him to fall down and let go of the female client¡¯s arm. ¡°I''m sorry for his rude treatment. I will let management know of his actions,¡± Yuuto apologized while giving a short bow to her. She thanked him and hurriedly walked away to the main room. Norihide stood up and glared at Yuuto. ¡°What are you doing attacking me?¡± he asked taking a fight stance. ¡°Back at you. What are you doing attacking your clients? You do know you''re causing problems for the club and by doing so causing everyone else troubleright?¡± Yuuto countered his question. Pretty boy walked up behind Norihide and announced his prescience asking him a question. ¡°Why are you causing us problems?¡± ¡°I''ve done nothing wrong,¡± said Norihide and with that, he pushed past Pretty boy, who didn''t stop him and let him go. ¡°He''s definitely up to something,¡± said Yuuto. ¡°I guess we should keep a closer watch on him¡± Pretty boy replied. There weren''t any more disturbances that night. The next people to work with him were Motoki and Rinji. While working and keeping an eye on him, Rinji overheard Norihide having a heated conversation talking on a cell phone to someone about a job. He secretly recorded the conversation with his own cell phone and sent the video to the Yuuto, Motoki, and Pretty boy. *** Yuuto and the 3 stooges had finished watching the video multiple times and were now quietly thinking about what it all meant. It was hard to figure out what was being talked about as they could only hear one side of the conversation. ¡°Well, we now know something is going on with everyone being able to catch him doing some questionable things. All we can do is keep up the surveillance and make sure he doesn''t cause any further damage,¡± said Rinji breaking the silence. ¡°This surveillance is a pain. Why is he causing us so many problems,¡± complained Pretty boy. ¡°If I remember correctly, I''m on the next shift with him. Hopefully, his current behavior will calm down and get back to business as usual,¡± said Yuuto.Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. On the next shift, Yuuto kept an eye on Norihide. Fortunately, there weren''t any incidents during work. As he was passing the employee¡¯s smoke room to go to his own room Yuuto stopped when he heard loud and angry shouting from inside. Cautiously, he walked to the edge of the door and listened to the conversation coming out of the room, whether Norihide meant to be loud or not, it was easy to hear his side of the conversation. ¡°You said you would pay me for causing problems yet I am still waiting for the payment that you keep saying was delayed. Stop saying you will pay me and actually do it. Better yet if you won''t come here and give me the money then I can come to you and get it directly from you.¡± Norihide angrily shouted. After a few seconds of silence, he spoke again. ¡°Oh, so you''re okay if I come over and get the money myself. Then I''ll pay you a visit tomorrow evening,¡± he said in a lower voice which seemed satisfied with the results of the conversation. Yuuto heard Norihide begin moving towards the door causing him to hurry and run away with this new bombshell of information just bursting to be let loose. Luckily they had a day off tomorrow, so when Yuuto relayed what he had learned, they had all agreed to tail him and see who was causing all the problems. They would then confront him with the evidence and have him confess in front of the boss. The next night, they followed Norihide who had decided to walk to the destination. Yuuto and the three stooges were wearing dark clothing and sunglasses to blend in and not be noticed. Although the people that they walked passed kept giving them odd looks when passing by each other so Yuuto wasn''t too sure if it was working. After a half hour of walking, Norihide stopped in front of a rival host club. There were two muscular men guarding the front door. He said something that Yuuto and the group couldn''t hear. One of the guards entered the building and a few minutes later, he returned with a smile and nodded to Norihide. He pointed to the side alley and led him down it with the second guard following behind them. Yuuto and the others followed quietly peering from the corner of another building next to the ally. It was dark except for the light coming from above a door at the end, he was able to see they had stopped in front of the door which had a large sign that said employee entrance only. The door opened and a group of five men walked out surrounding Norihide. The last man of the five people stood in the doorway. He said something Yuuto couldn''t hear with a smirk to on his face. ¡°What is this!? I caused problems for club Winter Night like you said so it would be easier for you to get clients that left. Why are you threatening me instead of paying up?¡± shouted Norihide who had gotten angry at the man who had spoken to him. The other man spoke something while looking at the men around Norihide and then walked back into the building the door closing behind him. The seven muscular men that were surrounding him started laughing and pulling out blunt weapons. ¡°Hey you guys, I''m sure we can work out something so you don''t have to attack me. How about this, I don''t need any money, you can just let me go and you won''t need to pay me. Sounds fair right?¡± shouted the panicked Norihide. The muscular men all closed in surrounding him and started to hit him all over from head to toe. Norihide fell to the ground in a fetal position trying to protect his head with his arms and hands. The beating was done as quickly as it had started. A few gave their final kicks directed at Norihide¡¯s head and stomach. Then they all left the immobile Norihide on the ground, ignoring him and walking to the employee door. The two original door guards turned around and started walking to the front of the building. Yuuto and the rest of the group quickly moved away from the corner but they were too late as one of them let out a shout to the other six men. ¡°A group of people were watching us! Come on everyone, let''s go and take care of them as well.¡± ¡°Oh, crap run!¡± Motoki shouted out to the others. They spent the next five minutes running as hard as they could weaving in and out of the groups of people on the crowded sidewalks. They stopped inside a crowded cafe, after looking around to make sure they had lost their pursuers. After ordering a coffee, they quietly sat at their table a few minutes resting catching their breath. Yuuto saw a payphone on the cafe''s wall, he walked over it and pulled out enough change from his pocket to use it and called the nearest hospital, giving them information about a person being beaten up and that he was unmoving. He gave them the address where Norihide was and then hung up. Yuuto walked back over to the group who were still silent staring at their coffee or out the window. ¡°I called for an ambulance for him. Do you guys want to go visit him in the hospital and see if he will talk?¡± asked Yuuto. ¡°Eh, I doubt he''s in any shape to talk to us,¡± Rinji replied. ¡°I doubt that even if he was able to talk, he would tell us anything useful.¡± said Pretty boy. ¡°Well I''ll just go just in case I can learn something and check up on him they really did a number on him,¡± said Yuuto. After they finished their coffee and paid the bill, Yuuto split up from them and walked to the hospital. It took forever for him to be able to talk to the nurse at the front desk. When he got to the desk, the nurse informed him that visiting hours were almost over and he would only be able to see him for a short ten minutes at most and gave him the room number. He walked into the room to find Norihide in a body cast laying down on a bed. Yuuto waked over to him and called his name a few times, but there was no response. He heard footsteps coming from behind him. He turned to see an older male doctor with graying hair entering the room. ¡°Ah someone visiting one of my new patients. Are you by chance a family member?¡± asked the doctor. ¡°No, I am just a co-worker. I heard he got in trouble so I came to check in on him and see how he was doing and when he would be able to get back to work.¡± Yuuto replied. ¡°Oh, where do you both work?¡± questioned the doctor. ¡°The host club Winter Night,¡± Yuuto replied. ¡°Well, unfortunately, he won''t be able to work for quite some time and it''s doubtful if he will be able to regain the mobility he had before. His spine and legs were damaged pretty severely. Then there''s his face, it was really bad. The doctors might have to do additional surgery to help fix it.¡± said the doctor. ¡°I see. Well I have to go I was just checking up on him before visiting hours ended," said Yuuto and left the room. On his way down the hallway, he noticed two familiar faces of the female and male inspectors that had come to the club before passing him with two police officers following behind. Yuuto looked behind him and saw they had entered the room he had just come from. ''Wow I picked a good time to leave or I probably would have been stuck there being interrogated about who he is and if I knew what had happened'' thought Yuuto as he hurried up his pace and exited the hospital. When he got back to the club, he informed the others about what he had heard. He warned them that the police had come to investigate the incident. They decided to be quiet about it unless they got targeted by the rival club. Chapter 17: Surprise! Thirty people had gathered in a small conference room and were sitting around a long table having a heated discussion. They had been discussing what tactics, units, and equipment to be used for their planned surprise. ¡°So what does everyone think? Are we ready?¡± asked the man at the head of the rectangle table who was leading the discussions. ¡°No, we need more time to make better plans, rushing this is a bad idea. Do your informants have any credibility? Is the information that you were given correct, can anyone corroborate it?¡± asked a man with glasses who was on the opposite end of the table from the leader. ¡°My team is ready! We need to act now! If we don''t, we might miss this opportunity,¡± a third person shouted trying to be heard over the others. ¡°I agree that we need to move fast. Just the other day, we had multiple people show up at the hospital due to run-ins with some of the host clubs on our list,¡± a fourth person said calmly. ¡°Right! If we don''t take care of them soon, we will have more problems later on and we might end up having a dead body show up when we could have stopped it. Then everyone will start pointing fingers at us and demand the reason why we didn''t act sooner,¡± said a fifth person. ¡°We don''t have all the time in the world, the cost to keep everyone working on overtime is expensive,¡± a sixth person spoke up just loud enough for the others to hear. Everyone in the room gave their opinions and commented on the subject. ¡°Well, it seems that everyone agrees for the most part we need to act soon while we have the advantage. I will send you all the time later this afternoon, make sure you''re all ready to go when it''s time,¡± the leader said putting an end to the meeting that had dragged on for far too long. Night time, just before most of the nighttime businesses opened their doors to customers. An unmarked van sat inconspicuously across the street from a major host club. Inside was a large group of men who were sitting in the van, which on the outside looked normal but was actually an armored vehicle. Those who were inside were wearing a bulletproof vest and protective helmets. They were waiting for orders from the HQ to begin the mission. ¡°Everyone,get ready we will begin as soon as the orders come,¡± said the squad leader into his helmet microphone. It only took a few minutes of waiting before the squad commander received the orders to start the mission. The Squad leader stood up opened the side door that was not facing the host club. ¡°Everyone, form up outside and check your gear, let¡¯s keep hidden as long as we can,¡± ordered the squad leader. They all quickly flowed out of the van and lined up behind each other, checking their gear and loading their weapons. Starting from the rear, the last in line taped the one in front to signal they were ready all the way up the line until it reached the Squad commander. ¡°Everyone the mission is a go, move out and handcuff all the employees. Make sure no one escapes. Then we will start to tear the place up and find what they are hiding. GO GO GO,¡± the Squad commander ordered. The group quietly slipped out from behind the van and stormed into the host club Mushroom. They made sure to split up into multiple groups and guard the exits. With their quick and quiet movements, they were able to handcuff the stunned guards and employees without any problems. After rounding up everyone that could be found, they started searching the building and tearing it apart. Through their searches, they were able to find what they suspected the club to have been doing illegally. They were able to confirm the club was a large drug front for a local Yakuza group selling all kinds of drugs to the people who came to the club along with vehicles that were used for moving the drugs. That night there were many raids on unsuspecting host clubs all over Shinjuku happening at the same time. At the host club Sausage, the raid group had discovered the club was a front for a Yakuza group that dealt in illegal human trafficking. The raid groups were able to successfully rescue many young girls that had been drugged and tied to beds in shabby small rooms. After checking the police databases to they found that all the girls had been reported missing, some had even been missing for nearly a year. The host club Royal Cheese was raided and they were able to confirm that they had been hosting illegal gambling events where many people had lost all their money. They borrowed money from the club and came to find out later that they had to start paying off debts to a Yakuza group which had a loaned them the large amounts of money. Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. The Yakuza added an extraordinarily large interest onto the sum owed causing even more trouble for the debtor. At the host club One-eyed Monster, there was a gunfight between the raiding force and multiple shooters firing from windows and the door of the building. While the gunfight was going on, someone had tried to jump out of a window and crawl away but they were captured before they could get too far. The gunfight ended with the shooters in the building being killed. There had been two raiding personnel that had been wounded, one in the left arm and the other had been grazed on the neck which was bleeding like crazy until the medic patched him up. Inside the building they found large amounts of guns hidden all over the premises, it was most likely a black market gun shop run by the Yakuza. *** With #3 Norihide unable to work as a host anymore, Yuuto had been moved up to the rank of #6. He was in the locker room and had just finished getting ready for the night¡¯s shift when he heard loud shouts coming from the hallway. Deciding to check out what was causing the commotion, he exited the locker room and was almost ran over by someone running down the hall. ¡°Sorry for getting...¡± said Yuuto before getting interrupted by the person. ¡°Quiet. No talking,¡± ordered the swat like police officer whose face he couldn''t see. Yuuto''s shoulders were grabbed, he was forcefully turned around and shoved up against the wall and then had both his hands placed in zip-tie handcuffs. He was then pulled away from the wall and pushed forward and led down the stairs and hallways and finally stopped when they got to the gym. The person who had led him to the gym did not say anything other than shouting for him to be quiet when he had started to ask a question and was shoved forward. Yuuto looked around the gym and saw that there were hosts and workers all sitting on the floor with their hands behind their backs. Everyone was being watched by two police officers. Yuuto was again shoved forward and told to go sit down with the others. He searched for any familiar faces in the crowd of people and found Pretty boy was already sitting down near Motoki and Rinji. He walked over to them and sat down while looking around and watched as other people were escorted into the room. Some of the people were half dressed, missing shirts, or pants and shoes. ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Yuuto finally asked the three others breaking the silence. ¡°No clue, but this might have to do with a rumor that was going around that the police were going to be raiding the clubs due to them searching every club a while ago,¡± Rinji spoke up. ¡°This is bad, how are we supposed to make any money like this,¡± complained Motoki. ¡°Well, all we can do is wait for them to finish their searching. If they find anything they don''t like then someone will be in hot water.¡± said Pretty boy. ¡°I doubt they will find anything wrong here. Hopefully, they finish up their search and let us get back to work,¡± said Yuuto. They were forced to sit and wait in the gym for over two hours until the old man walked into the gym room with a police officer next to him. ¡°The police''s search is over. Nothing was out of the ordinary so there is nothing to worry about. You all have the rest of the night off we won''t be able to open tonight due to the police interference with our business,¡± the old man said to the group of hosts and other workers. Multiple police officers went from person to person cutting off the zip ties that had been used on the hosts. The hosts and other employees slowly made their way to the doors and walked up the stairs, exiting the gym room. Yuuto was stopped by a police officer and called over to the side by the old man. ¡°Go to my office and wait for me there,¡± the old man ordered. Yuuto was puzzled, he wondered what he could have done to warrant being called to the old man''s office. He slowly made his way down the hallways to the old man¡¯s office and sat in a chair next to the door. The secretary that was only a few feet away from him ignored him and keep working on her paperwork. Ten minutes passed until the old man walked to his office followed by the two familiar inspectors. ¡°Yuuto follow me,¡± ordered the old man. Yuuto entered the office after the two inspectors and stood in front of the desk. ¡°You may sit,¡± said the old man. ¡°I''m okay with standing sir,¡± Yuuto replied. ¡°Fine. I called you here because I was told by these inspectors that you probably had information on what happened to Norihide. It seems they saw you exiting the hospital room the night it happened. So anything to add?¡± the old man asked. ¡°No sir just that I had heard that he was injured and went to check up on him,¡± Yuuto answered. ¡°Is that so. If that''s the case, you''re dismissed,¡± said the old man. Yuuto bowed to the old man and the female and male inspector and exited the room. He walked down the hallway calmly until he rounded a corner then started to run to his room. Motoki, Rinji, and Pretty boy were all sitting at the table in the room waiting for Yuuto to come back. ¡°So what did you get called out for?¡± Pretty boy asked. ¡°The inspectors saw me exiting Norihide''s room at the hospital and had the old man question me if there was any more info on the subject. I told him I just heard that he had been injured and went to visit him,¡± said Yuuto. ¡°We better get our stories straight and keep it at that or we might get in trouble with the yakuza supporting that club,¡± said Rinji. ¡°What a pain, he''s still causing us problems,¡± said Motoki. They spent the night talking and watching the television. A few hours after they had been raided on the late night news, there was footage of other raids on host clubs showing drugs, guns, gambling, and human trafficking. The reporter also commented on the shootout at one of the clubs detailing what had happened and how many people were killed and wounded. Then they showed a picture of Niko''s ex-boyfriend who was already in jail. He was blamed by the clubs involved to be the ringleader of all the bad things going on. But anyone who knew him could tell the clubs were stringing him out to be the scapegoat. With the new info, he now had more charges added on to what he already was in jail for. Chapter 18: White powder. Two men in their mid-20s were at a prison quietly talking to each other in hushed voices. One was a prisoner while the other was visiting him. ¡°So have you prepared the two presents?¡± asked the prisoner. ¡°Yes they are ready to be delivered whenever you want them to be,¡± replied the visitor. ¡°That¡¯s fast. You sure take your job seriously I see,¡± said the prisoner happily. ¡°I will personally hand deliver them myself. You need not worry,¡± said the visitor. ¡°Good, good. With this, I will have my revenge for putting me in here and pinning everything on me. Be sure not to let them know who you are or that it came from me.¡± ordered the prisoner. ¡°Look, man, I''m a professional. I''m not stupid, this isn''t my first time delivering a package of this kind to someone. Just make sure to have the payment for when it''s done and everything will sort itself out.¡± replied the visitor. ¡°Hey, I''m just giving you some friendly advice. No need to get sour on me,¡± replied the prisoner. ¡°Hey X, your visiting time is over. Back to your cell,¡± shouted a guard as he began walking over to X and led him away to his cell. *** Yuuto had gone to the mail room on the first floor during the morning to check his mail he had received. While looking through the junk mail, he noticed Niko was standing next to him also going through her own mail. The only other people in the room was the old man''s wife, who from time to time worked at the mail room. A package delivery man entered the room and dropped off a fairly large box onto the mail receptionist desk and after getting a signature for the package, he gave a smile and quickly left the room. Yuuto heard the old lady mumbling something about having no clue who could have sent a large box to the club for no reason. It was rather odd and didn''t happen much. Yuuto was curious about what was inside, watching as she opened the box. When the box was opened a large puff of white powder escaped into the air and began floating about and falling onto the table and everything around it. The old lady immediately covered her face with a handkerchief and shouted to Yuuto and Niko. ¡°Cover your mouths and body. Close the door! Don''t breath it in or get near enough to touch this powder. We have to quarantine this room and try not to contaminate the other rooms,¡± she shouted moving away from the box. There was a first aid kit by the door which the old lady opened and pulled out 3 masks for them to put on. ¡°This will have to do for now,¡± she said. After checking that everyone had put on their masks, she used a phone in the room to place an emergency call to the police. ¡°Hello, there was a mysterious white powder that exploded out of a package that was delivered to club Winter Night. I think it might be anthrax. Could you please get the ambulance and hazmat here to test it?¡± she questioned the person on the other side of the line. ¡°How many people are there?¡± asked the police officer. ¡°Three people,¡± she replied. ¡°How many rooms have been infected? Were you able to quarantine it?¡± asked the police dispatcher. ¡°Only the mail room. Yes, we closed the door as fast as we could¡± replied the old man''s wife. ¡°Okay, sit tight and stay away from the box. The emergency crew will be able to treat you if needed when the hazmat team gets there. We will be able to test and see whether or not it''s anthrax.¡± the police dispatcher ordered. ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± asked the stunned Yuuto as he backed away from the desk. ¡°Someone may have sent anthrax in that package. All we can do for now is to wait for the police first responders and the hazmat team to come and decontaminate the area and test the white powder. ¡± said the old lady who''s muffled voice come from behind the mask. They didn''t have to wait long. They could hear the loud sirens blaring from the streets and a commotion from the hallways as they set up a quarantine on the other side of the door to the mail room, and washed the hallway to decontaminate it if there was anything that had leaked out from it. When everything was secured and a containment bubble was attached to the door, there were a few loud knocks on the door. ¡°This is the hazmat team. We¡¯re entering the room, step away from the door. We will be able to help get you out of the room soon enough.¡± came a muffled male voice from the other side of the door. The three slid down the wall away from the door but still keeping their distance from the box and the white powder. The door opened and a large circular tube was pushed forward a short way and then inflated to cover the whole door frame on the mail room side, creating a double bubble for keeping decontaminated. The zipper on the bubble was unzipped and four people in hazmat suits walked into the room.This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. ¡°Where is contaminate?¡± asked the same male voice they had heard from behind the door. The old lady pointed to the desk where it was very obvious there was white powder all over the table and the ground. ¡°Check them out and if they aren''t in immediate danger, put them through the chemical showers.¡± the man ordered to one of the other suits. A hazmat suit walked over to them and a female voice came out of it. ¡°Show me your arms and other exposed skin,¡± she demanded. She inspected each of them and then used a wand sniffer to see if she could find any traces of a toxin on their bodies. ¡°Are any of you experiencing any nausea or stomach pain?¡± she asked. ¡°No,¡± all three of them replied. ¡°Good, enter into this bubble. Wait for the air inside to change and be cleared. You will be told when to unzip the other side and exit. You will be led to the decontamination showers when you exit the bubble.¡± she said as she headed them over to the door. Yuuto, Niko and the old lady stepped into the small half bubble. The hazmat female zipped it shut and the air was sucked out and then replaced with fresh decontaminated steamy air. After a minute or so, the other side of the bubble zipper opened to reveal more hazmat¡¯s staring at them and a hallway covered with a large inflated plastic tube leading outside. They were led down the hallway and outside where the tube opened up into a large tent that had another tube connected to it on the opposite side. ¡°Here take this bag. Each of you are to go through that tube and into the shower room, put your clothes into this bag, seal it and then use the decontamination soap and wash off thoroughly multiple times. There will be another bag containing a towel and clothes for you to wear after you wash off. When you''re done come back here.¡± said a voice from inside the hazmat suit and handed them each a bag. ¡°Ladies first,¡± said Yuuto being the gentleman and offering to let them go first. ¡°You probably have some perverted reason for wanting me to go first,¡± Niko commented as she walked into the tube and disappeared. ¡°How rude, I was trying to be nice,¡± Yuuto shouted after her. ¡°Ah it so nice to be young and in love.¡± said the old man''s wife staring at me and then looking at where Niko left. That quieted Yuuto up from embarrassment. Not too long after she entered, Niko came back out with her wet hair and uncomfortable stiff looking clothes. The old lady went inside after her and took a longer time to get decontaminated then Niko had. Yuuto finally was able to go to the shower. He quickly took his clothes off and put his clothes into the bag. He rinsed down with the hose that was being used as a showerhead and washed multiple times and then did a final rinse and turned off the hose and opened the bag with the towel. He dried off and put on the itchy stiff clothes. After he returned to the others. they were led to a room that was quarantined. It had two cots set out for them, Niko and Yuuto sat down on one and let the old man''s wife have the other one. ¡°You''ll have to stay here until the results come back from the lab whether it was really anthrax or not.¡± said the hazmat person number 420. ¡°Shouldn''t you have test kits already to test it here?¡± asked Yuuto. ¡°They tested it two times already but the test came back inconclusive. So they sealed the box and sent it to the lab where they can do a more thorough inspection of it. It shouldn''t take too long¡± said 420. They spent the rest of the morning in the room talking to each other and getting to know one another better. Around lunchtime, hazmat number Ru34 walked into the room and handed each of them a container that had been decontaminated. It was lunch and the smell rising with the steam as Yuuto opened it. The smell made his stomach growl as he drooled while staring at the hearty stew with rice as a side dish. ¡°What are you a caveman?¡± Niko asked Yuuto. ¡°My, My... you two sure make a good couple.¡± complemented the old man''s wife. ¡°It''s not like I want to be complimented on that, but thanks I guess?¡± said Niko in a quiet voice barely able to be heard. This caused the old lady to laugh in delight. After eating all the food, the old lady stood and said, ¡°Well I''m going to take a nap and let you two talk amongst yourselves.¡± Niko who was sitting next to him didn''t say anything for over an hour. Yuuto felt something fall onto his shoulder. He looked and saw it was Niko who had fallen asleep sitting up and was now sleeping on his shoulder. She startled him even more when she squirmed a bit trying to get more comfortable and ended up snuggled up next to him with her around his waist. He could feel her breath on his neck and her vice-like grip holding him still. Yuuto was too nervous with Niko clamped onto him to sleep. She slept until it was almost time for dinner where she let out a yelp of surprise and punched Yuuto for not stopping her from doing something so embarrassing. Hazmat number 69 walked into the room. ¡°Good news the lab results are in, the white powder was not anthrax. But it seems there was another package that was delivered to another club where there was actually a positive test for anthrax and sadly two people died to a large quantity of it being inhaled,¡± said number 69. The three of them were let out of the room where the hallway was being put back to normal. ¡°I''ll let my husband know but you too can have the night off. To rest up from this ordeal.¡± said the old lady with a sly smile on her face. As she walked past Yuuto, she quietly said, ¡°Go get her tiger.¡± Yuuto didn''t know what to say so he just kept quiet. ¡°So Yuuto would you like to join me and my siblings for dinner?¡± asked Niko. ¡°Yes I would love to,¡± he said hurriedly almost biting his tongue, which caused Niko to giggle. Yuuto spent an entertaining night eating and talking to Eri, Tabito, and Niko. After they ate, they watched a few comedy shows until it was time for the siblings to go to bed. After Niko came back from making sure the two had settled down into their beds Yuuto stood up. ¡°I should get going also,¡± said Yuuto. ¡°Trying to run away?¡± asked Niko. ¡°Thank you for the dinner and entertainment it was very pleasant,¡± replied Yuuto ignoring her question. Niko escorted him to the door, he paused in the hallway at the door and looked back at her to say his final goodbye for the night. He saw she was staring at him intently as if expecting him to do something. Yuuto couldn''t figure out what it was no matter how long he stalled leaving by thinking it over. Niko lept up close to him and pulled his face to hers and gave him a nice big kiss on the lips. He kissed her back and then she separated from him. ¡°You''re hopeless without me,¡± she said. ¡°I guess this means we''re officially dating?¡± asked Yuuto. ¡°Good night,¡± said Niko with a smile and slammed the door shut. Chapter 19: Farewell Months passed by. Everyone was able to successfully keep earning money and slowly pay off their debts. The police were able to catch the person who delivered theanthrax. He informed the police on who hired him, thus adding more charges and jail time to Mr. x the prisoner. Nothing major happened to the group during that time. The season slowly changed and it was now winter. Pretty boy, Motoki, and Rinji were able to pay off their debts. They had been able to save up some money while still working as a host and looking for a new job. The three of them had decided to leave the club now that they had paid off the debt. So a farewell party was going to be hosted for them in the club with all the hosts and hostesses. Along with a few guests of those people who would be allowed to invite. The club would not be open for that day in order to host the party. Some of the special guests invited to the party where Misa and Kana. The party was starting soon, Yuuto and the other host had spent over an hour setting up the place and making sure it was all set for the party. Yuuto had been in charge of making sure everything was getting done correctly. The reason why? He was now rank #1 in the host rankings. He was earning far more than when he started as a host but even though there was still a good amount of debt to pay off, it was just going away faster now. They had locked up the three honored guests all in one of their rooms, where they had to wait until the preparations were ready. Yuuto did one more check to see if everything was ready and if everyone had arrived to start the party. Upon confirming everything was in order, he left the main room and started walking to the room with Pretty boy, Motoki, and Rinji, to let them out and escort them to the main room where the party would start. Reaching the door to the room, he knocked before opening it. ¡°Everyone is waiting on you guys,¡± said Yuuto to the three in the room. ¡°Man, this is more nerve-wracking then working as a host,¡± said Rinji. ¡°Just man up and push through.¡± said Pretty boy. ¡°I hope there is some good food at the party,¡± said Motoki nervously. The TV they had been watching was turned off and they all exited the room and walked to the main club room. When they entered the room, everyone who had gathered under a banner that had farewell written on it had party poppers which they used while shouting, ¡°Good Job!¡± together. The old man walked forward a few steps from the crowd and spoke. ¡°Now that the honored guest had arrived we can start the party. Bring out the drinks for the toast¡±. Waiters brought out trays full of glasses filled with wine and handed them out to all the guests. When everyone had a drink, the old man raised his glass and said, ¡°Here''s to some fine young men and may they be successful in the new jobs that they have chosen to pursue.¡± The crowd of people gave a shout of agreement and everyone took a drink. A few more toast was given when they were finished the old man spoke up. ¡°Well with that the party is now officially started, feel free to mingle and have fun for now. Later there will be a few contests and other fun things to do. We will announce them when it''s time for the events to happen. So until then let''s all have fun.¡± Yuuto tried to walk over to the three to congratulate his close friends but the large crowd had already surrounded them. Yuuto noticed Dr. Doi sitting at the bar and drinking alone he decided to go over and greet him. ¡°Hello, Dr. Doi are you having fun?¡± Yuuto asked. ¡°Oh if it isn''t Yuuto haven''t seen you in a while. Last time was the anthrax scare wasn''t it?¡± questioned Dr. Doi. ¡°So what are you doing here all alone?¡± asked Yuuto. ¡°I was thinking about the last experiment I did and was wondering if I had cut open the specimen right and then after inspecting its innards if everything was put back in the right places when I sewed it back up. Well I guess since it''s not dead yet that I was able to cure it,¡± replied Dr. Doi who went back to ignoring Yuuto, and stared off into the distance thinking of whatever mad scientist think of. ¡°Okay nice talking to you too,¡± said Yuuto as he turned around and walked away.If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. After looking around the room, he found Niko who was talking to Misa and Kana. He walked over to them. ¡°Oh no look what the cat dragged in,¡± joked Misa as she noticed Yuuto near them. Yuuto smiled at her and shot back at her by saying ¡°Well your tongue is as sharp as ever Misa.¡± ¡°So when are you going to be having your own farewell party?¡± asked Kana. ¡°Not for some time. I still have a large amount to pay off, but it will be paid off. I am grateful for the opportunity that was given to me. Now I just have to stay at the #1 spot and I will be able to pay it off faster,¡± Yuuto said with determination. ¡°Oh someone is pleading with us to keep coming to him as your client huh. You''re really lusting after us that much? You shouldn''t do that in front of Niko you never know what might happen,¡± said Misa with a mischievous smile on her face. Yuuto quickly looked over at Niko and before he could say anything he got kicked in the shin. She gave off a Hmph looking at him. Her eyes staring daggers into him. ¡°Why do you always have to do that? Anyways you know I have to get a lot of people to have me as their host in order to pay off the debt. You know that you''re the only one for me Niko.¡± said Yuuto. This caused Niko to blush and kick Yuuto in the shin again but lighter this time. ¡°Don''t say such things in front of others. Jeez that''s so embarrassing, erase that from your memory you two,¡± said Niko. ¡°Nope I''m saving it in my memory to always keep,¡± replied Misa. They continued to talk and joke around for a few hours until the old man announced that one of the events would start soon. It turned out that the event was a couple''s karaoke singing contest. Niko urged Yuuto to join the contest with her he tried to refuse her but she insisted quite strongly so he was forced to join the contest or his life would be in danger. The reason he didn''t want to sing wasthat he had a dark secret about singing. It was very dark and very much a secret. The contest started. There were many applauses after each couple finished their song. When it was Yuuto and Niko''s turn to sing, Niko picked a love song that was ranked as an overall easy song to sing. After they had finished singing the whole crowd was stunned to silence, they all had awkward expressions frozen on their faces. Yes, he was so good at singing that people would freeze from how awesome he was. After them, the other couples finished singing each getting applause for some reason. When it came for everyone to vote the singers somehow the ranking was wrong because Yuuto and Niko were in dead last. ¡°Sorry man but you suck at singing,¡± said Pretty boy after he saw the confusion on Yuuto''s face. ¡°What I thought I was a good singer every time I sang for someone, they would always be stunned from how great it was,¡± said Yuuto. ¡°No I can assure you it wasn''t from how good you were,¡± said Motoki while laughing between bites of food. ¡°You''re hopeless, but I guess that''s one of your charms,¡± said Niko with a weird smile on her face. ¡°Uh yeah, Thanks for the compliment I guess,¡± said the now embarrassed Yuuto. They spent a few more hours hanging out until the old man announced the next event. ¡°Everyone, the three guests of honor will be over here. You can get your picture taken with them if you want.¡± Yuuto walked over to them and got into the line that was forming and then got his picture taken with all three of them. After everyone finished taking pictures, the next even started. The tables and chairs were pushed to the side making for a larger dance floor for everyone. Yuuto was dragged out onto the makeshift dance floor by Misa who danced with him to several upbeat songs. Before going back to the table and seats to take a rest. Slow music came on when Yuuto had only been sitting for a few seconds and he was again forced onto the dance floor by Niko. Before he could complain about needing some rest Niko interrupted, ¡°This music is just right for couple dancing. Let''s go.¡± He followed her and began to do a slow waltz with her. While dancing he noticed Kana was dancing with Pretty boy. Motoki and Rinji where both dancing with people he didn''t know. Yuuto¡¯s face was forcefully turned back to Niko. ¡°Keep your focus on me for the dance won''t you?¡± demanded Niko. Yuuto smiled at her and kissed her on the lips instantly silencing the shy Niko for just a moment. ¡°Wh-what do you think you''re doing in front of others.¡± stuttered Niko. ¡°Just showing my love for you,¡± replied Yuuto confidently as he drew her closer to him. ¡°You dummy,¡± Niko said in a low mutter resting her head on his shoulder as they slowly danced. A few hours later, the party was nearing its end. ¡°Everyone thanks for joining us for this party. All that is left are the finale farewell speeches and advice given to the new hosts by the ones leaving and then I will also give some advice to the ones leaving.¡± said the old man. After everyone had given their final good luck and goodbye speeches, Pretty boy picked up the microphone. ¡°My advice to all you new hosts who will be taking over for us hosts that leave is this. Those who succeed at being a host are those who have a clear set goal. Figure out what yours is and work towards it with all your might.¡± said Pretty boy and passed the microphone to Motoki. ¡°Mine is in order to succeed, you need to get a lot of sleep and eat lots of good food. You will also need to keep in good shape so don''t slack off,¡± said Motoki and he passed the microphone to Rinji. ¡°My advice is you need to make some friends that you can enjoy your time off with, it will make your life a lot more fun and easier to get from day today,¡± Rinji spoke quickly and then handed the microphone back to the old man. ¡°The advice I have for the three of you is quite simple. Don''t let yourselves get caught by any vices that would see you back here in debt. You have a second chance debt free now don''t waste it. Now that concludes the main party. There is an after-party that will last until the morning for those who wish to stay otherwise you''re all allowed to go or stay as you please,¡± said the old man. Yuuto walked over to Niko who was saying goodbye to Misa and Kana as they both decided to leave as it was getting late and they had to work in the morning. After they left along with a large majority of the people who had come to the farewell party Yuuto questioned Niko if she wanted to stay for the after party or if she was going return to her room. ¡°How about we go to my place and watch a movie?'' she asked. ¡°Sure, that sounds great,¡± Yuuto agreed. Yuuto shook the three stooges¡¯ hands and wished them luck as he and Niko left the room. Yuuto followed Niko to her small apartment room and when they entered, he sat down on the couch and waited for her to pick out a movie to watch. He didn''t know what movie it was as he fell asleep a few minutes into it. Niko sighed and said, ¡°You''re hopeless.¡± She grabbed a blanket and let his head fall down onto her lap, giving him a lap pillow. Niko pulling the blanket over the both of them and drifted off to sleep as well. Chapter 20: I do. It had been several months after the three stooges had left for their new lives and new jobs. Yuuto was still the number one host. He had been taking care of more and more of the club business. The old man had recently gotten sick and entrusted Yuuto with the responsibility of keeping the club functioning along with Niko as an assistant. The reason he had been chosen to take over was partly that he was rank one but the old man''s wife had picked them saying that they were a good couple. They entrusted Niko and Yuuto with secret information on the club in order to keep it running smoothly. While Yuuto took care of most of the stuff, Niko had a lot of free time so she hanged out with Misa and Kana most of the time. The three girls had figured out who had caused Yuuto a lot of trouble a while ago and took care of the devious woman with their own plan. In the end, Niko and co. won the battle! The girls were out celebrating as Niko and Yuuto had finally gotten engaged and decided to get married during the next spring. They were both steadily working off their debt and hoped they would have all or most of it paid off by the spring. *** Spring had finally arrived, Niko had been able to completely pay off her debt a month before Yuuto had. They were now both debt free. Their worries switched from their debt to being busy making all the necessary preparations for their wedding and the reception to be held after the party. They had decided to have a somewhat traditional Japanese wedding at a Shinto shrine. While the wedding reception would be held at club Winter Night. They had to create the list for guests and send out the invitations to family and a small number of friends. There was the food and drinks that needed to be picked out for the reception along with the cake and thank you gifts for the guests that also had to be prepared. It had all been a stressful few months leading up to the appointed day of the wedding making sure everything was near perfect. A decent sized group of Niko''s distant family members had come, along with her younger brother and sister. The only family member to come on Yuuto''s side of the family was his sister Maya. As a substitute for other family members Pretty boy, Motoki, and Rinji had been invited along with Kana and Misa. The group was all waiting for the bus they had rented out to arrive and take the group to the Shinto shrine. It arrived a few minutes after the last member of the invited group showed up and everyone began boarding it. ¡°Who would have thought that you would be getting married before us,¡± said Pretty boy jokingly. Yuuto just gave him a smile and got on the bus after him. They arrived at the Shinto shrine fairly quickly. Both Yuuto and Niko split up and went to the changing rooms to switch their clothing to what they had rented for the wedding. Yuuto changed into a dark blue kimono his family''s color. He walked to the entrance of the Shinto shrine where the guests were waiting. Yuuto fidgeted with the red umbrella made of coarse oil paper (a wagasa) that he was holding. Several tense minutes went by then he heard a low mummer startup from the guests that had been relatively quiet until now. He looked up over to where the crowd had turned to stare, seeing Niko walking from the changing room. He was struck by how captivating she looked. Her long black hair had been tied up in a bun and a large pink flower had been placed through it. She wore no makeup but for some gloss on her lips to make them shine. Her kimono was a traditional pure white color representing absolute purity. It fit her so perfectly, she was making Yuuto fall in love with her all over again. She walked up to Yuuto and stopped next to him without a word, a shy smile on her face. The blushing Yuuto opened the umbrella and held it up above the two of them. They faced forward and entered the shrine grounds and walked down the path leading to the shrine. The guests followed after them. They reached the shrine building and took off their shoes. Everyone put on the slippers provided and entered to where the Shinto priest was waiting for them. Yuuto and Niko stood in the front of the room before the priest and the altar to the shrine''s deity, waiting for the guests to be seated on the cushions prepared for them.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. When everyone had been seated and it became quiet, the Shinto priest stepped forward with his haraigushi and started the ceremony by giving a chant while waving it around them to purify Niko and Yuuto in both body and soul. After that had happened, they both gave a few words of personal vows before the Shinto priest. The priest stood up and walked over to the small table in front of Niko and Yuuto which held a ceremonial container with sake inside and three different sized sake cups called sakazuki. The first was the smallest whilst the third was the largest. Thus they started the San-san-kudo ceremony. Sake was poured into the first smaller cup. Yuuto picked it up and raised it to his lips and brought it back away, raised it again to his lips and brought it away, and on the third time took a sip. Then he placed the small sake cup back on the table where it was refiled and Niko repeated the ritual. They did this for all three sake cups and in exchanging cups they were symbolically exchanging their marriage vows, expressing gratitude to their ancestors and wishing for many descendants. Normally after they had finished, the parents of each the bride and groom would also take sips from the cups. The first three sips represent the three couples, the bride and groom and their parents, the second three sips represent the flaws of hatred, passion, and ignorance, and the last three sips represent freedom from the three flaws. The table was cleared and two branches of the shrine¡¯s sacred tree, the Sakaki. The branches had a zigzag-shaped holy paper streamer that was used to adorn Shinto-related objects attached to it. Both Yuuto and Niko offered the branch to the shrine deity out of respect and placed it on the table in front of them. They gave a short silent prayer for happiness and then clapped two times and gave a small bow which all the guests followed as they clapped and bowed along with them. When they both finished, the priest walked up to the altar to the deity and knelt down and announced the two to the deity. And thus the traditional wedding was over. *** The guest, the bride, and the groom all traveled back to the host club where the reception party would be held. When they arrived at the host club, Yuuto entered the main room and sat down at the square table that was set up on a small platform in front of the other tables. Niko had gone to change into a blue kimono symbolizing joining Yuuto''s family by washing away her family''s color and wearing her now husband''s family color. She was also wearing a ceremonial uchikake an elaborate silk robe covered with embroidered flowers and cranes that is meant to be worn over the kimono. After she sat down next to Yuuto, the guests all came up to the table and offered gifts of money in beautifully decorated envelopes to congratulate the newlyweds, also representing a wish for happiness. Niko and Yuuto gave them a gift bag to thank them for coming. Gifts for guests were normally either a more formal present of food or something that you could use in everyday life. What Yuuto and Niko had chosen to give in the gift bags were folding fans and sake cups. When the gift exchange finished and the guests gave speeches honoring Yuuto and Niko. Then the food that was served full of Japanese cuisine. After everyone had eaten some food, there was a sake barrel rolled out and a wooden mallet placed on top for the kagami-biraki or ¡°opening the lid¡± ceremony. Both Yuuto and Niko took turns hitting the lid of the barrel until it was broken open and then the sake was served to everyone. The lid is a symbol of harmony because of its round shape. When the main course of eating was finished Yuuto and Niko stayed on the raised platform and table while guests would give speeches and some did performances as entertainment. ¡°Well I guess I have to get someone else now that Niko has snagged you, Yuuto,¡± said Misa smiling causing everyone to laugh awkwardly. ¡°Niko you are a very cute girl. Yuuto, you are still such a shy boy. Don''t think I will go easy on you now just because you got married,¡± said Madam Succubus who had joined in only for the reception. After everyone had finished their speeches and performances, Yuuto and Niko both gave speeches thanking their parents for raising them. Before it was time to cut the cake, both Niko and Yuuto left to change. Niko changed into a party dress and Yuuto changed into a samurai costume with a sword. They walked over to the cake with glasses of sake and toasted to their guests. Then Yuuto cut the cake that was twenty layers high with his sword. Both Niko and Yuuto fed each other a small piece of cake. The cake was further cut by the waiters and served to the guests. When everyone was finished eating the cake, Niko and Yuuto both thanked them again for coming to the wedding and the reception and told them they could leave when they wanted. After a half hour, the last guests said their goodbyes leaving Yuuto and Niko alone in the room. ¡°What an eventful day,¡± sighed Yuuto. ¡°Let''s get changed and go to sleep,¡± said Niko. Eri and Tabito had been sent to stay with other hostesses for the night. Niko and Yuuto went to Yuuto''s room after changing which he had to himself and got into bed. They were, unfortunately, unable to get any sleep that night due to stuff happening. A lot of it, a whole night''s worth. They spent the next day sleeping until late afternoon. Where they were tempted to do more ¡°stuff¡± but they were hungry so theydecided to wash up and eat. Thus they started their married life. A week later, they sat at the Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden under the sakura trees eating the wonderfully tasty food and barley tea Niko had made. After eating, they watching the blossoms on the trees swaying in the wind and fluttering to the ground. A vendor was going around selling different types of flowers. ¡°Let''s both get one,¡± said Niko. ¡°Alright,¡± said Yuuto as he stood up and helped Niko up. They each bought a rose that had its petals dyed blue and exchanged them between each other. ¡°When we get back to our room, I have something important to tell you,¡± said Niko seriously. ¡°Alright when we get back I¡¯ll listen,¡± said Yuuto seriously. When they returned to their now shared room at the club, Yuuto decided to preserve the flower. He picked up a large book and then found two pieces of printer paper. He put the flower between two pieces of paper, and then place them within the pages of the book. Niko saw him do this and then copied what he did. ¡°So what was it you wanted to tell me?¡± asked Yuuto. ¡°Your...(mumble),¡± Niko spoke that last part to quiet for him to hear. ¡°Sorry I couldn''t hear you. What was it you said?¡± asked Yuuto. ¡°Jeez you''re making me say something so embarrassing,¡± said Niko shyly and kicked him in the shin. ¡°Well I''m sorry that it''s making you embarrassed,¡± said Yuuto who reached out and embraced her and gave her a quick kiss on her lips, ¡°So can you tell me now?¡± She stared into his eyes and said, ¡°The result of the test this morning. You''re going to be a father.¡± 21 Epilogue: It’s the end of the world as we know it. Time passed by and many long years had passed. Misa was able to use her outgoing personality to good use as an actress in many movies and TV shows. After Pretty boy worked in the advertising company for a time, he was able to start his own advertising company that ended up a very successful business. Kana had settled down and shockingly married Pretty boy. Motoki had married his childhood friend and took over her family restaurant business. Rinji was living a simple life. He became well-to-do author earning a decent amount of money to live on. Madam Succubus had continued happily tormenting Yuuto until the day she passed away. It was quite an odd sight to see as they both grew older. Dr. Doi was actually able to become a real doctor, well not one for humans. He had become a veterinarian. *** An old man with graying hair sat at his desk doing nothing in particular. His gaze fell onto a book next to his desk so he picked it up and opened it. You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. Inside was an old pressed blue flower that he treasured very much. He spent a long time staring at it and reminiscing about the years that had flown by and all the memorable events he had been through both the good and bad. A knock on the door stirred him from his memories. He looked up to see his wife whom he had been with for over forty years now standing in the doorway. ¡°If we don''t hurry up we will be late for the grandkids¡¯ birthday party,¡± she warned him. ¡°Ah it''s that time already is it,¡± he asked. Gently closing the book, he placed it back into its proper place and stood up making his way to his wife. When he reached her, he gave her a quick kiss and a hug before taking her hand. ¡°Well, shall we be off then?¡± asked the old man. ¡°You''re such a smooth operator even after all these years,¡± commented his wife with a smile. ¡°It''s just that my love for you hasn''t waned in all these years and I also learned how to not anger my goddess thus not getting kicked in the shin,¡± replied the old man with his own smile as they began walking to their waiting car. *** In a rip-off bar not unlike the one Yuuto had eaten at many years ago in his young adulthood, there stood two people looking over a third person who was tied up on the ground having a conversation between themselves. ¡°Hey, looks like this guy''s got a large amount of debt. What do we do?¡± asked one of the men. ¡°I don''t know you think old man Yuuto will take him and have him work it off at his host club?¡± asked the second man.