Over the next few days, both Misa and Kana had come to the club and picked Yuuto as their main host.
While he had entertained Misa she 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 had no reason to turn her down so he agreed to go.
Kana had also asked him to go to the park for lunch and Yuuto Immediately accepted, not wanting to disappoint his longtime friend.
‘What do I do!’ thought Yuuto as he worried about both of the coming meetings at the park.
He spent the rest of the week trying to think of a way 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 at the park.
***
Kana and Misa arrived at the entrance of the park which was the meeting point they had both set with Yuuto.
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, are you waiting for someone as well?” asked Kana.
“Yeah, how about you Kana?” asked Misa 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.” “Yasuo, over here.”
Both Kana and Misa shouted out at the same time.
“Huh? You’re waiting for Yuuto?” asked Kana.
“I asked him to go to the park for lunch on his next day off,” said Misa.
“Me to…” said Kana, lost for words as 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 Misa’s and my invite for lunch on the same day,” 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 both of your invitations and bring my other friends along to make it more of a party. Wait…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, and Not Yasuo?” asked 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 from his meager allowance 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 lunches they have made and opened them up.
Yuuto thoroughly 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 to eat some of the food they had 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 the solution to his problem came to him, in the form of a bright idea.
‘I’m quite smart aren’t I,’ thought Yuuto.
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. All he had to do was eat some of Misa and Kana’s food 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 had started eating everyone else was allowed to eat as well.
When all of the food was devoured. They rested on the blanket under the tree’s shade while making small talk. Getting to know each other better.
Yuuto was laying down on the blanket, rubbing his stomach in satisfaction.
“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 containers 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 their own ways.
***
Today’s workday was an odd day for Yuuto.
Then again when was life at club winter night ever normal?
He had been ordered by the old man to wait at the lobby front desk to escort the government inspectors on a tour of the working areas of the club.
Yuuto had been chosen for the task so that 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 performed random checkups on the clubs every few months to see if everything was in order and to make sure no criminal activity was occurring.
Yuuto was now waiting behind the front desk for the government inspectors and looked at the clock above the door.
Right on time, a man in a nice black striped suit and a woman wearing a matching black striped shirt and skirt entered the front doors and 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 a familiar cold voice of the female inspector.
Yuuto turned and looked at the female inspector curious why he knew her voice. When he looked at her face 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 club and racked up an unpaid bill again? How many times does the boss have to keep telling you to stop going to the clubs we have to inspect and to stop leaving behind unpaid bills.”
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,” said the male instructor humbly.
Yuuto took the money and handed it to the front desk manager.
“Thank you for paying. I’ll make sure that her debt to the club is cleared. If she would like to come again we ask that she brings enough money to pay,” said the manager.
“Again, truly sorry, and thank you for accepting the payment,” said the male inspector.
“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 female inspector.
Yuuto could now understand what the man was going through every day.
“Hello, my name is Yasuo. I will be escorting you around today,” said Yuuto with his best host smile as 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 be sure no laws are being violated here,” she said haughtily.
Yuuto looked at the front desk manager to see if he knew what to do. He only shrugged 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’ll have to have a female hostess guide you in those areas. There are other places where females can not go so I can only take your co-worker for the inspection of those parts, ” said Yuuto.
He looked at the manager and asked, “Can you arrange for a female hostess to help escort her?”
“Will do. She will be waiting for her on the 6th floor.”
“Hmpff… Let’s go.”
Yuuto led 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. So they stood off to the side and watched Dr. Doi wiping the new potential recruits into shape.
“Impressive gym you have here. The trainer seems to love his job as well,” 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. As for Dr. Doi… he is very committed to his… hobbies,” said Yuuto.
From the gym, they went to the 2nd floor to inspect the kitchen and the storage rooms.
It was too early in the day for the head cook to be here yet so the inspectors fiddled around with a few things, opened boxes and bottles, placed things in the wrong spot, and just generally messed up the head cooks kitchen.
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 the 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,” said Yuuto to the female Instructor.
They split up and Yuuto led the male inspector 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, or what to do about it,” said the male inspector dejectedly.
Yuuto kept quiet, he could guess why but didn’t want to stick his head in such a sticky mess.
They went through the rest of the floors inspecting the cafeteria, classroom, and individual dorm rooms. Without causing much trouble or making a mess like the earlier floors.
When everything was finished they walked back 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 her co-worker sternly.
“Yes, I checked everything thoroughly,” said male hurriedly, afraid that if he didn’t respond fast enough she would give him a long-winded lecture.
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 sighed, what a crazy day.
“So you were chosen to escort her. How was it?” Yuuto asked the female Hostess.
“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 before leaving to return to the women’s section of the building.
Yuuto decided to go to the mailroom to check if any mail had come for him.
When he reached the room, Niko walked out and almost collided with him.
The shock of meeting her so suddenly caused Yuuto to remember 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 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 from behind his desk.
He was smoking a cigar that was now just a small stub.
“Out of the ones I’ve inspected this week, only one needs to be added to the list we have already formed. The name of the club 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.”
The female inspector exited the room while whispering, “Soon, soon, soon.”
