Yuuto spent the rest of the week learning from other hosts and improving his hosting abilities.
During that time he saw Niko a few times. The relation between them seemed to be thawing a bit.
“The weekly health checkup from Dr. Doi shows that you’re still in good condition,” said Kentaro as he looked at a folder with a few pieces of paper inside.
“You have improved over the last week. So tonight we will see if you are able to work on your own.”
“I have learned a lot. I thank you for giving me the time to improve my abilities,” said Yuuto.
With the old man acknowledging his improvements it was a great boost to his confidence.
While Yuuto was changing into his work suit, Pretty boy showed up and slapped him on the back.
“Great job on 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,” said Pretty boy as he lightly punched Yuuto’s shoulder once and then left the locker room.
Yuuto finished dressing and walked towards the club room where he waited a short time until the club opened and customers started to enter the room from the elevator.
He watched as returning clients immediately walked to the host they always paid to be with.
A few first-time customers were escorted to a table and were then surrounded by several hosts who were free, each of them trying to one-up the other host while trying to woo the customer so that they would be picked as the permanent host after the two-hour time limit was reached.
After four hours and many customers later he had still not been picked. He decided to sit back and cool down at one of the booths nearest the bar.
Some of the girls noticed that he was not going over to them and trying to curry favor with them which raised their interest in him, but the majority of them just ignored him in response.
As Yuuto scanned the room, he noticed a customer who was small, slim, and in her mid 30’s.
She had just abruptly stood up from her table and walked away from the two other hosts who were trying to entertain her in the hopes that she would choose them as her permanent host.
She was wearing a pink dress with black polka dots that hugged her body tightly. Her hair was dark black and was tied up into a nice and neat bun.
She walked from her old table and stopped in front of the booth Yuuto was sitting in.
“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 said as 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,” said Yuuto while bowing and holding out his business card with both hands. She took the card and placed it inside her wallet.
“May I know your name madam?”
“You can call me Risa. I saw you earlier and was wondering why you were sitting over here by yourself. Care to enlighten me?”
Before he could answer 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?” asked the host that was the tallest of the two. They each had bright smiles on their faces.
“No. I don’t like you two. You’re boring. You may leave me now,” said Risa immediately dismissing them.
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 all and snorted at their expressions.
Yuuto started to sweat while thinking ‘What type of demon have I encountered.’ He loosened his tie which now felt like it was suffocating him.
Of course, Yuuto’s fidgeting was picked up by the perceptive Risa.
She turned to Yuuto ignoring the other two hosts and while placing her hand on his shoulder she leaned in close her mouth right next to his ear.
Her breath was tickling his ear. He wanted to scratch it to stop the sensation but continued to endure it.
“Did I make you nervous? Don’t worry I don’t bite…hard,” she said while playfully taking a quick nibble at his earlobe and then 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 that would 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,” said Risa with a large smile on her face.
She looked back to the two hosts who had their jaws dropped from what they had just watched.
“What are you two still doing here?” asked Risa as she gave them a cold look.
Yuuto looked at them silently pleading with his eyes to have them stay and help him.
The two hosts looked at each other and immediately 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 should I drink tonight,” said Risa as she picked up a menu and scanned the list before Yuuto could offer it to her. “I think I will order a decanter of brandy.”
“Ma… Madam are you sure? This being your first visit to Winter Night, the sake and shochu are free for the first 2 hours.”
“Yasuo, I know what I want,” she whispered into his ear. Making Yuuto shudder.
Yuuto raised a hand and called over a waiter to place 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, are 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 for the rest of the two hours she had paid for. At the end of her time, she stood up and gathered her purse and wallet.
“I guess my two hours are now up,” said Risa as she sighed. “Time flies when you’re having fun. You may escort me out.”
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 that was next to the elevator.
“Hello ma’am, I hope 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 as long as they work here. 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 of her purse with two 100,000 yen bills along with two 1000 yen bills. She handed them over to the manager paying the full price.
“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 of the elevator and to the front doors of club Winter Night with his arm linked with hers. She let go of his arm and turned to face him.
“Don’t lose too much sleep from worrying about when you will see me again. I’ll come again some time in the future, then we can continue where we left off,” said Risa coyly.
She then waved goodbye and disappeared into the crowded streets.
Yuuto shuddered. ‘What a demon. On the bright side, I made 60,000 yen from the brandy purchase while also gaining my first client.’
He went back to the club room and cleaned his table.
After everything was sorted back in order he sat back down and sighed.
Trying to recover the energy that had been sapped from him over the last two hours, he closed his eyes and rubbed his temples.
Just at that moment, he felt a light wind of someone passing his booth, 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 all 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 cold lady sitting 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 fellow female co-workers.
By now after many bottles of sake, she was getting quite drunk.
The last 30 minutes had been something about one of her female co-workers talking and getting friendly with the person she liked.
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 in a drunken slur.
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 snorted 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 gripped her hand and placed his other arm around 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 quietly led her towards the female bathrooms and waited outside while she took care of her business.
Inside of the bathroom, he could hear someone hurling loudly.
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 keeping an eye on her to make sure she didn’t fall and hurt herself.
“Good evening Madam I hope you had a good time,” the manager greeted her with a smile while Yuuto handed him the bill.
“Hmmph,” 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 it 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.
