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 the week before.
He was currently watching TV with Rinji, Motoki, and Pretty boy in their 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 the contest live! All 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 we have made sure to add the good luck award for 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 he looked 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 dreading what was to come. He didn’t know if he had messed up the night before or if it was some other mistake.
When he arrived at the office and was allowed to enter he stood in front of his desk waiting for the old man to speak.
“You have been doing well 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 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 you win or not. Your time there will be compensated don’t worry, “ said the old man as he stared intently at Yuuto.
“R..right I will not disappoint you, sir,” said Yuuto stiffly.
“You may go now,” said the old man waving Yuuto away.
Yuuto left the room with many troubled thoughts.
***
Yuuto was picked up around noon by a black business car owned by the TV station and was driven to one of their large filming 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.
‘Should I join some of the conversations and try to get to know some of the other hosts?’ Yuuto wondered as he continued to watch from the sidelines.
After several minutes of inaction, he worked up his courage and walked over to a large group of hosts talking. When there was a lull in the conversation he spoke up.
“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,” said the skinny host.
“Figures, such a low-class place like Winter Night would do something like that,” said the Tall host.
With that they ignored Yuuto and continued 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 so absorbed in his phone that he didn’t notice or care that Yuuto had sat down a few feet away from him on the opposite side of the couch.
After an hour of waiting, the crowd of hosts waiting in the backroom had risen to over 100.
‘Was there this many clubs in the city?’ Yuuto wondered to himself.
During his long wait, he had met and had a short friendly conversation with a host he knew from club Hardwood, the club was run by the Succubus. The majority of hosts he met were rude or indifferent.
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.
“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.
“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 to rest. There will be food and drinks brought so that you can stay energized for the contest. 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.
When the contest producer explained the three stages of the game, Yuuto thought that it all seemed a little too simple compared to what he had been expecting. He had been 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.
The group of hosts 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 would be his first time being on TV.
The timer on the wall ticked down slowly to 0:00 and a red light above it switched to green indicating the show was now broadcasting live.
There were multiple cameras in the room filming everything from multiple angles but most of the cameras 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 have to pass to win the contest.
But 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-x**-x**-xxxx.
Now let’s introduce all the hosts with their name and which host club they work for!” said the giddy female contest announcer.
The cameras all moved to focus on the host as one by one, they introduced themselves in alphabetical order of the club’s name.
Yuuto was almost the last person to introduce himself. He stuttered when he gave the club’s name and had to repeat it.
This caused his face to be tinted a rosy red out of embarrassment for making such a mistake on live television.
“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 can answer all three questions correctly 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 stage 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 box 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 full of energy.
“How many earthquakes a year does Japan have? 1: 100-500, 2: 1000-1500,” asked Kumi while staring at the camera in front of her.
“The left box will be answer 1 and the right box will be for answer 2,” said the male announcer as he pointed at each of the boxes.
Yuuto looked around at the other hosts who were all deep in thought trying to decide which answer to pick. Some hosts moved early there ended up being a near even spread between the two answers.
Yuuto had no clue which one to pick and the time was running out so he just walked over to answer 2 which was closest to him.
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 male announcer.
“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 failing.
The next two questions were given and Yuuto didn’t know either so he just picked the answer randomly 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 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 Kumi.
“That’s right. Now the hosts have been filtered down to thirty! It’s amazing that such a large number of people failed on the first challenge!
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 won’t be some boring regular race that you could see on the sports channel.
The contestants will be wearing speedos! They will have to run with a balloon between their legs which they must not drop. If they do they have to go back to the start line and start over. If the balloon is popped while running, they will automatically be disqualified.
When the contestant reaches 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 Kumi with an evil grin on her face.
“With that, we will take a short commercial break to let the contestants get changed. We’ll 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 Yuuto and the other hosts reluctantly changed into the speedos and walked back onto the stage before the commercials finished.
“Welcome back! The race will start soon, there will be four races in total. The first two races will have fifteen hosts battling it out.
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. The first five of both of the races to pop their balloons will move ahead to the 3rd round leaving only the top ten hosts,” said Kumi as she pointed to the large wooden post that had been erected during the commercials.
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 everything letting thousands, if not millions watch every moment of the race.
“Well that was exciting!” said Kumi a little flustered as she waved her face with her hand.
“Calm down… Well with the completion of the second round we have our top ten hosts who will move onto the 3rd and final stage. This stage will determine who is the best of the best!
You will now 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. We asked if they would like to help out their favorite host on live television.
After the commercial, we will introduce the ten female clients that have accepted to participate!
We would like to tell you that the names of the female clients have been changed to protect their identity and each of them will be wearing a face mask,” said the male announcer as he fanned his female co-host who was still acting strange from watching the race.
Yuuto was deep in thought wondering who it could be that accepted to come on the show. He hoped it was one of his more tame clients.
When the commercials finished the 10 female clients 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 queen who had come to stand next to him wrapping one of her arms around his shoulder.
‘Of all the people, why does she keep showing up to torment me,’ Yuuto screamed inside his head.
“There are now ten tables set with food and drink for each host and client. They will be showing off their skills and will let you see what makes them worthy of the top ten spots at their club,” said Kumi.
There were ten cameras, one filming each host all being broadcasted at the same time in ten different 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. 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.
Yuuto looked nervously around the room at the other host. ‘So far so good.’ He was scared to death that the Succubus might go wild 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 whispered 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 from the plate into his mouth.
“Look at table ten. It seems they are getting really cozy with each other. Table ten’s client has moved to sit right next to him and they are talking quite intimately,” shouted the overexcited Kumi, her face turning an even brighter shade of pink.
“Jeez, calm down Kumi, you and all the other single ladies watching can enjoy similar treatment if you like. All you need to do is go to club Winter Night where the host at table ten works,” commented the male announcer.
‘Don’t tell them that!’ Yuuto angrily shouted in his head at the male announcer.
“During this time you can vote for the host you would like to win. Send the text to x-x**-x**-xxxx,” said the female announcer.
For the next ten minutes, the female announcer excitedly gave a play by play of everything that happened between the hosts and their clients. While the male announcer had to keep calming her down.
“We will now go to a commercial break. This is your last chance to send in your votes. 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 joined the other hosts and clients as they all lined up on the stage again while 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,” said Kumi 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,” shouted the male announcer.
A long drum roll was played before the cameras zoomed in on Kumi.
“That person is… Yaichiro of club Limp Noodle!” said Kumi pointing to the host who had received the least amount of votes.
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, 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 for the best 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.
One good thing about it was that he had earned a large amount of money that he could use to further pay off his debt.
