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.
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“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 right outside 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.