Eien
Silver night had fallen over Tokyo, bringing with it the flicker of streetlamps and the colorful glow of the signs which decorated the red-light district. Early on in the evening there was an odd sort of silence in the streets outside Chihana, a gap left behind so the common folk fled to their homes, and before the creatures of the night came out to play. This had always been Eien’s favorite time of night, since he had first arrived on Tokyo’s night scene nine years before. Now, before the guests arrived, all was quiet, and the hosts still slept. They could not disturb him…
The hosts still slept.
“Oya, oya…” Eien whispered, rolling his eyes. They were all grown men – one would think that they could wake themselves up in time for work, but so far Eien had not seen a day when the hosts were all up on time. Why he paid them as much as he did, he would never understand. Perhaps it was simply to make sure they did not leave?
Sighing dully, Eien ran his fingers through the trailing strands of his brow hair and turned up the hall towards the elevator. He kicked his apartment door shut ehind him, well aware that the lighter sleepers in the building would hear it close. Maybe they would have the sense to get out of bed before Eien arrived on their floor.
He waited in tense silence, arms crossed over his chest, toe tapping impatiently as the elevator rose. As Manager, Eien slept in the apartment on the second floor, closes to the stairs heading directly down to the club level. The placement was a convenience in more ways than one – it allowed Eien to make it up to bed quickly in the morning, but it also meant that he could hear anyone walking into or out of the apartments. Eien knew all.
The low dong of the elevator, the rattling of open doors, spelled doom for all sleeping hosts as Eien stepped out onto the third floor. He glanced around, searching for any signs of movements, and then he opened his mouth.
“Everybody up!” he shouted in a voice which would carry clearly through the apartment doors. “You have ten minutes! I want you dressed, groomed, and in the kitchen before I put the rankings up!”
Rai
Rai lay curled up on his side, warm beneath the heavy blankets that concealed his are body. He was caught in that tight space between sleep and wakefulness, dazed with open eyes, not yet aware that he was not dreaming. Last night had been hard on him – that crazy customer had taken all the energy he had. Sure, Eien had gotten rid of her before she did any real damage – he was a good manager even if he was grumpy – but he had not been able to stop her drunken rage before it happened. He could feel a bruise blossoming against his ribs, where the sharp heel of her shoe had struck. He could have prevented it… but he was a host. How else could have answered the request for marriage…?
He had just begun to rise the rest of the way into wakefulness when Eien’s voice blasted from the end of the hall.
“Everybody up!” he shouted in a voice which would carry clearly through the apartment doors. “You have ten minutes! I want you dressed, groomed, and in the kitchen before I put the rankings up!”
Jolted out of sleepiness by the shout, Rai sat up too quickly, wrenching at his bruised ribs and pulling a shrill cry of pain from his throat, which he stifled with one hand. He glanced nervously over at Ai, sleeping on the futon beside him, praying he had not disturbed the boy. It was unlikely that he had not woken – Rai’s luck simply was not that good.