Nik waved goodbye to the students as they hurried out of class for the weekend. The only ones who stayed behind were those on cleanup duty. The classroom was large but packed to the brim with tables. There was just enough room to walk between and around the desks, and that was it.
"Oh, Knight-san, do you have plans for the weekend?" an older gentlemen asked, stuffing away papers in his bag.
"Meeting some people. Nothing too fancy. Getting my feet wet in the city," Nik replied.
"Tokyo is a beautiful city. Enjoy the nightlife. It'll do you good. You work too hard."
"Nah, I just follow your lead, Mr. Yamaguchi. You make it easy for me in class."
The man nodded his head, not saying a word to remain humble.
"Enjoy the free time. You're young. Now is the time to get all the adventuring out of your system. You'll need to find a wife soon."
"You're right," Nik commented uneasily. "I'm far too young for marriage."
Mr. Yamaguchi nodded his head again in agreement.
"But don't wait too long. No one will marry you after thirty."
"Huh?"
"You don't want an old maid, or have to marry a Philippine. Gold diggers."
"Uh, sure."
Nik didn't know how to take the conversation. It started off pleasant and normal but suddenly turned a bit too personal. They had only been working together for a couple months, but Nik felt like Mr. Yamaguchi was taking the mentor role too seriously, especially since he was a gaijin.
Mr. Yamaguchi slapped Nik on the shoulder as he walked past.
"Trust me. You're not the first English teacher I've been paired up with. Young men get their blood pumping and make stupid decisions that ruin their future. Young women swoon over a pretty boy and get suicidal from a broken heart. Folly of youth."
He patted Nik's shoulder one more time and left. Nik stared out the class window wondering why the sudden life lesson. Taking a deep breath, he looked at his phone to double-check the time. The offer was still fresh. Something new, something adventurous as Mr. Yamaguchi would put it. But it was a different beast than modeling. Bag over his shoulder, he waved at the remaining students before departing on his adventure.
X
"Welcome to Club Starlight. We're booked full currently. Would you mind waiting, ma'am?" Nik asked, bowing gracefully at the older Japanese lady.
She replied positively in broken English, allowing Nik to escort her to the waiting area. The club was full, unusual for a Thursday night. He was two hours into his shift and he already had to put on the charm to keep some of the regulars happy.
It had been a few weeks since the photoshoot. Someone contacted the agent after seeing the images in a subway car, asking if he was interested in making some easy money. Teaching paid okay but he didn't turn down the chance to line his pockets some more. This was his second shift waiting on the door of the host club.
The owner wanted a new look at the gate, and having a tall, handsome, white gaijin would bring in more customers looking for an international flavor. If only to gawk at him from afar, the owner didn't care so long as Nik's appearance brought in fresh blood.
"Kid, you ready for the limelight?" a slim Japanese man asked with a grizzled tone.
"Limelight?"
"We got a request for you. Some cougar. Fresh meat. Just sit and talk. Compliment her, make her feel like a queen, and always try to get her to order more booze."
"I don't..."
The manager gave Nik a firm back pat, like a coach sending a player into the big game. He tried to think of it like any typical date as he walked over to the corner table. The woman was indeed a cougar. Not ugly but not drop dead gorgeous. Just average. Although, any guy smitten with yellow fever would surly add a couple points onto the tally.
He bowed gracefully to the woman who dressed in an expensive one-piece dress. A slit went all the way to her thigh, and her cleavage was anything but classy. Nik wore a fancy tuxedo provided by the club. It felt painted on, leaving nothing to the imagination for the customers. It still allowed him to remain classy, even though he was put on display for his looks. Firm muscles bulged out of the jacket sleeve, and tree trunk legs could barely be contained by tight pants. Sitting down, he kept smiling.
"Thank you for requesting me. I'm Nik."
"June. My, you look so much more handsome up close and live than on a billboard."
"Oh, you saw my picture. Thanks, that's too kind of you. I just got the pictures taken. I don't know where they got put up. More than subway ceilings I guess."
"You're on a giant billboard outside my office window. I get to stare at you all day long, big boy," she flirted.
Truth be told, Nik wasn't fully on board with being a host. He sealed the deal with Anri and wanted that romance to build and ignite, not flame out in controversy. But student loans, and the fact this was just a conversation, kept his prudish morality in check.
"So do you come here often? I just began working here."
"My first time, handsome. The husband has a business meeting so I figured what is good for the goose is good for the gander," she said, snuggling in closer to Nik. "How is my English? I'm so very self-conscious about it."
"It's fine. Do you need to use it for work?"
"Uh-huh, corporate job. Always on the go with New York, London, Cairo, all over."
"Must be stressful."
"More stressful than you'd imagine," she said, running a finger down the center of his muscular chest. "I like a man who works out. My husband got fat recently. You know what that does to a woman's libido?"
"Nothing good, I'm guessing."
"I'm not some eighteen year old tramp who'll take a bribe to suck a cock. I need a real man between the sheets."
For the next couple hours, the pair chatted away in the popular host club. People came and went but the businesswoman's attention never left the young gaijin. Copious amounts of alcohol loosened up the already loose woman to the point she was hanging on his every word, looking like she'd jump his bones if alone. Eventually, the club had to close down for the night. The manager was quite happy at the large bill racked up by the cougar. Nik didn't string her along, as he didn't know much of what to do. He just talked and let her flirt the whole time, and let her get touchy within the rules of the club.
He escorted her outside. She wore an expensive looking fur coat. In the hot weather it was a vanity statement to show how much wealth she could flaunt. Pricey clothes, pricey club, she was throwing money around like the 1980s economic bubble didn't burst.
"I had a fun time, stud," the cougar said, holding Nik's arm like a lover. "I'll make sure to request you again when I stop by next. You were worth every yen."
Nik opened the door of the awaiting car for her when he heard a loud shout in Japanese. A tall, fat Japanese man stormed over to the pair, shouting loudly enough to make a scene. Nik didn't understand a word the man said. He could only guess it was the woman's husband by the way they pointed fingers at each other. The young man wanted to sneak away, let the couple work out their own business. But the sound of a loud slap broke that plan in two.
The fat man struck his wife so hard that she fell to the ground. Out of instinct, Nik grabbed the husband by the collar and landed a hard right hook. Everyone on the street corner watched in awe at the random street fight, as if it were out of a movie or video game. None moved forward to help either party though.
"Kutabaru gaijin!" the man said, getting up to his feet.
A knife quickly flashed from his pocket. He waved it around at Nik aggressively, trying to stab at the young foreigner. Each time the knife flashed forward, Nik dodged the blow. He was far from an expert in martial arts. He only tried to do what he saw on TV. One slice hit home though, ripping through the side of the tuxedo to expose his side. Blood gushed out. One hand put pressure on the wound as he didn't know how deep he had been cut.
"Gaijin yariman!" he shouted towards his wife.
In that one fleeting moment the man's attention was divided, Nik grabbed the man's hand and knocked the knife away. Trying to diffuse the situation, he kicked it away into the street. Being unarmed did not fix the situation. The husband kept advancing.
"Settle down, friend. I don't want to hurt you," he said, arms spread out wide in a non-provocative manner. "Just walk away and the cops don't need to get involved."
Either the man didn't understand English, or he didn't care, but he swung wildly for the dome. Nik ducked, pivoted, and threw a hard gut punch. Nik expected the man to fold like a house of cards but the reciprocated knee to his face told a different story. The foreign host fell backwards onto his ass, blood leaking from a busted nose.
