Ayumu Kurono had nearly blurted out his intense desire to make money.

Still, he knew money didn’t simply fall into anyone’s lap. That only happened in dreams.

He decided to hear how this woman planned to help him make money fast before making up his mind. Listening alone wouldn’t get him hypnotized.

In the end, the decision was still his.

“Hello. I’m Michiko Sakai, the manager of a host club called LOVE.”

Michiko calmly introduced herself and handed him her business card.

“A host club?” Ayumu echoed in surprise.

The moment Ayumu heard the word “host,” he immediately associated it with a male prostitute.

As far as he knew, hosts were pretty boys who pleased women in exchange for money. When necessary, they even sold their bodies.

No matter how he looked at it, they were no different from male prostitutes.

“That’s right. A host club,” Michiko said casually, pretending not to know why Ayumu was so shocked.

“So when you said I could make money, you meant working as a host?”

Ayumu was a little irritated by her attitude.

“Exactly! With your looks and physique, I’m sure you’d become incredibly popular. Making ten million yen a month wouldn’t be a problem.”

Michiko didn’t seem bothered by his attitude. She continued enthusiastically pitching the job to him.

“I don’t think I can earn that kind of money. Goodbye.”

Ayumu’s answer was firm, leaving no room for negotiation.

“Wait, young man. I think you’ve misunderstood what being a host actually means.”

Just as Ayumu turned to leave, Michiko grabbed his hand.

He didn’t pull away. Instead, he wanted to hear how she would explain herself.

“Being a host is a profession that brings people happiness and hope. Don’t underestimate it.”

Michiko spoke with complete conviction.

Ayumu knew perfectly well that Michiko was dressing up the profession.

Still, he didn’t argue. He merely kept listening, confident in his ability to tell truth from lies.

“I know you have misconceptions about hosts. But real hosts entertain clients without selling their bodies.”

“Their main job is drinking and chatting with clients. They cheer them up and help them forget the troubles in their lives.”

“Doesn’t that bring those clients happiness and hope?”

Ayumu was slightly surprised when Michiko said hosts entertained without selling their bodies.

That was indeed different from the image he had always held.

Thinking about it now, Ayumu didn’t understand the profession at all.

He had viewed it through heavily tinted lenses, so naturally, he had assumed the worst.

Michiko saw his thoughtful expression and guessed her words had worked.

She decided to press her advantage.

“Why don’t you come to the club and see for yourself? Then you can decide whether I’m lying.”

“What you hear from others and what you witness yourself can reveal two completely different sides of the same thing.”

Michiko spoke gently, guiding him along one step at a time.

...

Ayumu’s mind was hazy, as though he truly had been hypnotized.

By the time he came to his senses, he was already inside Michiko’s car.

Their destination was naturally her host club, LOVE.

Michiko’s club was located on Kabukicho Ichibangai, the “Sleepless Town” near Shinjuku’s east exit in Tokyo.

This 0.35-square-kilometer district was Asia’s largest red-light district.

It was packed with hotels, karaoke bars, internet cafés, izakayas, massage parlors, love hotels, casinos, and yakuza bases...

And host clubs serving tens of thousands of women.

It was a host-club street in every sense of the term.

Every night, neon lights blazed as voices filled the streets.

Male hosts in immaculate suits could be seen everywhere, flaunting their charm by the roadside.

They were trying to draw female customers into their clubs.

With nothing else to do in Michiko’s car, Ayumu searched for information about Japanese hosts on his phone.

The Japanese term for a male host was “ホスト,” pronounced “host.”

It referred to a profession within Japan’s adult entertainment industry.

Host clubs were essentially the female-oriented counterpart of nightclubs where men went to indulge their desires.

Inside, groups of handsome young men came and went at a woman’s beck and call.

All she had to do was spend money to enjoy herself.

Japan’s first host club had appeared as early as 1966. Such clubs were legal businesses.

The industry continued expanding over the following decades.

In 1996, Professor Takeyama of the University of Kansas’s Anthropology Department researched the subject.

She found that Tokyo already had two hundred host clubs and nearly five thousand hosts.

Even now, this “business of love” continued to thrive.

Host clubs had also made their way into Japanese television dramas and films.

As a result, the public had become increasingly accepting of the profession.

The host industry had also grown more standardized.

Japanese hosts even had a dedicated website called Host x Host.

Everyone who became a host had to register on the website.

It listed detailed information about host clubs in every Japanese city.

Users could also browse daily, weekly, and monthly rankings for hosts across Japan.

Host clubs had their own hierarchy as well.

Newcomers had little status.

Above them, the ranks were assistant executive, executive, chief, manager, representative or director, representative director, and finally, owner.

Representatives and directors shared the same rank.

Larger clubs also had deputy positions, making the hierarchy even more complex.

Each rank was separated by performance thresholds worth millions or even tens of millions of yen.

While waiting to enter, customers received a booklet.

It contained photos and personal information for every host working at the club.

They were then asked whether they wanted to request a specific host. This was called a “nomination.”

If their chosen host was available, the woman could sit with him, drink, and chat.

However, a particularly popular host had to move between several customers.

He would switch tables every ten to fifteen minutes.

If business was slow that day, unrequested hosts would also sit with customers whenever they were alone.

After a woman’s first nomination, she would automatically be assigned the same host on her next visit.

The club would also begin charging a nomination fee.

Host clubs used a permanent nomination system.

Switching hosts midway could cause an ugly scene in etiquette-conscious Japan.

For that reason, customers usually chose carefully.

After being nominated, the host would lead the woman to a table and ask what she wanted to drink.

Most of a host’s income came from commissions on alcohol sales.

Put that way, a host’s true profession was probably alcohol salesman.

After reading so much about hosts, Ayumu felt that his aversion to the profession had weakened considerably.

That was not a good sign.