The Charismatic Host Club I

Recap of last chapter:

*Sho takes Kana to see what a real host club is like and shares the difficulties of his experience with her
*Kana decides to take charge and gets permission to do the host club at the school festival

After divvying up the jobs on the to-do list, my group which included Uchi, Minami and Noda, started making decorations for the host club.

"Hey Kana," Minami said after we had decided what to make and who would go buy supplies. I saw other guys nudging him and pushing him towards me the moment we had begun working but had ignored it since it didn't seem related to our prep.

"What?" I asked warily as we began to work on the signs with what little paint and materials we managed to get from the art room.

"We were just wondering…"

"We?"

Minami sheepishly looked at all the guys who were trying their best to look like they weren't listening to our conversation.

"Who was that guy who came to pick you up after school?"

I froze. I should have been expecting this question about Sho but I had completely forgotten with all the things we had to do.

"Uh…"

"I mean, you seemed really close? And I heard...you held hands?"

I looked around helplessly and made eye contact with Uchi, who immediately looked down at the sign he was painting. Sawada was sleeping so no help at all.

"Cousin," I blurted out, suddenly remembering how Hosokawa had been complaining about his cousins stealing his video games earlier. "That was my cousin. And no, we didn't hold hands!"

"Cousin?!" Minami exclaimed loudly and all the guys let out a groan.

"We were so curious for nothing."

"...so you're close with your cousin?" Uchi asked, coming near me.

"Yeah," I said, trying not to sound awkward. "He lives in Tokyo so we hang out sometimes."

"Oh," he said, passing me the tape so I could put it on the back of the sign I finished. "Is it the same cousin that came to pick you up from school after the thing with Abe?"

I blinked at him until I realized this wasn't the first time I had lied about a cousin.

"Um...yes."

"Can we meet him sometime?" Noda asked from the side.

"No," I said a little too quickly. "I mean...he's really not that interesting."

"Ehhh I bet he is!" Minami said. "I'm not close with any of my cousins!"

Luckily he then started talking about his pretty single model cousin who refused to introduce her other model friends to him and the guys became more interested in that topic.

I stood still for a moment, wondering if my lie had been believable.

What would Sho say if he knew I had just lied and called him my cousin…

If Sho was my cousin, then Shun would be like...my uncle?

I let out a small laugh.

"Eh?" Noda said, surprised.

"Nothing," I said, shaking my head. I did need to stop lying...or at least keep better track of what I had said in the past.

I began to move a chair near the door so I could stand on it to put the sign over it. I put a foot on the chair but Uchi gently shoved me aside.

"I'll do it," he said, becoming even more giant as he stood on the chair and placed the sign over the doorway.

"I could've done it," I protested, not understanding why that had just happened.

He ignored me but seemed to give a look to all the other guys standing around. The rest of the day, he seemed to hover around me, not letting me pick up things from the floor, standing on chairs to reach high places, and so on.

I didn't get it until there was one more sign that needed to be put up and Uchi was out of the classroom. I stood on a chair but still had to stand on my tiptoes to put the sign up.

"Guys, stop staring," I heard Uchi growl from the doorway. I turned around to see my classmates awkwardly look away from me and pretend to be busy with other things.

Uchi grabbed the sign from me and pulled me off the chair.

"Wear leggings tomorrow," he said gruffly without looking at me. He then proceeded to stand on the chair and put the sign up for me. I felt my face flush as my irritation at his hovering vanished and I tugged at my skirt, willing for it to be longer. I ran to the restroom, unable to kill the urge to check that the flesh colored sticker covering my tattoo was still there. They hadn't noticed it, right? They had just been staring at my legs. I berated myself for forgetting that I hadn't been wearing tights or leggings today as usual and for being so careless. I had been so close to exposing yet another thing I was trying to hide. But I was pretty sure Uchi had been trying to make sure that they hadn't been staring at my legs, not that he realized I was covering up a tattoo. Or at least I hoped so.

When I returned to the classroom, Uchi glanced at me worriedly.

"Thanks...I'll be more careful," I said quietly, both to him and to myself.

"They shouldn't have been looking anyways," he said, looking away.

He was so nice. I patted his shoulder in appreciation, not noticing the faint blush across his face.

We prepped for the school festival for days. We had so much to do - somehow transform our room with graffiti all over the walls and lockers into a host club, make a photo booth and take photos of all of the "hosts", figure out who would buy and make the drinks we'd be serving at the event, etc etc. I even managed to sneak in Tatsu-san for an after-school session about hair and clothing tips, as well as general mannerisms about how to treat women who would be coming to our host club. The guys were super confused as how I even knew a host, but he told them I was a friend of a friend of a friend that he owed a favor and that was somehow good enough for the class.

At first, he tried to use me as an example of a female customer, but gave up halfway through because I couldn't give him the reactions that he was expecting. I did have to remind Tatsu-san that we were in high school and that a lot of our customers would be our age and younger a couple of times though, since some of his advice was a little...much. He did teach us how to make tasty mocktails, which almost caused a fight as the guys could not stop "taste-testing".

Fujiyama and Kawashima came in for practice sessions…which weren't actually that helpful because the guys couldn't stop drooling over Fujiyama. But at least they had some kind of practice and wouldn't be going in blind. If anything, they could smooth talk their way into impressing the girls who showed up...if any were going to actually show up. Luckily, 3-D had been left out of doing flyering duty because the teachers were afraid that we'd start fights if someone so much as refused to take a flyer.

After preparing for what seemed like forever, finally the day of the school festival came. Although I was tired of the constant text messages from classmates with questions, comments and suggestions and having to delegate additional jobs that came up, I couldn't help but be a little excited. Would this really go well?

I left home a little earlier than normal.

"Maybe I'll drop by," Sho teased when Shun wasn't listening.

"Don't come," I said firmly. I didn't want my classmates to ask about my "cousin" when he had no idea that I lied. Sho made a face but didn't argue.

"You'll be late tonight, right?" Shun said, coming to see me off at the entrance.

"Yeah, I'm sure we'll have an after party," I said.

"I know you're in charge, but make sure to enjoy yourself too," Shun said.

I nodded. "I'll do my best."

Sho held up his fist to give me an encouraging pose.

I nodded at him. I wanted to do him proud, even if he would never see it.

When I arrived at school, the entrance was transformed into a colorful mix of streamers, banners and the like. I guess the whole "girls might come this year because we're officially a co-ed school" message from the teachers was taken to heart not just by 3-D but the rest of the school.

I first dropped by the teachers room, as I had promised Saruwatari. I hope I didn't accidentally call him that in front of the visiting students today. I had gotten so used to the guys saying it that I had started to call him that in my head too.

"Nakajima-san, good morning. Here is the schedule for today. There will be a session in the morning and in the afternoon that girls who are visiting can drop by and talk to you. You are to encourage them to come to this school and talk about your positive experience here at Shirokin Gakuin. You can...leave out all of the negative stuff about 3-D. We don't want to scare them. Besides, 3-D won't even be here when they arrive next year so it should be fine."

I just nodded.

"Also, keep them away from the host club."

I nodded again. That was to be expected.

"And smile more. You have to appear friendly and inviting."

I sighed. Fine.

"Okay, off you go. Make sure 3-D doesn't cause any trouble today."

As I turned to leave, I heard him mutter, "Even if they do, it'll be Yamaguchi-sensei's responsibility."

I almost turned around to glare at him but decided it wasn't worth the effort. We'd show him!

Tatsu-san had brought over a huge flower arrangement the day before to put in front of our classroom. I had only seen them in front of newly opened shops, and Shun had told me that these were quite expensive, so I was stunned by his thoughtfulness. The signs read "Congratulations to 3-Ds host club on its open".

I couldn't help but smile when entering the classroom. We had draped red sheets over the lockers and walls to hide the graffiti, but it also created an alluring atmosphere to our usually janky classroom. We had arranged the desks and chairs and added tablecloths and cushions to make everything look more like a lounge and less like a classroom. There were even fake candles on each group of tables for touch.

I was surprised to find Kawashima and Fujiyama inside of the classroom, holding large bouquets of beautiful white flowers.

"We wanted to get you something that would help add to the atmosphere," Fujiyama said, putting the bouquets on tables around the classroom.

"You worked hard to make this happen. Make sure to enjoy it too," Kawashima said, patting my shoulder. I nodded, suddenly a little embarrassed. Little by little, I was seeing the ways that teachers besides Yankumi were caring for us, and I didn't know how to act when they did things like this.

"Thank you," I said gratefully. They both smiled and started heading back towards the teachers room.

When the guys began trickling in, I was a little touched at how much effort they had put into their looks. A lot of them had their hair swept back in neat hairstyles. Their jackets were clean and on properly, with nice button-downs in various colors.

I told them about the flowers Fujiyama and Kawashima had given us and told them to go thank them properly later.

"Also don't give Yankumi any trouble, kay?"

Kuma and his group began to set up the drinks table while others set up the photo booth and props. Takeda began to take photos of each member with a polaroid camera so we could lay out their photos in front of the classrooms to have the girls "pick" which host they wanted to have entertain them.

Yankumi was there at the very beginning but had to leave soon after because she was assigned patrolling duty to make sure people who were up to no good didn't show up at the festival, which apparently happened every year. It was also one of the reasons that while most schools had two-day festivals, our school only had one.

Our first customers of the day were Hosokawa and Matsudaira's girlfriends and their friends. They showed up about an hour after the festival began. Luckily a lot of guys knew them so they weren't nervous or weirdly overeager to impress, so it was a good group to break the ice.

"I have to go to do that thing," I said to Sawada after I made sure the guys knew what they were doing.

He smirked. "Good luck getting girls to enroll in the school."

I rolled my eyes at him and left.

I dropped by the restroom so I could take off my leggings from under my skirt. I triple checked the sticker concealing my tattoo and that it wasn't visible from the back and side before taking a deep breath and stepping back outside.

I went to the room that Saruwatari had prepared for an open Q&A session with any girls interested in the school, but no one was there. Saruwatari came by and promised to go find some willing participants. At first, I nervously waited for people to come in, but after twenty minutes of silently waiting, I pulled out my phone.

[Everything okay?] I texted Sawada.

[Yeah. No one else has come.]

[Same here.]

[Did you hear about the masked man?]

[What?]

[Some first year was being bullied for money by some Ara High thugs, and some masked guy came and somehow managed to get them to leave.]

[...are they sure it was a guy?]

[My thoughts exactly.]

I grinned. So we had both thought of Yankumi. I was glad that she was actually carrying out her responsibilities by patrolling the school grounds, but the touch with the mask was hilarious and very Yankumi-like.

I waited for another half an hour before I realized that the time slot for my "morning session" was over. Saruwatari came rushing in and looked crestfallen.

"I assure you we'll find people for the afternoon session," he said, trying to sound as encouraging as possible. I just shrugged and took my leave. I put on my leggings again before heading back to 3-D.

I opened the door to the classroom. Everyone looked up expectantly but looked disappointed to see me.

"Wow, what happened here?" I asked.

"No one else came after Hosokawa and Matsudaira's girlfriends and friends left."

I stared helplessly at them as they looked glum and put out. I hadn't really expected anyone to come to the information session, but to not come to the festival at all? We had done so much work...and while I hadn't been super excited for it at first, I did want it to go well. I felt responsible for the turnout, whether good or bad...

"Girls haven't come by at all?" I asked weakly.

"Girls walk by and look interested but they never come in."

"Then you have to go out and bring the girls in here!" Yankumi suddenly shouted from behind me, making me jump. "You're not idols! You guys can't sit there and expect the girls to come to you!"

She dramatically shooed the guys sitting around out into the hallway. They grumbled but got a move on to my surprise.

Suddenly, Matsudaira came back with a group of girls, who looked a bit nervous but was being reassured by Matsudaira's encouraging words that they'd have fun.

"That's the spirit!" Yankumi said. "You too!" she then said to a disgruntled looking Sawada who was the only one who barely moved.

"I'm not doing that. Gives me the creeps," Sawada grumbled, walking away from the classroom.

I followed him until the end of the hallway, leaving Yankumi behind.

"...it's not considered a success unless people come," I said when he stopped to wait for me.

He gave me a look.

"What if I go off to my afternoon session for Saruwatari and no one comes to the host club? I know you don't care that much, but the guys will be really disappointed if no one comes."

He stayed silent, staring at me.

I stared at his collar. "...I'll be a little disappointed too."

I heard him sigh. "What do you expect me to do?"

"...you'll think of something."

"...Fine. Then you have to promise not to lie during the information session."

I stared at him, surprised.

"I know Saruwatari fed you some bullshit lines about your school life. Scrap that and be honest."

"...okay."

"Then deal," he said, holding out his hand. I shook it firmly. Maybe things would be okay.

Uchi came around the corner at that moment. "What are you doing?"

"Nothing," Sawada said. "I guess I'll go grab the flyers." He began to walk toward the classroom as Uchi looked at me questioningly.

"That woman," we suddenly heard Sawada mutter angrily. He seemed to be staring at the wall in front of the classroom. He grabbed the flyers Noda had made for our host club and pushed past us to go to the hallway. Uchi and I looked at each other questioningly and walked over to see what was Sawada had been looking at.

I burst out laughing. Yankumi had put Matsudaira's polaroid picture above everyone else's and wrote "This week's Number One Host" in big letters on our display in front of the classroom.

I covered my mouth but couldn't stop laughing as I thought about the way Sawada had gotten riled up simply by this ranking.

"You go do your best too," I said, patting Uchi on the arm.

He looked at me hesitantly as if he was about to say something but nodded and walked after Sawada.

I walked into the classroom to help out whoever was left with Matsudaira and the girls he had brought.

Slowly, more and more customers started to trickle in thanks to the guys' efforts to ask people to come. The seats began to be filled, and things seemed to liven up. But in 30 minutes, I was no longer laughing when Sawada walked in with ten girls.

"Overachiever," I muttered and he shot me a smirk.

The classroom was suddenly bustling and the guys were in high spirits. The girls seemed to be enjoying themselves as the guys took their lessons to heart and continued to ask them good questions and pay them compliments.

The drink corner, however, was a disaster. The guys couldn't remember who had ordered what, and the ones making drinks were making a mess by rushing to fill orders. The hosts who had ordered drinks were getting impatient and the drinks team was about to turn over the table and snap back.

I stopped manning the entrance and instead jumped into the drink section.

"Kuma, get those trays and line them up on the table. Hosokawa, put three cups on each tray. Mori and Horibe, make number cards for each tray and table. Gamou, Hazama and I will make the drinks. And go refill the snack bowls! Move!"

The guys seemed stunned at how I took over, but my instincts from peak hours at the cafe kicked in and I couldn't stop.

"Matsudaira, go get more cups from the storage in the back room! And bring Maeda to get more drinks from the large fridge in the cafeteria. Houjou, where did you put the extra snacks? Find them!"

Noda leaned close to me. "The perfect cafe worker."

"Shut up and carry these drinks," I said with a glare.

"Of course," he answered with a smile, taking the drinks and giving me a wink.

I took a moment to look around the classroom when things began to be a little more under control. Things were running a lot more smoothly now, but we had the rest of the afternoon to get through.

And with 3-D, something was always bound to happen.

Author's note: Wow, it has been a long time. I'm so sorry for the wait! I apologize for saying I'd start posting again more frequently and then not. Thank you to those who commented that they were still interested in reading what came next, even if it took a long time! I really appreciated that.

I was reminded of this story when pictures of Matsujun surfaced with blonde highlights similar to when he had played Sawada Shin. People began to post photos of Sawada and I got super nostalgic for the drama and for this story. Part 2 is already written so I should get that out in a day or so. Hopefully I can be better about committing to writing again.

While the events in this chapter didn't occur in the drama, I referenced a lot of the chapter about 3-D's host club in the manga. The title is taken from that chapter.

I don't know if anyone is still interested in this story, but I hope someone reads it and enjoys it. Please let me know your thoughts!