Chapter one:
"That was your worst night ever." Mother grumbles looking at the dirty money I have managed to collect. "Were you even trying tonight?" She shoots me a glare before sighing closing her eyes as she calms herself down. "I should know better. You do your best and you truly can't help your earnings as it depends on those that are out there." She opens her eyes with a warmer look than before. "It may not seem significant however you are doing us a great favor. Afterall you are giving something back despite being the spare if something happens to our darling Hikaru." Her words make my hands curl into fists on my lap though I keep quiet. "Your body has more value than anything else that it comes with. You know that right?"
I silently nod staring down at my lap.
"You're so clever." Mother ruffles my hair before turning away. "Now then. I need you to do a little something for me. Today isn't a school day so it isn't like you have anything else planned. Be a dear and go help Sakura for us." Her tone makes it clear that it is a demand and not a request.
"Okay." I know that there is no saying no to any of this. I guess my day will be busy with dealing with trying to convince sleezy men into buying illegal things, while working as an employee for that twenty four hour club. Even though I am going to have to hand over any money that I do make working there; the only reason I was made to start this is because my parents know the owner Sakura since they designed the outfits for all of her staff. I suppose the only upside is that tonight I will get some good rest since I only go out every second night so I am not being worked to the point of obvious exhaustion.
Despite everything the two clearly want to keep the fact that it is them forcing me into these situations a secret. So if they find that I am caught then they can dump the blame solely onto me minimizing the damage to their reputations. No matter how much they deserve it.
"That is a good boy Kaoru." Mother pats my shoulder then lets me head out. I take my bag with my employee outfit and get the driver to drop me off at a spot where I will walk the rest of the way. I keep my head down as I walk in the direction that I have to go in to get to Sakura Club. I only turn as I notice a blue Toyota Corolla Sedan car slow to pull up next to me. I notice the window rolldown as I slow turning to fully look at whoever it is. I don't carry any defense measures with me as I figure that if I get kidnapped maybe I can convince them to kill me, plus there is a chance I may even find a better life than the one I am currently living. I spot a familiar face after the window finishes rolling down.
The face of a woman who is one of my forced prostitution regulars. She isn't like the other customers however as instead of having me for sex she'll take me around for as much of the night as she can. She even gives me extra money for it all telling me to keep the change. She's even had some nights where she managed to take me around the entire night. She as usual sports a Ina Claire bob hairstyle with her light brown hair, sporting her favorite black and red fringe flapper dress, no doubt with her sparkly black high shoes, and a black 1920 art deco boa loosely draped over her shoulders, and the black feather flapper headband with red feathers. Her makeup even looks like an olden day style though she manages to look pretty decent in it. She just is a costumer though there are parts you come to appreciate about regulars.
I don't complain about any of what she does since it tends to be a nice break to just be a friendly companion, even though it is a paid one, for even just a bit of the night.
"Climb in." She invites me over with a slight plead in her sky blue eyes. "I really could use some company for a bit."
I change my walking direction and get into the passenger seat of her car. I suppose that a little extra side money will be nice before having to deal with sleazy men at a club, and I am sure that the money she gives won't be argued against by mom or dad.
Josephine, the woman who gave me her name the first time we met unlike most other customers, drives off and the car is quiet. "I am glad to have caught you." She lets out a breath causing me to turn to her. "There has been a development on something really important that needs to be addressed." She looks worried which is a look I haven't seen on her face before.
"What are you talking about?" I question her yet getting this feeling that I won't be getting any answers.
"Everything will become clear after we get there." Josephine tells me so I just sit there waiting for her to get us to wherever she needs to take us to.
I can't help wondering it is that has her so concerned. I wonder if someone had noticed us together then is spreading a rumor that we are together, so she wants to quell these rumors. I also suppose that it could be that she could be referring to something that she wants to vent about, something that requires me to see something to understand. I try to push away those thoughts because I really won't know until we get there. My eyes look around outside and as we come to a certain part of the city my stomach starts to twist into knots of nervousness. I know the look of this place to know for sure where we are.
We are now in the area known as the Angelhood since this area is under the control of a group known as The Fallen Angels.
Both me and Hikaru were expressly told to stay away from the Angelhood as bad things will happen though it wasn't elaborated on. We even have to take routes around the area if we have to go anywhere past it as even the driver will refuse to go into that area. We got the whole don't come here engraved into our brains by our parents. Not that we would have had any reason to come to a more sketchy looking area of the city even for my forced extra jobs.
I know that I really shouldn't be here and my eyes dart to Josephine. I try to figure out what to tell her only to find myself struggling a little.
"You don't have to give me that look honey." Josephine assures me with the friendly nickname. Her eyes never leaving the road ahead of herself. "You don't have to worry about being in trouble for being over here. There won't be any trouble I can assure you that. Just trust me."
I fight between the engraved part of my brain and the curiosity about what is so important that Josephine had to take me to this area. I look down as I try to figure out what to do. I just know by her serious tone that I can trust her that me being in this area won't cause any trouble, I also know however that if I am caught then there isn't much a lone woman can do about potential consequences. My thoughts are broken when the car comes to halt. I look outside to see that we have pulled up to what looks to be a club in an older building.
The name placed for the place with a vintage 1920 style sign with flower decoration says Hidden Bloom.
Josephine turns off the car. "Let us head on inside." She tells me and the curiosity part of my mind wins; Especially since she's my best way back out of this area.
I follow her out of the car then into the club where instead of going to the direction of the club space we head to the bouncer.
Josephine meets the bouncer's gaze despite him being twice her size, she's only a little taller than me, and the bouncer looking stone faced with a terrible scar across half of his face.
The bouncer doesn't say anything as he just steps aside then unlocks and opens a door he was standing by.
The door leads to stairs that head on upstairs.
The bouncer nods his head as if to wave us inside.
"Thank you kindly." Josephine dips her head to the bouncer for a moment then she heads for the stairs.
The bouncer turns his ice cold grey eyed stare at me making me uncomfortable.
I quickly follow after Josephine to start climbing the well lit staircase hearing the door being closed behind me. I find questions swirling in my head about what in the world could Josephine be up to with this whole thing.
The top floor is a fancy yet old style open space room with some doors around.
The thing that catches my eye though is the fact that there is other people who turn to us as if they had been expecting us.
I am starting to wonder if this truly is where I die as everyone looks so calm and serious. Follow Josephine towards the group not actually caring if death does await me. I have been hoping that one day I'd face death for long enough that it doesn't even scare me to think that this could be it.