Chapter 28: The fish has taken the bait
"Sorry, we're still closed." A tall man wearing a black suit with a crew haircut stood behind the velvet stanchion rope. "Wait until it's 9 P.M."
After everyone left the van, they walked through the wide alley with bars and clubs on either side. They soon arrived in front of a nightclub but were only told they were closed.
"Moon Nightlife," said Ryu, with his head raised as he read the name of the club they were at. Blue Led lights lit up the word "Moon," and the word "Nightlife" was carved into a black marble wall below it.
"Don't you know who you're talking to?" the flashy man asked, ticking his tongue. "I can get you guys fired at any minute."
Another man with a suit who had a stubbled beard and his hair slicked up said, "I'm sorry, but you have to follow the opening time."
The flashy man glared at the both of them, who were guarding the entrance.
"I've only been gone for a couple of months, and these additional guards probably don't know me." He pulled out his wallet from behind and slowly slid something out of it. "You see this?"
"Th-That's!" As soon as the two men in suits saw the card, the flashy man showed them. Their eyes froze wide open, and they immediately bowed to him. "W-We're sorry. We didn't know you were part of the SIX. "
The men hurriedly opened the stanchion rope and pushed open the two substantial black doors. "Please, enjoy your time."
The flashy man placed the black card back into his wallet and puffed out his chest as he started walking inside the club. But he stopped as he entered.
He then looked back and said to the people who were standing like a brick of ice, "What are you guys waiting for? Aren't we going to eat?"
Everyone immediately went in, but the most shocked person was Azuma.
Once they entered, the receptionist greeted them behind the desk, who wore a white dress shirt and a tight black skirt. She bowed and said, "Room or--"
"Room," said the flashy man.
While they followed the receptionist, the flashy man suddenly said, "You, boy, come here."
Ryu said nothing else and quickly went to see him. Who else would be the other boy who entered with them?
As Ryu walked beside the man, he said, "Sir, you called me?"
The man laughed when he heard Ryu call him "Sir." He took a deep breath and looked at Ryu.
"Kid, you wanna know how we got in even though this club was closed?"
Ryu nodded. "Yes."
The man pulled out the black card again. Aside from noticing the card's color, a white-colored word was engraved on it, back to back.
SILVER was the word, with a slight golden crown on top of it. And at the bottom right of the card, a signature was engraved.
"You see this?" he asked. "With this card, we could enter."
Ryu thought that the card the flashy man showed had some meaning behind it, so he asked, "Does it have something to do with what the guards said earlier?"
The man thought about it for a second. "Maybe, and maybe not?"
'Why call me if you're not going to tell me anything about the card...?'
As they continued walking straight, Ryu had to capture this in his head. 'So this is what a club looks like?'
They were walking down a hallway with black-colored marble walls around them and a floor with black tiles. It had blue led lights at the corners, on both sides of the feet and ceiling.
Though the lights were dim, the only purpose was for people to see the way.
After a couple of seconds of walking and turning right, they started seeing doors with minor silver signs in the middle of them.
Those were the room numbers.
[14A]
[18A]
[21A]
Okuma looked left and right and mumbled, "To think there would be rooms here..."
Finally, they stopped at one door, which had, instead, a gold plaque.
[1Z]
The receptionist gently opened the door and bowed.
But before Ryu went in, he looked at the hallway, which didn't seem to end, and continued further straight.
"It's dark," Yuki said, reluctantly trying to enter the room.
"It isn't," replied the man. Though it wasn't that dark, the yellow led lights placed around the corners of the ceiling were only on.
Yuki went behind Ryu and clenched his hoodie, seemingly not wanting to go in. Despite the dispute between him and Yuki on the metro, she was still Koizumi's friend and a person Ryu appeared to have met before.
Ryu had no choice but to be considerate rather than force her to go in.
"We aren't going in if it's this dark." Ryu peeked again at the room. "You think those led lights are enough for us to see?"
"If I may interrupt," said the receptionist, "these led lights are sufficient. We have heard no complaints from our customers who have used the rooms here at Moon Nightlife. "
"No complaints?" Ryu scoffed. "You're hearing one right now."
"Hey, stop it," Azuma whispered as soon as she moved closer to Ryu. "This is fine. Don't you even know where we're at?"
'Y-Yu-kun is so considerate,' Yuki thought with a warm smile. 'Now I know he really likes me.'
Yuki was still engrossed in her delusion. After receiving the stuffed toy from Ryu from the arcade, she started thinking that he liked him, and now that he was being considerate of her, Yuki came to a full conclusion.
Why else would a person give a girl something so cute and fluffy and be this considerate?
Love? No, it's innocence.
Seeing through Ryu and the girl behind him, the flashy man sighed as he scratched the back of his neck. The man then looked at the receptionist and said, "Open the lights."
She bowed and entered the room. And after seconds, the lights were on. The white fluorescent light filled the entire room, making it feel more comfortable for everyone, especially Yuki.
Then, they all entered and sat on the "L" shaped black leather sofa.
Though the room wasn't that big, the distance from the entrance to the end was about 10 meters or more. It could probably accommodate a small party of 20 people.
The black-marbled table extended all the way to the end, giving everyone who sat a place to put something right in front of them.
Seeing everyone sitting comfortably, the receptionist pulled out the menu from the small shelf beside the door and distributed it.
'Does the job of the receptionist take orders?' The group of Ryu had the same thing in mind. They wanted to ask something, but they could only keep silent.
----
[Menu :]
TSUKI - Appetizer, Sashimi, Broiled fish: (9,450 Yen)
UTAGE - Appetizer, Sashimi, Broiled Fish, Seasonal dish: (11,550 Yen)
[...]
YOI HANA - Appetizer, Soup, Sashimi, Fish, Vegetables, Seasonal Dish, Beef dish, Vinegard dish, Rice set & Dessert: (15,750 Yen)
----
After 3 minutes, everyone had their orders written down.
"Let me repeat your order: one UTAGE, three TSUKI, and two YOI HANA." The receptionist looked at them and continued, "Is there anything else you would like to add?"
"Get us two, Iichiko Shochu," the flashy man said.
She wrote it down and politely asked again, "Is that all?"
The man nodded.
And as the receptionist left, the man looked at the people HE invited.
"Do you think this is suspicious?" As he crossed his legs from one to the other, the man inquired.
Everyone nodded except for Koizumi.
He laughed, seeing them nod reluctantly. "Well, since that's the case," he comfortably leaned his back on the sofa. "Why don't we introduce ourselves."
As everyone introduced themselves one by one, Koizumi kept taking glances at the flashy man, who was the manager of this club, named Sato Hiroto.
Sato noticed the eyes of Koizumi and smirked.
"Sato-san, I was wondering how we could enter and get this room. This isn't some simple treat, is it?" After everyone introduced themselves, Koizumi couldn't help but ask, with a hint of seduction.
Hearing Koizumi's question, the rest of the girls were curious and shifted their eyes to Sato. Even Ryu was curious about that card of his, despite Sato not telling him about it earlier.
Sato showed a wicked smile, saying in his head, 'The fish has taken the bait.'