One night, at the Kabukicho Host Club, Takamagahara.
For so reason, there were no custors in Takamagahara that night. Aside from Kyourou and Hachirou (the one with the afro), no other hosts were present.
The entire hall was eerily empty, with only the trio from Odd Jobs and Kyourou sitting in the sa booth while Hachirou stood nearby with his arms crossed.
After Kyourou announced so news, Shinpachi couldn't help but cry out in disbelief as he looked at Kyourou.
"What?! You're quitting as a host?!"
"Yes," Kyourou nodded slightly, replying with a feigned lightheartedness, "I'm planning to quit hosting and open a model shop. I've even thought of a na for the store."
As he spoke, Kyourou picked up a Gundam model—or rather, a figurine—and winked. "I'll call it 'Model Kyourou.'"
(Note: "Model Kyourou" is a reference to a model enthusiast battle manga from Kodansha.)
"What are you talking about, Kyourou-san?" Shinpachi retorted, exasperated. "That's not funny at all, and besides, no one even knows that reference anymore!"
"Exactly, aru," Kagura agreed, nodding with closed eyes and her arms crossed. She then suggested, "At the very least, change it to a shop specializing in mini four-wheel drives and call it 'Dash Kyourou.' That would be better."
"No one knows that reference either!" Shinpachi snapped at Kagura.
"So, what exactly happened, aru?" Kagura asked Kyourou, puzzled. "As the number one host in Kabukicho, did the silicone in your nose job start leaking or sothing, aru?"
Kyourou hung his head slightly and shook it, a faint, resigned smile on his face.
"I feel like I've hit my limit," Kyourou said, picking up a mini four-wheel drive car with his right hand. "And today will be the last ti I entertain custors, so I invited you from the Odd Jobs."
Nearby, Gintoki was still ticulously examining the mini four-wheel drive in his hand. "Hey, hey, did you have too many surgeries and lighten your brain as well? If the car body is too light, it'll skid and float when cornering, causing it to derail. You need to add more guide wheels for stability…"
As Gintoki rambled on, Shinpachi couldn't help but shout; his fists clenched in frustration, "I told you to stop talking about mini four-wheel drives!"
Then Shinpachi turned to Hachirou, who was standing nearby, and asked, "Hachirou-san, what exactly happened?"
Perhaps due to the weight of the thing on his head, Hachirou's expression seed a bit heavy that day.
"Do you know about Lady Yagami?"
"Hachirou!" Kyourou quickly interrupted.
Ignoring Kyourou's attempt to stop him, Hachirou continued, "She's a mysterious noblewoman known as the Flower Butterfly of Edo. With just a slight raise of her glass, the entire street's power dynamics can shift. They say that controlling the lady is like controlling the streets at night. She's such an influential custor."
"Basically, she's like a goddess who brings wealth to the night streets, only to leave quietly afterward. However, once she visits a street, she never returns to the sa place twice. She's like a nocturnal deity."
"Kind of like soone who never sleeps with the sa person twice," Gintoki nodded, signalling his understanding.
"No, that's completely different," Shinpachi scoffed with disdain. "What you're describing is just trash. You're just trash."
"Listen," Hachirou continued, his expression growing more serious. "Actually… that lady visited this street and Takamagahara a few days ago."
"Huh?!" Shinpachi exclaid in shock. "Isn't that a big deal?"
"It's like unexpectedly encountering the four-wheel drive warriors at a regional tournant…" Gintoki mused with his arms crossed.
"What kind of weird analogy is that?" Shinpachi muttered, his eyes narrowing in exasperation.
"But…" Hachirou continued with his head lowered, "When she left, she told us…"
Hachirou recalled that night when Lady Yagami departed, leaving behind the words: "I'll be back at the sa ti next week…"
After hearing Hachirou's recollection, Shinpachi was surprised. "Huh? Isn't that a good thing? The lady who never returns to the sa street made a promise to co back."
Hachirou slowly shook his head and explained, "No, it's not good. The lady knows that her influence can distort the power dynamics of an entire street, so no matter how much she likes a store, she doesn't want to interfere and doesn't beco a regular. If she decides to visit a place again, it ans she intends to bring disaster to that street. Tomorrow, she won't return as a goddess of fortune but as a goddess of death."
Seeing the look of despair on Kyourou's face, Shinpachi turned to Hachirou and asked, "Why? What happened to make her so unhappy?"
"After all, she's the number one Flower Butterfly," Hachirou replied. "Maybe there really was sothing we overlooked…"
"So not only will you never be able to work as a host again…" Shinpachi's expression grew heavier. "But this shop might also be destroyed."
Gintoki glanced around the place. "Co to think of it, I don't see any other hosts around."
"That's right," Hachirou nodded. "Everyone's afraid of the lady's return, and the place is already unable to operate."
"We're deeply sorry for dragging the entire street down due to our mistakes," Kyourou said, his voice filled with regret. But then, he looked resolute. "However, even if the shop is destroyed, I will protect this street! I'll stake my pride as a host on it!"
Hachirou imdiately protested, "Leaving aside whose mistake it actually was, how are we supposed to entertain the lady in this situation?"
"Of course it's our mistake!" Kyourou sternly insisted, then softened slightly. "Besides… we have no choice but to take a gamble now! We must do everything we can to please the lady…"
"How many people do you need?"
Suddenly, a voice ca from the side. It was Gintoki, who had sohow evolved from a completely rotten dead fish to a slightly less rotten one.
Kyourou and Hachirou both looked up in surprise. They saw Gintoki, with a cigarette in his mouth, adjusting his white suit jacket, flanked by Kagura and Shinpachi, who were also already dressed up.
"I'm asking how many handso guys you need," Gintoki said casually, glancing at Kyourou.
The next mont, Kagura and Shinpachi simultaneously pulled out lighters and elegantly lit the cigarette in Gintoki's mouth.
"And…" Gintoki smirked as he exhaled a puff of smoke, "That lady has a lot of money, doesn't she, Manager?"
"You…" Kyourou began to speak, but his expression quickly shifted from touched to conflicted. "No, I can't let you guys take on this responsibility for us! It's our fault, not yours!"
"No, honestly, I don't think it has much to do with us either…" Hachirou quietly retorted, "After all… we weren't the ones who entertained the lady."
"Shut up!" Kyourou sternly cut him off. "I'm the one who assigned him to entertain the lady! Even if sothing went wrong during the entertainnt that upset her, it's my responsibility! It has nothing to do with anyone else!"
"Don't worry, leave that lady… and her money to ," Gintoki chuckled lightly.
"Um…" Shinpachi, who had caught onto certain keywords in Kyourou's speech, hesitantly raised his hand and asked, "Who is this 'he' that Kyourou-san ntioned? Who was it that entertained Lady Yagami? Wasn't it Kyourou-san?"
Hachirou quietly took two steps back and pointed to the performance chart on the wall.
At the sa ti, Kyourou explained, "You probably know him. The man who occasionally cos to Takamagahara to work part-ti. Although he's a part-tir, he only shows up once every few months. I think he only cos when he's short on cash to buy gas. And every ti he cos, his performance for the day is even greater than the combined performance of all the hosts in our shop, including myself. He is…"
Kyourou pointed to the na at the bottom of the red line on the wall, the na with the highest record that reached the ceiling. "Kawaki-san from Yoshiwara! In our shop, he's known as KOU, the top host!!"
Upon hearing this, the Odd Jobs trio fell silent. Then, in perfect unison, they turned and began to walk slowly toward the door.
"Hey! What about what you just said about leaving the lady to you?! Odd Jobs-san?!" Kyourou called out after Gintoki.
"That's your own ss; deal with it yourself." Gintoki replied without turning back, "Assigning that idiot to entertain a lady like that… You really did lighten your brain during those surgeries."
"There's nothing we can do…" Kyourou sighed softly, then turned to Hachirou, forcing a faint smile. "Well… it's just the two of us now. Odd Jobs-san is right. This is all my fault… If I had just held it in and not gone to the bathroom, maybe… things would have turned out better. Let's fight to the end, just like when I first started as a host, the two of us working together…"
Hearing this, the Odd Jobs trio stopped in their tracks just as they were about to leave…
...
anwhile, on the other side, in Yoshiwara.
"Achoo!" Kawaki, who was holding a ga controller, suddenly sneezed. He rubbed his nose, puzzled, and muttered to himself, "Huh? That's strange. Is soone talking about behind my back?"
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