Let us go then, you and I,

Morning arrived with his taste still lingering on her lips and his number still in her phone. Kilometers away, he found himself once again up without an alarm even after only sleeping for three hours. Touch’s sense heightened and she was more aware of her femininity than usual. Light silk draped across the curves of her stomach and chest. His mind was quiet even as it raged through thousands of scenarios that had now arisen in his formerly straightforward daily existence.

Kaho rose from bed and wrapped her shawl around her shoulders as she made her way to the kitchen. Lithium carbonate tablets awaited Shuhei, offering aid towards stability that he was gradually starting to find on his own.

Padded slippers slid along the wooden stairs as Kaho descended into the main floor of the house, where she planned to make herself a morning drip. When she entered the kitchen, someone was waiting for her.

A simple attempt at a small ikebana arrangement with tulips stood on Shuhei’s living room table. After a week of beauty, they were starting to wilt. Morning sunlight filtered through thin white curtains, casting ambient alabaster rays onto his exposed waist and chest. His fingertips raised to his lower lip and paused in reflection as he reminisced on the feeling of her tongue against his.

“Father,” Kaho signed as the man waited for her to approach.

He was plain, slightly above average height, with a thinning hairline that brought focus to his harsh cheekbones and weathered eyes. Still, he had an air of familiar caution to him as he watched his daughter cross the dining space. A tablet was in his hands and his eyes were stern.

As thoughts of her echoed through his mind, Shuhei found himself losing motivation. He had returned to this life because of the goal he had set all those years ago. Seven years in, he was so close. But now he owed Reiji even more, and he felt a lack of interest in manufactured conversations and club rankings.

Kaho sat at the simple table in the breakfast nook, where her father was waiting. When she was seated, he unlocked the tablet, revealing a tabloid article with photos of her and Shuhei from the night before. Unrefined paparazzi photos displayed images of the two of them leaving the club together.

“Minister’s Daughter Seeks Her Adam In Eden,” said the headline.

“You’ve gone viral,” he signed.

Embarrassed concern pumped into her veins, waking her far more than coffee could. Looking at her father revealed a stoic, disappointed, concerned man.

“Why were you at a host club?” he asked.

“…And who is this young man escorting you out then later meeting you for a drink?…”

Shuhei’s phone pinged as he took a sip of the blend he’d procured in Ginza a few days ago. Inhaling through his nose sent notes of elder flower and bergamot.

The message was from Reiji.

“Get here now.”

Shuhei exhaled with a heavy sigh and finished his cup. Tranquility faded as he braced to return to daily existence once again.

Thirty minutes later, he was parked and walking into the club’s dark corridors. Ace was in the hall, without his glasses or scowl.

“Morning darling,” Ace yawned as he rubbed his eyes.

Shuhei patted him on the shoulder as he passed.

“Long night?” Shuhei asked.

“After hours activities at a love motel. You know how it goes. But I did try the coffee shop nearby you recommended! Absolutely delightful.”

His voice was higher and softer when he spoke naturally. Shuhei continued walking towards Reiji’s office.

“Tell me about it later,” Shuhei said as he waved.

Kaho read the sensationalist article, which featured such phrases as “taxpayer money going to daughter’s host dinners?” and “signs of nepotism”. She felt her father sigh as he rubbed his brow in frustration before starting to sign.

“You go to treatment for ninety days because you have been harming yourself for years. Then, within a week of being home, after telling us you are better mind you, you start visiting elite host clubs? And you do it brazenly enough to get in the tabloids in the middle of elections…”

Reiji was at a large oak desk, flanked by surveillance monitors. When Shuhei entered, Reiji clicked a command into his keyboard and every screen switched to images of him and Kaho. Social media snippets. Magazine articles. Club security footage. Dozens of rows of moments captured by prying lenses.

Reiji’s face was murderous.

“You idiot. You absolute goddamn idiot. What the hell have you gotten into?” he growled.

Kaho steadied herself and signed.

“I wasn’t trying to visit the club. I was going to another ikebana location and I saw this club. I… I know that young man. He was at the center with me. He was very kind to me. He is very kind.”

Her father shook his head in annoyance.

“He’s a host! It’s his job to trick people by pretending to be nice!”

Kaho knew it did not sound good. Even she had felt doubts up till the cafe. But telling her father that his touch and kiss were proof of his kindness would not be enough.

As the monitors looped social media videos and gossipy taglines, Shuhei tried to understand just how mad his employer was.

“I met her while I was away. We thought we’d never see one another again.”

“Do you think I remotely care?” Reiji replied.

Shuhei shook his head. True, it would likely not help his client engagement numbers if every woman knew he had eyes for someone else in the real world. It broke the illusion. Yet Shuhei found himself not caring. His goals and financial plans didn’t seem so important in that moment. But for Reiji, they still mattered a great deal.

“You know we have a strict policy on relationships! Ace and Tatsuo are dating but no one outside of this club knows! Because no one is supposed to think about you as real people!”

Hands moved with cautious articulation as Kaho tried to gather her most convincing words.

“He sat with me. When no one else thought of me or checked on me, he did. And we honestly thought we’d never see one another after Nikko. He wasn’t manipulating me. Please believe me.”

Her father was opaque as he tilted his head.

“I like him, Papa. And I like…”

Tears appeared once more as Kaho finally acknowledged new details about her own psyche.

“And I like who I am right now. Not just because of him. It wasn’t just his kindness and stillness. I finally am okay sitting with myself. I haven’t wanted to cut myself in over two months…”

Those words caused her father to sneer, but she had to say them.

“I’m not healed. But I’m better. And he helped me be better. Please, do not judge him just because of his work, also judge him for how he was to me.”

Reiji’s glare intensified as he began to type a new request into his computer.

“Do you even know who her father is?” Reiji challenged.

“I assume someone important because of the house and the detail that he used to have a Century,” Shuhei sighed.

Reiji finished typing and new images appeared. Official government headshots and articles from major international publications covered the screens. As much as he didn’t want it to happen, Shuhei felt a pinch of dread when he read the words.

Reiji leaned forward with a look of absolute disdain.

“You brought the daughter of a cabinet member into this club, bringing a whole new kind of focus on us that I reeeeeeally didn’t want. You are involved with the daughter of the Minister of Finance for Japan, you absolute idiot.”

Seconds hung like damp smoke as Kaho waited for her father.

“Please, Papa. I’m happy. For the first time in so long, I’m happy.”

“And he is part of that happiness.”

Her father exhaled.

“My daughter cannot be seen dating a host while we are leading national efforts to rein in host clubs. You cannot be spending tens of thousands of yen on the company of another while we are in a cost of living crisis.”

Kaho exhaled and blinked in anger.

“I’m not spending money on him!” she exclaimed.

He leaned forward and tapped the tablet.

“You may not be. But these reporters will lead people to believe that you are.”

Tears ran freely as Kaho bit down on her lip in rising anger. Her father waved to get her attention once more. When she looked at him, his glare had softened.

“Allow me to repeat myself, though. My daughter cannot BE SEEN dating a host…” he signed.

The smallest of smirks was visible. Kaho understood his coded message and leaned forward to hug him.

“If you truly care about his company, I will run a background check on him,” he sighed.

“Or you could just meet him one day?” Kaho laughed.

“Maybe. One day. If you feel it warrants that. I am happy that you are happy. And I will trust you to be a responsible adult. But make one mistake, and I will use every resource I have to block him from your life, do you understand?”

Kaho nodded and bowed.

Every monitor turned back to its regular security footage. Reiji rubbed his temples as he slumped forward.

“If we didn’t know each other as well as we did, I’d assume you were trying to be a mole for the government. But it’s you, so I will give you the benefit of the doubt that this was not malicious, just you being a foolish romantic in the most inconvenient of ways.”

Shuhei stood to face his former childhood friend.

“I’m not trying to cause you problems, Reiji.”

Reiji poured himself a shot of whiskey.

“Well, you are. And I am losing patience. If this affects your margins, or if I start getting attention from bureaucrats, you know what will happen to you. The government is scary, but people like me are scarier. Every whore on the streets outside, and every standing girl on that sidewalk was once a naive girl that dared to walk into one of our establishments and get in over her head. Mess this up, you will be a cold body in a bathtub and she will be like that. Understood?”