Eri Hii and Yukiko Fujimine were like oil and water—any little thing could spark a quarrel between them.
Add to that Reiko, who'd completely abandoned her disciplinary committee duties to fan the flames and enjoy the show, and the sukiyaki dinner had everyone on edge, half-expecting the pot to be flipped over in the heat of an argument.
After dinner, Reiko took her double-skin milk and led Wangcai home, leaving the others to start work.
Eri and Yukiko both donned their new work uniforms. With the weekend crowd already large, the presence of two attractive "signboard girls" made the night's business even busier than the previous evening.
Shuichi Hayashi was swamped in the kitchen, barely keeping up. Yukiko had to pitch in occasionally to help him manage.
Watching Shuichi and Yukiko work together in the kitchen, whispering to each other now and then, Eri was visibly fuming. But as a certified "kitchen disaster," she'd been strictly banned by Shuichi from setting foot near the stove during business hours.
"Table 2's order," Kogoro Mouri said, tossing a ticket onto the counter before rushing off to tend to the next table.
He was having a rough night, running nonstop since the izakaya opened, with no chance to catch his breath.
"Bacon and eggs, buttered bread, hot milk?" Yukiko read the ticket, puzzled. "Isn't this breakfast? Did Kogoro mess up?"
Shuichi glanced at Table 2, where a young woman in sunglasses sat, her curvy figure accentuated as she gazed out the window with a melancholic expression. "No mistake. That's Miss Nishikawa's breakfast."
"Breakfast now?" Yukiko said, shocked. "Did I hear that wrong, or are you all crazy?"
"Miss Nishikawa's a stripper," Shuichi said, rolling his eyes. "She works nights and rests during the day. This is her breakfast time."
"A stripper?" Yukiko blinked. "She doesn't even look that pretty."
"Strippers just need a good figure," Shuichi huffed. "You and Eri combined don't hold a candle to her."
"Tch, I'm still growing. My figure's gonna be amazing someday," Yukiko retorted. "But that glasses girl? With her petty attitude, she's definitely stunting her growth."
"Less talk, more work!" Shuichi snapped.
Yukiko sprayed some oil in the frying pan, tossed in the bacon and eggs, and couldn't resist gossiping. "Why would Miss Nishikawa become a stripper? It's such a stigmatized job. With her figure, she could easily join a modeling agency."
"How should I know?" Shuichi said, exasperated. He was starting to tire of this chatterbox.
He'd known Yukiko was outgoing and loved the spotlight, but he hadn't realized she was such a gossip hound.
"Maybe her dad's a gambling addict, her mom's gravely ill, and her siblings need tuition money, so she had no choice," Yukiko mused, her imagination running wild. "Or maybe she's a single mom…"
"Dad's a gambler, mom's sick, siblings need school funds, just started and still green. Family depends on me, business is slow, loans to repay. Ex-husband was abusive and a drunk, raising a kid with no income. Down the dark path I go, please take care of me, big brother," Shuichi deadpanned. "No matter the country or culture, you women always come up with the same excuses."
"What are you even talking about?" Yukiko said, dumbfounded.
A middle-aged man eating at the counter overheard and burst out laughing. "Haha, miss, don't feel bad if you don't get it," he said cheerfully. "Those are the standard sob stories hostesses and call girls use to dodge customers' questions about their past."
"Didn't expect the young owner to be so seasoned in this already," he added, pulling a business card from his pocket and handing it over. "I'm Kanya Sada, manager of Yolo nearby. Come by sometime, owner-san."
"Thanks, I'll drop by if I get the chance…" Shuichi said politely, reaching for the card, but Yukiko snatched it first.
"A hostess club?" Her eyes widened. "Shuichi-kun! You go to places like that?"
"Sorry, seems I picked a bad time to offer my card," Sada said with a chuckle. He glanced at Table 2, his tone turning wistful. "But Miss Nishikawa really did become a stripper because of debt."
"Debt?" Yukiko's curiosity flared again. She set the card down and asked, "Did she run it up herself?"
"No, her ex-boyfriend," Sada said, shaking his head. "Rumor has it he used her as collateral to borrow one billion yen from the yakuza."
"How much?" Yukiko gasped. "One billion?"
Her parents were well-known actors, but actors' salaries in Japan weren't lavish. A year of hard work might earn them one or two hundred million yen. One billion would take them five or six years to pay off, living on air.
Shuichi looked up, surprised. "She didn't fall for a scam, did she?"
"Who knows?" Sada shrugged. "After getting the money, the guy vanished, and the debt fell on her."
"Under yakuza pressure, she started performing at a nearby strip club. Sometimes she works at my place too. She's only been at it for two weeks, but she's already the top act at the club."
"One billion yen sounds like a lot, but with her popularity, she could probably clear it in two or three years."
"Two or three years…" Yukiko mentally calculated her nightly earnings. "That's almost a million yen a night!"
Shuichi clicked his tongue. He slaved away running the izakaya for a month to earn that much, and after rent and paying Eri and the others, he was left with maybe two or three hundred thousand yen.
"I make six thousand yen a night," Yukiko said, visibly deflated.
"Hey, the eggs are burning!" Shuichi nudged her.
Yukiko hurriedly plated the bacon and eggs.
Sada looked at her, his expression turning serious. "Strippers face heavy stigma, even in the adult industry. You think Miss Nishikawa earns a lot, but most of that money goes to the yakuza. What's left barely covers her daily expenses."
"In a big city like Tokyo, one wrong choice can leave a woman regretting it for life."
His eyes reddened as if recalling something painful. "Sorry, got carried away there…"
(End of Chapter)
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