Extra edition: A competent manager will not repeat the same mistakes.

​That was back when I was still a scout for a certain bar.

​“Yes! A bottle of champagne from table three! Thank you very much!”

​“““Thank you very much!”””

​The shop was noisy. I had scouted several boys, and because they were all excellent, I was making a decent amount of money.

​The manager, a woman of middle age, glanced at one of the boys I’d scouted—who was currently flashing a smile in the back—before turning to me.

​“He really is something. Incredibly talented.”

​“Right? My eyes never fail me.”

​“The boys you’ve brought in before were good earners too… but this one is special.”

​It was true. That boy was quite unique.

​Usually, even for a professional boy, they would show a hint of disgust when faced with customers who invaded their personal space or were extremely arrogant. Some would even go as far as to act out to be disliked. But he never did.

​Most of the women who came to these places were looking for interaction with men and had some level of ulterior motive. Because of that, most boys would put on a front and then complain about them behind their backs.

​That was the standard boy.

​And personally, I thought that was fine.

​They were like idols. They were just selling a dream in exchange for money.

​But he was different.

​He interacted with the customers without any hidden agenda—laughing and genuinely enjoying himself.

​Because he could do something as dreamlike as that, he reigned as the Number One in our bar.

​“Treat him well. If you do, both he and you will be set for a while.”

​“I know.”

​His sales directly impacted my pay.

​That’s how it works for scouts.

​I tossed my cigarette into the ashtray and looked toward the back, where he was still beaming at a customer.

​“Ah, good work today!”

​“…Good work, Yuu.”

​The one who called out to me while I was messing with my phone in the back was the boy in question: Yuu.

​He had already changed out of his casual work suit and into his street clothes, ready to head home.

​“You’ve become a first-rate boy already.”

​“No, no, no! Not at all!”

​His hair was a light brown, not too bright. He wore small, subtle piercings.

​Being on the shorter side, his style of service made female customers want to dote on him.

​“But I do think I might be suited for this!”

​“Oh? You’re getting confident, aren’t you?”

​“Hehe…It just makes me happy when the customers smile, you know?”

​Yuu scratched the back of his head, looking embarrassed.

​It was innate. I’d felt it since the moment I met him—he had almost zero aversion toward women.

​“…I’m surprised women don’t constantly try to jump you.”

​“I make sure to draw a clear line! And for some reason, when I draw that line, everyone seems happy about it.”

​Isn’t that just because you’ve been recognized as an idol…?

​I suppose it’s a woman’s nature: if I can’t have him, I don’t want anyone else to have him either.

​Of course, it was a feat only he could pull off because of his high ‘face-value’ score.

​“Haa, whatever. Want to grab something to eat before heading home? I’ll treat you to ramen.”

​“Yes! Let’s go! Ramen!”

​Since it was late at night, the only places open were bars or ramen shops.

​I headed toward a nearby ramen shop with Yuu skipping along behind me.

​The incident happened on a winter day.

​“““Cheers!”””

​That day was the end-of-year party for the bar where I worked.

​We had rented out a room in a fairly large izakaya and were enjoying our drinks.

​“Yuu, you’re amazing! Four consecutive months as Number One!”

​“Ahaha, it’s just luck, seriously.”

​“With a cute face like that~! How many women have you ruined?!”

​As time passed, people began to move around the room.

​Amidst the chaos, Yuu was going around to every staff member, greeting them and pouring drinks. Being served a drink by a boy with a face like that didn’t feel bad for any woman.

​I watched Yuu while downing my highball.

​It didn’t feel bad for me to have the boy I scouted be praised by other staff.

​…It shouldn’t have felt bad, and yet my heart felt strangely frayed.

​I was the one who brought him in, so I should have been proud. But I felt a wave of disgust toward the people who were touching Yuu so casually.

​“Senpai? You look a bit scary.”

​“…Hmph. Right. I’m going to go have a smoke.”

​When my junior sitting next to me expressed concern, I realized I was wearing an expression that didn’t fit the occasion.

​I decided to go have a cigarette and calm down.

​I stood up and headed for the smoking room.

​Smokers have it hard these days.

​Not being able to smoke in cafes is standard. Lately, you can’t even smoke in izakayas, pachinko parlors, or mahjong parlors—places where it used to be a given.

​The number of smokers among the staff had decreased too.

​Lately, it felt like I was always smoking alone.

​I entered the smoking room, pulled a paper cigarette and a lighter from my pocket, and slowly lit up.

​I inhaled the toxic air to my heart’s content and then slowly exhaled the smoke.

​…I felt calmer. The frayed mood began to recede like a tide.

​“Ah, there you are!”

​At that moment.

​A voice called out from outside the smoking room.

​The door was swung open without hesitation by the boy I’d been seeing almost every day lately.

​“If you smoke that much, you’re going to die young!”

​“…Well, that might not be so bad.”

​“No, no, that’s no good! Please stay alive!”

​“…Anyway, the star of the show shouldn’t be in a place like this, Yuu.”

​It was Yuu, who was effectively the star of today’s party.

​He’d been waving away the smoke with a look of distaste just a second ago, but then he suddenly broke into a grin.

​“I came to say thank you!” he declared.

​I thought about it for a moment.

​“…Did I do something worth thanking?”

​“No, no, no! Of course you did. I wouldn’t even be here if you hadn’t scouted me.”

​“Well, that’s true.”

​But looking at Yuu, I found myself wondering why he was in this industry.

​With his personality, any company would have wanted him. Even just having him at a reception desk would have been enough.

​But apparently, he just didn’t fit into the corporate world.

​I’d happened to call out to him while he was walking through the entertainment district at night with nowhere to go.

​“So, thank you. Thanks to you, I’m actually having a lot of fun.”

​He had no hidden agenda. He was just a good guy who was a bit sloppy in his private life.

​Seeing his innocent smile…

​I felt a ‘bad’ emotion welling up inside me.

​“Alright, Yuu, take care of our Senpai!”

​“Y-Yes! Understood.”

​After that, ​perhaps because I’d started drinking early, I’d become so drunk that I had trouble walking—a rarity for me.

​Yuu had volunteered to take care of me, and I leaned on his shoulder as we left the shop.

​My house wasn’t far from there.

​I was glad I lived in an apartment just a few minutes’ walk from the station.

​“Geez, how much did you drink? Anyway, I’ll get you home.”

​“Sorry…”

​Yuu grumbled as he supported me.

​Feeling the warmth of his skin, a powerful surge of superiority rushed through me.

​Yuu, who was always being showered with gifts and attention by so many customers.

​That very Yuu was now supporting me, worrying about me, and taking me home.

​To Yuu, I was a special existence.

​But it wasn’t enough.

​In order to feel an even more powerful sense of superiority the next time I saw him with a customer.

​I felt my heart being filled with a faint, dark emotion.

​Before long, we arrived at my house.

​“Alright, we’re here! Make sure you drink some water before you go to sleep!”

​“Thanks…Yuu, how are you getting home?”

​“I’ll take a taxi. They come really fast when you call them these days!”

​Yuu looked proud of himself at the entrance.

​I gave a light tug to the hand that had been supporting me until just now.

​“I’ll at least give you some tea. Come on in.”

​“Eh…No, it’s fine. I’m not that drunk…”

​“Just come in.”

​I half-forced the hesitant Yuu into the room and sat him on the sofa.

​Suppressing my racing heart, I poured a glass of cold barley tea.

​I was drunk, but I was still conscious. I wasn’t going to let this chance slip away.

​“Here.”

​“Ah, thank you…but I really should go. I think I’m actually a bit drunk too.”

​I felt a prick of irritation at Yuu, who made no move to take off his duffel coat.

​Even though we were already in my room.

​I put the glass down and sat next to him, so close our bodies were touching.

​Yuu’s eyes widened in surprise.

​That, in turn, stimulated my sadistic streak.

​“Yes. Maybe you are drunk. Drunk enough for a little mistake to happen.”

​“Wait…seriously, I’m going. It’s just the alcohol talking, I think.”

​I reached for his cheek, but Yuu brushed my hand away.

​Ah, so annoying.

​I didn’t care anymore.

​I forcibly stole his lips.

​Thump. A shock ran through my body.

​I had been pushed away with both of Yuu’s hands.

​My flushed body cooled down instantly.

​Yuu stood before me, looking at me with eyes of pure disappointment.

​“…I trusted you.”

​Without looking at me again, Yuu left the room, and I could only watch him go.

​A mechanical, annoying electronic beep woke me up.

​I tapped the top of the alarm clock sitting next to my bed.

​“…A dream, huh.”

​As my consciousness cleared, I realized.

​Everything I’d just seen was a dream.

​An event from the past.

​I hadn’t seen it in a long time. It was probably because I’d remembered it a bit while talking yesterday. Someone once said that dreams are just the brain organizing the day’s events.

​…After that, Yuu quit the bar.

​I told the manager the whole story, and I got a thorough scolding.

​The junior who had asked Yuu to take me home apologized to me, and some colleagues even said, “It was Yuu’s fault.”

​If you go into a woman’s room, you should expect that much, they said.

​Well, I could see their point. But Yuu just wasn’t that kind of guy.

​He was the last person who should have been in this underworld. That was all there was to it.

​Now, I’ve switched from paper cigarettes to electronic ones to keep up with the times.

​I finished getting ready to head out and went to the balcony for a smoke to steady my nerves.

​The blue afternoon sky and the smoke I exhaled were a terrible mismatch.

​“…I wonder what he’s doing now.”

​Several years had passed since then. I had no idea what Yuu was up to.

​I left my house, heading for a nearby apartment.

​A lot has happened since then. Through years of experience, I’d eventually opened my own shop.

​But since that day, I’ve made one firm rule for myself.

​Regardless of whether it was my own shop or not, I would never, ever touch a boy again.

​It’s not that I banned the boys from having relationships. They could do as they pleased. But I made that rule so I would never make the same mistake again.

​As a further commitment, I even went through the motions of getting a formal marriage.

​Every one of these boys has a reason why they have to live in this dim world. I want to create a place where they can belong.

​That is my only wish now.

​I reached my destination and stopped.

​Two knocks on the door.

​A boy I’ve been doting on lately lives here.

​When I first met him, I was shocked by how much he resembled Yuu. I’d ended up helping him on impulse…and I still don’t regret it.

​The boy who lives here has a heart purer than anyone I’ve ever met.

​…It’s been almost a year, so I think he could open up to me a bit more.

​It was past 10:00 AM. For those of us living in the nightlife world, this was still ‘morning.’

​So, my greeting was…

​“Good morning, Masato~! It’s time to wake up~!”

​After a short wait, the door opened with a click.

​Black hair with obvious bedhead. Even just having woken up, his cute smile reminded me so much of him.

​“Good morning, Aika-san…”

​“Yeah, morning.”

​If I have any privilege, I suppose seeing him like this is just the right amount.

[ The Case of Tsukuda Aika ]

​<Aika

​20:15 | Aika: Masato, I’m counting on you for your shift tomorrow.

​20:20 | Masato: Yes!

​20:35 | Aika: How is university life? Are you managing okay?

​20:42 | Masato: I’m doing great! Thanks to you, Aika-san, I’m having a lot of fun!

​20:56 | Aika: I haven’t really done anything, though.

​20:56 | Aika: Speaking of which, how are things going with that girl who’s been coming to the shop lately?

​21:10 | Masato: Do you mean Mizuho? She’s a good girl.

​21:15 | Masato: I just hope she doesn’t spend too much money…

​21:25 | Aika: It just means that to her, you are worth that much.

​21:28 | Masato: I mean, that makes me happy, but…

​21:31 | Aika: Oh, look at the time.

​21:32 | Aika: Are you home yet? Have you eaten? Have you taken a bath?

​21:45 | Masato: Aika-san, um, I think I mentioned this the other day, but…

​22:17 | Aika: ?

​22:30 | Masato: I am a university student, you know…