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Whose being bid on?

Amisdt the enthusiastic chatter of the crowd a bright spotlight shines down upon me. I’m locked inside a gigantic birdcage that’s set right in the center of a stage. The masked audience stares at me.

“And now for the last item up for bid, our grand finale!” The auctioneer announced gleefully. “A young healthy Japanese women!”

“Keep her as your slave, keep her as a toy… Do whatever you please with her… It’s truly up to you! And now we’ll start the bidding.”

“I have $500,000 from #5. $1 million from #30! 1.2 million from #24!”

One by one, the masked bidders hold up their cards in the circular arena. I can’t believe it, but I’ve been put up for auction. It’s hard to believe it was just a normal day at work until a little while ago. How in the world did this happen?

12 hours earlier… 

“Goodmorning!”

I swing open the door to the locker room like I always do. I work in a hotel owned by the Matsumoto Group, which is a large company that owns hotel companies in Japan and has many affiliate companies overseas. 

“Morning, Uru!” Mia says cheerfully. “The All Star Convention starts today! I’m so pumped!”

Mia greets me with a smile. We’re the same age and really close; I can confide in him about anything.

“I bet you’ll be busy since you work on the casino floor.” I reply. “Since I’m in charge of the regular guest rooms, I doubt today will be any different for me.”

I work at The Black Spangle Hotel, one of Japans first legal casino and hotel, which was built five years ago when casinos were legalised in Japan. 

“I wish I could work at the All Star Convention, too.” I pout.

“That’s the goal of everyone who works here.” Mia said with a knowing smile.

“I’ve been dreaming about it ever since I saw the party on TV.” I sigh dreamily.

“Movie stars, top athletes…” Mia says, taking up my dreamy voice. “Super famous people from all over the world come to this party. I applied here not thinking I’d get hired, so I thought I was dreaming when I did.”

“Me, too!” 

“Oh my god, what if some rich, famous guy falls in love with me at first sight?!” Mia giggles.

“Haha. Keep dreaming.” 

Mia's sexuality is an open topic between us, but since I'm straight, if he ever got any feelings for me, he would be respectful of my wishes. I sigh as I think about the All Stars Convention. Our V.I.P guests are important, but I have to work hard for our regular guests, too!

The International All Stars V.I.P Convention is the Black Spangle Hotel's largest event. It is approaching and attracting tons of international publicity. It’s busier and even more tense around here than usual. We leave the locker room and head to the hotel lobby, where a crowd of reporters and onlookers have gathered. People I’ve only ever seen on TV start appearing one after the other.

“Oh my god, Uruha! Look who just got out of that limo!” Mai whispers excitedly. “That guy is always on the V.I.P lists. They call him the Prince!”

“What? Where, where?” I ask excitedly.

Even though I hate getting caught up in celebrity gossip, I can’t help but join Mia to get glimpse. I see a tall man walking along, surrounded by women and men on both sides. That’s the models Jasmine Yuu, and Hizaki Grace. All the women around them are famous too…

“He’s been living in the penthouse suite for a while now.” Mai explains.

“What?! It costs tens of thousands of dollars to stay for just one night!”

Wow… I wonder what he does for a living? He pays no attention to the huge crowd and just walks straight ahead. I can’t take my eyes off of him. 

“Aaah! Aoi is here!” Women start screaming.

THUD!

Whaa…? A group of women start running and bump into me, and pushed me right out of the crowd! SMACK! Right into someone.

“I-I’m so sorry!” I stutter my apology as I stumble.

I’m just about to fall when the man they call the Prince catches my body, practically hugging me.

“Hey, what do you think you’re doing?!” A young women shouts.

“How dare you touch Aoi!” Another shouts.

“I-I’m really sor-” I try to apologise, before Aoi cuts me off.

“Get out of the way.” Aoi growls.

“What?” I ask confused.

Aoi suddenly pulls away from me and I fall flat on my butt to the ground. He brushes off his suit, shoots me a glare, and then disappears into the hotel. That scared me… Rubbing my lower back, I leave the crowd and Mia comes running up to me.

“Are you okay, Uru?” Mai asks worried

“Yeah, I’m fine…” 

“The Prince caught you in his arms! I’m so jealous! Did he smell good?!” Mai questions.

“I dunno… I don’t really remember…” 

He actually seemed pretty frightening… I’ve never had a stranger glare at me so coldly before. I smooth out my clothes and hear the click-clack of high heels behind me.

"Just what were you thinking, making a fool out of yourself? In front of such an important guest?!” Reita's voice growls behind me.

“Reita!” I yelp.

“Just what were you thinking?!” The twins behind him pipe up.

Reita and two women stand imposingly before me. There’s Reita, who for some reason has never liked me and twins Astial and Iliad, who practically never leave his side. All three have worked here longer than I have.

“I’m sorry, it was an accident…” I apologise.

“It was your fault for not paying attention to what was going on around you!” Reita shouts. “You’re in charge of the regular guests, anyway!  You have no business even being around the V.I.P’s! Try getting promoted to V.I.P staff like me and then we’ll talk!”

“Then we’ll talk!” Astial and Iliad repeat.

“Y-yes, Reita…” I say, hanging my head.

“Go to every floor and drop off all the special gift boxes for the guest staying for the spa package. Also, wear the maids uniform while you do it.” Reita smirks.

“Y-you, you mean wear female clothing?” I ask shocked.

“You got a problem with that?” Reita growls.

“… No.” Kouyou

Reita’s always such a bully, but I might as well go take care of it. I say goodbye to Mia and head towards the elevator that leads to the basement.