Club Mimosa [Discontinued]

V. Sleepless Night

Club Mimosa's reopening took longer than expected.

Bad things happen in threes they say. maybe it was a superstition coming true, maybe it was just bad luck, or maybe the universe wanted some other club to be on top for once. This was the destined fate for Tokyo's most popular hostess club.

One thing led to another. First, it was a broken pipe, which as it turns out was the result of the club's heating system unexpectedly shutting down. Tokyo was experiencing an unusually cold winter, and the building that housed Club Mimosa, its employees, and its patrons was older than dirt. If that wasn't enough, the bar's ice machines abruptly broke. A bar without ice wasn't of much use to anyone, not unlike an ice cream shop without ice cream.

Things broke down without warning - two days turned into the entire weekend, which turned into the rest of the week, which turned into two more weeks. Frustration was setting in hard, especially when there were a half dozen or so clubs fighting for the top spot. Club Mimosa was at a disadvantage.

But bad luck runs out eventually.

After repeated assurances from management, both towards its patrons and employees, that things would be up and running and Club Mimosa would take its rightful spot back on top. After all, it would take more than some cursed equipment failure to take down the king.

Saturday night, the club opened an hour earlier trying to take any advantage. In the time with its doors closed, the club had hired more hostesses, added more drinks to the menu, and changed up its decor, adding extra spice to the already wonderful atmosphere. Club Mimosa was once again open for business.

And business was good. Lines were out the door, spilling onto the street thanks to the hefty discounts that aimed at cutting the head off any form of competition, striking other clubs where it hurt. The patrons of Club Mimosa not only missed the club's comfortable layout and a fun atmosphere, the thing missed the most was the variety of beautiful and sexy hostesses that all knew their clients by name.

One of those hostesses was Hirai Momo, still the club's number one girl and for good reason.

Momo worked hard to reach the top spot every hostess desired. Starting out from the bottom, spilling drinks, and fumbling pours, not to mention being shy to make eye contact, Momo was almost a completely different person from her hostess debut days. No longer clumsy and awkward, she could hold conversations for hours, cashing in those extensions drunk men were glad and eager to ask for.

There was more to being a hostess than just popularity though. Especially because it wouldn't last forever. Momo knew this and enjoyed the perks of being at the top, but this industry moved quickly. It had been a little over a year since Momo gained her popularity. She loved her job, she loved talking to clients both new and old, but she wanted to further her career beyond just being paid to look pretty and serving drinks to drunk salarymen.

Hirai Momo was a lot of things - beautiful, successful, talented, charming, a hundred other qualities you could list for hours. But maybe your favorite thing about her was how confident she was. She always knew what she wanted, and you appreciated that the most about her.