”Do you know how to use the tickets?” a voice called out.
The voice came from behind him all of a sudden. He turned around, and there stood a slim woman with pointed ears.
She had one knee on the floor, lined up so her height matched Souta’s ear level as he sat in the chair.
She had more class about her than any of the other cast he’d seen so far.
Blonde hair, narrow eyes, her ears were long with sharp tips, and just from that he could tell she wasn’t a normal person either.
”Uh… who are you?” Souta asked.
”My name is Eruna. Feel free to call me Eru-Eru, nice and easy,” she replied.
Something about the way she picked her words felt off, but Souta turned his body toward her anyway.
Her swimsuit had low coverage. You could say it was a white school swimsuit.
Combined with Eruna’s pale skin, it gave the fake look that the swimsuit and her body were one piece.
It must have been a size too small for her, because the tight fit made her body lines stand out more than they possibly could.
The one thing Souta found a little disappointing was that her chest was smaller than any cast member he’d seen so far.
”Sou, we welcome you,” Eruna greeted him.
Eruna spread both arms and leaned her body toward Souta.
Souta, thrown off by how different she felt, had forgotten the greeting this shop uses.
Souta responded in kind, spreading his arms to welcome her, and they exchanged the cheek greeting like before.
”I’ll ask again – do you know how to use the tickets?” Eruna pressed.
Still in the hug, Eruna asked the same question again right at his ear.
The tickets Eruna meant were probably the ones Moon gave him when he came in.
They’d been explained in a rush, and honestly he couldn’t say he understood.
”The maid told me at the start, kind of… but it was hard to get it, honestly,” Souta admitted.
Souta answered in a whisper at her ear, just like she did.
A long, long hug.
Still holding each other, Eruna kept talking.
”I see, I see. Then let me teach you. You use one ticket from a five-ticket sheet, and you get two minutes of lovey-dovey time with the cast member you pick,” Eruna offered.
”Lovey-dovey?” Souta echoed.
”That’s what everyone calls it. Basically it’s a special time where you can get all flirty and lovey-dovey,” Eruna clarified.
”Okay, got it,” Souta noted.
Since they couldn’t see each other’s faces, somehow there was no tension.
Souta thought: if her chest had a little more to it, he would’ve wanted to keep hugging her forever.
”Shall I go on? During lovey-dovey time, the customer is allowed to touch the cast member over their clothes. Look – when you see that customer and cast member, you can tell they’re right in the middle of it,” Eruna continued.
Whispering at each other’s ears kept their voices from getting drowned out by the bar noise; in a way, you could call it practical.
But when he looked where Eruna pointed, a man and woman were locked in a passionate kiss, and the man’s hand was groping the woman’s chest.
”What? Kissing is allowed too?” Souta gasped.
Souta blurted out loud without thinking.
Even Eruna seemed to find that volume too much right at her ear – the hug broke naturally, and the two of them pulled apart.
The couples around them looked like they were showing off hot kisses like lovers, putting it on display.
And when he looked around more, it wasn’t just that one pair – several pairs were going at it the same way, like the mood of the place had spread to them.
”You’re getting ahead of yourself. One ticket means no kissing – touching over clothes only. But if you use two, kissing becomes OK and the lovey-dovey time goes to five minutes, a slightly better deal. That’s the system,” Eruna corrected.
”H, huh..,” Souta stammered.
The explanation came with a strange intonation and was honestly hard to follow, but he did get that using tickets together gives you more than using them one at a time.
”So, using the max of three tickets lets you kiss, touch skin directly from inside the clothes, and the time goes to 10 minutes – a pretty good deal,” Eruna added.
”What? Directly means you can touch boobs too?” Souta exclaimed.
Sure enough, the man he saw at first wasn’t touching over the cast member’s clothes – he was groping directly from inside the swimsuit.
This shop’s rules – he cursed himself for coming in without knowing them.
This place he’d wandered into was without a doubt heaven for him too.
”Of course, just the lower body… that thing… the important part is NG, so watch out. …I don’t mind, personally, but the system says the owner gets mad,” Eruna warned.
Eruna grinned, stuck up her thumb, and showed off her white teeth.
Then she crossed her index fingers down at her crotch to make an X, signaling her point.
But her face didn’t look like she minded at all.
”Is Eruna OK with everything?” Souta probed.
Souta, still not quite getting her unique way of talking, asked straight at the heart of it again.
”No – I don’t want to get yelled at, so if you want everything OK, it’s after-hours or a private room for that kind of fun,” Eruna explained.
Once again a phrase he’d never heard slipped out of Eruna’s mouth.
”After-hours?” Souta repeated.
He repeated the word that caught his attention, just as it was.
”Did Moon not tell you anything? You trade the tickets you use for Heart Plates from the cast, and once you collect five, you earn the right to after-hours fun after closing,” Eruna detailed.
The more he learned, the more this shop’s rules put the customer first, and he felt the gear of his desires kicking up higher and higher.
”Th-that after, ah, after-hours thing. Can you do… that kind of thing and this kind of thing?” Souta leaned in and asked.
Souta swallowed hard, eyes sparkling, and leaned in toward Eruna to ask.
Even she flinched back a little, pulling away slightly from him.
”W-well, that’s right, but that part depends on the cast member. If sex is your only goal, you’re better off not expecting it from after-hours, okay? Better to think of it as an extension of lovey-dovey time. The rest is flow and mood,” Eruna cautioned.
With that, the lesson was over, and Eruna opened her right hand and gave Souta a little wave.
It seemed to be her own way of saying goodbye.
”If you feel like it, call on me anytime and use a ticket,” Eruna said.
Eruna looked around, showing Souta her back as she got ready to leave and find her next partner.
After all, chatting with someone you have no interest in and killing time forever isn’t allowed.
They’ve got a job to do too – this time isn’t forever, after all…
”Th-then. Eruna, I’m using it on you!” Souta blurted out.
Trivia:
- Eruna’s name is written with characters that can mean “blessing” and “flow,” hinting at a gentle nature beneath her transactional role.
- The white school swimsuit is a specific costume choice, not just swimwear, implying a deliberate role-play theme for her character archetype.
- Souta’s regret about Eruna’s small chest is immediately followed by his desire to hug her forever, showing his attraction is more about warmth and connection than pure physicality.
Translation Notes:
NOTE_1 | Eru-Eru | A cute, repetitive nickname formed by shortening Eruna. This kind of nickname is common in Japanese hostess clubs to create a sense of closeness and familiarity with customers.
NOTE_2 | Sou-kun | The honorific -kun is used for male acquaintances, often by people of similar age or status. Eruna uses it to address Souta in a friendly but slightly familiar way.
NOTE_3 | Lovey-dovey Time | A direct translation of the Japanese term “icharabu” (イチャラブ), a portmanteau of “ichai-chai” (flirting) and “love-love.” It refers to a paid period of affectionate interaction in the club.