Eidolon

Warning! (PG18)

This episode contains adult themes. Reader discretion recommended.

After the First Hostess Shift

The apartment above the club was silent except for the furious scrape of Rei’s sponge against the countertop. She scrubbed at an impossible stain, an old burn mark in the worn laminate, her jaw clenched tight enough to ache.

Stupid. Stupid.

The client’s hands on her hips. The way her breath had hitched, not just from discomfort, not from fear, but from failure. She should’ve handled it. Should’ve been smoother, sharper, better. A dish clattered into the sink too hard. She winced at the sound. Karasu’s voice echoed in her head, “You’re broadcasting tells.” She threw the sponge down. It slapped against the tile with a wet smack.

The door clicked open. Karasu stepped inside, his suit jacket slung over one shoulder, the glow from the club’s sign outside on the street painting his face in streaks of green and blue. He took in the spotless apartment, the rigid line of Rei’s shoulders, the way her fingers curled white-knuckled around the edge of the counter.

“Tea,” he said, hanging his jacket on the hook by the door. Rei turned, “What?” He loosened his tie, rolling up his sleeves revealing the inked dragons beneath, “Green tea. The good kind. And then sit down before you wear a hole in my floor.” She exhaled through her nose but moved to the kettle, her motions rough. The silence stretched, thick with unspoken frustration. Karasu settled in the deep sofa, watching her, “You’re upset.”

“I’m fine.”

“Why lie about it?”

The kettle whistled. Rei poured the water too fast, sloshing it onto the tray. She cleaned it up without a word. Karasu waited until she set the cup in front of him on the side table before speaking again, “The yakuza. You think you handled him wrong?” Rei’s spine stiffened, “I mismanaged him.”

Karasu’s expression tempered, “No. You survived him.” He lifted the cup, steam curling around his face, “That’s an important distinction.” Rei sat down beside him, her fingers tracing the rim of her own untouched tea. “I froze“, she whispered. “For a moment, on you’re first try hosting a slimeball”, Karusu added, sipping his tea. “First times and moments get people killed in Mirage City,” she spurted, louder than she meant to. Karasu’s lips twitched above his cup, “And yet, here you are.” He lowered the cup, “You should be angry at him, but instead you’re angry at your own weaknesses. The fear. The hesitation. The doubt.”  Rei’s nails dug into her palms, “I need to be better.”

“You will be.”

“How?”

Karasu set his cup down with a quiet click, “Experience or better acting. Do you have a preference?” His gaze flicked to her face. Her black eyes shining like a night sky, mirroring his blue. Rei held eye contact without recoiling, “Both.” A beat. Then Karasu nodded, “Good answer.”

He reached into his pocket and held out a ring with a red stone, “Sqeeze the stone on this ring and security will come to you. Not every customer is to be handled alone. Keep working as a hostess and you’ll learn fast.” Rei picked up the ring, turning it over in her fingers, “And if I can’t learn fast enough?” Rei’s grip tightened around the ring.  “Then I’ll give you more difficult work”, Karasu’s voice was quiet. She looked up, trepidation and determination radiating from her, “Okay. I’m not giving up.”

Karasu studied her for a long time. Then, with a sigh, he leaned back, “Then get tougher. Listen carefully Rei, everybody can freeze up now and then, it’s how you come back from blunders and grow stronger that counts”, he tapped his temple, “Keep your mind sharp, and most troubles become possibilities eventually”.

Outside, Chochin hummed and beyond that the city pulsed. Somewhere below, the club’s bass vibrated like a heartbeat. Rei exhaled, letting the tension bleed from her shoulders. She had a lot to learn. Karasu had helped her feel less like a failure and more like an apprentice. She poured more tea into their cups. They sat in silence for a while.

Rei observed Karasu’s silhouette intensely. His blue dragon tattoos moved under his toned muscles. He was a dangerously striking man, elegant symmetric features roughened up by his moustache and sideburns. His aura was like a beacon live-broadcasting: big boss – and here she was, all close to him. The hostesses swooned over him and kept bugging her to tell them what he liked: what kind of tea, food, clothes. Rei realized she didn’t know much about him, whenever they asked her.

She knew he liked blue cigarettes, martial arts training, green tea, good home cooking, whiskey, sake, betting on fights, ladies. Every now and then, she heard him bring home someone and go at it all night. Then she would hide her head under a pillow, listening to music when. Ashamed of her own impulse to listen in. It suddenly hit her, that Karasu was a man. She could practice with him, practice seduction, practice being touched without blushing. Just the thought made her blush furiously.

Karasu watched her over his teacup, reading her like an open book. He smiled a slow knowing smirk, “What are you plotting over there?” Rei almost spilled her tea and stared out the window. “Oyabun… Karasu… will you help me overcome my nervousness? My blushing that gives me away?”, she asked and looked at him both determined and red like a tomato.

The steam from their tea curled between them like a shroud. Karasu’s smirk deepened, his blue eyes glinting with amusement as Rei’s blush burned all the way to the tips of her ears. He set his cup down with deliberate slowness, the porcelain clicking against the table. The silence stretched just long enough to make Rei squirm. Then, with a low chuckle, he leaned back, his tattoos shifting like living beings under the dim light, “You want to use me to practice seduction?” Rei’s grip on her cup tightened. “Yes. No. Well. Not-not exactly like that,” she muttered, though the thought had clearly crossed her mind. “The hostesses are good tutors, but they are women and I don’t get flustered with them. I just want to train… the basics with you. How to touch a man without freezing. How to breathe when they’re too close.” Karasu arched a brow, “And you think I’m the best teacher for that?”

“You don’t freeze,” she shot back, “Ever.”

After another beat of silence Karasu stood, rolling his sleeves higher, exposing the sinuous coils of his dragons further, “Fine. Lesson one: Control the space.” He stepped around the table, sitting closer to her on her section of the sofa, his presence filling the room; not looming, but commanding. He leaned closer. Rei stiffened as he stopped just inches away, close enough that she could smell the whiskey and smoke on him.

“Breathe,” he ordered. She did. “Good”, his voice was a rumble. “Now look at me. Not at my chin, not at my shoulder. At me.” Rei forced herself to meet his light blue eyes. The intensity there made her pulse spike. Karasu angled his head closer to her, “Better. Lesson two: Touch is a conversation.” He took her hand and let his rough fingers brush her knuckles as he guided it to his chest, “Steady. Controlled. You set the rhythm.” Her fingertips pressed against the warmth beneath his shirt, the slow, even thud of his heartbeat beneath. It was maddeningly calm. “Now,” he murmured, “try to make me react.”

Karasu’s words hung between them, low and measured, but there was a dangerous edge of challenge beneath them. Rei swallowed, her throat dry. Her hand lingered against the solid heat of his chest, the rise and fall of his breath unshaken. Her pulse was another matter; fast, uneven, wild. The red stone ring felt heavy against her finger, a reminder of the line she didn’t want others to cross, the lines she wanted to cross herself. She hesitated, then let her fingers shift slightly, tracing along the fabric of his shirt. Her nails skimmed ever so lightly, a whisper of contact.

Karasu’s gaze didn’t waver. His eyes locked on hers like a hawk pinning prey. But she saw it, the faintest tightening in his jaw, the subtle intake of breath, controlled but there. It was enough to give her courage. “Lesson three,” he said, voice quieter now, rougher at the edges, “Don’t rush. Seduction isn’t a sprint. It’s the wait that conquers.” He reached up, slow, deliberate and tucked a strand of her crimson hair behind her ear. His knuckle brushed her cheekbone, light as air, but it sent heat racing down her spine.

Rei’s black eyes shimmered, bottomless, their pull magnetic. She leaned in just enough, so her hair slipped forward, strands falling across his shoulder. Sighing almost inaudibly, as she let her hand flatten against him, feeling muscle shift beneath her palm. Karasu’s lips curved in the hint of a smirk, but his eyes betrayed something else, something caught between discipline and desire. His broad shoulders exuded quiet strength. She tested her voice, softer now, hushed like a secret, “How am I doing sensei?” Karasu didn’t move, the silence pressing heavy, his control palpable. Then, slowly, he leaned closer, close enough that the edge of her breath mingled with his, “You’re learning”, he murmured, “but… you’re still blushing.” His gaze flicked briefly to her lips before returning to her eyes.

Rei wondered if she was the only student in this room, or if Karasu himself was no longer entirely immune to the game they’d begun. Rei wet her lips. This was a test. A challenge. And Karasu always won. She spread out her fingers, tracing the line of his collarbone at the edge of his shirt; hesitant at first, then firmer, mirroring the hostesses practiced grace. Karasu’s breath didn’t hitch. His pulse didn’t stutter.

Bastard.

Rei’s fingers twitched against the fabric, her heartbeat racing so hard she was certain he must feel it through her touch. Karasu didn’t move away. His presence filled the narrow space between them, the breadth of his shoulders, the stillness of his body like a fierce creature resting but not sleeping. Every lesson he had given her seemed to fold into this moment: posture, eye contact, timing. But here, in the muted glow of the apartment, there was no performance. Only him. Only her.

“Control is key,” he said, his voice low, even, “Hold your ground.” His hand, warm and calloused, brushed down the length of her forearm until his fingers closed lightly over her wrist, guiding her palm higher; over his collarbone, the line of his throat, then resting at the edge of his jaw, “This space… belongs to you if you claim it.”

Rei’s breath caught, her lips parting. She could feel the faint rasp of stubble under her fingertips, the warmth of his skin, the steadiness he refused to let falter. She leaned closer, almost without realizing it, her hair spilling in a curtain of softness and jasmine scent. “Lesson four,” Karasu murmured, his focus locked on her black eyes, those infinite depths that seemed to swallow his own reflection, “Seduction is not about giving yourself away – it’s about making the other want more. Always more.” Rei’s nails scraped faintly against his jaw as she drew her hand back, not in rejection but in deliberate retreat. Karasu’s eyes followed the motion, his chest rising with a breath, just a little heavier than the last.

The room felt hotter, closer, the hum of neon outside muffled beneath the thrum of blood in Rei’s ears. She sat back just enough to create some space between them, though every nerve screamed at the loss of his warmth. Biting her lip, she unexpectedly leaned closer again, pausing only a second, waiting to see his eyes narrow. When they did, she slid her hand across his chest and slipped it halfway under his shirt between the buttons. She dragged her nails lightly down his skin, scraping over the ink of his dragons. A muscle twitched in his jaw.

Got you.

Karasu caught her wrist before she could celebrate, his grip firm but not painful. “You’re doing…”, he said, smirk faint, almost rueful, his look sharp as spikes, “…better than you think”, his thumb stroked the inside of her wrist, a fleeting, calculated caress, “But never get smug. That’s when you lose.” Rei’s breath came faster now, her cheeks still flushed, but her chin lifted in defiance, “Can we try again, please?”

Karasu laughed, a dark, rich sound, then released her, “Another time. You’ve got the idea.” He leaned back into the couch, casual again, reclaiming control with the smallest shift. He lifted his cup of tea, now lukewarm and sipped like nothing had passed between them. But Rei saw the way his grip lingered a heartbeat too long on the porcelain before picking it up, the way his gaze flicked once more to her mouth before he looked away.

He took a long taste then put the cup down, “Practice on the clients and with the hostesses first. Then come back when you’re ready for advanced coursework.” Rei scowled, but the fire in her eyes had shifted, less embarrassment, more resolve. Karasu lit a blue cigarette, the ember flaring in the dim light. “And Rei?” He exhaled smoke, his grin sharp as a blade, “Next time, don’t ask so nicely.”