I solemnly swear that I did not spend any time writing this one since I put the announcement out. It was supposed to stay on my laptop until better times but I need some positive emotions now because I'm freaking out because I'm moving in a couple of days.

Beta'ed by lunarshores to whom I am eternally grateful.

Song of the chapter: Zombie by Maître Gims.

Disclaimer is in the first chapter.

It felt like it was only a minute ago that his head touched the pillow, and now someone was shaking him awake.

"Wassap?" Ace slurred, rubbing his eyes and yawning.

"Shh, you'll wake the others. Iva-chan wants to see you," said someone in hushed voice.

"What time is it?" he sat up on his futon and focused his eyes on what seemed to be Inazuma.

"Half past eight."

Ace crawled out of the sleeping room where fourteen other hosts were sleeping soundly, muttering curses under his breath. Who the hell woke people up at this forsaken hour? He only went to bed like three hours ago! What could be so important Iva-chan needed to wake him up?

He got to the corridor and stood up, following Inazuma like he was – with barely opened eyes, tousled hair and nothing but a pair of sleeping shorts on him. Ace barely remembered how they got to Ivankov's office, he was yawning all the time, unable to keep both his eyes open. Inazuma opened the door, letting him in, so Ace immediately propped himself against a bookshelf that stood just a step away from the door.

"Whassa'ell, Iva-chan?" he muttered hoping that he'd get to return to bed soon.

"Candy-boy! Finally!" Ivankov said something else, but Ace didn't hear him, dozing off by the bookshelf. "Ace-chan!" Ivankov said loudly, startling Ace.

"Wha?" he whined, trying to get comfortable.

"You were the one hosting Phoenix-san yesterday, weren't you?" Ivankov asked.

"What of it?" he grumbled.

"You helped him with something, right?"

"Yes, now can I please go back?" Ace managed to open one eye to glare at Iva-chan. Only, it wasn't just him, Ivankov and Inazuma in the room. There were two more people sitting in front of Ivankov's desk who looked at him with amusement mixed with slight discontent. Ace couldn't find enough energy to care, much less to behave appropriately, so he just stayed hugging the bookshelf to keep himself upright.

"Were you the one who made the notes?" asked one of the intruders.

"Can we please get back to this in a couple of hours? My brain is off…" Ace muttered into the bookshelf.

"Get him a cup of coffee," Ivankov said to someone. "We won't get anything more out of him when he's like that."

"No coffee… 'm going back to bed…" realising that whatever they wanted from him needed more than a minute Ace tried to get out of there but walked into something, hit his head, lost his balance and fell back on his ass.

"Candy-boy, are you alright?"

"'m fine," he said with a sigh, rubbing his forehead where it hit what, upon closer inspection, looked like a doorframe.

"No offense, Ivankov, but really? Him?" said one of the unfamiliar people in the room.

"He's just asleep," Iva-chan said reassuringly. "He only went to bed a couple of hours ago."

"I can see that he's asleep," said the second guest. "But we need him awake."

"Inazuma, get Ace-chan on the couch and give him some coffee. I'm sorry, candy-boy, but you can't sleep right now. You can take a day off today to get your beauty sleep," Ivankov reassured Ace as Inazuma all but dragged him to the couch.

"Can't, I have eleven o'clock," he answered through a yawn, rubbing his eyes to wake himself up.

"No you don't," said Inazuma as he offered Ace a cup with dark beverage.

"Yes I do," he said stubbornly.

"No, you don't. I have your schedule right here and your eleven o'clock is empty," Iva-chan argued.

"Exactly," Ace nodded, finally opening both of his eyes. "I have to keep the eleven o'clock empty in case he needs something else."

"He, as in Phoenix-san?"

"Yes," he looked up from his cup meeting three pairs of eyes staring at him expectantly.

The two visitors turned out to be a sakura demon and one of the harvest gods which surprised him to no end – those two kinds of youkai were not very friendly to each other and seeing them sitting amicably together was more than a little astonishing. The sakura demon was very beautiful, his hair in a perfect traditional hairdo, and his face was painted better than any geisha Ace had ever seen (and he has seen quite a lot of them after working for Ivankov for so long). His dark eyes looked at Ace sceptically making Ace realise how he looked right now (namely very, very far from the way he looked in the evening when he was meeting guests). The demon was dressed in pink kimono with a pattern of cherry blossoms; even from his place on the couch Ace could see that the kimono was of the highest quality.

Compared to the sakura demon, the harvest god looked… shabby. He had a weird hairstyle and was dressed in simple white jacket and pants, looking like a pauper next to the regal beauty that was the demon. Ace tried not to think how he looked compared to that same demon because that was a giant blow to his confidence as a host.

"Well, at least he looks remotely awake now," said the harvest god.

"Anyway, Ace-chan, these are Izou and Thatch, they are Phoenix-san's brothers," Ivankov explained. "They are here for, ahem, different reasons but want the same thing, namely that you would help them with the summit."

"I don't care about the summit, but if he can turn murderous and psychotic Marco into his normal self then I want him around," said the harvest god.

"He wouldn't be murderous if you just helped out a little," Ace muttered into his cup. Yesterday he got to know that the only ones who seemed to care about the summit were Phoenix himself and his brother Izou while the rest of the family pretended like nothing happened and stayed away from them.

The harvest god gaped at him while the demon snorted, looking extremely amused.

"That is exactly what I told him, word for word. I like this guy," the demon said with a smile. "So, Ivankov, do we have a deal?"

"If you double the money then yes, we do," Iva-chan said with a sly smile.

"What? Thousand soul coins for… for… a fire elemental?!" the harvest god exploded. "And just for two weeks?!"

Ace almost dropped his cup. Was Iva-chan really renting him out for that price? Who would pay that much for him? Even half the price was a lot to ask for a fire elemental for two weeks, no matter the task assigned… He shrunk on the couch as everyone looked at him.

"Do not take me wrong, Thatch-boy, but what you offered is the amount he makes here in two weeks and if I agree to your price I'll be working against myself."

"That makes five hundred in two weeks?" the harvest god pointed at Ace with his hand, who shrunk even more, wishing he was invisible.

"Your dear brother paid a hundred yesterday," Iva-chan said sweetly.

"He WHAT?" this time it was the demon who shrieked.

Ace was doing his best to supress a coughing fit because when Ivankov mentioned how much Phoenix paid for him yesterday the coffee went the wrong way. He tried to restart his breathing without coughing, making any noise or attracting any attention, but succeeded in nothing as he broke out coughing loudly. Bargaining parties stared at the subject of their discussion, stopping their arguing for a moment.

"You're not pulling our legs, do you? Because so far he's been just like any elemental," the harvest god said sceptically. Ace didn't need him to finish his thought about elementals because he knew exactly what people thought about them. Dumb, dirty, and worthless.

"Ace-chan, why don't you go pack your things while we discuss the price," Ivankov said, looking at the harvest god none too kindly.

Thankful for the opportunity to get out of the office, Ace quickly got up, bowed and bolted to the corridor, taking the cup with deadly coffee with him. He didn't leave the best impression, for sure, but Iva-chan seemed sure that he would still rent Ace out, so he decided to do as he was told. He went to minus second floor where employees had their small lockers, among other things.

Ace didn't have many things to his name - a set of nicer clothes he could go out to town with, one pair of shoes, the sleeping shorts he was wearing, three pairs of underwear and a set of simple pants and shirt. His working clothes, namely the black pants and the white ones with embroidery, were provided by the bathhouse and therefore did not belong to him. The money he earned was put in a bank so that when he finished working at the bathhouse he would have a nice sum to retire with. Despite being very sly, Iva-chan was an honest man when it came to paying his employees and whenever Ace checked his bank account, the sum had grown, making him excited about the amount of money he'd have when he resigned.

He quickly got himself more or less ready, changing into his simpler clothes, brushing his teeth, washing his face, and combing his hair. Ace then packed his things, carefully folding everything and making sure he did not forget his toiletries. Everything fit into his small backpack and even left space for more stuff since he carried his shoes.

Ace glanced at himself in the mirror. The young man that looked back at him was not that shabby thing that squinted at him ten minutes ago, but not the host either. It was… just him, a tired fire elemental called Ace. Just when he mused about the fact that the hobo that he saw in the mirror not too long ago and the host from yesterday were the same person, Inazuma came to get him.

"Did they agree on a price?" he asked curiously.

"They were naïve to think that they could negotiate with Emporio Ivankov himself," Inazuma smiled.

Ace nodded, understanding. He wanted to ask if it was true what they said in the office about him bringing in so much money, but did not dare to do that. It was none of his business plus he wasn't sure that he'd get an honest answer. He was escorted to the exit where the demon and the harvest god waited for him spending time in an argument. Apparently the harvest god was angry with the demon for paying the whole price Ivankov was demanding for a measly elemental.

"Finally!" the harvest god exclaimed when he saw Ace.

Ace was about to apologise, but the demon cut him off.

"Don't pay any attention to him, he's just sulking because you said the same thing I did. Several times a day. For the last couple of weeks," the demon smiled. "And I will say it again, if you would just get off your ass and help out we wouldn't be where we are now," that was said louder than necessary with a pointed look at the god who looked away. "I'm Izou, and that giant baby is Thatch and I, unlike certain someone, am thrilled that you are going to help us."

"I am Ace," he bowed politely. "I'll be in your care from now on."

"Please take care of us," Izou bowed back at Ace, surprising him to no end. That was the first time that someone that was higher than him bowed back at him. "I assume since you are always taking care of my brother, he talks about us?"

"Um… yes…" Ace replied, still a little shocked. "He talked about you yesterday, actually."

"Really? What did he say?" Izou said, motioning for Ace to follow him.

"Er… how should I put it…" he suddenly realised that it wasn't smart of him to mention that.

"Say it as it is," Thatch snickered.

"Well… his exact words were that you and he were running around as if your pants were on fire and the rest just sat here doing nothing…"

"That pretty much sums it up." Surprisingly Izou wasn't angry. "Actually, that's exactly what we've been doing. And this morning he came home shining like new coin, got everyone up and gave everyone something they are supposed to do today and, really, for the first time it felt like we were going somewhere."

"Well, it lasted right until he could not figure out what the notes said," the harvest god looked at Ace with accusation.

"I'm so terribly sorry!" Ace's eyes widened in horror when he realised that they had to rent him because his notes were uncomprehensive. He was about to apologise in dogeza when someone grabbed the scruff of his shirt, stopping him in the middle.

"I think I asked you to ignore the idiot," Izou said with a sigh, hoisting Ace back up. "There's nothing wrong with your notes. To bring you in was my idea because I thought it would be more effective that way."

Ace followed them out of the bathhouse, berating himself for opening his mouth in the office. Of course he was still half asleep back then (hence no brain-to-mouth filter), but that was no excuse to say anything like that. What more, it seemed that his words had offended and angered the harvest god. To top everything off, the sakura demon outright told him to ignore the angry god and that confused Ace to no end.

"You're not getting into the carriage with us," Izou said and Ace was about to join the wind elemental who was driving the carriage when he was stopped the same way as when he tried to apologise. "Not you, you're riding inside with me. I want to be able to talk to you without him interrupting anything with his childish remarks."

He was pushed into the carriage when he tried to say anything against the arrangements, so Ace could just hope that this would not anger Thatch even more. Though he knew he was kidding himself because there was no way the god would ignore this kind of treatment.

"Don't worry about him, he's all bark and no bite," Izou said, settling across from Ace, who nodded hesitantly. "I have to say, you are pretty cute despite your constant apologising. I can certainly see what my brother saw in you."

"Th… thank you." Ace was not expecting this. Somehow, he could not get his act together – he did not stutter normally and was better behaved.

"Oh, I just had most wonderful idea! You'd have to be more awake then, but a little changes here and there… oh and the clothes… definitely red!" the demon exclaimed, rubbing his hands together.

The carriage moved, and Ace almost fell forward, taken by surprise. He quickly straightened himself and looked at Izou, who ignored his mistake.

"Excuse me, what are you talking about?" Ace asked, because the last statement made no sense to him.

"Dressing you up, of course," the demon said as if it was the most natural thing. "I'm convinced that you don't look your best right now, so I want to see you at your best."

"If it pleases you?" he answered, feeling very out of place.

"Oh, it would please me immensely," Izou smiled at him with a devious smile, making Ace regret agreeing to anything. "But before that, we have a summit to take care of. I glanced through your notes quickly, you seem to know what you're doing so could you tell me about where the experience came from?"

"Ah, that's… You see, there is a chain of command in the bathhouse and senior hosts are just below Inazuma and Iva… Emporio-sama. All the senior hosts have been in charge of the bathhouse at one point or another," Ace explained.

"So you're a senior host? What's the difference?" Izou seemed to be genuinely interested.

"I am, and if you have more than ten regular guests then you are promoted to senior host," he nodded.

"How many do you have? Or you can't answer that?"

"Of course, I can. I have twelve regular guests and around thirty regular seasonal guests."

"Is it a lot or a little?"

"I don't know the answer to that."

"Alright then. You said something about running the bathhouse?"

"Yes. Basically, any day Inazuma can come to one of senior hosts in the morning and tell you you're in charge of the establishment for a day or a week," Ace elaborated, remembering the morning Inazuma said that to him. After ten minutes of freaking out he had to get his act together lest he wanted everything to go up in flames.

"How long were you in charge?"

"Two weeks. It took a couple of days before I got the hang of it. The first day was the worst," Ace shuddered.

"What happened? Did you mess up?" Izou asked curiously.

"I had to leave one of my guests and tend to the emergency in the main hall, but that took too long, and the guest left," he said, embarrassed.

"Wait, you had to entertain guests at the same time?" the demon stared at him with wide eyes.

"Yes, why?"

"Isn't that a lot?"

"Well, that is why we are Kambakka Bathhouse. Everyone knows what they are doing."

After staring at him for a whole minute, the sakura demon finally spoke.

"And this is why I knew it was a splendid idea to bring you in."

The rest of the way to their destination Izou asked Ace questions about different organising moments for the summit. They agreed that the first thing they'll do is to walk around the mansion with a guest list in their hands, then to have a staff meeting to introduce Ace and for him to see who is responsible for what, make a few adjustments (Ace was sure that there would be adjustments needed) and give out assignments. The rest was up to Ace, whatever he decided to do. The only thing Izou wanted was that Ace would give him five minutes to take measures for clothes. He promised that he would do that today, but the time might depend on the situation. The demon was content with that answer, seemingly already designing the clothes in his head.

Soon after that the carriage stopped. Ace was about to peek out of the window but held himself back, allowing the demon to take the lead. The door opened, revealing the harvest god, who was bowing down with the fakest smile possible.

"Your majesty." The amount of sugar in that voice could give one diabetes just by hearing it.

"It's time you recognized me for who I am," Izou replied, exiting the carriage with regal grace. "Also, you should not be looking me in the eye."

"Stuck-up okama," Thatch rolled his eyes.

"Idiot cook," the demon said pleasantly. "Ace, what are you doing? We have a lot to do."

"Ah… right," Ace shook his head, getting back to earth after spacing out at the look of the mansion.

The mansion was enormous. Unlike the bathhouse, it was done in Western style. Ace did not know what kind of Western style, but it had columns by the entrance and mouldings around windows on all three floors. The building was light blue colour, and the mouldings and columns were white. Ace liked it, mostly because it looked welcoming, but also because the colour reminded him of clear summer sky but a couple shades lighter.

He hurried after Izou to the entrance, instantly noticing with his trained eye that the stairs leading to the entrance have not been swept for a couple of days. The entrance was a double door, but only one part opened with a slight creak, making Ace wince. He would need to go around the house and inspect every single stone and crack around it.

The entrance hall had a lived in feeling to it; some things were slightly out of place, and right in the middle of it was a big carpet with a giant stain in the middle of it. Ace inhaled deeply, his eyebrow twitching at the sight of the stain. He would have a nice chat with the servants of this estate because so far things were unacceptable.

"This is new, we didn't have the time to clean it," Izou said sheepishly.

'You won't have time to fix it, and you will find yourself looking at it five minutes before the first guests would arrive,' Ace thought with a frown. He had to get someone to clean that immediately.

"I am sorry, but I have cut straight to the point. I need to take a look at the state of things," he said after a moment.

The demon nodded, seeming eager to improve anything he could; Thatch had already disappeared somewhere. Ace's eyebrow twitched again – somehow he'd have to catch the harvest god and force him to help out. They wouldn't get far if people living in this mansion continued thinking that preparations for the summit had nothing to do with them.

"Can I please see the guest list?"

"Right, follow me, I have it in our summit office, so to speak," Izou said. "We used one of the rooms to keep all the stuff concerning the summit there. I just have to warn you, it's a mess there."

Ace nodded with a forced smile, trying his hardest to not to clutch his head. Izou made the right call, deciding to bring him in. If there was a mess in the planning room and a stain left on the carpet for more than ten minutes, they really needed someone to come in and take control of things. At first Ace kind of expected that he'd need to just instruct the personnel, to show them how to greet guests and so on, but now he was afraid he'd have to start from scratch. And the deadline couldn't be closer – he had just one week to fix things. Kambakka wasn't built in a week; their reputation is a result of several centuries of hard work and impeccable service.

Ace clenched his teeth determinedly, suspecting that those three hours of sleep are probably going to be it for the next week. Maybe even two, if the things don't get much better by the time the summit started. He'll make sure that the servants would have nightmares about him long after the summit was over.

The demon led him to a small room, and Ace had to rethink his definition of a mess. The entrance hall was a mess. The planning room was a catastrophe. There were several blackboards around the walls, but it was impossible to approach them because of the layer of all manner of papers on the floor. As if that wasn't enough, there was a mountain of paper on the writing desk. Ace bit his cheek and counted to ten. He had his work cut out for him, and he would succeed even if he died in the process. If there was one trait that stuck with him through thick and thin, it was his stubbornness. Oh, and determination to face the challenges head on.

Thank you for all the reviews, favs and follows.

Cheers,

~Rhe.