Disclaimer: I do not own Monster Musume.

Everyday life as an American host. Chapter one: Pilot.

Jack stared at his screen with the cursor over the 'confirm' button. He glanced at the results of the estimates for the refurbishing and repairs. He groaned one more time, considering the consequences of his options.

He really didn't want to deal with this headache, and he didn't have nearly enough available money to even make a down payment. And taking out another loan was out of the question.

Would they hate him for giving it away? They were planning on selling it. But he can't fix it and he can't pay someone else to do it.

No they'd probably be proud of me. He returned his attention to the screen and sighed one last time. Then he clicked the 'confirm' button.

'Thank you for your donation. A representative will contact you shortly to confirm your details. An email with your receipt code has been sent. Have a wonderful day.'

Jack minimized his browser and brought up his Steam games library. "That was my good deed for the day." He mused. "Time for some satisfyingly mindless violence." He grinned maliciously and double clicked on the play button for DOOM.

One month later...

Jack checked his phone for messages while walking out of the office. He'd missed a call from an unknown number. Normally he'd ignore things like that, but this caller also left a fairly lengthy voicemail.

Keying the proper functions Jack held the phone up to his ear while settling himself in the driver's seat of his black Prius.

"Hello Mr. Keysman. I am Smythe, a Coordinator for the Cultural Exchange." About time they got back to me. "Allow me to thank you for your donation to the Cultural Exchange. It is most appreciated." Yeah yeah, formal niceties and such, what do you want? "I just require the official deed and a few signatures from you to finalize transfer of ownership." Crap, where'd I leave those papers? My desk, in the box of important documents? Jack paused the recording with a tap on the phone.

Jack thought hard for a few moments trying to picture the last time he handled those particular papers. Figuring he'd remember better when he got home and could do some searching, Jack resumed the recording and replaced the phone near his ear.

"Please come by my office at the Cultural Exchange building with those documents by noon Saturday. If that's inconvenient for you leave a message with my staff and a time you are available." The voice of Smythe rattled off an address somewhere one town over. "Looking forward to concluding this business with you Mr. Keysman and welcome to the Cultural Exchange."

Jack held his phone in front of him as the recording ended. He blinked and looked at it skeptically "Odd way of ending that..." He said to himself as he started his car.

"I didn't join anything." He ruminated as he pulled out of his employer's parking lot. "Eh, I'll just correct this Mr. Smythe when I see him tomorrow." He said to himself. "For now just focus on getting home and then finding those documents."

The next day sometime before noon...

The Cultural Exchange building was a fairly nondescript two story office site wedged between the commercial district and an eight story tall apartment complex at the end of the block. Makes sense Jack thought as he parked his car in an available slot. Keep an eye on the liminals that probably live in that apartment complex and only a short walk needed to get whatever goods and services they require.

Jack leaned back and retrieved the manila sleeve containing the necessary documents from his back seat. When he grabbed them he heard a soft thump. Did something just hit my car? He looked up and around but couldn't locate the source. He tucked the envelope under one arm and got out of the driver's seat. I should look around and see if there's any damage. Hopefully they have camera surveillance here.

He locked his car with a tap of a button on his key fob and turned around to face the Prius. As he straightened up he noticed a set of claws hanging over the driver side door he just exited.

"Gah!" Jack back-pedaled and held up a hand to ward off whatever it was on top of his car. The liminal lying almost lazily on the roof of his Prius didn't seem to react to his panicking. She had a pale grayish humanoid face. Her mouth was just a tad too wide to be considered human but her black eyes looked normal save for the slit-like pupils. Her nose was flat with incisions, like a lions'. Her black hair was disheveled but not entirely unkempt. Jack couldn't quite tell from his angle but he thought there was a braid running behind her head. Growing out of her temples were a pair of small horns with white tips. Her black furry body looked like it had scales on her back that also ran over the top side of her wide tail. She wore a dark brown animal skin top and shorts.

Her eyes regarded him passively and she didn't look like she intended to move anytime soon. Jack felt a little silly holding up his hand while she was posing no immediate threat. Jack lowered his arm and cleared his throat. "Umm hello, can I help you miss?"

Her eyes gave him a once over and she snorted. Jack was taken aback, not sure whether to be offended or not.

He was about to ask her to get off his car when a high pitched voice yelled a term he didn't recognize. The cat girl with scales raised her head and gazed slowly toward the source of the commotion. This liminal Jack did recognize.

A Kitsune with at least seven or perhaps all nine tails ran up to the cat girl couched on his car. "Mishi!" She scolded with a slight Japanese accent, her large fox ears flicked angrily. "Leave that man alone."

"This one's reflexes are inadequate, I refuse him as my host." The cat girl, 'Mishi', said in a low bored voice. Actually she's more like one of the big cat breeds. Like a panther or a tiger.

"He's not a host, he's a..." The Kitsune glanced at Jack. "You're not actually a host are you?"

Jack held up the manila envelope. "Uh no, I'm just dropping off some paperwork."

"Oh, huh, ok." The Kitsune ran a hand over her plain white kimono and adjusted her sleeves. Jack noticed the MON patch near her shoulder, identifying this liminal as part of the law enforcement personnel responsible for policing other liminals.

"Well, nice to meet you." She took a step toward Jack and raised her arm for a handshake. "This is Mishi and I'm... Oh damn it!" The Kitsune glanced back to where the catgirl was just lying on his car. Except she wasn't there. She'd disappeared like she'd never existed at all.

The Kitsune turned and ran off in a seemingly random direction in pursuit of 'Mishi'.

"Good luck!" Jack called out in her general direction.

Jack shook his head and composed himself. "Okay, well that was exciting." He said to no one in particular and began walking toward the entrance of the building. As he opened the tempered glass doors he was surprised to find the lobby mostly empty. There was one human female behind a receptionist desk and a lamia reading a book and sitting on a bench to his right.

Jack adjusted his grip on the manila envelope and approached the woman behind the desk. He opened his mouth to utter a greeting but was interrupted by a loud squeal coming from down the hall to his right. Jack had barely a second to even turn his head before a pair of slim but tall figures came rushing his direction. They were almost on top of him when something strong tightened around his arms and chest then swept him off his feet. His vision blurred as he was pulled back at incredible speed. He could just make out the two figures that almost ran him over: a rather large harpy and a slimmer version of a centaur. "We're free!" One shouted. "Race ya." They both laughed wildly and bashed open the glass doors and sprinted out of the building.

Another harpy, one that reminded Jack of an eagle ran in from the same hallway and leaped out the lobby entrance shouting "You two get back here!" and then a string of some rather choice expletives at the fleeing pair.

"Wow Tetra, nice catch." A light female voice commented from behind him. "It's what I do." A sultry voice purred right above his ear.

Jack finally noticed that he was being held by a pair of smooth dark gray arms that ended in chitinous hands with claws. Something round and soft was holding up his back as well. Despite his rapid heart rate and heightened senses and the fact that he couldn't really see what had yanked him away from harm, Jack felt a sense of safety, even calm inside the embrace of whoever or whatever had grabbed him.

"Uh.. y-you can let go of me now." Jack stammered. The sultry voice chuckled and the arms holding him gave a light squeeze before releasing him. As they did one of the claws lightly brushed against some sort of thread that was wrapped around his torso. The thread parted like a cut string and fell to the floor.

Jack leaned over and placed his hands on his knees. He took a long slow breath and tried to slow his rapidly beating heart.

"You alright kid?" A deep gravelly male voice asked. Jack held out a hand in response, "Yeah just need sec. Just a sec."

He swallowed, breathed in through his nose and out through his mouth. Head now clear, he stood up straight and turned around to thank his rescuer. He expected to see at least one liminal but instead found three. Three large liminals all at least a foot taller than he. His breath froze for a few seconds while he took it all in.

The leftmost one was mostly human save for the large single green eye dominating her forehead. Her blond hair was pulled back in a thick braid. She wore the standard yellow and black uniform and flak jacket he'd seen on members of MON. Though it was tough to tell for certain, he was sure her arms and legs were twice as thick as his own. She would easily be intimidating but her face held a cool friendly smile.

The liminal on the right looked like a crocodile crossed with a body builder. Thick dark green leathery scales and bony protrusions covered his arms and legs. His broad chest and belly were covered by bands of lighter and supposedly more flexible pale green scales. The four digits on his hands were capped with black claws. His wide mouth extended from his face by at least a foot and contained a row of bone white teeth. He wore an unzipped MON jacket and a thick black utility belt that held up a heavily modified pair of cargo shorts. His reptilian slit eyes regarded Jack curiously.

Those two must have epic arm wrestling matches.

The third and final liminal in between the others was definitely an Arachne. Eight large but slim spider style legs held up a huge dark gray abdomen with a woman's torso growing out of where a standard spider would have its face. Tracking up from there were a pair of pedipalps separated by a belted black loincloth. Her pedipalps reminded Jack of actual human legs but instead of ending in feet, they each narrowed into a sort of jointed claw. Above her waist was her mostly bare human torso. She wore a dark blue crop top with a fair amount of ample under-boob peaking out. Her bare shoulders supported those chitinous arms that held Jack earlier. Lastly her face: Six solid red eyes in three ascending pairs running up her forehead was framed by a multicolored collar length straight bob. One half of her hair was light silver and the other a deep fuchsia. Two fangs just barely peeked out from her full lips underneath her nose.

"Whoa." Liminals were so freaking cool.

The Arachne smirked. "Seems we have a more appreciative human than last time."

"At least he hasn't pissed himself." The crocodile man remarked. "Yet."

"Craglin." The cyclops admonished her fellow MON member. "Give him some credit. We three wouldn't exactly be a common sight among our own species back home, now would we?"

"Huh, true." He conceded.

Jack coughed lightly to cover his stare and scratched the back of his head. "Sorry. Today's not been my typical Saturday so far." He looked directly at the Arachne. "Thank you for pulling me out of there."

"You're quite welcome human." She quipped.

"Huh," Jack chuckled. "I just got saved by a web-slinging spider-woman, er I mean..." He shut his eyes to help concentrate on the right word. "Arachne. Sorry, Arachne." I knew the right term dammit, why did I say that?

When he opened his eyes her expression hadn't changed. In fact it might have gotten softer. "Well I couldn't let a handsome face like yours get trampled on now could I?"

"You"re pretty damn good looking yourself, Miss." Jack stated before he could stop himself. "Uh I mean..uh..." Jack's face heated up. The Arachne's smirk returned in full force. The crocodile man's eyes rolled and the cyclops woman chuckled at his embarrassment.

"Why are you here young man?" The cyclops asked with no judgment. Thankful for the change in subject, Jack answered. "Right, I'm just here to drop off some..oh crap." He held up an empty hand and looked frantically around his feet for his manila folder.

"Excuse me." A soft voice drew Jack's attention behind him. The lamia that was reading a book in the lobby stood before him and held up his manila envelope. "I believe you dropped this."

Jack had stopped believing in angels, at least until they were revealed to be a liminal species a few years ago, for over a decade. But the creature before him certainly compelled him to rethink his stance on the subject.

Her upper body was a very cute, lightly tanned young woman. Shapely hips supported a slim torso with full breasts. Her hands and arms were covered in golden scales. Her cute face had golden scales over her cheeks and pointed yellow ears stuck out the side of her head. Large golden eyes with slit pupils complemented her long straight blond hair. Curiously a pair of orange hair clips shaped like a 'D' topped her head. She wore a light red t-shirt under a dark blue jacket. A light blue jean skirt hugged her waist. Her lower body however, was basically a large anaconda with shimmering golden scales.

"Th-thank you miss." Jack took the offered envelope in both hands, not trusting himself to rely on only just one. The Lamia winked at him and then turned and slithered back toward her bench. Jack just stood there admiring the alien yet enticing motion. Like waves in a sea of golden water.

"Quite the snake charmer eh stud?" Craglin's comment forced Jack to blink and try to clear his mind. He half turned away and faced a blank wall. He needed something bland to focus on. It didn't quite work.

"What? No...no quite...quite the opposite I think." Realizing what he just admitted Jack seized up. "Uh...I mean no...not...uh."

"Looks like Tetra has some competition." The cyclops woman noted suggestively, crossing her arms and conspiratorially glanced at her colleague. The Arachne rubbed her hands together and hummed, accepting the challenge.

"What, no, I, I..." Jack stammered. He gripped the manila envelope tighter and nodded. "I gotta turn this in." He turned back to Tetra. "Thank you again."

With out waiting for a reply, Jack swiveled back toward the front desk and practically double-timed over to it. The receptionist raised an eyebrow at his approach. "Hi, can you tell me if Mr. Smythe is in?" She continued typing on her keyboard. "Yes, he is in." She stated. "You have an appointment?"

"Not exactly an appointment, he asked me to bring these documents to him before noon."

"Mmmhmm. Your name?" She adjusted a note pad with her hand and picked up a pen.

"Jack Keysman." She scribbled a note on her pad then reached over to her phone and held down a button.

"Mister Keysman for Agent Smythe." She robotically stated then replaced her hand to her keyboard.

After a moment she gave Jack directions to the second floor, last office on the left. Jack thanked her and walked over to the backstairs, relieved that he was finally going to accomplish the task he came here for.

Jack rounded the corner after ascending the stairs. Fortunately Mr. Smythe's office was clearly labeled at the end of the hall and Jack strode toward it. As he approached he heard raised voices, or rather a woman's raised voice and a man's not quite calm retort.

"That is bullshit Conrad!" The woman inside yelled. "Don't punish my people for doing their job!"

Jack froze, afraid to approach any further. The man's voice was clearly strained, but Jack couldn't make out his response.

"Law enforcement applies to all citizens, guest or otherwi-" "Don't tell me how the law works!" The man, supposedly Mr. Smythe, cut her off. It sounded like the voice from the recording but Jack wasn't sure.

Jack stayed still for a few moments. There was only muffled murmuring coming from the office. He wondered if he should go back down and schedule an actual appointment with the receptionist when the office door opened.

A tall Caucasian woman with cropped auburn hair and wearing black fatigues and combat boots stepped out, anger clearly contorting her features. Her eyes spotted Jack immediately. She stood upright and glared.

"Who're you?"

"Umm. I'm Jack." He stated weakly. He wished he could melt into the wall and disappear.

The woman opened her mouth to ask something further when a clawed hand touched her arm. Just inside the office door stood another arachne. She was much shorter and had stubbier limbs than Tetra from down stairs. In fact the top of her head only came up to the woman's chest. This arachne had a light brown carapace covering most of her body. She also wore a MON jacket over a white t-shirt.

"Jill, you're scaring him." The arachne's small voice seemed to have a calming effect on the taller woman. Jill's face relaxed. She closed her eyes and composed herself. When she opened them back up she just looked ahead down the hall. "Sorry."

Jill continued down the corridor seemingly uninterested in Jack's existence. The small breed arachne followed in her wake. As she passed, the liminal looked over at him and gave an apologetic nod. Jack nodded back in acceptance.

"Come on in Mr. Keysman." A man's voice stated from inside the open office.

The interior of Mr. Smythe's office was utilitarian and mostly undecorated. There was a framed document with a diploma from some university just behind the desk. A few filing cabinets against one wall and a wooden table with a Keurig machine plugged in on the opposite.

Mr. Smythe was fairly handsome in a distinguished middle-aged fashion. He obviously kept up cardio and his brown eyes held a degree of intelligence. He didn't have any items of jewelry on his hands or face but, there was a mostly obscured tattoo on the right side of his neck. The white collared shirt underneath his jacket had a small ring of sweat stains.

"Hello Mr. Keysman." He offered his hand over his desk. Jack offered his own and they shook. "Allow me to offer condolences on your loss." Jack nodded. "Thank you sir." Smythe released his hand. "Please, have a seat."

Jack settled into the simple metal and plastic chair opposite Smythe's desk and placed the manila folder on his end of the mostly blank desk.

"Ah, straight to business eh?" Smythe commented as he sat in his own chair. "I'm sorry you had to see that mess with Agent Magnus." He took the folder and slide the contents out onto his desk. "She has been frustrated recently with restrictions the Exchange has to operate under."

Jack nodded but didn't make any comment.

Smythe thumbed through several sheets of paper and separated them into piles around his desk. "But thanks to you, one particular headache can be resolved." He smiled.

"Yes sir." Jack said. "Happy to help." He paused a beat."May I ask you a question sir?"

Smythe raised an eyebrow. "Shoot."

"Why didn't the Exchange contact me sooner about my donation?"

Smythe blinked. "What do you mean?"

Jack picked out a sheet from one of the piles. He located the specific information he was looking for then placed it back on Smythe's desk while keeping a finger on a particular line of text. "I gave this away over a month ago."

Smythe took up that paper and looked hard at where Jack had indicated. His shoulders slumped slightly and a soft sigh escaped his lips. "Thirty-seven days."

Neither of them said anything for almost a minute. The silence was making Jack uncomfortable. He resisted the urge to fidget. His eyes started looking around at anything of interest.

"Thank you for bringing that to my attention." Smythe's sudden statement made Jack jump in his seat.

Jack stayed silent, not sure how to proceed. Smythe cleared his throat."I was wondering Mr. Keysman, if you'd be willing to help the Cultural Exchange further."

Jack really did not like where this conversation was going. His eyes narrowed a bit. "What do you mean sir?"

"I mean, I'd like you to become a host. For the Homestay program."

Jack was taken aback. Is he serious? He opened his mouth to give a quick refusal. "I can't." Smythe's eyes narrowed. "Why not?"

Jack tilted his head back and he briefly looked at the ceiling while gathering every single item of why this was a bad idea in his mind. Might as well start with the big obvious ones. "I...I don't even have a home. Not really."

Smythe raised an eyebrow. "You don't strike me as 'homeless' Mr. Keysman."

Jack looked back at the government agent across from him. "I rent a room in a house that belongs to someone else. It's smaller than the room I grew up in."

"The Exchange can provide lodgings and adequate housing for you and your homestays." Jack eyed him incredulously. Did he seriously mean...wait 'homestays'?

"You want me to live with multiple extra-species?!" Jack was aghast at Smythe's audacity.

"Six females to be specific." The agent clarified. "A Harpy, a Centaur, a Yuki-onna, a Lamia, a Mishipeshu, and an Arachne."At that Smythe opened a drawer and withdrew six folders and laid them on his desk. "Not all at once of course." Smythe added as an afterthought. He started to open one up when Jack raised a hand and interrupted him. "Okay stop."

The agent looked back up at Jack. "What in the world makes you think I'd be a good host for six liminals?" Jack stressed the number. "Other than a couple wild rumors about Japan's own program I've never heard of a family here in the U.S. hosting more than two. Six for one man is just..." Jack paused for a second trying to find an adequate term. "Irresponsible."

"Your donation speaks volumes about your character Mr. Keysman." Smythe stated almost kindly. "Not many would give away what you had."

"I'm sure other people have provided more than I have sir." Jack hotly responded.

"But none in your current situation or anything like it ever have. Nor do I expect the Cultural Exchange to receive something quite like what you gave up ever again." Smythe explained.

"I'm not some saint. I couldn't hold onto it so I got rid of it." Jack answered snidely.

"You could have sold it." Smythe pointed out. "There was plenty of value left. We would have paid you a fair price."

Jack stayed silent. He just glared at the government agent across from him, willing him to shut up. "That tells me you believe in the Cultural Exchange Mr. Keysman. That you know exactly what we are trying to accomplish here."

Jack's glare subsided a bit.

"You can do so much more for them Mr. Keysman. For us."

He dropped his eyes and stared at the folders on Smythe's desk.

The silence stretched on for an eternity. Jack's thoughts rambled, clinging on to any excuse not to do this. But this whole thing was like a dream come true. Monsters were real. And they weren't 'monsters.' Not in the traditional sense at any rate. Different yes, not human, not fully. But that didn't matter, they were still people. How was he supposed to look after six extraspecies from who knows where? With various diets, needs and wants.

And what about his job? Agent Smythe is lucky Jack didn't have to work this Saturday morning. If Jack accepted this host position he'd have to quit. Again. His co-workers would all hate him. The one supervisor he actually liked and respected would hate him.

Jack looked back up at Smythe. "I have a life you know."

"And what exactly are you doing with your life right now Mr. Keysman?" Smythe's response held no sarcasm, no judgment.

Jack looked down again.

"You don't actually want to stay in a room smaller than the one you grew up in do you? You don't want to keep working at a career that bores you to tears." Jack looked back up and blinked.

"I have access to school records for potential hosts Mr. Keysman." Smythe elaborated. "Your current profession falls way below the intellectual challenges you know you can handle."

Jack gaped at the not so subtle admission of invasion of his privacy. But he made no protest. Smythe was right. He hated his job. He'd gotten used to it of course. And his managers knew he had potential to handle greater responsibilities. But Jack hated how boring his job was. Even if he would be trusted with the more delicate tasks, he knew he would still hate it all.

And now here, without any warning, someone was offering him something amazing to do. Difficult and possibly even life-threatening, but absolutely amazing.

"May I see them?" Jack's mouth proceeded before his brain could catch up.

Smythe tilted his head to the side, a curious expression on his face.

Jack looked up, confident that his mouth was on the right track. "May I see them? One on one before I make a decision?"

Smythe smirked without any malice. "Smart boy."

end chapter one.

A/N:

Hello there readers!

Thanks for taking the time to read my first submission.

Please comment and review. I have more chapters ready to submit, but I'd like to get some feedback from the community first.

I plan on keeping this at least a teen rating for now, but considering the source material, I'll likely be bumping it up as the monster girls start piling on poor Jack. Metaphorically of course. ;)