After his first experience, the second time was less terrifying. Though, if they could throw him just a little lower next time, that'd be nice…
"Idiots~ Two complete idiots~"
Chisa sipped her cocktail, watching the two with undisguised mockery.
"Hah! This stuff really burns, you bastard!"
"I NEVER WANNA DRINK OOLONG TEA AGAIN!"
Shiro and Iori had just downed a glass of special oolong tea. The insanely high alcohol content had them both reeling.
Especially Shiro—
His tolerance was already worse than Iori's. Now, he was surviving purely on sheer willpower.
If he fainted here, he knew something horrifying would happen.
Looking back…
Iori passing out last night without a care in the world—
That was peak bravery.
"You should drink some water. You'll collapse if you don't~"
Two glasses of water were placed in front of them.
Gulp, gulp, gulp!
They didn't even think—
They drank it all in one go!
And then—
Click.
Fwoosh!
…It caught fire.
"Vodka!!!"
The two of them immediately smashed their cups on the ground and grabbed the culprit by the collar!
"You bastard!"
That's right, the mastermind behind all of this was none other than the one dragged into this mess by Kitahara Iori: Imamura Kōhei!
"Heh, drinking like a true champ, Kitahara Iori!"
Kōhei smirked wickedly, mocking Kitahara Iori without hesitation!
"Are you trying to get revenge on me, Kōhei?!"
"What does your revenge on him have to do with me?! I just wanted a normal glass of water!"
Shiro roared in frustration. He felt completely innocent in all of this, he was just an unwilling bystander!
"Ah… My bad. Your name is Kamishiro Shiro, right? I heard it earlier from a short-haired girl. I wasn't planning on dragging you into this, but…"
His gaze shifted toward the beastly upperclassmen chugging their drinks. "If I don't take down at least one of them and officially join the club, I feel like I'll never escape this place in my lifetime."
"I see. So as long as someone makes a sacrifice, the rest can be free."
"So that's the rule, huh?"
Shiro's eyes narrowed in deep thought, though with his naturally squinted eyes, no one could actually tell… But he couldn't afford to lose his fighting spirit!
"Looks like you two understand!"
"I get it!"
"I don't get it!"
Stare.
Kitahara Iori and Imamura Kōhei both turned to look at Shiro.
Shiro panicked, why did these two bastards suddenly feel as terrifying as the wild upperclassmen?!
"Hey, hey, hey! This has nothing to do with me! Why do I have to understand?! Bastards! Let me go—glug glug glug!"
Thud!
Shiro collapsed, completely drunk after being forcibly chugged down by two scumbags!
"Next!"
"It's your turn, you bastard!"
The two immediately grabbed each other's faces, trying to force the alcohol into the other's mouth.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! That's not how we settle things here!"
At that moment, Kotobuki stepped in to stop them.
"Fighting is bad! If you really want to settle the score, use our club's sacred 'PaB' method—Funny Face Duel!"
At that moment, Shiro struggled to open his eyes and looked at the so-called righteous Dragonfly Captain.
Why?! Why is no one speaking up for me?!
—
The Funny Face Challenge had simple rules: both players take turns holding alcohol in their mouths while the opponent makes funny faces. If someone spits out the alcohol from laughing, they lose!
Round One: Kitahara Iori holds the alcohol, while Imamura Kōhei makes funny faces!
However, Iori was unexpectedly good at holding in his laughter. No matter what ridiculous expressions Kōhei made with his handsome face, Iori remained unfazed.
Finally, under Tokita's guidance, Kōhei decided to use verbal attacks!
"Alright, let me share a little secret with you guys—just between us. Even though I look like this now, I used to be a complete shut-in otaku."
PFFT!!!
Kitahara immediately spat out his drink!
How?! Just how could this guy have so little self-awareness?! Even now, it's obvious that he's still an otaku!
"Heh heh, looks like you couldn't hold it in."
Kōhei smirked proudly, completely unfazed by his self-proclaimed otaku identity!
"You seriously thought you were hiding it well?!!!"
But there was no use arguing. Tokita was already handing Iori a fresh cup of alcohol.
With the upperclassmen hyping things up, Iori had no choice but to chug it down in one go.
And then, staggering from the alcohol, he knelt in front of a senior with a large belly.
"Coach… I want to play basketball…"
Pfft!
Kōhei couldn't hold back his laughter. This was way too out of place!
It was all part of Iori's master plan, luring him into a trap! The belly senior, still laughing, happily handed a cup of alcohol to Kōhei.
But at that moment, Iori was also grinning, because he had just been handed another cup too!
Glug glug glug!
"You sure can drink, Kōhei!"
"Right back at you, Iori…!!"
"At this point, there's no turning back!"
"Exactly! We'll settle this once and for all—tonight!!!"
Their sheer intensity made even the wild upperclassmen a little nervous, and they started trying to calm the two down.
But it was too late… These two madmen were already too far gone!
Bottoms up!
-----------
Σ_(???」∠) Gagging noises
The two collapsed onto the ground, surrounded by empty bottles of liquor, none of them below 30% alcohol content!
"Water…" ×2
They weakly pleaded, barely holding on. It had been way too intense.
"You guys are unbelievable. Here, take this!"
A pair of hands, like those of an angel, offered them two glasses of water.
Seeing the life-saving liquid in front of them, their alcohol-numbed brains stopped thinking, and they drank it down without hesitation!
Gulp gulp
Silence…
Their faces turned dark. It felt like their throats were on fire.
Turning their heads, they saw the owner of those angelic hands grinning wickedly at them.
It was none other than Shiro, the very guy they had teamed up to force into drinking earlier!
In his hands was a bottle of liquor they had only ever seen on TV—Aqua Vitae! (96% alcohol content)
Without a sound, Shiro mouthed to them:
"This is war, you bastards!"
"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!"