"Why are you two obsessed with me?! Aren't there other freshmen to harass?!" Sebas pressed himself against the wall like a cornered animal, his face frozen in terror.
"Harass? We're just visiting Toshio-san!" Buki chuckled, effortlessly pinning Sebas in place. "Finding you here was pure fate!"
"Dammit! Does everyone on this island know each other?!" Sebas squirmed like an eel in oil, but escape was impossible this time.
The shop door swung open.
"Ah, Sebas! You know Buki and Tokki?" Toshio smiled, completely unfazed by the scene of his new employee being manhandled against a wall.
"BOSS! CAN'T YOU SEE I'M BEING KIDNAPPED?!"
"Youth these days are so energetic," Toshio mused before turning to the muscle duo. "What brings you two here? School's starting soon."
"Ignored again?!" Sebas wailed.
As Buki and Tokki finally released him (allowing Sebas to scramble behind Toshio like a human shield), their explanation came:
"We're here about your daughter Chisa joining Peek a Boo this year!"
"Ah, of course!" Toshio nodded. "She loves diving—she won't object."
"THANK YOU!" The two meat mountains bowed in unison.
Toshio added gently, "But Sebas is an international student. If he's not interested in diving..."
The duo's shoulders slumped. "Aww..."
"SAVIOR!" Sebas nearly wept with gratitude.
"Now then!" Toshio clapped. "Let's celebrate tonight! A welcome party for Sebas!"
"YEEEAHHH!" Buki and Tokki roared, jumping high enough to crack the ceiling.
Sebas' celebration was cut short by a traumatic flashback—his past life's truck-adjacent demise. His face went sheet-white.
"Something wrong?" Toshio asked.
"It's just...about drinking..." Sebas hesitated before confessing, "Last time I drank too much...I passed out on the road and got hit by a truck."
The memory of his pixelated remains made him twitch.
Toshio placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "I understand. But with us? You're safe. Ensuring drinking buddies survive the night is Rule #1 of alcoholics!"
"Pretty sure my death was 100% my own fault..." Sebas internally groaned.
"Come on, Sebas!" Buki slung an arm around him. "Don't tell me you still think we're bad guys?"
Tokki nodded, his smile revealing enough teeth to qualify as a dental exhibit.
Sebas deadpanned: "Do you two...genuinely not know what you look like?"
"Huh? What's wrong with how we are?" Tokki's bushy eyebrows knitted together in confusion. "Feels like you've got some major misunderstandings about us!"
"Enough talk!" Buki tightened his arm around Sebas' neck, cutting off any rebuttal with a chokehold of "friendship." "Save it for the drinking party!"
"Alright, that's enough," Toshio intervened, smiling. "Let's hear what our guest of honor thinks. Sebas?"
Three pairs of expectant eyes bore into him.
"I... guess a little drinking wouldn't hurt..." Sebas surrendered.
*"WOOOOO!!!"*
Buki and Tokki roared like triumphant gorillas, while Toshio chuckled.
"Great! I'll prep dinner. You two take Sebas to buy drinks—tonight's gonna be legendary!"
---
*Next Morning*
"Ugh... head... gonna die..."
Sebas pried his eyes open, his skull pulsing like it had been steamrolled. The scene before him was apocalyptic:
- A battlefield of beer cans and liquor bottles
- Buki sprawled mid-snore, still clutching an empty glass
- Tokki curled up like a hibernating bear
- Mysterious stains that smelled like regret
Then came the real horror.
Why am I naked?!
A chill ran down his spine as he realized—they're naked too.
"Morning! Water?"
Toshio—somehow fresh as a daisy in his pink apron—cheerfully cleaned up the carnage.
"Bareback drinking really hits different, huh? You were so shy at first, but by the end? Whew."
Sebas' soul left his body.
"Oh, and..." Toshio added casually, "Buki got you to sign some 'club agreement' when you were wasted. You seemed really into it—face all red, insisting you had to join. So I let it slide."
Sebas' face morphed through all five stages of grief at once.
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