"Hey. What are you smiling about?"
One of the upperclassmen caught Sebastian's expression and spoke up, unamused.
"Nothing much — I'm just so thrilled at the thought of drinking with all my wonderful seniors that I can barely contain myself!"
"Oh? That's how you feel? Well then, you're a pretty likeable junior after all."
The upperclassman nodded, his own face softening into a good-natured smile.
"Alright, enough talk. Here."
Another upperclassman handed Sebastian the very bottle of aquavit he'd called out.
"Great, I'll get started then."
Sebastian took the bottle with a sheepish grin. As he twisted off the cap, he made a small sleight-of-hand gesture and dropped the anesthetic tablet he'd been clutching in his palm the whole time into the bottle.
The white pill hit the high-proof alcohol and immediately erupted in a fizz of bubbles. In under three seconds, it dissolved completely and vanished.
"Hurry up, Sebastian — what's taking so long?"
An impatient upperclassman called out.
"Yes, yes, nearly there — just a moment, everyone."
Sebastian answered agreeably, and while pretending to scratch his nose, slipped the other pill — the one he'd been hiding in his other hand — into his mouth and swallowed it down with a gulp.
What Sebastian had not anticipated was that this revival pill was considerably larger than the anesthetic he'd just dropped into the bottle. He'd swallowed it whole, and it lodged itself firmly in the middle of his throat.
"Gk — s-someone — help—!"
Sebastian choked, words failing him entirely, eyes rolling steadily back in his head. He was about thirty seconds from passing out.
In that moment of mortal peril, Sebastian's eyes landed on the bottle of aquavit still in his hand. Without a second of hesitation, he tipped it to his lips and chugged — glug glug glug — downing half the bottle in one go, leaving every upperclassman watching with their mouths hanging open.
"This...." The pill finally dislodged and went down. Sebastian came back to himself, stared at the bottle now half empty in his hand, and felt very much like crying.
Yes, he had taken the revival medicine. But with half a bottle of aquavit now sitting in his stomach, he was not entirely confident he would know his own name in a few minutes.
The one silver lining was that he'd drunk it so fast the alcohol hadn't hit yet. He still had a small window to execute the rest of his plan.
In the meantime, the previously rowdy hall had gone completely silent. Everyone was staring at Sebastian with an indescribable look in their eyes.
Then someone — nobody could quite say who — let out a shout:
"YEAH!!"
The room exploded into applause.
Sebastian had no idea what was happening, but the alcohol was already beginning to churn upward from his stomach, and that sensation forced him to accelerate.
He looked at the half-empty bottle in his hand. He looked at the upperclassmen standing around him. Then he asked, with some hesitation:
"So... I've already drunk half of it...."
He never got to finish the sentence. The bespectacled upperclassman beside him snatched the bottle out of his hand, threw his head back with a booming laugh, and wheeled around to face the room.
"Listen up, everyone. Our new member has already toasted us with half a bottle. The other half is sitting right here — so who's drinking it?!"
"Drink! Drink! Drink! Drink!..."
The upperclassmen who had been mildly irritated by Sebastian's earlier words were now red-faced and roaring, and every one of the looks directed at him had flipped instantly to unqualified approval.
"This guy was born to join Peek-a-Boo!" someone even declared.
"See? What did I tell you?"
The bespectacled upperclassman grinned and jerked his thumb back at the cheering crowd.
"You guys...."
Sebastian stared blankly at the upperclassmen huddled together divvying up the remaining half bottle, and couldn't quite identify what was flooding through him — whether it was something like being moved, or something else entirely.
"Actually — maybe don't drink that," he ventured carefully, directed at the bespectacled ringleader.
"Are you joking? A new member toasts us, we drink it — even if it puts us in the hospital!"
The upperclassman said this, then took the cup for himself and drank.
Within moments, every person in the room had consumed a share of the aquavit Sebastian had laced.
Having taken no antidote beforehand, they had no defense against the anesthetic — which moved considerably faster than the alcohol. In no more than seven or eight seconds, three or four upperclassmen were already swaying and crumpling to the floor.
"That stuff... tonight... really hits," muttered some anonymous drunk, getting the words out just before going under.
"Obviously — a new recruit toasted us with it.... I haven't seen a junior this generous in years, hahaha...."
Another one managed that much before his eyes closed and he sank peacefully into unconsciousness.
Sebastian watched them fall one after another and felt something complicated stir in his chest.
"You're all making me feel incredibly guilty," he muttered under his breath.
But what was done was done. The promise of 5 mission points was the only thing keeping him upright. He braced both hands on the table and refused to let his legs give out.
At that moment, the bespectacled upperclassman who had whipped the room into a frenzy on his behalf made his way over. His steps were unsteady, but he pushed through and reached Sebastian's side.
"Welcome... to... Peek-a-Boo...."
His tongue was already going numb from the anesthetic, and Sebastian could only catch the rough shape of the words.
Having said his piece, the bespectacled upperclassman tipped backward and went down, settling into a serene sleep.
After that, not one person left standing in the room could get back up. Sebastian's five mission points landed in full.
He looked out at the upperclassmen blanketing the floor and felt his conscience give a small, sharp twinge.
Sober, every one of them had been an absolute menace. But the things they'd said in their final moments before going under — those had genuinely gotten to him.
"Fine. I'll just actually join the club. Right, yeah, doesn't even sound so bad, ha... ha...."
Sebastian breathed out a wave of alcohol fumes, his words slurring, his face deepening steadily toward crimson as the aquavit he'd swallowed surged upward and refused to be held back any longer.
At last, the hands braced against the table lost their strength. He tipped forward and landed squarely on top of the bespectacled upperclassman who had fallen just before him, and lost consciousness.
...
Some indeterminate stretch of time later, Kotobuki and Tokita pushed the door open and came back inside, Iori Kitahara tucked under their arms — already half-dead from whatever had happened to him out there.
"Hey everyone, how's the party going? Oh, and good news — we've got another adorable new recruit...."
Kotobuki didn't finish the sentence. Both he and Tokita went rigid where they stood. Their arms went slack. Iori dropped to the floor.
Iori Kitahara, for his part, did not attempt to escape. He simply stared into the hall at the layered, interlocking pile of a dozen-odd collapsed bodies.
"Is this..." Iori murmured, his eyes vacant. "...Hell?"