"What are you on about? You already joined Peek-a-Boo ages ago."
Kotobuki laughed and threw an arm around Sebastian, then reached over and plucked the bottle from Iori's hand to top up Sebastian's empty cup.
"You two...." Sebastian gave a helpless smile, but didn't refuse this time.
It was only now, at last, that Sebastian felt something solid settle under his feet — a sense of being genuinely present somewhere.
He'd put down the weight of his past life. And if he'd gone to all the trouble of landing in this new world, then beyond completing his missions, he owed it to himself to cut loose properly.
"Seniors — if this is a party, we can't skip the toast!"
Sebastian raised his cup toward Kotobuki and Tokita.
"Now that's more like it. Alright everyone, another round — and this time let's get that last piece of clothing off Sebastian!"
"Yeah!!" Iori, who was well past the point of reason, shouted the loudest of all. He drained his cup in one go and launched himself at Sebastian.
"Hold on — hands off! We haven't even done rock-paper-scissors yet, why are you already trying to strip me?! Get off!"
Just as the philosophical atmosphere of the evening was giving way to something more physical, the front door of Grand Blue swung open from outside.
"I'm home."
It was a girl's voice Sebastian didn't recognize — she sounded roughly his age.
He turned to look, curious, and found a young woman standing in the open doorway: chestnut brown hair cut to medium length, a light-colored short jacket, the kind of fresh, youthful energy that seemed to radiate off her naturally.
She stood there with a shoulder bag, eyes fixed on the three half-naked men inside, and said nothing.
"Hey, Iori, stop trying to get my pants off for a second — there's a pretty girl at the door!"
"What! A pretty girl? Where?!"
Iori's eyes lit up. He scrambled off Sebastian and looked up — directly into the eyes of the girl in the doorway. He froze solid.
"Ch-Chisa?"
Sebastian watched Iori go completely still and looked back at the girl again.
In the span of a moment, her expression had shifted to something one reserves for garbage.
"Hey, Iori — you two know each other?"
Sebastian was a little taken aback — and vaguely felt that the name Chisa had come up somewhere before.
Iori didn't answer him.
Instead, Iori took a slow breath, plastered on a smile, and walked quickly over to stand in front of the girl, who had not said another word.
"Chisa, do you remember me? It's Iori — we used to—"
What Iori had not anticipated was that the girl had no apparent intention of acknowledging him. Chisa simply walked around him with a flat expression and moved briskly toward the counter.
Iori, nearly in tears, reached out to stop her, placing a hand on her shoulder. She knocked it off.
Even so, Chisa stared at the spot on her shoulder he'd touched, her face still set in displeasure, and without a moment's hesitation peeled off the jacket she was wearing and held it out to Nanaka, who had been quietly maintaining her invisibility behind the counter the entire time.
"This one's ruined."
With that, Chisa turned and cast one last sideways glance at the thoroughly unclothed Iori.
"Didn't think Iori would turn out this way too."
She said nothing more, turned on her heel, and slammed the door to the back room behind her.
"Ugh.... Outrageous!"
Iori deflated like a punctured balloon and crumpled to the floor.
"Hey, hey — what exactly just happened, Iori? Do you know that girl? Any chance you could introduce us? I've never actually been in a relationship, you know."
Sebastian jogged over with an expression of genuine concern, crouching down beside Iori where he lay face-down on the floor.
"Shut up!"
Iori, apparently not feeling the warmth of Sebastian's concern, answered by taking a swing at him.
"What was that for?! You maniac."
Sebastian dodged it with a quick lean.
"That girl — she seems to be Nanaka's younger sister. Uncle Kotegawa's second daughter. She and Iori are something like cousins." Tokita walked over, looked down at Iori on the floor, and filled Sebastian in.
"Wait, they're related?" Sebastian stared at the fallen Iori in astonishment.
"Must be nice, living with beautiful cousins." Kotobuki said, arms folded across his chest.
Sebastian, who had privately always thought Kotobuki bore a suspicious resemblance to the male lead of a certain genre of adult game, found this remark worth noting carefully — and quietly put two steps of distance between them.
"But she was already looking at me like garbage!" Iori lay there on the floor, visibly devastated.
"Come on, don't let something small like that ruin the drinking mood. Pull yourself together."
"You're... right. At least I still have Nanaka." Iori hauled himself up off the floor with a determined effort.
Kotobuki and Tokita exchanged a glance, shrugged in unison.
"About Nanaka — short version: she's a hopeless sister-con, so I'd say your chances are essentially zero. Here, look behind you."
Iori and Sebastian both turned.
They were just in time to catch Nanaka checking to make sure no one was watching, then burying her face in the jacket Chisa had taken off, inhaling deeply. When she lifted her head, her expression was one of pure, transcendent bliss.
"She's...." Sebastian started.
"Don't ask." Tokita put a hand over Sebastian's mouth.
"What on earth happened in the last ten years...."
Iori's final pillar of emotional support collapsed. He wilted even further.
Sebastian, who had nearly rolled his eyes back in his head before Tokita released him, coughed twice. He looked at Iori, once again flat on the floor, felt a pang of something like sympathy, and went over to help him up.
"Well, since you don't have a shot — any chance you could introduce me instead?"
"I told you to shut up!!"
Iori erupted, lunging at Sebastian and attempting to grind him into the floor.
"Alright, alright, you two knock it off. Let's get this party moving — we've got to go to school early tomorrow."
"Wait, why? Doesn't the semester start in a few more days?"
Sebastian wriggled free of Iori's grip, jumped clear, and turned to ask the upperclassmen.
"There's an orientation process to get through first. Either way — 8 AM at school tomorrow, and don't either of you sleep in."
Tokita glanced at the two of them, already on the verge of fighting again, and offered the reminder in a measured tone.
"Honestly. Tonight we were planning to keep the whole club up with you two until morning — and then those idiots went and let Sebastian put every last one of them on the floor. What a waste."
Kotobuki sighed in resignation, then reached out and physically separated Sebastian and Iori — one in each hand — and shoved a bottle of whisky into each of their mouths.
"Right. You two finish off the rest of the drinks and get yourselves ready for tomorrow. Don't worry — I'll wake you up."
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