"Now that everything's ready — let the party begin."
At a word from Shinji Tokita, president of Peek-a-Boo, every member present raised their cup with enthusiasm.
"Written as: drain the cup!"
"Read as: Cheers!!"
"OHHHHH——!"
Amid the roaring, electric atmosphere, the upperclassmen threw their heads back and downed their drinks in one.
Sebastian looked at the cup in his own hand — a familiar cup, full of that mysterious brown liquid — and did not dare to just drink it.
"What's wrong, Sebastian? Don't you love Peek-a-Boo's special-blend oolong tea? Come on — don't be shy, drink as much as you want tonight!"
Kotobuki, who had just finished whipping the crowd into a frenzy, squeezed over, grabbed Sebastian's hand, and tried to tip the cup into his mouth.
"That is absolutely not oolong tea! The fumes coming off this thing are making my eyes water! Hold on — didn't you just say we new members were going to drink together? There's no need to start with just me!"
Thanks to his enhanced physical stats, Sebastian managed to wrench himself free of Kotobuki's grip by sheer force.
His position was simple: drinking was fine, but he was not going down alone. The other two suffering alongside him was non-negotiable.
"Hm — now that you mention it, fair point. Iori, Imamura — come toast with Sebastian...."
Kotobuki turned with a smile — and found that Iori and Imamura, who had been sitting quietly behind Sebastian just moments ago, had completely vanished.
"Oh my. Now that is a problem."
Kotobuki's smile stayed on his face. The cup in his hand was slowly being gripped tighter — until it gave a sharp crack and shattered.
"Tokita — our adorable new members have gone and done something naughty. Running away from their own welcome party.... leaving all their seniors behind like this. That really does sting."
Tokita, apparently having caught wind of the situation, walked over with an equally strange smile.
"It does, doesn't it, Kotobuki. I think when we find them, a proper punishment is in order."
The two human-shaped predators exchanged a look. Something dangerous began to surface in their eyes.
Behind them, Sebastian got to his feet with a belly full of his own grievances.
Not because he was angry at the other two for running — but because they had run without telling him, leaving him there alone.
"Seniors — that behavior is completely unacceptable. Allow me to go and bring them back!"
Sebastian condemned Iori and Imamura's conduct with righteous indignation and immediately volunteered to sprint after them.
"Not so fast."
He hadn't made it far before Kotobuki and Tokita simultaneously came up from behind and clamped a hand each on his shoulders.
"Sebastian — you're not planning to run out there and conveniently not come back, are you?"
Kotobuki fixed him with a dangerous stare.
"How could you even suggest that! Do you think so little of me? Do you honestly believe I'm the kind of person who runs away at the critical moment?"
Sebastian pushed back with wounded indignation.
"As I recall — the first time we met, you faked feeling unwell and then suddenly bolted, didn't you?"
The atmosphere went very still. Sebastian scratched his cheek with mild awkwardness. "Well — you did catch me eventually."
"Either way — don't try anything clever. Just stay behind us. I have a pretty good idea of where Iori will run."
Kotobuki smiled with easy confidence, pointed behind himself, and gestured for Sebastian to fall in line.
.....
Less than ten minutes later — still in the same grove, not far from where the party was being held.
Sebastian, Tokita, and Kotobuki tracked single-file through the trees, following a trail of fresh footprints pressed into the soft ground.
"Iori is genuinely dim, isn't he. He doesn't even know how to cover his tracks, and he still thought he could make a run for it on his own."
Sebastian shook his head at the large, obvious footprints in the dirt.
"Oh? So you know how?" Kotobuki glanced back at him. Sebastian closed his mouth and said nothing further.
"Anyway — it looks like Iori and Imamura split up. That's going to cost us time.... Oh! I think I've got something."
Tokita, who had been following a separate thread of the trail, broke off mid-sentence with a quiet exclamation.
"What is it?"
Sebastian and Kotobuki leaned over and looked in the direction Tokita was pointing.
Sure enough — in a small clearing, there was Iori, the very person they'd been tracking.
Beside him sat a cute girl with chestnut-brown hair, nursing a fruit-flavored beer and exchanging the occasional unhurried word with him.
"I think I've seen that girl somewhere recently...." Sebastian murmured.
"Oh, that's Chisa — Iori's cousin. Didn't you two meet the other day?"
Kotobuki turned back with a mildly puzzled look.
"We did, briefly. Though from what Iori told me, those two aren't on great terms. Looking at this, though, it doesn't seem nearly as bad as he made it sound."
Sebastian watched Iori's back with quiet displeasure.
If he wanted to get together with someone, that was his business — nothing wrong with it. But why lie about being on bad terms?
When Sebastian had asked Iori about his cousin before, that guy had practically squared up over it. It wasn't as if Sebastian was Kotobuki. Was there really any need to guard against him like he was some kind of threat?
All Iori had done was sneak off. At worst — in Sebastian's entirely reasonable estimation — that warranted having his legs broken. There was no call for this kind of emotional betrayal.
Sebastian muttered these grievances face-down in the undergrowth, his eyes going practically red with jealousy.
"We're supposed to be at a party, Iori. What exactly do you think you're doing? Someone who runs off like this — how could he be allowed to go on living in this world?!"
Sebastian suddenly bellowed, broke free of Kotobuki and Tokita, and hurled himself at Iori five or six meters away.
"Hey — calm down! Don't crush him!"
The move was so sudden that nobody could stop it in time. Kotobuki reached out but was too late.
Sebastian — nimble with his enhanced body — tackled Iori from behind and took him clean to the ground.
"OOF — what the—! Sebastian, get off me! Let go!"
Iori let out a wail as he was apprehended. Even Chisa, who had been quietly sipping her fruit beer beside him, nearly dropped the bottle in fright at the sudden lunge.
"There." Sebastian stood up, expression perfectly composed, looking down at Iori pinned beneath him and unable to move. "Mission accomplished."
Then he noticed the girl beside them looking at him — her large eyes wide with astonishment.
"Hi, Chisa. Allow me to introduce myself — my name's Sebastian...."
Sebastian, who had been enthusiastically mauling Iori just seconds ago, became somewhat bashful the moment a girl was involved.
"I remember you. You were at the party at the shop a couple of days ago — the one who helped pull Iori's pants off, right?"
Chisa looked at him, her gaze carrying a faint, undisguised tinge of something.
"..."
There was nothing left to say.