"You give me this mission right when my penalty drinks are due? This has Angel's fingerprints all over it."
Sebastian muttered in mild irritation, but having completed several missions at this point, he had some experience with drinking-related tasks.
"Angel — can you find me something to sober up with? Or the anesthetic from last time if nothing else works."
Sebastian tried calling out to Angel internally. For some reason, no matter how long he called this time, there was no response at all.
"Don't make me actually cut my own throat in the street and file a complaint in person upstairs."
While Sebastian was still calling, he happened to glance at his status panel.
Mission points: 0.
Right. He'd spent everything on the physical enhancement fruit.
"Outrageous. Nothing good ever comes from getting involved with these two."
Sebastian gritted his teeth and closed the system — only to find Iori's and Imamura's thoroughly punchable faces staring back at him.
"Well, Sebastian — we've both finished our penalty drinks. Don't tell me you're thinking of pulling another trick?"
Iori wore a sly, gloating smile.
"Do you think I'm anything like you? I'm an upstanding, decent person!" Sebastian fired back.
"Debatable. You've done plenty of questionable things."
"Exactly, Sebastian — with all these seniors watching, you'd better drink those ten cups like a good sport!"
Imamura chimed in from the side with an expression of insufferable smugness.
It was only now that Sebastian saw the situation clearly. These two had formed a temporary alliance.
Their one objective for the day: get Sebastian on the floor.
Infuriating. Even one mission point and I could put both of them under. But with nothing to spend, there's no way to cheat....
Sebastian, who had just been calling himself a man of integrity, found his brow furrowing the moment he realized cheating was off the table.
"Alright, Sebastian — stop stalling. Drink what you owe."
Kotobuki pressed in at this point, in a tone that was either supervision or encouragement — impossible to tell which.
"Fine. No other way."
Sebastian drew a slow breath, uncapped three bottles of vodka, lifted all three, and let his eyes go cold.
"Don't think that just because you two teamed up, taking me down will be easy. Let me show you what this enhanced body of mine can do when it comes to processing alcohol."
Sebastian gave a short, cold laugh, swept his hand up, and crammed all three bottle necks into his mouth at once.
"Oh oh oh — now we're talking!"
The atmosphere of the party ignited on the spot.
He tipped his head back. Three downward spirals appeared in the bottles simultaneously as the razor-sharp, searingly pure liquor poured down his throat — an unpleasantness he could still manage to hold back.
In under ten seconds, three bottles of sixty-proof vodka were empty.
"Cough... trifling."
Sebastian slammed the empty bottles down on the ground and swept both of them with a cold, measured gaze.
He wiped the last trace of alcohol from the corner of his mouth, then casually picked up a nearby cup of whisky and used it to rinse.
"Look at this guy — he's no joke either! The new members this year are genuinely surprising."
The watching upperclassmen, shaken by what they'd just seen, recovered and broke into applause.
"Hmph. The guy's got some tricks. Imamura — we keep going!"
Iori clicked his tongue in displeasure and moved to rally Imamura for a fresh offensive.
"Hold on!" Sebastian slammed the table and shot to his feet.
He pointed at Iori's astonished face, a dangerous smile creeping to his lips.
"Iori — those four penalty cups from Imamura earlier. You haven't touched a single one.... Nobody starts a new round until that's been settled!"
"You think I can't handle four cups? Watch me!"
Stung by the taunt, Iori grabbed two large bottles of rum — roughly fifty-proof — bit the caps off with his teeth, tipped his head back, and poured them straight down.
The liquid, faintly reminiscent of coconut sugar water, dribbled slowly down Iori's chest, which had somehow become bare at some point.
By the time Iori had finally gotten both bottles down, Sebastian had already uncapped his next set and was ready to go.
If he broke the momentum of their combined assault, he could seize the initiative and take them both out in a single strike.
"Iori. Imamura. Eyes on me. Don't say I play dirty — I'm giving you one chance. If you can survive this round, I'll concede the match right here."
Sebastian fixed the two of them — already running hot from the rapid drinking — with a challenging look.
This time it was Imamura who rose, eyes reddening with excitement.
"Bold talk! You think you can floor us in one round? Though just conceding the match is a bit anticlimactic.... How about this: if we survive your round, you have to tattoo Magical Girl Lalaco's face on your chest!"
"And if I win, you two can just go ahead and die!" Sebastian roared and lunged at Imamura.
"Who's Lalaco?"
Kotobuki turned to Tokita across the long table with a puzzled look.
"No idea. Probably an anime character. Imamura lives in that world." Tokita shrugged.
"Imamura, that's a bit extreme — there's such a thing as leaving people with a way out...."
Even Iori, nominal ally that he was, found Imamura's suggestion hard to sit with. He didn't bother getting up to stop Sebastian from climbing on top of Imamura and making his feelings known physically.
"Stop — not the face! Fine, I'll change it! A sticker on the chest for a week instead of the tattoo — is that good enough?!"
Imamura, thoroughly pummeled, curled up and begged for mercy.
"Fine. And if I win, you two kneel and call me Lord Sebastian every time you see me. Oh — and you help me find a girlfriend."
"Your terms are even worse than Imamura's!"
Iori snapped upright, expression darkening.
"Alright, alright — this isn't how you make a bet. Since you can't settle it yourselves, I'll act as arbiter."
Tokita stepped in again with his signature good-natured smile, cutting through the chaos.
He jumped up onto the middle of the table and pointed at Iori and Imamura.
"If you two win, Sebastian wears a cartoon sticker on his chest for one week — no covering it up under any circumstances."
Then Tokita turned and pointed at Sebastian.
"And if Sebastian wins, you two put in your best effort to introduce him to a girlfriend. Oh — and Sebastian, you really are remarkably fixated on this whole girlfriend business."
"These two conditions are obviously not equal! Senior Tokita, did Sebastian bribe you?!"
Iori continued pressing the point about the lopsided terms from across the table.
"Insolence!"
Tokita's eyes went wide with sudden fury.
"I am the president of Peek-a-Boo, acting as arbiter in my official capacity as club president. How could there be any question of fairness? Iori — what kind of person do you take me for?!"