Satsuki got up first and forcibly sat on the left side of Haruki.
Before that, on the left side of Haruki was Ryuko's friend, and on the right side was Ryuko.
However, Ryuko's female friend, who was sitting on Haruki's left side, kept a certain distance from Haruki. After all, in the eyes of Ryuko's friends, Haruki and Ryuko must be friends with each other, as the media reported. I have never seen the two of them deny it. It must be fine. If the two young lovers sit together, their opposite will naturally keep a certain distance from Haruki.
And now, Satsuki forcibly squeezed in and completely blocked the seat space on Haruki's left side, while at the same time, Ayae followed Satsuki and squeezed on the right side of Ryuko...
Originally, there was still some distance between Haruki and Ryuko. When they were engaged in this way, in order to make room for them, they basically put Haruki's right hand and Ryuko's left hand directly against them.
And Ryuko's last roommate, Tsumugi, looked at the situation and squeezed in again on the sofa in the middle of the already crowded box.
haruki and Ryuko were squeezed again, and they were directly squeezed in between.
Now these five people, from left to right, Tsumugi, Satsuki, Haruki, Ryuko, Ayae...
Haruki and Ryuko are like the two pieces of meat in a burger, sandwiched by Ryuko's three roommates, Tsumugi and Ayae, who are serving as bread, and Satsuki, who is serving as lettuce.
At least for the current Haruki, it feels really crowded.... Not to mention the front and back feelings, but when it comes to the pressure on the left and right sides, it feels better than when he was in junior high school and went home every day after school. The crowded bus with at least hundreds of people is still crowded.
Haruki looked at the whole box, it can accommodate more than thirty people. I don't know why these three girls have to come and squeeze their seats...but Haruki doesn't know them, and it's hard to complain about them.
Although Haruki had deliberately kept a distance from Ryuko in order to be afraid of Ryuko's misunderstanding, if he was squeezed like this, if he had to lean his head and shoulders between Satsuki and Ryuko who Haruki didn't know. If you come to make a choice... Then Haruki is still willing to stay closer to Ryuko.
"No... I'm sorry!" Haruki's body tilted slightly towards Ryuko.
Originally, the two are closer together now, now...at least Haruki can smell the fragrance of the shower gel and shampoo on Ryuko after taking a bath today.
Haruki's expression was a little embarrassed, but Ryuko's neck was flushed.
She looked at her three roommates with blame in her eyes.
What are you doing?
Ryuko's three roommates were also unwilling to be weak, their eyes staring back.
What are we doing?
"We're helping you create opportunities!"
...
Within seconds, before Haruki could process what was happening, the four girls had a full-on conversation using just eye contact.
Then Ayae, seated beside Ryuko, casually reached behind her and nudged Ryuko's shoulders toward Haruki.
Before he could react, Ryuko's head lightly bumped into his cheek.
"A-ah—sorry! It's… it's too cramped on this side!" she stammered, clearly caught off guard by her friends' boldness.
"No, it's… it's fine," Haruki replied, his voice a little stiff.
He didn't mind being near Ryuko, they were friends, after all, but the girl on his left was another story. He'd already made space for her, so why was she still squeezing in?
This room was huge. Why were they all piled onto one couch?
Finally, he turned to Satsuki and said, as politely as he could, "Um… onee-san, do you mind giving us a little space?"
The words had barely left his mouth when Tsumugi and Ayae, mid-sip, sputtered their drinks in surprise and started coughing from laughter.
Satsuki blinked at him.
Onee-san?
Did he just call me… big sister?
We're the same year! You couldn't go with "miss" or "young lady"?
And Ryuko beside Haruki, although the roots of her ears were red, she couldn't help laughing inexplicably when she saw Haruki used his invisible hurting skills to make Satsuki depressed.
Ryuko, though visibly flustered, stifled a laugh. She looked at Haruki's genuinely confused expression and couldn't help it.
"You're… really something," she said between chuckles.
"What?" Haruki blinked, still not getting it.
"Nothing," Ryuko said, regaining her composure. She turned to him, gesturing to the others. "Anyway, let me introduce them properly. These are my roommates: Tsumugi, Ayae, and… Satsuki-onee-san."
"Roommates?"
Haruki looked at them again and finally understood. No wonder they were acting like they owned the couch.
"Oh, I understand, your roommate is looking for you to chat, right? I'll leave first, you guys will talk first!" With that, Haruki was about to get up and ran to sit outside in an open position.
He didn't want to intrude, especially with how warm everything felt, sitting so close to Ryuko, catching her scent, feeling her presence right next to him. It was getting distracting.
"Don't go!" Satsuki said quickly, placing a hand on his shoulder to keep him seated. "We came to see you, you know. We've heard a lot about you."
"Me?" Haruki asked, genuinely puzzled. "I'm not that interesting."
"If we wanted a selfie or autograph, we'd just ask later. We're not here for that," Satsuki said, picking up a beer and passing it to him. "It's just that Ryuko talks about you all the time. Warm-hearted, gentle, charismatic… We had to see for ourselves."
Haruki stared at her, stunned. "She said… that about me?"
He wasn't sure where she got any of those impressions. It had to be some kind of misunderstanding. Or maybe Ryuko was just exaggerating things without realizing it.
Still, refusing the drink now would be awkward.
"Thanks," Haruki said and took the beer, downing it in one go.
Then Ayae passed him another.
"My turn. Cheers," she said with a grin.
He drank again.
Then Tsumugi stepped up with a third.
The cups weren't small and three in quick succession already felt like a bit much. But now other partygoers who hadn't had an excuse to approach him were taking their chance, drink in hand.
Haruki blinked, realizing he had somehow become the center of the party.
He didn't want to seem rude, especially not to Ryuko's friends. He kept drinking, cup after cup.
By the time Ryuko stepped in to stop it, he'd already gone through more than a dozen. His stomach wasn't full—his head was.
"Haruki, that's enough," she said in a low voice.
"It's fine… really," he replied, though his face was clearly starting to flush.
Ryuko turned to Satsuki with a sharp look.
What are you trying to pull?
Ayae leaned close and whispered, "We're just helping."
"What does that even mean?"
"Guys spill their hearts when they're drunk. Maybe you'll finally get a straight answer out of him tonight."
Ryuko stared at her, expression tightening.
She had thought they were just messing around teasing Haruki because of her but clearly, her roommates were trying to do something.
"You're not thinking about his feelings at all," she muttered. "He came here because he trusted me. This is just disrespectful."
Ayae flinched at the tone. Ryuko rarely got mad but when she did, it meant she was seriously upset.
"Alright, alright, we'll stop," Ayae said quickly, motioning to Satsuki to drop it.
At this point, though, Haruki had already gone through nearly two dozen drinks. He wasn't drunk exactly, but he was clearly overwhelmed.
He excused himself a few times to the restroom, but every time he came back, Satsuki slid back in next to him like she owned the spot.
Eventually, the spinning in his head became too much. The last thing he remembered was Ryuko cutting the cake and singing, before everything faded out.
By the end of the party, everyone had left except Ryuko, sitting beside Haruki as he lay passed out on the couch.
She looked at her three roommates, now packing up sheepishly.
"I asked him out for the first time, and you three get him drunk? What am I supposed to do next time promise him I won't let you come?"
"We were just trying to help…" Ayae muttered.
"We're heading out. You can take care of him, right? Don't want to be third wheels."
And with that, they scurried out, leaving Ryuko alone with a sleeping Haruki in the box room.
Shout out to M360 for joining my p-atreon! your support means everything to me.
(TL:- if you want even more content, check out p-atreon.com/Alioth23 for 60+ advanced chapters)