"Wh-what's the situation?!"
The dim room, women scattered everywhere, and a terrifying, naked, muscular monster—stared down by the two red lights that suddenly lit up in the room, Ijichi Nijika's eyes instantly lost their luster.
Then, large teardrops began to swirl in her eyes. The gentle, virtuous girl who had never seen hell felt she was guilty and should be handed over to a demon for judgment.
Anything but seeing such a terrifying creature descend upon the world! Her heart was going to be scared into coughing up blood and going on strike!
"Si-sister... please don't die!"
"Hmm? Nijika? Why are you here... Pfft!!!"
Snapping out of her "burned out" state, Ijichi Seika had just barely raised her head upon hearing the familiar voice when she was hit in the stomach by her little sister—who charged in like a cruise missile—nearly causing her to spray out a mouthful of blood.
"Ugh... I'm dying..."
"Onee-chan! Who did this to you!"
"That person would be you..."
Drifting over like a ghost to pull Nijika off the Manager, the black-haired PA-san didn't want to see her boss perish before she even got last month's salary.
Although she wasn't entirely sure what had happened, since Seika was still awake, she'd leave it to her to handle!
"Cough, cough! Arigato. Nijika, you can't become a drummer if you're this impulsive. As for you..."
Wiping the liquor from her mouth, Ijichi Seika slowly stood up. Her waist, which hadn't seen exercise in a long time, rippled as she moved, finally forming a small bulge at her stomach.
Others might not have known, but Miyazawa Rin saw at a glance that this was the result of drinking too much—an accumulation of fluid that even a trip to the bathroom couldn't metabolize!
Add to that the smell in the room...
Sniff! Sniff!
Her delicate little nose twitched twice. Her eyes teared up from the sharp sting, but she finally let out a sigh of relief.
"Mhm! There are no other scents. They haven't done anything except drink!"
"You can even do that?!"
Instantly awestruck by Rin's judgment, Busujima Sakurako felt relieved but simultaneously guilty—if she tried to go on a "night raid," would Rin smell it the next day?
"Really! Really, nothing happened except drinking! Really?"
"Absolutely. My nose can distinguish 'fishy' smells. Even though the alcohol scent is strong here, it shouldn't be able to cover it up!"
"Thank goodness..."
The tension on her face vanished because of a single sentence from her newly-met peer. Iseri Nina patted her modest chest and immediately became well-behaved.
Regardless, if Momoka-san wanted to have a couple of drinks, then let her. As long as she didn't quit the band, everything was fine!
"In that case, I'll take Momoka-san back..."
"Nina!"
"Eh?"
Shrinking her neck back, Iseri Nina's eyes widened in shock.
Squinting and leaning in to observe again, she finally realized that her Momoka-san was actually still conscious; she hadn't noticed earlier!
"Momoka-san, don't move. Subaru and I will take you back right away!"
"No!"
Stubbornly propping herself up on the table with a shochu bottle, Kawaragi Momoka slowly sat back down in a kneeling position by the table, her eyes resolute. Her greyish eyes were filled with an indictment of fate's injustice!
"Don't come over! This is a grudge between us! You guy..."
"Don't underestimate us!!!" x2
Each holding up a shochu bottle, with the determination of "victory or death," Kawaragi Momoka and Ijichi Seika tilted their heads back and poured the remaining liquid down their throats.
As their Adam's apples bobbed amidst the girls' shock, both of their lower abdomens bulged to varying degrees!
"Gwah... Burp! How about it, kid! Can you still drink?"
"It's not too late for you to apologize to this Manager!"
"Jie-jie-jie-jie-jie! You didn't take the chance to run away, but instead approached me? Interesting!"
With someone issuing a challenge, the fierce general of the PaB Club, Miyazawa Yuu, turned up the corners of his mouth into a terrifying grin and slowly raised his head. His inverted black-and-white pupils flashed with a haunting red light!
Slowly picking up a bottle of "Spirytus" (Spirit of Life) that the shop had specially run out to buy for him, he stood up and paced contemptuously, ensuring both challengers could see the 96% alcohol content label.
"Ladies! You're both at your limit, aren't you? While it's a good thing to never waver for your ideals! Next time, remember to choose the right challenger!"
Saying so, he sat down firmly. With an aura of absolute suppression over the weak, he expressionlessly shoved the Spirytus into his mouth and downed the whole bottle!
In fact, even for members of the PaB Club, this way of drinking was extremely rare. After all, if the drinking speed is too fast, even the strongest physical constitution will eventually fail.
That was why he had sent that Line message to Sakurako. To be honest, it was three-on-one—he was genuinely struggling a bit. Fortunately, in the end, the one left standing was still him!
"Gulp, gulp, gulp! Gaha... Hinjyaku! I'm truly high right now!"
The empty bottle slammed onto the table with a sharp crack, sounding more like an insurmountable chasm opening up before Ijichi Seika and Kawaragi Momoka!
This man had not only taken on three people and taken down the strongest, Rupa, but he had also been drinking high-concentration spirits that were hundreds of times stronger than beer. Honestly, is that stuff even drinkable?
What's the difference between 96% Spirytus and pure alcohol? Even the Russians only use it for mixing drinks!
"Gwah, damn it, how can this be..."
"This brat is a bit too strong!"
"I told you!!!"
Tearing away the filter of "two sisters working together to resist a powerful enemy" while streaming tears, Ijichi Nijika's ahoge extended several meters and slammed directly onto her sister's head.
While her sister was indeed a "rotten adult," this image was still too far from her impression of her. Absolutely unacceptable!
"Hey, hey!"
Wearing a small steel helmet he'd found somewhere, just when the scene was filled with drunks who only had eyes for each other, someone who was supposed to have blacked out appeared!
"Save me! Save me!"
"Kikuri-senpai?!"
Suddenly discovering there was still a living person waving their arms for help in the room, Ijichi Nijika's eyes lit up. Miyazawa Rin, relying on her physical stats, forced her way into the room and rescued the person.
Carried out of the "gas zone" by a girl much younger than her, Hiroi Kikuri patted her chest and let out a long breath. With a drunken smile, she thanked them: "Ya! Truly thank you all for saving my life. I really thought I'd be caught in the crossfire and die in there~"
"Kikuri-senpai! What on earth happened in there? Why is sister so drunk?!"
"Ya, that's a long story~"
"Then please make it short!"
Squatting nearby and looking at the still-entangled situation in the room, Busujima Sakurako suddenly felt something was wrong. She felt like she couldn't compete with these two newcomers!
After all, one was a strong-willed woman in hot pants who shared a similar "vibe" to her but was clearly more "normal," and the other was an excellent woman radiating a mature workplace aura. No matter how you looked at it, this was bad!
"Since you insist on hearing it, here's what happened. About three hours ago, everyone was quite reserved because of the new friends..."
Placing a finger on her cheek, Hiroi Kikuri fell into memory with a flushed face and pouted seriously: "But then, I forget who mentioned 'young people today,' and the three of them started arguing over parenting philosophies!"
"Parenting philosophies?!"
Feeling like the older sister might be talking nonsense because she was drunk, Iseri Nina, used to taking care of Momoka-san, offered some sobriety-inducing milk she carried.
"Mhm! Parenting philosophies. Later, everyone argued so much they started a drinking contest to settle it, and then it became like this!"
"Trying to settle a win or loss with a drinking bout? They really are something..."
Squatting down and poking Kikuri's cheek with her sleeve, the black-haired PA-san followed up: "And then? Who won in the end?"
"Oh! I'm telling you, Yuu is amazing. He didn't lose ground even against four of them. Later, the room started to get misty, and even Tomo-chan, who didn't touch a drop, passed out from the fumes!"
Giving a thumbs-up, Hiroi Kikuri laughed irresponsibly as she summarized: "Because it felt very wrong, I didn't drink and hid until now! But the Happiness Cycle miraculously hasn't ended!"
"The alcoholic vapor in the room has reached that level?!"
Looking into the room with astonishment, Miyazawa Rin faintly noticed that every time her brother breathed, he exhaled a significant amount of white steam, making the alcohol smell in the air a bit stronger!
Because he was outnumbered and the liquor was too strong, he couldn't keep up, so his body was forced to evolve a corresponding skill?!
In just a few seconds, it was as if she were witnessing an evolutionary anthem of humanity. All she could say was—as expected of her scumbag brother, he wouldn't even let stranger women off!