"Haa~"
Shiro walked down the road back home, half-naked and looking exhausted. Behind him was Azusa, stretching lazily while wearing one of his t-shirts.
"Ahahaha, I knew it, nothing beats a drink after a good dive~"
Azusa said with a satisfied grin.
In the end, they had their drinking party anyway. No way they were going to cancel just because of Iori.
Apparently, Iori got a little too drunk and decided to go talk to Chisa while he still had courage from the alcohol.
Whether he managed to explain things or not was unclear. All Shiro knew was that when he finally found him, Iori was lying face down on the ground foaming at the mouth...
"That was just too cruel, Azusa-nee, you were totally ganging up on me with the others."
Walking ahead, Shiro let out a sigh.
Another day of being the group's punching bag. He hadn't even been back home in forever—just last night, he ended up crashing at Kitahara's place because he was too tired to go back.
At this point, Shiro was starting to question the whole point of renting his own place.
That "Dragon and Tiger Love Motel" wasn't half bad.
The owner might've looked scary, but he was actually pretty welcoming. Shiro wondered if they offered yearly VIP plans...
He began calculating the feasibility of the idea in his head. He had a feeling he might be going there often in the future...
He really liked those two alphabet-themed rooms.
"Ahaha, well, it's your fault for having such a strong final line of defense, Shiro~"
Azusa teased him with a mischievous look. That underwear really was a legendary artifact—thanks to it, Shiro was basically unbeatable in strip rock-paper-scissors!
"…In the end, you guys still yanked it off."
Shiro's face darkened. Did they have any idea what it felt like to have the last layer of defense ripped away by wild beasts?!
When the whole group pinned him down and Tokita leaned in to yank off his boxers… He couldn't even feel his little buddy anymore. That was trauma—emotional trauma!
"Haha, it's fine, it's fine. Once we're back, we can play just the two of us~"
Azusa leaned close to his ear, whispering in a devilish tone. The scent of wisteria flowers and that seductive tone immediately reminded Shiro that his little buddy was still alive!
Hell yeah!
He spotted his apartment door up ahead and dashed over. He couldn't wait to start gaming! (ꈍᴗꈍ‵)
Creaaaak~
Hadn't been home in days… kinda missed it, actually. Just look at that vibrant yaoi poster on the wall, and the scattered garbage giving the place a nice artistic vibe. Even those mysterious papers lying around were—
(⊙﹏⊙)
Shiro quietly closed the door, his face twitching.
No, no. He was definitely hallucinating just now. Aside from that yaoi poster (which he had sealed away in the deepest pits of hell), none of that other stuff should be in his room!
What the hell just happened?!
"Not going in, Shiro?"
Azusa tilted her head behind him, clearly having forgotten the mess she made.
"...Azusa-nee, I think I walked into the wrong apartment."
"But you already opened the door, didn't you?"
"…"
Shiro didn't reply. He pushed the door open again. Maybe it really was a trick of the eye.
But no miracle awaited him. The room was in the exact same state as before, maybe even worse now that the door was wide open.
Pfft~
Azusa couldn't help but burst out laughing when she saw the state of Shiro's room.
That single laugh instantly exposed the culprit!
Only he and Azusa had keys!
And what kind of thief eats chips in someone's room and leaves the wrappers all over the place?!
"Azusa-neeeee~"
A dangerous glint flashed in Shiro's eyes. The culprit must be punished!
"Pfft, hahaha! Don't be like that, Shiro, that tickles~!"
…
After their roughhousing, Shiro was left cleaning the room, grumbling the whole time. He didn't even gain the upper hand during the tussle. That scissor lock move was totally overkill for a junior!
Meanwhile, Azusa was preparing for a long-overdue tradition. It'd been a while since the two of them had a private drinking session~
Seeing her busy with the drinks, Shiro didn't say much. Things had been hectic lately, he really hadn't had time for just the two of them. He'd need to manage his schedule better moving forward.
He wondered… if he suggested limiting daily drinking to just one hour, would the senpais agree?
With that dangerous thought in mind, Shiro walked over to a pile of strange papers.
They weren't tissues like he expected, but rather regular A4 printer paper.
He picked one up and unfolded it—and found illustrations of Fireworks, the protagonist from his light novel.
And they were incredibly accurate. Way better than anything he had drawn himself.
"Azusa-nee, what's this?"
He looked toward Azusa, who was sneakily eating sushi with a guilty face.
"Ahh (￣～￣), that? Just something I doodled when I had time. I mean, your drawings were way too bad to use as actual illustrations, right? But don't worry, those are just failed attempts~"
Caught red-handed, Azusa didn't look embarrassed at all as she popped another piece of sushi in her mouth.
RIP!
Shiro froze up, his eyes wide in disbelief as he accidentally tore the paper in half from sheer shock.
This woman… she wasn't just a drunkard—she could draw?! And even better than him?!
"Judging by your expression, you're probably thinking something really rude right now…"
Azusa shoved a piece of sushi into his mouth. What was that look of betrayal supposed to mean? She was more than capable of going toe-to-toe with the art club, you know!
"Mmmph (￣～￣), I was just surprised. But hey, Azusa-nee, you're so good at this—how about becoming my illustrator?"
Shiro tried to recruit her. That way, he'd save a ton of time and goof off more!
"Eh? Illustrator, huh? I guess I could. So how much are you planning to pay me, Shiro?"
Azusa thought it was a pretty good idea. Drawing wouldn't take too much time, and she wasn't about to work for free.
"…Azusa-nee, don't you think we're close enough that talking about money feels wrong?"
"No free labor!"
"…Sigh."
Shiro let out a long sigh. So hard to trick these days. He totally missed an easy bargain.
"By the way, Shiro—why do all the characters in your novel, aside from the main cast, have letter placeholders instead of names?"
Azusa asked while flipping through a stack of manuscripts. She had already finished reading volume one out of boredom earlier. There were barely any names besides the core characters.
As for her thoughts? It was definitely a story only a scumbag could've written.
That said, the content did match the novel's title. But seriously—is this really what Japanese high school life is like now?!
Azusa found herself worrying deeply for Japan's education system~
"Meh, that stuff's not important. I'll just make up random names later."
Shiro waved it off casually.
It's not like he had some system to help him, he barely remembered the names of the side characters himself. The plot was mostly built off memories of scenes he had imagined long ago, so it was normal for some parts to differ from the "original."
"I see…"
Azusa nodded, then handed him a beer.
It was officially drinking time!
"Hurry, hurry, I found a new one that's super good!"
"Not a yaoi, I hope!"