Drunk

Even though Kasahara soured the mood right at the start of the mixer, the atmosphere didn’t stay bad for long, and the time passed with lively chatter and noise. If I’d pulled the same stunt as Kasahara, I’d probably have been ostracized, but somehow she managed to blend in naturally with everyone else. I vaguely thought to myself how impressive that was.

Come to think of it, whether Kasahara ruined the vibe or not, I was, as usual, enjoying my own little world. The only thing on my mind was making the most of the food for the price I paid.

“Yamamoto-kun, want some fried chicken?”

“Oh, yeah.”

“I’ll grab some for you.”

After we switched seats, the girl sitting next to me went out of her way to put some fried chicken on a plate for me. Two pieces, no less.

“Thanks.”

I thanked her and was about to say her name, but… it wouldn’t come to me. At the start of the mixer, we’d all introduced ourselves. Plus, I’d briefly talked to her the other day at the university cafeteria while chatting with Kasahara. And yet, her name just slipped my mind.

“Irie-chan.”

Kasahara, sitting on my other side, quickly chimed in to save me.

“Irie-san.”

I immediately repeated her name.

“Nah… you can just call me Hikari.”

“Got it, Irie-san.”

Irie-san was pushing me to use her first name, but being totally awkward around women, I naturally stuck to her last name.

“Haha, Yamamoto-kun, you’re so funny.”

Despite my obvious attempt to keep some distance, Irie-san’s reaction was surprisingly positive. Maybe she’d been tipped off about my personality by someone like Kasahara beforehand.

“…Is the fried chicken good?”

“Yeah.”

“Want another piece?”

“Nah, come on, let everyone else eat too.”

I said that and glanced at the rest of the group, but they were so caught up in their conversations that they were barely touching the food. Before I knew it, it was just me and Irie-san eating while the other six were happily chatting away.

Man, I’m falling behind here.

“Eat up.”

“Will do.”

“You like fried chicken?”

“Yeah, I guess. My favorite’s beef tongue, though.”

“Oh, really? That’s so good! I love the texture.”

“Oh? You get it, Irie-san.”

After that, I spent about five minutes raving about the wonders of beef tongue to Irie-san, who apparently loves it too. She nodded along with a smile the whole time.

Her reaction felt… fresh, somehow.

Take Kasahara, for example. Whenever I go on about random trivia, she always cuts me off halfway. She’s the type who’d rather talk about what she likes than listen to something she’s not interested in.

Or take Hayashi. When I start spouting trivia, she blatantly tunes me out. She’s not interested, and her attitude screams it. She’s the worst type in that sense.

Compared to them, Irie-san probably doesn’t care about beef tongue trivia at all, but she didn’t show a hint of boredom.

“Irie-san, if you don’t wanna hear something, you should just say so, you know?”

Unbelievably, even though I’d been eagerly rattling off trivia, I pointed this out to Irie-san, who’d been nodding along with interest. What kind of stance was I even taking here? I only realized how weird that was later.

“No way! I actually like listening to your trivia, Yamamoto-kun.”

“…Huh.”

Her unfamiliar reaction threw me off a bit. Honestly, it made me kind of worried. You should just say if something bothers you, you know?

…Maybe I shouldn’t be talking about stuff other people might find boring, huh?

“So, Yamamoto-kun, do you, like, work out or anything?”

“Huh?”

“Do you?”

“…Oh, uh, back in high school. I’m kinda obsessive like that.”

“I knew it! I go to the gym a lot, actually.”

“No way.”

Back in high school, I went through a phase where I was at the gym all the time. I think working out is one of the more productive hobbies out there. The thrill of seeing the physique you’ve built—there’s no happiness quite like it.

Why’d I stop going to the gym in high school? Exam prep started, and I couldn’t find the time anymore. Once I stopped going, my passion for working out fizzled out completely.

Believe it or not, I’m the type who gets super into something and then drops it just as fast.

But talking to someone else who’s into working out brought back all that old passion.

From there, our conversation really started to flow.

“Hey, Akari-chan, you okay?”

Feeling a warmth against my back and hearing a voice from behind, my conversation with Irie-san came to a halt.

When I looked back, it was Kasahara leaning against me. Her face looked slightly flushed.

“Wait, is she drunk?”

“Hey, who gave her alcohol?!”

The girls turned to the guys, excluding me. Probably because it was obvious I wasn’t exactly buddy-buddy with the others, so they consciously left me out. Their tone was scolding, but they didn’t seem that upset.

The engineering department party crowd hurriedly denied giving her any alcohol.

“Come on, no way. That’d be bad if it got out.”

“Yeah, fair enough.”

“Then why’s she like this?”

“…Maybe the smell of alcohol got her drunk?”

The girls laughed at Kasahara, while the guys were captivated by her apparent weakness to alcohol.

Kasahara’s bad with alcohol, huh? That’s kind of surprising.

I hadn’t ever drunk with her, so I wouldn’t know. I’d just assumed she was the type who could hold her liquor. To think she’d get tipsy off the smell alone.

“Hey, hold up.”

“Man, that’s kinda cute.”

The guys were whispering dumb stuff.

Kasahara stayed like that for the rest of the mixer, leaning against me. With her warmth lingering on my back, I had no choice but to keep talking to Irie-san. Somewhere along the way, we ended up exchanging contact info.

“Hey, wanna go to an afterparty?”

As the mixer wrapped up, the guys were trying to convince the girls for round two.

“Oh, sorry. Akari-chan’s in no shape for that.”

“Ah, yeah, got it.”

The guys were visibly bummed. If the girls had been interested, they probably would’ve ditched Kasahara and gone to the afterparty. The fact that they didn’t… well, tough luck, guys.

“Hey, Yamamoto-kun, could you take care of Akari for us?”

“Me?”

“Yeah. You seem like the strongest guy here. We can trust you to get her home safe.”

The two girls, aside from Irie-san, were grinning at me. Come to think of it, they were also at the cafeteria the other day and knew about my history with Kasahara.

…I thought about it for a bit.

Back in high school, Kasahara and I had… a lot of history. Honestly, being alone with her would be super awkward.

But if she’s drunk and it’s just the two of us… Leaving her like this might get me an earful from her best friend Hayashi later.

“Alright.”

“Thanks! We’re counting on you, Prince Charming.”

“Can you not say stuff that makes my back itch?”

“Haha, alright, take care! Bye!”

I took Kasahara from the girls.

“Carry me, Yamamoto-kun.”

“Uh, sure.”

Following Kasahara’s instructions, I hoisted her onto my back.

“…Take good care of Akari-chan, okay, Yamamoto-kun?”

“Yeah.”

Irie-san gave us a glance before heading off.

The guys didn’t even spare me a look as they quickly left the izakaya. Probably off to another bar, just the guys.

“Looks like you got left behind, Yamamoto-kun.”

“Thanks to you.”

“You weren’t exactly besties with them to begin with, right?”

“Yeah, true.”

I exchanged a few words with Kasahara. I glanced back at the still-noisy izakaya.

“Let’s head home.”

“Yup!”

Kasahara’s voice was bright.

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