“Yukieda, you’ve had too much to drink!”

Yukieda naturally couldn’t respond. Her mouth was full of liquor.

Mai tried to struggle a little, only to find his arm pinned in place like it had been nailed down. He couldn’t move it at all.

This girl was seriously drunk. She was trying to feed him with her mouth.

“Mmmph, mmph, mmmph.”

Muffled, meaningless sounds came from Yukieda’s mouth, but one thing was clear. She wanted to press her lips against his.

Sure, Yukieda was a beautiful girl. But the situation wasn’t nearly as nice as it sounded. The alcohol was strong, and she was about to lose control of it. Mai could already tell that in the next second, the liquor in her mouth might spray onto his face together with snot.

And that wasn’t all. Yukieda was straddling his waist. Through the thin fabric beneath her skirt, Mai could even feel her warmth. On top of that, she kept unconsciously squirming.

Mai was a normal person too. There was no way he wouldn’t react at all. Yukieda just hadn’t noticed yet. She only felt like her thigh was being jabbed by something.

She looked down at him in confusion.

He had to stop this before the worst happened.

“I’ll drink, I’ll drink. Yukieda, let me go already!”

Mai spoke in a pleading tone.

Hearing that, Yukieda got weirdly excited. Maybe because she’d never heard Mai say anything that sounded like surrender before.

She rolled her eyes, and a small amount of liquor sprayed out of her nose.

Even a beautiful girl’s snot was still seriously disgusting... and it had almost gone into his mouth!

Yukieda wiped at it carelessly, then swayed as she sat back down. After that, her snow-white throat bobbed once as she swallowed the rest of the liquor and saliva in her mouth.

She wiped her lips. That left the pale skin of her cheeks looking moist and dewy, and Mai finally let out a breath of relief.

Mai lowered his head and watched Yukieda fill his cup to the brim. Then he looked up. Her golden eyes were full of expectation. He knew that if he didn’t drink, Yukieda would never let it go.

In that case, I’ll just have one cup.

That was what Mai thought.

On the first floor, separated by only one level.

Shizuku stood there, panting as she looked at Mari, then glanced at the gaudy, colorful sign.

“So?”

“They’ve been in there for a long time. They might’ve already done this and that.”

Mari looked heartbroken, but then she added, “Maybe he’s Yukieda’s boyfriend. She just never told us.”

That was Mari’s guess.

“No way. I’ve never heard she had a boyfriend,” Shizuku said with absolute certainty. “Mari, we’re going in.”

Just as the two of them were about to enter, a delinquent who was obviously drunk staggered over. He looked their uniforms up and down.

“High school girls? Wanna join me? How much for both of you?”

He even tried to get handsy, but Shizuku was already irritated and had no patience for him. She shoved him hard, sending him straight into the roadside gutter.

When two high school girls in uniforms walked into the izakaya, they naturally drew everyone’s attention, especially with both of them looking so hostile.

Mari tried her best to make her expression look fierce, but the moment a staff member spoke to her, her face quickly softened.

“Excuse me, are you two here to dine?”

The staff member was a young man. He asked very politely.

“N-no, we... we’re here to find someone.”

Mari hunched her shoulders, and her voice got smaller and smaller.

The staff member clearly didn’t catch what she said.

Shizuku stepped in front of Mari at once. “We’re here to find someone!”

Mari wisely moved behind Shizuku and echoed, “Yeah, find someone!”

With Shizuku in front, she felt a little braver too.

This time, the staff member understood. “Find someone? Who are you looking for?”

“Oriuchi Yuki!”

“Who’s that?”

The staff member looked blank, then asked, “Are you sure you’ve got the right place?”

Just giving a name clearly wasn’t enough for him to understand, so Mari quickly added a description.

“White hair. Super beautiful girl.”

“Oh~” The staff member nodded. So that customer was called Oriuchi Yuki.

But his expression still didn’t change. “Haven’t seen her. Haven’t seen the person you’re describing. Are you sure you’re not mistaken?”

“How could that be? I saw her with my own eyes!”

Mari was getting anxious. She could feel the attention of the people around them starting to gather on the two of them.

Shizuku was fine, but Mari was terrible in public. She felt uncomfortable all over.

—

While they were still arguing downstairs, the room upstairs was thick with tension.

The two who had originally been sitting face-to-face were now sitting together. The top one or two buttons of both their clothes had been pulled open.

“Come on, one more drink.” Yukieda lightly raised her cup and fed the liquor to Mai.

Mai didn’t hold back either. He drained it in one go.

By now, his whole face was red, and his tongue was starting to feel heavy.

He had no idea how this happened. They’d agreed he would only drink one cup, but somehow it had turned into one after another. He had no idea how much he’d had anymore. He only knew there were lots of empty little bottles lined up in front of him.

Mai was in a pretty good mood right now. The alcohol had made his brain sluggish, and that feeling was new to him.

And with the help of the alcohol, he felt like he had a lot he wanted to say.

A troubled look appeared on Mai’s face. That made Yukieda curious, because she rarely saw negative emotions on him.

“My mom... there was never a place for me in her eyes! No matter what it was, all she ever thought about was my sister!”

His cup slammed heavily onto the table, spilling quite a bit of liquor.

Yukieda felt a little sorry for the wasted drink, but she followed his words anyway.

“That can’t be true, right? W-what kind of parent doesn’t love their own child?”

Yukieda was stammering a little.

Taking the chance, Mai began talking about his past.

Mai’s parents had both come from artistic families, but they themselves had little talent. So they placed all their hopes on the next generation. They desperately wanted their children to succeed where they had failed and become outstanding artists.

Because of that, Mai and his older sister, raised in that environment from childhood, showed artistic ability far beyond others their age.

But as time passed, his sister’s talent gradually revealed itself. She was a true genius. Mai himself, on the other hand, remained ordinary as ever.

And as their talents became clearer, their parents’ attitudes toward the two of them changed as well.

Little by little, they stopped caring whether Mai lived or died. If his sister hadn’t insisted, his parents would have sent him to an orphanage long ago.

When your place in the family becomes optional, your treatment is easy enough to imagine. Because of that, Mai was extremely insecure and timid during that period.

Yukieda held her cup up for a long time. After a while, she finally murmured, “Mai’s parents aren’t qualified to be parents.”

“But even so, I still love them. Even though I never felt any warmth from my father or mother.” He paused, then added, “Well, it’s not like I never felt it at all. One time, my sister and I swapped clothes, and my father and mother didn’t realize it. Their attitude changed like a complete one-eighty...”

Mai continued, “Maybe that’s why I started feeling like, as long as I dressed up as my sister, I could do anything.”

The room was still hot, thick with the smell of food and alcohol.

Yukieda wanted to comfort him, but when she opened her mouth, she didn’t know what to say. So she filled Mai’s cup again, then clinked her own cup lightly against his on her own.

Mai said nothing. He just raised the cup and poured the liquor into his mouth.

At that moment, Yukieda, who had been holding it in for a long time, finally spoke. Her head was all fuzzy.

“Anyway, you’re about the same age as my daughter. So how about you just think of me as your mom?”

“Cough, cough—”

Mai’s black-and-white eyes widened. He had obviously choked on the drink.

Yukieda was clearly unhappy with his reaction.

“What? You don’t want to?”

How could he possibly want that? Mai knew friends joked around and called themselves each other’s dad all the time, but that was a joke. Just a joke.

Mai carefully looked into Yukieda’s golden eyes again. There was nothing in them but seriousness.

She really wanted to be his mom.

“You’re drunk...”

“There you go again. I’m not drunk! Hurry up and call me Mom!”

“N-no way!”

“Hurry!”

Mai didn’t want to keep getting tangled up in this embarrassing topic. Or maybe it was the alcohol talking. Either way, he was getting fed up.

“Fine then. If you insist on being my mom, I want milk.”

The moment the words left his mouth, both of them froze. Just as Mai was wondering how he was supposed to salvage this, Yukieda slowly began unbuttoning her clothes.

Under her girlish bra was skin as white as milk, and two soft little mounds.

“Th-then... okay. If I’m going to be a mom, I have to fulfill a mother’s duties.” As she said that, Yukieda covered her face shyly. “It’s my first time doing something like this.”

Mai might have been seven parts drunk before, but at least five of those vanished on the spot. Right now, he deeply regretted running his mouth and teasing his partner. He had no idea whether she’d beat him to death after sobering up.

She was obviously drunk, and there was no reasoning with a drunk person. The scariest part was that he couldn’t beat her in a fight.

No. This wouldn’t do.

Mai stood up. He had figured it out. Next, he’d ask Miss Sakai to take care of Yukieda, and then he had to run.

Yukieda sat in her seat, tilting her head as she looked at him.

“In a hurry?”

“No, I just need to use the bathroom.”

Right then, Mai heard a growing commotion getting closer.

The young staff member sounded aggrieved. “You can’t do that, customers. These are all private rooms. You can’t just pull them open one by one!”

“Sorry!”

“Sorry!”

Along with that, he could hear repeated apologies. They were Shizuku and Mari’s voices.

Why were those two here?

That wasn’t even the most important part. The most important part was that he still hadn’t changed out of his current outfit. And how was he supposed to explain the disheveled Yukieda in front of him, looking completely out of it?

Mai felt a cold bead of sweat slide down his forehead.