Then, as if a lightbulb went off in his head, Kudou took off his watermelon-shaped helmet and declared,
"Since that's the case, let's settle this with a game!"
!!!
That suggestion instantly snapped Iori and Kouhei out of their dilemma.
"I see!"
"It's frustrating, but… yeah, that's so PAB-style!"
At PAB, violence was generally forbidden. Disputes were resolved through games and drinking.
However… this rule didn't apply to the trio.
The senpai unanimously believed that fistfights were simply those three's way of bonding.
It's just that this time, Iori and Kouhei had gotten too passionate, and Shiro still hadn't woken up yet.
"Then it's settled. But if we win, you guys go do your own thing!"
"Deal!"
Kudou accepted without hesitation, his eyes filled with delight—and the smug satisfaction of someone confident in their intellectual superiority.
Game 1: Beach Flag Capture!
Shiro was buried in the sand pile beneath the flag.
Game 2: Sandpile Collapse!
Shiro was buried next to the sandpile, his head positioned front-row-center for an excellent view of the match.
Game 3: Beach Volleyball!
Shiro participated in the match and was struck by the volleyball eight times in the head.
Game 4: Dizzy Stick Sprint!
Shiro was the stick.
After four games, Iori discovered something outrageous.
"You've been playing together this whole time!!!"
Furious, Iori threw his baseball bat away. They'd been set up! This wasn't even about winning or losing anymore.
Before they knew it, they had spent nearly the entire afternoon playing.
"Tch!"
Kudou clicked his tongue. In the end, he'd been found out.
But after this afternoon of games, he was surprised to find—playing with this bunch was weirdly fun.
Way more fun than when it was just the four of them.
It made him question whether the way he'd been leading the club all this time had been wrong.
Maybe… for this deserted island trip, he should've brought everyone along…
"Just get lost already!!"
"But we haven't even decided who won yet."
Kudou waved his hand dismissively, pretending not to understand a word Iori was saying.
"I've played with you guys long enough. Besides, your friend already came back."
Iori ground his teeth. These guys really were shameless.
"C'mon, it's more fun when everyone plays together."
Kudou averted his gaze guiltily, then suddenly said,
"Alright, alright, I get it. You're worried. Don't worry, I won't go after your girlfriend, okay?"
In Kudou's eyes, Iori was only being so defensive because he was afraid Kudou would steal his girl. As long as he clarified that, everything should be fine~
As for the other girls… well, that was fair game (λ?_??)
Iori immediately saw through Kudou's little scheme and scoffed,
"Tch, don't flatter yourself. They're all already taken."
"All taken?! You're kidding, right?"
Kudou looked like he didn't believe a word. No way all of them were spoken for.
He knew Tokita and Kotobuki well. There's no way either of them was involved.
As for that Kouhei guy—he'd done his homework. Sure, good-looking, but a total otaku. No threat at all.
That left only Shiro!
No way all three of them belonged to him, right?!
Like reading his mind, Iori pointed at Shiro and said,
"Yup. All three are with Shiro. Go talk to him if you want."
!!?!
"Huh?"
At that moment, Shiro slowly regained consciousness. The first thing he saw was Kudou staring at him in stunned silence.
Rubbing his eyes, he mumbled,
"Dinner time already?"
"Ugh! Damn, why does my whole body hurt so much?! Why does my face feel like a swollen pig's head?! What did you guys do to me while I was asleep?!"
"..."
Apparently, this was the body's self-defense mechanism.
The abuse had been so brutal, Shiro had completely forgotten his own suffering~
(λ?_??)
"So you're saying… all these injuries were caused by me sleepwalking? And the reason I passed out was because I got too excited seeing Maya after so long?"
Shiro rested his chin on his hand, expressionless as he stared at Iori.
His eyes practically screamed: "You guys think I'm an idiot?"
Let's not even get into the whole fainting-from-seeing-Maya thing.
The idea that he sleepwalked himself into this condition was just too ridiculous!
What kind of sleepwalker ends up covered in footprints?!
Was he slapping himself with shoes in his dreams?!
Utter nonsense!
"For your own good, I suggest you go with that version of the story…"
Iori advised kindly. He really didn't think Shiro could survive another round of what happened earlier.
"And… maybe stop staring at those two girls over there so much…"
"Hmm? Why, what's wrong?"
Shiro was looking at Natsumi and Yuki. Pretty girls, what's wrong with looking?
(;?＿?)
Seeing Shiro's blank expression, Iori realized when the memory loss must have started.
To prevent a repeat of the tragedy, he forcibly turned Shiro's gaze toward Maya.
She was smiling sweetly and waving at him.
{{(°△°; "}}!
For some reason, despite the gentle smile, Shiro's whole body ached just from looking at her.
He was deeply confused.
Why did it hurt so much?
And why was Azusa nee looking at him like he was some kind of brave warrior?
#poke poke
Shiro suddenly popped up next to Azusa. "Azusa-nee, what the hell is going on?"
She couldn't resist poking his swollen pig-face.
"Ahh! That hurts!"
"Hahaha, sorry, sorry."
Azusa chuckled, then whispered teasingly in his ear,
"Well, don't overthink it. Trust me, Shirou—you definitely don't want to remember what happened.
Oh, and don't forget to go comfort Maya later~"
With that, she walked off to speak with Maya.
As a proper wingwoman, she was going to gather intel first~
Shiro stood there for a moment, then—decided to just give up thinking.
If a problem's too hard, don't think about it! College students are fragile creatures.
Better just do what Azusa-nee says.
Having given up on reasoning, Shiro snapped back to his energetic self and turned to Kudou with a weird expression.
"…Why the hell are you still here?"
"..."
Kudou, having witnessed everything, was too stunned to even form words.
The members of PAB were biologically and mentally bizarre—like some kind of single-celled organisms.
Also… why did everyone curse him out the moment they talked to him?!
But that didn't matter now. There was something he had to confirm.
Kudou patted Shiro on the shoulder, looking uncharacteristically serious.
"Shiro. I need to confirm something very important."
(???)
"Then back off a little. You're kind of grossing me out."
Kudou ignored the insult and pointed toward Nanaka and the other two.
"What's your relationship with them?"
Shiro turned to look.
Azusa-nee, Maya, and Nanaka-nee.
Hmm… what kind of relationship?
He thought about it and replied without hesitation,
"We're totally honest with each other, of course."
Thud!
A small watermelon slammed into his head the moment he said that.
Looking back, he saw Kouhei grinning menacingly while tossing another watermelon in his hand.
"Oops, my bad—thought I heard something weird~"
"..."
Seeing who the attacker was, Shiro immediately turned away.
Can't afford to provoke that guy. Better stick to bullying someone easier.
Looking at Kudou, he nodded.
"Yep, that's the situation."
It was the truth. Maya—ultra close; Azusa—sleeps beside him daily; Nanaka—bathed together since age ten. Nothing off about it!
Shiro's words struck Kudou like a thunderbolt.
All three?!
And they all get along just fine?!
"No way!"
As someone who prided himself on being a master of flirting, Kudou couldn't accept this reality.
He hadn't even landed either of the two girls he came with!
And now they were both plotting how to snag Shiro themselves.
Watching Kudou's jealous, furious expression, Shiro tilted his head in confusion.
"You're so weird, man. You asked the question. I answered it. And now you don't believe me?"
He waved his hand, signaling the conversation was over.
"Whatever. Just leave already. I'm ready to start enjoying my deserted island trip!"
Waving Kudou off like he was swatting a fly, Shiro silently added—
Of course, if it were one of those girls coming over to play, he wouldn't mind at all.
Clearly, this idiot still hadn't recalled how he got those injuries.
Kudou's face was dark, but not because of Shiro's attitude. He was just seriously considering something—should he formally take on a master?
Ahem, in truth, he just wanted to explore his physical limits. To see what difference there was between going solo versus being in a duo.
"Wait a second! We agreed earlier that the outcome would be decided by games—and there's still one more round left!"
With that, Kudou flashed a confident grin. "Let's play the Russian Mary Game!"
"Russian?"
"Mary?"
"Game?"
Shiro and the other two looked visibly confused. They clearly had never heard of this game.
Seeing this, Kudou felt certain—today was in the bag!
"The Russian Mary Game is simple. Prepare one drink for each player—typically tomato juice. But one of the drinks will be a Bloody Mary made with hot sauce. If you prefer, we can use alcohol instead.
Then, write punishments on slips of paper. Everyone drinks at the same time and tries to guess who got the 'special' one. Whoever gets guessed correctly has to do the punishment!
So? Sounds fun, doesn't it?"
Kudou smiled smugly. This was, after all, their club's signature party game.
Shiro nodded. He roughly understood how the game worked now.
In that case...
There was no longer any need to keep this lackey around.～
#Evil grin~
"Oh~ I see. Thanks for telling us about the game. You can leave now."
"Eh?"
Kudou blinked, not quite understanding what Shiro meant.
"Wait, are you saying we're not going to play the game?"
"No, what I'm saying is—we're not playing it with you. ╮(╯▽╰)╭"
"Hold on, let me get this straight. I just told you guys about the game, and you're kicking me out so you can play it without me?"
Shiro looked at him with mild surprise. "Didn't expect your IQ to improve after all this time—but yeah, that's exactly what I mean!"
"..."
"You bastard!!! That's backstabbing! Plagiarizing someone else's idea!"
Kudou was furious. He felt like the joker card in a poker deck—useless and discarded!
"It's not that serious. You just shared some information." Shiro picked at his ear, not believing for a second that this game was originally invented by the tennis club.
"You… just wait! I'm gonna ask Tokita about this!"
"Ah, sure. Go ahead~"
Shiro didn't bother stopping him. Even if Kudou went to the senpai, the result would be the same.
"You're not stopping him?"
"The senpai might actually agree to play with him, you know?"
Looking at the two "geniuses" next to him, Shiro's mouth twitched. Seriously, how could they think the senpai would say yes?
Sure enough, moments later, Club President Kudou came trudging back, his face full of disbelief—
Like an idiot who'd just confessed and got rejected.
By the Sea
The Three Idiots were killing time fishing.
Sure enough, after a passionate round of games, one needed some downtime to calm the mood.
"That was surprising."
"What was?"
"That the senpai actually refused his invitation."
Iori found it odd. The senpai had always dragged the three of them to mixers with other clubs.
Yeah…
Like that one time with the Karate Club or Rugby Club… (╥_╥)
"Well, Lady Maya's here now. Of course the senpai are being more considerate," Kohei analyzed coolly. After all, Maya was the only new addition to their group.
"Eh, that's possible. Shiro, you think so too?"
Iori looked over at Shiro. That guy had said from the start the senpai wouldn't agree.
"Of course not. Use your blockhead brains and think a little." Shiro sighed. These two still didn't understand the senpai at all.
"The point of this trip is to have fun. The senpai always plan everything with that in mind.
Since none of us wanted to play with Kudou, the senpai obviously wouldn't agree either.
And yet you two kept humoring Kudou for so long—I'll never get it."
"..."
Iori and Kohei couldn't argue. Thinking back, even though they were always dragged to those mixers, they usually ended up having a great time.
Plus, the senpai always took care of the next day's schedule so they'd never be late!
Granted, they'd still rather be late than sleep naked at school again…
"Yeah, I guess that's true..."
"Looks like we've been seeing things all wrong."
The two accepted the reality, then fell into thoughtful silence. Suddenly, being a senior didn't seem so easy.
"Think it over. I've got something big to take care of!"
Shiro didn't bother with them any longer and stood up to leave.
As he turned his back, he smirked. "No way I'm wasting my time with you two here, especially when you don't even have bait!!"
Compared to molding away with them, Shiro had more important things to do.
He hadn't forgotten that Saint. Azusa had given him a mission—comfort Maya!
Though he couldn't quite remember why, comforting girls was definitely his specialty!
The plan: cling to her leg while crying, grope her while apologizing, then hug her and whisper "I can't live without you"... then comes the forgiveness arc and finally… ehehehe~
With everything laid out in his mind, Shiro happily headed toward Maya.
Luckily, Kohei wasn't around—otherwise he'd probably get beaten up again.
Eh? Again?
Shiro tilted his head. He felt like his memory had some serious gaps…
Whatever! Comforting her is what matters!
Maya～