Chapter 347: Drinking Challenge
They had eaten dinner quite early and were already feeling hungry. Now, with the aroma hitting their noses, they were all ravenously hungry.
"Come on, let's eat! Don't be shy, just grab whatever you want to eat," Uchiha Fugaku said with a smile, picking up a skewer of grilled corn.
Yasumoto Hirotaka and the other two didn't stand on ceremony with Uchiha Fugaku and immediately began to divide the late-night snacks.
"Aren't you still playing games?" Uchiha Fugaku asked curiously.
"Playing what? It's already been ruined anyway, just go AFK," another sturdier roommate, Sugimura Keiji, said indifferently.
Yasumoto Hirotaka asked curiously, "Yuma, where did you go?"
Uchiha Fugaku didn't hide anything from them. "I joined the Diving Club at school, and I attended a party with them tonight."
"No wonder you smell like alcohol," Yasumoto Hirotaka said with a smile.
Although Uchiha Fugaku was a bottomless pit, the smell of alcohol on his body certainly wouldn't dissipate that quickly.
He had drunk the alcohol; he just wouldn't get drunk.
"Aren't you unable to swim? Why did you join the Diving Club?" Yasumoto Hirotaka asked with some concern.
After all, Uchida Yuma had just nearly drowned today, and suddenly joining the Diving Club left Yasumoto Hirotaka a bit confused.
Shouldn't someone who just nearly drowned be even more afraid of water?
But Uchida Yuma had done the exact opposite.
"After nearly drowning today, I saw the scenery below the sea level and suddenly became interested in diving," Uchiha Fugaku's lie came out effortlessly, and Yasumoto Hirotaka and the other two didn't suspect a thing.
"So our school also has a Diving Club?" Sugimura Keiji said thoughtfully.
He was chewing on a whole squid, so his words were a bit unclear.
"Of course, it does," Uchiha Fugaku said, seeing that the time was right. "Um, everyone, actually, I have something I need your help with."
Yasumoto Hirotaka said readily, "Tell me, I'll definitely help you if I can."
Sugimura Keiji and the remaining Nakamura Hiroki also nodded.
"Joining the Diving Club requires buying some equipment. Can you lend me some money? I'll pay you back when my mom gives me my living expenses at the beginning of the month."
"Sure, how much do you need to borrow?" Yasumoto Hirotaka agreed without hesitation.
The other two also nodded, waiting for Uchiha Fugaku's answer.
All three of them worked part-time, so they weren't short on money and had some savings.
What's more, it was Yuma's first time asking them for money, and given what had happened today, the three of them, who could swim, hadn't watched Yuma closely enough, and he had almost gotten into trouble. Let alone Yuma needing to borrow money, even if they didn't have much money, they would borrow it to give to Yuma.
While waiting for the late-night snacks to be prepared, Uchiha Fugaku went to a nearby convenience store and saw that a bottle of Hundred Years of Solitude shochu cost 1300 yen. This type of shochu has a high alcohol content, similar to Chinese baijiu, and you can get drunk after just a little. The advantage of using such high-proof alcohol is that you don't need to drink too much when having a drinking contest.
It's inconvenient to go to the bathroom when setting up a stall outside, so this type of shochu, which doesn't require much drinking, is very convenient.
Uchiha Fugaku planned to buy 20 bottles at once, so he needed to borrow 26,000 yen.
Divided among the three, that would be 8,600 yen per person.
This was completely affordable for Yasumoto Hirotaka and the other two, who regularly had income from part-time jobs.
The three didn't hesitate at this figure and immediately took out their wallets and gave money to Uchiha Fugaku.
"Thank you, I'll pay you back at the beginning of the month, okay?" Uchiha Fugaku said. In fact, if everything went smoothly, he wouldn't even have to wait until the beginning of the month to pay them back.
According to his guess, he should be able to make a profit.
As long as there were enough people looking for a bargain.
"No problem, you can pay us back whenever," Yasumoto Hirotaka said with a smile.
The other two also nodded.
The next morning, Uchiha Fugaku left.
Yesterday, after their exams, it was a weekend.
This was convenient for Uchiha Fugaku to do his own things.
Last night, he contacted a former female classmate using Line.
Coincidentally, this female classmate also got into a university in Izu, specifically Qinghai Women's University.
The two didn't have much contact, mainly because his former self was introverted. Let alone this female classmate, he barely chatted with his high school friends either.
They only communicated when they met back in their hometown.
When Uchiha Fugaku sent her a message last night, she was quite surprised, and he asked her to help organize a joint party. Although she was a bit confused as to why Uchida Yuma had become so bold, it was an old classmate's request, so she agreed.
They also happened to have nothing to do during their break.
So, this joint party was set for tonight.
If it were set for tomorrow night, they would have classes the day after tomorrow morning and would have to break up early. Tonight was just right; everyone had a holiday tomorrow, so they could play as late as they wanted tonight.
Mainly, he was the only one living in the dorm among these people.
In Japanese universities, very few people actually live in dorms. Most Japanese universities don't have dorms, and Izu University only has one dormitory building, requiring an application to live there.
The reason Japanese universities don't have dorms is that they want to train students' self-reliance, because if students live in dorms, they won't be able to interact with society.
So, most students either live at home, rent a house outside, or, like Kitahara Iori, live with relatives.
The reason Uchida Yuma lives in the dorm, as mentioned before, is that he has no relatives in Izu, and secondly, he's new to the area and hasn't rented a place.
Uchiha Fugaku came out so early today to purchase the tools he needed to set up his stall and earn money starting at noon.
He didn't need many tools: 20 bottles of Hundred Years of Solitude shochu and a bag of disposable cups.
A bag had a hundred cups, which was more than enough.
Additionally, renting a table and getting a signboard would pretty much complete it.
After getting everything ready and eating at a small restaurant, Uchiha Fugaku began searching for a good spot for his stall. It definitely had to be a crowded place.
There was a square nearby that was quite good, right next to a large shopping mall, with many people coming and going.
He also saw quite a few empty stalls here, probably because it was still noon and these vendors hadn't arrived yet.
Uchiha Fugaku chose a spot, set up his things, and then walked a few steps to a convenience store to buy the last 20 bottles of Hundred Years of Solitude.
The reason he bought the shochu last was that he didn't have any storage function, no storage scrolls, and the system didn't have storage space, so he couldn't store things. If he had to carry 20 bottles of shochu everywhere, it would be really troublesome.
A bottle of Hundred Years of Solitude is only 720 milliliters, which translates to about 1.44 pounds. 20 bottles are about 30 pounds. His former self had an average physique, but he could certainly lift and carry it. As for how long he could last, that was hard to say.
Therefore, buying Hundred Years of Solitude directly from a convenience store near the stall was the most convenient option.
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