The azure sea, but a lonely, fulfilled life.

Upon hearing this, Hachiman's mind went blank for a moment. He pointed to himself and spoke slowly and deliberately.

"Me, eleven cans of beer?"

Are these words that can be combined? We didn't learn this in our Japanese language class. Could it be that Professor Hiratsuka forgot to teach us something?

Can penguins and beer create a resonance effect? ​​Beer and penguins? Penguins and beer? Both seem rather cheap.

"Eh? Isn't it?"

Nanaka blinked. Had her information been wrong again? No way, Tokita told her this himself; there was no way it was just hearsay.

"I don't think I remember."

Hachiman frowned as he recalled that he had indeed been drinking while waiting for the right time to leave, because he was feeling hot and wanted to find something to cool down, and beer was just the right thing to do.

Thinking about it this way, it seems like he was drinking when his seniors were drinking, he was drinking when his seniors were playing martial arts, and he was still drinking when his seniors were taking off their clothes.

"Um, are you alright?!"

Nanaka stared in astonishment as the boy's face turned from green to purple, and finally became as black as ink, his aura instantly crumbling.

"It's nothing. I just suddenly felt that I might turn into ashes in a little while and be carried away by the wind."

His tone was pale and listless, as if he had suddenly aged twenty years.

"Um, we don't have any cassette tapes of 'Turning into a Thousand Winds' in our shop, and no one here can play the shamisen."

Nanaka waved her hand, somewhat hastily placed the towel at his feet into the basin, and took it away.

"Um, the water seems a bit cold, I'll go get another basin."

"No need to bother anymore."

The slow, ethereal voice, like a ghostly whisper, made Nanaka quicken her pace. She couldn't understand this new student. Was she already old? Did she no longer understand the feelings of young people these days? Why did her words of praise elicit such a reaction?

Let's give Azi a call and ask.

Hachiman watched her retreating figure, then sighed. Was coming to Izu the wrong choice? Why was the first day so unpleasant?

"What did you do to make my sister run out in such a panic?" Chisa Kotegawa appeared at the door, twirling a curl of hair behind her ear with her index finger, and asked Hachiman with a puzzled look.

"He said some very depressing things."

Hachiman answered truthfully.

"Hmm—my sister is a very gentle person, she usually doesn't show such exaggerated expressions. It seems that you really are too melancholic?"

"I don't understand what you mean by 'depressing'."

Hachiman raised his arm and sniffed. Although he had been in the sun for almost a day, he was not prone to sweating, so he did not have a strong body odor.

“I’m referring to your attitude towards life.” Chisa Kotegawa waved her hand, staring at him with eyes the same color as her hair. “You exude a very ominous aura.”

Oh no? Meow? Meow? I wonder if Kapibala will feel lonely after he's gone, after all, his head was its personal chair.

Are you spacing out?

Seeing that he remained silent, with the black pupils in his eyes shifting to the upper right, Chisa knew that his thoughts had drifted far away.

"No, I'm listening."

Hachiman's head snapped around and then returned to its original angle. He looked at the girl in front of him, and in the hazy orange light, for a moment, her face overlapped with that of a girl from his memory.

"Feel sorry."

"Since you've already lied, don't expose yourself," Chisa said with a headache. The things that happened to her today were getting worse and worse, not because the things themselves were bad, but because of her anxiety.

First, her childhood sweetheart, whom she hadn't seen in a long time, turned out to be a pervert. Then, she found a homeless boy with a strong sense of justice who came to stay at her house, only to discover that he was also a pervert. Is there no one normal among the people around her?

"Headache, headache, headache..."

Chisa covered her head and kept muttering to herself. After a minute of muttering, she suddenly looked up at Hachiman and spoke.

"Want to drink?"

"……want."

Chapter Seven: Milk and Heart-to-Heart Talk

Why did I decide to drink alcohol? I don't even like drinking.

Yes, it's because I saw someone who always looked listless, as if they had no expectations for life, that made me angry.

That guy really gives off a very irritating vibe.

……

When I opened my eyes again, I saw a blue sky that was just beginning to brighten. The cold weather outside had created a thin layer of mist, which wove a hazy veil when it touched the glass.

Rubbing her slightly dazed head, Chisa looked around at her surroundings. It was her room; it seemed she had indeed returned last night.

So, what exactly happened last night?

I was just feeling a bit down, so I wanted to have a drink to forget my troubles, but why was that person such a heavy drinker? After several bottles of wine, his face didn't even turn red, let alone get drunk.

How can you vent your bad mood if you don't get drunk?

Chisa felt a little depressed. She picked up a pillow and covered her face, trying to fall asleep again. A day had passed, and that was the beginning of a new life. The past should not affect her mood today.

Sleep a little longer and forget everything, then be reborn when the alarm rings.

……

…………

………………

Can't sleep (?_? )

Chisa removed the pillow from her face and stared at the ceiling above her head, feeling even more depressed.

Okay, I'll get up and drink a glass of milk; it'll help me sleep.

Pushing open the door, Chisa walked towards the living room.

When she was less than five meters from the kitchen, she stopped and looked with twitching eyes at the three people lying on the living room floor, wearing only underwear.

Pretending not to see it, she walked into the kitchen as if nothing was wrong, opened the cabinet, took out the milk powder, and started making it.

[Click—clunk—]

The door opened, and Chisa turned around to meet the gaze of someone who happened to be walking out of the room.

Hachiman blinked and extended his right hand.

"Good morning."

"Good morning."

He nodded calmly; today was a new day.

"Would you like some milk? You drank so much last night, something warm in the morning is good for your stomach," Chisa asked, raising her glass.

"Okay, thank you."

Unfazed by his indifferent response, Chisa took out a disposable cup, rinsed it with hot water, and poured in the milk powder.

"Do you prefer it sweeter or less sweet?"

"Two sugar cubes will do."

If someone likes sweets, then it's not hopeless.

"Give."

"Thank you."

The two picked up their cups, walked to the chairs in the living room, and sat down. They tacitly ignored the three people lying dead on the floor and enjoyed their warm milk.

"Peek a Boo is a great club. Although the people in it may be a little strange, there's no need to worry. You'll enjoy being with them."

Hachiman looked at the girl who suddenly spoke, his eyelids lowered. He understood her intention. Back in high school, a pink-haired girl had introduced their club to others in the same way, her real purpose being to reassure the students who came to ask for help.

"Actually, I want to explain what happened last night."

"No need, it's all in the past, and I don't really care."

“No, I must tell you,” Hachiman said seriously, pointing to the three naked figures lying on the floor like corpses. “I really didn’t take off my clothes to drink.”

"...So that's what you wanted to explain."

"This is a major life event concerning my reputation!"

If he were to return home before even having spent a year in Izu, and news of him drinking naked spread, he would certainly have his already meager allowance reduced.

"I'm not a pervert."

His gaze was clear, which made Chisa feel a little embarrassed. Last night, she was provoked by Tokita-senpai's words and Iori's state at the time, which led her to mistakenly believe that he was also a pervert. But after thinking about it carefully, she felt that something was not right.

If they were really drinking together naked, would he really resist walking into his own store?

Just thinking about Iori's silly appearance made her want to sigh.

"Yes, yes, I believe you."

"You're just giving me the runaround."

Hachiman sighed. Justice will prevail. He didn't do it, so he didn't do it. He's innocent, no matter how you look at it.

"In junior high school, I once confessed my feelings to a girl..."

Why are you suddenly bringing this up?

“That girl was very gentle. At that time, I was a nobody in the class and had no friends. During a group activity, she and I were assigned to the same group. When I accidentally made a mistake with the research materials we needed, the other members of the group were all criticizing me, but she was the only one who would smile and comfort me.”

Hachiman continued with a heavy expression, downing the milk in his glass in one gulp and wiping his mouth.

"It was because of her gentleness that I mistakenly thought I had a chance, so I confessed to her when my junior year was almost over. But by then, she had already forgotten me."

"Huh, what's with this supernatural result?" Chisa was shocked. Normally, isn't the outcome of a confession either success or failure? She couldn't remember what happened.

"Later I found out that she was like that to everyone. During the group activity, she was just comforting a boy who was having a bad day because of her personality. She never remembered my name."

Hachiman gave a wry smile, his words carrying a hint of relief and ease.

"So, I won't embarrass myself again; it's a kind of pain that's hard to forget."

"……Feel sorry."

"fine."

Hachiman stood up and walked towards the door.

Chisa immediately stood up: "What are you going to do?"

"The weather is nice, and I want to go out for a walk. My sister has given me the task of jogging five kilometers every day, and she will be angry if I don't finish it."

He turned around and smiled faintly, then pushed open the door. A cold wind blew in from outside, making the three people on the floor shiver.

"Oh, the wine got spilled on me, what a waste."

One of them muttered something, turned over, and continued sleeping. The other two nodded and started snoring.

Chisa watched his retreating figure, her mood slightly downcast.

Did she do something wrong...?

Chapter 8: Mutual Attraction Between Perverts

The start of the academic year at Izu University.

Walking along the path strewn with fallen cherry blossoms, Hachiman was somewhat surprised. Although it was a school with a low deviation score, it had everything one would expect: a library, an indoor sports field, and even a swimming pool. It was truly worthy of being a school in a coastal city.

Is it because they're worried about someone going into the sea without permission and causing problems?

Huh? Why is there a bunch of people gathered up ahead? Are they looking at their classroom seats?

He peered into the crowd from the back, then his face froze.

In the open space directly in front of the lecture hall, three familiar figures were fast asleep, and they were even half-naked.

No wonder I didn't see them when I went back this morning. I thought they had woken up and gone home to have breakfast. Turns out they came here.

Amidst the chatter and the clicking of cameras, the hero—no, Kitahara Iori—murmured something, slowly opened his eyes, and sat up, stroking his head.