"Cheers!" x5

The 5 members of the LycoReco cafe clinked their drink glasses before each of them took drinks of varying sizes; Kurumi took a small sip of her chamomile tea while Mizuki emptied her wine glass in a single swig.

"Are you sure you should be drinking that much?"

Mizuki rolled her eyes at Takina, responding in a careless tone.

"What's the issue? I'm 27, so it's perfectly fine, isn't it?"

"You haven't eaten anything at all today, so it would be best to temper yourself, no?"

"Don't be so controlling- ah, wait, the food!"

Mizuki got up with a start, causing Takina to flinch, nearly falling out of her seat. Chisato, for her part, seemed to be putting on the performance of a lifetime, her warm smile practically lighting up the room as Takina could've sworn she saw a halo atop Chisato's head. Her goal?

"Can I have some booze too, Teach?"

"That's illegal and you know it. Just wait until you're old enough."

Kurumi's eyes darted from a slightly anxious Takina to Chisato and Mika. The 2 of them seemed to be playing a game of 'keep away'. Chisato kept trying to grab the wine bottle from Mika who skillfully moved it out of reach every time. Takina, for her part, seemed to be worried about being too overbearing towards Mizuki. Kurumi simply laughed briefly before taking another sip of her tea.

"C'mon, just one taste!"

"I've already said that you're too young."

Chisato sat down, crossing her arms and letting out a huff, her lips forming a pout.

"I don't get it. If we're allowed to shoot and kill people, we should be old enough to get sloshed…"

"You don't kill though?"

Kurumi and Mika both chuckled as Chisato made a 'shush'-ing motion towards Takina.

"Food's here!"

Takina turned towards Mizuki with a smile.

"Thank you, Mizu-"

Takina's expression fell as she saw Mizuki on her way there carrying various food items along with…

"You brought back the poop parfaits?!"

Chisato exclaimed this with a massive grin on her face as Mizuki wore an equally wide, much more smug smile. Takina, on the other hand, put her head down on the table prompting Chisato to put her own head down beside Takina, crooning in a sultry voice, the tempo of her words swinging back and forth as she spoke.

"Cheer up, Ta-ki-na! We're celebrating my return, aren't we? Besides, there's a bunch of other foods and your parfait still tastes amazing."

Takina slowly turned her head over to face Chisato with a slight pout.

"Really?"

"Mmm, mmm! Really!"

Chisato's incessant nodding seemed to return some energy into Takina who sat up and began shakily extending the for to the parfait.

"Ok then…"

"H-hey, I didn't say you had to eat the parfait! I just said that you should be proud of it!"

"By the way, what's with the necklaces?"

Chisato and Takina both looked at Kurumi, then down at their chests to see two seemingly cheap necklaces which looked as if they were purchased from a convenience store. Takina looked up and began to speak

"Oh, we decided to get these to commemorate- mmph!"

Takina's eyebrows raised as Chisato clamped her hand over her mouth.

"I-it was to commemorate my return! Hehehe…"

Kurumi looked between the 2 of them with a look of skepticism before shrugging and taking a piece of pork cutlet.

###

"Heyyy… Why is the room spinning, ehehe…"

Mizuki was lying on Mika's shoulder, her face red with alcohol as she stared off into the ceiling.

"C'mon, Teach! Mizuki can't be the only one who gets to get hammered today!"

"I told you, no. I only have so many shoulders."

Chisato crossed her arms before her pout turned into a more playful look as she whispered to Takina:

"Sheesh. After Hawaii, I am 100% taking us to Germany and I'm gonna go to the first bar I see and drink until I drop."

Takina wondered what a drunk Chisato would look like. An image of red-faced Chisato begging to be carried home, or one whose hands would go just about everywhere they weren't supposed to, or maybe one that would go even further all popped up in Takina's mind, causing one thought to resound through her head:

Scary.

Still though, seeing the complete state of joy that Mizuki appeared to be in caused conflicting thoughts in Takina's mind. Who knows? Maybe having a drink with Chisato could be a rather enjoyable experience. This thought was, however, interrupted by Chisato making another advance towards the wine bottle. Mika put his hand down on the table, speaking in a calm, yet firm voice.

"That's enough. You should be home by now."

"Eh? But it's only-"

Chisato's look of defiance was wiped off of her face as she looked at the clock, her lips thinning. Mika looked at the clock as well before finishing her sentence.

"-5 am. C'mon, you should turn in already. Your flight leaves tomorrow."

"...Fine."

Before leaving the room, however, Chisato walked up to Takina with an innocent grin on her face.

She's definitely up to something.

Chisato leaned into Takina, causing Takina's cheeks to go slightly pink before whispering:

"Are you sure you don't want to join my futon?"

Takina's face flushed before she placed her hands over her mouth and sheepishly shook her head.

"Alright then! Let me know if you're ever interested, Ta-ki-na-chan~"

After Chisato left, there were a few minutes of deafening silence before Mizuki loudly broke it.

"What the hell was that display?!"

"I-it was nothing-"

"'Nothing' my ass! She walks off with that coy smile and you're gonna tell me that it's nothing! Something's going on here!"

"I-I swear, it wasn't anything-"

Takina was looking to Kurumi for help but unfortunately for her, Kurumi seemed just as incensed and her face was just as red. Takina noticed an empty wine glass at her seat before realizing:

They're both blackout drunk!

"I knew that something was going on when I saw those necklaces! You guys are 100% a couple! Jeez, you were so obvious! I knew something would happen after Chisato ran off after you!"

"That's not… I mean…"

Takina now turned to Mika who merely chuckled to himself, an empty shot glass of spirits confirming her worst fears:

Our manager's a lightweight! How'd I get trapped between all these drunks?

"I guess I'll be having a daughter-in-law soon…"

"H-hey, that's not what I… I mean… uh… I've gotta head to bed, bye-"

"You're not leaving until you give us the scoop!"

Takina sheepishly sat back down in her seat, red-faced but still relatively clear-headed.

"I-if you must know, then…"

###

"Yeah? And what happened after that?" - Kurumi

Takina was no longer clear-headed.

"W-well… I kissed her."

Takina's face had been completely red for the past 5 minutes as she recounted the events of the evening. Mika and Kurumi had remained mostly silent, but that only meant more time for Mizuki to interject and embarrass Takina even further.

"This isn't fair! How come I try all my life to get a boyfriend and you just come in and take Chisato?"

Takina cleared her throat, ignoring Mizuki's comment.

"A-anyways, after that, she said she wanted to get matching necklaces…"

"So, that's what happened after the 2 of you ran off to the park together?"

Takina raised an eyebrow.

"How did you… did you watch us with a drone?!"

"A hacker never reveals their secrets~"

Takina was about to tackle a smug-faced Kurumi to the ground before her thoughts were interrupted by Mizuki.

"You're turning our vacation into a honeymoon…"

If Takina's blush had receded at all from offering the idea of the vacation, it returned in full force from Kurumi and Mizuki's comment.

"I-it's not a honeymoon and we're not getting married yet…"

Takina had all but lost the ability to speak, prompting Kurumi to fill the silence instead.

"In any case, I have been looking to try some games on american servers and while I would prefer the mainland, I guess this is the best I'll get for now."

Mika nodded in agreement.

"I think that the trip will be a nice change of pace. Mizuki? Thoughts?"

"I think that Hawaii will be fun."

"You're just thinking about the hot guys you can meet-"

Kurumi was cut off by Mizuki knocking her on the head with a platter.

By this point, Takina had somewhat regained her speech, even giving a giggle at Mizuki and Kurumi's exchange. Mizuki, however, had a look of realization before leaned forward as if examining Takina.

"Wait… If you two are dating, then doesn't that mean that Chisato was telling the truth about the underwear that one time?"

"What on earth do you mean-"

And then Takina's blush came back with a vengeance.

"T-that's not- We weren't dating back then!"

Kurumi jumped on the opportunity to tease Takina a little.

"Oh? So, the 2 of you were already in a relationship where you share underwear?"

"You guys share underwear?! So if I look right now, then-"

Mizuki tried to flip up Takina's skirt before getting a clean right hook in the side of the head from Takina who ran off to her room.

"I'm going home now!"

Kurumi stared at Mizuki's limp frame on the ground for a few moments before muttering out:

"You deserved that."

"I know…"

She apologized in the morning.