For day 4, the µ's war machine was in full force.
After Maki had been filled in on the occurrences of day 3, of course. She hadn't been too thrilled at all the ways the plan had gone sideways, but found complaining too much unnecessary. In the end, they had not been caught, Rin still didn't know what all this was about, everything was mostly fine.
"Eli, please tell me that your plan is going to succeed. We're three days in now, and I'm already surprised Rin hasn't caught on." Maki said.
"Don't worry, Maki. I have a plan that's absolutely foolproof. As expected from your senpai, right?" Eli replied.
Her boast was met by complete silence from the motley crew.
"Alright, so none of you think this will work, but just you wait until the end of the night. Just you wait."
"Eli-chan, you don't usually call me out to this bench at lunchtime, especially alone. What's up?" Rin asked.
Eli couldn't blame her for questioning strange requests a bit more than usual. Rin was visibly tired, with hints of bags under her eyes. There was pity in Eli's heart for the younger girl, but at this point, the 8 members of µ's participating in the plot against Rin were in too deep.
Also, Eli really liked the plan she had laid out for today, so she wasn't about to back out for petty emotions like mercy or compassion.
"Rin, I know you've been having a tiring go at things recently. Would you like to come to a get-together at my home after school? Alisa will be working on homework with Yukiho at the Kousaka Bakery today, so we will have the whole place to ourselves." Eli said.
Rin scratched her head a little before replying, not looking the most enthusiastic at being offered the chance to be harassed by µ's for a whole afternoon and evening.
"No offense, nya, but most of the reason I've been having trouble recently is because of you guys." She said.
"That's why we're having it at my house. I promise to keep the girls in check, and there's nothing already there that they can take advantage of to mess with you." Eli started.
She saw Rin relax a bit at her senpai's reassurances, so she knew her piece de resistance would be plenty effective.
"Also, we're going to making ramen together." Eli finished. Bait laid.
"Well why didn't you just say so, nya? I'll be there!" Rin said. Bait taken.
A critical error.
"Sounds good, Rin. I'll see you later today!"
As soon as the bubbly first-year walked out of sight, Eli turned towards a clump of bushes that had been recently erected. Extremely recently.
"You can come out now, girls. She fell for that one hook, line, and sphincter." She announced to the bushes which transformed themselves back into their constituents, Nozomi, Maki, and Kotori, with leafy branches taped to them. Despite the success, they seemed like they were really trying hard to hold in laughter. It had been a success, hadn't it?
"Elicchi, the proper expression is hook, line, and sinker. I just thought I'd let you know." Nozomi said as the other two couldn't hold it in anymore and broke down laughing. Eli reddened; she'd been in Japan quite a while now, she typically had flawless Japanese.
"If you think about it, when you catch a fish, the hook attached to the line pulls the fish up from the sphincter. That's where the hook attaches when you're pulling fish up. I'm not wrong!" She defended.
Her only response was three separate peals of laughter.
"Welcome, Rin. Please make yourself at home." Eli greeted her guest.
Rin walked in to see that the rest of µ's had already arrived, leaving her the last one. Her mind started setting off alarm bells, but having just arrived, it would be awkward for her to leave right away. Also, was that…?
"Hey Rin-chan! You're just in time. Me and Honoka-chan are about to start on the soup bases. Do you mind lending a hand?" Hanayo called out from the kitchen section of the apartment.
So much for turning tail and running. Oh well, if Rin was going to go out, going out while eating her favourite food wouldn't be half bad.
As the two first years got started on the food prep with Honoka, Rin cast a glance around the room. Nico and Nozomi were helping Eli with setting up the table, while Kotori, Umi, and Maki were setting up tea in the den area.
Quickly enough, Rin put all her focus into making the best ramen ever. Eli hadn't skipped on ingredients, so she wasn't going to skip out on effort!
Perhaps she should have skipped out on effort just a bit, as the table and tea were set quickly, which meant everyone else was sitting together in the den.
"Umi, Nico, have you two been filled in on what's going to happen tonight?" Maki asked quietly.
"Eli told us and Honoka when we came in. There's Nico-Nico-no way I'm missing this!" Nico exclaimed.
Maki had to look back at the kitchen quickly to make sure Rin hadn't heard anything to make her flee. Relieved, she turned back.
"Please, do not blow our cover until this event is over." She sighed.
After dinner, Rin was as relaxed as she had been all week so far. Nothing untoward had happened, and her guard had slipped lower and lower as the night went on. Believing Eli had been difficult, but if her stomach had anything to say about it, her trust was totally correctly placed.
"Now then, everyone. Back in Russia, after meals in winter, we would drink a little bit of alcohol to preserve the warmth in our bodies until we slept. Who would like to partake in this old tradition?" Eli asked the squad.
"Eli, none of us are of age. Are you sure this is a good idea?" Maki replied.
"Don't worry, I'm not asking any of you to drink a whole bottle or anything. Just enough to feel the warmth. A very small bit. Trust me, it's going to be enjoyable!" Eli exclaimed.
Hearing no more objections, she rose to grab a bottle and some shot glasses as Nozomi tidied up the tea set.
"Nozomi, do you mind helping me pour out some for everyone?" Eli asked her fellow third year.
"Why, help get everyone drunk? You can count on me!" Nozomi answered.
"That's not what I-that's… not what the intention is, but thank you?" Eli said.
As Nozomi brought the glasses, filled with small puddles of clear liquid, to the seated members of µ's, she handed them out to the first years first.
"Alright, Elicchi wanted to do this in some kind of order, so we're going youngest to oldest. Hanayo-chan, if you would start us off?" Nozomi said.
Hanayo took a long look at her shot glass. The plan, as explained by Eli in detail that morning, had been to get Rin, and Rin only, drunk enough to confess about whatever had been in her purse that faithful day earlier that week. She just had to trust that her senpais would give her something weak enough.
Come to think of it though, nobody had mentioned anything about limiting collateral damage at any point during this operation. Oh well. She just had to hope that she had a high inbuilt alcohol tolerance. But what if-?
Realizing the more time she had to think about the drink, the more she would overthink and scare Rin, Hanayo picked up the shot glass and downed the liquid in one quick, smooth motion.
It seemed as she had nothing to worry about though, as it just like burnt liquid sugar going down.
"We really have a future life-of-the-party type in you, don't we, Hanayo-chan?" Nozomi observed.
"Anyways, next up is you, Rin-chan," Nozomi said as she grabbed a second glass and placed it in front of Rin. "bottoms up!"
Rin had thought this would be the point where they would pull out some trickery, but seeing as Hanayo looked not even the slightest bit affected by her glass's contents, she allowed herself to relax and pick up her glass. Before throwing the liquid inside her mouth though, she was hit by the absolute smell of the alcohol.
"Nozomi-chan, you're sure this is completely fine, right?" Rin asked her senpai.
"Of course it is, Rin-chan. You just saw how Hanayo-chan downed hers, right? It's not that strong as alcohol goes." Nozomi assured her.
With one final glance at Hanayo, who gave her a thumbs-up for encouragement, Rin fixed her gaze onto her glass, emulated her best friend, and downed the contents of the glass in one fell swoop.
And oh GOD that burned. Ow, ow, ow, owwwww. How had Hanayo managed to not be affected at all? Rin tried to turn back to the girl to see if she could find any tells on just how much that burned her, but as she tried to turn her head, the room turned in the opposite direction.
Then the reverse direction,
Then the opposite direction again.
Then she couldn't tell up, down, left, or right were anymore.
'Eli-chan, since when were the lights orange?' Rin mumbled as she passed out.
The rest of µ's looked at their fallen teammate in horror. Most of them had assumed Eli's offering would be a light sake or white wine, but to knock her out…
Eli noticed that the conscious members of µ's were looking for the container of the spirit that had felled their friend. More accurately, she noticed everyone but Nozomi looking for it. Her fellow senior had been over to her home before, and knew exactly what Rin had been given.
"Eli-chi," Nozomi began in her saccharine sweet someone-is-in-major-trouble voice,
"Why did you decide to feed our cute little junior Moskovskaya vodka?"
'i knew she was light in weight, but I couldn't have guessed she'd be such a lightweight!' Eli defended.
"Eli, she's 15. Papa's told me of 25 year old interns who would pass out from the smallest amounts of vodka." Maki retorted.
"Then why didn't you stop me?" Eli asked.
She was answered by a pur from near her legs; Rin had flopped onto Eli as the vodka obliterated her consciousness, and was currently performing her best impression of a cat curled around its owner under a kotatsu.
Not the most inaccurate simile Maki had ever thought of.
"How was I supposed to know you were giving her actual vodka? I thought it would have just been a placebo!" She said.
"Um, Maki-Chan, you're the one who's the heiress of a family of doctors, not Eli. None of us are scientists either. No one else would think of something like that." Hanayo cut in, gently.
Even saying that, though, she also wondered how Eli had managed to feed Rin actual vodka. Wasn't that illegal…? Actually, had she been fed vodka as well? Is that what vodka was?
How had Eli acquired the spirit anyways? She was Russian, so it was prevalent in her culture, but she was still a third-year high schooler in Japan, more than a few years too young to be allowed to purchase any alcoholic drinks, Maki thought. She took one look over at the blonde, noticed a complete lack of remorse in her expression, despite what should have been a looming threat in Nozomi, and figured that she didn't really care to pry.
Nozomi had been reading Hanayo's intentions to become a fine purveyor of vodka, and put a stop to that train of thought right away.
"Hanayo-chan, in case you were wondering, what you had was rice wine. Not nearly as alcoholic as what she had."
"Oh, that's good to know" Hanayo squeaked. She didn't think it had been that obvious that she had been considering making vodka her only sustenance for the near future, but Nozomi was sharp. She gave a silent thanks to her senpai for steering her away from the dark side.
"A-anyways..! We need to take care of Rin, who knows what that vodka could have done to her!" Maki exclaimed, pointing at Rin who was doing her best impression of a cat emoticon.
"Maki, look at her," Nozomi said as she also pointed at the girl in question, blissfully passed out, "she's fine. All we need to do is get her into her bed to sleep it off."
"Nozomi's right, we just need to hide the body!" Kotori chimed in.
"Kotori, while that phrase is technically correct, the connotations are not exactly the best, or most applicable." Umi chided her.
Kotori responded by beaming at her friend.
"Alright, let's go over the plan again. When her mom asks what happened, we explain that… Does anyone have any suggestions on what possible cover we could use?" Maki asked.
She had gone to Rin's house along with Hanayo, Kotori, and Nozomi to try to sneak Rin into her bed, but despite vast discussion on the long walk over, there had been no concrete excuse agreed upon.
"Ooh! I got it! We say she conked her head as she was leaving!" Kotori suggested.
"Her mom is going to question why we didn't lay her down instead to avoid jostling her. There must be a better option." Maki refuted.
"Don't worry, girls. Leave this to me." Nozomi said as she gathered them all in a huddle to discuss her plan.
"That just might work, Nozomi."
At this point, Rin had been unconscious for the better part of half an hour now, but she was rudely awakened by Nozomi's hands violently attacking her. As she sat up to scream, she was muffled by a hand covering her mouth courtesy of Kotori. After the initial panic had worn off and she realized she was in familiar, if slightly unwelcome company, she made an attempt to stand up fully.
Only to instantly have her vision replaced by stars dancing around her periphery, even with her eyes closed.
"Rin-chan, take it easy! I don't know if you remember, but you drank some pretty strong stuff." Hanayo said as she braced her friend.
"Anyways, Rin, now that you're up, we need you to be lucid enough so that we can guide you to your room. Just answer whatever questions your mom asks and we will be fine. Can you do that?" Maki asked.
"I'll try, nya. I feel really, really wobbly though." Rin answered. She was also visibly, to Maki, swaying. But as the kids say, #YoLo.
Granted, her one life was going to be significantly shortened if Rin's mom cast any doubts on the whole operation, but still. This was their best plan, so it would have to work.
Kotori bit the bullet and volunteered herself as Minami Kotori, Ringer of Doorbell, as the rest of their small crew got themselves into position. The bell reverberated for what felt like an eternity until someone finally answered the door.
"Oh Rin-chan, and all your friends too! We weren't expecting visitors so late, but please, do come in!" Rin's mom greeted.
If she noticed anything off with her daughter's disheveled appearance or had any inclination to punish the girl, she showed no signs of it. Of course, having once been a young person in her youth, she figured she knew more or less what had happened, (and she wasn't wrong.) but if Rin's friends were responsible and kind enough to carry her intoxicated daughter home after a round of drinking, she wasn't about to cause a scene. Rin would have been bound to experiment at some point anyways, and this seemed like it had been quite a good environment for it.
"Thank you, Mrs. Hoshizora. If you don't mind, we'll have to all return home soon after we drop Rin off, so we won't be able to stay too long." Nozomi said, taking the lead for their group. She couldn't believe their luck, but they were almost there. Just a few more steps.
"No worries, ladies. Please make yourselves at home for however brief you decide to stay." Mrs. Hoshizora answered.
With the express consent of the Hoshizora matriarch, the band of four worked together to covertly prop Rin up as she stumbled her way to her room. Once there, Hanayo set about removing her friend's coat and shoes, trying to leave her with as comfortable of sleepwear as possible.
"Rin, before we go, we have a few things to say to you." Nozomi started as she watched Hanayo undress her friend for bed.
"We felt we should explain to you what we've been doing to you over the course of the week," Maki continued.
"It might feel like some of the members of µ's were plotting against you, and that's cause we kinda were. The chase on Sunday wasn't an isolated incident. Nozomi forcefully attacking you yesterday, Eli getting you drunk today, even the loss of your chopsticks on Monday due to Hanayo, the perpetrators of these events had a singular, shared motive." Kotori added.
"This was all just to find out what you had in your purse on Sunday, at the park, but in the end, we didn't even manage to do that, despite all the trouble we caused you. Sorry, Rin-chan." Hanayo said, laying Rin down onto her futon.
The three of them had been anticipating some sort of strong reaction. Some yelling, physical assault as retribution, or anything else of that sort. Instead, all they got was a lazy yawn. It seemed that a capacity to react calmly to events was a gene that featured prominently in the Hoshizora lineage.
"Kayo-chin, why didn't you just ask? It was a fitness tracker." Rin mumbled in reply, already drifting into sleep.
Hanayo thought about that for a second, then another. She probably should really have just asked, instead of going along with all the crazy plans their friends had come up with. Rin wouldn't have had anything to hide from her, anyways. She committed this thought to memory as she finished tucking Rin in. So much frantic action could have been avoided if she had just asked. She had half a mind to lie down right there and curl up into a ball. These past few days had not been easy on any of them.
The other three in the room thought about it as well, but came to a very different conclusion. Over the past few months, µ's had gotten close, but probably not close for asking for the info on something like this to be straightforward and non-awkward. Given the chance, would they go through this whole song and dance again?
Absolutely.
After the four of them had left with Hanayo shutting the door, Rin heard a vibration from her purse. Groggily reaching in, she cast her arm around until her fingers closed on a small, egg-shaped object, which had been the only thing in the bag besides her phone and money, ever since the previous week. Pulling out her Tamagotchi, the source of the vibration, she noticed that her virtual pet had simply indicated that it had gone to sleep. Satisfied with her little alien's current status, she swiftly followed suit.
A/N: Well it sure has been a while. Year and a half or something like that? Oops.
Shoutout to B99 for giving me a gag, I wonder if you can spot it?
Fun Fact #1: Instead of spill the beans, I almost wrote spit the beans. Good thing I looked it up first.
Fun Fact #2: This story was going to be 6 chapters long, but my outline for the last 2 was super rough so I just cut it off here, with a double length finale.
Fun Fact #3: Count all the times Honoka appears in this one. I didn't notice until near the end of writing, but by then it was too late.
Thanks go out to everyone who's been waiting for this to update. I went through some stuff, lost my creativity, and only now it's back because I'm procrastinating on my learning.
Until the next one, see ya.