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Chapter 75 – End-of-the-Year Party
I was sitting on one of the benches in front of the station, freezing to death while waiting for Makoto. Thankfully, he came before I actually died. If he were five minutes late, the cold would freeze my body over like the mammoths of the Ice Age and the new intelligent life forms would look at my frozen body with curiosity, thousands of years later.
I stood up.
“Yo.”
“Stop, let’s get the hell out of here first, the cold is killing me.”
“Ah, right
 I wonder if everyone’s there already.”
“Tsuru should be there.”
The party would be held at a restaurant near the station, a few minutes walk from where we were at. It was scheduled to start at 5pm but, since I was a punctual person by nature, I decided to be there 15 minutes earlier.
We walked to the restaurant while doing what boys did the best, sh*t talking, and because of that, we arrived quickly.
I brushed the snow off the soles of my boots near the door and entered the restaurant.
“Welcome! How may I help you?”
“Um, we reserved a table under the name ‘Niwatari’.”
Hearing that, the employee took a glance at the reservation list, found the word ‘Niwatari’ there and showed us to our table.
When we got there, Tsuru and Arina were already sitting there.
“You guys are quick.”
“Of course I am, I’m the host!”
“Money.”
I expected Tsuru would be there, but I didn’t expect Arina at all.
Arina held her hand out, implying that she wouldn’t talk to us unless we gave her the money. What was she doing? Trying to be an AI who wouldn’t talk unless we insert a gold token or something? What a pain.
“Fine, here it is, for both me and Makoto. Record our names properly.”
Anyway, it seemed like she was the accountant. She gave a nod of confirmation and received our money.
What Arina was wearing, as expected, was pretty normal. She wore a milky white sweater and a pair of jeans. I couldn’t help but remember her eccentric appearance back when we went to the aquarium. Compared to that, she looked more natural. The sweater she was wearing emphasized her body line
 Wait, she noticed me staring, whoops

Tsuru, on the other hand, wore something that surprised me. Hoodie with blood-splattered pattern and messy alphabets. She looked like an American gangster, no cap. She looked like the kind of girl who would go to the toilet to sniff some crack. Let’s call the cops, just in case.
Anyway, if I were to stare at those two any longer, Arina would definitely kill me. Makoto and I moved away a little from those two girls and sat down.
“Look at Tsuru
”
“I know, right? She looks like a gangster.”
I decided to look at the menu until everyone else gathered. Sadly, there was no tomato juice in the drink section. I heard that there was an all-you-can-drink thing here, so I was hoping that I could drink as much tomato juice as I could, but we just couldn’t have nice things.
I hoped that the government would promote tomato juice more. It tasted better than coffee or black tea.
At that moment, Makoto came shouting at me ‘They have all-you-can-drink Sprite here!’, he said. What was he trying to pull? Bragging on a peasant like me who couldn’t even drink his favorite drink?
I felt blood rushing to my brain, my mind went blank and I started seeing things. No, really, I started seeing a can of tomato juice coming in my direction while riding a skate. Wait, I wasn’t seeing things, it was real tomato juice!
“You like those things, no?”
Muttered Arina while counting the money in her hands.
At that moment, my hatred toward Arina disappeared. She replaced the Greek Goddess Aphrodite as one of the Olympians in my eyes. Now she was Hiwa Arina, the Goddess of beauty. I clasped my hands together and thanked her.
“O Goddess, I thanketh thee
”
When he saw me, Makoto pretended that we were strangers while Arina and Tsuru completely ignored me and started talking with each other. This world was simply cruel. It just refused to let me say my thanks properly.
*   *   *
One after another, people gathered after us. When the clock reached exactly 5pm, everyone had already gathered.
There were 14 people in total. Most of them were mine and Arina’s classmates. Everyone ordered the drinks that they fancied and when the drinks arrived, the party finally began. By the way, I ordered grape juice, they said it was good for fatigue.
Tsuru stood up with a glass in her hand.
“First, thank you for coming, everyone! How is your winter break? Fun?”
Sleeping, watching TV, messing around with Ugin, an endless loop of repetitive activities. Yes, it was fun.
“I’m sure that everyone is having fun, unlike that guy in the corner over there, he’s probably wasting his time sleeping and rotting away like a zombie.”
“Incorrect! The day before yesterday, I was planting some trees in the Australian desert and danced with the Aboriginals! It was fun, you know?”
Actually, I was playing chess with Ugin during that time. I remembered losing once against her.
“Cheers!”
The speech was short and everyone toasted.
The clinking of the glasses became the sign of the start of the party.
Not long after, our meat arrived and I immediately grabbed some tongs to place the meat on the net.
“Oh, Sui, let me help you.”
“Thank you, Makoto. Place the veggies over there.”
Surrounding Makoto and I were Asakura Toma, the president of the journalism club, Miyazaki Shinji, the president of the art club and Meren Gento, a member of the tea ceremony club. Us five men were standing our grounds together.
“Next year is the last year of our high school life, huh?
”
Muttered Shinji as he looked at the sizzling meat.
“It is! So, have you decided on your career path, everyone?”
Asked Toma in an energetic voice.
“I’m going to an art college, in other words, I’ll be busy with exams next year
”
“Me too! I’ll enter a college so I could work for the media in the future!”
“I think I’ll take the liberal arts course in college
 I have no interest in tea ceremonies, by the way.”
“I wanna be a chef, so I’ll probably go to a vocational school
”
It seemed like everyone had decided on their goals in life. How envious, I didn’t even know what I was going to do with my life.
“What about you, Sui?”
“My parents want me to go to college, so I’ll do just that. I don’t know what I want to do there though
”
“Well, no rush, maybe you’ll find your life goals in college.”
“I hope so.”
After a while, the meat was finally done, so everyone began to shove them into their mouths with their chopsticks. A wave of ‘So tasty!’ echoed through our table as they shoved more meat into their mouths. Of course, I was no exception, but I started craving tomato juice while devouring the meat. Then, I remembered the tomato juice that Arina gave me earlier.
The faint smell of the tomato invaded my nostrils as I sipped it. The heavenly taste of the tomato made my whole body numb.
“Tasty!”
“I’m still amazed that you could drink that.”
“I treasure this more than my own life!”
I felt better after drinking the tomato juice. Following the momentum, I whispered something to Makoto.
“Do you want to sit next to Ruka?”
“Eh? H-How? You aren’t going to shove me into that group of girls, right?!”
“Leave it to me, I’ll come up with something.”
“
That sounds worrisome
”
“Put your faith in me!”
I didn’t wait for his reply and instead, I started racking my brain.
The current situation was pretty tough. On our side, there were Makoto and I, then Shinji, Toma and Gento in front of us. Right next to Makoto were Hiiragi Yuri, Namiki Shirona, Miyanaka Ran and Ruka. Between Makoto and Ruka, there were three people. To make them sit next to each other, I had to remove those three obstacles. A quite challenging objective if I might say so.
I had to look for a way where I could bring them together naturally. Think, Sakaki Sui, think! You are in your best condition right now! Right now, you could do seventy-digits multiplication and distinguish fifty different voices at once! You could win the high school quiz competition easily!
Then, revelation came to me.
I gripped the can in my hand and called out to Makoto.
“I’m going to seduce someone.”
“What?”
I stood up, climbed over Makoto, walked around and sat down next to Ruka. Instantly, the girls gave me a disgusted look.
“Howdy, Ruka-chan~ I see you’re as beautiful as usual~”
“
Thank you?”
Ruka seemed to understand my intention. Good job, Mimori Ruka, you sure were different from the other girls. Your intelligence was unparalleled, unlike that Arina girl who was looking at me like I was a gum in her shoes.
I continued.
“Anyway, Ruka-chan, what’s your favorite food? I’ll bring you to a nice restaurant sometime, what do you think?”
“
Uh, food?”
I think I asked the wrong question. I was just asking a random question, but it seemed like I confused her more than anything.
“Wait, Sui, why are you even hitting on Ruka?”
The gyaru, Tsuru asked me. All right, good, I need more commotion over here.
“Wait, Tsuru-kun. I’m talking to Ruka-chan right now, so can you stay out of this? Go outside and touch some grass, maybe.”
“You’re making the meat taste worse, so why don’t you go away, Sui? If possible, don’t ever show up in front of me again.”
“Leave me alone, Arina-kun. I only have Ruka-chan in my sight right now.”
Wow, it felt like I could do anything right now.
“Jeez
 Makoto, Sui is hitting on Ruka, come here!”
Alright, nice, Tsuru! Now Makoto can come here and sit here instead of me.
However, he seemed to be in a bad mood. Like the girls, his gaze was cold. I see, so this was how cancer cells felt when the antibiotics threatened their lives.
“Sui, move.”
Said Makoto coldly before shoving me away from Ruka.
This is fine

This was for my bud after all.
Everyone could treat me like a public enemy for all I care, it was worth it.
When I returned to my seat, the other boys welcomed me and for some reason, my plate was filled with meat.
“Good job, Sui
”
Shinji patted me on the shoulder, while Toma shook my hand and Gento brought me a cup of oolong tea.
“
Thank you, everyone
”
At that time, I realized. The world wasn’t so bad after all. As long as there was still friendship in this world, it was still a wonderful place to live in.
“Disgusting
”
Spat Arina after looking at us.