Facing the familiar device, Kamishiro trembled. He just couldn't stay calm.
He suddenly realized
This thing was even scarier than a damn sledgehammer!
"Uh… this thing's just a toy, you know? It's not accurate."
He reached out, trying to grab the lie detector before it was used.
But someone beat him to it.
Azusa-nee picked it up, examining it curiously.
"A lie detector, huh? Never tried one. How does it work?"
Seeing her interest, Iori eagerly explained,
"It detects changes in heart rate. When the pointer swings all the way to the right, it releases a small electric shock. That means the person is lying!"
Hearing this, Azusa's eyes lit up. She looked genuinely interested.
This made Kamishiro panic even more. He laughed awkwardly,
"Haha, it's really just a toy. Totally unreliable."
He tried again to snatch it from her.
But sadly…
Azusa-nee was no fool. She saw right through his panic.
She playfully swatted his hand away and teased,
"Kamishiro, you seem really nervous. Is there… something you're hiding~?"
The moment her words landed, two hands pinned Kamishiro to his seat.
Kiyoko: "Ooh, this sounds fun. Never tried something this high-tech~"
Sakurako: "I've got tons of questions I want to ask Kamishiro~"
(.-＿-.)
Kamishiro slumped in defeat, leaning helplessly against the softness of the two women.
Yep.
He was done for. No point resisting anymore.
This mixer… was way too hostile toward him.
He could already see it now:
He was either going to be electrocuted, drowned by Yamamoto's gang, or beaten to a pulp by Kiyoko and Sakurako.
Just as despair was overtaking him, Iori's voice rang out again:
"Of course, this is a mixer. So let's start with some mixer-related questions~"
"The first question is: 'Is there someone present tonight that you like?'"
BANG!
The loud sound drew everyone's attention. Kamishiro, who had just been resigned to his fate, suddenly sprang to life, eyes full of gratitude as he looked at Iori.
Kitahara!
True brother!
I'll send you those 30 AV titles right after this is over!
As long as the questions were set—Kamishiro wasn't afraid!
Was there someone present he liked?
Of course! There were four of them, in fact!
From Iori's side came a reassuring look, as if to say,
"Leave the battlefield to me."
"Wait, can't we change the question?" Azusa asked. This one was way too obvious. As far as she knew, only Chisa could safely say "no," right?
Wait a sec…
Could Chisa really say "no" with a straight face?
Now she was curious~
In response, Iori smiled and said,
"There's still plenty of time. Let's take it slow."
Azusa nodded, resting her chin on her hands as she turned toward Kamishiro. Her eyes sparkled with anticipation.
Would Kamishiro survive this long night?
"Since everyone agrees, then the first question—"
Just as Iori was about to begin, three hands suddenly landed on his shoulder.
"Please change the question to: 'Besides Kamishiro, is there anyone else here you like?'" ×3
(???)
Iori turned and looked at the pervert trio with dead fish eyes.
So… what the hell are these guys expecting?
He sighed, got everyone's consensus, and officially changed the question to the beast trio's suggestion.
As he saw the three idiots grinning ear to ear, Iori's own smile deepened.
Laugh, go ahead and laugh. Your good days are over.
And Kamishiro—enjoy your long, loooong night.
Chisa: ???
She looked at Iori, whose body was twitching oddly, and quietly sipped her drink.
That guy… was having another episode again.
Kohei: When is this over? I wanna go home and watch anime. Can I just leave now?
...
"Well then, I'll go first! Aside from Kamishiro… yes, there is!"
Azusa placed her hand on the lie detector without hesitation. Her answer instantly boosted the pervert trio's confidence.
They tugged at their shirts, each trying to show off their muscular bodies.
After all, big-sis types always fall for manly men, right?
Yamamoto: "Whoa, I didn't think it'd actually be true!"
Nojima: "Poor Kamishiro, seriously."
Fujiwara: "Then who she likes is already obvious, isn't it?"
(???)
Kamishiro silently sipped his beer as he watched the Beast Trio getting all worked up. Sometimes, he really envied them.
Living without brains and full of narcissism must mean life is pretty carefree.
Unlike the trio, Azusa's words left Nanaka, who was beside her, utterly dumbfounded her eyes practically turned into spirals.
Azusa... liked someone other than Kamishiro?!
Did their relationship fall apart or something?!
Also, why didn't Kamishiro look even remotely surprised?!
Before Nanaka could piece it together, Azusa eagerly shoved the lie detector in front of her.
Azusa: "Nanaka, hurry up and try it! I can't wait any longer!"
She couldn't wait to get to Chisa's turn!
Nanaka: "Eh, well, then…"
Nanaka's cheeks turned slightly red as she glanced nervously at Chisa. Would Chisa even notice?
Wait… does this count as a confession?
Bang!
Before Chisa could respond, the Beast Trio suddenly leapt to their feet in excitement.
"Gotham has descended!"
"The Joker is here!"
"Kamishiro has turned into the Joker!"
Their faces were twisted with creepy smiles and mockery as they looked proudly at Kamishiro.
The Joker himself.
"..."
Kamishiro didn't say a word—he just calmly put his arms around Kiyoko and Sakurako's shoulders.
He had absolutely no clue what kind of expressions these virgins were making.
"Hmph!" ×2
Kiyoko and Sakurako snorted, but they generously allowed Kamishiro to keep his arms around them without batting them away.
Seeing this,
The Beast Trio turned green with envy again.
Why is this guy's harem so stable?!
Shouldn't he have been torn to pieces already for being such a scumbag?!
Yamamoto and the others were baffled, maybe they should become his disciples.
Chisa: "No."
While the others were busy mocking Kamishiro, Chisa finished her lie detector round.
Yep.
A ruthless answer and it was the truth.
The Beast Trio looked at Iori with the saddest eyes imaginable.
Look, another Joker is born.
Noticing their gazes, a vein popped on Iori's forehead.
He forced a smile as he stared at them, internally roaring:
"HA?! What kind of eyes are those, you bastards?! DIE DIE DIE! JUST GO DIE ALREADY!"
Right now, Iori wanted nothing more than to skip over Aina's turn and start purging the scumbags.
Meanwhile, the lie detector had made its way into Aina's hands.
Holding it, her face blushed with shyness and she stammered uncontrollably.
"Uh… um…"
(λ?_??)
"Say it, say it~"
Kiyoko teased from the side. If she didn't care about her best friend's embarrassment, she would've pushed her to confess right then and there.
So naive~
Already in college, still playing out a middle school crush.
Sakurako also turned to look at Aina. Thanks to her bond with Kiyoko and their shared diving experience, she was pretty familiar with Aina.
She never expected this "little girl" to have someone in her heart. Her feelings were as innocent as her appearance.
Sakurako couldn't even remember the last time she saw someone dealing with a crush.
Middle school, maybe?
Aina: "Um… yes!"
The moment Aina said it, Kamishiro and Kohei both turned to look at Kitahara.
In return, they saw Iori's dumb face as he drank.
Iori: |????????)
Want some?
"Sigh…" ×2
Seeing Iori like that, the two let out deep sighs. The love journey of a monster was clearly a long one.
Meanwhile, Kiyoko and Sakurako—both fairly experienced in love (meaning they spent three years in high school clinging to Kamishiro)—immediately locked eyes on Iori.
Kiyoko didn't think much of it. He did seem like the type her best friend might like, especially since Aina had previously mentioned she didn't care much about looks.
But Sakurako looked completely stunned!
As a part-time coworker of Iori, she had some idea what he was like…
Nothing too crazy overall, but he did constantly do weird stuff.
Like goofing off in the store or serving drinks in the most ridiculous ways…
She couldn't believe the sweet girl-next-door liked him?!
Wait… doesn't he already have a girlfriend?!
Realizing this, the two girls started shifting their gazes between Chisa and Aina.
They wore an expression like they'd just discovered kindred spirits.
Chisa: Why are they staring at me? I don't like Kamishiro!
As for Kiyoko and Sakurako, no lie detector test was even necessary—they were practically glued to Kamishiro already.
If anything, they might just lie on purpose and use Kamishiro to conduct electricity to zap the other girl.
The vibe on the girls' side turned weird after Aina's confession.
Meanwhile, on the guys' side…
Yeahhhh!!!
They'd already started celebrating. After all, this round excluded Kamishiro.
And Kitahara already had a girlfriend—although she clearly stated she didn't like anyone present.
But whatever—he's off the table!
Kohei?
Kohei was even easier to rule out. The guy's a stinking otaku with zero understanding of the joys of real life.
Which means… the remaining candidates are just the three of them!
The Beast Trio broke into smug, confident grins.
All three unconsciously had the same thought:
"Among the remaining guys… I'm definitely the most handsome!"
Maybe I'll be the next Kamishiro!
Surrounded by girls on both arms!
With that in mind, their grins turned more and more pervy, and they began thanking Kitahara.
Yamamoto: "Thanks, Kitahara!"
Fujiwara: "All thanks to you!"
Nojima: "You truly are a lifelong bro!"
Watching these beasts, Kamishiro and the other two couldn't help but feel emotional.
They'd been hanging out with this trio for half a year, and this was the first time they'd ever seen them look so genuinely happy.
It was so… disgusting they almost puked!
Iori had had enough and activated the internal voice chat.
Iori: It's time to take these guys out!
Kamishiro: Agreed!
Kohei: That was sudden…
Iori: Of course! I promised I'd organize a group hangout, but I never promised they'd make it back alive!
Kamishiro: As expected of you!
Kamishiro gave him a thumbs up. As always, Kitahara was just as scheming and scummy as ever.
Elsewhere—
Nojima was already trying the lie detector. To show off his "humor," he jokingly said:
Nojima: "Ah, there's no one I like here… Just joking! AH—OW!"
Before he could finish, a searing pain hit his hand and then… complete numbness.
Bang!
Watching their buddy drop like a rock, Fujiwara and Yamamoto blinked in stunned silence.
"Eh…?"
"Nojima?"
As one of the bastards tripped the trap, Iori's lips curled into a smile.
"Ah, by the way, just for fun—if any of you bastards lie, it delivers 200 volts of electricity~"
"WHAT?!"
The two survivors stared at Iori in horror.
What kind of devil is this guy?!
Smack~
Right on cue, the devil patted Fujiwara on the shoulder.
"You're up next~"
"Are you kidding me?!"
There's no way he's trying that torture device.
However—
A devil whispered in his ear, "As long as you're not lying, it's fine. Besides, the ladies wouldn't like a buzzkill of a man, right~?"
"You bastard!"
Fujiwara gritted his teeth. It had come to this, and now how was he supposed to refuse?
He swallowed hard as he looked at the lie detector in front of him, constantly reassuring himself in his head:
Just don't lie, just don't lie!
But—
The moment he placed his hand on the device, he felt a critical hit to his rear!
"OHHHHHH!!!"
Zap zap zap~
No surprise at all—Fujiwara followed in Nojima's footsteps, toppling over as stiff as a board.
Behind him stood Kamishiro, who somehow produced a broom from somewhere and was making a sword-sheathing motion.
"Secret technique! Millennium Strike - First Form!"
Across the way, Kiyoko and Sakurako blushed at the sight of Kamishiro's movements, instinctively sitting up straight and muttering, "Pervert!"
Hearing this accidentally, Azusa couldn't help showing a knowing smile.
Kamishiro sure knows how to have fun~
On the boys' side, Kamishiro turned to Yamamoto with a sunny smile and patted his shoulder. "You're the last one~"
Yamamoto backed away in horror, "Who the hell wants to play this game?! Even if I was going to—uhh..."
Bang!
Watching Yamamoto completely lose consciousness, Iori casually dropped him to the ground like he was tossing out hazardous waste.
"So damn noisy."
Just earlier, while Kamishiro had distracted Yamamoto, Iori used pure brute force—smashing Yamamoto's head into the lie detector.
Turns out, that was very effective!
After finishing, Iori even peeled off his rubber gloves and tossed them onto Yamamoto's twitching body.
Kohei, standing nearby, looked a little weirded out.
This scene... it's straight out of a hentai plotline...
Ignoring Kohei's urge to comment, Iori grabbed hold of Kamishiro, who had been trying to escape.
With a bright smile, he turned to everyone and said, "Thanks so much, everyone. The mixer's over now. We'll take the trash out ourselves—this guy is all yours."
Saying that, he handed Kamishiro over to Kiyoko and Sakurako.
Σ(っ °Д °;)っ
"Kitahara, you bastard! You can't just do this to me! I'm not paying for this!"
That's thirty full AVs! No way Kitahara wouldn't be tempted by that!
But Iori just shrugged indifferently. "Whatever. I'll just head to your room later and grab some at random."
After all, Azusa has a spare key to the Kamishiro house.
!!!
Kamishiro's eyes widened in disbelief. "You bastard! Scum! How can you do this?!"
Seeing Kitahara's smug and mocking expression
He finally understood. All of today's events had been planned by this bastard from the start!
What a devious man!
Iori placed the lie detector in front of Kamishiro with a smirk. "Have a nice night~"
That expression… Even Kiyoko and Sakurako wanted to punch him.
How is this guy liked by two cute girls?!
Wait scratch that. Only one. His girlfriend just said she didn't like him.
Actually, zero!
The two girls suddenly had the urge to set Kamishiro free and test Aina instead.
But the opportunity was rare might as well test Kamishiro first!
They could get Aina later…
"Hold it! You can't just run off like that~"
Just as Iori was about to walk off triumphantly, Azusa spoke up.
There was a trace of mischief in her sparkling eyes.
"Iori, you haven't taken the test yet~"
She glanced meaningfully at the lie detector on the table. She had lots of questions for Iori, too.
"Eh? Me?"
Iori pointed at himself. "Even if you make me play, it's meaningless, right?"
He could just answer "yes" or "no" and be done.
"Come on~ just try it."
Azusa winked and shifted her gaze toward Kamishiro.
"Well, in that case..."
Without hesitation, Iori placed his hand on the lie detector. Just as he was about to answer
A hand clamped down tightly on his own.
Kamishiro had suddenly "teleported" beside Iori, his face twisted in a wicked grin.
"This is way too boring. How about we eliminate Nanaka nee and Azusa nee from the choices, hmm?"
Aina: "Eh?!!"
The sudden twist left Aina stunned. Why is this getting so intense at the end?!
Afraid people might see through her, she immediately ducked her head.
Little did she know—
Almost everyone here already knew the truth.
Only the two innocent sisters and one dumbass (the main guy himself) were still clueless.
"Ha! Nice one, Kamishiro!"
Azusa laughed out loud. Her glance at Kamishiro just now was meant to increase the difficulty for Iori!
Although it wasn't the question she really wanted answered, there was plenty of time later~
Now that the six options had been reduced to just two, Iori stood frozen.
Of course, what surprised him wasn't the narrowed choices—
It was the question itself.
The answer should be obvious—if the two older sisters were ruled out, then the answer was no, right?
So what was the point of asking it?
Was there a trick?!
Based on his understanding of Kamishiro, his good ol' childhood friend wouldn't do something pointless.
But…
Iori cast a suspicious glance at Chisa and Aina. He couldn't figure out what the trap was.
Whatever!
He wasn't Kamishiro—he didn't have to deal with a harem warzone.
Without the looming threat of a giant hammer, lying was easy as pie.
He could be perfectly calm!
With that thought, Iori was about to say "yes" when his eyes caught Kohei standing nearby.
Wait a sec!
What if Kamishiro had thought of that?
What if he'd anticipated Iori's answer?!
The more Iori thought about it, the more he believed it was possible. Especially considering Azusa's earlier behavior clearly, Kamishiro's move was her idea.
Azusa knew about his and Chisa's true relationship. So if he answered "yes" now…
Everyone would assume he was with Kohei!
The misunderstanding would go nuclear!!!
Cold sweat began to bead on Iori's forehead.
Phew! That was close!
He'd almost walked right into their trap!
Such a clever setup…
Too bad I figured it out!
Iori grinned confidently and said firmly, "No!"
Hearing his answer, Kamishiro let go and turned to the others. "He said 'no'~"
At that moment, Aina, still with her head down, had a flicker of disappointment in her eyes but it vanished quickly.
No!
That means he doesn't like Chisa! There's still hope!
Kiyoko, who understood her best friend too well, silently gave her a thumbs-up.
A veteran of self-consolation right here.
As nothing else happened, Iori laughed smugly, "Now I can finally leave—"
"IORI——!"
A wave of killing intent surged toward him!
Terrified, Iori turned to find the source—and saw Nanaka's hair rising like a demon queen in a TV drama, waving despite no wind.
"So you're saying… you don't like Chisa either?"
Σ(っ °Д °;)っ
WTF—there's another layer to this?!
Iori's eyes flew wide open, and when he saw Nanaka's face, he realized
She didn't know the truth about him and Chisa. She still thought they were actually dating!
He just walked right into a landmine!
Wait a sec... didn't Chisa also say 'no' earlier?!
Nanaka-san, you can't be this double-standard!
Clearly—
In her heart, Iori never stood a chance against Chisa.
Kamishiro watched with gleeful malice as their team's former "master strategist" was dragged away.
"Hmph~"
He let out a dismissive snort. Playing mind games?
Looks like she hadn't been tricked enough when she was a kid~
But to be fair… he didn't really win either!
(っ╥╯﹏╰╥c)
Kamishiro looked at the remaining few people at the table with teary eyes.
Now, only Azusa, Kiyoko, and Sakurako were left.
Just now, when Iori had been dragged away, the Kohei trio, afraid of being collateral damage, had already relocated to drink somewhere else.
Seeing that only the four of them were left, Azusa quickly pushed the lie detector in front of Kamishiro, her eyes practically glowing with gossipy excitement.
"Come on, come on, Shiro!"
"Sigh…"
Kamishiro let out a long sigh. No matter how many times he heard that nickname, it always sounded like someone was calling for a dog…
He put his hand on the lie detector, filled with despair, just hoping... that the questions to come would be a bit kinder.
But he was too hopeful.
Once the extras had left, Azusa the Dirty Demon King was fully unleashed!
"Shiro! When was your first time?!"
"Shiro, who was your first time with?"
"Shiro, which one was the most unforgettable?"
"Who gave you the biggest thrill?"
"Who do you think was the best?"
"Do you like Kiyoko or Sakurako more?"
"..."
Faced with Azusa's rapid-fire barrage of questions, Kamishiro twitched at the corner of his mouth in numb disbelief.
Every one of them was a trap question!!!
They really left him no way out, huh?
In that case…
Staring at Azusa, who looked like a little devil, Kamishiro smiled.
If I'm going down—let's all go down together!!!
"They were all with Azusa!"
(′｀;)?
Σ(っ °Д °;)っ!!!
Azusa was confused for a moment, then her face filled with shock. "What the hell, Shiro, don't say stuff like that!"
"I'm not lying, Azusa. We often sleep together, remember?"
"Uh…"
Azusa truly had no rebuttal for that. But that was sleep as a noun, not a verb!
She was still a pure maiden!
Just as she was about to explain, two small hands patted her shoulders.
Behind Kiyoko and Sakurako, a dark aura rose up—dense enough to form a monster.
They had long suspected something between those two. Now it turned out to be true!
Damn it!
Just how open were they being when the rest of them weren't around?!
"Senpai, I think we need to have a serious conversation."
"Didn't expect you to be the biggest two-timer of us all!"
{{(°△°; "}}!
A drop of cold sweat trickled down Azusa's forehead. At this point, it was probably impossible to explain her way out…
She tentatively said, "Um… how about the three of us… tonight?"
!!!
"DIE!!!"