Meanwhile, as the girls chirped and bickered amongst themselves, unsure how to drag these individual drunks back to their respective homes...
The war inside the room was forced into a temporary truce due to the arrival of family members. After all, none of the three wanted to drink like lunatics in front of their closest loved ones and lower the bar of their personal image any further.
However, while the physical bout had ended, these competitive "education extremists" had no intention of dispersing. Instead, they stood with their foreheads pressed together, baring their teeth and radiating hostility.
"Calling for reinforcements because you couldn't keep up? Despicable!"
"Yuu-kun! You have no right to speak! You were clearly the first one to send a message out!"
"Ha?"
Faced with Momoka's face-to-face accusation, Miyazawa Yuu's eyes widened, his eyebrows arching to theatrical heights, though his gaze slowly drifted to the side.
There was no helping it. Technically, according to the timeline, he was the first one who couldn't hold on and tried to call for outside help. It was only after his body took it upon itself to evolve that he had put that thought out of his mind.
Clenching his jaw to suppress a guilty twitch at the corner of his mouth, he jerked his head and immediately chose to counter-attack!
"That being said, I haven't gone to the bathroom once! On the other hand, Seika-san has gone plenty of times! Who knows if she was secretly shaking people down!"
"Show some respect to your elders, brat! I wouldn't stoop to such low tactics!"
Words were one thing, but whether there were ghosts in her heart was something Ijichi Seika knew all too well. Given that all three of their bands had stormed the place, there was no doubt they had all chosen to seek outside help!
"Um..."
Rising like a dying man suddenly sitting up in bed, Rupa hadn't felt this pleasantly drunk in a long time. Seeing that the three were still arguing upon her awakening, she suggested: "You guys could actually just check each other's phones!"
"!!!"
It was the ultimate solution that instantly cleared everything up. However, faced with Rupa's heartwarming suggestion, the three scoundrels—Miyazawa Yuu included—all chose to awkwardly pretend they hadn't heard a thing!
Seeing that Rupa wanted to continue, Kawaragi Momoka leaned down and gently shoved a foil-wrapped straw of baijiu into the former's mouth.
Subconsciously sucking twice and instinctively swallowing the liquor, poor Rupa was sent back to dreamland by the evil Momoka just after waking up!
"Alright! I've had enough! You two! Since we can't settle this with alcohol tolerance anymore..."
Frowning and flashing into the crowd of girls, a glint of stubborn ferocity flashed in Miyazawa Yuu's eyes as he grabbed Busujima Kyoko's shoulder. He looked like a hero clutching a satchel of explosives, ready to sacrifice himself.
"Let the facts speak for themselves! Let's see whose parenting method is more reasonable!"
"Eh?"
A sound of genuine confusion escaped Kyoko's throat. She turned her head to look at the muscular beast behind her, wanting to flee but not daring to.
Besides, she and Yuu-onii-chan were only two or three years apart. Why on earth was a so-called "parenting problem" involving her!
She had originally thought the parenting issue was something an "active" person like Yuu-onii-chan discussed with mature older sisters—an adult topic about having children after marriage!
"Ho? Speaking with facts? Then our Nijika won't lose!"
"Onee-chan, you're really drunk. You smell terrible!"
"Same here. How could I lose to someone like you who isn't bolstered by dreams!"
"Me too?"
After a smoke screen of alcoholic vapor, Ijichi Nijika and Iseri Nina, with literal question marks appearing over their heads, were dragged into the room by their respective guardians.
Of course, the two had tried to save themselves by desperately clinging to the doorframe, but to little avail. Neither Subaru nor PA-san had the courage to snatch people away from these terrifying, drunken women.
Moreover, it seemed that if the drunks weren't satisfied, they wouldn't end this dispute peacefully. In that case, the "Little Three" would just have to be sacrificed!
"In that case! I'll go first!"
Inside the room, Kawaragi Momoka spoke up firmly while drunkenly clutching Nina in her arms. The smell of booze on her breath made the latter lean her head back as far as possible.
"This kid was very disobedient when she first came to Tokyo, but now she's a wonderful band vocalist! And we've even received an offer from a management agency!"
"Ha? Offers are rare, but you can't eat them for dinner!"
Slapping the table, Miyazawa Yuu was extremely dissatisfied with Momoka's overly idealistic and romantic mindset!
A child's development requires stability. Looking at Japan's current economic situation, the system of lifetime employment was ancient history from decades ago.
In these turbulent times, changing jobs every two or three years was the norm, and this was particularly severe for bands. How could it be possible to eat from the "youth bowl" of a girls' band for a lifetime!
"I've said it before! Academic credentials! Especially in the sciences, are the most important capital. The brain might lie, but hands won't! So, you absolutely cannot give up on studying!"
"Exactly! You can see that in our Nijika. The band is great, and her grades haven't dropped at all~ Right~☆"
"Uh... while that is true..."
The tsundere sister had actually admitted for the first time that her band was great. This was indeed a pleasant surprise for Ijichi Nijika, provided the speaker wasn't in this stinking-drunk state.
According to her judgment, no matter what was said tonight, Onee-chan would likely blush and deny everything tomorrow. After all, she was a woman who was tsun-tsun-tsun-tsun-tsun~dere!
"It won't work! Multitasking is incredibly draining. Instead of starting a band in high school, wouldn't it be better to carve out large chunks of usable time in university!"
Wagging a finger, Miyazawa Yuu crossed his arms and directed a hardcore "I see you totally don't understand" expression at the sis-con Seika.
Ultimately, university is the most leisure-filled place and the best place to see the path ahead. Compared to starting a band in high school as a life goal while juggling entrance exam pressure, it is clearly more cost-effective to get into university first!
Just like their group in the PaB Club—everyone deeply loved the sport of diving, but Kotobuki-senpai and Kanako-senpai were preparing for grad school, while Tokita-senpai had already started looking for work.
Striving in different corners of the world doesn't stop diving from connecting everyone; that is the healthiest kind of interest!
"In comparison, my side has already agreed to prepare for higher education. After that, it'll be a new environment as vast as the sea and sky. It won't be too late to pursue interests then!"
"Bastard! I already told you not to look down on dreams! If you don't immediately work toward your chosen direction, everything will vanish like smoke!"
"Diploma Reaper! I shall correct you!"
"..."
Seeing Miyazawa Yuu and Kawaragi Momoka at each other's throats, looking like they both wanted to shake the brains out of each other's heads, Busujima Sakurako finally understood with an exasperated face what these people were actually arguing about.
"Ah~ It's a war between the Idealists, the Realists, and the Normalists!"
"Eh? What do you mean?"
Looking completely pure and stupid, Hiroi Kikuri had spent the last few hours merely trying to survive; she hadn't actually understood the root of the argument between Yuu and Seika.
Now, seeing a college student younger than herself understand it in a minute, she opened her watery eyes and asked humbly.
"It's simple. Yuu thinks academic credentials are more important. Of the other two, one supports letting go to chase dreams, and the other seeks stability but might end up with mediocre results."
"I see..."
Nodding foolishly, Hiroi Kikuri's watery eyes became even more glazed.
Picking up the last remaining bottle of foil-wrapped baijiu and drinking it down, she kept apologizing devoutly between gulps, begging for forgiveness: "Sumimasen to myself! To think I'd accept such cruel things without permission. I'll perform a Happiness Cycle immediately!"
"Excessive drinking is what you should apologize to your body for! But..."
After resisting the urge to roast this Hamaoka Azusa (Pro+Loser) version, Busujima Sakurako looked into the room with a headache.
Ultimately, besides the three-way deadlock of drunks, no one cared who won. The important thing was how to get them to settle down, accept the arrangements, and take them home!
And even if a fight broke out, based on the attack power of the two adult women and Yuu's HP, they could "scrape" him all day and might not even break his defense!
What was needed now was someone strong enough and rebellious enough to break the deadlock!
"Wait a minute!"
Spreading her arms and inserting herself between the muscular man and Momoka-san, the "borrowed prop" Iseri Nina had at some point in an unnoticed corner completed her self-deprecation and successfully entered her "hissing" state, billowing dark energy!
Compared to the terrifying beast, her thin arms were no different from hemp stalks, yet the girl bravely "hissed" for the person she cared about: "By saying that... are you looking down on our band! You can't talk about Momoka-san like that!"
"Eh?"
Looking at the teary-eyed girl before him, Miyazawa Yuu's brain instantly stalled. He attempted to read the "Instruction Manual for when things are going fine but someone actually gets offended" in his memory.
Unfortunately, in the PaB Club, the most he got was a few complaints from Aina. After clicking through layers of brain folders, the final page was starkly empty—he apparently hadn't installed the "Hissing DLC!"
A loading bar began to spin in his eyes, and then a [Page Not Responding!] interface popped up!