Leave a comment

Everyone was on their seats, giving their cheers around the hotpot but each had different drinks in hand. Nagatsuki, Kaori and I had beer. Hadzuki had wine. Aya had oolong highball. Kotori had a spirit highball.

「Zero uniformity.」
「Isn’t that us in a nutshell?」

Well that’s not wrong. Everyone from the twelve families basically embodies going one’s own way, after all. It’s natural that they won’t even think of matching with others. Which is why deciding what to do is so important.

「No punishment games this time, okay?」
「Yeah, since if we do something like that when alcohol is involved, it’ll probably end up even worse.」

Things already went so out of control back then, there’s no telling how worse it could get with alcohol. Having one stopper wouldn’t be enough. At worst, Kaori might collapse.

「I’m really curious, what happened during the first punishment game party?」
「You’re really asking about that dark history, huh.」

If I remember, what happened then has been whispered around as rumours. That the twelve family students enrolled in the academy gathered and had a battle, with the defeated ending up humiliated or so. Some weird exaggerations were added.

「I can’t help it. It was really talked about even at the academy back then.」
「I wonder where the information was leaked from.」

I stared right at Aya and she immediately broke eye contact. So you really were the source. From Kaori’s way of speaking, I guess it was more widely known than I thought.

「Since you’re so curious about it, wanna have a look at our dark past?」
「Yes!」

I opened my dark past folder and showed it to her. It’s the pictures I took, so there’s nothing involving me included. Which is exactly why I can show it off. Aya and the rest are probably going to show theirs off later anyways.

「Say, what exactly is the context in this one? Kotori looking down on Minadzuki while he’s kneeling at her.」

That one packs the strongest punch, right? You’d wonder what exactly got that sweet Kotori so pissed off. The twelve family people, knowing the context, could only let out a wry smile.

「The rule was that the winner could decide the punishment for the one in last place. Kotori won, while Minadzuki and I were fighting to decide the last place.」
「I get it now.」

Even without hearing the end result, Kaori understood. She knows Kotori well, after all. Of the twelve families, Kaori has been with me and Kotori for the longest. It’s likely how she can guess what happened.

「I have some pictures of Kotori here.」
「So you really are showing those, huh.」
「Isn’t that obvious? Otherwise it wouldn’t be fair.」

As expected, Aya showed her pictures. It’s all in the far past already, so I won’t make a fuss about it. It doesn’t change that fact that it’s embarrassing, though. Especially with that.

「Pfft!?」
「Hey, that’s dirty.」
「Why the heck are you wearing that!?」

Like I thought, Kaori reacted to the animal pajama picture. It’s honestly my biggest blunder of that time. I should’ve been a bit more aware of my appearance.

「Aren’t these basically gravure photos?」
「There’s even more suggestive ones… Oh, from that time!?」

The pictures from the no-boys girls night were being shown. That one was personally a large stain in my past. The boys don’t know anything about this, so Hadzuki and the others have their ears perked.

「Why a swimsuit in the indoors…」
「There’s other even racier stuff. See, like this one.」
「Uwah, I can’t believe Kotone agreed to this.」
「I lost a game. Aya is abnormally strong in those sorts of situations.」
「Fufufu, I learnt from my first defeat and practiced.」

Compared to when she got beat horribly, you couldn’t tell it was the same person playing. To the point where I think she should consider being a pro-gamer instead of a singer. Later I heard from Rin that she was forced to help her practice.

「I also have some pictures of you right out of bath, Kotone.」
「I didn’t know anything about that, though!?」

Why the heck did you take peep shots? Suddenly, I thought of turning my gaze to Kotori and she looked away. You also took pictures? Somehow, unbeknown to me, pictures of me keep increasing.

「Kotone’s surprisingly full of openings, right?」
「I get that feeling too. It was really nerve-wracking to see her that time when she served customers in a waitress outfit.」
「Wait, what’s with that hidden event!?」
「I haven’t heard about that either!」
「There was also a time when she served in a yukata. It’s kinda like a limited edition thing, so only a rare few saw it, I think.」
「I feel so frustrated.」

You really do look like it, Kotori. That event only lasted for a few days, so it’s unavoidable that you missed it. For the waitress outfit, it was when I was drenched by sudden rain and couldn’t use my usual clothes. I seriously didn’t expect the owner to have one made for me.

「Nagatsuki came during the yukata time, though.」
「Kuh-!」
「Don’t suddenly put a target on me!」

Glared by Kotori, Nagatsuki panicked. I can’t take being the only one aimed at anymore. Dragging someone down along with me is more of my style.

「Then let me divulge Nagatsuki’s dark history too. It’s not pictures though, but it’s about something he wanted my advice about.」
「You promised to keep it a secret, didn’t you!?」
「Already past expiry. It’s unfair that only I get exposed like this.」
「You just want to drag someone else down with you! What part of the conversation made me out to be a problem!?」

None at all. I’m just lashing out. Besides, since we’re arguing this much, everyone’s gotten curious. I can’t take it back now.

「Okay, Kotone. Go and expose him.」
「「「Expose him! Expose him!」」」

As expected of alcohol. Everyone’s excitement is at its peak. With Hadzuki’s words, the others began an “Expose him” call. There’s no stopping in this situation now.

「Nagatsuki asked me for advice for his first love.」

With that, Nagatsuki hung his head in defeat. The others stared at me with great interest, urging me to continue. And I know this isn’t enough to satisfy them.

「It wasn’t my first time to have love counseling, so that wasn’t a problem. However, things were rockier than expected and in the end, he was overtaken by a love rival.」
「So it was unrequited. Was it because Nagatsuki didn’t have enough momentum?」
「If I had to say, it was because the other party was feeling reserved, I guess?」

With someone from the twelve families as a suitor, it’s only natural for a daughter of a company owner to feel some reservation. After all, she has to be careful with her words yet she also can’t just accept.

「Though the greatest factor was that she already had someone in her heart.」
「Well, that’s… really just unfortunate, no other way to describe it.」