For Some Reason The Girl Who's Too Popular Only Drinks with Me - Volume 1 Chapter 1.1

Chapter 1

My campus life at Ryokuoukan University, located somewhere in Tokyo, was—gray. Or rather, it was ash. Ash itself.

No, saying it this way might give the impression that it immediately burned out and turned to ash, but that’s not the case. No, there was nothing fiery about it. It was ash-covered from the get-go.

Attending lectures, working part-time, returning to my one-room apartment to eat and then sleep—this has been my life for over a year now.

Yes, over a year. Without making any friends or lovers, I lazily spent my freshman year and, before I knew it, became a sophomore. The flow of time is frighteningly swift.

Will I end up achieving nothing and cease to be a university student just like that?

That’s what I think, but I don’t have any concrete plans to change my situation. Deep down, I’ve given up, thinking that somehow things will work out.

They say the environment changes a person, but in my case, both people and the environment just change selfishly on their own.

While thinking such thoughts, the alcohol I reluctantly swallowed was rough, leaving an indescribably bad aftertaste, distorting my face.

“…Kirishima, how is it?”

“What do you think, Kirishima-kun?”

I was being pressured by two seniors in a corner of the square with a fountain, off the main boulevard lined with cherry trees within the university.

The drinking circle I ended up joining due to circumstances—a circle that really does nothing but drink, known as “Sake Tomo Kai”—consists of me, Kirishima Asato, Mikami Tomo-senpai who is a fourth-year student aspiring to be a comedian, and Sugino Miharu-senpai, a third-year student and the daughter of a company president. Just the three of us.

What we do when we gather is, well, just drink. Boldly, within the university premises.

Of course, we don’t drink without reason. There’s a legitimate reason.

I became a sophomore without accomplishing anything. In other words, new freshmen have entered the university. An unparalleled chance to increase our circle’s membership. Honestly, Mikami-senpai and I didn’t think we needed to increase our numbers, but Sugino-senpai thought differently.

Since she, being wealthy, always pays for our drinks, the opinions of two men being treated don’t mean anything.

Therefore, we reluctantly started to recruit for our circle, but here lies another problem. What exactly are we to appeal with? After all, it’s just a drinking circle.

Then, once again, Sugino-senpai came up with an aggressive idea. Let’s create our own original alcohol and gather people, she said.

Of course, we had no right to refuse. As usual, the opinions of two men who are always treated mean nothing.

So, with Sugino-senpai’s financial power, we managed to create the alcohol—but it was terribly bad.

It had a shallow bitterness, a rough texture on the tongue, and a somewhat harsh aftertaste that lingered in the back of the throat. Neither smooth nor rich. It felt like drinking watered-down cooking sake from a private brand.

“…No, this is bad.”

The two seniors, who were seriously peering into my face, instantly turned solemn. It can’t be helped. What’s bad is bad.

“Ah? We spent money on this and it’s bad?”

Sugino-senpai’s expression twisted from solemn to distressed.

“The taste isn’t the issue right now. The problem is what we do with this.”

While saying “what do we do now,” Mikami-senpai poured the original alcohol into a paper cup, swallowed it, then immediately spat it out onto the lawn behind him.

Yes, the alcohol we put effort into making was enough to fill a barrel of considerable size. It’s not something we can just bear and drink. The plan was to serve delicious alcohol and gather people, but if the alcohol is bad, that’s a no-go. The premise doesn’t hold. Even if people come, they probably won’t join our circle.

“Well, it can’t be helped. Amateur brewing is just like this.”

Dumping his second cup onto the lawn again, Mikami-senpai stood up. “I’ll go buy some proper alcohol,” he said before leaving us. Well, as a senior, he probably didn’t plan on recruiting from the start, so he might not be too concerned about this outcome.

“Ah, what a waste… Well, it was fun, though.”

While watching Mikami-senpai’s back, Sugino-senpai drank our homemade alcohol. After a little sip, she immediately spat it out onto the grass behind her. Why do both of them do the same thing?

“By the way, what are we going to do? Are we really going to distribute this bad alcohol?”

“Hmm? Hmm~ It’s okay, either way. I’ll leave it to you. I’m going to step out for a bit.”

Sugino-senpai, clearly not thinking about anything, drank another cup of alcohol and immediately spat it out onto the lawn, then briskly walked away.

What remained was undrinkable alcohol and me. It feels unusually cold for April, and that’s probably not just my imagination. After all, leaving everything to me, who has significantly low communication skills, what’s up with that? Mikami-senpai might not care, but does Sugino-senpai genuinely want new members?

Well, no one is likely to come to see a circle located in such a remote place off the main street. If I just wait a bit, Mikami-senpai will come back, and we can start drinking again, so I might as well just kill time until then.

“Excuse me.”

It was sudden. I didn’t think anyone would come, yet here they were. Can’t they read the atmosphere?

“What do you want?” I said as I raised my face, and there stood Hamasaki Mai in front of me.

Hamasaki Mai—exceptionally beautiful with average grades. A sophomore like me. Her glossy, dark brown hair stretching to her chest and her astonishingly white skin. She’s relatively tall for a girl, and above all, her long limbs give her a great figure. Even with minimal natural makeup, her doll-like face is obviously beautiful.

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say she’s the most beautiful girl among our students—not that I’m the one saying it; it’s just what I’ve heard from others.

Of course, someone of my rank, buried deep within the campus caste, has nothing to do with her. Actually, this is the first time I’ve heard her voice up close.

“Did you make this alcohol?”

Hamasaki Mai asked with interest. Honestly, the alcohol was mostly Sugino-senpai’s enthusiasm, so Mikami-senpai and I didn’t do much. We mostly just watched.

“Ah, well… Yes, we made it.”

Explaining the circumstances wouldn’t mean anything, so I just answered that we made it. It’s okay, I’m not lying.

But why is Hamasaki Mai here? She’s a sophomore and, if I remember correctly, she’s already part of another circle. Not that there’s a rule against belonging to more than one circle.

“Um, may I have some of the alcohol?”

“Huh? Oh, sorry… You’re going to drink it?”

“…? Yes, if you’re giving it away.”

I can’t believe Hamasaki Mai is standing in front of me, and I’ve momentarily forgotten my actual task. Right, I’m supposed to be distributing alcohol.

While pouring our horrible original alcohol into a paper cup, I wondered if it was really okay to give this bad alcohol to Hamasaki Mai. I don’t know why she came here, but she probably has some expectations for this alcohol. It’s easy to imagine what would happen if I gave her this awful alcohol.

But it would also be wrong to hesitantly refuse to give it to her since she said she wants to drink.

Well, now that it’s come to this, it can’t be helped. Fortunately, Hamasaki Mai and I are in the same grade and the same department, but we have no interaction, and she’ll probably forget about me soon enough. Unless I do something extremely outlandish, even if the alcohol tastes bad, I should be able to get by.

Pouring a little less alcohol than usual, I offered it to her. “Thank you,” she said without hesitation and took a sip of the alcohol.

“…It’s bad.”

I knew it. She covered her mouth with her white hand to hide her grimace, but couldn’t hide the frown between her eyebrows. Of course, that would happen.

Seeing the expression I was making, Hamasaki Mai suddenly became flustered and lowered her hand.

“No, that’s not it! I mean! Not that…”

“It’s fine, you can say it’s bad.”

I took a sip of the alcohol I had poured for myself and, finding it bad, spat it out onto the lawn behind me immediately. Hamasaki Mai looked at me with a “what the…” expression.

“Our reality is just a drinking circle, but since that’s not very appealing, we randomly made this. It’s not good at all.”

“A drinking circle?”

“A circle where we gather when we have free time and just hold drinking parties. No weird calls or rules. There are only three members including me. We just drink endlessly while having casual conversations.”

Explaining it like this, it sounds like a weird circle. It’s common to hear about clubs that have become drinking circles in name only, but our purpose from the start is to drink. Well, apparently, there used to be various events in the past.

“Cheers~ I brought some alcohol~… Huh?”

As I finished explaining, Sugino-senpai came back, holding a bottle that looked like foreign liquor, but she seemed surprised by the unexpected visitor. Didn’t you want to recruit first-year students? Though, the one here is a sophomore.

Hamasaki Mai didn’t seem flustered by the sudden appearance and just lightly bowed her head in greeting.

“Lucky for you, senpai, she drank the bad alcohol.”

“Hamasaki Mai, right? Why are you here?”

Ignoring my words, Sugino-senpai approached Hamasaki Mai. She was surprised not just because of a visitor, but because the visitor was Hamasaki Mai. I’m not bothered about being ignored.

“Ah? Um, how do you know my name?”

“Huh, I know you. You’re famous. Last year, there was a buzz about an incredibly beautiful freshman.”

“No, no, no! That’s not true at all. Really, it’s not!”

Hamasaki Mai frantically waved her hands in front of her chest. Compared to Sugino-senpai, who uses her beauty as a weapon, this felt like a fresh reaction.

But as Sugino-senpai said, I’m also a bit curious about why Hamasaki Mai is here. Is it just curiosity?

“That’s true. Your face is really small up close. I’m surprised. So? Why did you really come here? A friend of Kirishima-kun… that’s impossible. Kirishima-kun doesn’t have friends.”

“Well, that’s true.”

Sugino-senpai and Mikami-senpai know that I’m a loner and haven’t made any friends. Actually, since becoming a university student, I haven’t talked much with anyone besides the two seniors.

I don’t think it’s that unusual in a Tokyo university, but Hamasaki Mai seemed incredulous and muttered, “Eh? Friends? Why?” in disbelief.

“Anyway, it doesn’t matter if I don’t have friends. I’m a person who can live without them.”

“Yeah, Kirishima-kun, as you can see, is resilient, or rather, he keeps surviving with just the last 1, like a living corpse. But more importantly, what about Hamasaki-san? What happened that brought you to such a remote place?”

Sugino-senpai’s slightly self-deprecating question seemed to stump Hamasaki Mai. Maybe it’s rare for a second-year student to change clubs? As someone without friends, I’m not very familiar with university affairs, so I honestly don’t understand why. There must be people who frequently change clubs.

Seeing Hamasaki Mai’s troubled smile, Sugino-senpai seemed to understand something, smiled brightly, and placed the bottle of foreign liquor she brought on the table with a thud.

“For now, let’s drink.”

What about the recruitment of first-year students?