Chapter 2

• "Damn it, Toma, we're going to miss the first day... Ugh..." I shut my eyes tightly, avoiding any light that might hit my face.
• Toma, in the lower bunk of our bed, was struggling with nausea, trying to hit the bucket beside his bed. "Bwaargh...! Ugh, s-sorry," he uttered weakly.
• "You said just one or two drinks, but we ended up with five bottles."
• "Uuugh, I said I'm sorry."
• "Fine, let's promise never to do this again."
• We spent the entire day recovering from our hangovers. However, Toma had it worse than I did since he got more drunk. "Yujiii… my head is killing me. Can you get me some water?" He sounded like he was in pain.
• "Fetch it yourself; my head is pounding too."
• "But you seem to be in better shape than me."
• "I was puking my guts out earlier; have you no sympathy?"
• "Whose fault was it for getting you into that state?"
• He groaned. "…Yujiiii." He whined like a puppy, knowing it would annoy me.
• "You buffoon! I'm not your mom or something. Besides, you're even taller than me! Take care of yourself," I complained.
• He whimpered like a puppy abandoned by its owner. He knew it would get on my nerves when he did that. "Argh! Fine, fine! Stop it."
• "Hehe, thanks, dude. I owe you one."
• "No, you owe me a lot." I had been doing things like this for him since we were kids. I used to clean up his messes, and unfortunately, I still had to do it now.
• When I climbed down from the bed, my day took a turn for the worse.
• "…aww! Damn it, Toma! Why did you put your puke bucket under the ladder?" Now I was covered in his vomit, all thanks to this idiot! "Ah! I'm really sorry, Yuji!" He stood up from his bed as if he wasn't sick at all and started helping me up from the floor.
• Since he was already up, I let him clean up the mess he made while I rested on his bed. Afterward, he lay down next to me, which irritated me. "Don't lie down here!…"
• "Oh, come on, don't make me climb up. My back still hurts from the fall."
• "Yeah, sorry about that. But I don't want to move."
• "It's awkward with two guys sharing a bed," I told him.
• "Ugh, yeah, this is pretty... awkward." After that, it did get uncomfortable, so due to my short temper, I just pushed him off his bed and claimed it all for myself. "Yuji!"
• "Just sleep on the floor! Consider it a punishment for your foolishness."
• I tossed one of his pillows and a blanket to him. "There, now go to sleep."
• "Urgh, I hate hangovers," he mumbled, and soon he was snoring loudly as he fell asleep, leaving me awake with his snores and my throbbing headache. Ah, what a way to start the first day of school.
• Being absent on the first day wasn't a big issue; some courses didn't even start introductions until the second day, so Toma and I were in the clear from strict professors. And yes, both of us had chosen the same course since our high school days.
• "Hey, Toma, Yuji! It's great to see you guys again," greeted Hino, another friend of mine. He was quite similar to Toma, a real heartthrob with girls always around him.
• Ugh, how did I end up with a group of such good-looking people? I couldn't hold a candle to them in terms of looks; I was quite average. But these guys?... Oh, never mind.
• "Yooo, it's been a while. I see you've done something different with your hair; it looks great," Toma complimented Hino as soon as he noticed Hino's shorter hair. He used to have long hair that reached his shoulders, which sometimes made him look like a girl due to his pretty face. Now he appeared a bit more masculine.
• "Thanks, but I'm planning to grow it out again soon. My sister pestered me to cut my hair because she thinks her little brother is prettier than her," he explained.
• "Hmm, why did you grow your hair long in the first place?" I asked suddenly.
• Hino's face turned slightly red, and he avoided eye contact. "I, um, hahahaaaha… oh! Look at the time! The professor might come in soon, so I'll be heading to my seat now." His behavior seemed a bit strange. I scratched my head in puzzlement.
• "Oh, okay. Let's have lunch later with the others!" Toma suggested.
• "Sure, I'll call them later."
• After that, Toma and I tried to find seats. He settled in the fifth row, while I found one in the second row, near Hino. Toma wanted us to sit closer, but that would just enable him to copy my assignments and quizzes. He'd never learn if that happened.
• While waiting for the professor, the girl sitting next to me struck up a conversation. "Hey," she greeted.
• "You're friends with Toma, right? I've seen you both walk into the classroom together." Ah, another one of those girls who's interested in Toma.
• "Oh, I'm sorry, I should've introduced myself first. I'm Xia."
• "Well, Yuji, about your friend Toma…" This was the usual script for me when it came to girls. It was always about Toma.
• Ugh, Toma, Toma, Toma. I already put some distance between us, and now this girl was pestering me about him. "…so I think you guys are like an old marr--"
• "I'm sorry, but I can't help you get together with Toma. He's my friend, but I don't have time for that sort of thing," I interrupted.
• She paused for a moment when she heard my response, then chuckled. "It seems you're not listening. I have no intentions of hooking up with Toma."
• "Huh? Then what were you talking about?" My mind had been drifting towards declining a favor for her.
• "I was just wondering since I've always seen you two together, whether you two are a couple?"
• "Yes, we are—WHAT!? No, we're not!" I denied emphatically. What on earth was this girl thinking?
• She giggled. "I see, my apologies for assuming that."
• After that, I decided not to engage further in the conversation, and the class started a few moments later. But that peculiar girl left me wondering why she'd had such an idea in the first place.
• Maybe I'd been spending too much time with Toma lately, and some people might have gotten the wrong impression, just like this girl did! I had to address that soon.