Chapter 76: Immortality

“Speaking of which…is this okay?”

[Probably? What does it matter, the work was finished quickly thanks to Sora.]

Saturday night at Chalet.

I ended up with the sad fate of being on weekend duty at Chalet.

The duty itself is much more relaxed on weekends and there is nothing to do, but the fact that a weekend day is deleted started to feel similar to standing weekend duty in the army in my previous life.

Well, still, after all the work was done, Sensei and I decided to enjoy our own deviation.

Both I and Sensei are in a position, so both sides were far from deviation, so the deviation that comes after this boring and arduous time felt sweet.

Sensei and I had a part that we could relate to, and above all, for Sensei, there were almost no friends to enjoy this kind of deviation with, except for me or the children of Red Winter, so it was even more so.

[Well, that’s it.]

“…If something happens this time, it’s really Sensei’s responsibility…?”

[You know that won’t happen…because…]

“Hehe…yeah…I was just curious…”

“Ugh…I didn’t want my sister to drink…”

Yeah…a drinking party, another drinking party was held at Chalet.

There was a big mess once during the Millennium Festival, so a ban on alcohol was issued by Nagisa-senpai and Seia-senpai…in the first place, it’s strange for a student to have a ban on alcohol, but anyway.

Mika-senpai is…

“Ahaha☆ Isn’t Sora-chan a little younger?”

“That’s not the problem…”

Rather, she encouraged Sensei and joined the drinking party with me.

In front of the other sisters at the time, she shouted for a ban on alcohol, but when the opportunity came, she joined like a ghost.

For me, it’s nice to have one or two more people in this party, but at the same time, various worries didn’t leave my head.

Honestly…I don’t know what Mika-senpai will do when she’s drunk.

Maybe if she’s in a mood to run wild, I don’t know if I can stop her properly.

“Huh…? What do you mean by that? Huh?”

“Hic….”

Perhaps she read such thoughts from what I said, senpai looked at me with a smiling…expression…no, she looked into my eyes right in front of my face.

See a pretty face up close…no, that’s not it…it was a slightly scary situation, but Mika-senpai didn’t intend to do anything more…no, maybe she stopped because of Sensei.

Actually…it’s not like Sensei would start this party because Mika-senpai encouraged him…huh…it seems that Sensei couldn’t give up this alcohol.

So the drinking party, mixed with various worries, began.

“Huh…? Sensei, there are more types than before…and these equipment…perhaps…”

“What, what? Sora-chan, don’t just know it yourself, tell me!”

Sensei put various types of bottles, measuring cups, and

[Heh, it seems like Sora has noticed.]

“…Sensei, can you also…do bartending…?!”

Bartending, yes, it is the technique of mixing alcohol and alcohol, or alcohol and beverages, and alcohol and other ingredients to create a new flavor of alcohol, a cocktail.

In my previous life, even though I worked for a large company and earned a decent income, I was just a company employee, so I only went to a bar that professionally sells these cocktails a handful of times.

But those handful of experiences were deeply ingrained memories for me…and since that friend was always with me, maybe it was a happy moment.

[I’m still a beginner. I’m trying to treat the on-duty children to a non-alcoholic drink after work.]

“While doing so…you’ll have a drink too…right?”

I can see through it roughly.

In this Kivotos, it’s not only difficult to get alcohol, but it’s also difficult to find someone to drink with, so he doesn’t let the students drink alcohol directly, but he uses them as a partner to drink with.

…I’ve heard before that Sensei seems to be loved by many people, so those children will probably like it, but well…I hope that Sensei’s future will not be unhappy.

“Boo…that’s cheating! Sora-chan and Sensei! Leaving me out!”

Ah, I was momentarily distracted by the bartending equipment and Sensei’s words, and I couldn’t take care of Mika-senpai.

I was going to apologize quickly because I was sorry and didn’t want to offend my sister….

“Uet…I’m sorry, sis…?!”

…I thought Sensei was taking care of something, but it seems like he was just thinking of teasing me.

Suddenly, our lips meet.

However, senpai didn’t completely ignore Sensei’s gaze…or maybe she was just teasing me, it didn’t lead to a French kiss, but a short bird kiss.

“Phew….hehe, you fell for it?”

“…Uh…huh…?”

A short bird kiss, the soft touch that once touched my lips still remains and tickles my heart.

My heart beats fast and my face gets hot.

From some point on, short bird kisses were familiar between us, so it’s not like I would be so embarrassed and unable to calm down, but senpai’s mischievous surprise eventually embarrassed me.

Sensei is…turning his back as if he can’t see this side and shaking the shaker…it was a scheduled sequence to become unable to come to my senses.

Maybe…he knows what’s going on, but he’s pretending not to know…

“Hmm~? Ahaha☆ It’s been a while since I’ve seen Sora-chan like this!”

“That…ue…”

While my thoughts were momentarily stopped, Mika-senpai was holding me in her arms as a comfort object.

Thanks to that, without even having time to erase the lingering feelings of the short bird kiss, I was broken once more.

Maybe it’s good to be broken like this…

I was able to escape from senpai only when Sensei handed us the first drink.

[Well, here’s the first drink. A Gin Fizz for Sora, and a Cinderella for Mika.]

“Hee…it’s not Ramos?”

[Do you want to kill me?]

“It looks like some kind of fruit juice…? Yeah! It looks delicious!”

The first drink Sensei handed me was a Gin Fizz, it’s also the first drink that someone who drinks alcohol to some extent orders at a bar they visit for the first time.

The reason for that is that the Gin Fizz has a simple recipe and nothing special…so it’s a cocktail that is faithful to the basics.

There is also a saying that it is a drink to evaluate the bartender’s skills, and a story that it is a drink to find out the tendency when shaking.

And the fact that he handed this as the first drink means that Sensei also studied in his own way.

That’s because Sensei was a person who didn’t even know much about the brandy he received from the child of Red Winter before.

And the one handed to Mika-senpai is Cinderella.

It has almost 0 alcohol content, and even that, if you remove just one of the ingredients, it becomes a non-alcoholic cocktail.

I don’t have deep knowledge of alcohol either, but I had a lot of interest in the past, so this kind of information was engraved somewhere in my head, and I could quickly grasp Sensei’s intention.

Yeah…if senpai gets drunk…and I don’t know what her drinking habits are, so he wants to prevent her from getting drunk if possible, or stop her at a level where she’s only slightly tipsy…

Anyway…

-Gulp…-

[…How is it…?]

It seems that being a beginner is not a lie, he handed us the first drink and was waiting for our reaction with a slightly nervous expression on his face.

“…Yes, it’s good. The throat is refreshing…it’s clean and good. But…um…you were expecting this, right? Yes, it’s a pass.”

[Hahat…sometimes I doubt if Sora is a student…]

“Fufu, I’ll take it as being mature.”

The Gin Fizz that Sensei handed me for the first time was orthodox, there was nothing particularly outstanding, it was clean, and the refreshing throat with lemon and carbonated water was pleasant to drink.

As I explained earlier, the Gin Fizz also has a nickname as a drink for customers to evaluate the bartender, so it seems that Sensei handed it to me with that intention, so I follow Sensei’s intention.

“Hmm…I haven’t drunk alcohol, but it doesn’t feel like alcohol?”

“Senpai’s is not high in alcohol content, but isn’t it delicious?”

“Yeah☆ Honestly, it feels like fruit juice?”

That’s good.

Perhaps the Cinderella that Sensei handed to senpai is a product that has been modified to be completely non-alcoholic in the process, even with that little alcohol.

So senpai might have thought that he gave her juice instead of alcohol, so I was a little worried, but it seems like I don’t have to worry about that.

[Hmm…this is delicious too. I don’t think it’s something to say in front of students, but I think I’m a drinker.]

Sensei’s own glass was a South Side.

It was an alcohol with a slightly higher alcohol content than the Gin Fizz he handed me, and I know that it also has a clean taste.

In my present life, none, in my previous life, I visited a bar only a handful of times, so I don’t know the taste of that, but it’s a cocktail that I remember being recommended by that friend.

“Hmm…pfft…Ahaha☆ Is this the feeling of corruption? Huh? Sensei~ It’s irreversible now? You’ve served alcohol to Sora-chan and me?”

[Haha, that’s right. Please keep it a secret from the other children. I’ll keep it a secret from Nagisa and Seia too.]

“Pfft…anyway, if you tell the sisters, Sensei will be in big trouble, right?”

[You got me…ahem…please wait a moment…]

In the first place, it’s a gathering that was held secretly from other people, so all the stories exchanged are jokes, but Sensei seems to be fed up and gets up slightly and starts preparing the next drink.

…Well…considering the experience at the time of the Millennium Festival, I can’t say I don’t understand, so I let it go…

So trivial chitchat continued between the teacher, my sister, and me as the teacher shook the shaker.

[Thanks to that, I couldn’t get up from my seat until I cleared that crazy game…]

“Wow…that…the one that won the worst game of the year…you tried it in front of the developers…”

[Uh-oh? Watch your words? Still, the sequel was a masterpiece, so it was fun.]

“Ahaha☆ What is that, then the previous work was a failure, right!”

[Ugh…I can’t refute it…haha…well, Mika is a Spumoni, and Sora is an Old Fashioned.]

The story of visiting Millennium before the Eden Treaty, due to the Eden Treaty, was a mess, but it was a fun story to see the growth of one developer.

However, Sensei, who couldn’t refute the fact that the first work of Tales Chronicle Saga was a huge failure, changed the subject and handed us alcohol again.

The Spumoni handed to Mika-senpai is a drink that is generally popular with women, characterized by a soft and sweet taste.

Sweet alcohol tends to get you drunk quickly if you keep drinking it, but that’s a low alcohol content of about 3 degrees, so it should be fine.

More than that, the alcohol Sensei handed me is the problem.

Old Fashioned…? Didn’t the alcohol content suddenly jump twice from the Gin Fizz?

I don’t deny that it’s a great cocktail, but I can’t help but think that it suddenly became too heavy.

“Sensei? Isn’t it suddenly too heavy?”

[Scared?]

“…Ha?!”

“Wo-oh…Sora-chan is on fire…?”

Now…he said I was scared…I threw away my identity as a man a long time ago, but no, it’s not that I threw it away, it feels like it disappeared naturally, but I can’t stand this.

There is an insurmountable physical gap between Sensei and me, including the students.

Of course, I’m bound to drink better than Sensei, right?

Then…I’ll answer with a fight that I can’t lose.

“Okay…let’s have Sensei drink Old Fashioned too…let’s see who falls down first!”

[Hahaha! Who was the first to fall down during the Millennium Festival?!]

“Haaah?! That’s because Sensei didn’t drink a single glass and kept pouring it for me! So it’s invalid! It’s a match!”

Thus, the childish alcohol pride fight between Sensei and me began.

“…How did it come to this…yeah…? Sora-chan? Sensei? Wake up…huh?”

[Snore….]

“Uhehe…”

The alcohol that Sensei handed me, was it called Spumoni?

It was sweet and soft, so it was delicious.

The problem was not that.

First of all, to organize the situation…

The alcohol that Sensei handed to Sora-chan, I remember it was called Old Fashioned.

Judging from Sora-chan’s reaction, it’s probably quite a strong alcohol.

Sora-chan suddenly asked Sensei if it wasn’t too strong, but Sensei provoked Sora-chan with a playful expression, and this situation started.

The two of them drank various types of alcohol, starting with the same type of alcohol, Old Fashioned, Diamondback, Revolver, etc. that I’ve never heard of…no, in the first place, I don’t know about alcohol, so it’s all the first time I’ve heard of it, but anyway!

Various types of alcohol popped out, and the two had a fierce battle, and in the end, they knocked down at the same time.

I…perhaps…spent time with sweet and low-alcohol drinks that Sensei would have selected to consider my taste, so I was fine.

So…

“Sister…hiccup…I like you…”

“Ah…that…uaaak…”

Sensei eventually fell asleep first, and…Sora-chan began to test my reason.

No…I can’t…she’s still a junior, and if I lay a hand on her in this state, it’s irreversible…

No…in this state, Sora-chan is the first…no…if possible, the first experience should be with both sides in their right mind…

I had to struggle to hold on to the thread of reason and not let go, amidst such thoughts that were perhaps filthy and would make Koharu of the Remedial Knights Club shout “death penalty.”

In the end, that day, with Sensei asleep, I had to spend the night watching Sora-chan, who was harmful to my heart.

…I won’t join the drinking party next time…

Sunday, the day after the drinking party at Chalet.

I woke up with a terrible hangover.

It wasn’t my first hangover.

In my previous life, I had many hangovers due to drinking parties at work.

The problem is…the memories of yesterday are jumbled up.

I remember having a drinking competition with Sensei, and I remember Mika-senpai joining the drinking party.

However, I have no memory of who drank more, and I have no memory of who fell down first.

However…judging from the fact that I woke up in my bed in my dorm, and the smell of alcohol coming from all over my body, not just my mouth, it seems clear that I drank too much yesterday.

“…Sigh…Sensei must have cleaned it up…”

I’m sure Sensei must have cleaned up the mess caused by the excessive drinking party, and I’m sure Sensei must have moved me, who fell asleep, to my room.

I caused another nuisance to Sensei, I’m sure I’ll be nagged by Nagisa-senpai and Seia-senpai again, and above all, I made a bad appearance to Mika-senpai.

With such thoughts, I spend the morning lazily.

Sunday afternoon.

I spent the morning lazily, and in the afternoon, I decided to go to a shooting range, a hobby and a necessity.

The shooting range I visited was not the shooting range in Trinity, which I always used, but the shooting range in D.U., an autonomous district where Chalet, where Sensei resides, is located.

The reason for visiting the D.U. shooting range, which is not particularly close, is because I thought it would be nice to meet Sensei and apologize, and I wanted to talk about yesterday’s mess and try to piece together the fragmented memories.

“Oh! Sora! You came to play?”

“…Is there anyone who comes to the shooting range to play…?”

The first person I met at the shooting range was, as always, a member of Valkyrie, Kirino.

Perhaps she came to practice shooting, she was holding her personal firearm, MP7A1, and was wearing a bulletproof vest.

“…Hmm…that’s true…no matter how you look at it, it’s training…what are you doing, Sora?”

“I came to shoot. What are you asking…?”

Kirino, who was just muttering to herself, asks me, who came to the shooting range, why I came, as if it were natural.

Honestly, I don’t quite understand, so I ask her back what she’s asking, and she mutters to herself again, as if she were convinced.

“…Hmm…right, after all, I’m the strange one…”

“That’s right, you’re self-aware.”

“Wait?! That’s too much, isn’t it?!”

What is too much?

I just affirmed what she said to herself, so I tilt my head, not understanding what she’s saying.

Anyway, I move to an empty lane, leaving Kirino, who is protesting something, behind.

“Hmm…what should I shoot today…”

I lay down Daedalus, which I always carry in my waist holster, and aeternitas, which is also a necessity, on the table in the lane.

Since it’s a weekend, there are some students, but since it’s not a school holiday, there are some empty seats, so I put down the equipment I brought with me today in the empty next lane.

“Hmm…that’s right, I brought this!”

What I took out of my bag was a gift I received from Millennium’s engineering department before, a prototype pistol called Arc & Spark.

Since it’s a prototype, of course, there is only one in existence, and the performance is almost fraudulent, with overwhelming power and rate of fire.

I had only fired a few shots at the time, but I had kept it in my bag ever since, thinking that I would have to use it someday.

“Oh! That’s…isn’t that the firearm you received from Millennium before?”

“Huh…right, do you know about it?”

While I was setting up my equipment, Kirino came next to me.

Kirino seems to know about the existence of Arc & Spark, perhaps she has a good memory.

“Of course, I was there when that gun was handed over, right? That’s why I know.”

Ah…come to think of it, Kirino was there when the engineering department handed over that gun.

I forgot because there were many things, such as a sudden terrorist attack by the Gourmet Research Society, but if I think about it now, Kirino must have been there at the time, since she’s from Valkyrie.

“I haven’t really used it properly yet, so I was thinking of shooting it today.”

“Hmm…the design is like a combination of a pistol and a submachine gun…it looks difficult to handle.”

Arc & Spark is a pistol, but its design is similar to a submachine gun, and it has a large magazine, so it’s not an easy-to-use design.

However, the excellent physical ability that all students, including me, have, and the divine power that can be used, make it possible to use it.

“Hmm…let’s try it lightly for now…”

I load a new magazine into Arc & Spark and start shooting at the target in front of me.

-Bang bang bang bang!-

“…Isn’t that firing speed a bit strange…?”

“The power is also tremendous, right?”

The firing sound of Arc & Spark is definitely not an ordinary pistol.

It’s not just the firing speed, the holes drilled in the target were much larger than the bullet holes of an ordinary pistol.

“That’s not fair, isn’t it…”

“…It’s a prototype, so it’s not like it’s mass-produced…”

It’s a firearm with almost no flaws, except that it’s a prototype and there’s only one.

If this kind of firearm is mass-produced and becomes widespread in the future, there’s no guarantee that it will be good for the security situation.

“I’d be grateful if you could use that to stop suspicious people!”

“…Well…I’ll think about it…”

Arc & Spark is definitely a powerful firearm, but I already have Daedalus and aeternitas, which I’m used to, so I don’t have a strong desire to use it.

I’ll use it today because I brought it, but after that, I’ll probably put it back in my bag and it will be forgotten again.

“More importantly, have you seen Sensei?”

“…Sensei…? I don’t know? I haven’t seen him since I came to the shooting range?”

“I see…”

I don’t like this feeling, I’m sure I’ll meet him if I search, but it’s hard to shake the feeling that I’ll miss him even if I search.

Perhaps the reason why this happened is because it’s Sunday, the only day of the week when Sensei has no schedule.

I leave the shooting range, leaving Kirino, who is still shooting, behind.

Sunday evening, I return to Trinity after giving up on finding Sensei.

I don’t have any other plans today, so I should go back to my dorm and rest.

“Oh! Sora-chan! Where have you been?”

“Mika-senpai, I went to the shooting range for a while.”

When I returned to the dorm, there was a familiar face, Mika-senpai was waiting.

“…Did something happen?”

“No, nothing? Just…Sora-chan isn’t here, so it’s boring…”

So…she was bored and was waiting for me.

I see, it’s already late, and if I just go to bed, I won’t be able to clear up my mind, so I’ll ask senpai.

“Senpai, yesterday, did I…”

“Ahaha☆ Were you curious? What do you want to know?”

“How did I go to bed yesterday…”

“Hmm~? It’s a secret~!”

“…Senpai…”

Well, she’s not telling me.

It seems difficult to clear up my mind today.