"Eeeee!"

Uh-oh...

I turn around, and I'm face to face with three stampeding junior high girls... who run right past me. Turns out, there's a fellow Ryokuto student on his way to the dorms. The girls swoop by him, copping a few quick feels before sprinting off toward Ryokuto itself. The poor fellow just stares after them, stunned for a moment, before picking up the luggage he'd just dropped and resuming his trudge.

For my own part, I don't know whether to be relieved or insulted.

***

I'm at Greenwood's gate when I spot the three of them about a dozen meters off, and hail them. "Sempais! Suka-chan! I'm back!" Shinobu-sempai grins slightly and returns the wave, while Mitsuru- sempai looks up from Suka-chan... did something happen to him?

Oh, it's just another nosebleed. Guess those girls got him, too.

***

Tochizawa sets down his can of Yebisu. "No kidding... Hasukawa's sister?"

"Well, sister-in-law..."

The sempais are regaling us with news of Sumire-chan's visit. Evidently, Suka-chan's still got a thing for her: it's why he stayed at the dorm over summer break. Not that Sumire understood any of it -- or that Suka-chan could explain. Turns out he got a nosebleed just from her hugging him, and had to make a mad dash for the benjo. And by the time he recovered, she'd left. So she still doesn't know how Suka-chan feels... not that he seems to like feeling that way. I make a note to needle him about it later. Meanwhile, I latch onto his arm, and he looks down on me and gives me a sheepish smile. I nestle into his shoulder a bit. Mitsuru-sempai blinks at me a couple of times before continuing. "But yeah... still, you remember Sumire-san, ne? She was the Queen..."

"Oh that's right. So she's the doc's wife?"

"Well, yeah... didn't you figure it out from the name?"

"...Doctor... Hasukawa..." Tochizawa pauses, and chuckles. "Never even crossed my mind. Whaddya know."

"Yeah, a real waste, ne? A chick that pretty stuck with an infirmary doctor, ne? Whaddya think, Suka?" Mitsuru-sempai nudges Suka-chan hard enough that I feel it. Suka-chan just glares at him for a moment. Then he grabs a can without a word, cracks it open and chugs it. I can't help staring.

"Uh... Suka-chan? Suka-chan?" I don't get his attention until he's done with the beer, and by then, he hasn't much attention to give. He topples backward onto the floor, and I'm hard-pressed to catch him in time.

Shinobu-sempai's expression is flat. "That's the third time he's done that this summer. Give him a few hours, it'll wear off."

I'm just staring at him in my arms, before I decide I'm better off setting him down on the floor. "You're kidding... he gets drunk off of one can of beer?"

"Hardly." Shinobu-sempai shakes his head. "I think it's a combination of the alcohol itself, the ulcer and the medication he's been taking for it, and," and at this point, even sempai looks sheepish, "some kind of leftover body-memory from that champagne we gave you two last month."

It makes sense enough to permit me to glare at the sempais a bit, and they both have the grace to look embarrased. I set down my can of Yebisu - I've only taken a few sips, but there's no point in tempting fate. "Hmph. So this wears off after a while? Well, help me get him back to the room, will ya?" We all rise, grab an extremity, and carry Suka-chan out of room 211 as though we were pallbearers.

We march into our room in military fashion, the sempais holding the shoulders, Tochizawa and I holding Suka-chan's legs. Mitsuru-sempai pushes the curtain to Suka-chan's bed aside, and calls out, "Okay, everyone... hoist!" And we boost Suka-chan practically to the height of my head, and ease him into bed. Once he's settled, Mitsuru-sempai pulls the curtain, and we troop back out.

Rest in peace, Suka-chan.

***

Out in the hall, Mitsuru-sempai grins. "All right, who's for some more brewskis?" He's looking straight at me, too.

Fine, then. "You know, sempai... Beer makes for a pretty good shampoo. Would you like to try it sometime?"