's attitude was the best way of dealing with this kind of situation.

However, if they just let Layfon go and let him do whatever he pleased until the effects of the juice disappeared, what kind of things would happen? Layfon had been active in the platoon matches, so he had many fans. There were many girls who only knew Layfon during competition and didn't know his normal self. Supposing Layfon's sweet words managed to trick those girls, what kind of drama would unfold?

"We can't tie him up until the effects disappear either."

Naruki murmured this with a bitter smile, and actually, before they had arrived at this store, she had already sneakily tried to see whether she could do that.

But, Layfon had quickly noticed her presence.

And moreover, he had grabbed Naruki's hands and quietly murmured 'I'd actually like to tie you up for a night', so Naruki had been unable to do anything.

"It feels like we've released a wild beast. If his judgment has been impaired, he might become a sex offender."

Perhaps thinking of the scene just now, Naruki shivered, and then drank the beverage in her hand with one gulp.

"So I said that this is a good opportunity."

Mifi was still pushing that matter. Meishen didn't know why, but Naruki was looking at Mifi with a dirty look.

"What I mean is, what is done cannot be undone."

"As I thought."

Mifi said this, and quickly brought Naruki upon her.

"I knew you were talking about that kind of thing. You want your own friend to do such an impure action?"

"What are you talking about. Mei-chan likes Layton, so she's quite okay with it."

"The order of things is very important."

"If she's concerned about such a thing, she won't be able to capture Layfon. There's open warfare and deception, and girls are deception. Every move is allowed, whether it's a feint, surprise ambush, or a nighttime visit."

"Okay, okay. If you want to say that kind of thing, wait until after you've succeeded with it."

"That's no fun--"

Just then, Meishen finally understood what Mifi was talking about, and her face became even redder because of it.

Mifi continued being naughty.

"As long as you make something happen before the effects of the juice disappear, and then present it to Layton after he wakes up, it'll be enough. It's the 'scene under the blankets the next morning' move. And if you say something like 'that was great' when the other party wakes up, it would be even more terrific."

"Nn, Mifi should really change to the editorial department, because she's already been led astray."

"That's no fun--"

Scene under the blankets the next morning?

Felli who had a reaction to those words raised her head.

By the table, the serious-faced Nina, smiling Sharnid, and Harley who looked like he wanted to laugh but couldn't were discussing things.

"What's wrong with it, maybe we should just let him be comfortable? If you don't want him to find arbitrary girls to deal with his desires, then you should take the field yourself."

"Why did it become that kind of topic!"

Nina quietly got angry. Her face was red.

"That person didn't prepare anything like a neutralizer, did she?"

"Even if she did, would it be enough?"

"Harley, can you make an antidote?"

"I'm a materials major, I can't do things like medicine."

"It should be fine to just let him be comfortable. What, if you don't like doing it when he's under the influence of a drug, then just go for a second round when he returns to normal."

"Hey.... Why can your mouth only let out those kinds of things!"

"Because that's the easiest way."

"I need to properly correct your morality!"

"Don't think my Magnum Bomb is that easy to block!"

"Hey, what are we actually talking about?"

Harley's helpless voice made Felli expel the conversation around the table from her thoughts.

What she should be cautious of were the people sitting around the other table.

They were talking about something like scenes under the blanket the next morning. Though the person who said it wasn't Meishen, Felli was still very concerned about how Meishen would respond after hearing such a thing, or what actions she would take.

A scene under the blankets next morning with that girl's body as a weapon.... was really frightening.

(Maybe I should tell everyone.)

Maybe the changing situation had made her feel confused, but she was unable to make calm judgments.

Felli looked at Layfon. He was sitting at the bar alone, talking to Leerin who was making dinner for Felli and the others. He was saying flirtatious words that he had spoken to Felli first, but Leerin kept a displeased expression.

After seeing that, she shouldn't have to worry about Leerin.

Felli thought this, but....

"Leerin, I really want to eat your breakfast every day."

"Enough is enough, stop it, alright?"

Felli saw Leerin say this, but when she raised her face, her face was quite red.

She was also very dangerous.

This wouldn't do.

Felli stood up.

Meishen also stood up.

"........Um."

"........Ah."

No, she seemed to have been forced up.

"Ah, Leerin, I'll come help."

After being forcefully pushed from behind by Mifi, Meishen said this, and then moved towards the bar.

"Mei-chan, you're the cutest when you wear an apron."

"Auu!"

The kitchen was on the other side of the bar, and Meishen was naturally preparing to wear the apron that was hung there, but her face went red because of those words, and her body even froze.

She had to think of something. Felli thought this, standing blankly in the middle of the store.

If this went on, everyone - all of the females present in the store, would be assaulted by Layfon's poisonous fangs. Though Nina's face was red because of Sharnid's words, maybe in her heart she felt that it might be okay. Even the angry-looking Leerin was very dangerous. As for Meishen, she was currently the most dangerous person.

Everyone might try a 'scene under the blankets the next morning' move.

She hadn't done anything to deal with that.

She had to think of something.

But, what could she do?

The object of destruction.

A black drink.

Right. Before they had come here, hadn't she been thinking about that? The object of destruction could definitely destroy many things. That was certain. It could destroy the danger zone surrounding Layfon, it would definitely destroy it, and maybe it was even true that it was targeted at it.

In that case.

Felli looked around the interior of the store, looking for a place with drinks. She couldn't find any drinks in the area that customers would walk around in. On the other side of the bar, behind Leerin, she could see a fridge with drinks, and actually she had long since noticed that. This was a place that sold liquor, so there were various types of liquor placed on the wall.

But, the so-called black drink shouldn't mean liquor, right? According to Zuellni's laws, no one here had reached drinking age.

Felli entered the kitchen, walking past the two people who were currently making food, and then advancing towards the fridge. Meishen used the knife with stiff movements.

"Aah, Is Felli also going to cook for me?"

Felli had decided to take action quickly, and she had originally planned to ignore everything, but Layfon's voice made her stop moving.

"That makes me happy."

Layfon said those kinds of words without embarrassment. What was that feeling creeping over her back, was it a feeling of terror that made her uncomfortable, or....

(But, because of this kind of situation....)

Felli felt her heart waver, so she looked at the fridge as if to throw off such a feeling.

....It wasn't there.

It wasn't inside. The things inside were all water or fruit juice, and there were neither red nor black drinks. In that case, she would go look at the bottles arranged on the wall - but there weren't red or black drinks there either.

"Sharnid!"

Felli shouted.

"Oh?"

"....Are these all the drinks?"

"There's a private repository inside."

Sharnid used his hand to point somewhere, and there was indeed a passageway there.

Felli rushed inside quickly.

Many bottles were placed in orderly arrangements in the cold air, and this method of storage meant that this place was a liquor storeroom.

"A wine storage room."

In her hometown, her father's wine had also been stored with this kind of method.

"In other words, there's only wine here?"

Felli creased her brow.

However, if there was wine, then she could indeed find a 'red drink'.

"Maybe this is the lucky object?"

In that case, that thing was definitely inside this wine bottle.

"But, even so...."

Felli glanced at the wine inside of the bottle. The label attached to the bottle expressed the vintage and age - that kind of thing was pretty much the same in every city. Roughly three percent of the Academy City population was legally permitted to drink, and if that were true, it wasn't such a good thing for the wine industry to be thriving in the Academy City. Of course, there had also been wine trafficking in Felli's hometown, so this wine definitely wouldn't be wasted.

In this wine storage room, there were bottles of vintage wine from more than fifty years ago.

Wine could be separated into red and white types.

But, there shouldn't be any black drinks here, right? Though there were wines that had been named 'black' wines, those were in the end just very concentrated red wines.

No....

"Got it."

That thing seemed to have been hidden, placed in a corner of the storage room. Felli could see through the bottleneck and behind it, since the bottle was translucent. The liquid sitting inside was a deep red wine that definitely couldn't be distinguished from black.

"....It's this."

Felli reached her hand out to it, and just then-

"I'll help you."

A voice suddenly came from behind her, and Felli almost jumped from fright.

"Lay....Layfon."

"It's only the two of us here right now, so why don't you call me Fon Fon, Felli?"

He used a sweet tone, saying this almost in a whisper.

"Why did you come here?'

"Because it would be heavy if Felli came to get drinks for everyone herself, right? So of course I'd come to help."

"Ah...."

Right. The owner of this store wasn't here, so not only did they have to prepare food themselves, but drinks as well. Somehow, Felli had become the person burdened with preparing drinks for everyone.

"If Felli's delicate hands were hurt by something heavy, I definitely wouldn't be happy."

After saying this, Layfon brought Felli's hand to his face.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh!

In order to wake up the part of her self that was beginning to float away, Felli screamed as loud as she could in her mind. Layfon's current state wasn't normal, and if he moved as he was, it wouldn't be surprising for someone to have come chasing after him. The fact that it hadn't happened meant that Layfon had used Sakkei when he was following after Felli.

In order to capture Felli with sweet words.

He was serious, Layfon was seriously trying to seduce Felli, and have a 'next-morning scene under the blankets'.

Felli was willing to admit that she was very persistent towards Layfon, and those feelings even made her feel a sense of competition with Meishen who clearly liked Layfon. When Leerin had come to Zuellni, she had the same feelings.

But, still - even so. Layfon was currently being misled by a drug, and Felli wouldn't feel happy about being seduced by the current him.

"Felli...."

His hand rested on Felli's waist, and his glowing eyes looked towards her as if drawing Felli in.

No good, if this went on it would truly be bad.

Aah, but. Ahh, but!

The lucky object, the red drink, was here.

She couldn't be seduced by Layfon who had gone out of control because of the drug. But, if it were the second round - Sharnid's vulgar murmurs endlessly filled her brain. A scene the next morning under the blankets, and then the second round. That way....

No no no!

Even that way, wouldn't she lose the valuable first time to the drug?

"It's a masculinity-awakening juice~"

For some reason, Selina's voice sounded in her head. At the time, Felli hadn't seriously listened to her words, but for some reason, that explanation sounded in Felli's mind right now, and she tried to understand its meaning.

"I inspected Layfon's brain matter~ It'll make him become more manly~ Or you could say that I awakened his masculinity~ Or sexual attraction~ Those kinds of things were increased with one gulp~"

....Meaning, that cup of juice had eliminated Layfon's slowness towards women, making him able to act?

In other words, though his actions were outrageous, the foundations governing his actions hadn't changed?

If it were that way, then the actions appearing in front or her now - Layfon's actions towards Felli - weren't betraying his subconscious?

"Felli.... how about it?"

Layfon strengthened his arm around Felli's waist. Felli was pulled over, and his clear eyes slowly drew close.

Aah, how about it.

She involuntarily thought about it.... She almost thought so.

"No no no."

Felli spoke unconsciously.

That interpretation was just a pretense produced by Felli's desires. On the road here, and when he had been in the store, he hadn't only whispered sweet words to Felli, but had also done that to other girls, right?

It was already enough.

Truly enough!

She had been exhausted by this situation, so-

"Felli?"

"Fon Fon, can you bring these drinks to everyone?"

After Felli said this coldly to the somewhat puzzled-looking Layfon, she pointed to the black drink in the corner of the wine cellar.

It was already enough.

Might as well let everything be destroyed.

◇

Incidentally, though that black wine brewer's recipe had spread outside of its city, its brewer's concept was an experimental substance with overly strong contents to 'get people one hundred percent completely drunk', so not even a bottle had been sold, and it was received poorly even in Zuellni.

It had been called 'Wicked Devil'.

The shop owner didn't even plan on letting customers drink that wine, and only held it as a collectible.

◇

"........"

Nina stopped rubbing her temple and trying to dig through her memories.

She couldn't think of anything after Layfon had missed watching the movie with everyone. The memories after that were unclear and blurry like smoke, and Nina felt that if she continued thinking, she would think of many unbearable memories.

"Sometimes there are situations where it's fortunate to forget. Nn, oh well."

For some reason, a strange sweat emerged on Nina's back. As if to chase away that sweat, Nina gulped down the rest of the water, and then laid back down on the table without even looking at the faces of the others who looked like they were having nightmares.