Chapter 47: Addiction Cannot Be Cured

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Incidentally, the reason I knew Nishida had moved up in the world at a host club was because I heard about Mami through Temari.

Ah, in the end, Mami’s host club addiction was never cured. I thought she might have reflected on it a bit after catching a disease, but danger past, God forgotten, huh. What an idiot.

Long story short, Nishida joined the exact host club Mami frequented as a cast member, which was simply how that information made its way to me.

Mahiro, perhaps because of what I told her, seemed to have cut ties with Mami. Well, severing a relationship with the kind of person who forces even her friends into the sex industry reduced the risk of Chihiro-san’s tits sagging, which was a joyous occasion from my perspective. Even so, the fact that Temari still hadn’t abandoned Mami was just so very Temari-like, or whatever you want to call it.

By the way, being “currently enrolled at TH University” apparently served as a powerful weapon when working as a host, so Nishida was technically on a leave of absence.

However, I personally didn’t think the chances of that guy returning to university were high.

The basis for that was this.

“I’ve woken up. My only hope now is to start over with Sara, so I’m going to go cleanse my body first.”

It was because of an exchange like this the one time I contacted Nishida after he took his leave of absence. I figured that was also the reason Nishida didn’t drop out of university entirely, opting for a leave of absence instead.

But considering Nishida hadn’t even come up in conversation regarding the crucial Naegi-san, it was all too easy to guess, or rather, the possibility of them getting back together was practically nonexistent.

Well, when a treasure is obtained too easily, people might not realize its true value. Even if you realize its worth and cling to it after losing it, it’s truly “too late.”

Still, that guy Nishida.

“My RINE messages aren’t even getting marked as read…”

I couldn’t help but let the soliloquy spill out; trying to get in touch with someone and failing left a somewhat frustrating, lingering feeling. It probably wasn’t his shift right now either, so I decided to ambush him with a direct call…

“This is NTR Docomo. The number you have dialed is no longer in service.”

…Eh?

Wait, what does this mean? Was his smartphone contract canceled?

Did I just lose yet another one of my already scarce male acquaintances?

―・―・―・―・―・―・―

However, I managed to learn about Nishida’s current situation three days later while taking a break with Temari at the on-campus cafe during the club recruitment drive.

“I heard from Mami-chi, but apparently, that guy Nishida embezzled the host club’s sales money and pulled a vanishing act.”

Temari stated something rather outrageous with complete indifference while sipping her iced lemon tea through a straw. It was a twist ending that would even shock the Nishitan Clinic.

“Whoa… Seriously? And here I heard he paid off his debts and got a clean slate.”

“From what I gathered, he relentlessly stalked Sara without learning his lesson, and when she explicitly rejected him saying, ‘I have someone I like,’ the pessimistic guy relapsed into gambling.”

“Pfft!!”

I almost spat my coffee all over Temari by reflex but somehow managed to hold it in. Temari definitely wouldn’t be happy about getting a facial shower from me, either.

But I wonder who Naegi-san’s crush is. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t curious, but since I’m out of the loop, there’s no need to pry into it right now.

“Besides, his answer when Sara asked him why he was so obsessed with her was even more incredibly stupid.”

“What did he say?”

“I don’t remember exactly, but it was something like, ‘Sara is the only woman left with a pure heart,’ I think?”

“…”

That guy Nishida, did he get exposed to way too many filthy hearts at the host club?

That said, didn’t those two have mismatched play preferences, or rather, fetishes? If the end result was that Nishida went back to vanilla play because he got too f****d in the a*s and turned into a sloppy, drooling mess, it would be way past hilarious, it’d make grass grow right out of my a*****e. I was just glad the A*s-Grass Burger story remained unfinished.

“But addiction is terrifying, isn’t it? In the end, the moment something goes wrong, they immediately relapse.”

Only when she said that did Temari’s expression turn serious. I was drawn in as well.

“Whether it’s gambling or host clubs, it’s all the same, huh. The impermanence of all worldly things.”

“Isn’t that analogy a bit weird?”

“Hmph, none of that matters… Seriously, Nishida, you idiot.”

“…No matter what you say, seeing someone who used to be a friend fall from grace doesn’t exactly feel like someone else’s problem, does it, Yuuya-senpai?”

However, Temari’s face immediately contorting into a smirk right after was creepy as expected. Did she actually think I was worried about Nishida?

“Stop making that creepy face. You’re just a junior.”

“Muu!? You’re seriously so rude, especially with such a cute junior right in front of you!”

“That hurts, stop aggressively smacking my shoulder!! If you’re a junior, then show your senpai some damn respect!!”

Well, I decided not to deny the part where Temari shamelessly treated herself as “cute.” She’d better be grateful to her kind senpai.

“More importantly, why do even you have today’s club pamphlet, Yuuya?”

“Who exactly was the one who asked me to tag along? I’m not in any club and don’t know the specifics, so I was just a bit curious.”

“No, I mean, I asked Sara, but she turned me down. Hmm, in that case, why don’t you make your club debut too, Yuuya?”

“I refuse. First of all, I doubt I’d fit in joining a club in my second year.”

“If you’re with me, you’ll be fine, probably.”

“Who said I was joining the same club as you?”

“Eh? If it keeps us from feeling lonely, isn’t that an option? Right, se-n-pa-i?”

“…”

Dammit, this girl dropping the “se-n-pa-i” right here meant her junior power was actually pretty high, goddammit.

Sigh. It can’t be helped.

After a year passed, I lost one male acquaintance and gained a new junior. I decided to use that to convince myself.

So, wipe that smirk off your face this instant.