Chapter 50: God-Tier Wingman
"Aki-kun... I want to drink more..."
Himeno lay on the sofa, her eyes half-open, her voice drifting with the lingering stupor of alcohol.
"You've had more than enough. Go to sleep." Aki frowned, turning to leave. He didn't want to linger in a woman's room late at night; it felt inappropriate.
"Don't go..." Himeno suddenly reached out and grabbed the corner of Aki's coat.
Aki froze. Before he could react, Himeno pulled hard. Caught off balance, he fell forward, pinning her against the sofa.
At that moment, the door—which hadn't been fully closed—creaked open a bit further. Chiya, standing outside, had been leaning against the wall, but his "keen" senses caught the movement inside. He didn't walk in, but he didn't look away either.
"Aki-kun, stay with me a little longer..." Himeno's arms wrapped around Aki's neck, her face flushed, her breath smelling of beer but her eyes carrying a rare, vulnerable loneliness.
Aki's heart raced. He was a complete novice when it came to things like this. "Himeno-senpai, you're drunk. Let go of me first."
"I'm not drunk... I'm very awake..." Himeno murmured, pulling his face closer to hers.
Outside, Otonashi Chiya checked his watch. He felt that if he didn't do something, Aki might actually struggle out of there and go home to sleep like a blockhead, completely wasting this "opportunity."
He coughed loudly from the hallway. "Aki! I'm going to take the trash down for the neighbors, I might be a while! Don't worry about me, just take your time helping Himeno-senpai!"
Then, with a deliberate thud, Chiya pulled the door shut from the outside.
Aki: "..."
Himeno: "..."
The sudden silence in the room made the atmosphere even more suffocating. Aki's face was now redder than Himeno's. He realized Chiya had just locked him in.
"That guy..." Aki muttered under his breath, half-exasperated and half-panicked.
Himeno, however, giggled. The "wingman" move seemed to have entertained her. She looked at the panicked youth above her and suddenly felt that life as a devil hunter wasn't all just gloom and death.
Ten minutes later, Chiya was standing downstairs, leaning against a streetlamp and finishing a skewer of grilled meat he'd pilfered from Denji's bag.
"I've done all I can, Aki. The rest is up to your own 'stamina,'" Chiya whispered to the night sky.
[Ding! Successfully influenced a key character's fate. Subtle change in world-line detected. Reward: 15 Attribute Points!]
Chiya's eyes lit up. Wait, being a wingman gives points too? This system is unexpectedly flexible!
He immediately dumped the points into Vitality. If he was going to keep using Susanoo and helping Aki with his "social life," he was going to need a lot more health.
At that moment, Aki noticed some honey on the table, so he went and prepared a cup of honey water for Himeno.
When the cup made a clinking sound on the coffee table, Himeno slowly opened her eyes.
"Aki-kun, you're quite the considerate one, aren't you~?" Himeno teased in her drunken stupor.
"I just can't stand seeing you sleep in the living room without even taking a shower, Himeno-senpai," Aki said indifferently. "Drink this quickly to help sober up, then go shower and go to bed."
"Yes, yes~" Himeno slowly sat up and downed the honey water in one go.
After a while, she did feel a bit more clear-headed, and her body felt less heavy. Seeing that her condition had improved, Aki said, "Then Otonashi and I will be heading out."
"Wait~!" Himeno called out to him. "What's the rush? Won't you stay and keep me company for a bit?"
"..." Aki was silent for a moment before saying, "I need to go home, shower, and sleep too."
"Tch~~" Himeno's tone carried a hint of coyness. "Aki-kun, really... you love playing the prude."
"..." Aki went silent again. He simply didn't want to argue anymore; he turned around and headed for the door.
"Aki-kun, get back here! Take this~"
Aki turned around just in time to see a set of keys flying toward him. He instinctively reached out and caught them before he even realized what they were.
"Aren't these... your keys?" Aki asked, looking confused.
"It's fine, that's a spare set. I still have the originals here." With that, Himeno fell back onto the sofa. "Now you can go. Next time you drop me home, don't bother waking me up~"
Aki stared at the spare keys in his hand, hesitating for a moment, but ultimately kept them. He stepped outside and closed the door for her, even calling out a reminder: "Himeno-senpai, don't forget to lock the door!"
"I knoooow~" Himeno replied.
Hearing that hazy, half-awake voice, Aki felt uneasy, but he couldn't exactly lock the door for her from the outside.
"Why don't you just stay and lock it for her?" Otonashi Chiya suddenly spoke up.
"No. Himeno-senpai is home alone; it wouldn't be appropriate for me to stay," Aki said with a serious face.
"What does that matter? It's not like you're going to do anything to her, right?" Chiya said with a faint smile. "What if she falls asleep and forgets to lock the door, and some criminal breaks in?"
"..." Aki was indeed worried about that. Chiya's words made him start to waver.
"The fact that she gave you her spare keys means she trusts you completely. There's nothing 'inappropriate' about it," Chiya continued.
"Alright..." Aki finally gave in. He decided he would stay at Himeno's place for the night. Once she went to the bedroom, he would just sleep on the living room sofa.
Chiya had just pulled off a god-tier "wingman" move, and it worked perfectly. Watching Aki head back into Himeno's small villa, Chiya walked home alone in high spirits.