"What day is it today...?"
Hakuto groggily sat up from his bed. The room around him was pitch black, making him feel a little disoriented.
Instinctively, he glanced around and then looked down at his own hands.
"Where's my phone... Ugh, that hurts..."
His whole body ached, a soreness that felt like the aftermath of an intense workout.
Every muscle in his body seemed to have been hammered repeatedly. Moving even slightly sent waves of soreness through him.
"Ugh..." Hakuto fumbled around in the dark until he finally found his phone.
Turning it on, he saw that it was around 8 PM. He vaguely remembered that he had returned home after seeing Ginko off at about 7 PM.
It looked like he had only slept for a little over an hour—if not for the fact that the date had changed, he might have actually believed that.
"I slept for over 20 hours straight... This is even worse than the first time… At least the first time, I felt refreshed afterward."
Hakuto pressed his shoulder, instantly sucking in a sharp breath.
"Ugh..." The soreness was on another level.
Since he had been asleep for an entire day, plenty of people had messaged and called him.
Ginko had sent a message asking how he was doing, while Eriri had asked whether he had gone to school the day before.
Hachiman, on the other hand, was just complaining at him...
But the most relentless one was Nao.
As the student council president and Hakuto's direct superior, she had been the one to message and call him the most when he failed to show up at school yesterday.
"Huh? Why aren't you at school yet? I remember you only asked for one day off, right?"
"You're not answering calls either… Did a neuroscientist abduct you?"
12 PM:
"Hakuto! Are you dead?!"
3 PM:
"(눈_눈) Did you fry your brain using a supercomputer?"
7 PM:
"The concert is tomorrow. Be there. I don't know what you're up to, but just show up."
"I have your ticket."
[Attached: A photo of a concert ticket]
Seeing Nao's messages, Hakuto felt a little embarrassed. After hesitating for a moment, he simply replied, "Okay."
She didn't respond—maybe she hadn't checked her phone yet, or maybe she just didn't want to. Either way, as long as the message got through, it was fine.
After that, Hakuto went through his unread messages, replying to each one with various excuses.
Of course, "I slept for over 20 hours" was absolutely not one of them.
Once that was done, he got out of bed. But after taking just two steps, he suddenly stopped and turned back to look at his bed.
"Forget it, it's just one day… I won't starve..." he reassured himself. "I'm sleeping!"
Maybe it was because his body was still aching too much, or maybe he was simply still exhausted, but Hakuto gave up on getting up to cook and collapsed back onto his bed.
Supercomputing was great and all, but the side effect of drowsiness was no joke...
What Hakuto didn't know was that in his contact list, Miku had sent him a message.
But barely one or two seconds after sending it, she quickly retracted it.
It seemed to be a photo. But since it was deleted, Hakuto would never know what it was.
The next morning, Hakuto groggily climbed out of bed again.
"What time is it now..." He rubbed his eyes. "Wait... The concert!"
The moment he remembered the concert, he jolted awake. With a whoosh, he sprang out of bed!
Except he had completely forgotten about his muscle soreness. The sudden movement made it feel like his entire body was falling apart.
"I'm dying, I'm dying!" Hakuto grabbed his phone. It was 6 AM. After glancing at the date and confirming he hadn't overslept, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.
"Ugh, it hurts..." He clutched his waist, wincing in pain. "Maybe I should ask Nao to come pick me up..."
After thinking about it, he decided against it. He was pretty sure that if he actually made such a request, Nao really would come over.
But not to pick him up—she'd probably come over just to beat him up instead.
With her temper, she'd most likely march in and stomp on him while he was still lying in bed.
Given his current state, Hakuto had no confidence that he could fight back. He'd definitely get pinned down and beaten.
That… No, thank you!
Left with no choice, Hakuto held onto his waist, leaned against the wall for support, and struggled his way over to the wardrobe to pick out some clothes.
Since he was going to a concert, he had to dress properly—especially since Nao had specifically requested it.
"Jacket... necklace... clip-on earrings..."
Hakuto had tattoos, which meant he wasn't exactly the conventional type.
Even though he usually didn't wear earrings, today was a special occasion, so going all out wasn't a big deal.
As for why he didn't just get his ears pierced? Well, duh—because infections hurt like hell! But since he was a guy, he only wore a clip-on on his left ear.
Holding a pile of accessories, Hakuto wobbled his way to the bathroom and stood in front of the sink.
A sticky note was still attached to the mirror, reminding him about today's concert with Nao.
Though he rarely forgot important events like this, it was always good to have a backup reminder.
"So many things going on… And the one free day I had, I just slept through it..." Hakuto sighed as hot water ran down his body, washing away some of the soreness.
Maybe because of the warm shower, he felt much more refreshed afterward.
"Why don't bars hire underage male hosts?!" Hakuto complained, staring at himself in the mirror.
With how he looked right now, he could absolutely be the top host in any club! Elite level!
Just imagining all that money slipping through his fingers made him feel frustrated.
But soon, he got over it. After all, rejecting someone as high-tier as him was the bar's loss.
He rarely wore earrings because even clip-ons hurt when clamped onto his earlobe.
"Looking like this… Nao's definitely going to be stunned~" Hakuto smirked. After all, his looks were at least half as good as the esteemed readers' here!
"I'm so handsome~" He admired himself for a while longer. Since he usually found dressing up troublesome, he had to appreciate his own effort while it lasted.
Just as he was about to leave, he suddenly remembered that he had messaged Nao yesterday.
By now, she should have replied, right?
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