Taking the subway, Chen Yu arrived at the agreed place well ahead of time. Checking his watch, he found there was still a while before the appointment, so he looked around and spotted an automatic vending machine by the roadside. He walked over to the machine, intending to buy a bottle of drink.
While Chen Yu was selecting a drink, an unexpected person also stood in front of the vending machine, pressed a button, and bought a can of beverage.
"Doctor Jounouchi? What are you doing here?" Chen Yu looked at Jounouchi Hiromi, who had appeared suddenly in front of him, in surprise. She had taken off her hospital white coat and was wearing a light grey home sweater with a dark green flannel long skirt, which made her appear softly beautiful under the dim streetlight. Perhaps because she had cried earlier that day, her normally spirited face seemed somewhat haggard.
"You were calling me Hiromi before, but now it's Doctor Jounouchi?" Jounouchi Hiromi glanced at Chen Yu with annoyance, her eyes flirting in a different manner, "Come to think of it, why are you here? You don't live around here, do you? Did you have an appointment with someone?"
Jounouchi Hiromi raised her eyebrow at Chen Yu and walked up to him, tilting her head up to gaze into his eyes with a playful look, "It couldn't be that after rejecting me, you're here to meet your real girlfriend, could it? The reasons you gave me for rejecting me this morning were just excuses, right? You already have a girlfriend!"
As Jounouchi Hiromi got closer, Chen Yu caught the smell of alcohol on her and immediately understood why her demeanor had changed so drastically from this morning.
"Joun... Hiromi-san, have you been drinking?" Chen Yu took a step back to keep some distance from Jounouchi Hiromi while answering her questions, "I had an appointment with a friend, a classmate from university. What about you, Hiromi-san? Did you have an appointment too?"
"If you're going to call me Hiromi, drop the honorifics." Jounouchi Hiromi, who seemed to have drunk too much, patted Chen Yu's shoulder before continuing, "I was heartbroken after you rejected my confession, it's only natural I came out for a drink to drown my sorrows, right? By the way, Mr. Chen Yu, you really are good-looking! Why did you reject me? Even if you don't want to marry me or let me into your life, I'd be happy just to be your girlfriend!"
While speaking, Jounouchi Hiromi's emotions seemed to flare up again, her eyes brimming with tears as she wrapped her arms around Chen Yu's neck.
"Hiromi-san, we are in the middle of the street, please don't do this." Chen Yu unwound the arms Jounouchi Hiromi had around his neck and said to her helplessly, "You're drunk, Hiromi-san. Let's talk about whatever it is tomorrow once you've sobered up. I don't want to see you like this."
"You just want to get rid of me quickly so you can go be with your girlfriend, right?" However, the drunken Jounouchi Hiromi didn't seem to take in Chen Yu's words and adopted a stubborn attitude, "Unless you show me your girlfriend today, I won't leave you alone! I'll hang onto you all night!"
After saying that, Jounouchi Hiromi directly clung to Chen Yu's arm, draping herself over him.
Feeling his body pulled down by Jounouchi Hiromi's actions, Chen Yu gave a wry smile. There was no reasoning with a drunk, and seeing Jounouchi Hiromi in her tipsy state, he couldn't just leave her there. After some thought, Chen Yu took out his phone from his pocket and called the person he was supposed to meet tonight, "It's me. Would it be okay if I brought someone along tonight? Just a colleague from the hospital. She's drunk, and I don't feel safe leaving her alone."
Hearing Chen Yu making the call, the befuddled Jounouchi Hiromi, who had been leaning on his shoulder with cloudy eyes, suddenly flashed a light in her gaze, but it quickly vanished again. She continued to murmur indistinctly, appearing even more intoxicated than when she had first encountered Chen Yu.
"Mmm, mmm, the deal won't be a problem—as long as the item you bring is what I want, money is no issue." Unaware of Jounouchi Hiromi's state, Chen Yu quickly finished his phone call before turning to her. She was still clutching his arm with a smile on her face; he shook his head helplessly, "Alright, I've spoken to my friend, and he will wait for me in the bar up ahead. Hiromi-san, do you really want to come with me?"
"I won't let you go tonight until I see your girlfriend!" Jounouchi Hiromi once again stressed this point. Although she was speaking drunkenly, she clearly wasn't so intoxicated as to be unconscious, and she could still answer Chen Yu's questions clearly, "And you said it yourself, didn't you? You're worried about leaving me alone. I'm a woman who's drunk, after all. Leaving me alone in a place like this—if anything were to happen to me, it would be your responsibility!"
Seeing Jounouchi Hiromi in this state, Chen Yu couldn't help but doubt whether she was truly drunk. But looking at her flushed cheeks and the gaze that, despite being hazy, still fixed upon him, he found it impossible to utter the words to leave her there alone.
He extracted his arm from Jounouchi Hiromi's embrace and steadied her suddenly unsteady figure before telling her, "I can take you with me, but don't cling to me—walk on your own."
After speaking, he let go of his supportive hand, and her body swayed slightly before steadying itself. Jounouchi Hiromi nodded at Chen Yu's serious expression and started walking straight ahead, "Let's go!"
Chen Yu shook his head helplessly, genuinely confused as to whether she was actually drunk.
The two arrived at the bar where Chen Yu had agreed to meet his friend. While Jounouchi Hiromi was still looking around for someone who might be Chen Yu's "girlfriend," he had already gone straight toward the bar.
"Brother Yu, you took so long!" A man about Chen Yu's age greeted him from the side of the bar.
"Where's the item? Did you bring it?" Chen Yu seemed unwilling to chat with the man, merely giving him a look before frowning, as he didn't see what he wanted beside the man.
Accustomed to Chen Yu's impatience, the man simply motioned for him to sit down and greeted Jounouchi Hiromi by his side, "Oh, is this young lady the colleague you mentioned? She's a real beauty! Brother Yu, you're really lucky to have such a beautiful lady by your side—you should grab the chance while you can!"
"Cut the crap, where's the item I want?" Chen Yu wasn't distracted by the man's rambling and remained focused on obtaining the item he desired.
"How could I possibly carry such a large item on me? Moreover, I have several options; I can't possibly have them all sent over to Tokyo for you to slowly pick, can I? Rest assured, everything is prepared. As soon as you decide on the one you want, I'll have someone deliver it to you immediately," the man explained, lifting a glass from the table and taking a big gulp of beer before continuing.
Meanwhile, Jounouchi Hiromi had put aside her worries about Chen Yu's "girlfriend" but her curiosity was now piqued by the man's words. She asked Chen Yu curiously, "Mr. Chen Yu, what are you planning to buy?"
"Horse bones," Chen Yu answered Jounouchi Hiromi without hesitation.