"Pay up," Hokuto declared triumphantly, pushing the Suika game away with 3100 points displayed on the console's screen.
Juri snatched the console and, in less than 10 minutes, conjured up a dazzling 3500 points with two colossal watermelons smiling in the middle of the screen.
Juri quirked an eyebrow with a smirk.
"So, what were you saying about paying up?"
Sometimes Hokuto hated his life.
Come the next Saturday, Hokuto found himself sporting a half-blonde hair and sitting through a full concert next to no one else but Taiga. Because apparently nothing screamed amusement for his members more than making him dye his hair and drag Kyomoto on an unexpected date as a punishment.
Hokuto had initially considered the concert part the pinnacle of torture, but the real kicker came when he discovered later that Juri and Taiga had dedicated a whopping 15 minutes of live radio to dissecting not only his new hair but also the entire concert saga.
The awkwardness reached new heights as Taiga had apparently gone on for a considerable time debating and panicking about whether he should add Hokuto as an individual friend on LINE or not. This weird dilemma unfolded despite the fact that Taiga and Hokuto were already on very normal friendly terms and had numerous ways to get in touch personally outside their group chat if that kind of need ever arose.
With his comments on the radio, Juri managed to make Hokuto sound like someone who would look utterly bizarre in blonde, going on that such a radical hairstyle change was entirely out of his character and that he would regret it.
Juri also painted an awkward picture of Hokuto and Taiga's concert visit, saying that all that "should I talk to him, should I add him, what will he think about it, should I send him a message now or not" coming from Taiga made them sound like lovestruck idiots in their teens after the first date.
First of all, Juri's musings about Hokuto's hair were way off. Hokuto found himself rather fond and proud of the brave transformation after all, and he had actually been contemplating a hairstyle change for some time anyway. After getting used to seeing blonde hair whenever he looked in the mirror, he was assured that the new hair looked pretty good on him.
The best thing was that he also realized he wasn't so ancient or stuck in his old ways that he couldn't throw in a few curveballs when it came to his appearance in the future too. Even if it required some Suika game bet first.
As for the whole Taiga part, Hokuto opted for a diplomatic approach. No comments.