Epi.11-2: When She First Drank Sake

“Misaki-san, you seriously drink an unlimited amount of alcohol, but… since when? Since you were born?”
Yuka asked with a completely serious face.

“Of course I wasn’t born that way. I started drinking because of my ex-boyfriend. It was after I entered the workforce… when I was twenty-three.”
As she spoke while searching her memories, she downed her glass as if to hide her embarrassment.

“Was your ex-boyfriend also a heavy drinker?”
As Yuka leaned in close, Misaki pushed her face back with a hand.

“He didn’t drink that much. We even got as far as being engaged, but… in the end, it was called off.”
She let out one long, heavy sigh.

“…Was it… because you drank too much, Misaki-san?”

“That’s true, but when he asked me to cut back, I reduced it in my own way.”

“I see. By how much?”

“From two shō (1.8 L) to one shō every night… half.”
Perhaps remembering those days, she drank her sake with a faintly lonely look.

While Yuka was too bewildered to speak, the comment section was bursting with activity.
Still confused, she shifted her eyes to the comments, picked out the words she ought to say, and read them aloud:
“…That’s still a lot, right?”

“I drink less now because I pay attention to beauty and health, but back then, I was young.”
She let out a small, gentle laugh.

Seeing that most of the comments were saying things like “How is any of that healthy?” and “Start by cutting down on the booze…,” Misaki replied without hesitation.

“I get up at six in the morning, go through the housework and breakfast, and by then, it’s eight.
From there until noon, I drink one shō. I eat lunch during my one-hour lunch break.
From one p.m. to five p.m., I drink one shō. During my one-hour evening break, I have dinner and take a bath.
From six p.m. to ten p.m., I drink one shō. After that, I go to bed.
See? A regular routine. Healthy, right?”
Even with the mask hiding her eyes from view, the ‘See?’ energy radiated clearly.

Comments like “Don’t drink three shō a day like you’re doing your three meals a day lolololol” and “How are you even alive?” filled the screen in utter confusion, but Misaki remained completely unfazed.

“You all need to live a regular routine too,”
she said, pointing her index finger toward the camera and happily taking another drink.

“So, what did your ex-boyfriend say?”
Yuka pulled the conversation back on track.

“‘He didn’t tell me to stop drinking, just to keep it within common sense.’ That’s what he said.
And I did cut it down by one shō, you know? That’s a fifty-percent reduction.
What more did he expect me to do?”
She let out a small sigh.

“Could you talk about the amount you’re drinking, not the amount you reduced?”
”Just the alcohol bill alone is enough reason to call off an engagement”
”Your units are insane lolololol”

Noticing the way Misaki’s hand tightened around her glass, Yuka laughed as she opened a new bottle.
“This one’s the white-wine-barrel kind.”

Misaki downed the drink Yuka poured for her in one go, then declared just one thing—
“This topic is over!”
She glared straight at the screen.

“Eeeh? But I want to hear more!”
Misaki set her glass on the table with a soft clink and slowly looked at Yuka.
“…I said it’s over.”

“…Okaaay, got it…”
Overwhelmed by Misaki’s intensity, Yuka surrendered.