Chapter 87: I don’t drink and I don’t pick up women, so I don’t know… is it really like that?

"I feel like you already say pretty awful things normally. You’re holding back even with that?"

With an exasperated face, Tint asked.

"Even with that, I am holding back, more or less."

Looking a little awkward, Kazui answered.

He was aware that he sometimes ended up saying pretty awful things.

"Well, if you can’t drink enjoyably, maybe alcohol just doesn’t suit you."

"I think that’s probably it. Honestly I didn’t even think it tasted good, and I don’t think I can come to like alcohol, so I don’t mind if it doesn’t suit me."

"Actually I don’t like alcohol either."

Tint said something unexpected, so Kazui asked with a puzzled look.

"Then why do you go all the way to taverns to drink?"

"To be blunt, the goal is getting along with women more than the alcohol."

"So in short, picking up women?"

Tint nodded at Kazui’s question.

"It’s easier to call out to women when you’ve been drinking than when you’re sober, and women are more likely to go along with an invitation when they’re drunk too, right?"

"I don’t drink and I don’t pick up women, so I don’t know... is it really like that?"

"It really is like that."

Tint answered with a knowing look.

"If you go to a tavern during Honey Hour, there are quite a few women who are nicely drunk and waiting to be invited, so it’s easy for guys to invite them too."

"Honey Hour?"

"It means the hour when men and women easily become a sweet relationship like honey."

In this world, when men and women grew close in a sexual sense, the word honey was sometimes used.

It had the meaning of a relationship as sweet as honey, but it was also because of the tradition that honey had been used for contraception, like the origin of the Honey Card.

"It apparently depends on the city, but on Aquila’s Tax Street, Honey Hour is from eleven until past midnight."

"Why from eleven?"

"Around that time Aquila residents become able to use empty hotel rooms, so men and women who meet at a tavern can easily enjoy themselves at a hotel."

Hotels in most autonomous cities, not just Aquila, did business with people visiting from elsewhere rather than local residents.

Hotels existed for people staying in Aquila for work using Terrestrial Ships.

If people from elsewhere could not stay at hotels it would be a problem, so most autonomous cities, not just Aquila, restricted hotel stays by local residents.

But late at night, when people from elsewhere would have finished securing hotels, the restriction on local residents staying was lifted.

Naturally hotels tried to open empty rooms to local residents and do business.

And when it came to local residents using hotels late at night, many of them ended up being men and women who met at a tavern and enjoyed a night of love.

That was why the time when hotels opened to local residents came to be called Honey Hour, when men and women easily became a sweet relationship.

In Aquila’s case, hotels opened to local residents from eleven at night, so Honey Hour started from eleven at night.

Tint summed that kind of explanation up briefly and told it to Kazui.

"I see... so if you’re going to pick up women, that time is better."

"What? You’re interested in picking up women too, Kazu?"

In a happy tone, Tint continued.

"If so, I can’t for the next few days because of night shifts, but after that ends, want to go drinking together? For picking up women!"

Right after saying the invitation, Tint corrected himself.

"Ah, but you can’t drink, Kazu, so drinking might be impossible."

"Yeah. I get bad when I drink, so if I went with you I’d just cause trouble."

"If it’s a pub rather than a bar, there are a lot of non-alcohol drinks and food on the menu too, so I feel like even you would be fine."

While talking he had kept changing, and before Kazui knew it Tint was in a red martial arts uniform. Saying that, he shut the locker door.

Tint pulled out the locker key and put it in a zippered pocket.

"Then I’m going to work up a sweat. See you!"

"See you!"

After answering Tint as he walked away, Kazui moved to finishing getting ready to go home.

Even while talking with Tint he had been changing and packing his things, so getting ready to go home was almost done.

On the inside of the locker door there was a mirror that could be used as a full-length mirror.

Kazui checked his appearance in the mirror.

The simple, fresh look of jeans and a white T-shirt suited him well.

But his hair was messy, so he roughly straightened it with his fingers.

Incidentally, when it came to the wavy hair that looked like cat ears, it was impossible to fix, so he had no intention of straightening that from the start.

(...Women drinking at taverns are easier to invite, and the good time to invite women is Honey Hour after eleven at night... huh.)

While straightening his hair, what he had heard from Tint came back to him.

(Tint’s talk seems like it could be useful for meeting women who will let me copy skills.)

To use Replication and increase his skills, Kazui had to keep having sex with women who had skills.

But getting close to women was not something he was good at.

He was aware that he had little knowledge and experience when it came to getting close to women and taking things as far as sex.

But he had noticed the possibility that Sexual Appraisal might fill in for that little knowledge and experience.

And through his experience with Lumia, having gained a little confidence, he had started thinking of using Sexual Appraisal to find sexually frustrated women and trying to invite them.

(If I’m going to use Sexual Appraisal to look for frustrated women, wouldn’t the success rate go up more if I did it at a tavern during Honey Hour?)

That question rose in his mind.

(In my case, if I go, a pub would be better? The place I went with Yuri before had "bar" written on the sign, so I don’t think it was a pub.)

Having finished straightening his hair, Kazui shut the locker door.

Then he slung on the backpack he had left on the bench and started walking.

Toward the changing room entrance, still worrying over whether to try going to a tavern...

—

Nighttime Tax Street looked brighter than Aquila’s other streets.

Not only the streetlights. The tavern signs and window lights lit the night road as well.

In a corner of the entertainment district in Aquila’s south district... Southern Cross, there was Tax Street lined with taverns.

The name came from the fact that not only Aquila but many autonomous cities on the Northern Continent had high liquor taxes, so it was a street where you ended up drinking and paying a lot of tax.

Most autonomous cities had a tavern street called Tax Street.

In Aquila’s case Tax Street was not a red-light district, so there were no brothel-like shops and the atmosphere was not vulgar.

There were many customers who came to drink with close people like friends, but there were also no small number of customers aiming for encounters between men and women.

In Aquila, Tax Street could be called one of the few meeting places for men and women seeking to reach a sweet relationship.

Kazui was visiting that nighttime Tax Street.

He was walking alone down a lively, adult-feeling street with more flashy signs than other streets and men and women who smelled of alcohol passing by, feeling out of place.

(This is only my second time coming here, but honestly... I’m bad with it.)

After becoming an adventurer and his life settling down, Kazui had visited Tax Street once with Yuri.

He had the memory of getting badly drunk and suffering from a hangover, so it was a street he had a bad feeling about.

(If Yuri had at least come with me I’d feel a little easier, but he wouldn’t.)

After returning from the unarmed combat gym, Kazui had washed his martial arts uniform and then eaten dinner with Yuri.

At that time he had told Yuri he was thinking of going to a tavern on Tax Street to look for women who would let him copy skills.

Feeling reluctant to go pick up women alone, he had invited Yuri to come with him.

"I have a girlfriend in Japan. There’s no way I can go along with picking up women! That would be cheating!"

Kazui asked Yuri, who declared it with a sour face.

"If it’s cheating, you’re already doing it with me, so isn’t it too late?"

"You’re a free pass, Kazu. You’re a guy."

Kazui kept pressing after that, but Yuri would not nod.

That was why Kazui was visiting Tax Street alone.

(Yuri’s surprisingly serious for a good-looking guy. Well, being serious is probably a good thing.)

While muttering that in his heart, Kazui looked around and searched for a pub.