[TSSIM] Chapter 516: Cheers!

Seeing Honoka still hesitate to drink Homura's vegetable juice, Umi spoke up with a twitching eyebrow.

"Honoka, just drink it. It's only three minutes of unconsciousness anyway."

Indeed, Umi wasn't wrong—it was just three minutes!

Compared to the previous six or so minutes, the time had been cut in half.

Clearly, this was because, aside from their bodies gradually adapting, their mental resilience also definitely played a part.

Needless to say, the word 'three minutes' summed up all their struggles perfectly.

Of course, by now, among the voice actors, Megumi could drink vegetable juice without even flinching, which completely shocked all the girls.

"I kinda hope you all keep drinking it though." Homura said with a slight smile. "The day my vegetable juice stops affecting you, that's when you'll really be impressive."

"Rin doesn't wanna be that impressive, nyaa~!" Rin exclaimed, her body shuddering violently.

"It's fine, Honoka will want to, right?" Homura said, giving a thumbs-up.

Honoka: "..."

Girls: "..."

"You say you don't wanna, but your body's being pretty honest~" Homura continued with a teasing tone.

Hearing this, Umi and the others rolled their eyes, suddenly feeling the urge to punch something.

"By the way, you girls not drinking?" Homura asked, looking over at Utaha and the others. "Think about how much Honoka and the rest have changed before you answer."

Change?

In their eyes, the biggest change in Honoka and the others had to be their mental resilience, which, in turn, showed in their overall energy and spirit.

Even though it was difficult to describe, its benefits were undeniable.

It was similar to when someone wore too little in cold weather, those with weak mental resilience might think, "It's a bit cold... Am I going to catch a cold?"

In the end, they almost certainly would.

Meanwhile, someone with strong mental resilience would simply acknowledge the cold and think, "It's cold. I guess I should move around a little. Catch a cold? What nonsense."

In the end, even if they did fall ill, it wouldn't be from the cold but from the flu.

Knowing this, who wouldn't want to strengthen their mind like that?

Utaha and the others weren't exceptions, especially with Muse improving right in front of them, there was no way they would sit back and watch others advance rapidly while they lagged behind.

As a result, the number of vegetable juice victims increased by eight.

Homura secretly laughed to himself as he saw his nonsense had succeeded.

Sometimes, all it took was one sentence to set people up.

Even though the girls knew the vegetable juice was actually good for them, they still couldn't help but look utterly miserable as they stared at the vegetable juice in their hands.

"C'mon! Cheers!" Homura raised his glass, not wanting to waste any time.

If they hesitated too much, what if someone backed out and refused to drink?

In this situation, even Sagiri and Izumi, who were still struggling with the decision, had no choice but to gulp the vegetable juice down when they saw everyone else drinking.

As soon as Sagiri took a sip, an indescribable sensation shot through her nerves and spread across her entire body, almost making her spit it out. Nevertheless, to improve herself, not to lose to the other girls, and to help her brother, she pinched her nose and forced the vegetable juice down her throat.

In the end, Homura helped each of the collapsed girls lean against the cushions he had prepared beforehand, then collected their empty glasses. By the time he and Megumi finished washing the glasses, the ones who had passed out were slowly regaining consciousness.

Naturally, Muse's members woke up faster than Elf and Eriri, or else all those days of drinking vegetable juice would’ve been for nothing.

One thing was for sure—not everyone could be like Megumi.

"Wait... is this some kinda self-defense mechanism?" Eriri held her head, frowning. "I feel like I can't remember the taste of that vegetable juice no matter how hard I try."

"It's not that you can't remember, you just can't describe it." Homura shook his head. "I mean, I myself gotta admit that the taste of my vegetable juice is impossible to put into words. Other than 'disgusting', there's nothing else to say."

"Yeah... you're probably right..." Eriri sighed. "Seriously, you're unbelievable. When you make something taste good, it's insanely good, but when it's bad, it's unbearably bad."

"You know, I actually wanna make a vegetable juice that's both good and bad at the same time." Homura shrugged.

Girls: "???"

"What kinda weird idea is that?!" Honoka exclaimed with a shocked expression.

Why was Homura going further and further into insanity?!

"Hmm..." Homura thought for a moment, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "Like... at first, it tastes terrible, so bad that you're about to pass out, but then, right at that moment, it suddenly turns insanely delicious? Say, with the contrast between the awful taste before and the amazing taste after, wouldn't that second part feel like pure bliss?"

"In that case, just make two drinks—one good, one bad—and switch between them." Utaha rolled her eyes.

Homura: "..."

Girls: "..."

"You kidding? There's no way that stuff tastes good, right?!" Nico snapped. "Can you guys stop talking about this nonsense already? I don't wanna be a test subject!"

"Alright, alright, I was just saying."

Homura spoke up with twitched lips, calming everyone down.

"If it really were like that, it'd probably come down to saliva and temperature. Maybe there's a way to make awful vegetable juice react with saliva and somehow turn good, or maybe it tastes better just because of the warmth in your mouth?"

"But that'd basically be chemistry research, right? I really don't wanna study that just for cooking."

Upon hearing this, the girls suddenly imagined a scene where Homura, wearing a white lab coat in a chemistry lab, was surrounded by test tubes, beakers, and all sorts of equipment. After a series of complex experiments, he finally mixed up a dangerous-looking liquid, and then, with a smile, he placed it in front of them and told them to drink it.

In that instant, a shiver ran down their spines, and fear filled their minds.

"What are you girls shivering for? Get back to work!" Homura exclaimed while shaking his head.

Snapping out of it, the girls saw that Homura had already sat down with his laptop.

"Nii-san, what are you doing?" Sagiri asked, confused.

Wasn't the game already sent off for production?

What else was there to do?

"Forgot already?" Homura chuckled. "Remember, the giveaway event's ending soon since the manga's officially launching tomorrow."

"Right now?" Nanami asked, then checked the time. "It's still afternoon. Isn't it a bit too early?"

"Nah, the deadline's at two. Let me remind everyone real quick."

Saying this, Homura immediately logged into his blog.