Hachiman took another bite of the breakfast Iris handed him beside him and smiled at Komachi.
He did not believe Komachi was really not jealous. There had to be some purpose behind her doing this.
"Heh!"
Seeing Hachiman obediently accept her helping him open a stepsister harem, Komachi rolled her eyes. She did not continue bantering nonsense with him, instead pulling Shion and Naruse Mio over to sit down and eat breakfast together.
"Lumilia, come over and serve the president."
Iris smiled as she glanced at Komachi, who was clearly unhappy but did not say anything. She stood up and let Lumilia take her place to serve Hachiman, while she herself moved over to Komachi, Shion, and Naruse Mio.
She had participated in almost all the games in the house. You could even say most of them had been planned by her personally.
Knowing Komachi's situation, she had some guesses in her heart.
For many things, empathy bracelets alone were enough. But now that the development and awakening of magical girl talent could no longer rely on empathy bracelets, things were different.
And with so many girls in the house now, the only one who could usually keep Komachi company was Shion. Komachi probably wanted more little sisters in the house, which was why she let the demon sisters Naruse Mio and Naruse Maria join the family.
Although Tohsaka Rin, Tohsaka Sakura, Hiiragi Utena, and Hanabishi Haruka were closer in age, they all had their own friends and relationships. They could not, like Naruse Mio, Naruse Maria, and Shion, who had lost their support, stay in the house peacefully as little sisters and become a community of interests with Komachi.
Right now, there were still too few stepsisters in the house. Even counting the newly joined Naruse sisters, there were only three at most, not even as many as the girls from the Ichinose family.
However, if there were more stepsisters in the future, Komachi, as the highest-status and absolutely irreplaceable little sister in the house, would likely have all those stepsisters listen to her, even if they were demons or became magical girls.
Iris pulled over a chair and squeezed in between Komachi and Shion, resting her chin on her hand atop the table. She stared at Komachi with a meaningful look, smiling without saying a word.
"..."
Iris's seemingly soul-piercing gaze made Komachi's mouth twitch slightly, but she still acted as if nothing was wrong, holding her bowl and lowering her head to eat breakfast.
Even though Shion and Iris could clearly see Komachi's fair neck covered in blush, her ears already bright red.
"Hachiman, Hachiman, there's something I forgot to tell you."
"Kaede? What is it? Is it something urgent?"
Hachiman did not get involved in Iris and Komachi's private chatter. He simply enjoyed Lumilia's service while deepening his bond with the nightmare Naruse Maria in his arms.
But when he suddenly heard Kaede's voice, he stopped the hands that had been taming Naruse Maria and looked up in confusion at the twin sisters Kaede and Suzu walking straight over, wearing Sobu High uniforms and black calf socks.
He had thought that after Kaede and Suzu rested at the Service Club, they would teleport straight to school.
Before, they could not do that. Even after learning teleportation magic, they could not teleport that far.
But now, most of them had awakened magical girl powers. Even though time had been tight last night and some had not had the chance to awaken yet, with so many magical girls working together, teleporting to school was effortless.
"Good morning, Sister Kaede. Good morning, Sister Suzu."
Seeing Kaede and Suzu approaching, and noticing that Hachiman's sides were already full, Naruse Maria immediately tried to stand up and make room.
After absorbing Onii-chan's aura in his arms for a while, she could already stand. Although her legs were still a bit weak, she was no longer so excited that she could not control herself like earlier.
However, Hachiman did not let her get up. He reached out and pulled Naruse Maria back, gently patting her head as he comforted her.
"Maria, you don't need to be so nervous. No one in this house is going to nitpick over something this small."
He could understand Naruse Maria's caution as someone living under another's roof, but his household did not have that kind of serious scheming.
Bickering was inevitable, and complete harmony was unrealistic, but conflicts were always resolved in Service Club games. Every morning, everyone could go to school refreshed and satisfied.
"Th-then I'll change places and eat breakfast somewhere else."
Hearing Hachiman's words, Naruse Maria hesitated. She did not get up to leave, but she also did not continue sitting in his arms. Instead, she chose to sit on the clean floor.
Her legs were still weak anyway, so sitting on the floor let her rest a bit more.
Kaede glanced at the well-behaved silver-haired twin-tailed nightmare Naruse Maria, then suspiciously looked at the slightly strange atmosphere between Iris and Komachi on the other side. She did not think too deeply about it. Sitting on Hachiman's thighs together with Suzu, one on each side, she explained why she had suddenly come over.
"It's not really urgent. It's just that there have been quite a lot of transfer applications recently. Not just from demi-humans. There are also quite a few human transfer applications, so I wanted to ask how you want to handle it."
She actually did not really want to come over. There was an exam today. After being messed with by Hachiman last night, she had no time to review. Her head was full of those kinds of things.
Near dawn, Hachiman had stopped awakening magical girls and instead crammed lessons for the girls' competitive swimming club and other girls with poorer grades.
But she knew that Iris, Lala, Elio, and the others had not participated in the magical girl awakening conference. Today, even though there was an exam, they would still cling to Hachiman all day asking for help. So there were some things she had to discuss with him first.
"There are so many transfer students that you can't handle them? With the student council having so much power now, are transfer students all under your control too?", Hearing Kaede's words, Hachiman was a bit surprised.
Although the student council did have considerable authority, most of the time it handled internal school matters like club funding and school festivals.
Matters involving enrollment, such as transfer students, were usually handled by teachers. Sometimes, like with Ichinose Honami, powerful families would directly place students into the school, and the student council would just stamp approval afterward.
"According to Tsubaki, this is the result of the balance between various factions. Whether demi-human or human, no one can arbitrarily interfere with the school anymore, so the power of choice has been handed to us," Kaede explained helplessly.
Because the elf princess from another world was here, the dragon clan leader was here, the mermaid songstress was here, and more and more demi-humans from this world were appearing here, the human factions and the demi-human alliance had agreed not to act recklessly. Now, transfer students could only enter Sobu High after student council approval.
"Then just decide it yourselves. No one is threatening you anyway. Approve whoever seems suitable," Hachiman smiled. He understood perfectly. The entire student council was made up of his people, and his opinion was Iris's opinion. Letting the student council decide was essentially letting the elf princess Iris decide.
"The problem is that too many demi-human transfer students are crowding out human transfer slots. Even many children of powerful families are crowding out ordinary human transfer students."
Seeing Hachiman still smiling, Kaede reached out and firmly pressed down on Naruse Maria's small head, annoyed.
"If they weren't outstanding, that would be one thing. But they're outstanding. They come from prestigious schools that only refined young ladies attend, or from schools even more famous and powerful than Sobu High."
"They're excellent in both academics and physical ability. Some are even incredibly skilled in kendo. You could say they're both scholarly and martial."
"With so many outstanding transfer students, I don't know which one to reject. But if we let all of them transfer in, not only will the classrooms be packed, even the teachers won't be able to keep up."
"The batch from Advanced Nurturing High School before already had several teachers teaching multiple subjects at once. Some teachers have already talked to me about it…"
She had also asked Tsubaki to investigate the forces behind the human transfer students on the application lists.
The more she investigated, the more headaches she got. Each powerful family's child had an even bigger background than the last.
Ichijou Sae, a prestigious family's daughter with daimyo and prime ministers in her lineage. Tenjouin Saki, the young lady of the Tenjouin Group. Kitayama Shizuku of the Kitayama conglomerate. Shiba Miyuki, the heiress of the internationally famous Yotsuba Technology. Saegusa Mayumi, the young lady of the Saegusa Group, and so on.
Politics, business, military industry, even the human extraordinary factions were rumored to be preparing to send people over. At this rate, she even suspected that princesses from other countries would be sent as exchange students to Sobu High.
If their transfer applications had not listed various honors and abilities, she would never have known that these prestigious ladies and heiresses were all so capable.
Not even counting those who had awakened magical talent or other extraordinary abilities, even ordinary human noble daughters and heiresses were this impressive.
Perhaps compared to Tokyo, Chiba really was the countryside. Sobu High had never dealt with so many noble young ladies before.
Back then, Yukinoshita Haruno, the daughter of the Yukinoshita family whose mother was a prefectural assembly member and company president, was already the unattainable flower of Sobu High. Tsubaki, a fallen noble daughter, had also been very popular.
"Worried about not fitting them all? Aren't there lots of unused classrooms? Just clear them out. As for teaching staff, they're not really coming here to study anyway. Just hire another batch of teachers. No need to overthink it."
Seeing Kaede so worried about transfer students, Hachiman finally let go of Naruse Maria's puffed cheeks and reached out to grab Kaede, comforting her.
"Kaede, you have to understand the power you hold as the student council president of Sobu High. You represent not just Sobu High. No matter how strong their backgrounds are, the students you bring in will have to be polite to you, even if they don't actively curry favor."
"If you can't handle things at school, you can also have the Ichinose family or the Yukinoshita family help deal with it."
"But since so many wealthy families want to send their children here, when you approve their transfer applications, just have their families donate some sponsorship money to the school."
Elsewhere, declining birthrates were causing trouble as schools struggled to recruit enough students. Sobu High, on the other hand, had to worry about having too many transfer students.
Of course, this was an exception. Normally, many places were like Otonokizaka Academy, lacking students and forced to shut down.
"Have their families give money to Sobu High? Then I'll try that."
Seeing that Hachiman did not care at all about those powerful families' backgrounds, Kaede turned her head and glanced at Iris, who merely smiled at her and continued whispering with Komachi and the others. Kaede fell silent for a moment before speaking softly.
She had originally worried that bringing in so many powerful and influential families' children would seriously affect her and Tsubaki's status.
Unlike the demi-human camp led by Iris, the human side was mainly led by her and Tsubaki. So many pretty, cute young ladies with strong identities and family backgrounds joining would definitely affect their standing.
But now that she thought about it, it really was like Hachiman said. Those people came with purposes. Why should she be afraid of them? They should be afraid of offending her instead.
However, last night they had only just awakened magical girl powers. The others probably did not yet know that Hachiman could let humans awaken magical girl talent.
She had not expected that aside from demi-humans, there were also so many powerful noble daughters and heiresses wanting to join Sobu High.
It seemed she had to once again take Iris's influence in human society seriously.
Although many times, this elf princess who often sat in Hachiman's arms and refused to get up had not a shred of the purity or nobility an elf should have, instead looking exactly like a greedy succubus.
Even her younger sister Lumilia and older sister Aigis, who were also elf princesses, were not much better. They just usually maintained innocent-cute and stiff-serious facades.
Kaede was still young and inexperienced. Many ways of thinking had not yet turned around. She had not realized that, at this moment, those powerful conglomerates and families were the ones desperately seeking cooperation.
With the authority she now held, charging money from the families and conglomerates that wanted to send their children in would bring in sums unimaginable to ordinary people.
However, the household's expenses were already covered by the Rurikawa family. The house was not short on money. Now, with the Service Club constantly absorbing new members and expanding its power, money would be even less of a concern in the future. There was no need to do such things.
Kaede just needed to do her best as student council president, the president of a Sobu High student council where human and demi-human students coexisted.
"Kaede, are you confident you'll get good results on this exam? There's still a bit of time. Do you need me to tutor you some more?"
Hachiman looked at Kaede in his arms, slowly stroking her increasingly round and elastic thighs as he asked with concern.
Those transfer students with powerful backgrounds were not urgent. Their applications had not yet been approved. Even if they wanted to transfer, it would take a few days.
Right now, the priority was this exam. Kaede was not someone who lazed around like him. Her grades had always been good, but in a Sobu High filled with otherworld heroines, those grades did not give her much advantage.
After all, otherworld heroines might have short-circuited thought processes sometimes, but in every other aspect they were even more outstanding than surface-world heroines, whether looks, body, or academic performance.
"Just tutoring me? You're not planning to have Suzu and me become magical girls to tutor us, are you?"
Kaede glanced at Hachiman, immediately exposing the true motive behind his concern.
Hachiman seemed especially fond of her and Suzu's magical girl outfits. Last night, she had failed to refuse again and ended up barely sitting by the edge of the large bath, using her red-and-black thigh-highs together with Suzu's pure white thigh-highs to satisfy Hachiman's interests.
Now it was almost time for exams and he wanted to do it again? She was not like Iris and the others, indulging Hachiman so easily.
"After becoming magical girls, doesn't tutoring work even better?"
Hachiman kissed Kaede's smooth, fair cheek and smiled at her.
The teaching halo buff temporarily boosted learning aptitude. After transforming into magical girls, their physical abilities and reactions improved greatly. On top of that, they received a temporary learning aptitude boost.
Their relationship with him was already close. There was no need to maintain distance. Once he activated the teaching halo buff, they would feel as if knowledge were being poured directly into their brains.
Under normal circumstances, last-minute cramming before exams did not help much, serving only as psychological comfort at best. But with him, it truly led to rapid improvement.
"I don't care about grades. The student council president isn't decided by grades anyway. If you really want it, go find Suzu. She won't refuse you, and her grades are worse anyway."
Kaede was unmoved. She shot an annoyed look at Hachiman.
She knew his teaching ability was absurdly strong, so strong it was hard to believe. To her, that outrageous teaching ability was even more shocking than his never-weakening body. If she had been receiving his teaching early on, she could probably get first place no matter how difficult this exam was.
But the problem was that the teaching effect was too good. She seriously suspected that if she accepted Hachiman's pre-exam crash tutoring, her head would be full of those things during the exam.
Sometimes, learning too effectively was not a good thing. Too much pleasure could make people sink into learning itself.
"Hachiman, don't rush it. Kaede already said she's inviting you to the student council office for lunch. We'll take a nap with you together with Tsubaki and Shion."
Suzu, who was usually taciturn, had been silently watching Hachiman feed Naruse Maria breakfast while playing with her and Kaede's thighs.
But when she heard Kaede mention herself, Suzu finally spoke up, just as mercilessly exposing Kaede's polite excuse.
She had begged so many times already, even agreeing to Shion's Rurikawa maid corps plan, yet Kaede's mouth was still so stubborn.
If she did not know Kaede's personality from childhood, she would almost suspect Kaede was deliberately being tsundere to make Hachiman take time to come torment her now and then.
"Suzu?"
Kaede was completely speechless at her own sister, who never stood on her side. She glared at Suzu, who looked innocent as if she had done nothing, then hurriedly explained to Hachiman, who was watching her with a half-smile.
"I only said to let Tsubaki and Shion transform into magical girls. I didn't say me!"
Tsubaki and Shion had also awakened magical girl powers. Their magical girl outfits were just as tempting. Hachiman could go prey on them instead. Why would she sacrifice herself first!
"Uh…"
Seeing her best friend Kaede drag her into it again, Rurikawa Tsubaki, who had quietly appeared over by Komachi and the others waiting to go to school with Kaede, flushed and lowered her head.
She did not refute it. She could only shyly accept this reality.
Whether Kaede and Suzu were willing to transform and accompany Hachiman or not, she and Shion were going to transform and accompany him regardless.
Even now, with so many girls around Hachiman, Kaede and Suzu were still his closest childhood friends. Only Kaede could be that tsundere in front of him.
Perhaps that was why Kaede used to complain about Hachiman every day, yet still liked him.
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