There was no helping it. That was just how the Service Club worked. If Club President Hachiman thought someone had done well, he would simply reward her. At most, he'd put in a little more effort and spoil her for a bit longer. But for the various small factions, there were far more things to consider.
The major idol agencies were now firmly controlled by the mermaid princess Meroune and the Rurikawa family, who had already poached nearly all the beautiful idols from other agencies. Even if the Yotsuba family entered the industry now, it would be difficult for them to compete against the many idols under those agencies.
Haruno had also quietly used her position as vice president of the Service Club to bring the idol training school First Star Academy into Sobu High's high school alliance.
Besides First Star Academy, several girls' schools had already submitted exchange student applications to Kaede. With Sobu High undergoing its massive expansion, there was a good chance that many prestigious girls' schools would establish branch campuses there.
Meanwhile, the Rurikawa family's maid corps had already grown into a powerful force. The Ichinose family's sister duo was not to be underestimated either. As for the athletic clubs, there was no need to mention them, they could only rely on incoming freshmen to compete again.
The landlady, Asou Miyuri, had even united the married women and pulled their daughters into the Service Club.
The major forces within the family alliance were all doing the same thing. Noble young ladies and princesses were everywhere, and the Yotsuba family had no advantage in that area.
Idol singers, athletic girls, sister pairs, gyarus, maids... Aside from demi-humans and magical girls, nearly every niche had already been claimed by those who entered first. Latecomers would have a hard time catching up and could only try to develop entirely new niches.
Otherwise, no matter how powerful the Yotsuba family was, and no matter how capable Yotsuba Maya, Yotsuba Miya, and Shiba Miyuki were, Kuroba Ayako still couldn't confidently claim she would never lose against so many opponents.
Fortunately, Hachiman had been protected and guided by the pure and noble Elf Princess Iris from the very beginning, while even the legendary angels and demons kept a constant eye on him.
That was why the competition between all the major factions had remained... peaceful, harmonious, and friendly.
———
The convention venue was enormous. Crowds packed the halls, and many booths required long lines.
However, the magical barrier centered around Hachiman automatically kept people away. Whenever they left the barrier, everyone also used various kinds of magic, so they hardly had to spend any time lining up to buy things.
Most of Hachiman's time was spent being affectionate with Lala, Charlotte, and La Folia. Occasionally, he'd stop to chat or feed someone a snack. Since he wasn't interested in taking photos or collecting stamps, the various groups split up in twos and threes to shop for materials while eating, strolling, and chatting. By noon, they had already gone through nearly the entire convention.
"Onii-chan, are we heading back now? We've already finished looking around. There might be some new booths this afternoon or tomorrow, but they'll probably be about the same."
When Komachi saw another booth whose merchandise they had already bought out earlier, she stopped, turned toward Hachiman, whose arms were tightly hugged and pressed against by Fujiwara Moeha on one side and Kanase Kanon on the other, and rolled her eyes before asking.
Seeing the beautiful classmates she had only recently gotten to know snuggled up in her brother Hachiman's arms left her with extremely mixed feelings.
Well... Shion had already moved into their house before Kanon and Moeha, and Rin and Sakura(Tohsaka) were sisters as well. But somehow, girls who actively approached him felt a little different from girls she had personally become friends with at school and brought home herself.
"Yeah. Since we've finished looking around, let's head back. It's about lunchtime anyway."
Receiving Komachi's eye roll, Hachiman smiled and nodded. He withdrew his arms from Kanon and Moeha's embrace, gently patted both of them on the head, and looked around at the various groups that had stopped to look at him.
After serving him for a while, Kuroba Ayako had tactfully withdrawn and seamlessly rotated out with Saegusa Izumi, Saegusa Kasumi, and the others.
After restoring his energy, Lala had also pushed Momo and Nana toward him to help deepen their relationship.
Now the girls beside him were the silver-haired, bob-cut beauty Kanase Kanon, who had a strong crush on him and was especially innocent, and the cheerful, carefree, pink-haired twin-tailed Fujiwara Moeha.
Kanon was quiet and shy by nature and blushed easily. But when Moeha boldly clamped his arm against her chest, Kanon also blushingly hugged him on her own.
If they didn't head back now, he would probably spend a little longer growing closer to them.
Still, since they had already seen almost everything, it really was time to leave.
Even with a magical barrier preventing anyone from noticing them, no amount of wandering around a convention could compare to relaxing whenever they wanted at the Service Club.
Although today's group wasn't as large as the number of participants in the late-night service games, simply chatting wasn't enough for him to satisfy everyone in a short time.
In public, the most they could do was hug each other or exchange a few kisses. If things went any further, innocent girls like Himeragi Yukina probably wouldn't be able to handle it.
"Shion, Yukiri, Mio, Maria! Let's head back to the club and have lunch together."
Seeing Hachiman agree without hesitation, Komachi let out a sigh of relief. She quickly grabbed Shion's, Yukiri's, and the others' hands and prepared to teleport back, afraid someone would suggest staying until evening. If that happened, they'd definitely end up exhausted and soaked with sweat.
She knew very well that with so many gorgeous girls suddenly appearing around her, hardly any of them had come because of her. They had all come for her brother Hachiman.
Still, whatever happened inside the Service Club was better than fooling around outside.
As for whether she wanted to stop it or even could stop it... that wasn't something she needed to worry about. The organizations behind Yukina, Moeha, Kanon, and the others had all willingly sent them over, and Hachiman hadn't hidden what he was doing. No matter how innocent they were, they should have realized what was going on by now.
Of course, Komachi thought Kanon, Moeha, and the others would probably fall for him without much resistance. If Hachiman weren't her brother, she definitely wouldn't be able to resist complaining about how absurdly popular he was with women. Profession didn't matter, race didn't matter, beautiful girls of every kind seemed unable to escape his grasp.
But as siblings who knew each other inside and out, she knew Hachiman was actually being remarkably restrained. He rarely took the initiative to pursue girls. Aside from Sobu High's original students, most of the girls around him had gone through layers of screening before ending up at his side.
To put it another way, if Iris-nee had taken Hachiman straight back to the elves, just the fraction of elf girls in the Forest of Elves who were willing to devote themselves to him would already outnumber all the girls currently around him.
———
[Service Club, Twenty-Four-Hour Grand Bath]
Splash!
Splash!
Streaks of white light flashed as graceful figures of all shapes suddenly appeared in midair.
Many of the newly teleported girls froze when they realized they were suspended above the ground. Before they could react, they fell straight into the steamy, enormous bath below, sending up splash after splash.
"There's already fruit and drinks prepared by the bath. Relax here and wash away your fatigue first. Help yourselves to whatever you want. If there's not enough, just ask the club's maids to bring more."
"I'll head out first. Once you've rested, you can eat in the dining hall, keep playing in the central lounge, or go straight home if you'd like."
Watching both first-time visitors and longtime members fall into the bath one after another, Hachiman smiled, reminded them of a few things, and turned to leave.
Normally, whenever he brought people back, he wouldn't think twice and would simply soak in the bath with everyone.
But now Himeragi Yukina and the others were Komachi's classmates. To avoid making Komachi awkward around them in the future, he decided to show a little restraint. Besides, he needed to discuss with Haruno and the others where exactly they should hold the hot spring for the hot spring convention.
"S-So this is the Service Club? Huh? My weapon... Mr. Hikigaya?"
Startled by the sudden disappearance of her clothes, Himeragi Yukina instinctively covered her chest with both hands and shrank into the bath. Hearing that Hachiman was leaving, she quickly emerged from the water and looked toward him, only to find that he had already disappeared.
Many others surfaced from the bath at the same time.
Huh? No one else left?
Seeing Kasugaya Shizuri, Shirakiin Ririchiyo, and the other girls looking just as surprised, confused, and bewildered as she was, Yukina immediately relaxed.
As long as everyone was in the same situation, it was fine. She had been worried that everyone else would chase after him while unclothed, in which case she'd have had no choice but to suppress her embarrassment and follow.
"Hachiman-nii went to take care of something. Komachi and I will be looking after everyone from here. Your personal belongings have all been moved into the lockers in the changing room. You'll find them after you're done bathing."
Watching everyone soaked by the warm, misty water, their smooth hair clinging to their faces, shoulders, and backs, Shion smiled gently as she reassured them.
"If you don't feel like eating with us later and want to explore the club on your own, that's fine too. Hachiman-nii already said that if you have any questions, you can just ask the club's maids."
"Have something to eat first. All the food and drinks here are free. If you come around mealtime, there's always food available, so don't be shy."
"Once you've joined the Service Club, we're all on the same side. Normally you don't need to trouble Master Brother specifically. There are already plenty of magical girls in the club, so if you need any help, just ask."
As Yukiri and Naruse Maria spoke highly of both Hachiman and the Service Club, they carried over trays from beside the bath and distributed them to everyone.
The newcomers still looked somewhat lost, while Ijichi Nijika, Kita Ikuyo, Yamada Ryou, and the others, who had visited the Service Club many times, were already leaning comfortably against the edge of the bath, eating fruit, snacks, and drinking beverages while observing the newcomers.
Their band group wasn't recruiting anyone here since they always found people first before bringing them in, but they could still watch how the other groups were doing.
La Folia and Charlotte pulled Kanase Kanon away to discuss which characters they should cosplay when serving Hachiman at tomorrow's private convention.
Falma, Alice, and Shafi from the hero's party of another world were led aside by Lumiria, Nina, and the others. Being from another world as well, they had plenty to discuss together.
Meanwhile, Kitagawa Marin went to explain the current situation to her fellow anime fans. They were ordinary people who knew nothing about the supernatural world, but as fellow otaku, they weren't too hard to bring up to speed on the Service Club's complicated circumstances.
Before long, the once-quiet grand bath became lively, with group after group chatting and playing together as waves rolled through the milky water.
Although Hachiman had said everyone was free to leave whenever they wanted, whether it was Falma, Alice, and Shafi from another world, or Himeragi Yukina, Kuroba Ayako, and the others Komachi had recently met, almost no one planned to leave now.
Aside from Himeragi Yukina, who had grown up in an isolated school, had little experience with the outside world, and was so innocent that she truly believed she had come only to protect Komachi, most people, including Kasugaya Shizuri, knew they had been sent here to build a relationship with Hachiman.
However, they still had the freedom to choose. If they genuinely disliked Hachiman, no one would force them. The organizations behind them would simply send someone else in their place rather than risk offending him.
Kasugaya Shizuri was a nun knight of the "Holy Order." If she failed, the church might send another nun to replace her.
There were many churches in the world, so she had no idea which one it would be. The only thing she could be sure of was that whoever came next would probably be stronger and even more willing to sacrifice herself, so they wouldn't repeat the previous person's failure.
Even Yukina and Kasugaya Shizuri weren't leaving now, much less Marianna, Tsukishima Koko, Meda Hitomi, and Sugahara Fumika, whom Marin had brought along. [T/N: Tsukishima Karen → Tsukishima Koko]
If they hadn't come today through Marin, they never would have realized just how important Hachiman, the Sobu High student who always seemed to disappear and skip classes, actually was.
Nor would they have known that the so-called Service Club also had an off-campus Service Club whose members came from major conglomerates and powerful families across every industry.
After recruiting several fellow hobbyists to join the private convention with Marin, the blonde beauty Meda Hitomi looked around at the countless beautiful girls in the enormous bath before glancing at her childhood friend Tsukishima Koko, quietly thinking to herself.
At first, they had been torn over whether they should join the private convention Marin had mentioned.
After all, a private convention made up almost entirely of girls, with only one guy and everyone in cosplay, really sounded suspicious.
After observing everyone all day, they could more or less confirm that the private convention really wasn't all that proper.
But Marin hadn't lied either. Hachiman really would be the only guy there.
Well... There were already so many cute and beautiful girls in this bath alone, and they hadn't even met the rest yet. Surely no one would pay attention to them during the convention.
They were just ordinary people, not daughters of wealthy families. Even if they joined this special event that was called a private convention, at most they'd just be there to fill out the crowd and liven up the atmosphere.
According to Marin, they wouldn't need to prepare any cosplay costumes themselves. After getting their measurements taken and choosing the characters they wanted to portray, there would be plenty of exquisitely made costumes waiting for them tomorrow.
The Yukinoshita and Rurikawa families already seemed incredibly rich to her, never mind the real financial giants like the Yotsuba and Saegusa families sponsoring the event.
Since there didn't seem to be any danger, she wanted to take this chance to see exactly how extravagant these filthy rich capitalists were willing to be just to please Hachiman.
If she had to save up money herself, the costumes she bought would be lower quality, and she'd have to spend countless hours working part-time to afford them. After joining this private convention, maybe she could ask Marin for help so they could come to the Service Club regularly and cosplay in the costumes other people no longer needed.
There didn't seem to be many genuine cosplay enthusiasts in the Service Club anyway. Most of this had clearly been arranged by those wealthy young ladies just to please Hachiman.
She and Marin had already recruited so many attractive hobbyists. Add in Sobu High's students and the girls already at the club, and even if Hachiman had an iron kidney, never got tired, and somehow managed one person every ten minutes without sleeping, he probably still wouldn't be able to get through everyone.
She refused to believe that with so many beautiful girls in cosplay together, Hachiman would somehow pick her and Koko.
And if he really did choose her... she'd just accept it.
Marianna and Sugahara Fumika were thinking much the same thing. They were reasonably cute, but among so many stunning girls, they didn't stand out at all, so there was no reason to worry about anything.
"Hitomi..."
The shyest of them all, Tsukishima Koko, looked at the increasingly resolute expression on Hitomi's face. She wanted to say something but stopped herself, nervously rubbing her hands together.
She had never been comfortable in such lively settings. Hitomi had practically dragged her to today's convention.
And this private convention would probably be even less proper than the doujinshi she drew herself.
If that really happened... they probably wouldn't be able to get away.
Koko wanted to persuade Hitomi to leave. But when she remembered seeing Hachiman from a distance at the convention, surrounded by so many girls, every warning she wanted to voice caught in her throat before quietly disappearing.
For some reason, just thinking about the faint smile on Hachiman's face made her chest tighten with an indescribable feeling.
In truth, she actually knew more about Hachiman than her childhood friend Hitomi did.
The second-year students Hayase Saki and Narahashi Miki had approached her before, trying to convince her to join some kind of support group for socially anxious and introverted people where everyone could help one another.
The group had seemed suspicious to her. Why were all the members girls, and why did they need Hachiman, the only boy, to help them become more cheerful and outgoing?
She had resisted the idea before, but after spending today with Hachiman up close, she couldn't help changing her opinion.
There were already so many beautiful girls around him. There was no way he'd do something like that to an ordinary girl like her.
Even if he... accidentally did... she'd be the one benefiting.
Thinking about how everyone would be cosplaying, making it entirely possible for Hachiman to mistake her identity and accidentally "hug" the wrong person, Koko suddenly stopped breathing for a moment as her heart began pounding uncontrollably.
She and Hitomi had even dragged the adult manga artist Kazuka Izumi, who used the pen name Rurikouka, into this today.
She couldn't run away now...
If Hachiman accidentally mistook Kaori Izumi or Hitomi... she... she could take their place.
"..."
Almost every girl in the bath had some expectation that things with Hachiman might develop romantically.
The only one feeling awkward was Sawamura Sayuri.
That's right. As an ally of the Yukinoshita family, she had come as well.
But she hadn't expected that the moment she was teleported into the Service Club, all her clothes would be removed and she'd be dropped straight into the bath. Fortunately, Hachiman had left quickly and hadn't noticed her among the crowd.
Next time, she'd come together with Kiyuki Yukinoshita instead...
Facing so many lively young girls by herself was simply too much.
Thinking that, Sayuri quietly swam toward the quieter edge of the bath, intending to slip away unnoticed and head to the changing room to put her clothes back on.
However, the moment she reached the edge, several shadows suddenly fell over her.
Splash!
Splash!
Several tall, well-endowed women splashed heavily into the water around Sayuri, completely surrounding the retreating woman.
"Sayuri? Didn't you turn down the Yukinoshita family's alliance? I didn't expect to see you here."
Asou Miyuri emerged from the water, shook her head, wiped the droplets from her face, and stared in surprise at Sayuri. She quickly broke into a bright smile, grabbed her, and introduced her to the other married women who were also visiting the Service Club for the first time.
"Forget it. That's not important. Before we go discuss our request with Hachiman, let me introduce everyone to each other first."