"Look, isn't that Hachiman? He's sitting next to the store manager."
Hearing Hachiman's name, Ijichi Nijika suddenly came back to herself. She turned her head to look at Yamada Ryou, who was hiding behind her, then immediately followed Yamada Ryou's line of sight and quickly saw Hachiman sitting beside Ijichi Seika in the pavilion.
There was not only a Hachiman who had appeared in the pavilion. Beside Hachiman was also a kimono-clad girl holding a folding fan and wearing a smile.
That was the Yotsuba Foundation's young lady, Shiba Miyuki.
She had not expected that after she was distracted for only a little while, Hachiman had already brought someone to appear beside her sister.
No! She had to hurry over!
Ijichi Nijika, who knew very well what was behind today's hot-spring convention, was afraid that Hachiman would reveal some bad information to her sister, so she hurried out of the pond and walked quickly toward the pavilion.
"Ryou, you guys keep playing. I'm going to see what my sister and the others are talking about."
"Then I'm not playing either. Kita, do you want to go find Momoka and the others with me?"
Seeing this, Yamada Ryou immediately threw down her water gun and surrendered, left the pond, switched back to her normal Mostima Cosplay outfit, and turned to look at Kita Ikuyo.
Without Nijika watching her, she should go see the rock girls she had secretly brought in.
Although Nijika had always told her not to cause trouble and not to casually bring band girls to the Servant Club to serve, how could she obey that easily?
At least she had to let those people who had signed the "contract of servitude" know what their creditor was actually like, so that they would not suddenly get any bad ideas.
"No, no... I think I'll go find Bocchi-chan. I'm also a little interested in the violin."
Hearing this, Kita Ikuyo hurriedly waved her hands and refused. After hesitating for a moment, she immediately chose to go meet up with Gotou Hitori, who was playing the violin with someone.
Ryou only kept those things she did from Nijika. She did not hide them from her and Bocchi-chan. She even wanted to drag her and Bocchi-chan into it, so everyone could recruit more newcomers and form rock bands together.
In Ryou's words, they were helping other rock girls who were chasing their dreams realize their dreams.
It was just that a dream that could be realized without paying any price could not be called a dream.
What was more, this did not really count as any price. It was not an actual contract of servitude.
Hachiman was willing to cover for them, so they should be thanking Hachiman instead.
Mm... although Kita Ikuyo knew that Yamada Ryou seemed to have no sense of shame, Yamada Ryou would not bring in a rock girl who would really give up her bottom line for money.
Ryou looked for those rock girls who had bad relationships with their families, were not understood by their families, suppressed themselves to satisfy their families' expectations, or had been abandoned by their parents and needed to work alone to make a living, and who sought themselves through rock music and chased their dreams.
It was not just a matter of lacking money. Some of Ryou's targets were even young ladies from wealthy families.
Although the result was still dragging people into it, it really was supporting their dreams.
No, she could not think too much about it. This kind of dragging people into it could just be left to Ryou alone. She did not want to get scolded together with Ryou.
Whether she followed Nijika or Ryou, it was easy to get wormwooded, so it was better to follow Bocchi-chan.
Tōma Kazusa, who was together with Bocchi-chan and was cosplaying Arturia, was also a character with an Arknights theme, so they could also study music together.
"Mm... Takina, then let's go recruit newcomers too."
Watching the Arknights Cosplay team instantly fall apart, the two members of the NIKKE Cosplay team put down their water guns and looked at each other. In the end, Nishikigi Chisato spoke first.
"Although we don't know many people here, we can also get in touch with the Lion King Agency. We'll officially enter school tomorrow. Maybe we'll even form an alliance with the Lion King Agency in the future."
"I heard that even the police department wants to send police officers to Sobu High to provide assistance. Mr. Hachiman's charm really is too great."
Every small group was trying every possible way to recruit newcomers, and of course the Lycoris had support as well.
After the DA Agency learned that Mr. Hachiman could help ordinary people without supernatural talent develop magical-girl abilities, they recruited quite a few newcomers in one go.
There were hackers, detectives, kendo girls, ordinary students who were afraid of firearms, and even some young ladies who could not find a way to join the Servant Club.
Anyway, after awakening as magical girls, they would receive training from Mr. Hachiman and rapidly increase their strength. Therefore, this batch of Lycoris did not have very high requirements for combat skills. Their looks and figures just had to meet the standard and be enough to compete with the other Servant Club members.
That's right! This batch of newcomers to the Lycoris was different from before. They were not orphans raised by the DA Agency from childhood, but beautiful girls temporarily recruited from outside!
There was no choice. Unlike the Lion King Agency, which specialized in dealing with demons and evil supernatural forces, where combat missions had nothing to do with the appearance of the exorcists themselves,
the Lycoris under the DA Agency were JK agents hidden in the city, so their appearance was required to be as ordinary and inconspicuous as possible.
The Servant Club already had a large number of beautiful girls with outstanding figures, appearances, and bearing. If the Lycoris sent ordinary-looking and ordinary-built agents in, they would probably waste so many slots that they would not even get a share of the leftovers.
"..."
Inoue Takina looked at Nishikigi Chisato, who had finished speaking and pulled her along, opened her mouth, and looked as though she wanted to say something.
But in the end, she did not say anything. Before leaving, she turned her head and looked at Hachiman, surrounded by Shiba Miyuki, Ijichi Seika, and the others in the pavilion, her eyes full of reluctance.
She did not have a reason of doing it for her sister, for her good friend, or to make her family acknowledge her. Her reason for wanting to serve Mr. Hachiman was very simple: to increase her strength.
It was just that originally, increasing her strength was to remove her punishment and return to headquarters to carry out missions. Now she increased her strength so that she could help the DA Agency's small group in the Servant Club develop and grow.
If the relationship between her and Mr. Hachiman counted as a romantic relationship, she could add another reason: to deepen her relationship with her lover.
But no matter what she herself thought, this really was not a good time to go over.
She was not good at communicating with people. She could only follow orders, and even if she went over, she would not know how to join the conversation.
For now, she should go be a newcomer instructor, let the newcomers know what kind of place this was, and what attitude they should use when facing Mr. Hachiman.
After she completed the newcomer training mission, would Mr. Hachiman give her a reward?
If she had a chance during the Play segment tonight, perhaps she could ask Mr. Hachiman...
———
"Hello, Sister Seika. Hello, Sister PA. Hello, Teacher Mafuyu. Hello, Teacher Miria. Hello, Teacher Kotomi. Hello, Teacher Risako..."
Hachiman and Shiba Miyuki arrived at the pavilion in the garden. Seeing that among the four long benches around the table, only the bench where Ijichi Seika was sitting still had an empty seat, he directly sat beside Ijichi Seika and greeted, one by one, the mature women sitting there who were older than him.
The two Cosplay teams playing water battles in the pond could be seen at a glance. He even somewhat wanted to go to Nijika, who was cosplaying Suzuran, and investigate whether the nine tails behind Nijika were an accessory or an attachment.
However, Ijichi Seika and the sound engineer PA-san were both here in the pavilion. He could not possibly run down and play around with Nijika in front of Nijika's older sister, so he still had to come over and greet Nijika's older sister first.
"Doctor, thank you for inviting me and Hoederer to the hot-spring convention. I came to see how Suzuran is doing here with you."
Ijichi Seika, cosplaying Vulpisfuglia from Arknights and having specially put a scar on her face, saw Hachiman take the initiative to come over. The fluffy tail behind her swayed as she calmly nodded.
Compared with Ijichi Nijika, who was cosplaying the nine-tailed fox loli Suzuran, Ijichi Seika had only one tail.
One tail that was neither an accessory nor an attachment. It seemed that once attached, it could be fixed in place, and it could sway according to its owner's wishes.
Although all the tails had their own power to move and there was no difference between nine tails and one tail, Ijichi Seika's current suit Cosplay with a tie really was not suitable for nine tails. It was not even suitable for going into the water and playing with Ijichi Nijika and the others.
"Hello, Doctor."
PA, who had put on the Servant Club-exclusive black collar around her neck, slightly parted her cherry lips, gently stuck out a forked tongue like a snake, and greeted Hachiman with a smile.
The Cosplay characters of the Kessoku Band and Ijichi Seika were all from Arknights, so naturally she was also from Arknights.
She chose to Cosplay Hoederer, a gray-haired, green-eyed mature woman with a snake tail.
Because her eyes were also green, she only needed to make a small change to her hairstyle.
Although her figure was somewhat lacking in fullness, being too slender to adequately recreate Hoederer's fat-snake image, fortunately Hoederer herself wore a large coat, which could conceal her less-full figure somewhat.
The two of them were not surprised by Hachiman's appearance. When Nijika invited them, she had already told them that this hot-spring Cos convention held at the hot-spring inn had only one male, Hachiman.
In addition, their current outfits were not revealing at all. They only had a fox-tail accessory and fox-ear headpiece added to their outfits, while she had an added snake tail, so they did not feel particularly embarrassed. Instead, they found it quite interesting.
Unfortunately, they knew nothing about combat, and their physical abilities were not very good either. They could only use their Cosplay outfits to put on an act. Otherwise, they could have participated in the Cosplay performance that was said to be the main event of the hot-spring convention and experienced the feeling of being a killer fox and a mercenary snake.
Not only was Seika unable to take care of her own life and somewhat sloppy in daily life, she had not lost her childlike spirit and wanted to play the role of a cool killer mother.
PA, a night owl who could not get out of bed during the day, also wanted to play a role-playing game.
However, compared with the two who naturally adopted their Cosplay identities when greeting Hachiman, the other people at the same table seemed not to be so calm.
"Mas... President Hikigaya, hello..."
The dignified, golden-haired mature woman Matsubara Miria was cosplaying Cocolia. The moment she saw Hachiman, her body tensed up. When Hachiman sat beside Ijichi Seika and greeted her with a smile, she almost went into cardiac arrest.
She was genuinely a little panicked.
It was not because the slit in this Cosplay outfit reached her waist and the one-piece black stockings exposed her butt, but because of the character named Cocolia whom she was cosplaying.
The character information for the Cocolia she was cosplaying showed that Cocolia was a villain, right? Her ending seemed not to be very good.
Having herself Cosplay such a character, was that implying that her own fate would not be very good?
She did not want to experience what happened that night at the late-night girls' gathering again. She really would not be able to handle it!
"Hikigaya-kun, y-you came too..."
"Did you come to find Miss Seika? Or are you looking for us?"
Kashima Risako, cosplaying adult Cantarella from Wuthering Waves, and Kisaragi Miyuki, cosplaying young Cantarella from Wuthering Waves, both nearly bit their tongues when they spoke to Hachiman.
Both were blue-haired types, and both were quite young. It was just that Kashima Risako was rather fuller-bodied.
Now, with their differentiated makeup, Kashima Risako and Kisaragi Miyuki standing together actually gave the similar impression of sisters, or mother and daughter.
Hanamori Kotomi, Mizuho Kazami, Tsukioka Anna, and Itashiro Kurumi sitting around the table were all wearing Cosplay outfits that suited their images.
Hiratsuka Shizuka, Takamine Ayako, and Ebihara Urara, the three women with long, straight black hair, as well as Tachibana Hina from the Tachibana family, were not here.
However, even if they had been here, they probably would not have dared to look directly at Hachiman at this moment.
Only Kirisu Mafuyu, who had watched three times without experiencing it herself and was now cosplaying the Azur Lane shipgirl Memphis, could barely keep a stern face toward Hachiman.
Although, as a teacher, dressing herself up as a student was very embarrassing, compared with the alluring and tempting Cosplay outfits worn by Kashima Risako, Hanamori Kotomi, and the others, she actually felt that her own was pretty good.
———
"Um... Hachiman, was this hot-spring convention really organized by you?"
Seeing that the several young female teachers who had been chatting happily with her just now had visibly become tense all of a sudden, Ijichi Seika looked at Hachiman with some hesitation, and unconsciously switched back to the way she had originally addressed him.
Although she knew that Hachiman had a very good relationship with the Elf Princess, and that when Nijika and the others had their first performance before, they had even brought the Elf Princess along to watch, from the looks of it now, it seemed that it was not simply a matter of being close to the Elf Princess.
There were so many young ladies from financial conglomerates in the Servant Club. According to what Nijika had said, there were even quite a few magical girls among the Servant Club members.
And Hachiman was the president of such a Servant Club? What kind of background did Hachiman actually have?
"Although I'm the president of the Servant Club at school, and also became the president of the Servant Club outside school, I actually don't manage much."
"This hot-spring convention was organized inside the Servant Club because the younger Elf Princess, Lumilia, the younger sister of the Elf Princess Iris, was interested in conventions but it wasn't convenient for her to go to conventions outside."
Hachiman thought for a moment, explained the original purpose of this hot-spring convention, and then introduced Shiba Miyuki, who was sitting quietly beside him.
"The young lady beside me is the Yotsuba family's daughter, Shiba Miyuki. She transferred to Sobu High not long ago."
"This hot-spring inn is handled by the Kijou Group, while the expansion of Sobu High is jointly handled by the Yotsuba family and the Yukinoshita family."
"Don't be fooled by the fact that I'm the president of the Servant Club. I actually don't even know what they do every day."
At the end, Hachiman emphasized this again.
"Hello, sisters. Hello, teachers. Like Big Brother, you can just call me Miyuki."
Hearing Hachiman introduce her to everyone, Shiba Miyuki lowered her head and greeted Ijichi Seika, PA, and the other teachers who did not know her yet.
Although these older big sisters posed no threat and had no forces behind them either, basically only being able to pull their colleagues and close friends together into small groups.
But since Big Brother called these people sisters, naturally she had to use the same form of address as Big Brother.
She wondered whether Komachi would call her sister...
What Shiba Miyuki wanted most was Big Brother, but as an only child, having another younger sister would also be quite nice. If she gained Komachi's recognition, she could call Big Brother that with greater confidence.
"Big Brother?"
Ijichi Seika had originally wanted to learn about Hachiman's specific circumstances, but the moment Shiba Miyuki spoke, her attention was immediately drawn to the form of address "Big Brother."
The Yotsuba Foundation's daughter was called Shiba Miyuki? Shiba Miyuki and Hachiman were siblings?
Why did she feel like she could not understand this at all...
"Hehe, Miyuki is currently Cosplaying a young lady character named Kamisato Ayaka. In the character setting, she has an older brother, and Miyuki happens to want an older brother too, so she calls me Big Brother."
Hachiman raised his hand and gently stroked Shiba Miyuki's hair.
Shiba Miyuki obediently rubbed against Hachiman's warm palm.
"I see... Then what should I call you now? Should I address you according to your Cosplay character, or call you by your name?"
Hearing Hachiman's explanation, Ijichi Seika suddenly understood, then could not help asking.
It was only a role-playing setting. According to the relationship in the Cosplay character settings, Nijika, who was cosplaying Suzuran, would even have to call her, who was cosplaying Vulpisfuglia, Mom. There was nothing strange about that.
However, for a young lady from a financial conglomerate whom she was meeting for the first time, she had to consider how to address her. Otherwise, what if the other person thought she was being too rude and impolite and got angry?
"Sister Seika, you don't need to be so polite. After I officially enter school tomorrow, I'll also be Nijika's classmate. Sister Seika, you can call me Ayaka or Miyuki. But, Sister Seika, do you all address each other according to your Cosplay characters?"