"Then how far have you and Hachiman gone?! When exactly did it become like this?"
Ijichi Seika placed both hands on Ijichi Nijika's shoulders, turned her around to face her, stared directly into Ijichi Nijika's eyes, and said sternly with a straight face.
She had originally thought Nijika just liked Hachiman. She was somewhat worried about their development, but not that resistant to it.
She herself had never dated anyone, which made things a bit awkward now. She couldn't even pass on any experience to Nijika. As long as they didn't cross the line, weren't deceived, and she approved of the other party's character, a little dating wouldn't make her kick up a huge fuss in opposition.
But now... the mermaid songstresses were doing such jaw-dropping bold things, and although many people around were exclaiming in shock, no one was running away.
Matsubara Miria, Kashima Risako, Kisaragi Miyuki, Kirisu Mafuyu and the others had even silently lowered their heads, pretending not to see.
Thinking back to all the scantily-clad cosplaying beauties she'd seen along the way to the Service Inn, she couldn't help but suspect how many "bad things" her cute little sister had done behind her back, whether she had already been devoured clean by that Hachiman guy.
When exactly did this happen?
How could her cute, obedient, sensible Nijika be so easily tricked by Hachiman!
"Uh... this..."
At this topic, Ijichi Nijika guiltily avoided Ijichi Seika's eyes, hemming and hawing without knowing what to say.
She wasn't the type who absolutely never lied. If she didn't intend to involve her sister, she might tell a little white lie to keep her sister from overthinking.
But she had already decided to come clean about her relationship with Hachiman, and was even trying to set up Hachiman and her sister—otherwise she wouldn't have brought her sister to the hot spring doujin convention.
Since her sister would find out sooner or later, lying any further was meaningless.
The mermaid songstresses' sudden bold behavior had merely moved up the problems she needed to face.
As long as she still intended to have her sister serve Hachiman alongside her and be good sisters for life, these problems were unavoidable.
"Seika-san, please wait a moment."
Just as Ijichi Seika was about to properly interrogate Ijichi Nijika, Shiba Miyuki's voice came from beside her.
"Miss Shiba, you're also one of the people in the know, right? You and Hachiman..."
Turning to look at Shiba Miyuki, Ijichi Seika's expressionless face showed a hint of hesitation.
Although she could tell from Nijika's evasive reactions what Nijika's relationship with Hachiman was, she still couldn't understand why it had turned out this way.
Nijika didn't look like she was being forced, otherwise she wouldn't have suspected Nijika liked Hachiman.
But if Nijika and Hachiman were lovers, then what was Hachiman's relationship with the other girls? Just playing around?
"Seika-nee, please just call me Miyuki."
Shiba Miyuki smiled slightly at this, her gaze drifting toward the pond-pool where the three mermaids were freely stretching their bodies, and the beautiful girl idols around the pond-pool who didn't know whether to leave or keep waiting for their photos, hesitating and shuffling in place.
"Brother still has quite a while to be busy over there. We can go to the other side and have a good talk."
"I'm sure Seika-nee is very curious about what exactly the Service Club is, and the real reason the Service Club members have gathered here."
Ijichi Nijika, who appeared to have an ordinary family background with no particular connections, purely lucky to have seized the initiative, actually had interpersonal connections radiating across several small groups: the gal group, the cosplay group, the band group, the angel-devil group.
If there was a chance to pull the Ijichi sisters to her side, it wouldn't just benefit the Yotsuba family, it would directly benefit her in gaining Brother's recognition.
Even if Ijichi Nijika didn't join the Yotsuba family's camp, it could still get them help in various aspects.
"...Nijika, PA, can we go talk with Miss Miyuki?"
Ijichi Seika hesitated for a moment, then nodded, looking at Ijichi Nijika and PA to seek their opinions.
She didn't know that her sister Nijika had been assisted by Hachiman many times and was actually stronger than Shiba Miyuki in terms of stats, she just hadn't had much actual combat experience.
If it really came down to it, it should still be Shiba Miyuki who needed to put in effort to curry favor with and win over their sisters.
She only knew that a financial conglomerate of the Yotsuba Foundation's level wouldn't need to care about their feelings at all if it wanted to make a move against them.
"No problem. There are some things I've been too embarrassed to say that I need to come clean about properly."
Ijichi Nijika had actually guessed Shiba Miyuki's intentions, but seeing that someone was willing to speak for her and help persuade her sister, she felt it was still worth going over to talk.
Some things couldn't be simply settled based on relationships or strength.
Yotsuba Foundation's young lady, Shiba Miyuki, just that identity alone made her words far more convincing than hers.
With Shiba Miyuki's endorsement, her sister would know what kind of life she actually lived in the Service Club, so her sister wouldn't think she'd been tricked by Hachiman.
"Yeah..."
PA said nothing, nodded, and followed directly.
But before leaving, she glanced once more at the pond-pool that didn't look like it was being used for cosplay photos at all.
If she had noticed something was off before, now she understood the purpose of Nijika calling them here.
But the fact that Nijika, knowing what would be done to her and the manager, still kept it from them and brought them here meant that the benefits of this matter far outweighed the risks...
Although PA herself wasn't that old, she had worked at the shop for several years. To put it somewhat exaggeratedly, she had watched Nijika grow up, and she knew Nijika's character and personality very well.
So much so that now, even though PA had guessed Nijika's purpose in bringing them here, she still believed Nijika was looking out for them.
"Phew..."
"I was scared to death. I almost couldn't resist speaking up to remind them."
"You could also speak up for Nijika, you know. Who knows, you might even get a reward from Hikigaya-kun."
"Spare me. Even thinking about it now makes my legs weak..."
Seeing the Ijichi sisters and PA led away by Shiba Miyuki, Kirisu Mafuyu and the others breathed a sigh of relief. They no longer had to pretend not to see, and their tense bodies relaxed. Mizuho Kazami, Hanamori Kotomi and the others even had smiles on their faces.
There were many newcomers to the Service Club today, but not many newcomers to Sobu High. Most of the Service Club's provisional members hadn't formally enrolled at Sobu High yet.
After tomorrow's Monday all-faculty-and-student assembly, this batch of special new students would officially become Sobu High students.
And some Service Club members with more seniority than them still had to worry about being seen by them.
So if Nijika hadn't brought her own sister, they thought today's hot spring doujin convention was fine, as long as they threw away their shame, they wouldn't feel embarrassed.
Mm... as long as they threw away their shame...
Looking at each other, people who only talked big but immediately pushed others forward as shields the moment they faced Hachiman, Hanamori Kotomi and the others blushed slightly, stopped discussing this topic, and went to find Hiratsuka Shizuka, Ebihara Urara, Takamine Ayako and the others.
They, who had already become corporate slaves, were truly out of place among these youthful, lively beautiful girls.
If they really wanted to mend their relationship with Hachiman in the future, they'd have to do it with people their own age like Ijichi Seika and PA, not with Ijichi Nijika and her group.
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