Weren't they already getting a clear enough view from where they were standing? And now they had to go closer?
"I'll go with you. Let's go right now."
Kanzaki Moemi bit her lip and, without waiting for Fueguchi Hinami to respond, agreed to Kamijou Yuki's suggestion on her own initiative. She was even the first one to head over toward Hachiman's group.
Kamijou Yuki had an older sister. Fueguchi Hinami also had a sister who wasn't her sister by blood.
Both of them had older sisters who served their master. Only her own sister had never served a master. Not only that, her sister had gone from being a dedicated maid to an ordinary one.
Now, all she had to do was win Master Hikigaya's favor and she'd have a chance to replace her sister as his dedicated maid. She couldn't let an opportunity like this slip through her fingers.
"What about you, Hinami? If you're not coming, we're leaving without you."
Kamijou Yuki hadn't expected Kanzaki Moemi to be even more eager than her. She blinked, then turned to look at Fueguchi Hinami, who was still hesitating.
"I'm coming too!"
Fueguchi Hinami looked over at Kirishima Touka, who was already working away over there, and then at Kanzaki Moemi, who had already lifted both legs up and sat herself down on the coffee table in front of Hachiman, facing him directly. Something clicked.
This was something she'd have to face sooner or later, unless she had no interest in actually eating human food and was willing to go back to living the way she used to, suffering through every day.
If she went along with everyone else now, at least she wouldn't have to sit alone with her nerves.
"Then let's all do our best together~ My sister told me there's a big sister in the club named Touka too, and she has two younger sisters,"
Seeing that Fueguchi Hinami wasn't going to keep dragging her feet, Kamijou Yuki cheerfully took her hand, pulling her along to watch and learn up close alongside Kanzaki Moemi, while filling her in on everything her sister knew about the service club.
"There are quite a few sisters in this club. We don't have much of an edge here. If we don't make a move, the master might spend all his time with someone else after today and have no room left for us."
"In theory everyone can come and go from the club freely, but a lot of people only really get to be close to the master during the evening service activities."
"The master moves around mostly between school, home, and the service club, but most of us don't have a proper reason to enter his home. At school there's at least some chance of getting pulled into hanging out together, but someone like my sister, who goes to a different school, has basically no shot at all."
Her sister had always wanted her to join the service club. That was also the main reason she'd been trying to recruit students from the private girls' academy.
And recently, the student council president of Sobu High, the master's childhood friend Kaede, had finally agreed. Not only had she approved transfer applications from many different factions, she'd also opened things up so that students from other schools could unilaterally send exchange students to study at Sobu High.
Apparently the master was serving as a temporary manager for Sobu High's girls' swim club. As luck would have it, there was an incredibly talented swimmer at Excellent Private Girls' Academy, where her sister attended, a girl named Kamisuura Risa. Her sister had talked the student council president there, Tachibana Kanako, and her younger sister Tachibana Hina, into bringing the girls from their swim club along for the exchange program.
The Tachibana family, wealthy and well-connected as they were, also had relatives at Sobu High. They had everything the Ichinose family had, and likely more.
The Tachibana name, after all, wasn't just backed by family connections. They had an entire private girls' academy full of young ladies behind them.
"Big sister Touka?"
Fueguchi Hinami had no idea that the girl beside her, Kamijou Yuki, who looked so pure and a little shy, already had a full-school takeover mapped out in her head. When she heard there was another Touka in the service club, she paused.
But she had no more time to untangle the whole two-big-sister-Touka situation.
Kamijou Yuki pulled her over to sit beside Kanzaki Moemi, then walked around to Kanzaki Moemi's other side and sat down herself.
Just like Kanzaki Moemi, she placed her small feet, wrapped in white cotton socks, up on the coffee table.
"Mm... Big sister Touka, I've come to keep you company..."
"Hi... nami..."
Fueguchi Hinami glanced at Kamijou Yuki and Kanzaki Moemi sitting beside her, both facing the sofa, then looked at Kirishima Touka, who was facing them, her blue-violet hair falling over her eyes, head bowed. Touka had heard their footsteps, understood exactly why Hinami had come over, and her expression had shifted as she looked up at her. Hinami's cheeks flushed pink. She reached out and gently patted Kirishima Touka on the head, then chose to follow what her heart was telling her.
She understood that big sister Touka wanted to protect her. She was genuinely glad to have a sister like that.
But she had to grow up eventually.
It wasn't like this was some life-threatening danger. If everyone else could do it, so could she.
"???"
Miime watched as Kamijou Yuki, Kanzaki Moemi, and Fueguchi Hinami lined up in a row on the coffee table, knees touching, facing Hachiman directly, joining the shared experience alongside Kirishima Touka, who wore the silver bracelet, and Yotsuya Miko. Suddenly Miime realized she was the only one left sitting on the side.
Yasuhisa Nashiro and Yasuhisa Kurona quietly stared at Miime, the dragon clan's pampered young lady, who couldn't even match what Fueguchi Hinami and the others were doing.
They didn't think Miime would be able to avoid this forever. It had already been made clear that Miime needed to take the place of her brother's fiancée, or that fiancée would be sent up in her stead.
Still, they were curious to see how many times Miime could just sit there and watch.
The only reason they themselves had been spectators this whole time was that they hadn't completed their maid training, and on top of that they still had actual maid duties to carry out. Otherwise they'd have been dragged in long ago.
Yotsuya Miko, experiencing a scene like this for the very first time, covered her blazing, burning cheeks with both hands and couldn't bring herself to look at Fueguchi Hinami and the others.
She suddenly understood why, even though you had to compete and fight just to get a turn, there were still so many people waiting in the club every evening for service activities to begin. This feeling really was impossible to pull yourself away from.
The one everyone here was longing for was being monopolized by her alone.
And this was her very first time feeling something like this.
Far too much, far too good.
———
Behind Sobu High, at the school dormitories—
"The new girl got ahead of us."
The six Kiriya sisters, who had already known the ghouls were appearing at Sobu High, looked at each other in their room.
They had been here first.
"This Master Hikigaya is something else. It seems he's awakening magical girl talent again. I wonder if he could awaken that power in us too."
Saegusa Mayumi, the young lady of the Saegusa family, with her slightly wavy, silky black hair and a petite but beautifully shaped figure, smiled warmly and looked toward the girl standing beside her, equally striking but taller, with an air about her like a classic Yamato Nadeshiko, straight black hair reaching down her back.
"Just a few days of training and you can awaken as a magical girl. This shortcut has drawn in far too many people."
The flawlessly composed girl with the straight black curtain of hair walked slowly to the balcony, taking in the lively commotion of transfer students filling the dormitory building. Her eyes narrowed as she gazed into the distance, toward the student council office, where a powerful surge of magical energy pulsed without any attempt to hide itself.
———
Aside from the snow woman clan and the six Kiriya sisters who had already moved in, all newly enrolled transfer students and exchange students were assigned rooms in the school dormitories.
The dormitories were split into two wings, one on either side, with humans placed together with humans and demi-humans placed together with demi-humans as much as possible.
No one was required to stay in the dorms, but most of them chose to anyway.
After all, they'd come here specifically to have better access to the elf princess and Hachiman. Living in the dormitories right behind Sobu High made that far more convenient.
Having heard the movement coming from the balcony, the Shinomiya financial group's young lady Shinomiya Kaguya and Fujiwara Chika, the second daughter of the Fujiwara family under the Shinomiya house, along with the exchange students they'd brought with them, Hayasaka Ai and Iino Miko, also stepped out onto their balcony.
"So Shinomiya-sama is out here too?"
"Kaguya, Mayumi, should we hold a little gathering tonight to get acquainted with each other? Or wait until tomorrow when more people have arrived?"
"We may be rivals, but our real competition might actually be the demi-humans~"
Shinomiya Kaguya's expression stayed cold as she looked left at Saegusa Mayumi and Shiba Miyuki, who was smiling pleasantly, then right at Princess La Folia, Princess Charlotte, and the Shinomiya branch family member Shijo Maki, who were calling out warm greetings. She said nothing immediately.
Saegusa Mayumi and Shiba Miyuki were one thing. They were part of established powerhouses to begin with.
Even with magical talent, even as members of the transcendent, when you discover a more efficient and more potent shortcut to power, of course you wouldn't let it pass you by.
But what was going on with the princess on the other side? Royalty from foreign countries so far away were actually showing up to get a piece of this.
And the Shinomiya branch family, the Shinomiya of all people, weren't siding with the Shinomiya main family right now. They were mingling with those foreign princesses instead.
"We'll see. Whether we end up as rivals or allies is still an open question."
Shinomiya Kaguya, cold and composed, swept her gaze across the people on both balconies. She noticed that some who had arrived today weren't outside, turned, and walked back in from the balcony.
"Whatever time you decide to have the gathering, I'll definitely drag Kaguya along~"
Seeing Shinomiya Kaguya so unwilling to get along with anyone, Fujiwara Chika, still wearing her Shuchiin Academy uniform rather than a Sobu High one, beret sitting on her head, slapped her own full chest with confidence and declared as much.
"Then we'll leave it in your hands, Fujiwara."
Saegusa Mayumi smiled warmly and accepted the offer with pleasure.
It really was impossible to say yet whether they'd end up as allies or rivals.
She didn't know the full details of how things worked inside the service club, but she did know the Yukinoshita family had been recruiting. Not just the Tsubahara and Tachibana families, but the Nakano family as well.
If she hadn't already been studying at a relevant institution because of her magical talent, perhaps the Yukinoshita family would have come looking for the Saegusa family too.
And it wasn't just the Yukinoshita family. The Ichinose family was out gathering their own kind; the Ruritama family was hiring a full maid brigade.
Now student council president Kaede had suddenly agreed to let this many factions enter Sobu High and was apparently looking to keep expanding, bringing in more teachers and ordinary students too.
She had a feeling, that the service club wasn't a unified front at all. It looked more like a collection of competing factions.
The demi-human side of Sobu High was also growing steadily in numbers.
The six vampire Kiriya sisters, the snow woman clan from their mountain village, the succubi called the Amaki triplets who everyone had been warned to approach with care.
Beyond the elf princess, the dragon clan chief, and the oni shrine maiden, demi-humans like the Aoe family's snow women, the Origamine family's oni, and mer-folk songstresses had been quietly multiplying.
If they were joining at this point, they'd probably throw everything into even more chaos.
Then again, if the service club were truly unified from within, they probably wouldn't have been able to get in at all. In a way, this was exactly the right moment to wade in and stake their claim.
Compared to Shinomiya Kaguya, Fujiwara Chika, and the other young ladies who were still ordinary humans, at least their side had a very clear advantage.
"Miyuki, let's go pay the elf princess a visit. The dragon clan chief should have just gone to find her. The oni shrine maiden's power already surged inside the student council office. Among the demi-humans at Sobu High worth the dragon clan chief's attention, only the elf princess is left."
Saegusa Mayumi lightly lifted her pale, slender wrist, where a beautiful bracelet sat, and pressed something on it gently, smiling as she looked over at the straight-haired beauty beside her, Shiba Miyuki.
"Of course. Whatever you say, President."
Shiba Miyuki gave a quiet nod, took out a device that resembled a phone, known as a CAD or Casting Assistant Device, a computational terminal for magical formulas, and pressed a few keys on its screen with practiced ease.
"Heh, you don't need to call me President here. Calling me big sister would make me much happier."
"Then... Mayumi-nee..."
"Heh, looks like I have another little sister."
With the soft sound of Saegusa Mayumi's laughter, the two of them stepped lightly off the balcony, landed in two clean, effortless bounds, and moved quickly toward where the dragon clan chief and elf princess were.
As exchange students from a government-established magic high school, and elite students among elite students at that, they were of course highly skilled with magic.
True, since the ambient magical energy in this world's air was nearly nonexistent, they, as modern magicians, had achieved magic by deconstructing magical formulas through modern technology and running computational processes, rather than drawing on mana the way a traditional magic-wielding mage from another world would. In that sense, they were closer to the elves, who used mana to cast their magic.
If many mages from other worlds needed a staff to cast, then the various types of CAD computational devices were the equivalent of their staves.
Not that they were helpless without a CAD device, but their casting speed would drop and their overall capability would weaken.
On top of that, there were still many magical principles they hadn't worked out, formulas they couldn't deconstruct, processes they couldn't simplify.
Flight magic, for instance, was something they hadn't mastered at all.
That was also part of why they'd moved their enrollment date up yet again. It wasn't purely the influence of demi-humans arriving early. They themselves were eager to get into Sobu High as quickly as possible.
According to intelligence passed through the DA organization, once you completed training under Hachiman and awakened as a magical girl, you could gain the ability to transform and even fly freely through the air.
The magical output data that Inoue Takina and Nishikigi Chisato had gone back to test, after just a few sessions, had already exceeded what an ordinary modern magician who'd studied for years could produce.
In terms of physical strength alone, they had completely outpaced the elite students of the magic high schools.
And on top of that, Inoue Takina and Nishikigi Chisato were trained operatives. Killing was their profession. A few more rounds of magical girl training and their steady power growth would likely make them a total match for the magic school elites across every metric.
All those resources the government had poured into founding the magic high schools, carefully selecting only the most gifted candidates to enroll and develop over years.
And that whole program's results couldn't keep up with just sending a few young and capable assassin operatives to train under Hachiman for a few days?
The speed at which they were getting stronger was absurd.
Becoming a modern magician still required genuine, rare talent. Yet the magical girl path, which produced stronger results faster, seemed to have almost no barrier to entry at all.
No wonder the government had completely lost its composure. Even Saegusa Mayumi, student council president of the magic high school, couldn't stay put any longer. She'd had no choice but to bring Shiba Miyuki, Kitayama Shizuku, and the other top students to Sobu High ahead of schedule, to learn from Hachiman's method of rapid growth.
———
"Pft!"
"Kaede, try moving again. Why did you stop?"
Hachiman pressed both hands around Kaede's soft, slender feet, encased in their black-red over-the-knee socks, squeezing them firmly together, grinning as he looked down at her lying back on the sofa and staring at the ceiling.
"Stop it. I still have to go meet the new transfer students and exchange students later to understand their needs in detail. I need to decide whether to place them across existing classes or add one or two new classes to house them all together. And on top of that, per regulations, we need to elect a new member of the discipline committee to join the others on duty."
Kaede, who had long since lost the ability to sit upright, her legs like water beneath her, lay on the sofa without an ounce of energy, eyes rolling the moment Hachiman persisted in wanting to put her through more. She turned her head to look around at the others in the student council office, found every one of them collapsed somewhere with their eyes closed, and had no choice but to call on her beloved little sister one more time.
"Suzu, you do it, come on."
Nashiro and Kurone, the two sisters, still hadn't wiped the corners of their mouths. Kirishima Touka and Yoshimura Eto still had awakening essence they hadn't released. Yotsuya Miko and Yurikawa Hana hadn't cancelled their magical girl transformations and were still in their battle-worn magical girl outfits, with colorful little magical girl charms Suzu had hung on their waists. Origamine Ouka had at least changed into a shrine maiden outfit, though the red-and-white sleeveless version had long since become one in solid white.
Fueguchi Hinami and the others, who had been sitting on the coffee table for too long and were a bit dehydrated, had already been taken back to the service club to rest.
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