It was just that the two daughters of the Einzbern family were even younger than Tohsaka Sakura, and Aunt Irisviel was always running around on her own, while Illya and Chloe didn't have any older sister figures to guide them in socializing, which was why they didn't seem as familiar.
If the Einzbern family truly wanted to get involved and seek a family alliance, it would definitely be with the Yukinoshita family and the Tohsaka family.
Although she only found out today that all those beautiful silver-haired maids of the Einzbern family were homunculi, and she never expected that even Aunt Irisviel, Illya, and Chloe were homunculi.
If that was the case, were Irisviel, Illya, and Chloe considered biological mother and daughters?
If Illya and Chloe weren't going to live long, then what about Irisviel herself?
Just how old were Irisviel, Illya, and Chloe, really?
After overhearing the conversation between Hachiman and Irisviel, Yukinoshita Haruno found that not only had her questions not decreased, they had actually grown more numerous.
"Mother, um... don't you have any complaints at all about Father being gone for so long?"
While Hachiman was holding the Tohsaka sisters and enjoying the cream strawberries being fed to him by the young landlady, Tohsaka Touka, sitting on the adjacent sofa, hesitated as if she wanted to say something, but after noticing Tohsaka Aoi beside her, she didn't know what to say.
The central living room was very large. During service games, each sofa functioned as a small group, but they were only sitting on the sofa next to them, she could hear everything clearly and see it just as plainly.
Asou Miyuri, Sawamura Sayuri, Kuraki Yuriko, and Kamishiro Saya were all wearing the same thin yukata as Mother, their long, pale legs extending conspicuously from beneath the fabric as they surrounded the President in a way that could only be described as faintly seductive. And Mother hadn't reacted at all.
Now Sawamura Sayuri, Kamishiro Saya, and Kuraki Yuriko had left, and Asou Miyuri wasn't even pretending anymore, she was directly feeding the President cream strawberries, completely ignoring Mother.
Tohsaka Touka really couldn't hold it in anymore and wanted to ask Tohsaka Aoi what she was thinking.
Did Mother truly mistake the President for Father? Or was it simply that because Sakura had recognized the President as Father first, she decided to go along with it and find them a "Father"?
Although in either case, they'd have to call the President "Father," since the President himself hadn't refused, knowing Mother's true feelings would help her figure out how to behave in front of her.
"Touka, thank you for all your hard work. I don't understand business, and managing the family's enterprises takes a lot of thought. I've always needed you to help take care of Rin and Sakura."
Tohsaka Aoi looked at Tohsaka Touka, who seemed hesitant, and opened her arms to slowly embrace her, stroking her smooth, dark hair while whispering softly in her ear.
"But Rin and Sakura are still young, and you're the only one who gets along well with Haruno. From now on, you and Haruno should manage the family business together, and listen carefully to the Master's instructions alongside her."
"I know you have a lot of questions in your heart, Touka, but the Master is the head of this family. No matter what the Master does, as his wife, I must understand him and support him."
"Of course, the same goes for you, Touka. I remember that you, Sakura, and Rin have all loved clinging to the Master since you were little. You're so obedient and sensible, the Master will like you too."
"Ah..."
Feeling the gentle patting on her back, Tohsaka Touka stiffened in Tohsaka Aoi's embrace, opened her mouth, and didn't know how to respond.
Were they even talking about the same thing? Why did Mother seem to be answering a completely different question?
Although she knew that with Mother's extremely traditional Yamato Nadeshiko personality, even if the President did something unforgivable, Mother would probably choose to understand and help him.
But hearing her always gentle and considerate mother tell her to obey the President's every command without principle or bottom line still felt strange.
When she was little, she thought her father was amazing and great, but now she felt his figure wasn't quite so towering.
Mother was even willing to accept Father fooling around outside and building a harem? When Mother was so good and so devoted, waiting for this family year after year like clockwork...
Still... she wasn't really in a position to criticize Mother, since she herself couldn't necessarily resist the President's orders.
The situation was a bit complicated. Before she figured out what to do, she might as well follow Mother's advice.
"Mhm... Haruno and I will listen carefully to Father's instructions and won't make things difficult for you, Mother..."
After making up her mind, Tohsaka Touka immediately felt the pressure in her heart ease significantly.
Indeed, even without Mother, she would still listen to the President.
Only now, it wasn't out of gratitude for the President protecting the Tohsaka family, but because the President was her "Father."
Although she was very surprised that Sakura and then Mother had both mistaken him for someone else, and she briefly suspected they might have been affected by some special ability like hypnosis. After all, this world already had magical girls and elves, so some mind-control ability wouldn't be that unusual.
But Mother's expression was as it always had been, simply treating the President as Father. If the President really wanted to do anything to Mother, he wouldn't need to go to such lengths. If he discussed it with her, she might even offer to help.
Thinking this, she stopped her baseless speculation. After saying a few words to Tohsaka Aoi, she stood up under her mother's gaze and walked over to Hachiman.
"F-Father, would you like to eat at the family restaurant next, or just have your meal here in the main living room? If it's the family restaurant, I'll go notify them to start taking name orders now."
Watching Tohsaka Rin and Tohsaka Sakura compete fiercely with Asou Miyuri, and Yukinoshita Haruno quietly eating, Tohsaka Touka paused for a moment and asked Hachiman in a low voice.
The girls who had gone to the convention had all finished bathing in the large bath and were slowly making their way to the main living room in their yukata for lunch.
However, because Hachiman had been in conversation earlier, no one had disturbed him.
If they didn't go to the family restaurant now, quite a few people would probably come by to pay their respects to Hachiman in turns later.
Mhm... even though the Service Club held late-night service games every day, new members joined all the time, and there were many members like Himegari Yukina and Hakuroin Rinrin who would definitely need to find opportunities to show their goodwill.
"I'll eat here. We're about to hold a hot spring convention, and it won't do if I end up not recognizing too many club members when we play games."
Hachiman gently brushed his fingertips through Yukinoshita Haruno's shoulder-length hair, bit down on the cream strawberry that Tohsaka Sakura and Tohsaka Rin had both pushed up to his mouth, and looked around without any intention of leaving.
At the family restaurant, he could order whatever he wanted, enjoying the delicious dishes that automatically appeared on the table while chatting with new members to build rapport.
But staying here wasn't bad either, he could eat and talk at the same time, which was perfect for observing the Service Club members.
The Service Club was essentially his home base, but he usually played the role of absentee boss, only responsible for developing magical girl talents and awakening demi-human bloodlines while letting others handle the management.
Most of the time, he only came to the Service Club at night, and it was very likely late at night before the service games even started, continuing until dawn. After breakfast, he'd teleport to school for classes. He really should spend more time at the Service Club, at least stick around more during the day.
"Understood, Father. Haruno's also been thinking about the hot spring convention issues. If you have any questions, you can ask Haruno."
Seeing this, Tohsaka Touka turned to glance at Tohsaka Aoi, who was smiling at her, bit her cherry lip firmly, and knelt beside Yukinoshita Haruno to discuss business with Hachiman.
"Touka?"
Yukinoshita Haruno looked at Tohsaka Touka, who had actively come over, startled, and instinctively glanced toward Tohsaka Aoi on the adjacent sofa.
However, seeing Tohsaka Aoi watching them, she held back the words that had reached her lips.
Because of the issues with Aunt Tohsaka Aoi's mental state, her long-time best friend had undergone a major identity shift, and the standing between the Tohsaka and Yukinoshita families had reversed in an instant, leaving her feeling a bit complicated.
But it seemed she had been overthinking things. Good sisters were still good sisters, and a little thing like that wouldn't affect their bond.
"President, Yasha said we can head over to the hot spring inn to rest anytime, but it'll take a bit of time to set up, so the hot spring convention activities won't start until tomorrow morning."
"President, when were you thinking of going to the hot spring inn to rest?"
Yukinoshita Haruno licked her lips, and after Tohsaka Touka took over as the main force, she didn't have to stay so focused and could relax a little. She looked up at Hachiman, who had his eyes half-closed.
"Let's go tonight, then. Everyone can teleport over first to experience the hot spring inn before we start the private convention. By the way, what's the name of the hot spring inn Yasha arranged for us?"
Hachiman let out a soft breath. With Asou Miyuri and the others serving him here, and many club members still waiting, going to the hot spring inn didn't really matter either way.
But since the Service Club was growing, he should check out suitable hot spring inns and add more club-exclusive facilities.
They couldn't keep going back and forth to the same few places, could they? Besides the family restaurant and the large bath, they should also arrange cafes and hot springs.
"It's actually not just one hot spring inn, but a large one merged from several poorly managed inns that the Kijou Group acquired."
Yukinoshita Haruno occasionally assisted Tohsaka Touka while explaining in a low voice.
"Those are Kinporo, Shirakawa Ryokan, Kiizanso..."
"According to Yasha, she's also prepared fox-eared demi-humans waiting to serve the President."
"Fox-eared, huh..."
Hearing that Kijou Yasha had prepared a hot spring inn to offer as exclusive entertainment for the Service Club, and that there would even be fox girls, Hachiman was somewhat surprised.
There weren't many demi-humans in this world, but there also weren't too few, they were certainly rare.
Kijou Yasha and her daughter Kijou Suzuka didn't seem to be competing for favor through internal rivalry with everyone else; they actually wanted to put their efforts into the hot spring inn.
As the leader in the tourism industry, the Kijou Group had control over many remote mountain resources. Besides things like hot spring inns, they definitely knew about many demi-human races hiding deep in the mountains and had probably been secretly keeping beautiful demi-human girls there.
"President, if you don't want to attend Aunt Sayuri's party, maybe you could have Aunt Sayuri and the others come over to soak in the hot springs instead, and they could join our hot spring convention afterward."
Yukinoshita Haruno had already gotten used to the Service Club's style of handling business while serving, and seeing the satisfied look on Hachiman's face, she continued.
"Have Sayuri and the others come to the hot spring convention..."
Hachiman pondered without giving an immediate answer.
Having people come to soak in the hot springs wasn't a problem, several inns merged together could definitely accommodate that many people, but what came after was harder to say.
After all, so many people weren't going all the way to a hot spring inn just for a simple bath. If they brought them over and then ignored them, it would be better not to bring them at all.
"The convention could use some more people to liven things up anyway. Aunt Sayuri and the others could bring along more foreign mixed-race girls to cosplay and participate in our convention activities."
Yukinoshita Haruno stared intently at Hachiman's expression while continuing to suggest.
"President, don't worry about them not fitting in with us. If they're willing to participate, it means they can accept a certain degree of intimate contact. Besides, we'll inform them of the relevant game rules in advance."
"I can give you a little preview of the rules, everyone chooses the character they want to cosplay themselves. You definitely won't make a move on them rashly, and if you can't guess their identity correctly, they can't actively do anything to you either."
"Under those rules, if anything does happen, it would definitely be their own initiative."
"Of course, to prevent anyone from deliberately getting guessed on purpose without putting effort into their cosplay, people like Kitagawa Marin will enforce the standards. Anyone who doesn't cosplay well enough won't be allowed to participate."
Most members' goal was to be recognized and taken, but the rules restricted them from actively being found out, so most people had to work hard to find characters that fit their own image for cosplay.
If a girl participating didn't want to be recognized, she could just cosplay a character completely different from her usual appearance.
"Then notify Sayuri and the others. Let's see how many people they'll have participating."
Looking down at the expectant look in Yukinoshita Haruno's eyes, Hachiman smiled, gently stroking both Yukinoshita Haruno's and Tohsaka Touka's hair as he continued enjoying the pink, moist desserts that the Tohsaka sisters and the young landlady took turns feeding him.
He hadn't mentioned this while Sawamura Sayuri was here, waiting until after he'd rejected her party invitation to bring it up. This way, Haruno should be able to raise her standing somewhat in front of the others.
But he didn't really care about that. He'd already made Haruno the vice President of the Service Club, boosting her status a bit more would just make it easier for her to help him manage the club.
He only needed to enjoy himself; Haruno and the others could handle all the dirty work.
This hot spring convention was definitely the largest-scale service activity the Service Club had ever held, with the most participants.
With so many people showing up at once, even with the system's prompts, he couldn't guarantee he'd guess everyone correctly, unless they were people already close to him.
However, since this private convention was being held at a hot spring inn, with the venue limited to individual rooms, they probably wouldn't be able to play the blindfolded capture game.
If he could see their faces, he'd basically recognize them all at a glance, unless they were separated by folding screens or something where he couldn't make out their real features...
Mhm... one room, one theme? Or one room, one small group?
"Tonight, the Service Club is going to the hot spring inn to prepare for the convention. Members who want to participate can bring prospective members along?"
"Each full member is only issued five exclusive wristbands and synchronization collars?"
Not long after returning to the Sawamura residence, Sawamura Sayuri suddenly felt the pink wristband on her arm tighten sharply, followed by a notification message appearing in her mind. Surprise showed on her face.
She hadn't expected that failing to invite Hachiman to the party would instead result in being invited by him to the hot spring inn for a convention, and even being allowed to bring people along.
But that worked out perfectly. With this clear notice from the Service Club, she could proactively invite some friends she had a good relationship with to come along and get a better understanding of the Service Club's current situation.
It was just... previously, the Service Club hadn't seemed to restrict new members' joining. Had they now decided the membership was getting too large and started limiting numbers?
She wondered if this restriction was only for this hot spring inn event, or if there would be member caps for new members from now on?
Sawamura Sayuri thought for a moment, didn't dwell on it, and while still wearing her yukata, lay on the bed scrolling through her contacts for friends she was close with, recalling their daughters.
"Yumi and her daughter Yuki don't seem to have a great relationship..."
"Akemi's Ellie and Martha might be worth a try, and Ren-chan is adorable too..."
"And there's the world-class genius painter who's also great at drawing at tonight's party... hmm, not the same type as Eriri, though..."
Originally, Sawamura Sayuri had planned to start from her daughter Sawamura Eriri's talents, hobbies, and the otaku activities she was currently involved in, contacting the doujin circle leader Akasaka Akane, and through her, finding beautiful girls working in that field.
Although doujin artists might sound embarrassing, there were beautiful girls like her daughter Eriri doing this work too.
But now, with the quota limit, she naturally wouldn't approach it from the hobby angle. Instead, she'd look for young ladies to be Eriri's teammates.
There were already plenty of young ladies from major powers in the Service Club, but precisely because of that, it was hard for ordinary people to compete once they were brought in.
Five new member slots per person didn't seem like much, but it was actually quite a lot. A small group of a few people could easily turn into a large one.
Thinking about it carefully, these five new members would be friends she'd share hardships with, advance and retreat together, they weren't easy to find.
Now, even going through all her friends' daughters, she was torn: either they didn't have good relationships with their families and weren't likely to listen, or they were illegitimate children and it wouldn't be appropriate to forcefully drag them to her side.
Potential new members who were excellent in every way and quite promising could very well be pulled in by Service Club members even closer to them.
Young ladies could easily find long-term stable allies through their family connections, and the forces behind them could use this as an opportunity to form alliances across various fields outside the Service Club.
Of course, originally Sawamura Sayuri hadn't wanted to go through all this trouble and drag her good friends' daughters into this mess.