There was the Demi-Human Alliance, represented by Aoe Mai, the human conglomerates, represented by Yotsuba Maya, the regional families, represented by Yukinoshita Kiyuki and Tohsaka Aoi, and the ordinary households, with Ogiso Akina, Tachibana Kyouka, Nakano Reina and others.
A great many mature, beautiful women had gathered together in the Service Inn's open-air hot spring, and right now it was practically a hot spring for married women and mature beauties.
"I'll go ask what Mother thinks. Yui, wait for me here."
The scene in the open-air hot spring was even more explicit than the cosplay over there, but Yukinoshita Yukino was unfazed. She switched straight to her swimsuit form and walked into the hot spring pool.
"Mm-hm!"
Yuigahama Yui nodded repeatedly, switched to her swimsuit form too, and sat in a chair at the edge of the hot spring pool to wait for Yukinoshita Yukino to come back.
Even if Little Yuki had told her to go, she wouldn't have wanted to.
The place only looked cheerful and harmonious. In truth it was another battlefield where a fight could break out at any moment.
Never mind that last night the President's side hadn't hidden the sounds at all. Just from the nature of the Service Club, she couldn't not suspect what kind of relationships these women had with the President.
Still, she curiously and carefully sneaked glances at the mature beauties in the hot spring pool.
It wasn't only wives in there. Kashima Risako, Hanamori Kotomi and Matsubara Miria were here too.
It didn't seem to make much difference, but she had to admit she'd been shocked when she first found out.
Their President was simply too formidable. If it had been about power and influence, she could have just about believed such an outrageous thing.
But she had seen it with her own eyes. She knew that a lot of girls at the ordinary-person level were not so close to the President because of any benefit, or rather, not because of their own benefit.
What about Little Yuki's family? Was it because they liked him, or because of benefit?
Was Little Yuki the same as her older sister Haruno?
She didn't dare ask, afraid of losing Little Yuki, her only friend in the Service Club, but that didn't stop her from wondering about it in her head.
"Mom?!"
"Mom, she, how is she..."
"How is she here too?!"
Suddenly, Yuigahama Yui, who had been sneaking looks all around, found with a shock that there was a familiar figure beside Yukinoshita Yukino's mother, Yukinoshita Kiyuki.
Yuigahama Yui kept blinking, suspecting that she was hallucinating, or that the rising steam from the hot spring had made her mistake someone.
But no matter how hard she stared at that figure, trying to find some difference.
That mature, well-rounded, shapely figure was her mom!
How could this be?!
Yuigahama Yui's mind was a mess, and she didn't know whether she should go over and ask her own mother what was going on.
Yukinoshita Yukino was the vice president of the Service Club, and her older sister Yukinoshita Haruno was also a vice president of the Service Club.
Staying at Yukinoshita Yukino's side, she could learn many things that a lot of people didn't know, even without any authority.
Though none of them, Yukinoshita Yukino included, knew that Momo had a tool for creating virtual spaces to help manage the Service Club, they did know that Momo, the host of tonight's Service Game, had asked the Goddess Angel, Shizumi Suzune, for some Desire Energy crystals.
Desire Energy was originally a special energy that the Demon Realm collected from the various negative emotions produced in the human world. It could invade the human world and cause chaos, absorb still more Desire Energy, and so launch a full-scale invasion of the human world.
In the beginning, to lure the powerful demons of the Demon Realm out, the Goddess Angel had specially asked Hachiman to help produce a lot of Desire Energy. In the end the Desire Energy wasn't all used up, and it even attracted a pair of demon sisters on the run, Naruse Mio and Naruse Maria.
Ordinary Desire Energy was already strongly corrosive, and ordinary people who were infected easily lost their reason. Even the Goddess Angel had to be on guard when fighting demons, so as not to be affected herself.
And this batch of Desire Energy had been produced by the Goddess Angel herself, after she had received Hachiman's aid. You could imagine just how strong its corrosive power would be.
Yotsuba Maya, head of the Yotsuba family, and Irisviel of the Einzbern family didn't dare take it lightly, and the demi-humans Aoe Mai, Kijou Yasha and Senga Sally had all put away any thought of fooling around with the younger ones, and concentrated on resisting the erosion of the Desire Energy here.
It was a good idea. The game's rule was to wear cosplay outfits, but you didn't have to stay in the outfit while soaking in a hot spring. Keeping the character's hairstyle, or leaving a few accessories tied to the outfit, worn on the neck, wrists or ankles, was enough.
Taking their clothes off to soak in the hot spring reduced the outfits' effect on them as much as possible, and in turn reduced the effect of the Desire Energy on their reason.
But all of that rested on one condition: not running into Hachiman.
These ladies simply didn't want to embarrass themselves in front of the daughters' generation, and didn't want to waste their strength for nothing. It wasn't that they were really against it happening.
And if they really lost their reason, wouldn't that only give them more grounds to ask Hachiman to treat them?
Now that she knew roughly why the ladies were gathered here, Yuigahama Yui gazed longingly at Yukinoshita Yukino, who was still talking with Yukinoshita Kiyuki over there.
She didn't dare go over and ask what was going on. She hadn't even dared tell her mom what she was coming here to do tonight.
But whatever the situation was, if Mom stayed here with this group of ladies.
When the President arrived, her mom would probably go down together with the rest of them!
"...Don't ask me. All I can say is I know nothing, and it wasn't Mother who brought her in."
Yukinoshita Yukino, who had finished talking things over with Yukinoshita Kiyuki, came back, saw Yuigahama Yui looking like she wanted to speak, and put on a stone-faced scowl.
"The Elf Princess Iris and the others are back. They're having dinner in the family restaurant right now. Do you want to come with me, or stay here?"
Why was she looking at her like that? What could she do about it? Her own mother was in there too.
But Yui might look flustered and lost right now. Maybe once she'd received Hachiman's aid, she'd end up happy instead, and stop being so timid and so full of second thoughts like she was now.
"...I'm coming with you!"
Yuigahama Yui, who had meant to ask Yukinoshita Yukino to put in a word for her, froze, then bit her lower lip and decided to go see the Elf Princess with Yukinoshita Yukino after all.
Staying here wouldn't help. When the President came, what could she possibly beg him for?
She might as well go ask the Elf Princess what was happening. Hmm... given the many cases in the Service Club, she thought it was very likely that the blonde princess had told someone to bring her mom in.
In the hot spring pool.
Yuigahama Emi, who had been chatting and sipping a little sake with Yukinoshita Kiyuki, blinked, gently touched her burning cheek, and stared blankly at the plump figure walking away with Yukinoshita Yukino.
"That back... Is that Yui?"
———
"Nothing strange about it. Yukino and Yui are good friends, so it's only natural they'd play together."
Hearing Yuigahama Emi's puzzlement, Yukinoshita Kiyuki glanced at the back of her daughter Yukinoshita Yukino, picked up a milky-white ceramic sake bottle to refill Yuigahama Emi's cup, and explained with a smile.
The Yuigahama family was an ordinary household, and Yuigahama Emi was a housewife who had nothing to worry about except taking good care of her home. But Yuigahama Yui and her Yukino both had few friends at school, so it was very important for them to form a small clique they could trust.
And she and Yuigahama Yui's mother, Yuigahama Emi... were undoubtedly good friends too.
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