The thin, almost transparent veil, the pearl chain hanging at the waist, the silk scarf tied over it, the bright clear bracelets on her wrists and ankles.
It couldn't be denied that, taken separately, these things all looked pretty, but put together, this outfit that wasn't much different from underwear was just, so, so shameful.
And she had to perform on stage, under the lights, for Lord Savior.
She didn't even know what Princess Iris was thinking, to have her do this.
As a guardian of the forest, she had never done anything like this. If it were fighting or slaughtering, that would be fine, she would have no fear. But she really couldn't get used to something like this.
The only consolation was that this stage performance wasn't just her alone performing for Lord Savior.
Sylpha tried her best to control her embarrassed, nervous feelings, suppressing the restlessness rising inside. From the corner of her eye she furtively glanced at Sakurase Shino beside her, who was wearing a different style but equally humiliating bunny-girl outfit.
Usually the two of them dressed very modestly, and because of their temperaments, people saw a clear difference between them.
But in their current state, people unfamiliar with them would find them hard to tell apart. Because not only did their faces resemble each other, even their figures were very similar, like twins.
If Sakurase Shino didn't lack the elves' trademark pointed ears, Sylpha would have suspected that she and Sakurase Shino had been born at the same time from the elven mother tree.
Now that Princess Iris had used illusion magic to add two elven pointed ears to Sakurase Shino, and Lord Savior was far down in the audience with the lighting not very clear, he probably couldn't tell the difference between them anyway.
Still, she had to control her shy, nervous expression and be expressionless like Sakurase Shino.
With that sort of self-deceptive thought, Sylpha forced herself not to care about Lord Savior's gaze, slowly gripped the cold steel pole on stage, and with Sakurase Shino in the bunny outfit beside her, began to perform an extremely awkward dance.
———
"This dance... Iris, did you trick Sylpha into going up to perform?"
Down in the audience, Hachiman watched Sylpha's flushed face as she desperately imitated the expressionless Sakurase Shino, then turned to Iris smiling beside him.
Although he hadn't had much contact with Sylpha, from her performance she seemed the same serious, rigorous type as Leticia, and as a long-time forest guardian Sylpha might be even more rigid and naive.
He didn't really believe Sylpha had volunteered to perform this for him. Surely Iris, who knew how to take advantage of his preferences, had coaxed her up.
"The President likes her~ Sylpha, as a forest guardian, has excellent aptitude, but she's passive about aid work, so I had to give her a little push."
Iris looked at the embarrassed Sylpha on stage and smiled calmly.
Among the four reinforcement elves, Sylpha had been the earliest to have contact with the President, and Iris had arranged opportunities for Sylpha to meet the President alone.
But Sylpha had never made any progress with the President; every meeting was businesslike, with no hint of proactively seducing him.
There was no choice. Iris had to actively put Sylpha onstage to perform, to make her let go of her shame and develop strange feelings for the President, so that later when they provided aid Sylpha wouldn't just watch from the sidelines.
Passive... give a push.
Iris, acting nonchalant, blushed slightly and couldn't help thinking of her own first aid scene. Iris always liked doing things like this.
Fortunately she had gotten through it, and could sit here and watch later elves break through their inner shame.
Otherwise she definitely would have been pushed onto the stage by Iris, dressed in something even harder to look at than a dancer or bunny outfit, setting an example by performing with Sylpha and the others.
Leticia, sitting in Hachiman's lap with a flushed, racing heart, compared her own situation with Sylpha's onstage and felt that her current shame was nothing in comparison.
Although Sylpha wore a veil, she felt that the thin transparent veil was as if she weren't wearing one at all. If anything, it made her blush more.
"I like it, I do, but this isn't really an elven characteristic, is it?", Hachiman gently pinched Leticia's relieved, plump, soft tender cheek in his arms, kissed her rosy face again, and smiled helplessly at Iris.
From his perspective, Sylpha, Sakurase Shino, and Leticia's outfits all pleased him.
However, these clothes were not garments one could wear daily; only Leticia's pure white gauzy dress with a slit up to her waist could really be called elven-style.
"It's an elven-style prepared only for Lord Savior~"
Iris smiled purely and sweetly at the puzzled Hachiman and explained softly.
"Actually, there isn't really any strictly elven characteristic now, different races borrow and improve each other's clothing. There is no clothing purely unique to elves; you can only say which style has more of a natural vibe."
"I think since the President likes cat suits and dog suits, he'd probably like this rabbit suit and the nature-fitting dance outfit too~"
"Of course, if the President prefers Leticia's outfit, we can have Leticia go up and perform~"
"?"
Leticia, who had thought she'd escaped, instantly tensed, tightly wrapping her arms around Hachiman's neck and pleadingly looking at him, terrified she would be made to perform as well.
If it were simply to be seen by Lord Savior it might be acceptable—she, as an elf who had received Lord Savior's aid, would ultimately do what had to be done.
But with the princesses and everyone here watching, doing something like that would be a lifetime of shame.
"You're teasing Leticia again."
Hachiman looked at the elegant, cute but a bit mischievous Iris and helplessly pulled her into his arms too, squeezing her smaller, fair, rounded cheek than Leticia's.
If Iris really wanted to do that, she wouldn't have asked him like that, and done it in front of Leticia.
So Iris was purely trying to scare Leticia, creating a more embarrassing environment to make the shy Leticia stop trying to escape the awkward situation, and maybe even want it to continue.
"Then please, Lord Savior, punish Iris properly~"
Iris blinked and, unsurprised that her intent had been seen through, smiled and wrapped her arms around Hachiman's neck, actively asking for punishment.
Although she had been pushing Leticia, Sylpha, and the others to aid the President, hoping they could become independent, reliable elves who could serve the President alone, and later teach newcomers how to request aid. Tonight, seeing no action between the President and Melaise, Leona, Leticia, she was about to lose patience.
Meanwhile Lumilia and Aegis watched the stage and quietly paid attention to Iris and the others' movements, ready to go on whenever needed.
Komachi beside them didn't know where to look anymore. Whether the performance was onstage or off, she didn't know what to watch; it felt like the Elven Forest tavern was about to enter full late-night mode.
Should she slip away now? If she stayed any longer she'd be ruined.
Shion looked enviously at Iris and Leticia in Hachiman's lap.
Privately she could naturally act spoiled with Onii-chan and he would dote on her, but in front of so many people she couldn't be as natural or confident as Iris.
Maybe that was the difference between her and Iris.
Still, with considerate Iris around, she could live at home without worrying. When there were evening activities she could just join in with Iris and the others.
"This is enough... I knew this tavern party would end up like this; I didn't expect there to be no proper performances from the start."
Kaede was the only person in the room who wasn't embarrassed, she just looked speechless at the elves around Hachiman, then at Sylpha dancing more freely onstage now.
What elves, clearly they were succubi.
The aloof Amaki sisters who kept distance from everyone should switch species with Iris and the others.
Except for lacking little demon tails, Iris and the rest matched her impression of succubi in every way.
If Hachiman hadn't suddenly gotten so fit, stronger and more enduring than merfolk, elves, dragons, she thought he wouldn't last two days before being bedridden.
Not the kind of bedridden where you just lie in bed after an accident before school like Hachiman once did when he climbed a mountain in the countryside.
"Kaede, are you going up? No class tomorrow, you can sleep a bit later."
Suzu looked at Kaede, who said one thing but meant another, and urged her eagerly.
If the elven princesses were being so proactive, they had to try harder to take back the initiative.
"Saki, Miki, you two are on our side, right? Suzu, call Tsubaki! Have Tsubaki send someone to fetch Makoto-chan!"
Kaede shook off her tangled thoughts, looked at Iris growing increasingly forward in Hachiman's lap, and couldn't hold back. She turned to Hayase Saki and Narahashi Miki, who had come in and quietly sat by Komachi and Shion without speaking, grit her teeth, and decided to have Suzu call people.
Leaving aside the childhood friend from the countryside who barely existed, she and Suzu had lived next to Hachiman his whole life. Now it felt like she was the outsider.
She would show these elves her strength. She absolutely would not give up.
"Uh..."
Hayase Saki and Narahashi Miki both shrank their heads when the student council president Kaede stared at them, unsure of how to reply.
They only wanted to come mix and eat; who would have thought the student council president and the elven princesses who served the President would have a little rivalry.
"Even Makoto-chan will be called...", Suzu realized Kaede had not only called Tsubaki from the student council but also included disciplinary committee member Makoto Usui, understanding that Kaede really intended to face off with these elves.
Still, even if they all came, Suzu felt their side didn't have much chance of winning.
Setting aside whether their stamina could compare with elves, just by numbers the student council plus the new shrine maiden were only five people; adding Makoto made six. Still one fewer than Iris and the elves.
Considering the physical differences between elves and ordinary humans, unless they dragged in Makoto, Asai Saki, Sakurase Shino, and the other disciplinary committee members, they had no chance.
"Hurry and call them, Suzu call Tsubaki, I'll call Makoto. If they fall asleep later it'll be bad."
Kaede understood their disadvantage in numbers and strength, but urged them anyway.
Tonight they couldn't win, but she hadn't said it had to be decided tonight. She just wanted to drag Makoto and the others over to get them used to it.
After all, Makoto and the others had already been affected by Hachiman like this; sooner or later they'd have to face it. Btter to get them accustomed so she could call them for help anytime.
Iris, using her status as elven princess, had brought one elf after another into the house; Kaede could likewise bring the girls from Sobu High over.
Sobu High was not an non-human Sobu High.
Hachiman was not Iris's Hachiman.
["Hello? Kaede, is something up so late?"]
"Makoto-chan, I need your strength now. Can you come to Hachiman's house?"
["Ah? Now?"]
"Shion, let's go!"
Komachi, seeing Kaede fired up to block Iris and gather all her friends to wrest control back from Hachiman, immediately grabbed Shion and bolted.
"Ah? I go too?"
Shion was taken aback, looked at Komachi, and then at the tavern sliding into deep-night mode.
Actually, she felt she could stay and help Komachi observe tonight's situation.
After Komachi and Shion left, at their table only Lala remained active besides Hayase Saki and Narahashi Miki.
"Hehe, finished calling? Then let's play together~"
Once Kaede finished her calls, Lala cheerfully pulled Kaede and Suzu to Hachiman's side to play with Iris and Leticia.
She didn't feel jealous, everyone being lively and having fun was great.
But like Iris, she couldn't help herself a little.
Although she had hugged Hachiman in the afternoon and absorbed a lot of his energy, it still felt not enough. Seeing Hachiman made her want to cling to him.
She didn't know when her mother would finish her business on Earth; when her mother arrived she couldn't stick to Hachiman all the time.
But once her mother finished meeting Hachiman, and once Momo and Nana were on holiday, she could bring them all to Earth to play.
———
[Onstage]
Sylpha and Sakurase Shino's dance reached a better rhythm, no longer stiff and awkward, but watching the audience, Sylpha inexplicably felt a bit restless and uneasy.
Hachiman's burning gaze occasionally landed on her, making her brain unable to think.
In the afternoon she hadn't been this nervous or flustered; now that Lord Savior sat below the stage not touching her at all, merely watching her dance surrounded by Princess Iris and the others, she couldn't help herself.
Unbelievable... could it be that she actually liked this kind of dance, or was her current performance also part of the princess's considerations.
'As expected of our princess, wait, wait, Lord Savior is looking this way again?'
"Sylpha, Sakurase Shino, go down and rest and receive the President's reward. Next it's our turn to perform~"
The three mermaid songstresses Elio, Ayla, and Elusi came onto the stage wearing the swimsuits from their afternoon photoshoot, helped the weakly collapsed Sylpha and Sakurase Shino up from in front of the pole, and cheerfully escorted the two otherworldly sisters offstage before returning to the stage.
They took up the microphone; their singing voice infused with magic slowly filled the stage with an enchanting sound that made people fall under its spell.
The unconventional mermaid princess Melo hid to the side, lying atop a water-filled wooden barrel and secretly glancing at Leticia, Iris, Kaede, and Suzu at Hachiman's table while softly singing the mermaid song with the songstresses.
'This is wonderful. Moving into the master's house is so exciting and comfortable.'
Tonight, the Hikigaya house was destined to be a sleepless night.
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