Kita Ikuyo and Yurikawa Hana, who had both misunderstood Yotsuya Miko's interest in Hachiman, happened to think the same thing.
Even Ijichi Nijika, who had just hugged Hachiman, could only assume that Yotsuya Miko had been frightened.
It was kind of nice that she wasn't the only one afraid of ghosts; otherwise she'd be a little embarrassed.
Only Hachiman knew the real reason Yotsuya Miko was sitting on his lap.
Although he couldn't hug the voluptuous, soft Bocchi-chan, nor the light and graceful Nijika, and even with Yurikawa Hana and Kita Ikuyo nearby he couldn't enjoy Nijika's "bullying" while riding in the car, seeing how cute Yotsuya Miko looked, he decided to quietly enjoy the moment of peace.
Yotsuya Miko wasn't the instantly striking long-black-hair beauty; she couldn't compare to Yukinoshita Yukino in terms of breathtaking looks, but the tearful face she made when frightened really hit him.
Of course, he didn't only like Miko when she was scared, shy Miko was very cute too.
At this moment, would she act like nothing had happened no matter how he teased her?
Although he wouldn't do anything bad to Miko on purpose, just looking at her made it seem like she couldn't keep herself together.
"..."
Feeling the hot breath near her ear, Yotsuya Miko did her best to restrain the heat rising in her cheeks and silently prayed the maid driver in front would hurry.
She thought she'd already experienced lying in Hikigaya-kun's arms, so sitting on his lap wasn't a big deal.
Compared to the embarrassment of being found out later if she just sat in the car, it seemed less troublesome to rely on Hikigaya-kun.
After all, Hikigaya-kun already knew about her situation, how much worse could it get?
At worst she'd apologize properly for sitting on his lap without permission and make up for it afterwards; even if she had to work part-time to earn the money, she didn't want everyone to see her embarrassing side.
Yet, once she sat in his arms, some things couldn't be dismissed so easily.
For some reason, just sitting in Hikigaya-kun's arms with her back to him, she could clearly feel his breathing and the glance he cast on her cheek.
She tried to close her eyes and not think about it, but closing them only made it clearer.
Earlier, when she'd been frightened and had flopped weakly onto his chest, she hadn't noticed how warm his aura was, so warm she couldn't help but want to lean back, to rest in his embrace.
Hachiman didn't completely understand Miko's reaction; since she'd already sat on his lap, leaning back against his chest wouldn't be strange.
As for the quickened breathing and flushed face, girls got shy like that, nothing odd about it.
This time he'd barely used any life-energy-consuming moves in the car; Saya's driving route had run into and burned through many Ghosts, which had noticeably drained life energy, and he finally noticed it.
Hmm... no wonder he hadn't realized before that he was burning life energy to destroy Ghosts.
Burning through a large group of ordinary monsters hardly affected him; it was only when he burned stronger Ghosts that he lost a big chunk of life energy.
What might be life-or-death for a normal person, even dangerous for Yurikawa Hana, was for him just the everyday cost of aiding, barely noticed.
So it seems only when swarms of Ghosts threw themselves at him and forced him to keep burning through life energy to keep them away would they get close to him.
It was a bit of a headache; he couldn't seem to control that blaze of life energy. Indiscriminately slaying unconscious Ghosts was one thing, but what about harmless, ordinary pretty-girl ghosts? Would they get hit too?
He remembered in other worlds there were ghosts, like the ghost Possesed Princess in Muramasa, and even the Anime World heroines had ghosts; the 2D World had ghost characters too.
Ijichi Nijika watched Hachiman, who seemed to be thinking about something, and Yotsuya Miko, who was being held in his arms, and she worried silently as well.
'Yumiko, it's not that I won't help you, Hachiman is just too popular, there are rivals everywhere.'
'I really can't do anything about it, Yumiko...'
But Nijika's worry didn't last long.
When Saya drove them to Hikigaya's house, Hachiman told them to take a bath first, Yotsuya Miko went first.
Ijichi Nijika, who hadn't been up yet, stood in front of the living room and couldn't believe her eyes when a pink-haired beauty walked from the bathroom into the living room, freshly bathed, stunningly beautiful, great body, and radiating aid-energy.
"Honami?"
"You're at Hachiman's house too?"
"Why are you here."
Ichinose Honami, drying her wet long hair with a towel, awkwardly lowered the towel and looked at the shocked Ijichi Nijika, opening her mouth to explain.
But she glanced down at the white bath towel wrapped around her, and at the all-night things she and Ayano and Marika had done with Hachiman last night, and no explanation came out.
She hadn't planned to be here tonight; she'd intended to rest properly. But when Ichinose Marika went to the student council to handle transfer paperwork at Sobu High, Student Council President Kaede noticed something.
After all, the surname Ichinose wasn't that common; Hachiman's class already had two Ichinoses, one the daughter of a politician, and now another Ichinose girl suddenly transferred into Sobu High.
Although Student Council President Kaede didn't look pleased after discovering the Ichinose faction issue at Sobu High, for some reason she still brought them all home and even let Honami go bathe first.
She'd thought it might be just an impolite drop-in; with her close relationship with Hikigaya-kun, she assumed he could explain things when he came back. Who expected Hikigaya-kun to bring Ijichi Nijika home with him?
She hadn't told anyone at school anything today; Hachiman had watched the concert with them and was close with them before coming to school, but in class she had to pretend she sadly hadn't gone to the weekend concert with him.
"No, it should be why Ijichi-san you are also at Hikigaya-kun's?"
Ichinose Honami, embarrassed and ashamed, suddenly realized this wasn't the Ichinose household nor the student council president's home.
If it had been right after school, she could have said she'd come to hang out at Hikigaya-kun's, but now it was late, Nijika being at Hikigaya's obviously looked suspicious.
She'd seen Nijika, Ayano, Yumiko, Yuina, Minami, Rin and the others using invisibility magic to get away with things and play in the back of the classroom; if not for cleaning magic clearing up the mess, they'd have been discovered.
But she remembered Nijika and Yumiko had claimed they were doing it on Yumiko's behalf; they weren't emotionally involved with Hikigaya-kun like loud Yuina and the others, just indulging his love of being "bullied."
"Uh... well... we were attacked by terrifying Ghosts and had no choice but to come to Hachiman's house. Bocchi-chan and Yurikawa Hana can vouch, I didn't come to Hachiman's alone."
Ichinose Honami found a blind spot and now Nijika was embarrassed. But Honami quickly realized Nijika didn't need to panic and hurriedly pulled Gotoh Hitori, Kita Ikuyo, and Yurikawa Hana to be witnesses.
Although she couldn't claim her relationship with Hachiman was just pure friends, at least she had told Yumiko beforehand she was coming to Hachiman's house, that had to be better than Honami's situation.
Back when in class they'd been playing the "bullying" game and Yuina and Minami tried to drag Honami along, Honami refused, who would have thought Honami had actually gone to Hachiman's house to play?
If Nijika hadn't come to Hachiman's that night, scared by the Ghosts and asking to stay over, she might never have discovered Honami's special relationship with Hachiman!
"Terrifying ghosts? Ijichi-san, where did you hear such an urban legend?"
Ichinose Honami wasn't convinced by Nijika's explanation, and even with Kita Ikuyo and Gotoh Hitori as witnesses, she didn't believe it.
'That excuse is too sloppy, Ghosts, really?'
If she only looked at Nijika's pure, cute, sunny appearance, she might have half-believed it, but she knew the mischief Nijika had pulled in class, so why trust her testimony?
She only really knew Gotoh Hitori, the socially anxious girl who seemed especially clingy toward Hikigaya-kun; scanning the others, they all looked pretty, and the girl who'd just gone into the bath was also a long-black-hair beauty.
"It's not a made-up urban legend, it's a real Ghost, the kind ordinary people can't see. Hachiman can prove it...", Ijichi Nijika didn't know how to explain further and immediately looked to Hachiman.
She hadn't actually seen any ghosts herself yet, but she trusted Hachiman wouldn't lie.
After all, given her relationship with him, she wouldn't refuse hugging or being closer; they'd done intimate things already, and Marin was ready to sell her out, there was no need to make up stories and conspire with Yotsuya Miko, who claimed to see Ghosts, to come to his house at night.
"The Ghost stuff is real, but Honami is also coming to my house for the first time privately. You can talk later; let's drop this topic for now."
Hachiman nodded and didn't get hung up on why the two of them were here. Instead he looked at Ichinose Honami, reached out to smooth the pink wet hair falling over her fair shoulders, looked at her flushed pretty face, and smiled.
"Honami, didn't I tell you to call me by my name? Why are you calling me Hikigaya-kun again?"
"Uh... Hachiman... I know I should call you by your name, but I'm not used to it yet. Please give me a little time..."
Seeing Hachiman playing with her hair while holding her shoulder in front of Ijichi Nijika, Ichinose Honami, fresh from her bath with fair, dewy skin flushed pink, pursed her lips and explained softly.
After last night's deep conversation, she'd understood Hachiman's feelings and decided to reconcile with him, no longer acting from a sense of penance.
But last night she'd mostly called him "Master" with Ayano, Marika, and China; in the morning at school she pretended nothing had happened and still used "Hikigaya-kun."
She hadn't used his given name much, so she needed a little time to get used to it.
Now she thought the reason Ayano was so obsessed with Hachiman in private but distant at school might be the same, hard to switch identities; oops and you might accidentally call him "Master" in class.
"???"
Ijichi Nijika's mouth twitched; she didn't know what to make of the scene.
Actually, calling him by his name was fine, she and Ryo and Bocchi-chan all used Hachiman's name, but Honami's behavior... it looked like her relationship with Hachiman was even deeper than Nijika's.
And Nijika hadn't done some of the things Honami apparently had.
"Just remember that, Honami. Don't get hung up on it. I've already arranged things for my sister too, but she's not in Chiba and will come later to attend school with Komachi and the others."
Hachiman soothed Ichinose Honami, who had joined them only recently, and then asked about the others who should have been at home.
"By the way, where did the others go? Why is it just Honami here?"
If Iris and the others weren't there, that was one thing. Sometimes Iris, as the Elf Princess and also a demi-human-human goodwill ambassador, had to attend public political events in human society and negotiate with demi-human alliance forces. She wasn't just always busy flirting like him.
But Komachi and the others should still be home.
Even if they went out to buy something, they wouldn't leave Honami alone at home to bathe.
"Komachi and the others went to the apartment next door; Class President Rurikawa and Ayano went over too."
Ichinose Honami thought for a moment and replied.
"I was just in the bath when the landlord of the next-door apartment came by to discuss apartment matters. I think Hachiman you mentioned wanting to buy the next-door apartment and renovate it before?"
Hachiman had asked if she wanted to move to the next-door apartment; rent and such wouldn't be her worry, but she still preferred to live at the Ichinose house or rent a cheap place herself later.
After all, her sister would come soon; if she and her sister lived next door together, with so many close girlfriends around, her sister would easily notice her relationship with Hachiman.
"Yeah, if we can buy and renovate it, great. If not, I'll talk to the landlord Asou-san about renting more rooms to renovate together."
Hachiman nodded. Although there was Lala's prop-extension room at his place with plenty of space and they didn't need to worry about space, the living room was only so big. They couldn't always all cram together.
The living room and bedroom had been where he and Komachi lived for years; with busy parents, the house was full of traces of their lives. Now with Lala and Iris and the others staying, he didn't want to make big changes.
Besides, although the girls around him generally got along, they weren't all perfectly compatible, smaller cliques would form, so private space was necessary.
Not everyone had no home like Shino; most people had their own home and didn't need to live at his place all the time. Renovating the old apartment next door would be more convenient.
He just hadn't expected the little landlord to come by so late tonight.
He'd already wanted to discuss buying the old apartment, but the landlord had said she'd agreed to tea and hot springs with some ladies and didn't have time to come over.
"Honami, do you know where the clothes are in the house? Can you bring some spare clothes for everyone?"
Hachiman was about to go check how the talk with the landlord had gone, but before leaving he realized Yotsuya Miko in the bathroom didn't have clothes, so he looked to Ichinose Honami.
"Yes, Miss Rurikawa showed me the house layout before."
Ichinose Honami nodded quickly. Although Student Council President Kaede wasn't very friendly to her and Ayano, Vice President Rurikawa Tsubaki had always been polite and even comforted her that Kaede was just in a bad mood and would be fine once Hachiman came home.
"I'll go check on things. Honami, please bring clothes for Nijika and the others. Nijika, you guys bathe first; I'll be back soon."
Hachiman gave his parting instructions. They were only guests staying over for a night, let Nijika and the others bathe and change first.
If the landlord agreed to sell the apartment, Komachi and the others wouldn't need to all go next door; refurbishing one old apartment shouldn't cost that much.
Now it looked like some problem had come up and he had to meet the landlord in person to push things past her limits.
Although he didn't know exactly what reward the landlord's character task would give for breaking through her threshold.
"Got it. I've been to your house before, Hachiman. Just don't go far, okay?"
Ijichi Nijika watched Hachiman leave and then turned to the towel-clutching Ichinose Honami with a serious look.
"Just now... Honami, you said Rurikawa class rep is also here? Ayano is here too?"
Wasn't that a bit over the top. Isn't Class Rep Rurikawa friends with Student Council President Kaede? Why would Rurikawa be at Hachiman's tonight.
"More precisely... besides Class Rep Rurikawa, there's also Ayano's friend China, and our relative who just transferred, Ichinose Marika."
Under Nijika's intense stare, Ichinose Honami looked embarrassed, but she didn't hide it, Nijika would find out soon enough.
"...."
Ijichi Nijika stared at Honami, who hesitated and looked shy, her mouth twitched.
Ichinose Honami, Ichinose Ayano, Horigome China, Rurikawa Tsubaki.
She'd thought the rowdy few playing "bullying" games in the back of class during lessons were already ridiculous, but she didn't expect the class to hide even more absurd situations.
Putting it together, it seemed most of the girls in the class had some special relationship with Hachiman.
Except for Sugisaki Kasumi, who still wore thick glasses after the last train incident and was embarrassed to talk to them, and the disciplinary committee member Kotegawa Yui, who was always out enforcing rules.
═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═
[email protected]/AmbitiousTranslator
🥳Joining P@treon keeps me motivated and eager to work diligently, so please consider joining.🥰 You can access upto 20 advance chapter through P@treon.