Under the table—
Listening to the extremely frequent mentions of "Kita" and "Ikuyo" coming from above the table, and looking at the disheveled person in front of them, Chisato Nishikigi and Takina Inoue both fell silent.
Before coming to the Service Club, the two of them already knew that the members of Kessoku Band called each other by their given names, with only Kita Ikuyo being the exception. Ijichi Nijika and Yamada Ryou both called Kita Ikuyo by her family name, Kita.
They had originally thought that it was because Kita Ikuyo was not as close to Hachiman as Ijichi Nijika, Yamada Ryou, or Gotou Hitori were, and that she had some distance from the others in Kessoku Band, which led to her being subtly excluded.
Only now did they finally understand the real reason.
It was not that Nijika and the others did not want to call Kita Ikuyo by her given name, but that Kita Ikuyo herself did not want them to call her by her given name.
Well… the name "Kita Ikuyo" really was a bit delicate.
"Kita" has the same pronunciation as "came," and "Ikuyo" has the same pronunciation as "let's go" or "set off."
Simply put, "Kita Kita" means "came, came," and "Ikuyo Ikuyo" means "went, went."
Under normal circumstances it did not feel that awkward, but in this kind of special situation, especially with a lot of people around, that was probably one of the reasons why Kita Ikuyo hesitated and could not fully integrate herself into Kessoku Band.
Chisato Nishikigi silently sympathized with the mortified Kita Ikuyo above the table, when she suddenly saw Takina Inoue, who was eating with her, their foreheads almost touching, undo her magical girl transformation.
"..."
After undoing her magical girl transformation, Takina Inoue immediately cast the magical girl transformation again.
With that simple operation, the blue and white magical girl outfit she was wearing, which had been a bit messy and hard to clean, instantly returned to being clean and neat.
However, she still did not say anything. Feeling the magical power inside her seemingly increase again, she silently lowered her head.
Even after Mr. Hikigaya discovered and awakened her talent as a magical girl, she still could not relax or slack off.
If she wanted to continue getting stronger, she would still need to accept Mr. Hikigaya's training: training to increase magical power, training to improve physical techniques, and even training to improve coordination and tacit understanding in multi-person joint combat.
Chisato Nishikigi looked at Takina Inoue, who had no intention of slacking off at all and was diligently "training," then lowered her head to look at her own outfit, a similar style but in red and black, and felt helplessness fill her heart.
If she herself had not successfully gained the ability to transform into a magical girl and had not felt the rich, endless life energy from Mr. Hikigaya that continuously strengthened them, she definitely would not have been able to stop herself from questioning him.
'What kind of training requires wearing clothes like this?'
'Just serving Mr. Hikigaya makes you stronger?'
'What kind of principle is that?'
Right now, Chisato Nishikigi really wanted to complain about this so-called development training.
But the facts were right in front of her, and even if she did not want to admit it, she had no choice.
The ability Mr. Hikigaya possessed to awaken large numbers of magical girls seemed to have only one side effect: it was rather embarrassing, rather shameful. And the only person who could rapidly increase their strength, Mr. Hikigaya… would need to be fought over in the future.
As for things like chastity, for Lycoris who did not even have household registrations and were basically always on missions, that kind of thing was not within their considerations at all.
Just look at Takina's attitude. Although those who truly did not care at all were few, Takina's attitude toward the magical girl awakening ritual was pretty much the attitude of most Lycoris.
If Mr. Hikigaya were willing to let the Lycoris come together to receive magical girl talent development, there would absolutely be Lycoris every single day, from waking up, eating, going to school, bathing, going to bed… sticking close and protecting Mr. Hikigaya at all times, from morning till night.
DA Headquarters might really send a batch of pretty and cute Lycoris over here.
Even other factions that had people with magical talent might also send people over to compete for him.
After all, the magical girl transformation bestowed by Mr. Hikigaya was more like a special ability and did not interfere with the power they already possessed.
Chisato Nishikigi sighed softly and stopped worrying about things that should be considered by higher-ups. Just like Takina Inoue earlier, she undoed her own magical girl transformation.
Mr. Hikigaya's training really could rapidly increase their strength, but training that was too intense also easily left them soaked all over.
Fortunately, after undoing their magical girl transformations, the wet magical girl outfits made of magical power could also be drawn back into their bodies together with the training results Mr. Hikigaya had given them. They did not need to swallow it bit by bit. Their strength would increase rapidly all at once.
"Haah!"
Chisato Nishikigi took a deep breath, then once again used her greatly increased magical power to cast the magical girl transformation. A gorgeous black-and-red magical girl outfit appeared on her body.
A black vest, black fingerless long gloves, a white-and-pink bow at the chest, a black pleated short skirt with pink trim.
On the backs of her hands, at the knees of her sock guards, at her waist, and other places, there was a pink heart-shaped gemstone.
Chisato Nishikigi controlled the magical girl outfit, which included safety shorts, to shrink its fabric. The safety shorts disappeared, the tight-fitting clothes disappeared, leaving only the black vest and black fingerless long gloves on her upper body, wrapping her fair arms.
At her chest, there was only the white-and-pink bow left, along with a small, dazzling, translucent pink heart-shaped gemstone adorning the bow.
Looking at the spotless pink heart-shaped gemstone, scattered with little bits of training results that Takina Inoue had not had time to secretly swallow, Chisato Nishikigi then looked at Takina Inoue opposite her, who was wearing a blue heart-shaped gemstone on her chest. Blushing, she leaned her body forward and let her pink heart-shaped gemstone press against Takina Inoue's blue heart-shaped gemstone, heart to heart.
While lowering her head and working in perfect sync with Takina Inoue, dividing the work between them, she slowly cleaned the other's heart-shaped gemstone.
She had to admit, Mr. Hikigaya's training was really embarrassing. Above, he was busy developing and guiding Kita Ikuyo and Yamada Ryou, and below, he still had to train her and Takina.
But… since they were already doing it… it was better not to think too much now and just focus on training together with Takina.
Next time, there might not be such a good opportunity, with only the two of them secretly swallowing Mr. Hikigaya's training results.
"Nijika? Marin, Miura, and Maijima?"
"Ikuyo!"
Hearing Kita Ikuyo's panicked voice and Yamada Ryou's extremely delighted voice coming from above the table, Chisato Nishikigi and Takina Inoue both sped up their movements a little more.
———
As time slowly passed, fewer and fewer human girls remained in the central large living room.
However, the snow women who had come out of the snowy mountains and the six sisters of the Kiriya family had no intention of leaving, nor did they intend to return to the rooms assigned to them by the Service Club for regular residence.
They were newcomers, and with their demi-human status, it was not appropriate to rashly interact with human girls. But there were other demi-humans here in the club, so chatting with other demi-humans was fine.
Tsukishiro Sayo, who was also a vampire, and the timid succubus Sakurase Shino were separately pulled over by the Kiriya family and the snow women.
The vice president of the Service Club, Yukinoshita Haruno, sat together with her good friend Tohsaka Touka, watching from afar the snow women and vampires who seemed completely unwilling to leave and planned to rest in the living room tonight, and felt an intense headache.
She and her mother had only just contacted human-side factions, hoping to pull in a few allies before the next batch of transfer students entered Sobu High.
Who could have expected that before any allies came in, the snow women and vampires from the demi-human side would already jump the gun.
Not only had they joined Sobu High ahead of time, they had even entered the Service Club.
"Vice President Haruno~ It's so late, aren't you going to rest yet? If I remember correctly, you still haven't participated in the late-night activities, right? Are you planning to join tonight?"
Suddenly, a young, soft, and seductive voice came from behind Yukinoshita Haruno.
"Uh… the President is so busy over there, I won't disturb the President for now."
Yukinoshita Haruno's expression stiffened slightly. She turned her head to look at the small landlord, Asou Miyuri, whose behavior completely did not match her body size. She smiled helplessly and quickly changed the topic.
"Miss Miyuri, what about the guests you're hosting? Why haven't I seen them come into the living room to hang out?"
"They just came to take a bath and chat with me about future commissions. Once they found out there were so many young girls here, they ran off."
Asou Miyuri did not care about Yukinoshita Haruno at all. She simply crossed her arms and freely mocked those good sisters who did not have the courage to step into the living room.
They were always saying she was too small and looked like their daughter. Now that they knew there were so many young girls here, they got scared, huh.
"Uh… tomorrow I'll ask the President whether it's possible to set up some areas exclusively for them…"
Looking at Asou Miyuri's ch!ldlike personality, Yukinoshita Haruno could not help but feel speechless.
In fact, she understood the concerns of Minami Kotori, Nishikino Mizuki, Takanashi Ouka, and the others.
Even though they were not old at all and were still very young and lively, looking not much older than their daughters, and even possessing more mature and sexy charm, often attracting the covetous gazes of men, in front of even younger girls of their daughters' generation, they still inevitably felt a bit uneasy.
When she and her mother were pulling in allies, they had also considered this, whether to talk to the President or Princess Iris the elf and ask if it was possible to set up some independent, non-interconnecting areas.
Otherwise, with wives and daughters gathered together, neither side would feel comfortable, and no one could really relax.
No matter how harmonious family relationships were at home, being at home and being outside were always different. Daughters would also feel embarrassed to act spoiled toward their mothers in front of their friends.
"Don't worry. I gave them and their daughters the empathy bracelets. I didn't actually chase them away."
Seeing Yukinoshita Haruno fall silent, Asou Miyuri knew what she was thinking and waved her hand indifferently.
"Of course, having an area that separates them from their daughters would indeed be better."
"Yeah… best if it can both separate them and combine them."
"Now that we have a large bath and a family restaurant… let's add some other facilities, like a café or hot springs."
"Something like hot springs could have separate ones for the wives and the daughters, and then combine them when necessary—"
As she spoke, Asou Miyuri revealed an extremely wicked smile.
"..."
Looking at Asou Miyuri, who completely did not care about her good sisters' well-being and only planned to satisfy her own fun, Yukinoshita Haruno felt her heart tighten and a strong sense of unease.
Miss Miyuri… when she transferred the apartment to the President to open the Service Club, she wasn't already thinking about things like this, was she?
"Haruno, how about… you also do that thing with Hachiman… have him help you develop your magical girl talent?"
Seeing Yukinoshita Haruno troubled by the Service Club's affairs, her good friend Tohsaka Touka at her side could not help but offer a suggestion.
"As long as you complete the development ritual, you can immediately increase your strength and gain the power of a magical girl. Even when you're not transformed, your physical abilities will improve a lot."
In her view, the tricky problems Haruno was facing now were simply because Haruno was still an ordinary person.
Now, the human girls in the Service Club were turning into magical girls one after another. Even if they had not yet undergone Hachiman's long-term training and their strength might only be slightly higher than that of weaker demi-humans, in essence they had already undergone a completely different change.
"Touka, I understand what you mean. It's not that I'm rejecting the President, nor do I think I'm somehow more noble than you all."
Hearing Tohsaka Touka's "well-intentioned" suggestion, Yukinoshita Haruno felt very helpless and could only voice the worry in her heart.
"The reason I didn't go with you to accept magical girl talent development is simply because, I don't know how to handle my relationship with Yukino…"
Actually, she knew Touka was right.
When the number of magical girls in the Service Club was still small, it was not very obvious. But as more and more people transformed into magical girls and the number approached half, she observed within the club that the girls who had already become magical girls were clearly superior to those who had not yet become magical girls.
There was no need to mention the difference in strength. Even if their strength was not yet powerful, they had crossed from ordinary people into the extraordinary, undergoing a leap in essence.
Their physical fitness and mental outlook were completely different, and they even carried an aura similar to that of Princess Iris the elf or Princess Lala the alien.
It was just that for now, it was still far weaker than the kind of aura Iris or Lala had, where every move drew countless gazes.
When that time came, if the club members were all either magical girls or demi-humans, she, as the only ordinary person, would no longer have the face or confidence to be any kind of vice president.
Allies brought into the club would see that she was not even a magical girl and would no longer consider forming an alliance.
But… if she became a magical girl, what about Yukino?
Although Yukino was the vice president of Sobu High's Service Club, she was also a member of the Service Club here.
Could she really leave Yukino behind and become a magical girl together with everyone else?
If she could not, then how should she talk to Yukino about this?
For Yukinoshita Haruno, who had long planned to take on the family's responsibilities and did not want her younger sister Yukino to be married off for alliances, offering herself to Hachiman was not a hard decision to accept.
So many political heiresses, daughters of financial conglomerates, and even demi-humans of various races were trying to please Hachiman. Even wanting to offer themselves required qualifications.
The only thing that truly left her torn was her younger sister, Yukino…
She was the older sister. She should be the one to protect Yukino. But… a great opportunity to step into the extraordinary and elevate one's very life essence was right in front of her.
Not letting Yukino become a magical girl would actually be harming Yukino, wouldn't it?
"Yukino? She's also Hachiman's vice president. Why not let Yukino accept Hachiman's development together?"
Seeing Yukinoshita Haruno's conflicted and troubled expression, Tohsaka Touka suddenly understood what her good friend meant. But she did not think it was that complicated and immediately asked back.
Yukino was the vice president of the Service Club, and Haruno was the vice president of the Service Club here.
The two sisters, one inside the school and one outside, each serving as vice president of Hachiman's Service Club and Service Club respectively. That level of trust was enough to let the Yukinoshita family prosper and leap into the ranks of major financial conglomerates.
If it were not for the fact that she herself had just accepted Hachiman's help, and that Haruno was her good friend, she would even have wanted to recommend herself to Hachiman to serve as vice president of his Service Club.
"Touka, if you support letting Yukino become a magical girl, then how about I support Sakura and Rin becoming magical girls too?"
Seeing that Tohsaka Touka was not heartbroken at all about selling out her own sisters, Yukinoshita Haruno straightened her face and said expressionlessly.
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