It started before Christmas the year before last. Yugen, Tatsuya, Leo, and Mikihiko had come to the city center to buy Christmas presents when a single girl asked Leo for help. It was partly because Leo was the closest of the four.
Seeing the group chasing the girl, Yugen stepped forward while shoving his presents onto Leo.
"Leo, I leave the princess's tanking duty to you. I don't have a sword like a knight, but I'll beat them up appropriately and call the police."
"Whoa, hey!"
With Yugen, who possessed not only the most authority among the four but also overwhelming martial prowess, standing at the front, the outcome was decided. According to the girl, it was a financial trouble, but Yugen took out his terminal and made a call.
"Hello, Mother? Actually, it's about Celes Art... Are you going that far? Ah, I see... Roger."
The matter was settled easily, but the girl was directing sparkling eyes toward Leo. Yugen noticed this immediately. Why? Because the exact same situation that happened when eyes were directed at Miyuki was now happening to Leo.
Yugen said, "The Kagurazaka family will handle her agency, Celes Art," and dealt with it speedily. At that time, learning she was the person inside the CG Doll "Seto Hime" (Snow Rabbit Princess), Yugen thought, So this is what it feels like to learn the identity of a Virtual Idol from my previous life.
There was actually a continuation to this story. Last spring, there were Filipino mafia and traffickers trying to target her, but by the next morning, that group had disappeared along with their building.
However, the group here, including Leo, wasn't informed of this. Concerned about magical rampages, Senhime had secretly summoned her to the Kagurazaka villa under the pretext of "genetic therapy for magic stabilization" via Reinforce. As a result of the procedure performed on Usami Yuki—a first-generation "Moon" series adjusted magician—she obtained the feminine body she had desired... As if to mark her new beginning, the sound of her underwear hook snapping grandly and Yuki's scream echoed through the room.
When Yuki asked, "Um, could you help me get on good terms with Leo-kun?" Yugen had no choice but to nod.
"So, are you keeping in touch with her?"
"Well, after something like that happened, it would leave a bad taste to just ignore her... What is it, Erika?"
"No—I just think it's interesting that something like that happened to you, who had no interest in women. Since it's come to this, Leo, you should take responsibility and marry her."
"Haa?"
Leo assumed Erika would view Yuki as a nuisance or a thieving cat attaching herself to him. Instead, Erika was saying that if Yuki was interested, Leo should take responsibility and make her his wife. Even Leo tilted his head grandly and voiced his surprise.
"Did you forget? I'm a Chiba, and while I'd rather not become like my old man, I won't bat an eye if Leo has a wife or two. Rather, I'm telling you to show your worth as a man. Miki is going to marry Mizuki and Sana anyway, so it's not really a problem, right?"
"E-Erika-chan!"
"Wait, why are you dragging us into this!"
From Erika's perspective—someone who originally didn't want to carry the Chiba name and didn't have complaints about being a mistress's child, finding the colored lenses through which people viewed the Chiba family annoying—she would be lying if she said she didn't want to monopolize Leo. However, seeing her childhood friends Yugen and Mikihiko have relationships with multiple women, she was inwardly happy that there was someone for whom Leo could demonstrate his worth as a man.
"If need be, just ask Yugen. He'd probably amend the Civil Code to allow polygamy."
"No, that would be the worst possible move..."
Ignoring the objections of the embarrassed Mikihiko and Mizuki, Erika dropped a bombshell statement. Leo could only comment that using absurd means within the realm of common sense was the worst idea. But Erika wasn't docile enough to stop there.
"Alright, then we have to go to Yugen immediately. right now, he should be in the Club Federation Headquarters room."
"H-Hey!"
"...Yoshida-kun, what should we do?"
"Shibata-san, you can go to your club activities. I have work for the Public Morals Committee, so I'll tag along just in case."
"P-Please do."
Deciding that was that, Erika stood up and went to return her tray. Leo stood up to chase after her, telling Mizuki to prioritize her club activities, and Mikihiko followed Erika and Leo under the pretext of Public Morals Committee work.
When Erika triumphantly threw open the door to the Headquarters, she was instantly overwhelmed by the atmosphere. Specifically, Yugen was sitting in the central seat of honor with his presence suppression turned off, and standing opposite him was Takuma. This caused Leo and Mikihiko, who were chasing Erika, to falter as well.
"Hm? Erika, Leo, and Mikihiko... Shippou, I understand the circumstances. I will report to the Student Council and the Public Morals Committee that I have scolded you properly. However, there will not be a second time, understand?"
"Y-Yes! I am truly sorry!"
From Takuma's perspective, seeing Tatsuya's close associates—Erika, Leo, and Mikihiko—must have looked like help from the heavens. He bowed deeply to the three of them before leaving the Headquarters. Yugen suppressed his presence again before addressing the three confused friends.
"So, did something happen? With Mikihiko here, is it some kind of big trouble?"
"Actually, Erika went rushing off about something involving Leo... Did something happen on your end?"
"No, actually..."
The reason Takuma was receiving a lecture and interrogation from Yugen happened while Yugen was away from the Headquarters for a meeting with the Public Morals Committee. Honoka had come as a liaison from the Student Council. Takuma, who handled the reception, tried to confess to Honoka, but Yugen and Shizuku happened to arrive at the scene at that exact timing (a bad direction from Takuma's perspective).
Rumors that Honoka liked Tatsuya had been slowly permeating since the Pixie exposure incident, so naturally, Takuma knew about it. That was why Takuma tried to confess to Honoka to sort out his own feelings—to give up—but he was interrupted before he could finish his words.
"Since it turned out like this, I can't exactly let Takuma and Honoka meet alone, and Shizuku wouldn't be pleased either. As a friend of Honoka, I judged it dangerous to let them meet poorly."
"But, he tried to confess 'I liked you' in order to give up, right? I think the timing was just bad."
In this case, there was a point to Leo's argument. What floated into Yugen's mind was the solution he had asked Miyuki for during the recent interaction at the Shiba household. He judged that not applying this to Takuma would be discrimination.
"That's just it... It's awkward if things get complicated, so I'll set up an opportunity for an apology. I'll represent the Club Federation side, and I'll have Miyuki attend for the Student Council side. Mikihiko, sorry, but could we borrow the Public Morals Committee room? I want Mikihiko and Shizuku to witness it too."
"Ah, yeah. I'll talk to Kitayama-san myself."
In order to smooth over any future awkwardness between the organizations, they decided to go with a flow where the Club Federation and Student Council would not pursue the matter, with the Public Morals Committee acting as a mediator.
It might be fine now, but there was no doubt that the heads of the Student Council and Club Federation next year would be members of the Twenty-Eight Families, and the feud between the Saegusa and Shippou families hadn't completely vanished. In that sense, Yugen intended to cut off any future sources of trouble by clearly marking an end to this here.
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