'Apparently, Hayase-senpai also has a childhood friend in the swimming club.'
Although she's not familiar either, she knows that this childhood friend is a neighbor who has known Hayase since they were little. Despite knowing each other for so long, Hayase never developed a romantic relationship with her childhood friend.
With such a timid and introverted personality, never taking the initiative, how did Hayase develop such a rapid relationship with Hikigaya from the Service Club?
Not to mention, Hikigaya also has a student council president as his childhood friend. Hayase, who doesn't even dare to speak loudly in an all-girls' competitive swimming club, where did she get the courage to fight the student council president for a lover?
If it were her, entering the Service Club and seeing so many girls far more noble and excellent than herself, she wouldn't even dare to speak loudly.
"Hikigaya-kun, when did you and Hayase-senpai become lovers? May I ask?", Uenohara Ayano hurriedly lifted her head and cautiously asked Hachiman.
"I never said I was lovers with Saki, right? I just said that my relationship with Saki is very close," Hachiman looked at Uenohara Ayano, who resembled a pure-hearted maiden, and laughed.
With Saki's personality, just being a good friend would make her cheer with joy. Making her his lover would probably scare her to death.
Probably, a gentle and understanding girl like Iris would be the most suitable to be his lover.
Vignette, in fact, is also the virtuous wife and good mother type, but she probably wouldn't be able to tolerate how depraved he is and would want him to reform.
"You and Hayase-senpai aren't lovers?", Uenohara Ayano was shocked by this reply. Even though she had already started suspecting, she still couldn't suppress her shock.
'Not lovers, yet engaging in such intimate behavior...'
"Could it be, could it be what the Disciplinary Committee members talk about... that forbidden impure relationships between the sexes not allowed on campus?'
"Not lovers, yet using such a lover-like method to improve grades...", Uenohara Ayano's face turned red as she looked at Hachiman, biting her moist lips.
"Don't misunderstand, Uenohara. Saki and I didn't do it to improve grades. It's just that we only noticed now that her grades improved," Hachiman immediately corrected. His and Saki's relationship was mutually consensual—no, from the start, it was Saki clinging onto him. It's not like what Uenohara Ayano was imagining, doing those things just to improve grades.
"Of course I can help you too, but I hope you don't just want my help for the sake of improving your grades. Let's spend some time together first, and once you like me just like Saki does, then we can consider using special methods to improve grades," It's not that he refuses meat delivered to his mouth. He wants to keep eating, so naturally he can't do that kind of thing just for profit.
So far, those who've had intimate relationships with him basically had feelings involved. Even if it wasn't deep yet, feelings would develop over time.
But if Uenohara Ayano just wanted to improve her grades, then once that's done, she wouldn't have any reason to like him anymore.
However, Uenohara Ayano became even more upset hearing Hachiman's words that seemed like rejection.
That's right, in her view, Hachiman clearly doesn't like her. That's why he's rejecting her. Otherwise, why would he use an excuse she dislikes?
'Even though Hayase-senpai has a childhood friend, even though Hikigaya-kun and Hayase-senpai aren't lovers, even though they've already gone that far... and now I am the one being asked to like Hikigaya-kun first before...'
Even though she wasn't set on using such a method to improve grades, she still felt really upset, 'Could it be I really have no charm at all.'
Bang!
"Jeez! Quit whining! Isn't it just infusing her with some life energy? What's with all the useless talk?", The locker room door was kicked open, and Ursula appeared at the doorway.
Also wearing an extremely tight swimsuit outlining her curves, Ursula looked at the somewhat stunned Hachiman and Uenohara Ayano inside the locker room and smiled smugly.
"Relax, if this guy won't help you, I will! I guarantee I'll drain all his energy and make your grades improve even faster than that Hayase girl."
"But if you can't handle that much energy, I'll just find someone else—hehe~"
She originally wanted to find a few local demi-human girls, but upon hearing that Hachiman was in the girls' competitive swimming club, she immediately had a new idea.
There are so many girls in the club. Even if they're mostly normal people, they all have strong physical ability. Hachiman's life energy may be rich, but it's still limited. He definitely won't recover that quickly, 'This time he'll surely beg me for mercy!'
"This stupid dragon…", Hachiman saw Ursula suddenly kick open the door and appear. Thinking she was up to no good and planning to stir up trouble, he was already preparing to teleport and run.
But after hearing Ursula's pompous speech, he silently stopped his attempt to teleport away.
Ursula indeed wanted to cause trouble, but this method of causing trouble was so wrong it was just a way to send herself to her doom.
"How come the dragon race transfer student came to our door?", Uenohara Ayano looked helplessly at the violent dragon who had kicked open the changing room door and subconsciously leaned closer to Hachiman.
She couldn't possibly not recognize Ursula, the demi-human transfer student from another world with a heart-shaped tail and dragon horns on her head.
But compared to the elf princess and the mermaid idol, this demi-human who was said to be the dragon race's chieftain wasn't very famous among the public. Plus, she looked like someone not to be messed with. She ignored others and even teachers during class.
Now, suddenly appearing aggressively, it clearly wasn't anything good.
"You're that dumb too? I'm holding down his limbs for you, and you still won't make a move," Seeing that Uenohara Ayano didn't listen at all to her earlier speech, Ursula was speechless. She ran directly over to Hachiman, grabbed his hands, and pinned him against the wall.
Hachiman didn't resist. He just looked somewhat speechlessly at the approaching Ursula.
'Has this girl still not realized that she can't beat me? Even adding a few more girls won't help, let alone with just Ayano now.'
Currently, the only thing that limited him was time and space. He couldn't break through the limitations of time and space alone. At most, he could only do so much.
"Ah? Um…", Seeing Ursula so unreasonably pinning Hachiman in place, Uenohara Ayano reached out hesitantly, not knowing how to stop it, and quietly explained, "I didn't mean to do anything to Hikigaya-kun, let alone force him…"
"Then why were you so sad when you heard him reject you just now?", Ursula's eyes glowed with hostility, 'Just a mere human, and he dares to be ungrateful?'
"Um… Being rejected doesn't necessarily mean it was for that reason…", Seeing Ursula's fierce attitude, Uenohara Ayano shrank back a bit and said weakly, "My friend told me recently that she got a boyfriend. Then I heard that Hayase-senpai left the club due to stress. I also thought about quitting…"
"Now seeing Hayase-senpai come back and improving her grades so quickly, I also want to improve. What's so strange about that?"
"But the method of improving grades is so… special, it's normal for Hikigaya-kun to reject me…"
"Wait a second, I didn't reject you, alright? I just said you shouldn't do these kinds of things for the sake of your grades," Hachiman interjected speechlessly. Clearly, Uenohara Ayano didn't even look like someone who had been in love before, so how come she was… Forget it, the world is big, and there are many dumbasses. No need to understand dumbass logic.
"Isn't that basically the same thing…", Seeing Hachiman still trying to explain, Uenohara Ayano couldn't help but mutter softly.
Hikigaya-kun didn't strongly reject her, but he said that she had to like him before he'd help. Yet he wouldn't become her boyfriend either. This kind of situation would be considered an impure relationship prohibited by school rules, right?
She felt that Hikigaya was just making excuses to reject her. After all, she wasn't good at anything. Hayase was already at the bottom of the Service Club, so she was even worse.
"So wishy-washy. You humans really are troublesome," While Uenohara Ayano and Hachiman were still discussing whether he had rejected her, Ursula couldn't stand it anymore. She glared angrily and directly took control of Uenohara Ayano's body.
"I've already pinned down his hands for you, and you still won't make a move. You've no right to complain!"
"And you, you bastard. Didn't you have fun playing with me this morning? Now you're even rejecting an ordinary human girl. You haven't recovered, have you?", In Ursula's eyes, the reason Hachiman didn't immediately act upon Uenohara Ayano's initiative was clearly because he had been drained dry by her this morning, leaving him hesitant and afraid to act now.
Otherwise, how could Hachiman come to the girls' swim club, face so many swimsuit beauties showing off their figures, and not feel anything?
Today, she wouldn't lose again. She wanted to seize this opportunity to completely conquer Hachiman and obediently take him back to Dragon Island with her.
"What is this situation?," Uenohara Ayano was horrified to find she could no longer control her own body. Aside from her mouth, the rest of her body was moving on its own.
"Relax your mind and body. Fighting is the best way to relieve stress. Let's have a refreshing, all-out battle. I'll help you completely relieve your stress," Ursula dragged Hachiman to the long bench in the center of the changing room, circled behind him, and bound his hands and feet to prevent him from moving. While doing so, she manipulated Uenohara Ayano to stand in front of him, smiling smugly.
Last time, when she controlled Tsubaki Rurikawa, she had no actual experience and was caught off guard by Hachiman's counterattack, then sneak-attacked by Iris.
Now, having learned her lesson personally, she could freely control Uenohara Ayano to help her better drain Hachiman. She was also hiding behind him now, with no tail to be grabbed. She shouldn't lose again, right?
With victory in her grasp, Ursula's tail nearly stood up in pride.
"This… this isn't good… gulp… forcing Hikigaya-kun…", Uenohara Ayano watched helplessly as her own hands opened the abyss of taboo. Embarrassed and panicked, she gulped. Her overloaded brain could no longer imagine how this would develop.
'Doing this to Hikigaya-kun… will Hayase-senpai be angry?'
Although she was being forced and wasn't acting on her own, if someone found out, she'd have no way to explain.
Too bad even if she remembered to close the changing room door now, it was useless. Not to mention whether she had the strength to break free of Ursula's control, the door had already been kicked off its hinges by Ursula.
Ursula, as a tyrannical dragon, had already shown restraint by only breaking down one door without causing more destruction.
"Hachiman, how can you still be so calm at a time like this?", Ursula looked down at Uenohara Ayano, whose face showed panic, unease, and shyness. She smiled in satisfaction, then looked at Hachiman, whom she had tightly wrapped. She rested her chin on his shoulder and stared at his side profile and eyes, discovering that Hachiman really wasn't nervous at all. Not even attempting to struggle.
Hachiman's behavior was too strange. Not seeing him show fear and surrender at her feet left her only half-satisfied. Hachiman was completely holding her back.
"Why should I panic? I already said I didn't reject Uenohara-san. On the contrary, I think the often self-doubting and negatively emotional Uenohara-san is rather cute," Hachiman gently brushed aside the still-damp brown hair draped over Uenohara Ayano's shoulders, closed his eyes calmly, and felt the softness of Ursula behind him.
"If Uenohara-san can confirm her feelings and then ask me for help, I'd be very happy. But that doesn't mean I'd strongly reject her request."
"Actually, I came to the girls' swim club as manager just to help Uenohara-san relieve stress," Most of the time, his interactions with Iris and the others were passive, he was already used to it. Now, with Ursula tightly binding him, it had no effect on him.
After all, he really wasn't stronger than Ursula physically, and since he was the one benefiting, why struggle and make a scene?
Iris, Gabriel, and the others were outside. When they noticed he hadn't returned for a while, they'd definitely come in and beat the home-invading dragon up.
"Cough! Cough! Cough!"
Uenohara Ayano suddenly choked, her fair, delicate face unable to speak as she gazed up at Hachiman, who had called her cute.
'So that's what Hikigaya-kun thinks. He came to the girls' swim club just to help me…'
'But…'
"Then why did you reject this girl? You had no reason to reject her, right?", Ursula glanced at Uenohara Ayano, who was trying to speak, and manipulated her to shut her own mouth tight, preventing her from interrupting her conversation with Hachiman. However, she still voiced Uenohara Ayano's question for her.
She was also curious what Hachiman was thinking. Clearly planning to help her, yet still rejecting her?
"How should I put it… I think just doing that kind of thing isn't enough to relieve stress. Only if Uenohara-san gradually develops feelings for me like Saki did, then she can truly relax in both body and mind and fully relieve her stress."
"Now that you've messed up the plan, I'll have to apologize to Uenohara-san later and find a chance to nurture our feelings," Hachiman turned helplessly to look at Ursula. This dark-skinned dragon girl was strangely difficult to deal with.
Always using this mind-control tactic. Once Gabriel and the others came to deal with her, he'd really have to teach Ursula a good lesson.
He already had his hands full with the many girls around him, and now she was adding to the chaos. If Uenohara Ayano wasn't someone he wanted to help relieve stress for, he would've already run.
"She has to fall for you… So the elf princess likes you too? That's why you help her but not me?", Ursula blinked and suddenly understood why Hachiman leaned toward the elf princess Iris and the others.
Their dragon race was small in number. Unlike the numerous elves who made Hachiman exhausted. Plus, dragons were stronger and could give Hachiman a more powerful backing.
Yet Hachiman preferred to get close to the elf princess and treated her rudely.
"Iris liking me is one reason, but the real reason is that Iris and the others respect me a lot," Hachiman let out a long sigh, shook his head at Ursula, and explained, "Even though they also want me to go to the Elven Forest, they ask for my opinion on who I'd like to help. They're even willing to send people over here."
"But you only think about taking me to Dragon Island. Every time you act, it's unreasonable. Either controlling people or enticing others to cause trouble with you. Of course I'd prefer Iris and the others over you." [T/N: KO]
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