'How come so many students from different classes need counseling?'
'They don't seem to have anything in common...'
Kashima Risako connected this with Hanamori Kotomi's earlier expression when she said she'd dealt with Sakashita-kun's punishment, and she became more convinced that the counseling room was hiding some big secret she didn't know about.
But because people kept coming and going from the counseling room, she couldn't quietly go over there to check, she couldn't even get close.
At first she had followed down the corridor toward the counseling room, but when she suddenly saw the elf princess Iris and the others heading the same way she quickly stepped back to observe from a distance so she wouldn't be noticed.
DING! DING! DING!
The dismissal bell rang, and club time after school officially began.
The last batch of students, Kaede, Suzu, Rurikawa Tsubaki, Shion and the other student council members, finished their counseling in the room, closed the door, and walked off slowly, joking in a way that made people blush.
Seeing that, Kashima Risako, whose legs were almost numb from standing, couldn't hold back any longer. After the group had walked a little farther away, she approached the counseling room and gently knocked on the door.
"Ms. Hiratsuka, Ms. Hanamori."
"...", No response came from inside the counseling room.
"Is Ms. Hiratsuka in there?"
"I'm coming in!", Kashima called out a couple more times, and when no one answered she simply opened the door and went in.
The counseling room door wasn't locked, so Kashima didn't need to worry about how to get it open, but when she did open it she found no sign of Hanamori Kotomi.
There wasn't even a single person inside.
The counseling room wasn't very large; aside from the desk and bookshelves there were visitor sofas and a tea table, when you walked in you could see the whole room at a glance. There was nowhere to hide.
The window was open, and a gusty wind carrying the heat from the playground blew into the room, lifting Kashima's blue hair that had fallen over her shoulders.
Because of that wind the desk by the window was a little messy; reports and files that should have been neatly stacked were scattered randomly across the desk, some even fell on the floor.
"That's strange... where's Ms. Hanamori...", Kashima glanced around, then in heels walked to the window, half-squatted to pick up the fallen reports and files off the floor, and placed them neatly back on the desk.
It wasn't surprising Hiratsuka Shizuka wasn't in the counseling room, Kashima hadn't seen Hiratsuka come in, but she did find it odd that so many students had come for counseling; Hiratsuka, who had no classes this afternoon, should have been in the counseling room.
But Hanamori... Kashima had seen her go into the counseling room with that problem student Hachiman, who had been taken to the staff room for guidance by Kirisu earlier.
'So why are both Hanamori and Hikigaya gone now?'
All those girls Kashima saw this afternoon went in and came back out; no one else suddenly disappeared the way Hanamori and Hikigaya did.
'Hachiman, who was with Hanamori... That problem student... seemed to get along well with student council president Kaede, didn't he...'
Thinking of the student council president Kaede, Kashima frowned, closed the window, turned and left the counseling room, then hurried to catch up with Kaede, Suzu, Rurikawa Tsubaki and Shion, who hadn't gone far and were still walking slowly, chatting.
"President Kaede, Vice President Rurikawa, please wait! I have something I want to ask you!"
"Uh..."
The four who had been walking slowly, Kaede, Tsubaki and the others, heard someone calling them. They had been joking quietly about how long each other's embarrassment lasted, but they stopped, turned slowly, and looked back.
Seeing the blue-haired female teacher Kashima Risako running up in heels to catch them, the pair of close sisters Tsubaki and Kaede exchanged glances, feeling a little awkward and nervous.
The expressionless younger sister Suzu and the outwardly quiet-but-sly maid Shion were calmer; they exchanged a look, understood each other, and nodded.
'What's there to be afraid of a teacher for?'
'With Hachiman (the master) around, what teacher can't be handled?
If Hachiman (the master) didn't usually like being passive, they wouldn't have taken the freedom to add another challenge for themselves; they both could have immediately pulled Kashima Risako over, put on the empathy collars, and received guidance.
They weren't villains, but under the influence of the blonde elf princess, their inner world view had gradually shown.
"Do you... do you know where Hikigaya-kun went?", Kashima, who had almost been dragged off to experience punishment against her will, patted her chest to catch her breath after running up to them. After calming down she pretended not to know they had just come out of the counseling room and asked about Hikigaya's whereabouts.
"Ah? Uh... I don't know where Hachiman went. Ms. Kashima, is there something you need him for?"
Kaede had just received a long counseling session in the counseling room and was especially sensitive; at Kashima's words she sensed something was off, but she still forced a smile and replied blankly.
Hachiman had recently had minor conflicts with Kirisu-sensei, and had been caught messing around in class several times, how could he have had a problem with Kashima too?
But one thing was certain: Kashima didn't come looking earlier or later, she just happened to come right after they left the counseling room, so she very likely noticed them skipping class to go to the counseling room, or she'd been watching the counseling room the whole time.
That blonde elf princess Iris really was getting worse.
She had them come to be counseled and didn't tidy things up afterward; they'd just come out of the counseling room and a teacher had already caught them.
She didn't believe Iris didn't know someone was watching outside.
No wonder Iris could use invisibility magic, yet she made them borrow her leave and sneak to the counseling room.
Even though she didn't win the demi-human vs. human match at Hachiman's house last time, Iris surely held a grudge.
Regret, she shouldn't have accepted Iris's "counseling theme" temptation.
They'd endure and wait until Hachiman came home at night; at home they could play freely.
If this got exposed and so many people in the student council had skipped class to go to the counseling room, it would be truly embarrassing.
"You don't know either? I saw you all walking together from over there, I thought you'd just left the counseling room," Kashima eyed Kaede, who was blinking and looking absent-minded while saying a lie, and probed.
She didn't believe Kaede, but she had no evidence.
"Ms. Kashima, you must have misunderstood. We were just on patrol and happened to pass by the counseling room. We didn't see Hachiman."
Rurikawa Tsubaki shook her head and earnestly explained.
"Really?", Kashima looked at the aristocratic young lady Rurikawa Tsubaki with great suspicion.
'Could this involve the Rurikawa family, who are nobles... getting mixed up in this?'
Had Hanamori, after finding no result with the school, gone to ask student council president Kaede and vice president Rurikawa Tsubaki for help?
But why were they, like Hanamori, unwilling to disclose the specifics to her? She had been informed about the convenience store incident too.
"Of course it's true!"
Rurikawa Tsubaki and Kaede both nodded in unison, their gazes firm as they looked Kashima in the eye.
They couldn't admit it; admitting would be bad.
They hadn't even finished class yet, suddenly all asking permission and skipping class together to go to the counseling room would be conspicuous.
If there was even one boy among this group, one who was the childhood friend of a student council president, their abuse of power allegations would be impossible to clear.
Although in reality Hachiman didn't cause trouble by abusing their authority; on the contrary, they relied on him.
The elf princess Iris only put on appearances with them, friendly and easygoing, but when she set a trap she didn't go easy. Only in front of Hikigaya did she actually behave obediently.
"Alright...", Seeing that Rurikawa Tsubaki and Kaede were in cahoots, Kashima could only nod and accept their words.
Their expressions were so sincere and convincing; had she not been watching the counseling room the whole time and seen Rurikawa Tsubaki and the others go in and only come out after a long time, she might have believed them.
For now she pretended she hadn't been staring at the counseling room the whole afternoon and had no idea how many people had gone in and out.
"By the way, Ms. Kashima, why did you suddenly want to find Hachiman?", After their unified answers eased Kashima's doubts, Kaede's nervousness lessened a bit and she suddenly remembered a blind spot she hadn't had time to think about earlier.
"I actually came to see Ms. Hanamori about something. I thought I saw them go into the counseling room, but I haven't seen them all afternoon."
"Ms. Hanamori? How did she end up with Hachiman? Did Hachiman do something against school rules again?"
Hearing that Hanamori had gone into the counseling room with Hikigaya, Kaede was startled. Looking at Kashima's expression, which didn't seem fake, an uneasy feeling rose in her chest.
How come she hadn't seen Hanamori? She hadn't even heard from others that Hanamori had been in the counseling room.
Could invisibility magic have been used? That's why they couldn't see her?
'Iris... no way, right?'
Rurikawa Tsubaki also realized the problem, biting her lip, exchanging a look with Kaede and not knowing what to say.
Thinking of how, except for Shion who couldn't see her, at the desk Kaede and Suzu had been leaning on Hikigaya while staring at him, and somewhere hidden Hanamori had seen the embarrassing scene of Kaede being counseled by Hikigaya.
In that instant Rurikawa Tsubaki wanted to step in and take over the fight against the elf princess Iris for her friend Kaede.
'This is too much bullying!'
'Is being able to use magic really that great?'
"Sorry to bother your patrol, but I have other matters so I'll go. If you have time later you can come by my office and I'll bring you something tasty."
Seeing the strange expressions on the two, Kashima figured something was off; since they wouldn't tell her, she decided to give up and try to find other people who had entered the counseling room this afternoon.
She didn't believe she couldn't find out anything on her own.
But just as Kashima turned to leave, Suzu suddenly called to her.
"Ms. Kashima, are you looking for Hachiman?"
"Ah? Uh, yes. I'm looking for Hikigaya. Do you know where he is now?"
Kashima paused, turned back to look at student council secretary Suzu, and hesitantly nodded.
Although she mainly wanted to find Hanamori, Hanamori and Hikigaya had both disappeared, so finding Hikigaya would at least tell her something about Hanamori's situation.
"I don't know exactly where Hachiman is, but lately he's been acting as a manager and coach for the women's competitive swimming team and the tennis club. You can check their clubs."
Ignoring Kaede's glance, Suzu expressionlessly pointed this out.
"Manager? Coach? Okay, thanks, Kaede! I'll go look for Hikigaya right away!"
Kashima was startled; seeing Suzu's look that seemed to encourage her to probe deeper into the truth, a fighting spirit suddenly ignited in her.
That's right, since they wouldn't tell her what happened, she'd investigate the truth herself and see what price Hanamori said was paid.
Did she not even have the right to know the price?
But she had been an informant about the convenience store incident and had worked hard for Sakashita-kun's sake; she wouldn't let Hanamori pay the price alone.
"Suzu, why did you volunteer Hachiman's whereabouts? Ms. Kashima clearly wants to find him and cause trouble!"
After Kashima left, Kaede quickly looked around. Seeing not many students nearby, she grabbed Suzu's face with both hands, pinched hard and scolded in a low voice.
She was displeased that Hachiman had opened a huge harem and was flirting with girls everywhere, but she was only venting; she didn't truly want to do anything to Hachiman.
After all, in reality none of them could really beat Hachiman, their bodies were getting stronger and when faced with Hachiman's reactions they were becoming worse at resisting.
If it weren't for discovering that she was no different ordinarily but only weakly resistant to Hachiman, and that that weakness brought a confusing increase in strength, she'd think her physical condition was fake.
"You know how strong Hachiman is; Ms. Kashima won't be able to handle him. Going to cause trouble for Hachiman would only make their teacher-student relationship better."
Suzu, whose cheeks had just been pinched, replied plainly, and after Kaede complained for a while she slowly said, "Kaede, didn't you say you wanted to gather students at school to fight against Iris?"
"Well... I said it... but...", Kaede froze a moment, conflicted.
She couldn't beat Iris; of course she wanted to recruit people as reinforcements.
Iris had so many elves gathered, all their dazzling golden hair draped over Hachiman like a blanket.
But saying that and actually dragging people in forcefully were different things. She didn't have Iris's otherworldly mindset to just take people; she wasn't an elf princess and couldn't offer others any real benefits.
Now Tsubaki, head of the Rurikawa family, did have money, but she couldn't exactly buy people's loyalty with Tsubaki's money, that would feel weird.
"That's exactly the best helper."
Seeing Kaede hesitate, Suzu immediately explained the benefits of recruiting Kashima and the others.
"They're older, at that rebellious age and can help shield us from Iris's pressure."
"Also, because of their status, they can't really compete with us and might accommodate us instead."