'Club activities are really for doing this kind of thing for them?'
'And they're even all crowding together in the locker room...'
Origamine Ouka stared at Hayase Saki, Uenohara Ayano, Shionatsu Sayuri, Tachibana Mikari, Orizuka Momoka, and Sakurai Rihoko, who were wearing competitive swimsuits and taking turns being "trained" in the locker room. Her face was burning red and her breathing grew more and more rushed.
Calling it training didn't seem wrong either. Wasting that much life energy all the time would absolutely improve their physical condition.
And not only was there a female manager beside them who seemed to be helping record training data, there was also a short-haired girl outside the door helping keep watch.
'But this method is just way, way, way too...'
Origamine Ouka suddenly held her breath, her body going stiff. She glanced at Amaki Lemi and Amaki Lamy beside her. A talisman appeared in her hand, a faint light flashed, and she, who was about to lose control, vanished from where she stood.
From now on she really didn't dare approach Hachiman casually anymore. With life energy that strong and rich... once she got close, the suppressed aura in her body would definitely be triggered, and once it started, it would be impossible to stop.
———
[Indoor Gymnasium, Girls' Competitive Swimming Club, Locker Room]
Ordinary members played and trained in the pool. Seed athletes and ace athletes who had hopes of entering major tournaments all gathered in the locker room for training.
"Whew! Little Saki, did you record today's training results properly?"
Hachiman supported the already half-exhausted Hayase Saki and Sakurai Rihoko, letting them lie down beside Shionatsu Sayuri and Tachibana Mikari to rest, then turned and looked at Kafuu Saki, who was holding a stopwatch and a chart while recording training data.
Although Amaki Lily's succubus ability had no effect on him, the girls around them were all ordinary people and would still be affected by Amaki Lily.
So the white-stockinged succubus Amaki Lily, whom he had carried all the way here in his arms, was already lying in the corner completely satisfied, resting.
Considering that Amaki Lily had always kept her distance from people and, as a succubus, had gone hungry for so many years, he had entered Love-Life Mode before coming to the girls' swimming club and tried using the Instinct Release he had only recently obtained on Amaki Lily.
Mm... removing the shackles on succubus Amaki Lily and unleashing her instincts.
He actually felt that the Ultra Instinct where every part of his body automatically attacked or defended was also a kind of ultimate instinct unchained, just one that was inclined toward combat.
Maybe because Amaki Lily's race was succubus? Rather than battle instinct, it seemed even better at stimulating Amaki Lily's appetite instinct?
The moment he used Instinct Release on Amaki Lily, Hachiman felt Amaki Lily, who had already been clinging tightly to him and refusing to let go, bite down on him even harder.
Faced with Amaki Lily's ultra high-speed attacks with her instincts activated, the passive of Ultra Instinct made him counterattack her without even thinking.
Amaki Lily, with her shackles removed and instincts unleashed, didn't even get a chance to act arrogant or pleased with herself before she was taken down by him in an instant. Now she was still collapsed in the corner, not yet recovered.
Mm... although Amaki Lily with her instincts unleashed was still not his match, he had to admit that Instinct Release was a pretty good ability. Amaki Lily, who had almost no effect on him originally, had actually managed to drain quite a bit of his life energy all at once.
Amaki Lily's true vacuum-pressure strangling that came at him with the intent to kill had even triggered his automatic counterattack in an instant. That was something he had never experienced before.
No matter how wild he played around with Iris, Lala, and the others, his automatic counterattack had never been triggered. Maybe part of it was that Amaki Lily wasn't very close to him yet, but the effect of this instinct unleashing had already far exceeded his expectations.
Maybe it was because Amaki Lily was a succubus that it had such a special effect, but judging from the life energy he'd lost, if he hadn't turned on Love-Life Mode, Amaki Lily, who had lost her rationality under Instinct Release, would likely have "whipped" the ordinary people in the entire school to death from a distance.
Next time he had to try Instinct Release on other demi-humans too. He wondered what effect this shackle-breaking Instinct Release would have on demi-humans whose bloodlines hadn't awakened yet, on magical girls, on angels, and on demons.
"Y-yes, it's all recorded. Manager Hikigaya, please drink some water first... Saki's performance this time was still the best, the time is a few seconds faster than before."
Kafuu Saki didn't dare meet the eyes of Hachiman, who had just trained so many people until they collapsed and was still overflowing with presence. She hurriedly handed over the bottle of mineral water in her hand, then lowered her blushing face and stammered as she looked at the series of recorded training data in her hands and answered softly.
"Right after her is Sakurai and Vice-captain Orizuka. The frequency of their leg kicks has improved a lot. Ayano's condition isn't very good today, her rhythm is unstable, her stamina drops too quickly, and her speed at the final dash over the line is slower."
Even though she was the girls' competitive swimming club's manager, and helping record the members' various data during swim training was her job.
With how amazing the current results of Hayase Saki, Sakurai Rihoko, Orizuka Momoka, Uenohara Ayano, and Tachibana Mikari were, you could say they were guaranteed first place in major tournaments. Being a bit busier to handle logistics for everyone was even an honor.
'B-but this... I really don't know how I should put it.'
Captain Hibiki and Manager Hikigaya didn't mind her watching from the side, and everyone had basically accepted that she knew the situation. During training they would even ask whether she wanted to give it a try too.
But after seeing Captain Hibiki, Vice-captain Orizuka, and so many others trained until they collapsed, their four limbs trembling uncontrollably, with her own physical condition, there was absolutely no way she dared try, okay.
Kafuu Saki had no idea that Hachiman had only come to the girls' swimming club after dealing with a succubus who had been hungry for several hundred years. She stole a quick glance at Hachiman, who seemed to be getting more and more impressive, and when she saw that he was still drinking water and hadn't noticed her gaze, she quickly lowered her head and pretended nothing had happened.
"Ayano, your condition isn't great today. Do you have something on your mind?"
After listening to Kafuu Saki's report, Hachiman smiled and nodded. He set the empty water bottle aside, then pulled the sweat-drenched Uenohara Ayano into his arms and sat down. A faint light appeared at his fingertips as he slowly wiped away the beads of crystal sweat at the tip of her nose, on her collarbone, on her arms, and so on.
Even though Uenohara Ayano's results had already gone up, no matter how depressed her mood got, it wouldn't affect her performance that much.
But now he wasn't just the girls' swimming club's temporary manager. The girls' swimming club was essentially a branch department of his service club, so of course he had to care about the mental and physical health of his members.
"Uu...", Uenohara Ayano let out a little wail, hearing Kafuu Saki say she had dragged them down in front of everyone, and then having Hachiman hold her while bringing it up specially.
However, her negative thoughts had already been treated quite a lot during this period. Seeing that Hachiman was just comforting her and looking at her with concern, she hesitated a moment, then said shyly in a small voice.
"I don't really have anything on my mind. It's just that we have exams tomorrow, so I've been a bit distracted lately."
Her results in the girls' swimming club had been great recently, but when it came to studying theory courses, she had slacked off a little.
Or rather, it wasn't that she wanted to slack off. She just couldn't control herself in class. She kept thinking of Manager Hachiman's training and looking forward to Manager Hachiman's exhilarating, fulfilling training after school.
Spacing out like that, her efficiency in class was very low. Her grades on this exam would probably be quite a bit lower than when she first enrolled.
"So that's it. Then come over to my place tonight, Ayano. I'll tutor you. We'll cram for one night before the exam and definitely get your grades up a lot."
Hearing Uenohara Ayano's worries, Hachiman smiled. So it was about studying again.
As expected, for students, almost all their troubles were about love and grades. Only in a few cases was it about money or parents.
Normally, unless there was some big change in the family, they didn't have to worry much about tuition and living expenses. If they were short on pocket money, they could just work a bit.
"Manager Hachiman can teach us that too?"
Uenohara Ayano froze and stared at Hachiman in disbelief.
In her view, the fact that Manager Hachiman could get their training results to improve so dramatically in a short time was already insanely impressive. She hadn't expected him to be able to help improve their grades too.
"Of course. But my method is a bit special. After you've had dinner, taken a bath, and gone to bed, you can message me, it won't be too late."
Hachiman nodded and explained with a smile.
Originally, the apartment next door was meant to be used as the service club's off-campus club activity site, but somehow it was starting to feel more like a study apartment.
Maybe next time he should just have Karuizawa Kei bring people over to the apartment next door to his house. His place even had a big bath.
But when Hachiman thought of Kirisu Mafuyu, who lived in the same apartment building as Karuizawa Kei and the others, that idea went away again.
He could call Karuizawa Kei and the others over to hang out anytime later. Next time he should go to their dorm apartment first, and while he was at it, pay a home visit to Kirisu Mafuyu.
Kirisu Mafuyu wanted to do home visits with him, right? Then he'd see whether Kirisu Mafuyu would dare let him visit her home first.
"Your method is special? Then I want in too!"
Seeing that Uenohara Ayano could get special tutoring outside of club activities, the blonde gyaru Tachibana Mikari immediately bounced up from the bench, not wanting to miss this chance.
"If you want to come, then come. Just contact me once you're ready. Little Saki can come too~"
Hachiman glanced around. Seeing that basically everyone wanted to come, he smiled at Kafuu Saki as he spoke.
Now that he had teleportation magic, he didn't need to worry about not being able to send some people home in time the next morning even if they couldn't use the love list's teleport.
"Uh... I'll pass..."
Kafuu Saki's expression stiffened and she frantically waved her hands.
Even if she didn't think Hachiman would lie to her, she didn't have to think very hard to know that this "special method" definitely leaned toward something lewd.
Her grades were pretty good, her family was fairly open-minded, and she had no financial problems. There was no need to take a shortcut for grades.
"What about you, Sakurai? How's your father doing lately?"
Hachiman didn't mind Kafuu Saki's awkwardness. He turned and helped up Sakurai Rihoko, who had worked especially hard today.
Compared to the others who basically joined the training because of him, Sakurai Rihoko had joined for the sake of her father.
In some ways, Sakurai Rihoko and his own Shion were very similar. Both of them had families that had run into problems and were on the verge of serious trouble.
But Sakurai Rihoko's mother had passed away, and her father spent all day drinking himself into a pathetic mess. Her father hadn't entered the stage of turning into a violent abuser yet, not to the point of forcing her to run away from home like Shion.
Sakurai Rihoko had tried everything she could think of, but nothing had worked to get her father out of his drunken slump. In the end she remembered how happy her parents had been seeing the certificates she got for swimming when she was little, so she decided to improve her results, enter big tournaments, get a good result, and see whether that might get her father back on his feet.
It might sound unreliable, but it was the only effort she could make when she had nowhere else to turn.
"There's still no improvement. He won't listen to anything I say."
Sakurai Rihoko took a light breath, then raised her soft, powerless arms to gently hug Hachiman, resting her head on his shoulder as she spoke in a low voice.
She really wanted her father to recover, but no matter what she said, her father just sat in front of her mother's memorial portrait silently drinking, as if he couldn't hear anything. He would drink all day, until he was dead drunk and completely out cold.
"Then come over tonight too, Sakurai. I'll teach you a little magic that can slowly help your father walk out of the shadows."
Hachiman looked at the delicate-featured Sakurai Rihoko, who seemed very obedient and well-behaved, pondered a moment, and spoke slowly.
"A little magic to help him walk out of the shadows?", Sakurai Rihoko blinked, staring straight at Hachiman.
"Mm. I've learned quite a bit of magic from Elf Princess Iris lately, including some magic about lifting people's spirits and helping them walk out of their gloom."
Hachiman smiled and planted a kiss on Sakurai Rihoko, gently stroking her head as he used a cleaning spell to dry her ash-violet short hair that had been soaked with sweat.
"But this magic can only play a supporting role. It can't twist anyone's will. You'll need to cast the spell on your father over and over for a long time, and maybe you'll also need to bring home a national tournament trophy to stimulate him together with it."
If he remembered right, in the original story Sakurai Rihoko's father became so sick with longing that he treated Sakurai Rihoko as a replacement for his wife. But since it hadn't happened yet and Sakurai Rihoko hadn't grown to hate her father, he felt like her father could still be saved.
In the end, Sakurai Rihoko's father was only drinking his life away because he was too heartbroken over his wife's death. Fixing Sakurai Rihoko's father and keeping Sakurai Rihoko from worrying about him was something he ought to do.
After all, he had already eaten Sakurai Rihoko clean. He didn't really think much of her plan to stimulate her father back to normal by getting a ranking in the tournament.
Thinking about it, a lot of problem girls had some sort of family conflict. If this method worked and he could solve things this easily, he could promote it later among problem girls in general.
"Manager Hachiman... Manager Hachiman, you're the best! I love you the most!"
Sakurai Rihoko stared blankly at Hachiman, who was solemnly helping her think up a plan, then suddenly wrapped her arms tightly around him and sat back down on his lap.
Honestly, Manager Hachiman had already helped her improve her training results, and even helped her complete her daily training. He didn't need to help her anymore. After all, she had already given him everything she could give.
Nanasaki-san had always worried she would be tricked and had told her to be wary of Manager Hachiman, but now she felt that she had made the right decision beyond any doubt.
Her father would definitely be able to return to normal with Manager Hachiman's help.
"Uh, I haven't even taught you the magic yet. Wait until you've learned it and cured your father, then you can thank me properly."
Seeing Sakurai Rihoko, who had gotten excited and sat down on him again, Hachiman was a little helpless.
Should he say this was exactly what you'd expect of an underground-world heroine? He hadn't done anything yet and had just said a few words. If he really wanted to trick Sakurai Rihoko, she'd probably be helping him count the money by now.
"Ehh, eehh, eehhh! It's one thing to be moved, but don't you start stealing him from us again!"
Tachibana Mikari quickly grabbed Sakurai Rihoko, who hadn't rested for very long.
"Yeah, yeah, Sakura, you've already worked hard enough today. You don't need to work any harder!"
Hayase Saki, who liked Hachiman the most and also had the shortest endurance, forgot about resting and hurriedly climbed up from the bench.
She couldn't keep lying down. If she did, she'd be overtaken by her junior Sakurai Rihoko.
Originally, the captain and Sakurai Rihoko had only had a simple manager-and-member relationship, and they wouldn't have any entanglements after training every day.
But now that the captain cared this much about Sakurai Rihoko, it would be different if Sakurai Rihoko later took the initiative to cling to him because she liked him.
However, the two of them had no way to stop Sakurai Rihoko, who just wanted to properly repay Hachiman.
She knew she wasn't very proactive by nature, and her figure wasn't as good as Vice-captain Saki's and the others'.
You could say her figure was the worst among everyone here. Even Manager Saki's chest was bigger than hers. She might only be a bit better than Nanasaki-san.
But Manager Hachiman didn't seem to dislike her. He even really liked patting her head.
Since Manager Hachiman didn't dislike her, the only thing she needed to do was make Manager Hachiman happy.
"Manager Hachiman, I heard the tennis club has also put in a request to you lately? Are you going to head over to the courts to train them later?"
The girls' swimming club captain Shionatsu Sayuri, who had finished resting, saw the three of them crowded around Hachiman, arguing and fighting over him, and also got up and joined in the fun. She hugged him from behind and gently bit his earlobe as she asked with a squinting smile.
"Yeah. Tachibana knows about this. Last PE class, Kitamura Chika found out I was helping out in the girls' swimming club and recommended me to the tennis club captain. Their vice-captain brought people over to put in a request with me."
Surrounded in the middle by Sakurai Rihoko, Hayase Saki, and Tachibana Mikari as they all demanded he increase the training load, Hachiman quickly answered during a brief moment he managed to steal.
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