Shinomiya Kaguya recalled the scene of Charlotte and La Folia wearing dresses and setting off with everyone else from the school's rear building, passing through the empty forest path before arriving at the student council office. She realized every one of these girls was more scheming than the last.
But no matter how angry she was inside, in reality she could only stay silent.
Criticizing other people for showing off their advantages would only make her look pathetic. If it were her, she would do the same thing.
Unfortunately, she couldn't show off her figure. She couldn't exactly pad herself and fool people. That would only be more embarrassing if exposed.
Mm, though judging from Yukinoshita Yukino's situation, the man they would all serve together in the future, Hachiman, clearly wasn't some shallow person who only cared about curves.
"?"
Standing near the reception sofa, Yukinoshita Yukino suddenly noticed that while bowing together with La Folia and the others, Shinomiya Kaguya had distractedly glanced over at her.
'Wait, is Shinomiya Kaguya really looking at me?'
'These top daughters of major financial families... are they really this childish. Do they only know how to compete for affection like this...'
Recently, other girls had been frequently paying attention to her figure, so Yukinoshita Yukino immediately understood the issue. She unconsciously clenched her hands, her mood worsening even more.
"There's no need to be so formal. Didn't you already say it yourselves just now? You're all members of the Service Club. You're only meeting and chatting with me, so there's no need to bow."
"Of course, if you think it's awkward to call me by name since we just met, then calling me president is fine too."
Hachiman pulled his finger back from Saegusa Mayumi's soft cherry lips. Seeing La Folia, Charlotte, Shinomiya Kaguya, and the others bowing to him while only his vice president Yukinoshita Yukino stood there stiffly apart from everyone else, he shook his head and smiled.
"Iris called me that from the start, and she still does."
"If you want to use some other form of address, you can tell me too."
To be honest, Saegusa Mayumi's reckless-looking behavior just now wasn't reckless at all.
Because the relationship between Yukinoshita Yukino and him really was a little special.
Last night, Yukinoshita Yukino had literally sat on his face. Together with her older sister Yukinoshita Haruno, she had even smacked him in the face during s3x. Yet now, the relationship between the two of them was this awkward.
She couldn't act spoiled toward him like Kaede, Lala, and Iris did, but she also couldn't respectfully treat him like a stranger they had just met for the first time.
"President-sama? President Hachiman? Can we really call you by your name directly?"
"Mm! President Hachiman sounds pretty good."
After Hachiman spoke, Charlotte, La Folia, and the others slowly lowered the skirts they had been holding up, covering their round straight thighs wrapped in white suspender stockings, they lightly touched their chests and stood properly again, their beautiful eyes resting on Hachiman as they boldly met his gaze.
Calling him president sounded too distant. But directly calling him by name felt too forward for girls who had just met him.
If Hachiman were an ordinary person, they wouldn't need to struggle with this. They could simply follow their feelings and call him by name or even darling.
But there were simply too many high-status young ladies around them. In the future, many students and powerful teachers with major backgrounds would also enter Sobu High. Even though both of them had direct and bold personalities, they still had to consider whether acting too familiarly might offend others.
Right now, using his name together with president really was more suitable.
Once their relationship with President Hachiman became closer in the future, and people around them accepted it, they could naturally switch to a more intimate form of address.
Considering they had just arrived and hadn't even made any real progress with Hachiman yet, La Folia and Charlotte were temporarily satisfied with calling him President Hachiman.
But Saegusa Mayumi, who had just licked Hachiman beside him, clearly wasn't satisfied with just a title.
"President Hachiman, I heard the mermaid princess calls you Master Hachiman?"
Saegusa Mayumi wrapped her smooth pale arms around Hachiman's neck. Her small soft body slowly pressed against his side, and her moist pink lips rested near his ear as her gaze casually drifted toward the figures beneath the desk.
"Mm..."
Feeling the smooth touch of her arms around his neck and the warm breath near his ear, Hachiman paused slightly. He hadn't expected Saegusa Mayumi to be the boldest and most straightforward among these young ladies and princesses.
Though in his memory, the original Saegusa Mayumi had been a teasing rich girl. But Charlotte and La Folia weren't much different. They looked understanding and gentle on the surface, yet both had a slightly mischievous side.
Still, the lively Charlotte and La Folia now appeared somewhat reserved in front of him. Even though they had deliberately worn outfits meant to show sincerity, neither had actively approached him like Saegusa Mayumi.
Considering demi-humans in this world rarely revealed themselves openly, not to mention vampires who had gone to war with humanity in the original story, La Folia's country also didn't possess the powerful magic technology it had in the original. Charlotte's original world setting had merely been ordinary, so naturally she couldn't casually show her lively personality either. The strength of their respective factions directly affected how they acted.
Of course, princesses were also different from one another.
Charlotte, as the princess of a small country, needed to value girls like Saegusa Mayumi from major financial families and avoid worsening relations that could negatively affect her country. But for an alien princess like Lala, it was Saegusa Mayumi and the others who had to act carefully instead.
Hachiman didn't dwell on these differences from the original story. Seeing Charlotte and La Folia had no intention of joining in, he directly lowered his head and lightly bit the petite Saegusa Mayumi who had voluntarily pressed herself against him. He wrapped an arm around her body as it slid downward and smiled as he asked back, "Mayumi, do you also want to call me that like Meroune does?"
"Mmh! President Hachiman, can I also call you Master Hachiman?"
Seeing that Hachiman wasn't affected by her actions at all, and had even naturally left a mark on her body through her shirt, Saegusa Mayumi's cheeks heated up. But she still tried hard to maintain a relaxed cheerful tone as she continued speaking.
Last night during the opening stage of the hide-and-seek game, several maids had served President Hachiman while he bathed. During the barrier segment, several newcomers had also accompanied him while playing the hole guessing game.
Right now, this was only about forms of address. In the club, there were already girls calling him onii-chan, father-sama, and master.
Still, she felt Master Hachiman sounded better.
Unlike president-sama, which only showed the relationship between club president and member, she wanted a title that clearly showed the superior-subordinate relationship between herself and Master Hachiman.
"Mayumi, do you know how Meroune usually plays with me?"
Looking at Saegusa Mayumi, who was enduring her embarrassment while actively seducing him, Hachiman didn't answer immediately. He only smiled as the hand around her waist slowly rubbed the smooth soft flesh there.
Although Saegusa Mayumi wasn't particularly tall, her body proportions were excellent. Looking at a full-body photo alone, people would instead think she was tall and slender.
Still, whether tall or short made no difference to him. He didn't discriminate based on body type.
He wanted to hug tall girls in white stockings with full figures, and he also wanted to hug petite girls in black pantyhose.
"H-Hachiman-sama?"
Seeing Hachiman avoid directly answering whether he agreed to let her call him Master Hachiman, Saegusa Mayumi had just been about to ask how Meroune played with him when she suddenly felt that he seemed about to lift her skirt. She instinctively cried out.
To win Hachiman's favor, she had already prepared herself mentally. Otherwise she wouldn't have pressed herself against him and wrapped her arms around his neck.
She believed Shiba Miyuki and Shinomiya Kaguya would do the same.
The current head of the Yotsuba family, Yotsuba Maya, was known as the Queen of Night. She looked elegant and noble, but in truth she was cold and merciless. She had kept her physically weak older sister Yotsuba Miya confined within the family, and now she had even pushed Shiba Miyuki forward to win over Hachiman.
Of course, the Shinomiya family wasn't any better. They directly treated women as tools. Shinomiya Kaguya, who had been educated that way since childhood, clearly wouldn't hesitate to sacrifice herself.
Compared to Shiba Miyuki and Shinomiya Kaguya, the fact that she, as a member of the Saegusa family, could make her own choice was already pretty good.
Well, at least she had made the decision herself after reading Hachiman's information.
For major families, children didn't have people they liked. There were only people worth forming marriage alliances with.
The current Hachiman, who could develop magical girl talent and awaken demi-human bloodlines, already had too many beautiful girls around him and had gathered a massive interest group. Instead, people like them no longer needed to overthink complicated利益 relationships.
Even if they still needed connections to form small groups, in the end there was only one person they truly needed to value: Hachiman.
Still, no matter how much Saegusa Mayumi thought things through and calculated, she was only a young girl who had just started understanding romance and had zero experience with relationships.
She had only prepared herself to offer her body to Hachiman. She hadn't yet figured out how to serve him afterward.
And now, in front of so many people, things were suddenly starting already?
As Saegusa Mayumi instinctively held down her skirt, thoughts raced through her mind while she desperately analyzed why Hachiman was doing this.
But before she could think of a proper response, she discovered that Hachiman had merely brushed his fingers lightly across her butt before looking at her with a grin.
"Hachiman-sama..."
Only then did Saegusa Mayumi realize she had been teased. Her already flushed face became even redder.
"Now you know how Yukino felt just now. Let's see if you still dare to casually tease people."
Hachiman smacked Saegusa Mayumi firmly. Looking at her pitiful expression as she wanted to cover her butt but restrained her hands out of embarrassment, he smiled. Then he lowered his head toward everyone under the desk and pinched their soft elastic cheeks too.
"Alright, you girls should come out too and chat with everyone. It'll be noon soon. Stop hiding."
"Mmm... okay, Hachiman-sama~"
Hearing Hachiman's order and the replies from under the desk, La Folia, Charlotte, Shinomiya Kaguya, and Kanase Kanon all stared with wide eyes as demi-human girls stood up one after another from behind the office desk.
Aoe Akane, Kijou Suzuka, and Senga Seira, who lived together with them in the school dorms and came respectively from the snow woman clan, oni clan, and dragon-human clan; as well as the mermaid princess Meroune, dragon clan leader Ursula, oni shrine princess Origamine Ouka; the elf princesses Iris, Aegis, and Lumilia; and Lala, who was supposedly an alien princess... They had guessed that Hachiman and the demi-humans hadn't left the office.
They had also guessed what Hachiman had been doing with those demi-humans.
But they never could have imagined that such an ordinary office desk could hide that many people underneath?
Of course, Hachiman's service space was only a special dimension perfectly copied from reality but impossible to observe. There wasn't some hidden basement dug under the desk, so it naturally couldn't actually hold that many people.
The reason so many people crawled out from under the desk was simply because Iris, Lala, and the others were having fun. They had already come out earlier while invisible and were sitting on the desk or standing nearby. After the people beneath the desk came out, they maintained their invisibility magic, returned to the desk area, and pretended they had been hiding under it the entire time.
"Akane-san, may I ask where Family Head Aoe is? Didn't she come together with you?"
After seeing everyone emerge while Aoe Mai, Kijou Yasha, Senga Sally, and the others still hadn't appeared, Saegusa Mayumi looked at Aoe Akane with a strange expression and cautiously asked.
She had secretly been watching the movements under the desk earlier because she had assumed Aoe Mai, one of the four chairpersons of the demi-human alliance, had also been kneeling before Hachiman.
That actually wasn't hard to imagine.
Right now, this small office was already packed with daughters of financial families and princesses. The identity of one of the four chairpersons really wasn't particularly special.
Aoe Mai mainly represented the older generation currently in power.
But now it seemed she had guessed wrong. She had even thought she might witness Aoe Mai beginning the internal competition and dragging Yotsuba Maya and other family leaders into it too.
Mm, since she, Shiba Miyuki, Shinomiya Kaguya, and the others had already ended up like this, she didn't want the people in power from the major financial families to have it easy either.
Wouldn't it be nice if there was no hierarchy and everyone kneeled together before Master Hachiman?
"Mother and the others did come with us earlier, but they already left. Right now they should be discussing Sobu High's expansion plans together with the heads of the Yotsuba family and Yukinoshita family."
Aoe Akane licked the remaining awakening mana from her lips with lingering interest and smiled as she shook her head at Saegusa Mayumi.
If Yotsuba Maya and the others hadn't come, then perhaps Mother and the others would have continued waiting in the office to personally watch how she, Kijou Suzuka, and Senga Seira obtained awakening mana and awakened their bloodlines.
But once Yotsuba Maya and the others arrived, Mother and the others naturally felt too embarrassed to stay.
Even when it was only demi-humans or humans alone, the reception sofa was already full. Now with so many people gathered together, even the office desk was crowded.
"I see..."
Saegusa Mayumi neither agreed nor denied it. Had they really left that early? Then how did they know about Sobu High's expansion plans?
Still, seeing Aoe Akane unwilling to tell the truth, she had no intention of exposing her on the spot. She released Hachiman's neck and got up, walking toward Origamine Ouka, Iris, and the others, who were using cleaning magic while putting on their clothes near the reception sofa.
With so many demi-human princesses gathered together, even casual conversation contained valuable information.
Iris, Ursula, Origamine Ouka, and the others had all just received awakening mana infusion, making it easy to judge their relative strength. For example, the stronger someone was, the stronger the awakening mana scent on them.
However, just as she took a couple steps, she suddenly found herself pulled back by Hachiman, her whole body pressed onto the office desk.
"Wait a moment, Mayumi. I haven't punished you yet."
Hachiman slowly stroked Saegusa Mayumi's smooth black hair, lightly breathing in the scent from it as he whispered beside her ear.
"Didn't you just say I could punish you however I wanted?"
"Mayumi, you'll willingly accept it, right?"
"Punishment?"
The voice near her ear sounded like a demon whispering. Saegusa Mayumi's pupils shrank as she turned to look at the smiling Hachiman and swallowed with difficulty.
"Hachiman-sama..."
'N-No way...'
'Is he really going to punish me in front of everyone?'
"Mayumi, are you sure you want to beg for mercy?"
Seeing Saegusa Mayumi's nervous frightened expression, Hachiman smiled. He didn't really forcefully do anything. He merely slid his hands from her soft waist downward, lifting the thin gauze of her skirt and grasping her slender shapely legs.
Perhaps wanting to clearly distinguish themselves from the others, transfer students like Shiba Miyuki still hadn't changed into Sobu High's summer girls' uniform, the dark blazer with silver trim, white shirt with red ribbon tie, and blue plaid pleated skirt.
For example, Shinomiya Kaguya wore Shuchiin Academy's sailor-style uniform: a black sleeveless dress and white short-sleeved blouse.
Meanwhile, Saegusa Mayumi wore the Magic High School uniform consisting of a green shawl-style long-sleeved jacket and white one-piece dress with a gauze skirt hem.
From her clothing alone, the magician Saegusa Mayumi's uniform actually looked the most unusual and least convenient for movement.