Like the weak-spirited, quiet succubus Sakurase Shion, she too had long since lost her parents and didn't have a home of her own.
Having a proper place for them to live in would be best. Once this apartment was completely fixed up, they could spend time together every day and naturally make their own friends, so he wouldn't need to worry too much about them.
"Hikigaya-kun, your aspirations really are admirable. I've heard about your Service Club. I wonder if you'd be interested in accepting requests from outside the school?", Asou Miyuri greatly admired Hachiman's ambitions. Looking at him, strong enough to handle an absurd number of beautiful girls, she suddenly asked.
"Requests from outside the school? You mean requests from adults in society?"
Hachiman felt a bit confused. Kaede also stopped struggling and, together with the others, looked at Asou Miyuri, who suddenly seemed to have strange ideas.
"Hikigaya-kun, you know I've been busy these past few days, right? Since I often drink tea, chat, and go to hot springs with some ladies and young heiresses, whenever we chat, I always hear them pour out their worries and frustrations," Asou Miyuri nodded as she tightly held Hachiman's warm hand, looking at him with sincere, expectant eyes.
"For example, the serious issue of low birth rates, chools being forced to close because there aren't enough students."
"Or, for example, an apartment running into paranormal incidents, unable to resolve them and unable to attract tenants."
"If you can help them solve their problems, I think they'd be willing to sponsor your harem clubhouse."
"I could even give you this apartment directly. It's old anyway, and it doesn't bring in much rent each month."
'Sponsor?'
'Money or something else?'
Hearing Asou Miyuri's promising suggestion, Hachiman looked toward Kaede in his arms with some confusion.
The little landlady hadn't met him many times; it was normal that she didn't know his circumstances. People like Iris and Rurikawa Tsubaki had never interacted with her at all.
So her impression of him must still be stuck at the time he helped Shion rent a place. She didn't know that compared to before, his financial situation had greatly improved.
Unless her circle of wives consisted entirely of extremely wealthy elites, it should be him supporting them, not doing wife-work in exchange for sponsorship.
But weren't Kaede and the others discussing buying the apartment from her? If the landlady didn't know, why hadn't Kaede mentioned it?
"E-hehe… Miyuri Onee-san means well, but I think with Hachiman's abilities he probably can't handle requests from adults outside the school. So we were just discussing whether she could sell the apartment to us directly."
Noticing Hachiman's gaze, Kaede stopped struggling to escape. She gave him an awkward smile.
In truth, she was too embarrassed to say that the money to buy the apartment would come from Tsubaki.
Letting her best friend financially support her boyfriend, plus herself and her little sister, how would she have the face to say that?
At Sobu High, the students who knew about the relationship among her, Tsubaki, and Hachiman were basically also girls who had special ties with Hachiman. She wasn't shy in front of them. If anything, they were the ones who seduced her childhood friend, her lover.
But in front of a strange adult like Asou Miyuri, even if she looked younger than Kaede, she couldn't help feeling a bit embarrassed.
"You might have some savings, Hikigaya-kun, but you're still young. And you're not buying this apartment for business. I think you should consider my suggestion, using your abilities to earn sponsorship."
Seeing the awkwardness between Hachiman and Kaede, Asou Miyuri assumed they were still hesitating because of money, and hurried to prove she wasn't just saying empty words.
"Don't worry. Even though I'd like you to solve my friends' problems, I won't put you on the spot even if you can't. This apartment is still yours," She had watched Lala personally install that bathhouse from a special dimension onto an apartment room's door, and she herself was now experiencing that special large bath. She knew Hikigaya-kun and the others were not simple people.
But clearly, Hikigaya-kun didn't have much money. And now he had so many girls to support, far more expensive than just having to take care of Shion in the past.
She figured that as a student, he would definitely need her support.
"Uh… actually, I'm not worried about sponsorship. I have enough money," Looking at the landlady tightly holding his hand, Hachiman felt slightly strange.
The landlady still had a "mission", the Landlady's Bottom Line. Use sincerity to break through the landlady's bottom line; apparently doing so might even get him free rent.
But at the time he chose not to break the bottom line and just paid.
Now, looking back, it seemed he didn't have to break it himself, now she was trying to "coerce" him, breaking his bottom line.
"Really enough? You don't need to worry about them being unable to pay. Even though my friends aren't all super wealthy, most have considerable financial power. They can help you a lot," Hearing his firm answer, Asou Miyuri regretfully let go.
Seeing the many girls around him, all healthy and glowing, she really felt tempted. She wanted to personally ask Hikigaya-kun just how incredible he was.
Honestly, she wanted to try it herself. But for various reasons, she had never been able to properly experience it. Now she could both help him and satisfy herself.
A boy so loved by so many girls couldn't possibly disappoint her. But since he didn't need her sponsorship, she had no excuse to try.
"Mm, you don't need to worry about money, Miyuri-onee-san. But I am a little interested in the requests you mentioned. Can you tell me about them?", Hachiman nodded. Seeing that Kaede no longer tried to flee, he pulled Asou Miyuri into the middle between Kaede and Suzu, holding all of them together. He spoke with great interest.
Even though he had plenty of "soft meals" at school and didn't need money-earning wife-work, he was very interested in the ladies the landlady mentioned.
Mm… more accurately, not the wives, but their daughters.
Could the friend worrying about school closure due to low enrollment be Minami Kotori's mother, Minami Otori, from Love Live?
While many places in Japan suffered from declining birth rates, this description really made him think of that school idol group, μ's(muse), who debuted to save their school from closure.
As for the paranormal event, he couldn't guess. Both the normal and reverse worlds were filled with supernatural incidents. The scope was too broad.
"If you don't need sponsorship, then I can't let you help for nothing."
Asou Miyuri blushed a bit being pulled into Hachiman's arms like a child, squeezed between Kaede and Suzu, but she still shook her head at the idea of receiving free help.
She had originally thought that the boy who founded the Service Club at school was creative and proactive, and might provide some good suggestions.
Plus, he was actually very capable. There was a high chance he could truly solve her friends' problems.
But letting a student do difficult favors for them adults for free was too shameful.
Not just for her, even her friends wouldn't agree.
After all, her friends were all adult women working across various industries; some, like her, barely worked and only collected rent. Since he didn't need sponsorship, they had nothing to offer in return.
"It won't be helping for nothing. You have so many connections, Miyuri-onee-san. I'm sure I can use them someday."
Hachiman smiled. He wasn't worried about doing unpaid work.
Even doing unpaid work could earn him system rewards if the wives "leeched" off him.
Like μ's, with their nine members, he really hoped for a nine-person synchronized empathic bracelet as a reward.
Even if not, a similar item would do.
Even though Lala's secondary version, the Empathy Bands, was good enough, there was only one pair. He really wanted to try multi-person synchronization and see how much it increased things.
The empathic bands' effect wasn't like the magic buffs from Iris and the others, this was pure, overwhelming mental-and-physical co-experience, an intense stimulation from inside out.
Of course, even without a reward he wouldn't truly be used unfairly.
"I know a lot of high-ranking women in various companies, but didn't you just say you don't need sponsorship? And your harem clubhouse is for your club members. How would my connections help you?", Asou Miyuri tilted her head, confused.
"Miyuri-onee-san, do you know the Rurikawa family?"
Hachiman hugged Kaede's slim waist. Seeing her turn red, already knowing what he was about to say, he smiled and continued.
"The Rurikawa family? You mean the one that recently swallowed resources from the Poiman family and has been growing rapidly in Chiba?", Asou Miyuri blinked, immediately understanding.
Though she didn't work and wasn't interested in politics or business, during gatherings with wives, they always chatted about recent developments.
Sakura, Otori, and the others had mentioned that Rurikawa's businesses were booming and had lots of dealings with their own companies. So she knew a bit.
"Right. The Rurikawa family's daughter, Rurikawa Tsubaki, is Kaede's close friend, and also my girlfriend," Hachiman explained bluntly.
"So you don't need to worry that I won't benefit. If I need your friends' help, I'll definitely say so."
Judging by Asou Miyuri's situation, she'd soon become one of "his" people too. Then she'd naturally help him get advantages from the wives.
Was he infiltrating wives' circles as a househusband, stealing talent from large corporations and getting wives to help run his own industries?
Hmm… he did want to be a househusband, so how did it end up like this?
"…"
Kaede rolled her eyes fiercely at him. He spoke so openly about Tsubaki being both her friend and his girlfriend, she was speechless.
But it was true. She couldn't deny it.
She was the childhood friend, yet somehow Tsubaki felt like the official girlfriend, and she felt like the mistress financially supported by Hachiman.
Ugh… she'd have to call Tsubaki over later so they could suffer embarrassment together.
"No wonder…", Asou Miyuri didn't pay Kaede's reaction much attention, she simply sighed. No wonder Hachiman wasn't worried about sponsorship.
Compared to the Rurikawa family, her friends, who were basically just high-level employees, couldn't compare. Even the small number of self-employed wives paled beside them.
"In that case, I'll let them know another day and introduce you properly," Now that she understood he didn't need her protection, she agreed readily.
"No rush. I think you can privately show me one or two requests first. Once I complete them, it'll be better to meet the others."
Hachiman shook his head.
It was good that she trusted his ability, but others might not. Instead of proving himself later, it would be better to finish a few requests first before joining their circle.
"That's true. I'll sort through the requests later and let you choose which ones to take," Asou Miyuri nodded.
"The one worrying about school closure due to low enrollment, who is she? And what can I do to help?", Hachiman asked the request he cared about most.
Even though he had many girls around him now, he had once been a huge Love Live fan.
He wasn't particularly interested in normal idols, but μ's were different.
And since the mermaid princess Melo had an idol agency under her, maybe he could even become a long-term manager.
With the lover-list's teleport function, he could always teleport back to school to be "guided" by young female teachers, sweat with club girls, then teleport to the idols and experience the life of a training manager.
"Well… this friend of mine is the chairwoman of the Otonokizaka Academy, a girls' high school. Since Otonokizaka is suffering from low enrollment, they're considering shutting down. It's not urgent yet, but it's not easy either. You'd need to attract a lot of new students."
Asou Miyuri hesitated, unsure if she should let him handle such a difficult request.
"I heard her daughter is planning to start a school idol group, using idol popularity to spread the school's name."
"Right now with the Mermaid Songstress, the idol industry is booming, and there are lots of school idol competitions."
"But the Mermaid Songstress is a singer who surpasses race, she's not just an idol."
"And Otonokizaka only has six classes left, and just one class in the first year. In this situation, using idols to save the school is terribly difficult."
Increasing popularity might attract more students, but there was no guarantee. To attract enough students to save the school, the school idols would need to become incredibly famous.
"Some places have that severe a low-birth-rate issue? One grade only has one class?"
"No wonder it's closing… at this rate, they might not even fill one class next year."
Hearing Miyuri's explanation, the girls, who had been silent, were shocked.
Except Ichinose Marika, who had transferred recently, they were all students of Sobu High.
They always heard about low birth rates and decreasing student populations, but in Chiba's highest-ranked Sobu High, they hadn't felt any impact.
Mm… Sobu High just happened to have an unusually high number of pretty girls, but that had nothing to do with low birth rates.
"A girls' high school…", Among them, only Kaede stared darkly at Hachiman.
'His real goal isn't that, is it?'
He already wasn't satisfied with the many beauties at Sobu High, was he planning to extend his evil hands to other schools?
She had always wanted to recruit newcomers to fight the corrupt fallen demi-humans led by the elves, but a whole girls' high school… wasn't that too many people?
Even if it was only six classes total… no, Otonokizaka probably didn't have as many beauties as their school. They were probably a special case.
"Alright, let's bathe first. We'll talk about meeting Otonokizaka's chairwoman later."
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