In short, Shion had tried everything she could think of, but still couldn't figure it out.
After Kita Ikuyo, Yotsuya Miko, and Yurikawa Hana finished washing up, they sat down with Komachi and Shion for breakfast.
But even after Kita Ikuyo and the others finished eating, changed into clean Sobu High uniforms, put on their socks, and even tied up their hair all neat and tidy, the living room still only had them.
"Hikigaya-kun still isn't up? Don't tell me he overslept?"
Even Yurikawa Hana, who was usually carefree, not very sharp, and came across like a bit of an airhead, couldn't help feeling a little suspicious.
Yotsuya Miko and Kita Ikuyo, who had already guessed that Ijichi Nijika and the others' study session last night had probably gone on till late into the night, lowered their flushed faces and stole a glance at Komachi and Shion, looking like they wanted to say something but didn't dare.
So many people and not a single one had come downstairs. Anyone could imagine that last night absolutely went on until very, very late.
Even though they couldn't begin to picture what it must have been like for Hachiman to face so many people alone and hold out the whole time.
"Um... Kita-oneechan, wait a second. I'll go wake Onii-san."
After a while, seeing how anxious Kita Ikuyo and the others were getting, worried they'd be late but too embarrassed to go upstairs and call him themselves, Shion, having finished clearing the bowls, volunteered to go up to call him.
Komachi, who had gone upstairs to change and was now coming back down, sat between Kita Ikuyo, Yotsuya Miko, and the others to calm them.
For the first time, for the very first time, she felt her little sister was useful.
Usually her brother never had any chaos to deal with between girls, so she never needed to help comfort anyone.
Probably only in front of girls who didn't have a special relationship with her brother could she actually contribute.
Still, even with Komachi trying her best to adjust the mood, as time passed and Hachiman still didn't come down, Kita Ikuyo and Yotsuya Miko started feeling an indescribable panic.
Did Shion really go to call Hikigaya-kun?
Why was she taking so long?
Come to think of it, why wasn't there a room for Shion in the Hikigaya house?
Even Komachi's room was basically all Komachi's things. The only things that belonged to Shion were a futon, a toothbrush, and a few basic daily necessities.
Yotsuya Miko and Kita Ikuyo looked at each other, both having an incredible guess rise in their hearts. But looking at Komachi happily sipping milk with a straw, they didn't dare ask about Shion out of nowhere, so they pushed down their curiosity and waited.
A bit later, there was finally some noise upstairs. Actually, a lot of noise.
Ijichi Nijika, Yamada Ryou, Gotou Hitori, Lala, Rurikawa Tsubaki, Kaede, Suzu... all of them were dressed neatly in Sobu High uniforms, coming down from the second floor. One after another, an unending stream.
"Why is the Elf Princess here too? And that many elves?"
Kita Ikuyo, who had been agonizing over how she should greet the teammates she had "sold out", suddenly saw Lala and the others, and then behind them appeared blond, sharp-eared elf princesses.
Not just Iris, Lumilia, and Aegis, the well-known noble elves from school, but several tall, voluptuous, stunning older-sister-type elves as well.
"Kita-san, good morning."
Iris gracefully walked into the living room, smiling warmly as she greeted Kita Ikuyo, Yotsuya Miko, and the others.
Unless the club president wasn't coming home, she lived here now, so of course she had to receive the president's "assistance". And all elves besides her had to fully receive the president's "assistance".
But last night, she and Aegis had been handling matters with the Takamine family, so they got held up and only made it back quite late.
Since Tohsaka Sakura was already the daughter of the elves' savior, they couldn't just let the Takamine family pressure the Tohsaka family's eldest daughter, Tohsaka Touka, into fulfilling a marriage contract.
Normally the Takamine family didn't have any real power. They could have handled it easily, like how Ursula dealt with the Boiman family before. Simple, clean, efficient.
But as a peace-loving race, elves couldn't just use violence for everything the way Ursula did. They were here to foster cultural exchange between humans and demi-humans, not cause panic.
She discussed it with Rurikawa Tsubaki and decided to handle the Takamine family slowly using human society's own methods. She had Sylpha and the others gather intel, then hand it to Rurikawa Tsubaki, letting the Rurikawa family and the Ichinose family swallow the Takamine family together.
Always making the Ichinose family work without giving them benefits wasn't good. The president already ate so many of the Ichinose family's daughters; it was about time Councilor Ichinose saw the advantages of siding with the president.
Hmm... and since the Yukinoshita family and the Tohsaka family hadn't offered anything as proof of allegiance yet, Iris had no plans to let them join in the profits for now.
"Not just elves, even the mermaid songstresses...", Yotsuya Miko, Yurikawa Hana, and Kita Ikuyo stared at the girls coming down in streams, filling almost the entire living room. Their mouths hung open the whole time.
Besides Iris and the other elf princesses, Elio, Elusi, and Ayla, world-class ultra-popular idols, were actually in Hikigaya-kun's house too.
They already knew before coming that the elf princesses, these noble, exalted demi-humans, were close with Hikigaya-kun, but they never imagined the mermaid songstresses were also this close to him.
Living in his house aside, they were even... even... together with that many people...
They had thought that just Ijichi Nijika, Ryou, and Bocchi-chan were enough to make things crowded, but who could have guessed that the number of people in the room next door last night was far beyond anything they imagined.
'Wait, is the bed in Hikigaya-kun's room even that big?'
———
Although the number of people participating in Hikigaya household's sleepless night was absurdly high, Kita Ikuyo, Yotsuya Miko, and Yurikawa Hana were simply stunned beyond belief.
But aside from Ijichi Nijika and the others who joined for the first time last night, the ones who often stayed over were already used to it.
If there weren't that many people together, the three or four of them honestly wouldn't dare accompany Hachiman through an all-nighter. Just imagining that situation was scary enough.
Of course, Hachiman was hardly ever lacking people around him either. With the empathy wristbands and resonance collars, everyone could get the most satisfying experience by staying close to him.
That said, last night really was the time with the most people so far.
Once Iris led the sub-elves into the "battle", they all had to switch locations and run to the large bath in the apartment next door that had just been renovated.
"Um... Nijika... you guys... last night..."
Seeing Ijichi Nijika all neat and composed, sitting beside Iris eating breakfast as if nothing had happened, Kita Ikuyo started wondering whether what she saw last night had been real.
It was their first time, right? She had thought just a handful of people was shocking enough.
Who knew that the number she saw last night was just a fraction.
"..."
Still pretending to be calm, Ijichi Nijika felt Kita Ikuyo staring at her. A blush climbed onto her fair face. She silently looked away, refusing to meet her eyes, and lowered her head to eat.
Kaede, Suzu, and the others she saw in the bath had shown up only later, apparently that was preferential treatment. At first, it was just their band members and Ichinose Honami, plus Lala, so they were mostly among familiar faces.
Even though having her first time together with Ryou and Bocchi-chan was already outrageous.
Kessoku band... bonding band... even this kind of thing was done together... In a way, they really hadn't picked the wrong name.
"Kita, you don't have to worry we'll leave you out. Next time we have a concert and a celebration, our band will have our own party. We won't leave you behind again."
After one night of going from grazing to wild-grass transformation, Yamada Ryou sat beside Kita Ikuyo, put an arm around her shoulder, and spoke in a low, earnest tone.
She wasn't shy like Nijika. What happened, happened. No point dwelling on it.
But she definitely remembered Kita "abandoning" them.
Their whole band had pretty much been eaten by Hachiman. How could Kita escape?
If someone didn't take her share, the rest had to take more. Last night basically meant she took Kita's share for her.
"Yeah yeah! Next time we celebrate, we'll have our own party!"
Gotou Hitori vigorously nodded, totally agreeing to having a small private gathering.
Even though being beside Hachiman felt extremely, extremely safe, she still wasn't used to so many people around.
Compared to being with Iris and those overwhelmingly noble, elegant figures, she preferred being with the gyaru-type Kita and her friends.
"..."
Seeing Yamada Ryou and Gotou Hitori looking like they were swearing to not exclude her and absolutely drag her along, Kita Ikuyo had a mix of emotions and didn't know how to complain about this development.
She didn't particularly like rock. She didn't join the band for music. She even lied about knowing guitar, ran away from practice, and skipped their performance.
If Nijika hadn't found Bocchi-chan to replace her, she might have ruined the concert entirely.
Now she had rejoined the Kessoku Band with a mindset of repentance, ready to endure whatever attitude Nijika, Ryou, and Bocchi-chan had toward her.
And now, before she even had a single performance, they were already planning the next concert's celebration?
That's pretty rock.
"Yotsuya-san, Yurikawa-san, the president already told me about the two of you. As for the ghosts, I do have magic that can deal with them. If you want to learn, I can teach you," Iris didn't interfere with Ijichi Nijika, Kita Ikuyo, and their band's internal affairs, but she couldn't ignore Yotsuya Miko and Yurikawa Hana's situation. She smiled at the two girls.
In their world, there were no ghosts, but there were undead.
Undead, skeleton soldiers, liches, bone dragons, studying these things was taboo and banned by all races.
But completely banning something was impossible, and there were always people studying it secretly, so it never disappeared.
Still, elves didn't worry about undead much. Undead and curses were naturally countered by races with strong life energy.
Of course, just like the difference between Yurikawa Hana and the president, being strong in life energy only countered weak spirits. If you were weaker, you'd be countered instead.
"Really? You can really teach us magic?"
Yotsuya Miko almost forgot about the ghosts. Hearing Iris bring up a solution made her brighten instantly.
"Mm. But learning magic isn't simple. You won't be able to learn enough to handle ghosts on your own in a short time."
Seeing Yotsuya Miko getting excited too quickly, Iris smiled gently.
"Huh?"
Yotsuya Miko felt like a bucket of cold water had been dumped on her, her excitement vanishing. She stared blankly at Iris.
"How should I put it... the government here has also tried learning magic, but maybe due to talent issues, not many have succeeded, and progress is slow," Iris thought for a moment.
"Yurikawa-san's life energy is much stronger than normal people, so she'd probably learn our life magic faster. But gaining real self-defense ability in a short time... probably still not possible."
Most people in this world were ordinary. Many demi-humans also hadn't awakened bloodline abilities. And when faced with magic capable of incredible effects, of course no one would give up just because learning was hard.
But from what she knew, the government had secretly arranged for many people to study magic. As the cultural exchange ambassador between humans and demi-humans, she had provided them with some non-combat, basic spells that were common in her world.
Groups like Lycoris, who secretly maintain public order, also tested for magic aptitude, but hardly anyone succeeded. Even a simple glowing spell was hard to learn.
In enchanted items and transfer arrays, they had made good progress thanks to human technology.
But individuals who could use mana to cast magic were few.
So far, she had encountered more magic-talented people around the president than anywhere else.
"Actually... Miko, if you want to learn magic... there's a special shortcut... though you probably won't accept it," Seeing how disappointed Yotsuya Miko was, Ijichi Nijika hesitated, then slowly raised her hand.
A faint white light shimmered from her palm, and a book flew off the bookshelf.
"Nijika, you learned magic? Didn't you say it was hard?"
Yotsuya Miko stared blankly at the book floating above the table, flipping pages as if held by invisible hands.
"I learned it too. Look."
Yamada Ryou suddenly appeared behind Yotsuya Miko and Kita Ikuyo and tapped their shoulders.
The moment they turned around, she vanished from their sight, reappearing beside Ijichi Nijika, elbow resting on Nijika's shoulder, chin propped up, giving them a sideways look with a smug expression.
Even though this short-range teleportation spell was pretty useless for her and she couldn't use it many times yet, it didn't matter.
Just learning teleportation cost her a lot of "wild-grass".
But... wasn't it incredibly cool?
"I-I learned a little too...", Seeing Nijika and Ryou show off their results from last night, Gotou Hitori clenched her small fists, muttered to herself, closed her eyes tightly, and then vanished.
Half a minute later, she reappeared, patting her chest to steady her breathing.
Unlike Nijika who did housework often, or Ryou who wanted to act cool, Bocchi-chan just wanted people not to see her, so she had learned invisibility magic.
Even though none of them were proficient, nowhere near Iris's level where she could maintain invisibility, illusion magic, and sound-barrier spells even while extremely flustered, and far from any powerful combat spells.
But there was no doubt. They had all successfully learned elf magic that used mana.
Under normal circumstances, even with talent, they shouldn't have learned it so fast, especially something as practical and cool as teleportation for Ryou.
But... Hachiman had turned on cheat mode for them.
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