Honami, who was in the same class as Hikigaya, was tactfully currying favor with the Elf Princess. She absolutely had to become very close with Hachiman, who had a particularly close relationship with the Elf Princess, and become a good friend who could fulfill any of the other's requests.
Now that so many people were going to Hikigaya's house together, it wouldn't seem out of place for her, who had just transferred not long ago, to join in as well.
But Kitagawa Marin and the others had been invited before. Miura Yumiko and Yuina had also visited Hikigaya's house. She, however, had not been formally invited. If she rashly went over and disturbed them, it might backfire.
"Don't worry, little Hiki is very nice. You don't need to worry about this kind of small thing at all. I'll message him right now and tell him we're bringing you along," Yuina saw that Ichinose Honami was slightly tempted, so she immediately pulled her along and headed outside together.
"So many of us are going; one more won't make a difference," Miura Yumiko glanced impatiently at the hesitant Ichinose Honami and waved her hand.
This girl seemed to have a decent personality, probably not the type who liked to bully classmates. In that case, she could come along. Then with her, Marin, Nijika, plus Tenma and Ichinose, it'd be five girls.
With five versus three, Yuina and Minami probably wouldn't play any bullying games again.
"Hehe, yeah, come with us! You just transferred recently, this is the perfect chance to chat and get to know each other," Kitagawa Marin clapped Ichinose Honami's shoulder hard and laughed in a big-hearted way.
"Th-then I'll be in your care...", Seeing how enthusiastic everyone was, Ichinose Honami relaxed and peacefully went with them to grab some drinks before heading to Hachiman's house.
This kind of school life is really great, this is exactly the kind of school life she wanted.
Walking at the front, Gabriel looked at the group of chattering girls beside her, more than half of them blonde, and felt a bit helpless inside.
'That guy Hachiman suddenly has so many girls coming into his house... well, they're probably just here to play. It won't be as outrageous as Iris.'
———
[Indoor swimming pool, Girls' Competitive Swimming Club Changing Room]
Gabriel had taken Miura Yumiko, Ichinose Honami, and the others home. Hachiman was still working hard to assist the Girls' Competitive Swimming Club.
But since school had just let out, girls were constantly coming in to change into their swimsuits, making the place crowded.
In order to avoid disturbance, Hachiman had no choice but to bring along the timid and introverted Hayase Saki and the pessimist Uenohara Ayano, two excellent members he had already assisted into "Love Life Mode."
"After using the invisibility magic, can the vice president and the others really not see us? Manager Hikigaya, you're not all teaming up to trick me, right?", Looking at the vice president Orizuka Momoka, who seemed unable to see her, directly opened her own locker, changed into her swimsuit, and left, along with manager Saki who also ignored her presence. Uenohara Ayano couldn't help but swallow hard with an inexplicable shock on her face.
She knew Manager Hikigaya was familiar with the Elf Princess, Mermaid Diva, Dragon Clan Chief, and the others, and yesterday he had shown through action that he was not an ordinary person. But when this invisibility magic truly took effect on her, she was still extremely shocked.
'This magic is way too perv—no, too convenient.'
'With this invisibility magic, won't it be possible to do anything without getting caught?'
"At this point, Ayano, is there any point in asking that? If it was going to be exposed, it already would have been," Hachiman hugged Uenohara Ayano, sniffed the faint fragrance in her smooth hair, kissed her pale neck, and smiled helplessly.
He snickered, this wasn't invisibility magic. After using real invisibility magic, there was still the risk of being touched in such a cramped space. But in this mirror space activated by Love Life Mode, although it looked like they were still in the same world, the other club members were merely reflections and couldn't touch them at all.
As for the principle behind this, he didn't understand it either. Just calling it "invisibility magic" was easier for Ayano to grasp. Anyway, all she needed to do was enjoy it. Overthinking would just spoil the fun.
"No, I-I was thinking, if invisibility magic could be maintained all the time, wouldn't we be able to do whatever we want in the entire swimming pool instead of just the locker room?", Uenohara Ayano quickly shook her head and blurted out her true thoughts.
The overwhelming temptation of invisibility magic, even for the pessimist Uenohara Ayano, was enough to make her crave that uninhibited thrill.
Though she also worried she might be pranked and end up as the joke for believing in "invisibility magic," Vice President Orizuka was known to hate boys. It seemed unlikely she would team up with everyone and Manager Hikigaya to trick her.
"...And here I thought you were nervous. So this is what you were really thinking," Hachiman slapped Uenohara Ayano on the back with some speechlessness. This was only the second day after assisting her, surely it wasn't his influence that had corrupted her?
Meaning, this was Ayano's own doing.
Though, given how she willingly accepted his "assistance" to improve her training results, this wasn't surprising at all.
Compared to dumb Hayase Saki, the shy and quiet succubus Sakurase Shino, and the love-brained Ichinose Ayano, girls like Uenohara Ayano were the normal ones.
"Mm...", Hearing Hachiman's words, Uenohara Ayano tensed up and bit her lip without replying.
She knew her thoughts were a bit off, like her head was full of junk.
But you couldn't blame her. Tons of novels, manga, and movies had similar invisibility abilities. Compared to villains using invisibility to steal secrets or cause destruction, her thoughts were pretty mild.
Though, characters with invisibility usually get discovered and then tortured or something after losing the advantage.
She both wanted to try the feeling of being invisible all around the pool, and feared the magic might fail, eposing her relationship with Manager Hikigaya in front of everyone.
'If that happened... haa...'
Just imagining the consequences of her and Manager Hikigaya being found out, the pessimist Uenohara Ayano felt a strange thrill from those negative thoughts for the first time.
"President... is it my turn yet...", The silent Hayase Saki finally spoke up, looking up at Hachiman after Uenohara Ayano finished receiving his guidance.
She had come first. The president came to help the swimming club because of her. But now, a first-year like Uenohara Ayano got to go first.
"Couldn't wait, huh? Who told you not to be more proactive? When I asked who was first, you didn't answer fast enough," Hachiman saw Hayase Saki staring at him and laughed, pinching her round cheeks hard. Watching her fair, plump cheeks turn red, he sat down on the long bench in the changing room and pulled her and Ayano to sit with him.
He wasn't playing favorites. But if Saki didn't seize the great opportunity in front of her just because she felt shy about acting first in front of a junior, she couldn't blame him.
"Mm...", Hayase Saki sat in his arms, silently watching the constant stream of club members changing in and out, lips pressed tight.
It really was her fault. In the Service Club, she had acted like a senior in front of Sakurase Shino and Ichinose Ayano.
But in the swimming club, in front of the familiar junior Ayano, she instinctively reverted to her original timid and introverted self. Even when Ayano yielded, she couldn't bring herself to act first.
"S-sorry, Vice President Hayase...", Feeling a bit weak, Uenohara Ayano looked at Hayase Saki sitting on Hachiman's thigh and apologized in a small voice.
She was also at fault. Knowing how soft Hayase was, she still went ahead of her to receive Hikigaya's guidance.
If it had been Senpai Orizuka or Tachibana, she probably wouldn't have dared.
"...Just call me Saki, no need to call me Vice President," Hayase Saki shook her head, hesitated, and then said softly.
There were two vice presidents in the club: her and Orizuka Momoka. Compared to the stern and dignified Orizuka, she lacked presence.
Even though her performance was slightly better than Orizuka's, she never had the authority of a senior. She didn't know how to assert herself.
In front of the original members of the swimming club, she might as well stay the same.
"Okay, Saki-senpai, and you can call me Ayano too. From now on, let's receive Manager Hikigaya's guidance together. I promise I won't cut in line again," Seeing that Saki-senpai didn't blame her, Uenohara Ayano admitted her mistake sincerely.
Although she really wanted to get more guidance from Manager Hikigaya to catch up to others in the club, Saki was already strong, and her relationship with the manager didn't seem ordinary. It would be better not to compete with her.
There were multiple slots for main team members. If Hikigaya stopped guiding her because of Saki, that would be bad.
Getting along with Saki might even help her get more training.
"Then why are you still calling me Manager Hikigaya? At least call me Manager Hachiman," Hachiman chuckled at the blossoming camaraderie between Saki and Ayano. One was timid and the other pessimistic, yet they got along surprisingly well.
Without someone to give them a push, they probably wouldn't have become friends.
"Yes! Manager Hachiman! I'll work hard to become like Saki-senpai!", Ayano nodded quickly. Saki-senpai was already the club's ace. Even Captain Hibiki couldn't guarantee beating her.
It was only because she was soft-hearted and mentally fragile that she lacked presence in such a competitive environment.
Now that she was getting guidance from Manager Hachiman and improving steadily, if Ayano could reach her level, she'd have a guaranteed spot.
"Alright, that's enough for today. I'll give you both a final boost, then go back to training," Hachiman smiled and nodded, hugging Saki tightly while guiding Ayano's training.
"Huh? So soon? I think I can still go on. I just need a little rest," Face burning from the training, Uenohara Ayano hugged Hachiman tightly, clutching his arm, looking at him pitifully like Saki.
Oops, she forgot, Hachiman was invited by Captain Hibiki. Other members would also get training.
Saki was okay, she was already strong, but Ayano's performance was unstable. If everyone got the same guidance, she'd lose her edge.
Even if the training was a bit embarrassing, tiring, and made her legs go weak, it was nothing compared to daily training that only yielded slight improvements.
With only 2–3 hours of club activity each day and swimming practice draining so much energy, she was confident she could keep up.
"President...", Hayase Saki also looked longingly at him. She wasn't as concerned about the main team slot, but she still wanted to spend more time with him.
In the Service Club, with the Elf Princess and others around, she could only "drink soup" (i.e. get leftovers).
She couldn't go to his house every day like the Elf Princess.
If she wanted his full attention, she had to wait for him to come to her house. In her home turf, even if she had to invite Miki to help, she'd get all the love she wanted.
"I'm not abandoning you. Don't give me that face. At least go train and show yourself a bit before coming back," Seeing Ayano bite his hand and not want to let go, Hachiman gently pulled his hand back and wiped the sweat off their skin with a cleaning spell, comforting them softly.
Tsukahara Hibiki asked him to help reduce stress for all the top performers, not just raise the scores of one or two girls.
Though stress relief was meant to improve results, focusing on only a few would only increase pressure on the others, defeating the point of having him as manager.
"Okay... then Manager Hachiman, please train us properly one more time!"
"President...", Seeing he still had to train others, Ayano and Saki exchanged glances, then got up with renewed Elf and together asked him again for guidance.
Since they couldn't avoid competition, they had to get ahead before the others caught up.
———
"...Little Saki, Manager Hikigaya, he... he hasn't come yet?", In the pool, Tachibana Mikari burst out of the water, breathing heavily as she removed her goggles and looked up at Manager Saki, who was recording on the poolside.
She had waited all day for this club session. Why hadn't Hachiman shown up yet?
He was supposed to be their manager, this was way too irresponsible.
Nanasaki Ai and Rihoko Sakurai, who were training with Tachibana Mikari, also surfaced and looked toward Manager Saki.
Rihoko Sakurai hadn't had any formal contact with Hachiman yet.
"Uh... Manager Hikigaya is probably busy, has no time...", Faced with the questioning from the golden-haired gyaru of the club, Tachibana, Manager Saki looked a bit shy and embarrassed, replying vaguely.
She knew what it meant for Captain Hibiki to ask the Service Club's Hikigaya president to help the girls' competitive swimming club, to use special methods to relieve and eliminate everyone's training stress.
Today, Ayano and Saki, who were supposed to attend normally, also didn't show up. Moreover, neither of them had asked for leave. After a bit of thought, she knew that Hachiman wasn't being irresponsible, but rather too responsible.
However, what she didn't know was that Hachiman hadn't privately arranged to meet Ayano and Saki, but was directly relieving their pressure within the girls' competitive swimming club.
She had even been face-to-face with them in the locker room while changing into swimsuits, but since they existed in different worlds, they were completely unaware of each other.
"Busy?", Tachibana Mikari's heart stirred, and she climbed ashore, stood at the edge of the pool, tiptoed and looked around at the various club members in the pool, discovering that Nanasaki Ai, Rihoko Sakurai, Orizuka Momoka, and Captain Hibiki were all present, except for Hayase Saki and Ayano.
Recalling that even though Hayase Saki had clearly stopped training and spent a long time at the Service Club, her skills kept improving, and that after Ayano disappeared for a while yesterday and came back, her training results suddenly improved, a realization struck Tachibana Mikari.
Although she didn't know the exact reason, the situation was obvious.
═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═
patreon.com/AmbitiousTranslator
🥳Joining Patreon keeps me motivated and eager to work diligently, so please consider joining.🥰 You can access upto 40 advance chapter through Patreon.
https://discord.gg/bYAfGyp98y