Shino as a succubus unable to resist her desires, reached out to Hachiman.
Even Shion, dressed in a dress and high heels, long hair down in straight black, gentle and lovely, was playing the role of a betrayed wife hiding behind a tree, watching her cheating husband embrace his mistress with ardent affection.
Everyone's scripts weren't very complicated; with simple actions and looks you could tell what they meant.
But since everyone was taking their roles so seriously and acting very affectionate with Hachiman, she couldn't just play Little Shizuku alone.
After all, she was the one who was usually the most into cosplay, the one who wanted to cosplay the most.
"...That's fine. I think Shion can actually take photos too. But do I need a specific outfit to change into? I've never played the original work, will that matter?"
Hachiman looked at Kitagawa Marin with some speechlessness. He had thought Marin would go all out; after thinking for a moment he mused.
Whether in his previous life or now, he'd never played the original game of Kuroe Shizuku, 'Saint ♡ Slippery's Academy for Girls - The y*ung Ladies of the Humiliation Club: Deb*auched Miracle Life 2'.
Although that was rather famous among bishoujo games in this world, he'd always been the good-brother type who looked after the family and his sister.
He rarely went back to the countryside home, and with childhood friends like Kaede and Suzu next door, he never had much opportunity to play those games. At most he bought some harem manga or light novels to kill time with Komachi.
About Deb*auched Miracle Life 2, he only knew that Kuroe Shizuku was some cool-looking y*ung lady who becomes the protagonist's ? setup?
That was also why Kitagawa Marin's Kuroe Shizuku cosplay outfit was not only provocatively tempting but had a collar chain locked around her neck.
"It's fine, it's fine. Hachiman-kun, you just need to take photos normally like before. Normally you won't need to appear in the shots much. Maybe occasionally touch my hair, or hold the chain on my neck, other actions I'll do myself."
Seeing Hachiman agree to play her master, Kitagawa Marin breathed easy, waved her hand, and giggled.
"I mainly worry you and Yumiko might misunderstand, so I wanted to tell you in advance."
She couldn't be sure how many people here liked Hachiman, but she could tell that, aside from Gabriel and Vignette who liked to hide from him, most people had some degree of fondness for Hachiman and weren't opposed to fairly intimate physical contact.
But others are others; she is herself.
As Yumiko's good friend, how could she do something that would betray Yumiko?
"Don't worry. As long as you're willing to help me, afterwards I'll find a chance with Yumiko and Nijika to properly repay your hobby, really!", Kitagawa Marin said, patting Hachiman on the shoulder and promising with a smile.
Shooting would inevitably involve some physical contact with Hachiman, but that was the same as when they satisfied Hachiman's tastes together in the classroom.
As long as she and Nijika were doing it to help Yumiko, it wouldn't count as betraying her.
"...", Hachiman.
That line sounded a little familiar. Nijika had said the same thing to him before.
Should he say they really were Yumiko's good girlfriends, even their schemes to rope Yumiko in were identical.
"Oh, right. There's the character on my th*igh. Hachiman-kun, draw it so you can get the feel. Once it's done we'll start shooting!"
Kitagawa Marin suddenly ran over to the table with makeup, picked up a black pen, and handed it to Hachiman. Then she lifted her skirt to reveal a plump th*igh wrapped in suspender black fishnet stockings.
Shion, the head maid standing ready nearby, eyes flickering, immediately signaled the maids to operate two cameras from different angles to record the whole process of Hachiman drawing the character on Marin's th*igh.
To make a video for projection, photos taken by Hachiman alone weren't enough. They needed continuous footage, a lot of material for editing later.
After all, Hachiman only came this way once in a while. If the y*ung ladies didn't take initiative, Hachiman might soon be filming photo shoots at Yukino's or Ichinose's houses; in the future he might be going to Ichinose's or Yukino's for photo and video shoots.
But as a maid, even a close personal maid can't make many decisions. Shion could only assist the lady within her duties and do everything she could to win Hachiman's favor.
While Shion watched the camera screens showing Hachiman playing the master with Kitagawa Marin in Kuroe Shizuku cosplay, she observed the maids present to see who had designs on Hachiman.
Actually, among the maids the Rurikawa family had raised from childhood, there were some decent-looking maids always ready to devote themselves.
But, like the newly hired Sayo and Midorikawa Akira, they were a bit unreliable.
Not unreliable in loyalty, having stayed with the Rurikawa family through its decline proved their loyalty. But loyalty alone wasn't enough.
Letting foolish maids go flatter him was something Shion didn't trust the current true master, Hachiman, to handle.
Shion scanned the maids again and saw the usually taciturn maid Midorikawa Akira just as flustered as the foolish maids; she helplessly signaled Sayo to go help.
The Rurikawa household was developing quickly now, but talent was still lacking; reliable maids were few. If not for the Elven Princess and Hachiman protecting them, the y*ung lady might not have the heart to keep attending school.
They were training newcomers now, but it might be too late; they needed to recruit more well-behaved maids.
At school the y*ung lady was weak and isolated, unable to get help from her closest friends Kaede and Suzu; in competitions she often had to help Kaede and Suzu instead.
Perhaps... she could recruit some girls of decent background but poor family circumstances from the school to work part-time as maids.
After all, no matter how many maids the family had, they couldn't enter the school. When inviting Hachiman to the Rurikawa house, they didn't need too many maids to serve.
The real battleground was at Sobu High.
Although maids hired with money couldn't compare to demi-human princesses, Sobu High had many girls with good looks and figures. She could approach from a numbers and status angle.
She remembered that many transfer students split off from the Advanced Nurturing Middle School came from ordinary families; some had already severed ties with their families over dark pasts in middle school and no longer received support.
Originally, those students could have lived worry-free until graduation at the advanced school, but now even living in school-provided apartments they'd have to fend for themselves.
Now, Ichinose Honami in Hachiman's class was that type. Grateful, morally upright, not apt to betray, yet unfortunately had been wooed by the Ichinose household.
Watching Hachiman adjust Kitagawa Marin's posing, Shion thought about how to bribe students at school to support her y*ung lady, when a maid behind her whispered a reminder.
"Head maid, Princess Iris says elves have appeared outside."
———
In front of the Rurikawa mansion.
Melaise, Leticia, Leona, and Sylpha, four elves selected for their excellent aptitude. Each carried a small bag.
They wore loose coats to conceal their figures and hats to hide their pointed ears and identities.
As the maids confirmed them and opened the gate, the four chosen elves followed the maids into the Rurikawa estate toward the shooting site.
"R-really, this won't be a problem, right? An elf like me... will the Savior like me...?", Amid the group, Melaise trailed the maid nervously, fretting as she looked at the fellow elves chosen with her, her heart wildly unsettled.
Chosen as aid recipients by the Savior, leaving her village to come to this world to help the Elf Princess.
She would never refuse to assist alongside the Elf Princess and contribute to the elven people; after all, having always been ostracized, she had never received such an honor.
But even after being in this world with her elven companions for several days, she still felt uneasy.
In her village she was not well regarded, no friends, no one liked her, many elves had long wanted to drive her away.
An elf with such an indecent figure, would the Savior truly like her?
If the Savior wanted to send her away, would she return to the unwelcome village? Or be left to fend for herself in this world?
"Melaise, don't worry. If you don't believe you can win the Savior's favor, can't you trust Princess Iris's arrangements? If the Savior would hate you, he definitely wouldn't have allowed you to be an aid recipient."
Hearing Melaise's anxious words again, gentle Leticia couldn't help but sigh and patiently comfort her, wearing a somewhat helpless look.0
She had similar worries in her heart.
For hundreds of years she had never thought about love or marriage, hardly had friends, only Leona. Who would have thought that because the Elven Spring had dried up and the elven population declined, the elves would find the Savior in another world? A life-force so strong that he could aid many elves, merfolk, and dragons at once, a truly unique, powerful helper.
Although the Elf Princess hadn't c*nceived yet, it was said that such abundant, continuous life-force could, even if an ordinary elf became preg*nant after being aided, very likely give birth to a descendant with high-elven aptitude.
Leticia, a dull elf who only did research and had no romantic experience, happened to have acceptable aptitude and was of reproductive age. Together with her good friend she was chosen and sent to another world for aid.
Leticia worried whether the Savior would like her. Being often called stuffy and boring, she felt nervous. After all, the Savior seemed quite y*ung, while she was already several hundred years old.
Still, she wasn't as terrified as Melaise.
If the Savior didn't like them, they could simply return home.
Princess Iris always cared for her people and was beloved by them. The Princess even personally came to this world in search of the Savior; as the first aid recipients of the Savior, their people would certainly not be mistreated.
"I'm not saying I don't trust Princess Iris, but the Savior is a human... and from another world... Just because Princess Iris can be liked by him doesn't mean I'll be liked too...", Melaise knew she might be overthinking it, but she couldn't help murmuring.
Princess Iris was so petite and cute; it wasn't surprising the Savior might like her.
But Melaise was just an elf from a village extremely remote from the elven capital, villagers didn't like her. Could the Savior like her?
"Relax, Melaise. In some elves' eyes your figure is indecent and burdensome, but weren't we chosen for the same reason? Sylpha is a proud forest guardian and even more indecent than us~"
Leona, Leticia's good friend, interrupted Melaise's self-abandonment, having once used magic to tan her skin and standing out among the four. She looked at the last elf in the group, winking and smiling.
"Sylpha, you've met the Savior before. Why don't you tell us about his personality and likes? What if we accidentally offend him later?"
She and Leticia made up half of this four-elf aid team, but it was the combat-savvy Sylpha who had been doing tasks for Princess Lumilia and Princess Iris since arriving here.
Among the four elves, only Sylpha, the forest guardian, had spoken face-to-face with the Savior; the other three had only occasionally seen him from afar at Sobu High.
"...Don't worry. The Savior definitely won't discriminate against us because of figure or appearance."
Sylpha glanced at Leona, who wanted to encourage them, and fell silent for a moment. As they approached the corner of a building, she could faintly feel the powerful, rich life-force emanating from behind the next block. She slowly spoke to soothe their anxious hearts.
She didn't have much to say. This was everyone's first time; what experience could she offer?
Would watching Princess Iris and the Elf Princess give aid count as experience?
But their lack of experience wasn't a problem; if anything, because they were inexperienced, the tribe had chosen them.
Leticia was dignified, gentle, generous, from the elven capital, from a relatively wealthy family, with a good mother-daughter relationship.
Her records said she was somewhat stiff and dull, not good with people, living alone deep in the elven forest and often immersed in alchemy research.
Leona combined gentleness and enthusiasm, from a relatively ordinary background, skilled in magic, archery, and close combat, often hunting. She and childhood friend Leticia could guard the Savior together.
Among the four, the only problem was Melaise: weak, regarded as thin and superfluous in her village, discriminated against for not fitting the popular elven aesthetic.
This kind of body discrimination was like occupational or regional discrimination: elves who used magic and arrows from the rear considered themselves superior to those wielding swords in the front and sweating hard. Elves of the capital looked down on country elves outside the capital.
This hidden discrimination existed in many places; usually it wasn't so overt, and most elves' views weren't that extreme.
But the elven forest was vast, with many villages each with different customs.
Clearly, Melaise's remote village had worse customs.
"They won't discriminate us for figure or looks...", Comforted by the forest guardian Sylpha, Melaise relaxed a little.
Before she could think more, the maids led them down the mansion's main avenue. Turning the corner, they saw the shooting site on the lawn.
Since shoots were on rotation, Princess Iris and the others had finished their photos and gathered around the computer, lively and noisy as they watched the remaining sessions.
Several cameras surrounded the center of the shooting area.
Hachiman held a camera in one hand and a chain in the other. Kitagawa Marin, wearing Kuroe Shizuku's outfit, knelt on the grass, hands clasped in prayer, eyes closed and head tilted back toward the lens.
A chained girl, cheeks flushed, a devout praying expression...
Lumilia, nearby, lifted Marin's skirt slightly to show the character freshly drawn on her th*igh, then stood and took a prop bottle to assist the two in their shoot.
As a big red flower hair accessory dripped some water, shutter clicks kept sounding.
After a while, Kitagawa Marin slowly came out of Kuroe Shizuku mode, opened her eyes, clapped her hands over her flushed cheeks, and curiously licked a bit of prop liquid that had dripped onto her lips, looking at Lumilia who had come to help.
"Lumilia, what was that you just dripped? It tastes kind of sweet."
Were these prop liquids like that? It was her first time cosplaying. She didn't know much.
Before, she'd thought the liquids used in cosplays were concoctions made just for looks, special props that couldn't be eaten.
"This isn't a prop. It's water from our Elven Spring, which restores our strength."
Looking at Marin who was totally into her cosplay, Lumilia smiled slightly and handed over a small bottle containing white Elven Spring water.
"Here, take another bottle. The Kuroe Shizuku cosplay shoot is almost done. But we'll be shooting elven-themed cosplay later—drink this to recover some energy first."
"I see... there's such a precious thing..."
Kitagawa Marin took the bottle and drank in one gulp. The Elven Spring water seemed rare; a small bottle held only about ten milliliters, but it was truly magical. After drinking, her body felt warm and her stamina recovered considerably.
She even felt the slight warmth made it easier to get into Kuroe Shizuku's state, to play a girl desperate for her master's affection.
Unfortunately, there wasn't much Elven Spring water. Lumilia, as an elven princess, surely had more than this, but Marin felt shy asking for more of such an obviously precious item.
Well, this Kuroe Shizuku cosplay shoot was nearly over. With this experience, next time even without props she could immerse herself more and perform an amazing, best, Shizuku!
"Thanks, Hachiman-kun. I'll repay you properly with Nijika and Yumiko later. Eh? They've arrived already? Are we starting the elven cosplay now?"
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