Katsura Manami smiled when she saw this. Rather than saying whether Katsura Kotonoha should call her or not, she directly asked about Sawamura Sayuri's daughter, Sawamura Eriri.
She wasn't entirely sure whether Sawamura Sayuri had that kind of intention, after all, everyone had different thoughts.
But since Sawamura Sayuri was here, there was no way Sawamura Eriri wouldn't come too, right?
Eriri... She remembered her as the blonde tsundere twin-tail type... Even Setsuna's adorable daughter, might not be able to compare.
How could she possibly compare with the long, straight black-haired kendo heiress from her family, who had never had any contact with a boy from childhood to adulthood, and was practically capable of everything except for having a weak constitution?
Although Kotonoha was overly introverted, rigid, honest, poor at socializing, and even bad at cooking, among other shortcomings, sometimes those shortcomings could also be strengths.
"Eriri is over there, having some snacks with the others."
Seeing that the daughter Katsura Manami had raised lacked any opinions of her own, Sawamura Sayuri felt somewhat speechless. But when Katsura Manami asked about her daughter, she still turned to look at Sawamura Eriri and indicated her.
It wasn't that Manami didn't care about or love her daughter, but Manami really did have rather high standards for her daughter. There was no need for her to be that strict.
She wasn't as strict and picky as Manami. She and Eriri had more of a friendship-like relationship.
"Having snacks? And the girl next to Eriri is?"
Following Sawamura Sayuri's gaze, Katsura Manami saw two beautiful blonde girls standing in front of a dining table.
One of them was Sawamura Eriri. Who was the other blonde girl?
After noticing Sawamura Eriri, Katsura Manami immediately shifted her gaze to the slender figure beside her.
Although this girl looked not much different in build from Sawamura Eriri, her skin was clear and fair, her blonde hair smooth, bright, and glossy, and her presence seemed even more distinctive than Sawamura Eriri's.
"That girl is... a genius half-breed from an artistic family, a world-class genius painter, Shiina Mashiro."
"Her acclaimed work was a painting that could make even an ordinary person who knew nothing about oil painting become immersed in it at a glance and understand its impact. It was even more impressive than the finest cuisine made by a top chef from Totsuki Academy."
"To think that even a girl as pure as a blank sheet of paper like this was dragged into our group. I really don't know whether I should be pleased or ashamed."
Sawamura Sayuri looked at Shiina Mashiro, who was eating Baumkuchen as if no one else existed, and sighed softly.
Although she had been the one to actively pull the people attending the party into the group, hoping that those who wanted to be brought in would remember the favor, not necessarily becoming allies with the Sawamura family, but at least making sure Eriri wouldn't be helpless in the future and could occasionally get some help.
But seeing that Shiina Mashiro seemingly knew nothing about human relationships and had knowledge of common sense as immature as a baby's, she felt that an adult like herself was rather bad.
Not everyone had ulterior motives. Shiina Mashiro was completely devoted to drawing, and perhaps it was precisely because of that that she had achieved such accomplishments.
But then again, this genius beautiful girl painter actually wanted to draw manga.
Although she couldn't quite figure out what Shiina Mashiro was thinking either, Shiina Mashiro seemed capable of becoming the first member of Eriri's little group.
Hmm... Just like Kashiwagi Eri, who was only good at flat-chested lewd girls, had an erotic art style, and terrible plots, or rather... even worse.
This Shiina Mashiro, who lacked common sense and was entering society for the first time from her own world, produced exquisite drawings and plots that jumped around so much that no one could understand what she was drawing.
Eriri and Mashiro could form a club, use their inability to create good manga as the reason for making a request, and ask the club president to help them. That would certainly attract the president over to teach them personally. But Mashiro was too innocent. She might not even be able to understand what "assistance" meant, which made her feel rather guilty.
"A genius half-breed... Talented and beautiful, pure as a blank sheet of paper. Looking at this, the overseas forces really can't be underestimated. They're pretty strong..."
Katsura Manami didn't think there was anything wrong with it. She simply felt a strong sense of threat when she looked at Shiina Mashiro.
She already knew how many little groups there were in the Service Club, but she wasn't worried about the groups that were too aggressive.
The ones who didn't compete or fight, who acted as though all that mattered was that you were happy and that their whole world revolved around you, were the ones who were best at stealing men.
"..."
Sawamura Sayuri stared speechlessly at the vigilant Katsura Manami.
Seriously? Treating someone who didn't understand romance at all as a rival?
Sawamura Sayuri and Katsura Manami, who were both friends and enemies, were reminiscing and chatting, while Katsura Manami's daughter, Katsura Kotonoha, secretly observed the other people in the banquet hall.
Naturally, they weren't the only ones in the banquet hall. Although many people weren't here, quite a few still came and went.
The problem was that they were all girls. There wasn't a single boy. It really seemed that the Service Club president was the only boy...
Behind the two blonde beauties Shiina Mashiro and Sawamura Eriri, whom her mother and Aunt Sayuri had been discussing, stood another cute-looking girl with silver hair and purple eyes, her legs covered by gray over-the-knee socks.
However, the other girl didn't seem to be in a very good mood.
That's right. Shiina Hiyori was in a somewhat terrible mood right now.
Even when she had been transferred out of Advanced Nurturing High School and assigned to Sobu High, her mood hadn't been this bad.
Originally, the Shiina family had planned to have another girl from the family pick up the genius painter Shiina Mashiro, but that girl had happened to catch a cold after getting caught in the rain and was feeling unwell, so she couldn't go out. They could only change plans at the last minute and have her go pick up Shiina Mashiro, a foreign relative from the Shiina family whom she had never met before.
After picking up Shiina Mashiro, she also had the task of bringing her to the party and then taking her back after the party ended.
Hmm... She just hadn't expected that the so-called party would actually start at night and continue until the next day, and that they would even be transported to a secret location unknown to outsiders.
Although if it weren't for this, she wouldn't have learned the secrets of Kushida Kikyo, Karuizawa Kei, Ichinose Honami, and the others.
Watching Shiina Mashiro remain immersed in the deliciousness of the Baumkuchen, Shiina Hiyori turned her head toward Kushida Kikyo, Karuizawa Kei, and Ichinose Honami behind her, who all wore awkward expressions, and smiled slightly.
"You guys... don't you have anything to explain to me?"
Although she enjoyed being alone and didn't have the ordinary person's desire to make friends or anxiety over not having friends, not wanting friends didn't mean she wanted to be kept in the dark by her entire class.
Fortunately... If she hadn't noticed that the especially beautiful girl Horikita Suzune wasn't here either, she really would have thought she had been isolated and bullied by the entire class.
"Hiyori, we didn't deliberately hide it from you. Actually, I wanted to tell you too, but I thought you might not be able to accept it, or might not believe what I said, so I didn't tell you about these things."
Karuizawa Kei hurriedly clarified herself. More than anyone, she wanted to bring people in, okay? But Shiina Hiyori was always in the library, and she wasn't a member of her little group. Asking her to join out of nowhere would only end in failure.
"As for my relationship with you, Hiyori, that's even more obvious. If I suddenly approached you, you wouldn't believe me either."
Ichinose Honami immediately explained as well.
"Hmm... What about you, Kikyo?"
Shiina Hiyori nodded lightly and stared at Kushida Kikyo.
Although Ichinose Honami had come from the same school as them, she had previously been in Class B, so she really hadn't had much interaction with her, who had been in Class C.
Karuizawa Kei was now in the same class as her, but she had her own little group. It made sense that she wouldn't approach her before bringing in her own group members.
But what about Kushida Kikyo? Although she and Ibuki Mio didn't trust Kushida Kikyo as much as Wang Meiyu and the others did, they were still members of Kushida Kikyo's little group, weren't they?
Even if she knew about it, she might not necessarily be willing to join, but Kushida Kikyo had indeed hidden it from her.
"I was just worried that you wouldn't be able to accept it, Hiyori, and that you'd misunderstand me. Actually, I've wanted to bring you in for a long time."
Kushida Kikyo looked seriously at Shiina Hiyori and apologized sincerely.
Actually, she was confident she could persuade Shiina Hiyori. She was just a literary girl who liked spending time in the library. With so many ways Hachiman had to deal with women, if she really wanted to pull Shiina Hiyori in and have her work under her, she only needed to be a little more forceful. She didn't believe she couldn't handle it, so how could Shiina Hiyori?
But she really hadn't wanted to bring her in so early.
Few people suited the just-right bad-woman role better than her, but she couldn't compare with Shiina Hiyori when it came to the literary-girl type.
As far as she knew, there currently wasn't a particularly distinctive literary girl in the Service Club.
Who knew whether Hachiman might suddenly take a liking to Shiina Hiyori, this literary girl, and replace her with Shiina Mashiro?
Their class had already split into several factions: Class President Sakayanagi Arisu and her dog Kamuro Masumi; Karuizawa Kei's gyaru group; Shiranami Chihiro's little group, which wanted to join Ichinose Honami; and Horikita Suzune, who isolated herself from the entire class and formed a faction of her own. They could basically be said to be completely divided.
If there were another Shiina Hiyori literary-girl faction, Kushida Kikyo really wouldn't have any chance of rising to the top.
To avoid that situation, she naturally had to think things through slowly. First, she would use the advantage of being an exclusive personal maid to recruit beautiful girls from outside the school as subordinates. Once she had built up the foundation of her own little group, she could then bring in Shiina Hiyori, find an opportunity to take down Sakayanagi Arisu, Karuizawa Kei, and the other factions, unify the entire class, and declare war on the other classes.
Who knew that just after she had led a group of miscellaneous girls to complete an outside mission and gained a little foundation for her group, Shiina Hiyori would walk into the Service Club herself?
A miscalculation. What a miscalculation. If she'd known, she would have put a shared-sensation collar on Shiina Hiyori first, making her a member of her little group in name before considering what to do next.
"Is what you said really true, Kushida... Mashiro, why are you eating like that again? You've already eaten a lot. If you keep eating, you'll get fat."
"Hiyori, aren't you going to eat? It's the last one."
"Forget it. You eat it yourself. Just don't run around. Wherever you're going, tell me first. I'll go with you."
"Mm, Hiyori, you're a good person."
Shiina Hiyori looked at Kushida Kikyo with half-belief and half-doubt. She had just been about to question her when she suddenly paused, reached out, and straightened Shiina Mashiro's yukata, which had somehow become loose again. She then wiped the cake crumbs from the corner of her mouth.
She had originally wanted to tell Shiina Mashiro to eat less Baumkuchen. It was tasty, sure, but eating that much at once would increase body fat and make her gain weight and look less attractive.
But when she saw Shiina Mashiro holding the last piece of Baumkuchen out to her with both hands, staring at her with clear, pure eyes untouched by worldly contamination, occasionally licking her pink lips with her tongue, looking like a hungry kitten that wanted to eat it but was forcing herself to save it specially for her, she felt that she was just wasting her breath and couldn't help sighing.
She didn't know whether Shiina Mashiro was a genius who had been born specifically for painting, having devoted all her time to drawing since childhood.
In Shiina Hiyori's eyes, Shiina Mashiro's ability to live independently was absurdly poor. She could even be said to be incapable of taking care of herself, and the way her mind worked was also somewhat abnormal.
Now, after saying just a few sentences, she had to turn around and check on Shiina Mashiro, or rather, keep an eye on Shiina Mashiro while talking to other people, afraid that Mashiro might leave her sight.
She really didn't know how Mashiro's family could feel comfortable letting Mashiro come here to study alone.
Fortunately, she only had to take care of her for one night. Otherwise, she felt like she was going to become Mashiro's babysitter. No, wait, what if Mashiro thought she took good care of her and deliberately transferred here?
Wouldn't that mean she would become the person responsible for taking care of Mashiro?
It wouldn't be good to leave Mashiro, who couldn't take care of herself, unattended, but she couldn't take care of Mashiro alone either. There had to be two people taking turns looking after her, right?
She barely had any friends to begin with, and now she was being asked to take care of someone her own age like a mother. This was really too much for her.
Watching Shiina Mashiro, who had just given her a good-person card, immediately start nibbling at the Baumkuchen in tiny bites like a kitten, Shiina Hiyori suddenly understood a little why Karuizawa Kei, Kushida Kikyo, and the others all wanted to drag people into this.
Although the circumstances were different, the logic was the same.
As members of the same Shiina family, wouldn't it be perfectly normal for everyone to join the Service Club together and take care of little Mashiro together?
"Hiyori, why don't you and Mashiro join us? Don't worry, it's very free here. You won't be forced to do anything."
Seeing how much Shiina Hiyori cared for and took care of Shiina Mashiro, Karuizawa Kei tentatively said in a low voice.
There was no coercion in the Service Club, and the master didn't like them forcing people into anything either.
However, as long as they joined them and spent time together often, they would gradually become part of the group after seeing each other more and more, wouldn't they?
Whether it was the literary girl Shiina Hiyori or the genius painter Shiina Mashiro, she felt that the master would like them.
"There won't be any pressure from me either. Hiyori, after you and Mashiro join, you don't need to worry about so much. Just live as you did before. If you have any requests, I can also bring them up with the master for you."
Kushida Kikyo also hurriedly stated her position. A literary girl like Shiina Hiyori would probably be more popular in the current Service Club than those heiresses.
And Shiina Mashiro went without saying. A genius painter with astonishing talent who devoted herself to painting, with a personality as innocent and pure as a blank sheet of paper, would definitely be favored.
She could accept that kind of favor. As long as there was no struggle for power, being favored a little more was perfectly fine.
Or rather, it would be even better to be favored.
An obedient pet that didn't fight or compete only needed to be responsible for the mugwort, while she would handle everything else.
"Don't be like this. Just invite Hiyori alone. As for Mashiro... let's forget it."
Seeing this, Ichinose Honami couldn't help advising them.
Karuizawa Kei and Kushida Kikyo had gathered around not simply to apologize to Shiina Hiyori. More importantly, they wanted to pull Shiina Hiyori into their own little group.
Since Shiina Hiyori had come to the Service Club herself and learned so many things, she would definitely have to join some little group in the end. If they could also get Shiina Mashiro, a pure and flawless beautiful girl who looked like someone they could keep as a pet, to join, that would be even better.
However, Ichinose Honami felt that bringing Shiina Hiyori in was fine. Hiyori had a mind of her own, and she was obviously extremely pure. But Shiina Mashiro, who didn't understand anything at all, should be left out.
Don't be fooled by how nicely Karuizawa Kei and Kushida Kikyo were talking now. Once she actually joined them, if an opportunity came to push Shiina Hiyori or Shiina Mashiro into the water, they definitely wouldn't hesitate.
By then, this slender and delicate genius painter girl wouldn't be doing nothing more than holding a paintbrush.
Hearing what Ichinose Honami said, Kushida Kikyo and Karuizawa Kei noticed the subtext and stopped trying to persuade Shiina Hiyori to join them. Instead, they looked strangely at Ichinose Honami.
"Honami, are you trying to invite Hiyori into the Ichinose family?"
"Didn't you always say you don't recruit people? Isn't Ayano the one in charge of the Ichinose family now?"
Among the many little groups, the Ichinose family was one of the earliest to come into contact with Hachiman, and it also had quite a large number of members.
In the Ichinose group, almost everyone had the surname Ichinose. The only exception was Horigome China, who was Ichinose Ayano's close friend in class.
Ichinose Honami didn't have much say in it. Compared with the other Ichinose sisters, there was basically no difference.
Although Ichinose Honami didn't pull people into the water or poach members from other little groups, and had good relationships with everyone, she actually got more out of it than Ichinose Ayano.
Who would have thought that Ichinose Honami would now also start actively recruiting people?
"...About that, it's complicated. Although I personally don't want to do this, Ayano has been very enthusiastic about it, and it wouldn't be right for me to do nothing..."
Facing Kushida Kikyo and Karuizawa Kei's gazes, Ichinose Honami was also somewhat embarrassed. Her face turned red as she haltingly explained in a low voice.
She wasn't like Kushida Kikyo and Karuizawa Kei, who wanted to please Hachiman and receive more favor.
She already got quite a lot from the other little groups because she had good relationships with everyone. If she tried any harder, she'd stand out too much and provoke everyone's anger. She wasn't the elf princess Iris, who could contend with all those forces with the strength of one clan.