"Mikiko-auntie actually wanted to sneak into school wearing my uniform. If little Kasuko-chan hadn't stopped her, you might've seen her already."
"…As long as she's happy, I guess. But why not wear Yukari's office clothes instead?"
"Probably because she was worried Yukari would feel uncomfortable. Mikiko-auntie might look like an airhead, but she's actually pretty sensitive inside."
"True. Mom sometimes doesn't act like a complete fool… but this idea is just too bold. Yukari's so much younger than her, yet she has no awareness at all that she's already an obaa-san."
"Hahaha~~ I'll be sure to pass those exact words along to Mikiko-auntie."
"Spare me! You know how annoying she can be."
"Nope, nope, not sparing you~"
…
Listening to the laughter fading into the distance, Tsuchiya Ryouta's gaze turned complicated as he watched Hojou walking toward the school building, flanked by two beautiful girls in uniform.
"This… isn't quite what I imagined, Tamaki."
By their original plan, bringing Yamauchi Sakura into the baseball club was supposed to give Hojou Kyousuke more motivation to win.
But looking at things now, Sakura wasn't acting as a catalyst at all—she'd turned into a queen pharaoh.
Her words earlier still pounded in his head like a pendulum.
Ryouta had never expected that side of Yamauchi.
During the sports festival preparations, she'd looked like nothing more than a mascot, a figurehead with no real involvement.
"Not what you imagined?"
Tamaki Aonobu chuckled.
"But it's exactly what I expected. Like Yamauchi said—you still haven't made up your mind. You want to rely on Hojou's power, but you can't bring yourself to hand everything over to him."
"Our baseball club isn't like your kendo club! You saw it yourself—Hojou had to learn the rules from scratch."
"Exactly. And that's the point. Our kendo club can't be compared to your baseball club at all. You actually dared to treat Hojou like that?"
Tamaki's expression grew serious as he patted his friend's shoulder.
"I handed over the position of captain the moment he joined…"
"I also—"
"No. You can't. Our kendo team—main players, manager, old members, new recruits—we're all Hojou's fanatics.
Some of us fought alongside him in the nationals, others saw him cut down opponents there like they were nothing. We worship him wholeheartedly.
Even getting beaten by him in sparring makes us happy—every strike feels like we grow stronger."
Ryouta fell silent. He thought he'd already lowered himself enough, that his teammates respected Hojou plenty.
But compared to the kendo club's absolute devotion, their respect felt thin and fragile.
No wonder Sakura's words had chilled them to the bone.
"That's why I told you to ask Yamauchi for help. Don't think I was trying to screw you over. If she hadn't said those things, one day Hojou might've just thrown you all out.
Sure, you guys are the best baseball players at school—but if you're all equally relying on him, why wouldn't he just pick more obedient, loyal dogs instead?"
Tamaki rarely spoke so candidly, but only someone who trained with Hojou daily could feel the weight of his unmatched talent.
"Before, when I talked to you, all you noticed was Hojou's compromise with Yamauchi. You completely missed how much Yamauchi protects him.
Hojou is noble and humble enough to reason with you—but Yamauchi isn't. You've seen it now: when it comes to someone she loves, a girl will fight with everything she has.
An unbeatable player, and a manager who loves and shields him completely. Isn't that the textbook formula for a championship team?
The future looks bright, Tsuchiya-kun!"
"…A bright future?"
Ryouta echoed the words, thinking for a moment before his eyes lit up.
Yes. Sakura's words had been harsh, but based on all the intel he'd gathered, if she truly didn't care about winning, she would've already pulled Hojou out of the baseball club entirely.
After all, both of them were notorious slackers.
At the start of term, neither had wanted to join any clubs at all.
"A bright future! Victory!!"
Excitement surged in his chest.
Ryouta resolved to bring out his father's treasured sake that very night and pay a visit to his aunt and uncle.
He'd tell them all about how amazing Soubu High was—because here, the Hyoudou family and the Tsuchiya family would both find their future!
His cousin Michiru wasn't just some carefree girl who liked playing in bands.
Sure, her group hadn't even made it to small underground stages in Akihabara or Shimokitazawa yet—but if they became Soubu High's official support band, they could follow Hojou all the way to Koshien.
That's Hanshin Koshien—the legendary stadium that holds fifty thousand people.
Playing their music there, even as a support band, was better than wasting away at home.
Round it up, and it was basically the same as holding a live concert at Koshien itself—a privilege even famous bands didn't get!
And if Hojou really led the baseball club to victory—maybe even conquering Koshien for two, three years straight—Michiru's band might even become known as Hojou's exclusive band.
Besides, things at his uncle's house were tense.
Michiru went to Tsubaki Girls' Academy.
Nowadays, attending an all-girls school didn't necessarily mean anything old-fashioned—but her father was a strict, conservative man.
That's why he'd sent her there in the first place.
And yet, with that kind of dad, Michiru had gone and started a band. It was like dancing on his last nerve.
Worse, her bandmates were apparently planning to sneak off to Shimokitazawa to perform on the streets.
She'd even said in the family group chat that she wanted to run away from home.
The Hyoudou family was on the brink of collapse!
As his mother's most beloved son, Ryouta couldn't just stand by and watch his aunt and cousin suffer.
A burning sense of responsibility and mission welled up in him. He felt like he had ascended—become a great man!
So what if it was just a high school anime-song cover band?
As long as they became the Soubu High baseball team's support band, they could work toward the level of the prestigious Kyoto Tachibana High brass band!
Saving his uncle's family. Saving his cousin's dream. That was his duty as their family!
And besides… when he thought about introducing his cute cousin, Hyoudou Michiru—the girl who could actually rival Yamauchi Sakura—he felt even more fired up.
Sure, maybe in terms of overall quality she came up a little short.
But—she had a band!
With a drummer, bassist, and guitarist all in place. In terms of numbers alone, they already had the upper hand.
This was already the new generation—diversity was everything!
More is beauty, bigger is better!
If before, his determination had been as flimsy as duckweed drifting on water, ready to float away at any moment, now—after being hammered by Yamauchi Sakura's words—Tsuchiya had made up his mind.
Thinking of his cousin's beautiful face and perfect figure—eight centuries of Tsuchiya and Hyoudou family genes condensed into one—his responsibility as her older cousin flared up.
He could not let her dream shatter.
He would never allow her to really run away from home and become some stray girl, ripe for any lowlife to prey on.
Transfer her into Soubu High.
At the very least, get her into Soubu's baseball club as part of the cheer band.
That was the only correct path.
At all costs. With everything he had. Even his life if needed.
If Hojou was happy, the baseball club would be happy. And if the baseball club was happy—then he, Tsuchiya Ryouta, would be happy too!
"Tsuchiya, what the hell are you thinking? Why's your expression so sinister?" Tamaki Aonobu frowned.
He was glad his friend was finally thinking seriously, but that evil grin was another matter entirely.
"N-no! I was just… purely thinking about how to make Hojou enjoy himself more in the baseball club, about how to make the team more attractive to him."
Wiping a bit of drool from his mouth, Tsuchiya declared with iron conviction. In his mind's eye, he could already see Soubu High's name engraved on Koshien's championship banner.
Why his face looked so twisted while thinking about all that… he had no clue.
"…Right. As long as you say so."
Tamaki still felt something was off, but he nodded anyway, looking relieved.
"Then keep at it, Tsuchiya. Don't let me leave you too far behind."
"Just wait and see! I'm already resolved!"
Tsuchiya clenched his fist tight.
His mother's love. His uncle's family. His cousin's dream. His own duty as a son. And Hojou's happiness.
One stone, five birds. Five victories in a row! Not even a bases-loaded home run could compare!
Maybe his real talent wasn't on the baseball field after all.
"Each of us will fight hard—see you at the summit!"
"…Seriously? This guy's in high school and he's still that chuunibyou?"
Tamaki twitched, shivering with second-hand embarrassment.
But he secretly jotted the line down in his head—something he could throw at Hikigaya or Zaimokuza later.
"Lunch on the rooftop, okay, Yukino? I'll be waiting for you up there!"
In the lobby of the first floor, Sakura stood on tiptoe, waving energetically.
"Don't yell in the hallway, you'll disturb the other students!" Yukinoshita scolded, but still gave a proper reply:
"Do you want me to bring a drink? Consider it payback for the yogurt you treated me to yesterday."
"OK, OK, anything's fine!" Sakura beamed, waving again.
Just before morning study began, such a lively, radiant girl appearing in the hallway really was a healing sight—like a beam of sunlight to ease the suffering of weary students.
Yukari gave a small nod of acknowledgment, then threw Hojou Kyousuke a quick farewell glance before heading to class.
"Today's bento was made by Utaha and Miki together. Aunt Mikiko wouldn't stop praising Utaha's cooking this morning~"
Sakura grinned sheepishly as she said it.
Kyousuke understood exactly why she was so amused.
Utaha-senpai's maximum level of "cooking" was usually punching in a food delivery number.
Now that his mom was here, Utaha had actually entered the kitchen of her own accord—something so blatant even Kasumigaoka and their dog could see what was going on.
"Good thing Eriri wasn't there," he muttered in relief.
"Hahaha, yeah, too bad she missed it~" Sakura giggled even harder.
If Eriri had been there, things could have gone two ways:
With her clumsy-but-edible fried potato skills, Eriri would've dueled Utaha in the kitchen, trying to prove herself superior to a total cooking disaster. They'd compete to see who could sabotage the other harder, until in the end they poisoned poor Momo the dog.
Or, knowing her fries weren't exactly impressive and definitely not "meet-the-parents" worthy, Eriri would've gone for a strategic strike—directly exposing Utaha for being useless in the kitchen and only getting in Miki's way, blowing her up on the spot.
Sakura could even picture their exchange.
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[Eriri]: "Kasumigaoka Utaha, you do know refrigerators need to be plugged in, right?"
[Utaha]: "True, humanity hasn't had electricity as long as the Brits have had fried fish, but does fried fish really need power to exist? Actually… I recall reading somewhere that Siberian bears love fried fish…"
[Translation]: Utaha's knowledge of cooking didn't go much further than "the fridge plugs into a wall," and human food history definitely had no place for British cuisine.
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"With Aunt Mikiko around, it should be fine, right?" Sakura said with a bit of hesitation.
"Probably." Kyousuke thought of his messages with Eriri last night and decided he'd head to Toyonozaki after school to pick her up.
Of course, he'd also pick up Utaha-senpai and Naoka.
But only from the gate—tonight's priority was tutoring Megumi.
"Though… why did Megumi suggest holding the study session at a family restaurant this time? Didn't my Mom say she got along really well with her last time?" Kyousuke wondered aloud.
At that, Sakura's eyes darted mischievously, clearly catching on to something.
But what she actually said was: "Who knows Girls' hearts are always complicated. Kyousuke, asking me stuff like that is cheating, you know? You're basically asking me to teach you how to pick up girls! That's so mean"
Kyousuke immediately clasped his hands together in surrender.
He'd just been through the whole Shouko mess, and now Kato Megumi?
Even if the latter was a misunderstanding, a mature man knew better than to argue with a girl at a bad timing like this.
He walked into the classroom, answering greetings along the way, and sat down by the window.
Opening his phone, the chat with Megumi was still on-screen:
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"Hojou, my cousin gave me a pair coupon for the family restaurant. Want to use it for a study session after school?"
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