Komachi stuck out her tongue, looking not the least bit apologetic.
Realizing there was nothing he could do, Hachiman pinned his final hope on Asuna.
"Hey, Asuna... help me..."
As if expecting him to speak to her, Asuna cut him off mid-sentence, speaking rapidly and sounding pained.
"I'm sorry, Hachiman-kun. I did think, you know, maybe we shouldn't do this... but after they showed me those prizes, I couldn't help myself!"
Her expression was pained, but if you listened closely, her words were completely drenched in desire. Hearing this, Hachiman wore a look of utter resignation.
"In other words... there's something you want, too, Asuna..."
Asuna looked at him with a desperate, pleading expression.
"I can't help it! I want the first-place prize! Actually, I want all of them!"
"O-Oh... well, nothing to be done then..."
Seeing that Asuna was dead serious, Hachiman decided to quietly watch how things played out, praying to the heavens that nothing too weird had been made into a prize.
Then, Komachi revealed the loot.
"Let's announce today's prizes! In Fourth Place... A set of one hundred candid photos of Big Bro, from Haruno-neesan's secret stash!"
"..."
Hachiman had assumed something like this would exist, so he listened to the announcement with surprising calm.
"I've definitely never seen any of these photos..."
"If Asuna says so, then they really are treasures!"
"Oho."
"Hmm..."
Only Shino gave off an air of disinterest, yet her gaze kept darting back toward the photos repeatedly.
"Third Place! The Big Bro Body Pillow!"
"What the hell is that... There's no way anyone would want that..."
Hachiman looked at the four girls with an exasperated expression. They turned their faces away from his gaze, but their eyes remained glued to the body pillow.
"Y-You guys..."
"Yes, yes, Big Bro, please be quiet. Second Place! The Big Bro Alarm Clock!"
Komachi operated the device, and the clock began to speak in Hachiman's voice.
『Asuna, it's morning. Come on, wake up.』
『Shino, it's morning. Come on, wake up.』
『Elsa, it's morning. Come on, wake up.』
『Little Kitten, it's morning. Come on, wake up.』
"As you can see, with the flip of a switch, it will call out all four of your names! It even supports sleepovers!"
『Asuna, Shino, it's morning. Come on, wake up.』
"By combining the switches, you can freely change who it calls, from one person up to all four! There are other lines too, but that's a surprise for the winner!"
"..."
Perhaps Hachiman had given up on everything; he simply stared at the alarm clock in silence.
"And finally, First Place! The deformed Big Bro plushie, officially known as 'Hachiman-kun'!"
"Oh. Looks more normal than the second-place one."
Surprised by its seeming normality, Hachiman voiced his thought.
"Nope, actually, this one..."
Asuna spoke up, flipping a switch on the plushie's back.
Suddenly, the plushie stretched, walked around a bit, and began performing several actions on its own.
"Whoa."
"Cute..."
"It can also hold a conversation to some extent. Hello."
『Yo. Hello.』
Reacting to her words, Hachiman-kun raised a hand sharply in greeting.
Hachiman stared blankly at the sheer waste of technological prowess.
However, the reaction from the others was completely different.
"What is thaaaaaaaaat!"
"So cuuuuuuuute!"
"I want it! I absolutely want that!"
The three girls screamed at its adorableness. Even Shino lost her composure, chanting want, want, want.
"Hachiman-kun, good morning!"
『Yo. You sleep okay?』
"Hachiman-kun, let's do our best!"
『Good grief. It's a pain, but I guess we have to.』
"Who does Hachiman-kun like?"
『...Look in the mirror and you'll figure it out.』
"Hachiman-kun..."
"That is enough out of you people! Just start the damn Bingo already!"
Unable to withstand the shame play any longer, Hachiman screamed.
taking that as the signal, Komachi declared the start of the game.
"Okay then! It's a bit mundane, but let's start Bingo! First, everyone please punch out the center hole!"
Komachi proceeded to read out the numbers as they appeared.
The four girls cheered and groaned with every number. Watching them, Hachiman thought that since they looked like they were having fun, something like this was okay once in a while. He decided he would go a little easy on his idiot sister when it came time for her punishment.
Naturally, he didn't have even a microscopic intention of cancelling the punishment entirely.
Finally, the moment of resolution arrived. In a chaotic finish where all four reached 'Reach' (one away from Bingo), the one to claim the crown was Shino.
"Yesssssssssss!"
"Noooooo!"
"Ughhhhh, this is the most frustrating thing in my entire life..."
"Tch... terrifying luck."
"Master Registration: Asada Shino."
In the end, the rankings were: 2nd Place Asuna, 3rd Place Elsa, and 4th Place Little Kitten.
Asuna was relieved she managed to secure second place.
Elsa was satisfied, as she wanted the body pillow more than the alarm clock anyway.
Little Kitten smiled at her modest prize, thinking that for her position in the group, this was probably appropriate.
After Hachiman was released, he tried to say something to the five of them, but they quietly held out presents to him first.
"...Huh? S-Sorry, I didn't prepare anything for today..."
(Note: Hachiman did properly give presents to all five of them at a later date.)
"It's fine, it's fine."
"We all talked and decided on this together, Big Bro."
"Yeah, so just accept them without worrying."
First, Hachiman accepted a hand-knitted scarf from Asuna.
"Well, hand-knitting is the privilege of the legal wife, I suppose."
Next, he received a handkerchief from Komachi and a tie from Rose.
"Komachi figured something practical was best."
"I see you in a suit a lot, so I tried to pick one that would match."
Then, Elsa handed him a memory stick containing a new song she had sung just for him.
"Written and composed by me. It's a short song, but it's the only copy in existence—never to be sold to the public!"
"Seriously...? That's a genuine treasure."
"Wow. An eternal unreleased track by Kanzaki Elsa? That would probably go for an insane price."
Finally, Shino held out a silver pocket watch to Hachiman.
"A pocket watch, huh?"
"Y-Yeah. The moment I saw it while shopping, I thought 'this is it'..."
"Yeah. This is nice."
Seeing that Hachiman liked it, Shino let out a sigh of relief.
"Thanks, everyone. I'll, uh... cherish them."
Hearing that, the five of them beamed with smiles.
After that, the group indulged in sweet cake to their hearts' content, and the day's party came to a successful close.
When they got home, Elsa immediately put the body pillow to use, huffing and puffing over it to her heart's content.
Shino, naturally, was passionately talking to Hachiman-kun.
"Hachiman-kun, today was fun, wasn't it?"
『Well, it wasn't un-fun, I guess.』
"Pfft. Even this Hachiman-kun isn't honest with his feelings. Hachiman-kun, I'm going to go take a bath."
『I-It's not like you have to tell me. I'm not gonna peek or anything.』
And when she got out of the bath, Shino decided to sleep while hugging Hachiman-kun.
"Goodnight, Hachiman-kun."
『Yeah. Sweet dreams.』
For the first time since she was old enough to understand, Shino welcomed a Christmas she had truly desired and chosen for herself. And so, the night came to an end, wrapped in pure happiness.
For narrative reasons, this story leaned heavily toward Shino. Well, I suppose some of you might have guessed that from the title. Incidentally, Hachiman-kun will appear in the story several more times after this.
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