It was as if the world was maintaining balance. Every time an evil force invaded, magical girls with different names would appear specifically to wipe out that evil force.
Although the main fighting forces most of the time were exorcist shrine maidens of the oni race led by the Origamine family, as well as shrine maidens from shrines across the human world who used curse power and spiritual power instead of magic power.
Still, it had to be admitted that against evil forces willing to use any means necessary, maintaining social order was extremely difficult. When an irreversible crisis truly appeared, those magical girls still had to step forward and save the world.
However, even though magical girls came in many forms, with some using magic, some using songs, and some using technology, for some reason they were basically all very young beautiful girls, with absolutely no reproducible method for mass production.
That was also why, after discovering Hachiman could specifically develop and awaken magical girl talent, many large families and major financial groups among the human forces still tried hard to please him even while knowing that, to a certain extent, he would control the advancement path of magical girls.
Not only did they send suitable girls from their own factions over, they even sent heirs who already possessed excellent magical talent and had become magicians.
All forces aware of the achievements of magical girls understood that magical girls represented future potential.
In the future, once the number of magical girls in the Service Club reached a certain scale, all evil forces invading this world would be purged.
Of course, those evil forces also understood this. Next, they would definitely join forces with criminal organizations, corporations, and cults that had long colluded with evil forces behind the scenes, trying to stop the expansion of the Service Club.
Although their world did not have racial wars as intense as those in another world, the open and hidden struggles between supernatural forces in the hidden world were not weak at all.
With complicated feelings that were hard to tell whether they were expectation or worry, Kijou Yasha and Senga Sally finished the Awakening Magic Essence black tea in their cups.
Lowering their heads to look at their empty cups without even a single drop left, both of them could see the lingering reluctance in each other's eyes. They even noticed Aoe Mai tightly clenching her hands, forcefully suppressing her urge to explode.
Unlike Aoe Mai, who had mainly come for her daughter Aoe Akane to awaken her bloodline, they both had their own considerations.
Kijou Yasha, who had some conflicts with Aoe Mai, besides choosing a side before the great battle began, also wanted her daughter Kijou Suzuka to compete against Aoe Akane.
As for Senga Sally, she knew Ursula's identity and also knew that Seira's fiance's younger sister, Miime, had come here.
Understanding that her daughter Seira would sooner or later be dragged into bed by Ursula, she directly chose to bring people over herself.
But now it seemed they had all underestimated the true value of the legendary Awakening Magic Essence.
The strongest oni princess shrine maiden, Origamine Ouka, and the dragon clan leader Ursula were not simply trying to recruit and value Hachiman. They had completely submitted themselves to him from the bottom of their hearts.
Facing Hachiman, who could not only awaken demi-human bloodlines, but also increase magic power levels while continuously developing and training magical girls, just relying on their daughters alone was probably far from enough. After all, the elves, snow women, merfolk, and even humans themselves were all forming small groups. No one could resist the power of a clique alone.
With their status and influence, they naturally were not like ordinary demi-humans fighting alone. They could only send the whole family together.
The Aoe family had ghoul sisters serving their household, and they could even hire komainu clan bodyguards to "personally" protect Hachiman.
The Kijou family had oni allies, and they also owned hot spring inns where Hachiman could party as much as he wanted. Only Senga Sally did not really manage any faction.
But as a human-dragon hybrid, Senga Sally was much more unrestricted. If she truly wanted to gather people, it wasn't like she had no way.
Knock! Knock! Knock!
While Kijou Yasha, Senga Sally, and Aoe Mai exchanged glances with flushed faces, they suddenly heard knocking from the door.
Sensing the aura outside, the expressions of the three instantly turned serious, and their hazy eyes immediately sharpened.
The human forces had come too?
And they arrived while they were still here?
Could it be that before purging the evil forces, there would already be a great war between demi-humans and humans?
———
[Student Council Office Corridor]
During class hours, another group of people wanting to receive Hachiman's assistance crowded over.
This time, it was the human forces. Saegusa Mayumi, Shiba Miyuki, Shinomiya Kaguya, Charlotte, and La Folia were mixed among several unfamiliar faces.
Yukinoshita Haruno and Yukinoshita Yukino from the Yukinoshita family, as well as Lycoris agents Nishikigi Chisato and Inoue Takina, were also here.
But today, they were not the main characters.
The main character today was the tall, curvy, beautiful figure walking at the front of the crowd, head of the Yotsuba family, Yotsuba Maya.
Not only did Yotsuba Maya control the giant Yotsuba Technology Group spanning many fields, she herself also possessed excellent magical talent. One could say she had both strength and beauty.
Humanity's research into elf magic from another world was not deep enough, and they were limited by magical talent, making it impossible to mass-produce magicians.
But supernatural beings in other fields were not uncommon. Otherwise, humanity would not have been able to maintain its position under the watch of numerous otherworldly forces, preserve social stability, and even keep ordinary people mostly unaware of the hidden world.
It was just that most surviving supernatural beings were relatively young. Even magical girls above twenty years old were rare. Among humans, there were very few people like Yotsuba Maya, who was both the ruler of a major faction and a powerful supernatural individual.
"Miss Yukinoshita, does Mr. Hikigaya have any taboos? Your two daughters are so close with Mr. Hikigaya, so you should understand him fairly well, right?", Seeing that the people behind her were not speaking much, Yotsuba Maya smiled slightly, slowed her pace a little, and swept her gaze across the faces of Yukinoshita Haruno and Yukinoshita Yukino before finally landing on Yukinoshita Kiyuki.
The Yukinoshita family was a local power in Chiba, and among the representatives of the various factions present, they could be considered the weakest.
But because the Yukinoshita sisters separately held the vice president positions of the Service Club and Service Club, they instead had the greatest speaking authority among them.
"It was only luck. We don't actually know much about President Hikigaya either. My younger daughter originally wanted to create a club to help others, and she just happened to join the Service Club when President Hikigaya was still the only member."
Even though she had personally witnessed both her daughters successfully securing their positions last night, and many families had already secretly begun siding with them, Yukinoshita Kiyuki still did not dare act arrogantly before Yotsuba Maya, carefully revealing a gentle smile.
Since Yukino and Haruno could secure their positions, others could as well.
If President Hikigaya liked Yukino because of her appearance and temperament, then Shiba Miyuki, the daughter of Yotsuba Maya's older sister, would also gain President Hikigaya's favor.
"I hope we won't offend Mr. Hikigaya."
Seeing Yukinoshita Kiyuki avoid directly revealing their special relationship with Hachiman, Yotsuba Maya only smiled without comment.
If there was no relationship, then why was the Yukinoshita family specifically chosen?
Kaede and Suzu were Hachiman's childhood friends. The fact that Hachiman, whose status and strength had undergone earth-shaking changes, had not abandoned them could be explained by their deep bond.
As for the elf princess Iris and the others from another world, their unique identities and races, along with their fantasy-like charm straight out of anime, could also explain why Hachiman favored them.
Everyone else, even Rurikawa Tsubaki of the Rurikawa family, had to pay some price and carefully serve Hachiman together with maids.
There was no need to even mention the Ichinose family, who crazily dragged their own family members into this.
Among so many factions, only the Yukinoshita family had paid the least.
Could it really be that Hachiman randomly assigned positions, and it just happened that both Yukinoshita sisters became vice presidents? Who would believe that?
She would rather believe that Yukinoshita Kiyuki climbed onto Hachiman's bed, and that the entire Yukinoshita family had become Hachiman's dogs, than believe the Yukinoshita family had no connection with him.
However, now was not the time to focus on the hidden relationship between the Yukinoshita family and Hachiman.
The disturbance caused by the elf princesses late last night had allowed many factions to discover the shocking truth that the Service Club could not only mass-produce magical girls, but also make them rapidly become stronger. That forced her, who originally intended to wait for Miyuki and the others to build relations with Hachiman first, to personally step forward early and represent several other factions in promoting certain cooperation plans.
"..."
Noticing the faint smile in Yotsuba Maya's eyes, Yukinoshita Kiyuki understood her words could not fool the other woman and silently felt helpless.
It wasn't that she wanted to fool people. If possible, she also wanted to reveal a little secret and show that the Yukinoshita family had an extraordinary relationship with President Hikigaya.
The Yukinoshita family's power really was a little weak. Without borrowing President Hikigaya's name, it would even be hard to gain allies.
But the problem was that she genuinely did not know why Haruno and Yukino were favored by President Hikigaya.
At most, from the current situation where the Yukinoshita family and the Tohsaka family had clearly contributed nothing yet still managed to share benefits from the elf princesses, she could boldly guess that President Hikigaya liked black-haired long-haired girls and sisters.
But could she really bring that kind of thing out into the open.
Behind Yukinoshita Kiyuki and Yotsuba Maya, Shinomiya Kaguya glanced at Shiba Miyuki and the Yukinoshita sisters, who slightly lowered their heads and acted as if they heard nothing, and felt very displeased toward these people who had family support.
There was no helping it. Even if those people in her family were willing to bow and scrape while begging others, they still couldn't find a suitable person to represent them.
The elf princesses were all women, and every single one of them was extremely close with Hachiman. What would it look like if they sent a man over? They would probably get blacklisted before even meeting Hachiman, then be isolated by other factions taking the chance to attack them.
On the other side of Shiba Miyuki, Saegusa Mayumi looked at Miyuki, who already spoke little to begin with and now spoke even less after Yotsuba Maya appeared, and felt equally helpless.
Originally, she thought Miyuki was her rival. Later, after discovering how powerful the elf princesses were, she wanted to join forces with Miyuki.
But now... before she and Miyuki could even make a move, the situation had already escalated to the point where they could not casually interrupt.
La Folia could not help looking behind her at the silver-haired blue-eyed girl following them nervously and curiously. Her appearance was very similar to hers, but her temperament was even more holy and sacred, with a face like an angel's.
She actually also had an elder present.
However, this elder had only just been found after wandering outside since childhood, and was even younger than her. There was no way to push her out to compete with others.
If there had been a little more time, she could have invited her mother to fly over from their country and show sincerity to Lord Hikigaya just like Yukinoshita Kiyuki and Yotsuba Maya.
The problem was that she, Shinomiya Kaguya, and Saegusa Mayumi had all fainted last night.
By the time she woke up and learned about the disturbance the Service Club caused outside, it was already too late to urgently call her mother over.
With subtle and complicated feelings in their hearts, the group walked through the long corridor and arrived at the door of the student council office at the end.
Knock! Knock! Knock!
"Hachiman, cough! President Hikigaya, are you inside?"
Hiratsuka Shizuka, who was responsible for receiving them, took the initiative to step forward and knock on the door.
While waiting, the silent gazes from behind made Hiratsuka Shizuka feel as if needles were pricking her back, making her scalp numb.
Although she understood that in terms of status, power, and strength, the elf princess Iris, dragon clan leader Ursula, and the others were much more terrifying. If real conflict broke out and war erupted, Iris and Ursula could call their clansmen for direct frontal combat, unlike financial groups that generally only dared make small moves and scheme in the shadows.
But as someone living in human society, she still subconsciously felt stronger pressure from these financial factions.
Starting from the daughter of a congressman and a shut-in socially anxious beauty, then moving on to financial heiresses and princesses from another world, the jump in status was way too fast. And Hachiman was even the one holding the dominant position.
Even though Hachiman kept saying he wanted to become a househusband and live off women, maybe it was just her imagination, but Hiratsuka Shizuka felt this wait was especially long.
Only when she felt every second dragging by and could no longer resist wanting to knock again did the student council office door slowly open from the inside.
"You came looking for Hachiman? Unfortunately, you're late. Right now only us sisters and Tsubaki are in the office. Hachiman went to help demi-humans facing difficulties again."
Kaede and Suzu opened the door together. Seeing the human factions led by Yotsuba Maya and Yukinoshita Kiyuki outside, they looked at each other helplessly and sighed before letting everyone enter to see the situation inside the office.
"Mr. Hikigaya isn't inside?"
"Where did President Hikigaya go now?"
Hearing the Kaede and Suzu sisters voluntarily explain things, Yotsuba Maya, Yukinoshita Kiyuki, and the others all felt somewhat surprised.
If there were only this few people inside, why did it take so long to open the door?
They knew that even Aoe Mai, speaker of the demi-human alliance, had come to Sobu High.
And on the way here, they had not seen any trace of Aoe Mai and the other demi-humans. Could it be those demi-humans deliberately left while avoiding them?
Hiratsuka Shizuka, who had a little experience already, stared directly at Kaede and Suzu, who were dressed not in school uniforms but magical girl outfits, and silently complained in her heart.
If Hachiman wasn't inside, why did Kaede and Suzu suddenly turn into magical girls for no reason?
She seriously suspected Hachiman was invisible somewhere in this office, holding demi-human beauties while watching them.
But after thinking carefully, it didn't seem very possible.
Aoe Mai, Aoe Akane, Kijou Yasha, Kijou Suzuka, Senga Sally, and Senga Seira were all meeting Hachiman for the first time. It couldn't be that they all wanted Hachiman's assistance like Iris did back then, right?
"Come inside first. If you have anything to discuss, you can tell us first, and we'll pass it on to Hachiman later."
Kaede calmly ignored everyone's suspicious gazes and, together with expressionless Suzu, led everyone to the guest sofas while also serving cups of tea from the table.
"Please have some hot tea first. We just brewed this."
"Let me help."
Seeing that the Kaede and Suzu sisters and Rurikawa Tsubaki could not take care of so many people at once, Hiratsuka Shizuka hurried over to help serve tea.
'Hm? Why does this feel a little...'
Smelling a familiar scent in the black tea, Hiratsuka Shizuka confusedly handed the steaming tea to Yukinoshita Kiyuki.
Before Yukinoshita Haruno and Yukinoshita Yukino could react to the subtle expressions on the faces of Nishikigi Chisato, Inoue Takina, and the others who had already drunk the tea, when it became their turn to receive it personally with thanks and drink the mouth-watering, refreshing black tea themselves, their expressions instantly changed. Only then did they hurriedly look toward Yukinoshita Kiyuki.
Seeing Yukinoshita Kiyuki beside Yotsuba Maya calmly savoring the tea, Yukinoshita Haruno and Yukinoshita Yukino looked at each other and bit their lips hard, unsure whether they should tell their mother the truth.
"Thank you, President Kaede. Actually, it doesn't matter even if Mr. Hikigaya isn't here."
Sitting on the still slightly warm sofa, Yotsuba Maya looked around suspiciously but failed to notice any sign of mental interference. She could only steady herself, lift the warm fresh black tea, take a light sip, then look toward Kaede and Suzu across from her as she softly explained.