Kurokawa Akane frowned, discovering a blind spot in what everyone was calling her.
Right now, they weren't role-playing in front of Producer. She and Kana were both calling each other by name.
At the very least they should be calling her by her stage name; that girl's stage name couldn't possibly be Ling, could it?
"Kana, do you know?"
"I don't know. Do Ruby and Ai know?"
"I don't know either."
"..."
The four of them, MEM-cho, Arima Kana, Tendouji Sarina, and Hoshino Ai, looked at each other and suddenly all fell silent.
Ling was arranged to come in suddenly; she hadn't trained together with them before either.
They only knew that B Komachi had such a newcomer. As for Ling's real name... they really didn't know it.
"???"
Kurokawa Akane didn't even know what to say anymore. The problem with B Komachi was a bit serious.
Just now they were taking large-scale cosplay photos together, kissing and hugging Producer.
And now they actually didn't even know their companion's name!?
"Did Elder Brother have fun playing just now?"
Shiba Miyuki withdrew her gaze that was gazing at Ling and the others' departing backs. She reached out to pull Hachiman from the pond up to the shore, smilingly looking at Hachiman while gently stroking his chest with her pale hands.
Her fingertips faintly glowed as cleaning magic removed the excess scents from Hachiman's body.
Elio, Elusi, and Ayla, the three mermaid songstresses, hadn't left yet. Seeing this, they couldn't help but secretly complain about the Yotsuba family's eldest young lady's jealousy.
Fortunately, Shiba Miyuki was a latecomer, and Her Highness Princess Iris and Her Highness Meroue of their mermaid race were both very magnanimous.
Otherwise, how could they openly and honorably romp and play with the Club President in the water.
Although Her Highness Iris definitely favored the elf race a bit more, Her Highness Meroue preferred being a sneaking lover.
Nobody led them to compete, to the extent that they were often forgotten by others. Even though the concert also had rest times, they could teleport back at any time.
Fortunately, as world-class ultra-popular songstresses, their status in the entertainment circle was intrinsically high. In the future, as more small idols advanced, they could all go over and piggyback a little.
Them directly acting wildly in front of so many small idols today was precisely to establish the Club President's style in front of these small idols ahead of time, so that these idol juniors would have psychological preparation.
And as seniors, they could give the hardworking and upwardly striving juniors some guidance.
"B Komachi and the others are pretty good. Miyuki, what did you just go talk about when you left with Nijika and the others?"
Hachiman, having returned to the shore, smiled and nodded. Not in a rush to put on his clothes, he instead inquired about Shiba Miyuki's whereabouts just now.
The Nijika sisters leaving couldn't possibly be hidden from him. It was just that he wouldn't manage things so strictly; he wouldn't stop whatever small cliques they formed in private.
Everyone had their own hobbies and lives. It was completely normal for everyone to play in bands and clubs normally, and then come back during the Late-Night Service Game.
It was just that now, more and more people only wanted to revolve around him, which instead resulted in him not having his own life.
Although currently he was still very much enjoying the feeling of being holed up in his small territory, having no thoughts of going out and causing trouble.
"Nnn... regarding the future of their sisters... Miss Seika and Nijika have finished talking..."
Shiba Miyuki nodded and lowered her brows, hemming and hawing for a moment before answering in a low voice at an unhurried pace.
"Also... PA-san is also willing to serve Elder Brother..."
"PA-san agreed too? Miyuki, how did you persuade her."
Hearing this, Hachiman was somewhat surprised. He reached out and lifted Shiba Miyuki's chin, making her lowered eyes look back at him.
He wasn't surprised that Ijichi Seika would agree. On one hand, she was indeed an older leftover woman who was even more anxious than Hiratsuka Shizuka.
Of course, it was Ijichi Nijika who was anxious; Ijichi Seika herself didn't have the urgent sense of desperate longing to marry.
On the other hand, it was because of her younger sister Ijichi Nijika, who had already boarded his ship and couldn't leave.
Whether Ijichi Seika was dissatisfied with him and didn't want him bullying Nijika, wanting to make love in her sister's place, or whether she genuinely had no small amount of goodwill toward him and was willing to serve him together with her sister, the result was the same.
It was just that for PA, he truly didn't expect she would agree so easily, even though being invited to the Service Club meant that PA couldn't stay out of the matter.
But he hadn't taken any definitive action yet; PA's impression of him should only be as a male classmate with whom Nijika had a very good relationship.
"It had nothing to do with me... After Miss Seika and Nijika reached a consensus, I merely asked PA-san about it, and PA-san nodded in agreement without much hesitation."
Looking up at the seemingly incomparably stalwart Hachiman, Shiba Miyuki's eyes were filled with infatuation. She slowly swallowed her saliva, and only after a short while did she answer Hachiman with a smooth breath.
If these three people were separated, they would actually all be quite hard to handle. But bound together as a trio, as long as one of them was taken down, the other two were unexpectedly easy to take down.
There was no need to say much about the Ijichi sisters who acted for each other's sake. Surprisingly, PA, who enjoyed her current life and didn't want to change too much, also had no objections. Not only did she make no demands, she even said that if needed, she would help pull some people in.
Should it be said that as expected of a sound engineer mixing on the edges of the rock circle, her thoughts in this regard were also unexpectedly surprising.
Perhaps this was the reason why PA-san, despite having an appearance full of mystery, lazy manners, and a gentle voice, decided to drop out of high school because she couldn't get out of bed in the morning, worked as a sound engineer at STARRY, and could still go home to play games until late at night after work ended.
Shiba Miyuki had long since thoroughly understood PA-san's situation, even gathering absolutely clear information on which game friends PA's online virtual game streamer identity "Otoxi Alte" had good relationships with.
No matter what PA-san's true thoughts were, even if she was joking, it didn't matter.
As long as she was willing to continue staying in the Service Club, as long as she still stayed in this small clique, there was no fear of PA not entering the fray.
Of course, although Shiba Miyuki wasn't sure what PA's situation was exactly, PA's free and easy personality had indeed done her a big favor. As long as she didn't cause trouble, she was willing to help out with any subsequent problems.
The initial startup phase of a small clique was the hardest. As long as they powered through this period, once it developed, pulling people into the fray later on would be extremely convenient.
Even Saegusa Mayumi from the Saegusa family was slowly converting a portion of the beautiful girl idols into her own achievements through Nanakusa Hazuki in the idol agency. As the heir to the Yotsuba family, she naturally couldn't be without any accomplishments either.
Kuroba Ayako was from one of the Yotsuba family's branch families and couldn't count as an achievement. But the master and servant of the Shinomiya family, the band girls in the Ijichi sisters' relationship network... they were all her targets.
Even though she very much wanted to monopolize Elder Brother for herself, she also knew that relying solely on her own strength would only lead to being defeated by other people's small cliques.
"I'll find time to chat with PA-san about it later. As for tonight..."
Hachiman nodded, not continuing to dwell on this issue. He raised his hand and gently stroked Shiba Miyuki's soft and smooth hair, turning his head to look at the three mermaid songstresses still in the water.
"Elio, you guys go see if Elisa and the others have rested up, okay?