Diary Of Service Club, Helping The Elf Princess

"Nothing… nothing much…"

Hearing Komachi ask her to recount what had happened in the bathroom, Asougi Shion's freshly pale cheeks blushed red again. She shook her head nervously and shyly.

In truth, even though she had spent so long in the bathroom with Hachiman, they hadn't talked much—they were mainly doing other things…

———

Hikigaya Hachiman's Room.

[The task of providing refuge for the neighboring offering is complete]

[Task reward: Unlock Love Life Mode]

[Love List unlocks teleportable character: Asougi Shion

Wearing his pajamas, Hikigaya Hachiman lay on his bed and began checking the system rewards.

For this task involving Asougi Shion, he hadn't expected that he wouldn't even need to solve her family problems or rent the neighboring apartment for her. Despite this, the task was still considered complete.

On reflection, it made sense—Shion merely needed a place to stay. Whether or not he rented a room next door didn't seem to matter, as this home already had a spot for her.

Of course, he had promised Shion, so naturally, he would follow through.

If, previously, he treated Shion well because of the task reward, now that she was part of his family, his kindness toward her was only natural.

Even if their relationship grew closer, and he truly began to view her as an important sister like Komachi, it wouldn't be appropriate for Shion not to have her private space. Tomorrow, he'd inquire with the landlord about the room next to Vignette's—if it was unoccupied, he'd rent it.

This way, Shion could often bring Vignette over for meals, achieving two goals with one move.

Having made up his mind, Hachiman stopped dwelling on the apartment situation. It was late; he'd deal with the landlord tomorrow.

Now, he needed to focus on the task reward.

Hachiman directed his attention to the recently unlocked Love Life Mode.

'Love Life Mode…'

At first glance, Hachiman didn't know what this function was since the dating sim he'd played before didn't have such a feature.

But after reading the description of Love Life Mode, he understood what it entailed.

[Love Life Mode: Upon activation, the user will be transported to an independent map identical to the current scene. This space is undetectable and uninterruptable. (P.S.: Only characters on the Love List can enter Love Life Mode with the user)]

In the original dating sim, one of the special mechanics was that once a girlfriend's affection level reached a certain point, the player could invite her to a special event. During these events, it was as if a special map was entered—no matter the situation, even if the player was in front of the entire class or other girlfriends, intimate actions with the girlfriend would neither be noticed nor negatively affect others' affection levels.

However, reality wasn't a game. The special state in the game translated into being transported to an independent map in real life—or rather, this Love Life Mode created a mirrored space resembling reality.

In this mirrored space, the environment and people appeared as projections identical to the real world. Whatever happened inside wouldn't be discovered, and only exiting the mode would return the user to reality.

Still, Hachiman couldn't help but wonder whether his combat experience from Hitman 47 and assassin templates was influencing his thoughts.

His first thought was: 'could this mode be used during battles?'

If Love Life Mode could be activated during a fight, combined with the ability to teleport to characters on the Love List, it would make him nearly untouchable—unless someone could destroy him in one blow or launch an all-encompassing attack.

Thanks to the Servant's Collar always on his wrist, no mental powers could affect his will. At any time, he could retreat to this other-dimensional space and then teleport to a character on the Love List to escape.

Thinking of this, Hachiman was eager to test Love Life Mode.

Currently, his Love List included two unlocked characters: Hayase Saki and Asougi Shion, allowing him to teleport between them.

He could first teleport to Hayase Saki's place and then to Shion's side later—flirting without leaving his home.

However, he couldn't test how Love Life Mode interacted with combat at the moment, and Shion was still with Komachi.

Thinking of Komachi next door, Hachiman restrained his desire to teleport to Hayase Saki's place. Instead, he diverted his attention to the Love Life system tasks.

So far, he'd completed three tasks:

[The Clear Girlfriend of the Swim Club]

[Raising the Gyarus' Boyfriend]

[The Neighboring Offering with No Place to Stay]

Many tasks remained:

[I Am the Real Service Club President—Yukinoshita Yukino]

[Assisting the Elf Princess—Iris]

[The Fall of the Heaven's Top Student—Gabriel]

[The Girl's Plea—Sakurase Shino]

[The Irresistible Politician's Daughter—Ichinose Suzuno]

Excluding the tasks he wasn't interested in—like the angel's fall—or found unappealing—like the Service Club president task, the remaining tasks weren't too challenging.

Among them, assisting the elf princess was the easiest, given his current physical state and improving skills. Following the plan, this task would likely involve no real danger.

As for Ichinose Suzuno, threatened due to her teacher-student relationship, he had no plans to intervene for now.

So, in the short term, only Sakurase Shino's plea needed his consideration.

Tomorrow, he'd observe how Yukinoshita Yukino fared in guiding the reclusive Sakurase Shino. If her efforts didn't yield results, it'd be his turn to step in.

But why do so many of their names end with "no"?

Noticing the repetition of "no" in Yukinoshita Yukino, Sakurase Shino, and Ichinose Suzuno's names, Hachiman couldn't help but complain internally. Not only did Sobu High have many problematic girls, but those girls also seemed to share this naming quirk.

Having reviewed his tasks and taken stock of his abilities, Hachiman prepared to sleep.

Although he wasn't very tired, he had a busy day ahead, continuing to assist the elf princess and guide Sakurase Shino.

Additionally, he needed to fully settle things with Yuina and her gyaru friends and find a chance to clarify matters with the twin childhood friends, Kaede and Suzu, helping them accept his philandering nature.

As the Service Club's president, the pressure on him was considerable. Tonight, he decided not to continue chatting with Komachi and the others.

Hmm… it wasn't because of the bold claim he made in front of Komachi about not making a move on Shion, only to break that promise two days later.

Looking out the window toward the neighboring apartment, Hachiman sighed lightly, drew the curtains, turned off the lights, returned to his bed, pulled up the blanket, and closed his eyes.

———

CREAK!

A faint light seeped into the dark, lightless room through the slightly opened door, only to vanish again.

Gentle footsteps on the floor crept closer to the bed.

"Hachiman-oniichan…"

Having already opened his eyes, Hachiman reached out to embrace the figure approaching his bed. Running his hand through her dark, smooth hair, he couldn't help but ask:

"Why are you here? Didn't I tell you to sleep in Komachi's room?"

With so few people at home, the quiet intruder was obviously not Komachi.

But he certainly hadn't called Shion over to sleep with him—Komachi was still home, after all. It was already bold enough for the two of them to take a bath together.

"Komachi told me to…"

Snuggling into his arms as he stroked her hair, Asougi Shion lifted a corner of the blanket, slid beneath it, pressed half her body against his, and whispered shyly.

After mustering all her courage to take the initiative while he was bathing, she didn't have the guts for a second attack late at night.

But since Komachi brought it up, asking her to stay with Hachiman, she had no choice but to comply—otherwise, Komachi would have insisted she recount everything that had happened in the bathroom.

Left with no choice, unable to lie, and knowing Komachi could easily see through her, she did as Komachi arranged and came over.

"Komachi, that girl…"

Hachiman shook his head helplessly. As expected, this was Komachi's doing.

After all, Shion was a reserved girl—even in the bathroom, she had quietly endured being held in his arms despite her discomfort. She wouldn't have dared to take the initiative again so soon.

"You don't have to worry, Onii-chan. I'll leave early in the morning…"

Seeing Hachiman simply stroke her hair without doing anything else, Shion thought he was worried about being caught in the morning by Kaede and Suzu, who might come knocking. She hurried to reassure him.

"Shion, you've misunderstood. That's not what I'm worried about. I was just wondering if Komachi might eavesdrop outside the door."

Seeing Asougi Shion lower her stance so much, even to the point of humility, Hikigaya Hachiman sighed inwardly. His hand, which had been stroking her hair, slid down along her back, wrapping around her smooth, slender waist. He gently kissed her forehead and smiled as he explained.

Dealing with a mere inexperienced Shion wouldn't leave him so exhausted that he'd pass out until morning. He was sure he'd handle everything properly before sleeping.

Originally, he was just worried about the noise. Komachi's room was right next to his, and being too loud could easily disturb her rest. Plus, his parents, who worked irregular hours, might return in the middle of the night. He couldn't possibly let them find out he had made a move on Komachi's classmate.

However, now that he had Love Life Mode, he didn't need to be overly concerned.

Although he still couldn't test how Love Life Mode functioned in battle, tonight he could at least experience its features.

Since Love Life Mode had been unlocked by Shion, he decided to let her be the first to experience it.

"Eavesdrop? Then, what do we…?"

Hearing Hachiman's reminder, Asougi Shion immediately realized why Komachi had been so insistent on her coming to Hachiman's room to sleep. Her face turned bright red, and she stammered, unable to form coherent words.

In the bathroom earlier, she had already been reminded by Hachiman that Komachi was outside the bathroom door, which had made her so nervous that she didn't dare to make even the slightest noise. And now, Komachi was eavesdropping again?

Could it be that Komachi was addicted to eavesdropping…?

"We don't need to worry about what Komachi does; we'll just do what we want to do."

Hikigaya Hachiman looked down at the shy and flustered Asougi Shion, smiled, and lifted her smooth, rounded chin with his hand. Then, he activated Love Life Mode.

Although the pitch-dark room made it difficult to see clearly, he could still imagine how embarrassed and annoyed Shion must have been at that moment.

However, her worries were unnecessary. Soon she would understand that even if they did something right in front of Komachi, Komachi wouldn't be able to hear any of their voices.

———

Morning.

"Onii-chan, Shion, good morning…"

Rubbing her eyes, Komachi came downstairs, yawning as she called out to the two busy figures in the kitchen.

"Good morning, Komachi…"

Hearing Komachi's voice, Asougi Shion greeted her. She opened her mouth as if she wanted to say something, but after pursing her lips, she stayed silent. Her face turned rosy as she turned back to continue preparing the bento for lunch.

"Komachi, didn't you sleep well last night?"

Hikigaya Hachiman turned to glance at the fatigued-looking Komachi and smiled as he asked.

"I guess you could say that…"

Leaning against the kitchen wall, Komachi weakly replied while watching her energetic brother and Asougi Shion.

She hadn't slept well last night—not because of insomnia or anything like that.

It was mainly because she had spent so much time eavesdropping outside her brother's room, but she hadn't heard anything. Eventually, she grew too sleepy and returned to her own room to sleep.

Honestly, she found it hard to believe. How could her brother remain so composed, sharing a room with someone as beautiful and adorable as Shion, even sleeping on the same bed, without making a move on her?

That doesn't make sense.

She could accept that she hadn't been able to hear clearly through the bathroom door because of the water sounds, but last night, the room had been so quiet. If there had been any sound other than complete silence, she would have heard it.

But the reality was, there wasn't even the faintest noise coming from her brother's room.

Which meant that her brother had only slept beside Shion, at most holding her as they slept through the night?

Could it be that her brother was… not capable in that area…?

Standing by the wall, Komachi looked at her completely refreshed brother. She hesitated, wanting to ask, but eventually stopped herself.

How could she even bring this up? Shion hadn't said anything about it, and as his little sister, bringing up such a topic would only make things awkward for everyone.

Meanwhile, Shion, standing next to Hachiman and cooking, felt Komachi's gaze lingering on her brother. Shion thought Komachi had figured out what had happened between her and Hachiman in front of Komachi's bed last night. Her heart tightened, and she became extremely anxious that Komachi might say something embarrassing.

Hachiman had clearly assured her that Komachi wouldn't find out—he wouldn't lie to her, would he?

Shion cast a pleading look at Hachiman.

"Ahem, it's getting late. Komachi, go freshen up first."

Seeing Shion so scared of Komachi, Hikigaya Hachiman sighed and patted Komachi's head. He then placed his hands on her shoulders and gently pushed her toward the bathroom.

Komachi would never notice Love Life Mode—she was probably just sulking because she hadn't heard anything while eavesdropping.

Shion, on the other hand, still wasn't used to interacting with Komachi, making her overly sensitive. If Komachi had really figured anything out, she would have made a fuss already; there's no way she'd stay this quiet.

"Tch, stupid Onii-chan. Now that you have Shion, you treat me like this. I won't help you anymore."

Komachi pouted, feeling like her brother just wanted her out of the way so he could get cozy with Shion.

What a brother who forgets his sister in the face of love.

Wait, wasn't Shion still calling him "Onii-chan" too?

'Hmm… Shion always calls him Hachiman-nii…'

Come to think of it, Shion and her brother had never explicitly defined their relationship. Could it be that her brother only saw Shion as a little sister?

If last night wasn't because of some physical issue, then wasn't it highly likely that Shion had gone from being her potential sister-in-law to just her sister?

Otherwise, how could her brother stay so unmoved?

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