To understand how awkward Rurikawa was feeling right now, just imagine yourself in her place.
'If I were being messed with like this by Hikigaya-kun in front of Kaede, I probably wouldn't be able to stay calm either, let alone say anything about it. No wonder Kaede and the others looked like they couldn't even speak properly.'
'But… that's assuming I was wearing that bracelet like Kaede, right?'
'If a girl who has never experienced such things suddenly gets the bracelet put on and shares another girl's experience, can that girl still be considered a pure girl?'
'If I still counts, then even the moral committees banning impure inter-student relationships probably can't restrain Hikigaya-kun.'
Usui Makoto, who had run out to the student council office entrance, gradually slowed down, her pretty face blushing all over.
She suddenly felt like the school organizing adult-themed activities to relieve Hikigaya's urges might actually have a reason.
'Hikigaya-kun… this is just too damaging to school morals!'
Behind Usui Makoto, the Maid Shion slowly walked out from the student council office.
Although Shion was Rurikawa's personal maid, and theoretically was to warm her and her husband's bed after Rurikawa got married, and act as a concubine-maid when Rurikawa was unwell or pregnant, but since this matter also involved Kaede and Suzu, someone uninvolved like Shion naturally followed Usui Makoto outside to avoid more embarrassment.
Before leaving and closing the door, she took a deep look at Rurikawa. Seeing her lady holding her hands tightly, body tense, desperately trying to stay composed in the face of such shame and embarrassment, Shion left with relief.
'So the Poiman family matter wasn't something the lady sacrificed herself to resolve. It was because she got distracted by Hachiman and thus gained the elven princess's favor…'
Shion had long suspected the Poiman family wouldn't be that generous. The Rurikawa family didn't have that much face, even if they gained the Poiman patriarch's appreciation, it wouldn't be enough for so many resources.
Now that she knew the truth of that night, everything made sense.
Elven princess Iris didn't need wealth from the human world. Hachiman, from a normal family, didn't have the experience or power to manage such vast assets. Entrusting the Rurikawa family was the best option.
Since the Rurikawa family couldn't handle the Poiman family, naturally they wouldn't oppose Hachiman and the elven princess, who could.
In fact, if the elven princess didn't mind and the lady married Hachiman, then the assets managed under the Rurikawa name could rightfully be his.
However, the only, and biggest, problem was that what happened between the lady and Hachiman was just an accident.
Hachiman was childhood friends with the Suzu sisters, with deep emotional bonds. And the lady was close friends with Kaede. Even if the elven princess didn't marry Hachiman, the Suzu sisters were more competitive as twin childhood friends, the lady had no chance.
With the lady's personality, she likely wouldn't pursue Hachiman or fight a friend for love.
'Unless… student council president Kaede actively accepted the lady…'
The Maid Shion, pure and stern in appearance, glanced at Usui Makoto beside her, whose face was red and eyes dazed, not knowing what she was thinking. Shion calmly turned her gaze to the closed door of the student council office, quietly waiting for things to settle inside.
———
[Inside the Student Council Office]
"Hachiman… you bastard… give me that!"
"Haa!"
Seeing that the Maid Shion and her best friend Usui Makoto had left and closed the door, Kaede immediately tried to stand up and teach Hachiman a lesson.
However, she forgot that she could no longer handle Hachiman. Let alone now, when he could target her weak points anytime and crush her resistance.
The moment she tried to retaliate, Hachiman struck back before she could even move.
But just as Kaede instinctively covered her mouth, she heard Rurikawa's quickened breathing beside her.
"...", Rurikawa, catching Kaede's gaze, lowered her head shyly, clutching tightly to the hem of her pleated school skirt. Her straight, slender legs below the skirt were pressed tightly together without a gap.
But the Empathy bracelet doesn't force bodily synchronization, it only shares sensations.
She was already doing pretty well. If she had experienced the same thing as Hayase Saki, Narahashi Miki, or Ichinose Ayano while wearing the bracelet, sitting face-to-face with Kaede in Hachiman's lap, she definitely couldn't hold out.
Suzu silently lifted the blanket covering her and Kaede's thighs, knelt on the sofa, hugged Hachiman from behind, and whispered in his ear, "Hachiman, don't stop."
"Huh? Suzu, don't screw over your sister at a time like this," Hachiman rolled his eyes and patted Kaede in his lap, signaling her to get up and stop teasing her.
Although he enjoyed Kaede's flustered embarrassment in front of her best friend Rurikawa, now that Rurikawa also wore the Empathy bracelet, he really couldn't continue messing with Kaede.
Because when Kaede got nervous, Rurikawa would too. When Rurikawa got nervous, Kaede would get even more nervous… in the end, it would affect him too.
These two were true best friends, not just superficial ones. It was better to calm down a bit. If this escalated, it'd look bad.
"Suzu, just you wait…", Kaede didn't bother with other concerns. She got up, grabbed a tissue, and glared angrily at Suzu, whose arms were hooked out in a relaxed pose.
'It wasn't you who got embarrassed and messed up, so you could just ignore your sister's situation?'
'Tonight, I will definitely teach Suzu a lesson!'
As for Hachiman… forget it. She really didn't know how to deal with him. No matter how she bit back, she couldn't handle Hachiman. If Suzu hadn't helped her deflect, she might've embarrassingly begged Hachiman for mercy.
"Kaede, you idiot," Suzu lightly bit Hachiman's ear, her eyes on Kaede who was throwing the tissue into the trash, speaking vaguely, "Hachiman's being pursued by the elven princess now. If you don't try harder, you're really going to lose."
"What does elven princess Iris have to do with Tsubaki? Did that Iris really come here? What kind of ridiculous magic did she use? Not undoing it, is she up to something bad?", Kaede glared at Suzu, who was always selling her out to please Hachiman. She looked down and tried to remove the silver, delicate Empathy bracelet from her wrist, but the switch was like it was welded on, no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't undo it, making her seriously question Iris's intentions.
Supposedly Iris had come when she wasn't aware, but Kaede hadn't noticed at all. Did Iris do all this just to embarrass her and Tsubaki?
"Didn't Tsubaki say earlier that the Rurikawa family received lots of assets from the Poiman family? That means they're rich now. If we just agree to Hachiman having a harem and let Tsubaki join, then Hachiman can live his dream as a househusband, and we don't have to go out working," Seeing Kaede didn't get it, Suzu took a deep breath and explained her idea all at once.
"Tsubaki's close with us. We don't need to worry about her stealing Hachiman away. Hmm… she probably couldn't steal him anyway," Suzu wasn't a fool like Kaede, slaving away as a corporate drone to support Hachiman.
Since they couldn't handle Hachiman, better to have their good friend Tsubaki fill in.
Tsubaki got accidentally played by Hachiman. She was their friend, and also rich. Wouldn't it be great if they all married Hachiman?
Suzu was very open-minded about this. After all, she and Kaede were two people already. Adding Tsubaki didn't seem like a big deal.
"Suzu, how can you think that way! Isn't that insulting Tsubaki? You've been corrupted by Hachiman!"
Suzu's idea shocked Kaede. Was this still her sister? She was actually thinking of roping Tsubaki into supporting Hachiman like a mistress?
No wait, not quite, they were trying to get the mistress to support Hachiman and themselves.
Forget that Tsubaki was her best friend. Even if it was a stranger, Kaede wouldn't think like this. It was just too humiliating, making someone not only be the mistress but also support them all?
"Ah? Uh…", Meanwhile, seeing her friend Kaede finally freed from that terrible situation and feeling the heat in her body slowly fading, Rurikawa, who had just relaxed, was also shocked by Suzu's idea. She looked at Kaede, looked at Suzu, trying to tell if they were joking.
'Join Hikigaya-kun's harem?'
In fact, after learning about the bet Kaede made regarding Hikigaya's harem, she did consider confessing to Kaede and hoping for forgiveness about her accident with Hikigaya.
But only forgiveness.
She never thought Kaede would accept her. After all, Kaede couldn't even accept elven princess Iris pursuing him. How could she possibly accept someone like her, who had far less power, strength, and fame?
Although the Rurikawa family had grown much stronger with Hikigaya's help, enough to support not just Hikigaya and the Suzu sisters, but even all the girls in the harem bet (excluding Iris), money wasn't everything.
There were many things to consider. Just having the money didn't mean it was right.
"Don't worry, Tsubaki. How could we shamelessly ask you to support us too? Hachiman messed with you, I'll teach him a lesson so he repents. I hope you can forgive him," Seeing Tsubaki hesitate, wanting to speak but holding back, Kaede comforted her gently.
To Kaede, Tsubaki was a complete victim in all this. Although Hachiman and Iris helped solve the Poiman issue so Tsubaki wasn't threatened anymore, if Tsubaki had asked for help, Hachiman would've helped anyway. Even if he asked for some compensation, he wouldn't have demanded her body.
A girl losing her purity in such an embarrassing way. Tsubaki must feel awful inside, especially with a guy like Hachiman who just wanted to be a househusband and live off women.
And Hachiman was her childhood friend. Even if he was controlled by Ursula and acted involuntarily, even if it happened under Iris's watch…
"Wait! Tsubaki, you said your body was controlled by the dragon tribe chief? Then Iris and the others were there too, right? They just watched you get violated?", Now that she wasn't flushed from Hachiman's teasing and had calmed down, Kaede suddenly realized something she'd been ignoring.
Tsubaki had explained a lot about what happened that night, but she got vague when it came to sensitive parts.
All Kaede could confirm was that Tsubaki had been messed with by Hachiman, the Rurikawa family got lots of assets from Poiman thanks to Iris, but what Iris was doing during the incident wasn't clear.
"Gulp… Uh, Kaede… can we go back to talking about supporting Hikigaya-kun?", Seeing Kaede's sharp eyes narrowing as if she'd noticed something, Rurikawa gulped hard and tried to shift the topic with a hoarse voice.
Could she even say that she wasn't really the victim that night? The real victim was Hikigaya.
Two elven princesses and a dragon tribe chief bullied him together. She was just a puppet with a controlled body, a forced accomplice. In the end, though, they were all counterattacked by Hikigaya.
"???", Kaede was speechless at Rurikawa's attempt to dodge.
Was what happened that night really so unspeakable? Tsubaki even brought up supporting Hachiman but wouldn't directly answer what Iris and the others were doing.
She already admitted getting messed with by Hachiman, could there be something even more outrageous?
If Iris and Ursula had done something terrible to the Poiman family, Kaede wouldn't care, she didn't know them anyway.
Unless… it was about Hachiman… huh?
"Hachiman, did the elven princess Iris force you?", Kaede turned to look at Hachiman, a crazy guess suddenly forming in her mind.
If Iris and Ursula wanted to drive a wedge between her and Tsubaki, and Hachiman took advantage of the situation while Tsubaki got off scot-free and returned to school, she could barely accept that.
But Iris… could it be that she not only controlled Tsubaki to act against Hachiman but also joined in herself?!
"Well… it wasn't really forcing… I'd say it was a mutual support agreement," Seeing that Kaede had picked up on Iris from Tsubaki's reaction, Hachiman didn't try to hide it, he just clarified that no one was really forced. He and Iris reached an agreement, and that's how things progressed.
Though, admittedly, it did happen very quickly. They had reached an agreement the moment they met in the student council advisor's office, immediately kicking out Shizuka Hiratsuka and beginning the aid.
"How is that not coercion! That Iris is actually so vile, using Tsubaki's situation to threaten you! And yesterday, she even provoked me so arrogantly at your house," Kaede, hearing that Hachiman didn't deny it, was utterly furious once her suspicions were confirmed.
She had already found it absurd that the elven princess was pursuing Hachiman, but she never expected that her own territory had already been invaded.
Her impression of Iris, that blonde elven princess, had previously been quite positive. Pure and cute appearance, noble and elegant, courteous and polite. Who would've thought that this elf princess was actually the kind who covets other people's boyfriends.
However, she truly couldn't understand what was so great about Hachiman.
Although she thought Hachiman was indeed pretty great, otherwise, she wouldn't like him herself, but not to such an extent. Normally speaking, a guy like Hachiman, who wholeheartedly wanted to be a househusband, had dead-fish eyes, and a minimal social circle, should only be irresistible to childhood friends like her and Suzu, who had deep emotional bonds with him.
Hachiman's level of excellence shouldn't be enough to make an elf princess pursue him using such an absurd method. An elf princess, for heaven's sake, a princess of an entire race, how could she be so...
"Ahem, actually, the aid transaction I was talking about wasn't about Iris helping Tsubaki deal with the Poiman family," Seeing that Kaede had misunderstood and conflated Rurikawa Tsubaki's matter with his transaction with Iris, Hachiman reached out and embraced the furious, chest-heaving Kaede, who looked like she was about to devour someone, intending to explain Iris's situation in detail.
Anyway, he was bound to win the harem wager, and Kaede definitely couldn't escape. But for now, he should properly explain things about Iris to prevent Kaede and Iris from actually getting into a fight.
"President, let me explain the aid matter myself," However, before Hachiman could begin his explanation, two figures suddenly appeared beside him and Kaede.
The two figures were one tall and one short.
The tall figure was heroic and graceful, with a full figure.
The short figure was pure and adorable, petite and exquisite.
Both had long, silky golden hair and long, pointed ears.
"Good afternoon, Kaede~", Iris looked at Kaede, who was being embraced in Hachiman's arms, and greeted her with a beaming smile.
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