Luo Yu's words made Sawako Yamanaka, who had been enthusiastically pulling out clothes, freeze mid-motion. She slowly raised her head and looked at the Light Music Club girls, who had backed away several steps—especially Mio Akiyama, whose face was already bright red.
Then she turned to look at Luo Yu, her stiff neck making a series of cracking sounds. Luo Yu was looking at her with a teasing expression.
"No... it's not like that! I don't have that kind of interest!" Sawako flusteredly tried to explain. She still wanted to preserve her gentle image in front of her students.
What she did not know was that, in the eyes of the Light Music Club members, she had long since lost any image to preserve.
"Even if you try to explain, it won't help. These clothes you brought out are proof enough." Luo Yu had no intention of beating around the bush and delivered a killing blow.
"I never knew you had that kind of interest, Sawako." Hiratsuka Shizuka could not help teasing her as well. They had been friends for so many years, yet she had never known Sawako had such interests. That was truly a dereliction of duty on her part.
Seeing Sawako Yamanaka petrified by Luo Yu's words, the girls stepped forward to comfort her. "It's fine, Little Sawako. Even if you do have that sort of fetish, we won't discriminate against you."
Sawako's mouth twitched after hearing that. Was that supposed to be comforting? Still, the girls' words snapped her back to her senses.
Since things had already come to this, she no longer cared about things like dignity. She stopped hiding anything and slammed all the bags of clothes onto the table with a bang, then pulled out several outfits and stuffed them into the girls' arms.
"You will wear these outfits to record the video! Refusal is not allowed!" Sawako declared forcefully at the end.
Facing Sawako, who now carried the oppressive air of a powerful expert, the girls followed their hearts and accepted the clothes she handed them.
But when Mio Akiyama saw the outfit in her hands clearly, she cried out, "Eek—ah!!!"
As she screamed, she threw the outfit onto the nearby table and said, "How could anyone wear something this embarrassing?!"
"Huh? Is it that embarrassing? I think it's really cute." Yui Hirasawa said it with her usual airheaded innocence, as steady as ever.
Hearing Yui Hirasawa's words only made Mio Akiyama feel even more ashamed.
"No, no. I refuse to wear a maid outfit!" Mio Akiyama covered her ears, trying to deceive herself, then crouched in a corner and began muttering under her breath. "If I wear something like that, I'll never get married..."
Seeing Mio Akiyama react so intensely, everyone was speechless.
"Well, Mio has always been timid and shy since she was little. Clothes like that are already beyond her limits. For her, this is basically a public execution."
Ritsu Tainaka explained the reason to everyone and casually exposed some embarrassing details about her childhood friend.
"Unbelievable. There are still people this conservative nowadays?" Sawako looked at Mio Akiyama as though she were some rare animal.
At that moment, Luo Yu recklessly added, "Did you think everyone was like you and Teacher Hiratsuka, still hoping to marry yourselves off at your age?"
Whoosh!
"Teacher Hiratsuka, what are you doing? Using violence against a student isn't the behavior of a good teacher."
Luo Yu caught Hiratsuka Shizuka's incoming fist and spoke calmly.
"You little brat, I've put up with you for a long time. Who are you calling old?" Sawako also slammed the table, rose to her feet, and glared viciously at Luo Yu after hearing his words.
"Tch." Hiratsuka Shizuka withdrew her fist. "Don't casually discuss a woman's age, kid."
So age was the only part they cared about? He truly could not understand these older unmarried women.
After Hiratsuka Shizuka withdrew her fist, Luo Yu lowered his hand as well, looking completely calm. Where no one noticed, however, his hand was trembling slightly.
As expected of the invincible Iron Fist Shizuka-chan. He had almost failed to react to that punch just now.
Hachiman Hikigaya looked at Luo Yu as though he were looking at a god. Someone had actually managed to catch Teacher Hiratsuka's iron fist.
Seeing Sawako still glaring fiercely at him, Luo Yu showed no intention of indulging her and continued without changing expression. "I wasn't wrong. You and Teacher Hiratsuka obviously both really want to get married, and you go on blind dates every week."
"Huh? Little Sawako goes on blind dates every week? That's so pitiful."
With one break, the crouching dragon emerged! Yui Hirasawa landed a focused etiquette strike on Sawako with her natural black-belliedness, and it was a two-hit combo.
Sawako staggered and collapsed onto the table. She looked at Luo Yu in disbelief, as though asking how he knew.
"That's enough, kid. Is that any way to talk about a teacher?"
Hiratsuka Shizuka could not take it anymore. This brat was getting more and more enthusiastic. She wanted to shut Luo Yu up with her fists, but when she recalled their record against each other...
Hiratsuka Shizuka realized she truly could not beat him, so all she could do was say a few words.
Komachi's Arrival
"Fine. I won't say any more, but I still don't understand. Your conditions are pretty good, teachers, so why does no one want to marry you?"
To be honest, Luo Yu had always been curious about this. When watching anime, he could say it was necessary for the plot, but this was reality now.
With the two teachers' qualifications, why was no one willing to marry them? Did the people they met on blind dates have standards that high? Or did these two teachers simply enjoy going on blind dates without actually intending to get married?
Hearing Luo Yu's question, Hiratsuka Shizuka and Sawako began complaining tearfully. "What can we do?! Things are always going well at first, but they somehow always fail in the end. I want to get married too!"
Tch, what a pain. I shouldn't have said anything. Still, he hoped two kindhearted people would come along and marry them.
Ignoring the two older unmarried women, who had stopped holding back and begun recounting their blind-date experiences, Luo Yu started searching through the clothes Sawako had brought to see if there was anything suitable for performing.
Before long, he actually found some.
"Hey, you guys, come take a look. These outfits should be pretty suitable." Luo Yu's voice drew over the Light Music Club girls, who had been listening to gossip.
The girls' eyes lit up when they saw the outfits Luo Yu had selected. These were much better than the ones Sawako had picked.
Luo Yu was extremely confident about that. After all, these were the performance costumes the girls wore during the School Festival in the original story.
Luo Yu had not expected Sawako to have made them already. He had even found a men's outfit among them, which looked like it had been prepared for him.
After thinking it over briefly, Luo Yu realized these had been the performance costumes Sawako originally prepared for them. The other clothes had merely been there to satisfy her own fetish.
With the clothes in hand, the girls could not wait to put them on and try them out. Even Mio Akiyama did not refuse this time. Though she was still somewhat embarrassed, these costumes were far better than the previous outfits.
After all, a famous writer surnamed Lu from Han Country had once said: if you want to open a window in a room, people will disagree. But if you say you want to lift off the roof, they will agree to let you open a window.
By the same logic, if Mio Akiyama had been asked to wear the performance costume from the start, she might not have agreed. But when the only alternative to the performance costume was a maid outfit, she would gladly choose the performance costume.
After Luo Yu and the girls had changed into their clothes, Hiratsuka Shizuka and Sawako returned to normal as well.
Hiratsuka Shizuka had already prepared to record. Her eyes brightened when she saw the Light Music Club members in their performance costumes. "Not bad. You look the part. Hurry and get ready. Once we're done recording, I'll leave this camera with you. From now on, you can record and upload things yourselves."
That event only required them to upload a few recorded videos anyway. Such a simple task did not require her to be present all the time.
Once Luo Yu and the others had taken their positions, Hiratsuka Shizuka found a good angle and set down the camera. Then she and Sawako quietly watched from the side.
The three members of the Service Club also put down what they had been doing and became proper listeners. When the music began, the entire club building heard it coming from that classroom. They all stopped their club activities without prior agreement and began listening to the Light Music Club's performance.
"Excuse me." Komachi Hikigaya pushed open the door to the Light Music Club's activity room and softly said those three words. An unfamiliar boy followed behind her.
Komachi Hikigaya had brought him to her brother's school today because one of her classmates needed help, and she wanted to seek assistance from her brother and Yukino.
Unexpectedly, not long after entering the club building, she heard music playing. She did not pay much attention to it and quickly made her way to the Service Club room her brother had mentioned. But upon hearing the music coming from inside, Komachi Hikigaya became a little uncertain, which led to the scene from earlier.
After opening the door, Komachi Hikigaya saw several people performing at one side of the room, and one of them was someone she knew.
Yukino, Yui, and two unfamiliar people were watching from the side.
Girl, did you just ignore your brother like that?
"That's amazing." Komachi Hikigaya sincerely voiced her admiration. She could tell this was a song she had never heard before.
Komachi Hikigaya considered herself fairly fashionable. A song this good should have become popular long ago, so the fact that she had never heard it meant it had to be an original song by the people performing.
"Komachi, why are you here?" Hachiman Hikigaya also noticed his little sister standing in the doorway and walked over to ask.
"Huh! It's you, bro." Komachi Hikigaya, who had been listening intently, was startled by the sudden voice. Once she saw it was her brother, she patted her chest and said, "You scared me to death. Don't you make any sound when you walk? And where did you come from? I didn't see you at all just now."
Hachiman Hikigaya's mouth twitched at that. Had his presence become so weak that even his own little sister could not notice him?
Still, he said, "Come in first. Whatever it is, wait until they're done performing. Listen to the music for now."
With that, Hachiman Hikigaya led Komachi Hikigaya into the activity room, and the boy behind Komachi followed them inside.
The moment Hachiman Hikigaya saw the boy following Komachi, his dead fish eyes instantly sharpened.
Though he desperately wanted to know what relationship this brat had with his sister, he did not say anything.
The most important thing now was listening to the Light Music Club's performance. He could slowly settle the other matters after it was over.
Two songs did not take long, and Luo Yu's group soon stopped playing. The audience offered them enthusiastic applause.
Luo Yu quickly ran over to the camera and turned it off. It had been recording the whole time, after all.
"Whoa! Big Brother Luo Yu, you're amazing! And you big sisters are all amazing too."
Once the Light Music Club finished performing, Komachi Hikigaya immediately approached the girls and began praising them.
"Haha, thanks for the compliment." Ritsu Tainaka laughed smugly, clearly pleased.
"But who are you?"
Though the girls enjoyed Komachi's praise, Komachi Hikigaya was indeed a stranger to them. They had no idea when she had arrived.
"Ah, I'm so sorry. I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Komachi Hikigaya. Please take care of me."
Komachi Hikigaya bowed to the girls and politely introduced herself.
"Hikigaya?"
"That's right. I'm the little sister of that dead-fish-eyed guy over there. My useless brother must have caused you plenty of trouble, so Komachi apologizes to you first."
The Service Club Has a New Request? But It Has Nothing to Do with Me
Hearing Komachi Hikigaya's words, everyone turned to look at Hachiman Hikigaya and saw his standard dead fish eyes. Their mouths twitched, and they turned back to Komachi Hikigaya.
They looked back and forth between the two several times.
How did they look anything like siblings?!
Hachiman Hikigaya, who looked half-dead, and Komachi Hikigaya, who was lively and cheerful, were siblings? What kind of dream was this?
Even so, the girls introduced themselves to Komachi Hikigaya.
After the introductions, everyone sat down in the activity room. Having finished recording the video, the two teachers did not remain to join the excitement and instead left together.
After Tsumugi Kotobuki made tea for everyone, Hachiman Hikigaya finally began asking his little sister, who had already started chatting with the girls, why she had come.
"Komachi, why did you come to our school at this time?"
"Actually, a friend of mine needs some help."
As soon as Komachi Hikigaya finished speaking, the boy who had come with her picked up the conversation. "Um... my name is Taishi Kawasaki. I'm in the same cram school as Hikigaya. My older sister is also a student at Private Integrated High School, like all of you. Her name is Saki Kawasaki."
"Oh, Kawasaki. She seems kind of scary." Yui Yuigahama voiced her first impression of Saki Kawasaki.
"Aren't you friends with her?"
Based on Hachiman Hikigaya's understanding, Yui Yuigahama was basically friends with all the girls in their class.
"We've talked a few times, but that's a hard question to answer."
"Anyway, Taishi's sister seems to have become a delinquent lately. She comes home very late at night." Komachi Hikigaya continued, "So he came to discuss how to turn her back into the sister she used to be. I thought about it, and isn't Yukino's club specifically meant for this sort of thing? So I brought him here."
Yukino Yukinoshita had grown accustomed to people treating the Service Club like an all-purpose agency. She simply asked Taishi Kawasaki, "When did she become like this?"
"Recently," Taishi Kawasaki answered. "She studied very hard in middle school too, considering she got into Private Integrated High School. She's also a good person."
"So she changed after becoming classmates with Hachiman Hikigaya?" Yukino Yukinoshita put on a thoughtful expression, but what came out of her mouth had absolutely nothing to do with the truth.
"Huh? Why are you making it sound like I'm the culprit? Am I some kind of germ?"
Starting with an "ah," presumption of guilt! That was it—this really did seem to be your problem, Hachiman. Of course, that was only what Luo Yu thought, and he would not say it aloud.
"I never said that. Your victim complex is simply too severe, Hikigaya germ."
"You said it! You clearly said 'germ'!"
"Perhaps you misheard."
Tch, are they flirting? Luo Yu turned to look at Yui Yuigahama, only to find Dumpling still smiling foolishly as she watched the other two.
If you don't become the losing heroine, who will? It's over, brothers. There's no saving this. Why don't we just vote her out already?
"But when you say she comes home late, what time exactly? I come home pretty late too." Yui Yuigahama finally seemed to realize something, interrupted Hachiman Hikigaya and Yukino Yukinoshita's exchange, and asked that question.
"After five o'clock."
"Huh? Isn't that still pretty early?"
Before you continue