Actually, it was already decided that they’d show up.
However, their interference attempt was crushed in advance by Tsukiori, which made Mule trust her more. That was how the welcome party was supposed to go, but since Hiiro Sanjo had been chosen as a special designee for the event, it looked like I was going to be playing Tsukiori’s role.
“U-um,” one of the maids who brought us our pancakes whispered in a trembling voice. “I’d like to help if I can… I don’t want to waste the opportunity that Ms. Mule has given us, and I’d also like to repay you, Ms. Lily, for everything you always do to take care of us… Besides, I want to let the Eisbert family know…that we aren’t failures…”
The other maids seemed to feel the same way.
Once brimming with confidence and pride, their faces were now clouded after they’d been labeled unwanted items. Still, they were trying to look at their future in a positive light.
Snow glanced at me and smiled.
As if to tell me that she knew what I was going to say in response in a few seconds.
“No, it’s dangerous. Mr. Sanjo is a person capable of stopping Ms. Chris, and if he says it’s dangerous, you should consider it a good opportunity to give up on the idea—”
“No, let’s do it.”
Lily widened her eyes in surprise. She must have expected me to agree and persuade the girls with her.
“There’s a war going on between us and the Eisbert family. There’s no reason for you girls to be forced to a dark and dingy place like this backstage. Yuri girls only bloom in the sun. And if that’s the case, then it’s my role to remove the shadows you’re in and restore your right to be in the sun.”
The maids felt the energy from my words, and I could see them becoming alive again.
“Let’s make the welcome party a success. Then I’ll go to the Eisberts—”
I grinned and spread out my arms. “I’ll show them what it really means to be first-class.”
Snow smiled while Lily’s mouth hung open. As for Mule—
“Where’s our ice cream…?”
She was waiting for the ice cream she wanted to pile on top of her pancakes.
Everything was going according to my plan.
Just a few minutes ago, I had made a point of saying I’d show the Eisberts what it really meant to be first-class, but the person who was indeed truly first-class was Sakura Tsukiori.
In the original story, it was her, our protagonist, who resolved the issue over this welcome party. Not Hiiro Sanjo, a walking body bag. It wasn’t a scene for him to appear.
Because if I were there to make things right, people would like me even more, wouldn’t they?
That said, it would leave me with a bad aftertaste to leave the Eisberts as they were, and a guy who didn’t do anything to help these girls could never protect his favorite yuri ladies.
How was I going to make the welcome party a success and credit Tsukiori with the accomplishments? That was my challenge and top priority.
If I could give her all the credit, then my popularity would drop after all the big talk I gave, and Mule, Lily, and Snow’s impressions of me should surely hit rock bottom.
I liked people who didn’t like me.
It was about time I regained Hiiro Sanjo’s original standing. It was still early in the game, but I also had to get Tsukiori to make friends with the heroines.
Not that I planned to have her do everything.
I would take care of all the messy, troublesome parts, and if everyone turned their negative feelings to me, then we should achieve a good balance.
Neither this world nor its heroines can be saved without Sakura Tsukiori.
To tell you the flow of the original game, my defeating (absorbing) Alsuhariya shouldn’t have much effect on the plot. ESCO was a highly flexible world, and a path existed to a happy ending, even if Tsukiori didn’t defeat a single demon.
As long as we maintain the main story about Tsukiori and the heroines attending Houjou Magic Academy, they will eventually be happy.
That is, as long as Tsukiori acquires the necessary skills and remains alive.
But Tsukiori was a cheat character whom the god of the game loved, and maybe I didn’t need to go out of my way to look after her.
The point was that I couldn’t be too forward.
But anyway, it was about time I got to see some yuri girls in action! What was going on here? This was a yuri game, yet the main character wasn’t interested in pursuing another girl!! I might drop to the floor and start wailing!!
I established a basic plan and returned to Fraum to look for Tsukiori.
Basically, I took covert actions at Fraum, since a label existed on my body that said yuri removal agent.
I was in the distortion field, becoming one with the ceiling through optical camouflage, as I watched the dorm residents head to the large bath facilities.
“God, I’m tired today. Let’s head on over quickly! I’ll wash your back for you!”
“Then I’ll wash yours after that.”
Oh, how wonderful. It felt as if I’d washed my dry eyes with pure spring water from a plateau. My eyesight had improved, and everything was clear to me, with my ten-zero vision.
I let the two girls pass me and climbed down along the wall, then headed for Tsukiori’s room.
Slide, slide, slide…
“Hey, did you hear that? It sounded weird, like someone was sanding their body with a file.”
“Huh…?! Maybe it’s the ghost people are talking about, where it sounds as if someone’s crawling around on the floor, the wall, or the ceiling, occasionally letting out creepy noises, like ngh! ”
“Ooh, that’s scary!! Maybe it’s a pervert instead of a supernatural phenomenon!!”
Sorry, but I’m the type of person who can’t always stop letting out my voice. When I play a yuri game and the screen goes dark, I can see some creepy otaku with a smirk on his face and feel like dying. Maybe I still need more training to become a silent wall.
I held my breath and made my way past the girls.
Somehow, I managed to reach Tsukiori’s room without anyone seeing me and remained invisible as I knocked on her door.
The door clicked open, and I canceled my magic.
“Hey, Tsukiori, good morning. All the girls throughout the world are crazy about you, you know?”
She had been sleeping. She was wearing a baggy hoodie and yawned as she mumbled, “Good morning… What’s up? Have you been sneaking into our rooms overnight?”
“Tsukiori, it isn’t even evening yet. Please don’t make me reverse day and night and meet the criteria to become a sex offender.”
Tsukiori was unusually vulnerable as she yawned and invited me inside.
Maybe because she was wearing an oversized hoodie, I could almost see bare skin, and being the gentleman that I was, I resisted by looking up at the ceiling.
I stepped into her room.
She only had the minimum amount of furniture necessary.
I could see that she was using the items provided by the dorm, and she probably left the cleaning to the dorm janitor. The room was clean and tidy, but nothing showed who she was; the only thing hanging on the wall was her magic device.
Tsukiori began to doze off as soon as she took a seat.
“Do you want me to come back later? Hey, Tsukiori, do you always take a nap as soon as you come back from classes?”