Chapter 104: Scumbag is Not Worth Breaking a Family

"Oh, since Makoto-chan is here, we can have a chat together," Kaede nodded, but immediately realized something after speaking, staring at Hachiman with suspicion in her eyes, "Wait, why did you come all the way to my house to call me over? Don't you usually just send a message and be done with it?"

In her impression, Hachiman was a total slacker and a lazy bum.

Even though he always talked about wanting to be a househusband and was indeed good at cooking, most of the time he was just lazy. He rarely did any sweaty exercises like running or working out. The idea of him specifically coming over to call her to his house for a meal was practically unheard of. Usually, he would just send her a message.

Though she couldn't really complain about his way of doing things. After all, she didn't cook either, and when she went over for a meal, she never really helped much. At most, she would help wash the dishes and clean up the table and kitchen afterward.

"This meal today is because a student from Sobu High just moved nearby. They're currently visiting my house, so I came to call you over personally to avoid waiting half a day for you to reply to my message," Hachiman, unhurriedly enjoying the elasticity of Suzu's thigh, responded calmly.

Since there was only one sofa in the living room, and it would be cramped with four people sitting on it, the four of them were sitting on the floor drinking tea. Being seated face-to-face, no one could see each other's lower halves.

So he wasn't worried at all that Kaede would notice his actions.

Even if she did notice, it wouldn't be a big problem. After all, he was helping Kaede bully Suzu.

"A student from Sobu High? Do I know them?", Kaede was surprised by his words and looked at Hachiman with curiosity.

"You're the student council president—how many people do you not know?", Hachiman rolled his eyes at her.

"That's not what I meant, okay? Just tell me who it is already, stop dragging it out!", Seeing Hachiman act all smug and self-righteous, Kaede couldn't hold back her frustration and snapped at him.

Sobu High didn't have that many students, and over time, while handling student council affairs, she had come to know most of them. But knowing someone and being familiar with them were two different things—how could those be lumped together?

If a student who just moved here was someone she barely knew, Hachiman wouldn't have gone out of his way to invite her over for a meal.

She was already annoyed that Hachiman interrupted her moment of teaching Suzu a lesson, and now, his teasing words only made her even more upset. If Makoto-chan weren't sitting right there, she would have punched Hachiman's annoying face already.

"Alright, alright. The person I'm talking about is the recent transfer student, Gabriel Tenma. She moved next door to Shion and is now living on the same floor as Vignette and the others. Also, the elf princess Iris is visiting, so I called you over to have dinner together."

Hachiman glanced at Suzu, who had her head lowered and was biting her lip tightly. He stopped stalling and took a sip of tea, watching the ripples in his cup before smiling at Kaede.

"Gabriel? And the elf princess Iris is there too?"

"Yeah... Gabriel and Vignette are apparently from the same place, so maybe she moved here after finding someone from her hometown."

Kaede hadn't expected that, aside from the transfer student moving in, there was also an elf princess visiting. She was stunned for a moment before finally responding.

Gabriel, Vignette, and the others had their residency registered in the same place. The demi-humans, on the other hand, came from various backgrounds—forests, oceans, islands, castles, and so on. So Gabriel moving in wasn't all that surprising to her.

"What about Usui-san? What did she come to your house for today? I think this is her first time visiting, right?", Hachiman turned his gaze toward the silent Usui Makoto and asked with a smile.

"Oh, Makoto-chan just came over to hang out with me," Kaede waved her hand dismissively, downed her tea in one go, and stood up.

"Forget that for now. Let's hurry up and get to your place. You left the elf princess and a transfer student alone in your house just to come get me? Why didn't you just call me instead?", She was truly speechless about her childhood friend. So many people would die for a chance to interact with the elf princess, yet Hachiman actually left a visiting elf princess behind to come call her over.

And he was the same guy who once dreamed of becoming a househusband by clinging to a rich woman's thigh. Now, with an actual elf princess in his house, he was chickening out?

'Hmph, as expected, Hachiman is only bold when it comes to bullying me and Suzu.'

"I was thinking about you, and now you're blaming me?", Hachiman sighed, withdrawing his hand as he stood up. Beside him, Suzu, who had been keeping her head down, seemed to be getting tired of kneeling. She placed her hands on the table for support before slowly standing up.

"Ugh...", Usui Makoto pursed her lips, glancing at her younger sister, Suzu, whose ears were burning red and face looked absolutely flustered, her breathing slightly erratic. Then, she looked at her older sister, Kaede, who was charging ahead like a storm. She hesitated.

She wasn't sure whether Kaede was simply too dense to notice or if she and Suzu were just playing around too freely.

But the relationship between Hachiman and Suzu definitely seemed... off.

'What exactly is the relationship between Kaede, Suzu, and Hachiman?'

Walking beside Kaede, Usui Makoto couldn't stop thinking about her friend and their childhood friend.

She hadn't come to Kaede and Suzu's house today just for fun—she also wanted to personally find evidence of Hachiman's unfaithfulness.

Kotegawa Yui was too focused on studying to help her investigate, and since she wasn't in the same class as Hachiman, she had no choice but to take advantage of the weekend to come over and see for herself.

But was Hachiman just too confident, or was he simply taking advantage of Kaede's obliviousness?

Because it had been far too easy to spot traces of his womanizing ways while she was at Kaede's house.

The only problem was—the signs she noticed were all related to Suzu.

'Does Kaede know about the relationship between Hachiman and Suzu?'

If she knew, that would be fine. Even if Kaede misunderstood her intentions, she wouldn't mind, as long as Kaede didn't get hurt.

But if she didn't know... then revealing the truth might damage the sisters' relationship.

Losing a scumbag wasn't a big deal. But losing family...

Usui Makoto found herself in an indescribably tangled dilemma.

Kaede stopped in front of the Hikigaya household, not ringing the doorbell but waiting for Hachiman behind her to open the door.

However, she soon noticed that Usui Makoto was still walking forward and quickly pulled her back, giving her a subtle look as if she seemed absent-minded, "Makoto-chan, what's wrong? Since earlier, you seem really concerned about Hachiman?"

"N-no, it's nothing. I was just thinking… since Hikigaya-kun has guests at home, maybe it's not appropriate for me to come along," Usui Makoto snapped back to reality and quickly explained.

She still needed to find another opportunity to confirm things. Maybe Suzu was also deceived. She had to find a gentler way to resolve this without harming the sisters' relationship.

"It should be fine. I've met Gabriel-san and Princess Iris before. They both have really good personalities," Seeing the unnatural expression on Makoto's face, Kaede smiled while comforting her—though internally, she was cursing Hachiman.

How could she not know what Makoto-chan was thinking? She was definitely wondering if there was something fishy going on between Hachiman and Suzu.

She had been sitting diagonally across from Suzu. If she noticed it, there was no way Makoto-chan, who was sitting directly opposite Suzu, could have missed it.

But what could she do? How was she supposed to react to the situation in the living room just now? Scold Hachiman on the spot for flirting with her sister Suzu? That would just make things awkward for everyone.

To keep things peaceful and allow them to continue interacting normally, she could only turn a blind eye and pretend she didn't see anything.

However, Kaede didn't actually know just how bold Hachiman and Suzu had been.

Since Suzu had kept her usual expressionless look and merely lowered her head slightly, her face a little red, Kaede assumed Hachiman had only touched Suzu's thigh.

Compared to the torment she endured when Hachiman teased her in front of the student council, Suzu getting her thigh touched was nothing. It wasn't nearly as unbearable as when she had to bite Hachiman just to suppress herself from making a sound.

"Hachiman, hurry up! You're so slow—are you afraid to go back and face Princess Iris and the others?", The more Kaede thought about how she had to cover for Hachiman after he did something bad, the more annoyed she got. She raised her voice, calling out to the leisurely approaching Hachiman and Suzu.

"Iris is a member of the Service Club, and Gabriel joined yesterday too. As the club president, how could I possibly be afraid of them?", Hachiman led Suzu forward, took out his keys, and smiled at Kaede as he unlocked the door.

"The one who should be afraid is you, Kaede. Outside of school, you can't rely on your position as student council president anymore."

"Damn it! What are you even so proud of?", Seeing Hachiman's smug face, Kaede lost her temper and punched him on the shoulder.

The Service Club was a hobby-based club, so even outside of school, its members would still acknowledge each other. But as student council president, her title was an official school position, meaning she couldn't rely on it like Hachiman could.

Besides, she had no experience dealing with people of such high status in private settings. She wasn't even sure how she should talk to them later.

"Alright, don't worry. You've met Iris and Gabriel before; they're easy to get along with. Just treat them as friends. Though, honestly, they probably only see you as a friend because of me," Hachiman didn't mind Kaede's weak punch. He chuckled, grabbed her hand, and started kneading her slender fingers as he comforted her.

"Shameless! If you let go of my hand and stop taking advantage of me, maybe I'll believe you," Kaede's face flushed red as she pulled her hand back from Hachiman's grasp, 'Makoto-chan is still here! Hachiman is getting bolder and bolder lately.'

That said, his words did ease her nerves quite a bit.

Hachiman's influence wasn't that significant, but if he could get along well with Iris and Gabriel in the Service Club, then she should have no problem, right?

"...", Usui Makoto silently watched the scene, feeling even more anxious.

Kaede's own words were being used by Hachiman to comfort her—and it worked unbelievably well.

Wasn't it obvious? Kaede had already fallen completely and was wrapped around Hachiman's finger.

'Does Hachiman really have that much charm? Aside from looking a little more energetic and handsome lately, he doesn't seem to have changed much.'

'Or is it just that Kaede has deep feelings for him as a childhood friend…?'

'Maybe… Kaede's younger sister, Suzu, is the same?'

Makoto glanced at the playful interaction between Hachiman and Kaede, then shifted her gaze to Suzu beside her, whose expression had already returned to normal. With no choice but to follow along, she quietly stepped inside and closed the door behind her.

"Usui-san, sorry, but we're out of spare slippers. You'll have to walk directly on the floor," Hachiman placed two pairs of slippers on the wooden floor and looked at Usui Makoto, who was bending down to take off her shoes, with an apologetic expression.

Kaede and Suzu had their own dedicated slippers, but there weren't any left for guests.

To be fair, most households didn't prepare that many slippers.

"No more extras? If you don't mind, I can give you mine, and I'll just wear Hachiman's," Hearing this, Kaede quickly pushed her slippers toward Makoto and took the initiative to slip on Hachiman's slippers herself.

Hachiman glanced at Kaede, who was acting more like the homeowner than he was, shook his head speechlessly, but didn't argue.

He had taken advantage of Kaede so many times, so he might as well let her have this.

After all, Kaede was his childhood friend. Childhood friends got special treatment. Even if she wasn't the black-haired, straight-cut type, he still liked her a lot.

"No, no, it's fine. I don't need them," Seeing Kaede give up her slippers for her and then snatch Hachiman's, Makoto quickly waved her hands.

Even though she was ninety-nine percent certain that Hachiman was a scumbag and had betrayed her friend's feelings, she still couldn't bring herself to take the host's slippers as a guest.

"Come on, what if you need to go to the bathroom and get your tights wet? Will you take them off and carry them back home?", Ignoring Makoto's protests, Kaede forcibly made her wear the slippers.

She had just come from home, so running around barefoot was fine. If they got dirty, she could just go back and wash them. But Makoto-chan was different—she was still wearing tights. If they got wet, it would be a hassle.

Not to mention wetting them—just getting them dirty would be awkward.

"Kaede, stop! Fine, fine, I'll wear them, okay…?", Makoto's face turned bright red as she covered Kaede's mouth, afraid she'd keep talking and make things even more embarrassing.

Kaede and Hachiman were childhood friends, so they didn't think anything of saying such things, but she wasn't. Talking about stuff like this in front of Hachiman was just too embarrassing.

"Heh…", Hachiman watched the two girls bicker with a smile, making no attempt to interfere.

Kaede might not be able to act tough around him and often got teased, but in front of others, she seemed strong—a bright girl who took care of those around her.

Maybe that was why the previous student council president, Meguri Shiromeguri, had chosen her as a successor so quickly.

Meguri had once been the junior of Yukinoshita Haruno. Perhaps she wanted to see a student council president like Haruno leading the students.

But in his eyes, Haruno and Kaede were completely different.

Haruno's upbringing and experiences made it impossible for her to be as naive and cheerful as Kaede.

Or maybe Kaede was just a bit of an airhead—relying on sincerity and boundless enthusiasm to interact with people.

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