Chapter 49: Kato Megumi, the Expert Home-Stealer!
"Give someone a fish and you feed them for a day; teach them how to fish and you feed them for a lifetime."
That had always been the guiding principle behind Yukino establishing the Service Club.
At its core, however, she had also been searching for her own sense of worth. By helping others learn to solve their own problems, she hoped she could gradually change the world she saw around her.
It sounded naive, but that was exactly the kind of ideal a high-school student ought to have.
Even if all her effort would probably leave her exhausted and underappreciated in the end, that stubborn persistence was what made Yukinoshita Yukino who she was.
At least, that was who she had been before.
She'd tirelessly moved toward that goal, reassuring herself every time she helped someone.
'Look. Little by little, I'm changing this imperfect world.'
But in reality, the world wasn't what she was repairing.
She was repairing herself.
Put less kindly, it was a form of self-hypnosis.
Yukino could deceive her own thoughts, but she couldn't deceive the emptiness inside her.
Every time she helped someone, she gained a small sense of accomplishment, but it never lasted long. Before she knew it, that inexplicable hollowness would return.
She'd never told anyone.
In fact, she'd spent a long time refusing to acknowledge it even to herself.
But it had always been there.
Philosophically speaking, only an empty heart desperately sought something else to fill it.
And the thing Yukino had once wanted to use to fill that emptiness was what she called the real thing.
The very fact that she'd craved it so deeply was proof of how hollow she'd felt.
Then she began helping Saku build HoYoMix.
Little by little, that emptiness started disappearing.
Every day was full.
Instead of vaguely trying to "change the world," she was helping create a small "world" that actually belonged to them, building it piece by piece with her own hands.
That felt far more meaningful.
Far more real.
She no longer needed to chase some indistinct "real thing."
The future she wanted was already taking shape in her own hands.
And once that hollow place inside her began to disappear, the Service Club, which had originally existed partly to fill it, naturally lost much of its original purpose.
Still, Yukino was responsible by nature.
She had no intention of simply dissolving the Service Club and leaving Yui and Hikigaya with nowhere to go.
Unfortunately, none of that internal reasoning was something she could easily put into words.
So in the end, all she could say was:
"Yui, we're short-handed here."
Yui didn't understand the complicated changes that had taken place inside Yukino.
But she could tell Yukino had changed.
Hikigaya sensed it too.
And this wasn't merely some superficial difference in behavior.
Something about Yukino herself felt different now, from the inside out.
"I know you're short-handed."
Yui thought for a moment.
"Then... how about I help too?"
"You want to help?"
Utaha had been watching the three Service Club members interact and found the whole thing rather entertaining.
All three clearly had a mountain of questions they wanted to ask, yet none of them would say anything directly.
They just kept testing one another and speaking in circles.
Utaha supposed that was what happened when people genuinely cared about preserving a relationship.
The more someone mattered, the more cautious you became, afraid that one wrong word might damage the connection between you.
But as an outsider watching from the sidelines?
It was honestly pretty amusing.
"Yuigahama-san, if you want to help, then at the very least you'll need to finish the same technical books Yukino-san is reading."
"..."
Yui followed Utaha's gaze.
A stack of books sat on Yukino's desk, all of them related to software technology.
Forget finishing the entire pile.
Yui suspected she wouldn't understand even one of them.
"All right, I'm joking."
Utaha took off her glasses and leaned back, deciding to rest for a while.
"Instead of talking about that, why don't we discuss your school trip?"
Of course, the school trip itself wasn't what she was truly interested in.
She wanted more information.
Enough information to perhaps engineer a convenient "chance encounter" later.
Utaha wasn't the type to sit still and surrender.
Sakurajima Mai might currently be ahead, but that didn't mean Utaha couldn't eventually replace her.
"Senpai, how did you know we're going on a school trip?"
Yui looked surprised.
"Most high schools schedule them around this time of year."
Utaha answered smoothly.
"It wasn't difficult to guess."
The explanation sounded perfectly reasonable.
No one questioned it.
Almost no one, anyway.
Megumi quietly turned her eyes toward Utaha, an unreadable glimmer passing through them.
Her instincts told her something wasn't quite right.
People didn't mention things for no reason.
And Kasumigaoka Utaha didn't strike Megumi as someone who was normally enthusiastic enough about school trips to suddenly bring one up out of nowhere.
When Megumi combined that with Saku's earlier inner thoughts and the fact that Utaha could hear them too...
The answer was almost obvious.
Still, Megumi had no intention of exposing her.
She simply observed in silence.
"Well, we're going to Kyoto this time."
"Kyoto?"
Utaha immediately looked interested.
"It certainly has a lot of history. What route are you taking while you're there?"
Yui had absolutely no defenses up.
Once Utaha started asking, she spilled everything like beans pouring from a bag.
The schedule.
The destinations.
Even the hotel where they would be staying.
Yukino listened too, but the longer it went on, the stranger she found Utaha's behavior.
Not because there was anything unusual about the information itself.
Utaha was the unusual part.
'Is Kasumigaoka-san really this interested in school trips?'
'Or maybe she's particularly interested in Kyoto?'
Otherwise, why was she asking for details down to this level?
Saku noticed none of it.
Not until he finally reached a stopping point in his work did the surrounding conversation begin registering in his ears again.
Until then, his brain had automatically filtered the voices around him as background noise.
He stretched, rolled his neck, and was just about to turn around when a slender hand reached past him from behind.
A cup of black tea was gently placed beside his keyboard.
Before Saku could react, two hands settled on his shoulders and began massaging away the stiffness there.
For several seconds, he had absolutely no idea what was happening.
Then he finally realized Megumi was standing behind him, quietly massaging his shoulders to help ease his fatigue.
「I'm actually a little overwhelmed by this treatment. As expected of my Megumi. She always appears somewhere you least expect, yet somehow it's exactly when you need her.」
「Seriously, imagine working yourself half to death and then having someone quietly bring you tea and help you relax. How are you not supposed to fall for that?」
「No wonder Utaha-senpai and Eriri couldn't beat her in the original Saekano. Which one of you was ever this thoughtful? She's practically an angel.」
「All you losing heroines, watch carefully and learn something!」
「What boy wouldn't love a virtuous and considerate woman? Even I want to become a Megumi-simper!」
[Precise roast detected. Roast Points +80. Current total: 2,850.]
All the girls: 'Σ(⊙▽⊙") Wait, someone's stealing home again?!'
If Saku hadn't started commenting internally, no one would've even noticed what Megumi was doing.
The moment he did, nearly every girl inside HoYoMix turned toward him at the same time.
And what they saw made their expressions stiffen.
Saku was leaning back with a thoroughly relaxed expression, almost nestled against Megumi, while she stood behind him massaging his shoulders with the calm attentiveness of a devoted wife.
The scene looked ridiculously harmonious.
Which was exactly why Yukino, Utaha, Yui, and Michiru all felt an inexplicable fire rise inside them.
Seriously?
Megumi was stealing home right under their noses?
Did she have absolutely no respect for the competition?
Utaha, who had been specifically called out in Saku's thoughts, felt especially aggrieved.
Losing to Megumi in that stupid original story was one thing.
Fine.
Aki Tomoya?
Even a dog wouldn't want him anymore. Megumi could have him for all Utaha cared.
But now she wanted to steal Saku too?
Utaha's eyes narrowed.
'Kato Megumi...'
'Do I really look that easy to bully?'
'Or do you just have some strange habit of always reaching for whatever's already on someone else's plate?'
…