Ephemeral Ability Reflects the Heart

"It seems that Riko liked the maid uniforms very much," Chihiro thought.

The costumes she wore at the maid café in 1-C were given to each student, and she has been wearing them most of the time after the school festival.

Her tone of voice before similar to that of Maria and Yotsuba, but not as reverent as theirs, which seems to be part of her hobby.

Apparently, she says that she can't help but make use of them since they are free.

「Riko, are you sure about washing your costume?」

「Hm? Oh, no problem. I also got Aika's and Maria's」

That's true.

Since each of them came back with their own copy, Chihiro and the others have four identical outfits. With three outfits, she should be able to wear the costume for a while.

「Then, where's my costume?」

「As I expected, I couldn't get one that belongs to Chisato-chan, who won the first prize at the Miss Contest」

「No, don't worry about that」

Besides, since Chihiro's was torn to pieces in the battle, it may not be suitable to wear in that sense.

In the midst of this conversation, they arrived at the living room.

Everyone was there except for Yotsuba, who lives at home and is strict when it comes to making side trips――In other words, Maria, Aika, and Hana were all there.

Chihiro, who has saw them, smiles and they welcome him back.

「Come to think of it, it's becoming more and more norm for Mishuku-san to be here」

To Chihiro's words, the literary girl with dark-rimmed glasses is miffed.

「It can't be helped. There have been so many things happening every day these days. So, I thought there would be more things to clean up and talk about」

「Thank you, that honestly helps」

Hana is correct.

Because after this, Chihiro sat down in his seat and tells them that he has a new report.

Suzu, who had returned to the living room with him, also sat down. Riko, on the other hand, prepared drinks for Chihiro and then took her seat.

The conversation then turned to what had been said at the student council meeting.

「The election of student council officers...」

「Inter-school competition, huh?」

When they finished talking, Aika and Maria muttered at about the same time.

「Anyway, I'm planning to participate in both of them as much as I can. Well...the competition is only if I am chosen as a representative」

「Well, I think you might be selected, don't you?」

「Yes, is it Kamishiro-kun? You beat that handsome boy, didn't you?」

Hana said nonchalantly and Suzu nodded her head.

And it made Chihiro grunted a little.

It is true that at that time the rivalry with Kaname and the desire to beat Kamishiro this time made him overdo it - but to be honest, it was not good to be too showy.

At this point Maria shook her head.

「...Well, perhaps, it was inevitable in a sense」

「Why?」

Riko tilted her head, to which Aika replied with narrowed eyes.

「Because her school will appear as a "hostile" in the inter-school competition that's why」

「...Oh, I see」

Suddenly, Riko's eyes were fixed on Chihiro.

Ibusuki Kaname.

The girl who suddenly appeared during the school festival, stirred up the scene, and gave Chihiro a lot of information.

He has a feeling that eventually she will clash with him, or more precisely, that the organization behind her, [Absolute], will clash with him, but he doesn't want that to happen.

「As I said yesterday, the core members of Shibatsuru Academy are almost completely controlled by that organization. So, if Chihiro-sama participates in the competition, you'll have to face them」

「So, maybe the girl herself will be there?」

「Yes」

Maria nodded her head in agreement with Suzu's statement.

Especially, she has already explained about [Absolute] to everyone.

* * *

[Lost Item] organization, [Absolute].

Almost all members are women, and most of them are [Lost Item]. The size of the organization is several dozen regular members alone. Perhaps more than a hundred.

Their activities are varied. As was mentioned in the case with Kaname, they are basically a "jack-of-all-trades", and will take on almost any kind of work as long as they are paid a reasonable price （mainly money） for their services. Regardless of whether it is legitimate or illegitimate.

Because of their cautious approach to illegal activities, the police have not been able to touch the organization as a whole.

At the same time, they sometimes cooperate with the police to maintain public order, and there are some who approve of their existence. Their influence is wide and they are said to have connections in almost every field.

Not even Maria has an idea of how much power they have outside of their regular members, including underage associate members and collaborators.

Its leader is Fukami Kaito.

He is Maria's own brother and only sibling.

『My brother is the ruler. As the name of the organization suggests, he is the absolute ruler』

Maria has never been told the full extent of his abilities.

However, he uses his ability to sense people's minds and manipulate them to his own advantage, sometimes even twisting and rewriting their personalities. She has seen it happen many times.

So, it is pointless to accuse him of such a thing.

Because once his ability is used, the subject becomes his believer, or his ally, so to speak. And whatever he says to the person after that, the person can't be antagonistic to him now.

As a result, there is no one who is unhappy nor perceives themselves to be unhappy. That is how Kaito adjust their lives.

Also, every woman in the world is potentially his.

Maria heard him say something like that once.

However, Kaito was kind to Maria.

『He was quite far from me in age, and he is a person with personality problems - Even thought, I can never praise him out of hand, but it is true that he was not cold to me』

He did not try to brainwash Maria with his abilities, and he cared and looked after her in his own way.

Somehow, he is slightly like Kaede.

『Yes. When I heard Chihiro-sama's story, I also thought it was a strange coincidence』

Having extraordinary siblings, thus they are together now.

『Me too, I had a crush on him at first』

『Heh? Mishuku-san has a crush on a man?』

『That was in elementary school. I haven't been this way from the time I was little either』

As it was, Hana would have become Kaito's follower, his property.

The reason why this did not happen is because of her nature to take pleasure in taking other people's things. From there, she turned her attention to his sister Maria and tried to steal her heart.

As a result, she was attracted to Maria and not to Kaito - until now, after the death of her parents and the meeting with her adoptive parent.