A Guy Who Thinks He’s a Villain in a World Where Gender Ratios Are Broken - Chapter 03: Side Story - Kyoko Nijou ①

Chapter 03.5: Side Story – Kyoko Nijou ①

My name is Kyoko Nijou. I’m a university student who also works as a maid.

The family I serve is the Hazumi family, wealthy owners of several prominent companies.

That being said, this isn’t my first time meeting them.

The Hazumi and Nijou families have a long-standing relationship.

Hazumi-sama, Mrs. Mika Hazumi, and my mother were college classmates.

Because of that connection, I’ve been visiting the Hazumi household since I was a child.

But to be honest, I’ve never gotten along well with the young master, Reito Hazumi.

“Hmph! I said I want to play with this toy, so give it to me already!”

He had the typical “spoiled rich kid” personality.

If things didn’t go his way, he’d start barking orders and often acted condescendingly toward others.

Even as a child, his behavior irritated me. There were plenty of times I felt uncomfortable or upset because of him.

It didn’t take long for me to develop a dislike for him.

But the adults around him never scolded him.

If anything, they did the opposite.

“I’ll go buy another toy for you right away!”

“In fact, wouldn’t it be better to get him an even nicer one?”

Men were overly pampered.

As a child, I found it strange and couldn’t understand why. But by the time I entered elementary school, I started to figure it out.

It was something I learned in social studies, and it became even clearer through the behavior of teachers and the people around me.

In this world, men are few in number, and because of that, they are treated with favoritism.

It’s not like the government issued an official policy saying, “Men must be prioritized,” or passed any laws enforcing such treatment.

Instead, society as a whole had developed a mindset of “we must cherish men” due to their dwindling numbers.

As a result, men were naturally given preferential treatment.

Around 100 years ago, the gender ratio was roughly equal—50/50. In fact, women were the ones who were slightly favored back then.

“Don’t push yourself too hard—you’re a girl, after all.”

“Let me treat you, since you’re a girl.”

“Ladies first.”

That kind of thinking was apparently common.

But now, such ideas are unheard of—relics of the past that only exist in fictional stories.

In today’s world, as birth rates continue to decline and society ages, the birth rate of male children has particularly plummeted, skewing the gender ratio dramatically.

The imbalance has become so extreme that it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call it “glitched.”

Women have become overprotective of men, or, in some cases, overly aggressive in their pursuit of a rare male partner. In extreme scenarios, their actions even border on criminal behavior.

And as for the men themselves…

“How dare you boss me around, you little upstart!”

“Eek…! P-Please don’t come any closer to me!”

Men raised in such pampered environments tended to fall into one of two categories:

They either became spoiled and overbearing, or they grew timid and constantly wary of women who acted aggressively toward them.

In either case, there was always an unshakable sense of entitlement: the idea that “a man’s position is superior.”

And I… gradually developed a strong aversion to men like that.

Looking back, it started from the moment I first met him.

Technically, we could be considered childhood friends, but… I never told anyone that. No, I didn’t want to tell anyone.

Because, truthfully, I couldn’t stand him.

Time passed, and I eventually entered university.

One day, however, Mika Hazumi paid an unexpected visit to our home.

At first, I assumed she had some business with my mother, but it turned out… her visit was about me.

As soon as she settled onto the sofa, Mika-san leaned forward with an almost pleading look in her eyes.

“Kyoko-chan… no, Kyoko Nijou-san. Would you be willing to look after my little Rei-kun? What I mean is… would you work as a maid at our house?”

“…Huh?”

Mika-san’s words caught me completely off guard, and a surprised sound escaped my lips.

When Mika-san mentioned her “son,” there was no doubt she was talking about him.

Mika-san is a kind and wonderful person.

But some things have changed since those days.

I’d heard that after losing her husband several years ago, she worked tirelessly to keep the family business afloat.

Thanks to her efforts, the business has been growing steadily.

However, her busy schedule left her little time to take care of her son or spend time with him.

Because of this, she hired dozens of maids to look after him and manage the household.

But then Mika-san spoke with a heavy tone.

“Well, the truth is…”

It seems the maids were starting to struggle with her son’s behavior.

In fact, they were at their wit’s end.

At that moment, I understood everything.

Ah, so he hasn’t changed at all since back then.

And if that’s the case… I’ll end up disliking him even more this time.

Mika-san is cheerful, playful, and genuinely a good person.

She has a wonderful relationship with my mother too.

But that doesn’t mean I have to like him.

I wasn’t thrilled about taking the job…

But I couldn’t bring myself to say no.

Why? Because my family was struggling financially.

My father was an irresponsible man who took full advantage of his status as one of the rare men in this world.

Cheating, gambling, smoking, drinking… even getting into fights with others.

Just because men are scarce doesn’t mean they can do whatever they want.

But my father didn’t care. He constantly ignored his family and left us to deal with the consequences of his actions, forcing apologies and burdens onto us.

Eventually, my mother couldn’t take it anymore. She divorced him, and we left the house.

That should have been the end of it.

But one of my father’s mistresses happened to be a high-ranking executive at a major company—one of my mother’s key business partners.

I don’t know what lies my father fed her, but one day, that executive showed up at the office and abruptly announced she was cutting all ties with my mother’s company.

When asked for a reason, all she said was, “It’s all Nijou’s fault.”

Because of that, my mother lost her job.

The stress of that unreasonable situation took a toll on her health for a while, but she’s since managed to find new employment.

Even so, we’re still barely scraping by financially.

I’ve been juggling multiple part-time jobs, but most of my income goes toward paying off my student loans.

And my younger sister will be taking her high school entrance exams next year.

Our expenses will only grow from here, and things will get even tougher for us.

But my mother always tells us, “Do what you want to do.”

She plans to shoulder all the burden herself.

That’s why Mika-san’s offer… was hard to resist.

“Kyoko… please don’t overwork yourself, alright?”

Sitting beside me, my mother looked at me with concern in her eyes.

She hadn’t told Mika-san about everything that had happened—about the trouble my father caused or the hardships we were facing. She didn’t want to burden her friend with our problems.

And I’m sure she could already tell how much I disliked him.

Unlike my father, my mother is someone I truly admire. She’s strong, kind, and dependable.

And my little sister? She’s adorable. As her big sister, I can’t help but spoil her whenever I get the chance.

That’s exactly why…

“I-I understand. I’ll take the job.”

I decided to accept Mika-san’s request.

◆◆

When I started university, I also began working as a personal maid for the Hazumi family.

But… I underestimated what I was getting into.

It wasn’t about whether I could balance the two roles.

“I don’t like these clothes. Don’t you have anything else?”

“Young Master, these are the ones you personally chose and ordered just two days ago…”

“Just change them! I don’t like them anymore.”

He hadn’t changed at all since those years ago.

If anything, getting older seemed to have made him even more difficult to deal with.

He acted as if being treated specially because of his gender was completely natural.

While everyone around him was constantly bending over backward to accommodate his whims, he saw it as nothing more than his due.

It reminded me of my father, and that only made me feel worse.

At least he didn’t resort to physical violence or make inappropriate demands.

If I had to guess, deep down, he probably had a fear of women.

But even so…

“Hurry up already! Are you saying you can’t even listen to what I tell you to do?!”

Cruel words can be the most painful form of violence.

And I… I can’t stand him.

◆◆

After finishing my university lecture, I was on my way home when suddenly, my phone vibrated in my pocket.

When I checked the screen, I saw it was a call from one of the maids at the Hazumi household.

…At that moment, I had a bad feeling.

Calls like these were never about good news.

In fact, it had been decided that whenever there was a problem involving the young master, I was to be contacted immediately.

So naturally, I couldn’t help but expect the worst.

I answered the call, and as soon as I did, a panicked voice came through the receiver.

…Something about this felt different from usual.

“Oh, thank goodness you answered! K-Kyoko-san!”

“Yes. Please calm down and tell me what happened.”

“Y-Yes… um, the young master… the young master… h-he hit his head really hard and passed out…!”

“…What?”