Chastity Reversed: Part-Time Life by the All-Girls High School - Chapter 7: Spear and Shield

“Ah, wait here a moment.”

While cleaning, I found Koharu crying. I was at work, after all. Though I wanted to hear what was wrong… I had to ask her to wait a bit.

“Manager, I’m sorry, but could I leave a bit early today?”

“Eh? That’s totally fine. It’s almost time for your shift to end anyway, and I’ll be fine alone.”

“Thank you. I’ll make up for it next time.”

“! Y-yeah.”

“Then…”

I quickly finished putting away the cleaning supplies after getting permission to leave early. I then ran to where she was waiting by the convenience store sign.

“Sorry for the wait, Koharu.”

“! I-I’m sorry.”

Girls crying in public was common in my previous world… but this world was “reversed”. One rarely saw people crying in public, though it varied quite a bit person by person. Still, that was the social perception.

Furthermore, a girl who made a boy cry was—well, basically, they got condemned. It was terrible, even though I was on the male side.

“Want to go to my place? What about your family?”

“Oh, um. They won’t be home today because of work, so it’s fine…”

Her face clouded over.

…Well, that was pretty common in this world.

“Okay.”

“Um… but wouldn’t that be…”

“Don’t be silly. Is this the time to worry about others?”

Because I was a man in the previous world, I understood the weight of those tears. They were definitely not something light.

“Thank you… so much. For someone like me…”

“I told you not to worry about that.”

☆

“Coffee or tea, which would you prefer?”

“Eh, um…”

“I have cola too.”

“C-cola…”

“Good choice. Wait here.”

I opened my bachelor’s fridge and took out an ice-cold one. My eating habits might be messy, but I never ran out of this.

“A-a bottle!”

“Cola has to be in bottles (smug face).”

“…Thank you very much.”

“Haha, did you just think that wasn’t very manly?”

“! N-no…”

“It’s fine, it’s fine. Just relax and talk to me like I’m the ‘same gender’—cheers!”

“Ch-cheers.”

I tried to cheer her up, maybe a bit forcefully.

“Now, tell me what happened while we drink this.”

***

“…”

How much time had passed? Before I knew it, the cola was already empty.

“…and that’s how it is…”

“…Wow, this Shota guy is seriously messed up?”

To be honest, I’d underestimated it. I thought that “male brat” had just gotten angry and was harassing her… or something like that.

“—Being forced to act like a couple even though I hate it.—”

Hearing the full story, it was pretty extreme. They’d basically cornered her completely.

Her classmates, especially almost all the male students. Even the girls had somehow accepted them as an official couple.

—”If I said ‘no’ in that situation, I couldn’t bear to imagine…”—

Judging from how frightened she was, it must have gone pretty deep.

A childhood friend who’d been “always together” with her since middle school. During commutes, during breaks, as though they were a set. Of course everyone would think they should date.

And from what I could tell about this “male brat”… he’d been spreading things about his relationship with Koharu to the other boys in class.

—”Surely, I’ll be… from the class…”—

Simply put, she’d be ostracized. In the worst case, it could develop into bullying. That was how serious it was… when a girl made a boy cry in this world. From her classmates’ perspective, it would look 100% like her fault.

“…But, I’m also at fault.”

“?”

“Uuu… in class, I didn’t strongly reject him.”

“Eh?”

She spoke through her tears like she was making a confession—

“In high school. Even someone like me made female friends… and everyone envied me for having a cute boy like Shota following me around…”

“Yeah.”

“I must have… gotten carried away. Even though I hated Shota. Really hated him… I… I got drunk on everyone’s attention. The kind of attention someone like me shouldn’t get…”

“…”

“So until the end… I couldn’t push Shota away. If I’d wanted to, I could have run to school. Could have shut myself in for a week like in middle school. If I had just said ‘I hate you’ directly, surely this wouldn’t have…!” she continued, as if ashamed of herself, revealing her contradictory feelings, laying them bare like exposed skin.

“I’m the worst. I was… using Shota too…!”

“…I see.”

If this were my previous world, I might have done the same. Let me imagine aving a pretty girl next to me, sticking only to you. Everyone’s gaze would definitely be envious.

Even without any actual feelings, even if I actually hated them. Those “enviable” gazes directed at me—might have driven me indeed crazy.

“‘Someone like me.’ ‘Someone like me’… hic…”

Her tears flowed as if expelling her self-loathing. Before my eyes was a girl who had used someone she hated to satisfy her need for validation.

…Ah, he really was despicable.

“Koharu.”

“Huh…?”

[Inoue Shota.]

Truly insidious, methodical, and cowardly.

Was everything according to your predictions? You’re a clever guy. Disgustingly so.

That’s why—I’ll rewrite it.

The “brainwashing” that had been done to her!

“You can do whatever you want with my body now.”

“Ehhhhh!?”