Vol 1 Chapter 13 – Shotas and Femboys

It’s not like I’m looking to be yandere’d, so if nothing is going on, that’s perfectly fine by me. Actually, that’d be the safer option for my continued survival.

That said, every time I think about it, they’re all incredibly cute, so I can’t help feeling deeply, painfully cheated. As an average college student back home, there’s no way I’d ever get to talk to girls like this.

I’ll say it again as many times as it takes — I’m an average, if not below-average, male college student.

And listen, this is important — just because you’re in the humanities doesn’t mean you’re swimming in girls. I’m living proof of that. A humanities guy with zero luck with women has absolutely nothing going for him. Remember that.

“So, Utaki-san — what kind of route are you on?”

“I’m impressed, Clara — you picked up on that already?”

“Well, if Elena-san is with you, there must be some kind of circumstances involved…”

Glad I got that right, Clara thought, blushing bashfully. Hmm… but seriously, she’s adorable.

“A yandere harem.”

“A yandere harem.”

“A yandere harem, you said.”

Clara tilted her head with an airy “Ara, ara~,” while Cleo pulled a sour face. Beautiful girls really are unfailingly cute, no matter what expression they make. Incredible. The world is just so deeply unfair.

The two exchanged glances with each other, then glanced over at me, back and forth a few times. Clara spoke first.

“What’s a yandere? As in, ‘mentally unwell’ — but not quite?”

“More like… being loved obsessively by a girl, I guess.”

“In that case — not speaking for myself, but I’m quite sure Cleo doesn’t qualify.”

“Huh? Why are you so sure about that?”

“Because, Utaki — Cleo isn’t a girl.”

“Say WHAT?!“

I spun to stare at Cleo. No matter how I looked at them, they looked exactly like a girl. The only difference from Clara was the chest.

…Chest?

“Um, well, I — I’m… a boy.”

A.

Femboy.

No, no, no, no — way too many tropes being stuffed in here at once. This is absolutely not within my wheelhouse. Someone out there clearly thinks that if it’s ero-adjacent, anything goes. I won’t name names.

Sure, the chest was flat — but the height was no different from Clara’s, and the shoulders weren’t broad at all. If they were elementary schoolers, the lack of physical difference would make sense — but these two were obviously somewhere around seventeen or eighteen.

“How old are the two of you?”

“Same age as me — nineteen.”

“…Figured as much.”

Look, if Cleo presented more clearly male — like Ritros or the king — they might not qualify for a route at all. But femboys are a genuine genre in Japan.

By that logic — does Cleo end up on my route? Together with Clara? What kind of situation is that supposed to be? Am I really expected to do this and that with twins? Boy-girl twins — one of whom is a femboy?

What is even happening anymore? I want to reset everything before the adventure’s even started. Give me a break. We’re still in the starting town.

“It must be tough, Utaki — but I won’t abandon you.”

“Elena-san, could you maybe look over here for a second?”

“Ufufu, you two are so close. Makes me a little jealous.”

“Still, Clara — you’re less intense than the princesses.”

“Ara, is that so? I’ve never really been the jealous type to begin with, though…”

“Now, now — it’ll be alright, Utaki-san.”

Cleo smiled softly, a flush rising to their cheeks.

“In the end, you’ll marry Clara and the three of us will become a family — that’s how it should work out, right?”

“Ara, ara, Cleo — that’s a lovely idea.”

“Elena, swap.”

“There’s no such system.”

It would appear I have indeed ended up on the female-inclusive route. I’m done. I want to go home.

Vol 1 Chapter 14 – This World and Everything In Between

The inn was secured. The innkeeper was a yandere. Dealing with problems while somehow solving them at the same time — that’s nothing short of a paradox.

“Hey, Elena, come to think of it — is this a country?”

“It’s a country. Ah, you want to know how this world’s systems work, don’t you?”

Quick on the uptake. Appreciate that. Elena calls it “this world,” apparently without any fixed name for it. Back home, we’d just say Earth and be done with it. Come to think of it, isekai light novels always give the other world some fancy name — In this world known as So-and-So… Honestly, a fair question.

“First off, this world has three major nations, each with many towns inside them. The three keep each other in check, which is how the balance holds.”

I feel like there was an otome game with that premise.

Basically, a three-way standoff is safer and more convenient for everyone than open war. Rough deal for the kings, though.

“To the northwest, the Principality of Eibel. To the east, the Luprilum Empire. And to the north — our kingdom, Claremore.”

Too many proper nouns. Already lost. Can’t do this.

I said it before, but I’m not exactly a sharp guy.

“I only know what I studied in school about Eibel and Luprilum. As for Claremore — towns ring the entire outer border, with the royal capital at the center. It’s designed to prevent surprise attacks.”

“So that’s how they ward off war between the three nations?”

“Oh, we in the good and neutral factions would never do anything like that.”

And here comes another new term out of nowhere. Probably common knowledge to Elena, but for me, it’s like being a third-grader shoved into a middle school class. I have absolutely no idea what’s going on.

“Like I mentioned, having three good and neutral nations keeps population and migration in balance — irregulars like you included, Utaki. But the south and the west are part of the evil faction’s territory. There’s a role in this world called the Demon Lord, and down south… yeah, public safety’s not great.”

It’s probably just bias on my part, but “the south” always seems to end up as the dangerous place in these setups. Japan’s got that reputation thing going on, too, honestly.

Also — did she just casually drop Demon Lord just now? She’s got that of course there is look on her face, but back in my world, the only person I know who ever called himself a Demon Lord was Oda Nobunaga. Oh, and there’s that one guy — you know the one.

Though, since I’m not exactly up on Japanese history or pop culture, I’ll let it go.

“In short — people are sorted into good, neutral, or evil factions. Good and neutral are human-adjacent; anything else falls under evil. And everyone has a role, five elemental affinities, and a specialty.”

“I followed about half of that.”

“Half? I broke it down as much as I could.”

Elena-sensei’s World Orientation Session — and I’m already lost at the introduction.

What am I even supposed to do from here.

“It’s only one o’clock. Let’s keep going — a little more to cover.”

“Explain it to me like I’m five.”

“Fine, fine.”