Chapter 1 – Stepping Right on a Landmine

I realized I’d been reincarnated into a chastity-reversed world with a male-to-female ratio of 1:10 when I turned fourteen—right as I recovered my past life memories.

“Huh? Seriously?”

In the pitch-black room, unable to hide my joy, I muttered those words in a cracked voice.

Then I got up from bed and left my room.

My memory’s a bit hazy, but I remember becoming a shut-in. First, I need to apologize to Mom. After that, I’ll build a harem! There’s no way I’m not going to aim for a harem after reincarnating into a chastity-reversed world of all places!

“Mom! Sorry for shutting myself in!”

Maybe it was because I was picturing such a fun future, but my apology came out way more energetic than intended.

That wasn’t what I was going for, but well, Mom started crying tears of joy and hugged me slowly and carefully, so I guess it’s fine. With that thought, I slowly hugged Mom back too.

“Yu-chan, so you’re really okay now?”

Yu-chan, huh.

I mean, it’s not a big deal. I’m still in seventh grade. My name’s Yuuto, so it’s not wrong at all, but it feels kind of embarrassing. Mom looks so happy, though, so there’s no way I could complain.

“Yeah. I’m fine now. Like I said, sorry for shutting myself in.”

“It’s okay. You found the courage to come out like this, so of course it’s okay.”

It wasn’t really about finding courage, but I went along with it.

No point in saying something unnecessary and confusing Mom.

“Anyway, let’s have dinner tonight. Yu-chan, is there anything you want to eat? Anything’s fine.”

“Hmm, then I’ll take hamburger steak, please.”

“Yes, of course.”

It’s kind of childish, but I’m completely a kid right now, so hamburger steak’s fine. It really is my favorite anyway.

So that day, I ate the hamburger steak Mom made for me.

And the next day.

Mom told me I didn’t need to force myself to go to school, but I insisted I wanted to go.

“Yu-chan, are you really okay? Maybe I should take the day off work and walk you to school?”

“N-no, I’m fine, so trust me.”

She probably can’t trust the words of a son who was shut in until yesterday, but the thought of going to school with a parent as a middle schooler made me feel like I’d die of embarrassment, so I had to stop that at all costs.

“…Well, I’m going to work, but you can always come home from school anytime, okay?”

“Got it. Thanks, Mom.”

And with that, Mom headed off to work.

Phew, good. She left.

“Alright, I guess I should get going too.”

After spending time at home watching TV or whatever, it was getting to be time when I’d be in trouble if I didn’t leave soon, so I muttered that and left the house.

At the same time, the door to the house next door opened too.

In that instant, I remembered.

Oh right, I had a childhood friend I was close with until I was around eight years old.

…I’m pretty sure that kid lived next door.

“…Ah.”

As I stared at the opening door with that thought, a beautiful girl with white hair came out, and the moment our eyes met, she let out that sound.

She’s still a middle schooler, so her body shouldn’t be fully developed yet, but she’s totally my type.

“Y-Yuuto, is it really okay for you to come out now?”

As I continued staring at her, my childhood friend said that while approaching me.

Honestly, she’s so much my type that I got nervous and, despite being someone who’s trying to build a harem, I took a step back.

“Ah, s-sorry. You didn’t like that, did you?”

…This is bad. I can’t let this continue.

What should I do here? Apologize right away and say it’s fine? No, that might just make it look like I was being considerate.

This is a chastity-reversed world.

Let me think about this from the opposite perspective.

In my past life, how would I have wanted girls to treat me in a situation like this? What kind of girls were popular in the first place?

Simply cute girls? …Yeah. That’s definitely true.

But what’s my face like in this world? I should know, but my memory’s too hazy to tell.

Can’t help it.

I’ll set that aside for now and focus on this: guys in this world all have their guards up.

Which means the oblivious ones are probably popular.

…Alright, let’s try it.

Her name was Shimonishi Mana, if I remember right.

“Didn’t like what? More importantly, want to walk to school together for the first time in a while? Mana.”

Honestly, it felt pretty gross from my perspective with a past life, but I tilted my head and said that while approaching Mana.

I took a step back earlier because I was nervous, but when I think about it, this world is a chastity-reversed world.

Which means I’m the one holding the initiative.

Once I thought about it that way, all that nervousness from before immediately flew away somewhere.

Maybe that’s why.

In this very moment, I failed to notice that I was stepping into a danger zone that had been keeping its distance from me, stepping right on a landmine.