I Thought It Was a World Where Chastity Norms Were Reversed, But It Turns Out I Was Just Surrounded by the Overly Intense Girls in My Class - Chapter 3: A Tragedy That Can Only Be Explained If Chastity Norms Are Reversed

Chapter 3: A Tragedy That Can Only Be Explained If Chastity Norms Are Reversed

The next day.

When I got to the classroom, Yukimi was acting strange.

She kept glancing over at me, and every time our eyes met, she suddenly dropped her face onto her desk. It was weird behavior.

Whenever our gazes actually locked, her whole body jerked with a start, and she let out a low groan. At that point, she looked exactly like some kind of suspicious person.

She’s about as odd as Big Sis. Is she okay?

I was a little worried, but it wasn’t my place to step in.

The reason she was acting strange was obviously because I had asked her yesterday if she wanted to play shogi. Having the guy she turned down sitting right next to her must have felt awkward.

“Uuuuuuuuugh…”

See, the moment our eyes met again, she started groaning.

Did she hate shogi that much?

No, that’s not it. It wasn’t the game she hated; it was me. Getting invited by a hopeless loner like me must have hurt her feelings deeply.

I decided I’d apologize later when things calmed down.

*

In the end, I never found a chance to talk to Yukimi, and the final bell rang.

While most of the class rushed off to try out club activities, I headed alone to the faculty office.

My goal was, of course, to start a shogi club. A proper club, not just a circle.

“Excuse me.”

I knocked, stepped inside, and asked my homeroom teacher about starting a club.

It turned out this school once had a shogi club long ago. The old clubroom and equipment—like boards and pieces—were still around, and I was free to use them.

The teacher handed me the key to the room.

“Thank you very much.”

I left the office and went straight to the clubroom.

To be recognized as an official club, I needed at least four members plus a faculty advisor.

But I could use the room freely as long as I cleaned it. That was an easy price to pay.

“All right!”

I stepped inside and immediately started cleaning.

The room felt like a Western-style space with a Japanese-style section built inside. Six tatami mats were laid over the concrete floor, creating a small step up halfway across the room.

I took off my shoes and stepped onto the tatami.

“Whoa! There’re two shogi boards!”

Along the wall of the tatami area sat two old boards, boxes of pieces, a wooden low table, and a chess clock.

Sunlight poured in from the west window, brightly lighting the center of one board. That spot had darkened from sun exposure.

“Direct sunlight’s bad for the board,” I muttered.

In proper shogi halls, it’s strictly forbidden because it causes cracking. Luckily, there was no obvious damage.

“Time to clean.”

I grabbed a cloth and started wiping the floor.

My whole body ached from yesterday’s tennis, but watching the room slowly get cleaner filled my chest with warmth. The club was really going to start.

“Since I’m here, I might as well set up the pieces.”

There was no opponent, but I wanted to feel the atmosphere.

I tipped the piece box over the board and began placing the pieces one by one. Each piece made a satisfying snap as it landed.

Snap, snap. The crisp sounds echoed through the quiet room.

Just hearing that sound calmed my heart. It was peaceful, like a calm sea, and my mind grew focused.

…Yeah, this is it. This is the true joy of shogi.

I was completely lost in my own world, touching the pieces for the first time in a while, when—

“Um!”

A voice suddenly came from the doorway.

I looked up and saw Yukimi peeking in, only her face showing, staring straight at me.

“Yukimi?”

“I thought about it all night.”

She stepped inside with a serious expression, hands clasped tightly in front of her chest, a look of determination on her face.

“I… I’ve made up my mind!”

Her voice rang clear and strong as she marched right up to me.

“Baba-san!”

“Huh?”

Her face was suddenly inches from mine, and I froze in confusion.

She was still wearing her indoor shoes, so she dropped to her knees on the tatami to lean forward. This was completely unlike her usual behavior.

“It’s not a light decision. I’ve resolved myself—as a woman!”

She declared it so close our noses nearly touched.

The sheer force of it made me scoot back.

“Wait a second, Yukimi, did your personality just change?”

“Yes! If you’re going to attack, the first move wins!”

“Attack?”

I had no idea what she was talking about, but she wasn’t wrong—shogi players who move first do have a higher win rate. The statement itself was correct.

But saying that in this situation felt more than a little out of place.

More importantly, how did we even end up here?

Why was she pushing forward so aggressively?

Wait—could this be the baptism of a world where chastity norms are reversed?

Just talking to someone makes them try to jump you?

If so, this world was terrifying.

Talking for five minutes yesterday and now plotting to assault me? That’s not sane.

In a normal world, she’d be branded a criminal for this.

“Right after you said it, I was shocked. I thought you were just like every other boy and felt disappointed. But after thinking all night, I changed my mind.”

Her cheeks flushed bright red as she crawled forward—one step, then another—on all fours.

I tried to back away, but my back soon hit the wall. In no time, she had me cornered.

“Baba-san! No—Tatsuya-san!”

She called my name from point-blank range.

“I’m ready… to play one game with you!”

With that, she started taking off her uniform blazer.

“Yukimi?”

What was going on? Why was she undressing?

If she wanted to play shogi, she could just pick up the pieces, right?

Why was she removing her ribbon too?

No, no, no, she couldn’t take off her blouse!

This was tatami! A sacred place for shogi!

But none of my frantic questions made it out of my mouth.

Her intense momentum completely overwhelmed me.

“Tatsuya-san!”

She finished unbuttoning her blouse, took a deep breath, closed her eyes as if steeling herself, then opened them again.

And with a voice that rang through the whole room, she said,

“Will you… play one game with me?”

Silence fell. It felt as if time itself had stopped.

“Eh?”

One game… play?

She meant shogi, right?

But something was clearly wrong.

Her bra was visible through the open blouse, her cheeks were burning red, and her lips were trembling.

This didn’t look like someone about to play shogi at all.

The atmosphere wasn’t that of a shogi opponent—it was the pose of someone baring everything in front of a lover.

I finally realized something was fatally misaligned.

“Yukimi.”

Facing a girl who looked ready to pounce any second, I carefully opened my mouth.

“That… definitely means something else, doesn’t it?”

In this world where chastity norms are reversed,

I, a guy who had reincarnated into this upside-down place, seemed to have made a fatal mistake right after starting school.

Because of a deadly misunderstanding, I was now one step away from being attacked.

What exactly had I done wrong?

What should I have done instead?

No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t figure out the cause.

But the reason I was about to be attacked had to be because this was a world where chastity norms were reversed.