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 6-7.1

Chapter 6: Yukimi-san’s Glare Is Brutal

“Early king escape is worth eight moves’ advantage.”

In the middle and endgame, if you move your king far from the battlefield before the opponent can check you, it’s often better than waiting to be checked and then running. That’s a famous shogi proverb.

Applied to a reversed-chastity world, it means: instead of waiting until a girl starts chasing you and then trying to escape, you should run away before she even starts.

I had perfectly put that proverb into practice, yet the very next day I was already regretting it.

“………………………………”

Because Yukimi-san’s stare was absolutely murderous.

From the moment I got to school until homeroom started, she didn’t blink once; she just stared straight at me.

Even now during Japanese class, every time she turns a page in her textbook she shoots me a resentful glare.

Did I really gain eight moves’ worth of advantage?

I was starting to doubt the proverb itself.

But this might be unavoidable.

After all, we’re in the same class, and our seats are right next to each other. Even if I run away, when class starts she’s forced to sit beside me again. There’s literally nothing I can do about it.

I’m completely trapped with no waiting moves left.

“……………………”

Ah, our eyes just met.

During lessons Yukimi-san sits perfectly straight, posture flawless, even the way she holds her textbook is refined, but her expression alone is completely different from usual.

Lips pursed in a pout, eyes filled with obvious grudge as she glares at me.

She’s at least trying to hide her face behind the textbook so the teacher won’t notice, but unfortunately the entire class can see everything.

“Hey, are those two dating?”

“No way, it’s only the third day of school.”

“But Yukimi-chan has that total lovestruck maiden face going on.”

“She really does~”

The classmates behind us were already whispering.

The person in question didn’t seem to notice at all. She suddenly flashed a little smirk, then clearly prepared her next move.

She scribbled furiously on a scrap of notebook paper, folded it small, and—

During the exact moment the teacher turned to write on the board, she slid it smoothly onto my desk.

A secret note, basically.

Heart pounding, I carefully opened it.

In neat handwriting it read:

“I heard there is no take-back in shogi.”

Fair enough. In shogi, asking for a take-back after moving a piece is absolutely forbidden.

But why pass a note about that in the middle of class?

Right on cue, two more scraps arrived.
“Title matches last at most two days. In other words, today is the absolute limit even if I wait.”
“If you make me wait any longer, time will run out, you know?”

“……………………”

Run out of time? What happens when time runs out?

I was dying to know, but too scared to ask. It felt like the moment I asked, there’d be no turning back.

My hand holding the textbook started shaking, and yet another scrap appeared.
“Until Tatsuya-san makes up his mind, I will keep your tie safe for you.”

My tie? Oh, the one from yesterday.

She had loosened it for me, and in my panic to escape I left it in the clubroom.

Thanks to that I had to wear my spare today.

Well, “spare” is actually my usual one; it’s Big Sis’s hand-me-down. The one I forgot was the new one I bought for entrance ceremony.

Keeping my tie safe, huh…

The phrasing itself isn’t weird, but it feels a lot more like “holding it hostage.”

“…Hm?”

When I glanced over to protest, I suddenly noticed Yukimi-san was wearing a tie today.

Our school lets students choose between a tie or ribbon.

So wearing a tie isn’t strange in itself, but I’m positive she wore a ribbon yesterday and on entrance ceremony day too.

Yet today she was proudly sporting a tie.

Coincidence? Or inevitable?

Hold on—

Is that my tie?

The thought flashed through my mind.

But no matter how reversed her sense of chastity is, there’s no way someone as proper as Yukimi-san would wear someone else’s tie. She should at least have normal social common sense.

Besides, that’s not even what I’m worried about right now.

“If you make me wait any longer, time will run out, you know?”

Staring again at that line, I couldn’t stop wondering what her “time running out” actually meant.

If we’re talking normal logic, it probably means we’ll end up “playing one game.”
But for her, that one game is definitely not shogi.

If it were shogi I’d be thrilled, but any other kind of “game” is absolutely out of the question.

“Sigh…”

Looks like running away early was a huge mistake after all.

Far from gaining eight moves, I played a colossal blunder.

I had clearly underestimated this reversed-chastity world.

—

Chapter 7.1: Sometimes I Just Want to Play a Real Game

Even during break time, Yukimi-san’s stare didn’t let up.

She never once spoke to me. She just kept silently complaining with her eyes alone.

That perfect distance was slowly grinding down my nerves.

Before I knew it, I was constantly aware of her presence. My thoughts were completely taken over, both during class and at break.

I should have been thinking about the future of the shogi club…

“…………………………”

The constant intense stare made it impossible to concentrate.

—This can’t go on!

Feeling the panic rise, I decided to be the one to speak first. I put both hands on my desk and twisted my whole body toward her.

But right at that moment, a piercing voice rang out from the back of the classroom.

“No way, that’s seriously messed up!”

“The messed-up one is you, huh?”

I looked over and saw a blonde gal and a mohawked delinquent yelling at each other. The air felt ready to explode.

“Don’t get cocky with me, huh?”

“You’re the cocky one! Like I’d ever date a guy like you!”

I thought it was a fight, but it sounded more like romance drama.

From what I overheard, the delinquent had confessed to the gal and gotten shot down.

Even in a world where gender ratios are reversed, delinquents are still scary. Makes sense she’d turn him down.

Either way, it had nothing to do with me.

Gals and delinquents are the farthest possible people from shogi.

Gals don’t play shogi, and delinquents don’t play shogi.

They’re the type who’d rather throw real punches than move pieces on a board.

Man, scary stuff.

“……………………”

But when it comes to scary, the girl next to me staring without even blinking is plenty terrifying too.

In terms of sheer pressure, she wins by a mile.

This class has horrible public safety.

“…Yukimi-san?”

While I was thinking that, another scrap of notebook paper arrived.

Written on it was:

—I am safely keeping the clubroom key. If you want to use the room, call me after school’s over.

—Also, you’re finally ready, right? I won’t let you escape this time.

—I’ll show you just how resolved I am, Tatsuya-san.