In a World of Reversed Chastity, I’m Surrounded by a Clingy Older Woman, a Walking Red Flag, and an Exhausted Office Lady - 19

Chapter 19: Men Without Taste

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“This is bad. I’m definitely going to be late.”

When I woke up in the morning and checked the time, it was already time when the second period had started. I was sure I had set my alarm, but at some point it had stopped. It seemed like I had turned it off unconsciously. I probably been tired since yesterday I had been a little busy.

“……Maybe I’ll just go in the afternoon. I’ll be late if I go now anyway, and I haven’t missed this class even once yet.”

There were times in life when giving up was important. With that excuse, I decided to laze around in bed a little longer. Lying on my back, I remembered what had happened yesterday. After that, I rubbed Yua-san’s back while she was crying, and once she had cried so much it felt like there were no tears left to shed, she finally gave me a refreshed expression. By the time she returned to her room, she had completely regained her energy,

“Aoi-kun, Aoi-kun,”

she had even been repeating my name over and over.

…Well, it wasn’t entirely because of that, but by the time Yua-san went back to her room, it was already past 3 a.m., so it couldn’t be helped for me to be late today. As I was making yet another excuse to myself, a notification suddenly popped up on my phone.

『Renka: Aoi, are you okay? Did you catch a cold?』

It was a message from Renka. Since I hardly ever showed up late or skipped class, she must have assumed I’d come down with something.

『I’m sorry, I overslept. I’m planning to go to the afternoon classes.』

As soon as I sent the message, it was marked as read.

『Renka, you’re in class. Are you just staring at your phone the whole time?』

『Renka: It’s rare for you to oversleep, Aoi. Did something happen?』

Renka wasn’t acquainted with Yua-san, nor did she know Shizuku, so I figured I could just tell her about yesterday without mentioning any names.

『Yesterday I hung out with some friends from my hometown, and something a little not-so-good happened to someone I’ve been getting closer to lately, so I was a bit busy because of that.』

I conveyed that with a bit of vagueness. It was marked as read right away, but unlike before, there was no immediate reply. As I absentmindedly stared at my phone waiting for a response, about ten minutes later, a message finally came.

『Renka: Aoi. The friend from your hometown and the person you’ve been getting close to… they’re girls, right?』

Hm………?

That was a question I didn’t quite understand. In this world, there were more women than men, and I didn’t really have many memories of getting along well with men here. I tried to be friendly, but for some reason, they always avoided me.

『They’re girls. Why?』

After I replied, it was marked as read again, and after a few minutes of silence, this was the response I got.

『Renka: Aoi. Don’t go to your afternoon classes. Let’s go shopping together.』

I had never missed an afternoon class before, and the professors for those classes were relatively kind and easy graders, so skipping once wouldn’t be a big deal.

『Renka: You can hang out with other girls, but you won’t hang out with me?』

As if delivering the final blow, another notification from Renka came in. I felt like we had just gone to a cat café together last week, but she was asking me like this, and she was one of my few friends at university. I needed to cherish that.

『Okay, sure. Then how about we meet at 1:00 at the west exit of the station?』

When I sent that, she replied immediately.

『Renka: Yeah! I’ll be waiting.』

Renka was cute, so it would be a problem if I looked uncool walking next to her. I made sure to dress properly and tidy up my appearance before leaving the house in time for our meeting. After walking for over ten minutes, I arrived at the meeting spot. I wondered where Renka was and looked around. I spotted her right away.

But… was she being hit on?

From a distance, I saw Renka talking to two guys. She was cute, so I could understand why someone would try to pick her up, but something about the situation felt strange. Renka had a frightened expression, and the guys were pointing at her and smirking.

Maybe there was still a chance it was just flirting. Thinking that I might be in time to celebrate my friend’s new love life, I gradually approached and then I heard them.

“This girl’s been dressing like this since high school. And it was so obvious she was totally into me. It was seriously gross.”

“Seriously? That gives me chills. That’s way too creepy.”

“And she looked like the type to be super clingy just from her appearance, so I dumped her.”

……………………………

“Renka.”

“…A-ah, Ao-i.”

“Let’s go. You’re in the way, move.”

I grabbed Renka’s hand, shoved past their shoulders, and walked between them.

“Huh? What’s your problem all of a sudden?”

“Are you her boyfriend? You’ve got no taste.”

The guys chuckled as they said that. I had no intention of dealing with idiots, but my irritation had finally reached its peak.

“You’re the ones with no taste. Renka’s seriously cute, you know that? Are your heads screwed on wrong? The fact that you can’t recognize how cute she is… Your lack of judgment and sense is what gives me chills. Don’t ever show your faces again. You’re disgusting.”

I ended up turning around and saying that. I didn’t want to waste time on them since it would cut into my time with Renka.

“You’re getting way too cocky.”

One of them stepped toward me and tried to grab me, reaching out his hand. It was obvious he didn’t exercise at all, so I grabbed his hand and twisted his wrist hard. He winced in pain, backed off, and looked like he was about to cry.

In this world, men generally weren’t used to fighting, nor did many of them think about building their bodies through exercise. Some men hit women, but hitting another man wasn’t socially tolerated. Since they’d never been on the receiving end of violence, they were weak against pain.

So something like this was enough to make him look like he was about to cry. I let out a sigh, exasperated at the guy glaring at me with teary eyes.

“If you’re going to do something to someone, be prepared to have it done back to you. How lame. Don’t ever say something cruel to Renka again.”

That was all I said to the two guys before turning away.

“Renka, let’s go. You don’t have to worry about trash like them anymore.”

I took Renka’s hand and left the scene.

“Aoi, I’m sorry.”

“Hm…? What are you apologizing for?”

To change the mood and calm Renka who had been crying since earlier, we went to a nearby café.

“Because… you came all this way for me, and I made you feel awful before we even started.”

She said that while looking down.

“It’s fine. You didn’t do anything wrong, Renka. Those guys just have no eye for quality. Seriously, they’re the ones with no taste. You’re really cute.”

When I said that, Renka, who had been looking down, looked up at me and gave an embarrassed smile.

“See? Cute. If they can’t think that smile is cute, they’re the weird ones.”

“……Thank you, Aoi.”

She muttered that softly and turned her face away, probably because she was embarrassed.

“Alright, to change the mood, I think I’ll order pancakes. I’ve been curious about them for a while. What about you, Renka?”

“I’ll……….”

After thinking for a moment, Renka looked up at me and asked,

“…Aoi, can I share your pancakes? Is it okay if we share half?”

Just as I thought, those guys’ eyes were rotten.

“Sure, let’s share.”

“Yeah!! ………Thank you, Aoi.”

After all, Renka was just that cute.

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