In a World of Reversed Chastity, I’m Surrounded by a Clingy Older Woman, a Walking Red Flag, and an Exhausted Office Lady - 9

Chapter 9: An Expert at Avoiding Landmines

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I wondered if Yua-san ended up hating me after all. In the end, even when Sunday came, I couldn’t talk to her, and that day her face had been a mess as she cried, and I was the one who made her cry. If I didn’t tone down my meddling, she might end up hating me even more, so maybe for now I should put a little distance between us. Surely time would take care of something like this.

Yeah, let’s do that.

As I was spacing out in the classroom thinking about that, someone suddenly covered my eyes.

“Guess who?”

“It’s Renka, right? At this university, you’re the only friend I’ve got.”

“E-ehhehe. I-is that so? I guess you’re right. I’m pretty much your only friend, Aoi.”

Smiling brightly, Renka looked happy about the fact that I had so few friends.

You little…

“I-I could totally make as many friends as I want if I tried. I could make, like, fifty by the end of today.”

When I shot back with a half-joke, half-bluff, the smile vanished from Renka’s face and she turned serious.

“Yeah, you’re right. You’re really kind and cool and precious, Aoi, so you could make as many friends as you want besides me. It’s not like it had to be me anyway. It was just a coincidence that I was nearby, right? It didn’t have to be me.”

H-huh? That wasn’t the reaction I was expecting. I’d thought she would say something like..

『Don’t act tough. I’m the only one who’d ever be your friend, you know. Dummy, dummy.』

—but judging from this response, it seemed like I had made her misunderstand something.

“R-Renka, I was joking. I don’t have the social skills to make that many friends.”

“…That’s not true. If you were serious, you wouldn’t stop at fifty. You could have a hundred girls following you.”

A hundred girls? What kind of royalty did she think I was? I didn’t have that kind of charm. After all, in this world where chastity standards were reversed, I hadn’t even had sex once—let alone dated anyone. As for friends, I’d had about two in high school, but aside from them, no one else.

Come to think of it, I wondered how those two were doing now.

One of them, who was from a prominent local family and couldn’t leave our hometown, had cried for three days and nights because she couldn’t go to the same university as me. The other had finished her study abroad program and tearfully returned to her home country. Their faces came to mind.

…But that didn’t matter right now. What mattered was getting Renka, who was standing in front of me, back to her usual self.

“Renka.”

“…W-what?”

“I became your friend because you’re you, Renka. Don’t say it could’ve been anyone. I thought you were cute. I thought you were kind. I like how you get carried away sometimes, and how you’re funny. I’m really glad we’re friends.”

That was how I truly felt. I had the right to choose my friends too, and that was why I chose to be friends with Renka. When we first met, she’d kindly helped some random guy she barely knew—me—figure out the course registration.

“I became your friend because you’re you, Renka,”

When I repeated that, she finally smiled again like before.

“I-I see. Because it was me. You became friends with me because it was me.”

“Yeah. That’s right.”

“E-ehhehehe. Nuhehe. Gehehe.”

I stared in exasperation as Renka gradually started making noises no girl should be making. Well, she got away with it because her face was cute.

“By the way, I don’t have any friends besides you, Renka. But do you have other friends?”

Renka was usually with me, but she was cute and a good person, so I figured she probably had lots of friends. When I asked that, she tilted her head and answered as if it were obvious.

“There’s no way I do. What are you even saying? You’re the only friend I have, Aoi.”

“Really? Are you serious?”

“Yeah. I’ve never lied to you, Aoi.”

Judging by how seriously she tilted her head while looking at me, she seemed completely genuine.

…Was making friends in this world actually pretty difficult? If someone as cute, kind, occasionally weird, but funny and nice as Renka hadn’t made any friends besides me, that was the only conclusion I could reach. In my previous life, I’d had a decent number of friends, but in this life, through middle school and high school, I’d always had few friends. I guess now I kind of understood why.

Well, whatever.

Friends weren’t something you forced yourself to make anyway. As long as I could be with people I clicked with, that was enough to make me happy.

“Thanks, Renka.”

“W-What’s with that all of a sudden, Aoi?”

“I was just thinking I’m really glad you’re my friend.”

I said that as I silently vowed to treasure my few friends. Renka’s face turned bright red, and she muttered something under her breath, her mouth moving awkwardly, either from embarrassment or fluster.

“I-I see. I’m glad I’m your friend too, Aoi. It’s the happiest thing in my life.”

She said that cutely while looking up at me, and I ended up blushing too, turning my face away. Even between friends, saying things like that out of nowhere was embarrassing. Just as things were getting awkward, the professor walked into the classroom at perfect timing, and the lecture began. I listened seriously enough to at least get the credit when Renka, sitting next to me, tugged at my sleeve and showed me a torn piece of notebook paper.

It read:

『You don’t have work today, right? After class, will you go out with me for a bit?』

I didn’t have a part-time job today, and even if I went home I had nothing to do, so sure, why not? I hadn’t really hung out with Renka much lately anyway.

『Sure, let’s go.』

I wrote back. After the lecture ended, Renka led me to a cat café.

“Hey, hey, look at this! It’s way too cute. So precious. Over here, good job!”

“This kitty is sooo cute. It’s totally attached to me. It’s ridiculously adorable.”

Seeing Renka cradling a cat against her ample chest and gently stroking it with such affection made my cheeks relax into a smile. I didn’t dislike cats—in fact, I preferred them—but right now, I found Renka, doting on the cat, even cuter than the cat itself.

“A-Aoi? Are you not having fun? Don’t you like cats?”

Noticing that I was looking at her instead of playing with the cats, Renka worriedly studied my expression.

“I’m having fun. It’s just that you looked so happy, Renka, so I was watching you.”

I told her honestly what I’d been thinking. In an instant, her cheeks turned red, and she hid her face behind the cat she was holding.

“D-don’t say stuff like that! It makes me embarrassed-happy and my face gets weird, so stop.”

Since she was hiding behind the cat, it was like she was doing voice-over for it, and the cat let out a small meow. She was this cute. Surely she was used to being told things like that, so why was she getting embarrassed? Was Yua-san, Renka, and Shiki-san all just shy? Or even if they were used to hearing such things, was it still embarrassing?

The only time anyone called me cool was as a joke from family or friends.

Oh, right.

Renka and I had known each other for over six months now, so even if it was late, I should probably confirm something.

“Renka.”

“W-what? You’re not allowed to try to embarrass me again.”

She was still blushing behind the cat as I asked her,

“By the way, you don’t have a boyfriend, right?”

We’d come all the way to a cat café together, and we’d hung out alone plenty of times before, but I’d never actually confirmed it. She was so cute that I figured she might have a boyfriend.

“A boyfriend? I don’t. Why would you ask that?”

There was a hint of confusion in her voice, mixed with lingering embarrassment and something else I couldn’t quite place. At some point, the cat she’d been holding had wandered off, and the other cats nearby had moved away too, leaving just the two of us in our own little space.

“You’re cute, Renka, so I figured you might have a boyfriend. If you did, I’d feel bad hanging out with you so much.”

The moment I said that… Renka placed both hands on my cheeks and held my face still so I couldn’t move.

“There’s no way. I don’t. That’s stupid. I don’t need someone like that. So it’s fine for you and me to hang out. Why would you even say that? Do you not like being with me? Answer me.”

Even if I tried to pull away, I couldn’t because she was holding my face and I hadn’t intended to run anyway. I might have asked something unpleasant. We were having fun as friends, and I’d gone and dampened the mood.

“Sorry, Renka. It’s not that I don’t like being with you. Like I said, you’re cute, so I just thought someone as cute as you probably had a boyfriend. That’s why I asked. I’m not lying.”

I emphasized it and looked her in the eyes. She stared back at me intently for several seconds as if verifying the truth, and finally let go.

“Geez, you idiot, Aoi. I don’t have a boyfriend, and you’re basically the only one who’s ever called me cute.”

Really?

Even if there were fewer men in this world than in my old one because of the reversed chastity standards, someone as cute as Renka was rare. And yet she’d never even been called cute?

“Sorry.”

“Well, it can’t be helped. I’ll forgive you.”

I had unintentionally dug into an old wound—never having had a boyfriend, never even being called cute. I knew there were a lot of beautiful women in this world, but I hadn’t realized the standards of beauty were that high.

…Or maybe I was misunderstanding something again?

“Huh?”

“Well, whatever. More importantly, promise me something.”

“A promise?”

For a second I wondered if she was going to make me treat her to expensive yakiniku over this, but that wasn’t it.

“Don’t ask me if I have a boyfriend again, okay? And don’t say stuff like you should hang out with me less.”

“Yeah. Got it.”

If that was all, I hadn’t planned to say anything like that again anyway. Getting teased by your friend for not being popular would suck.

“Alright, that’s the end of this topic. Let’s go play with the cats.”

“Yeah.”

I was relieved that Renka had gone back to her usual self. There was a small part of me that felt scared not knowing where her emotional landmines were, but I swore to myself that next time, I’d be careful not to step on one.

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