In a World Where Chastity is Reversed, I Ended Up Working as a Hot Spring Attendant - Chapter 167

Chapter 167: Suzume’s Thoughts – Before Hisui’s Arrival

A little while ago—

“Aaah, I just want to lose my virginity already, I don’t even care who it is!”

“Agreed! Isn’t there anyone around with a nice-looking dick?”

(Good thing there aren’t any men here.)

During the employees’ dinner time, my stepsisters, who also work here, were making a racket with their dirty jokes. Misago, slumping her head, seemed to be in agreement with them.

On the other hand, I quietly ate my meal, not really feeling the same way.

Today’s employee meal was miso-mackerel set. The mackerel was cooked in a pressure cooker with a special miso sauce, eliminating any fishy smell. Even though it wasn’t canned, the bones were soft enough to eat. Aoba had put a lot of effort into making it, ensuring there was no mess to clean up afterward.

Not eating properly would be disrespectful.

“You shouldn’t. If it’s not with the right person, you’ll regret it later,” Tsubame, my stepmother, said with a troubled expression.

“Yeees.”

(That’s easy for you to say, isn’t it? Since you’ve already lost yours.)

Among the half-hearted responses, someone muttered this internally. I didn’t hear it with my ears, but I felt it in my heart.

They probably agreed deep down. I didn’t sympathize, but I understood.

Most of the women around here in their late thirties had already been involved with the legendary Kohaku-sama or Father. There was no need for them to “lose it” anymore. That was the general consensus of the older generation.

Women who visited male escort services would often return saying, “I’d rather stay a virgin for life than pay for that crap.” That was the usual complaint among my peers. Meanwhile, the older women would say, “If it’s gonna be like that, I’d rather reminisce about Kohaku-sama.”

There was also some bizarre etiquette floating around—like how a woman should break her own hymen beforehand so she wouldn’t inconvenience a man with first-time bleeding. But if she was serious about someone, she should let him do it so that he could feel special as her “one and only.” That was the kind of advice the older generation passed down.

For the record, self-inflicted hymen-breaking was so common that no one even found it funny anymore.

The official male-to-female ratio in this world was 1 to 100. Men were critically scarce. Most women didn’t even have the chance to lose their virginity.

Honestly, it felt even worse—like 1 to 1,000 or even 1 to 10,000. That’s why many women remained virgins their whole lives and conceived through artificial insemination using government-issued sperm from some mystery syringe. The so-called “Virgin Marys” were everywhere.

As for me, I’d honestly be fine with that. Ever since that incident in my childhood, I’ve had panic attacks whenever I see men. PTSD, they call it. I could never have romantic dreams about men.

—Swipe.

Absentmindedly, I ran a fingertip over my right eyelid. A gesture-control menu popped up in my right eye’s field of vision.

Triggered by AI processing, the camera activated and started analyzing my meal’s nutritional content.

Within moments, the total calorie count and nutrient balance were displayed. It even traced my nutrition logs for the day. Another perfect meal. As expected of Aoba—excellent work.

Instinctively, I made eye contact with Aoba, who was eating nearby, and gave a thumbs-up with a smile.

(Oh, good.)

Aoba, looking proud, grinned and returned the thumbs-up.

At the same time, news feeds and other updates popped up, notifying me of new content.

Not now.

—Swipe.

I brushed my finger across my eyelid again, closing the menu.

(This thing itself is great, though.)

A high-end digital implant lens.

The burn from back then had damaged my cornea and lens beyond natural healing. Eventually, I had to get surgery. As a kid, I thought, Might as well go full cyborg! and jokingly requested enhancements. To my surprise, they actually approved it.

I was ecstatic—like a masked rider, a real-life cyborg. Even now, as an adult, I find it incredibly useful.

Digital devices evolve rapidly, but this one is just an external display with eye-tracking controls. The actual system is wirelessly connected to a smartphone, making it easy to upgrade. It hurt like hell, but I have no complaints.

As for that man… He ended up in court against Tsubame, my stepmother. With the entire family backing her, she barely managed to win an acquittal. She’s now infamous in certain circles as the woman who exposed a loophole in male privilege. But those circles are so niche that it hasn’t really affected our business.

And so, our inn, Torikoya, remained in its usual state—open but utterly deserted, with nothing but the sound of crickets.

How bad was it? Well, even though we had over 200 rooms between the new and old buildings, having 10 guests at a time was considered a full house.

How did we stay afloat?

Our main business was in the red. The maintenance of three hot spring sources, cleaning costs, employee wages, meal expenses—everything was bleeding money. Even our sister inn, Kotoriyoya, which we split off, was still financially linked to us, and there was no way we could break even.

So why were we still here?

Because of the annual New Year’s and holiday reunions, when all our half-siblings—Kohaku-sama’s numerous descendants—came to stay. But even that was just a band-aid solution.

The real reason was Kohaku-sama’s absurd inheritance. His fortune was so massive that even conservative investments generated ridiculous interest. Since this resulted in excessive retained earnings, we countered it with tax-deductible student loans—essentially charity work that operated at a loss.

In the end, we were entirely dependent on Kohaku-sama’s legacy. Whether I could be considered an independent woman here was highly debatable.

Life was peaceful. We had no real struggles. Just dull, uneventful days.

That is, until Misago brought home a certain man—Hisui.

The ripples he caused turned our once quiet days into utter chaos, sending us into a whirlwind of activity.

But back then, I had no way of knowing what was to come.