In a World Where Chastity Is Reversed, I Kept Provoking Girls Until Things Went Too Far - Chapter 13: Mom's Lecture

Chapter 13: Mom’s Lecture

“…Kouta.”

Mom–Kasumi squeezed out a low voice toward me.

Her gaze was as cold as ice, yet beneath it lurked a seething magma.

“Wh-what’s with that look… just hear me out…?”

“There’s no need for explanations. I already know everything. You went into a hotel… with a girl…”

“W-wait! It’s really not like that! We were just eating snacks!”

“…Oh? And why would you need to choose a hotel just to eat snacks?”

I was at a complete loss for words.

Mom came at me with pure logic, and I felt like a frog staring down a snake.

At that moment–

“Wait, hold on! I’m not the one at fault here!”

Aya poked her head out from behind the bed.

She was pale, but she raised her voice as if she’d decided to double down.

“It was Kouta who invited me! I just went along!”

“Wha… don’t betray me like that!”

“But I’m scared! Your mom is totally looking at me like she wants to kill me!!”

Kasumi’s gaze shifted smoothly to Aya.

The instant their eyes met, Aya froze.

She must have looked like a carnivorous beast glaring at its prey.

“…What’s your name?”

“Y-Yoshida… Aya…”

“Aya, then. What were your intentions with my Kouta?”

“I-I didn’t have any intentions!? We were just eating snacks together…!”

“In a hotel?”

“Gh…! Th-that’s…”

Under Mom’s relentless questioning, Aya was backed completely into a corner.

I desperately tried to intervene.

“W-wait, Mom! It’s not Aya’s fault! We really weren’t doing anything weird!”

“Kouta, be quiet. I’m asking Aya.”

“Eek…! N-no! I wasn’t planning to assault Kouta or anything… well, maybe a little… no no no, that’s not it!!”

“…Hmm.”

Mom’s eyes narrowed. She wore a smile that was terrifying.

“Wait, Mom!! I told you Aya’s innocent!!”

“Kouta… you still don’t understand just how dangerous your situation is.”

Mom narrowed her eyes as she took one step, then another, closer.

“Aya. Be honest. –Weren’t you planning to assault Kouta?”

“N-no! I didn’t have any such plans…!”

“Then explain what your plans were.”

“Uh, um… well…”

Aya’s shoulders shook with tremors.

At this rate, she’d burst into tears completely…!

“W-wait, Mom! Aya’s not like that! It was really just a coincidence or…”

“Kouta, I’ll hear your side later, so stay quiet.”

“Eek…! H-hey, Kouta… help me…! I can’t take this anymore…”

Aya grabbed my arm tightly, on the verge of tears.

Her hand was ice-cold. She was utterly terrified.

“D-don’t come to me for help!? I need saving myself!!”

“But…! Your mom is really scary!!”

“…Kouta. Getting tangled up with girls like this is the most dangerous thing for you.”

“Hey, Mom!”

“I didn’t tangle him up! I didn’t come here with those intentions…!”

“Then what intentions did you have?”

“Ugh…! K-Kouta said he wanted to prank your mom…!”

“…………”

Kasumi’s eyebrow twitched.

Unable to bear the silence, Aya clung tightly to me.

“Kouta~~ I only had the tiniest intention of assaulting you, so believe me~~!”

“You, ‘tiniest’? You’re being too honest about that!!”

“…………”

The hellish chaos from moments ago had vanished as if it were a lie, replaced by an eerily quiet time.

Mom had dragged me out of the hotel by the arm, forcing me along.

Aya came too, and now the three of us sat in a corner booth at a cafe.

Silence.

It was incredibly awkward.

“…Kouta.”

Mom finally opened her mouth.

“Explain yourself. What exactly were you doing in that hotel?”

“I told you, we were just eating snacks.”

“…”

Aya waved her hands in a panic.

“Y-yes! We really only ate snacks! Nothing else…!”

Mom’s eyes narrowed. The suspicion hadn’t fully dissipated yet.

I gave in and confessed honestly.

“…I found the GPS you hid in my lunchbox again, Mom.”

“!”

Kasumi’s face stiffened with a twitch.

I continued.

“So I thought I’d prank you a little.

‘Let’s make it seem like I’m in a hotel on purpose and scare Mom.’

…It was Aya’s idea…”

“Wha…! H-hey! Don’t phrase it like that! I’m a victim too!”

Aya protested with teary eyes, but it was the truth, so nothing to be done.

Mom stared at me in silence for a while–then let out a sigh.

“…You’re right, it was wrong of me to plant the GPS.

I didn’t listen to your feelings properly and just worried on my own…”

“Mom…?”

“But using that to tease me… going to a hotel of all places…”

“N-no, but I thought it might be funny…”

Mom’s eyebrows shot up sharply.

“Funny!? Kouta, do you even realize you’re a boy!?

In a world this dangerous where boys can’t even walk alone safely! Didn’t you imagine what it would do to me to see a location saying ‘in a hotel’!?”

“…”

“…”

Aya and I were utterly like small, helpless animals.

Mom’s intensity was overwhelming.

“First off, a hotel is–! D-don’t make me explain it!”

(Her face is beet red, so maybe Mom’s surprisingly innocent too.)

“Just being in ‘that kind of place’ as a boy invites misunderstandings!

Of course I’d worry!?”

“…I’m sorry.”

“It’s not something you can just apologize for!”

Mom slammed the table.

The cafe staff glanced over for a moment but quickly looked away.

(This is too awkward…)

“Kouta, your ‘carelessness’ like this scares me the most.

If it hadn’t been someone like Aya… you might really have ended up in danger!”

“M-me!?”

Aya’s shoulders jumped at the sudden mention of her name.

Mom looked at Aya with serious eyes.

“Aya, thank you for keeping Kouta company today. …But if something had happened, you’d have been dragged in too.

The only one who can protect Kouta is me, his mother.”

“…”

“I’ll apologize for attaching the GPS too.

But… I really do care about Kouta.”

Those words left me speechless.

The only thing that caught my eye was Aya next to me, pulling back with a look that said, “What is this heavy maternal love…?”