In This World That Favors Men, I... ~Starting a Sweet School Life in a World With a 1:8 Gender Ratio~ - 110

Chapter 110: The Father Returns

ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー

It was late Saturday morning, just after the end of the rainy season, and the temperature had shot up.

Ding-dong

“Is it a delivery?”

Yui went to check the door monitor.

“Onii-chan, this is bad. There’s a weird person outside.”

Ding-dong

“Weird person?”

“Yeah. His hair’s a mess and he’s got a huge beard.”

“Huge beard? So, it’s a man?”

Curious, I went to check the monitor too, and sure enough, there was a suspicious-looking person with a face full of scruffy facial hair. Should we call the police? No, wait a minute. In this world full of women, a male pervert was practically unheard of. Men received government subsidies, so crimes for financial gain were extremely rare.

Which meant… Yeah.

“”Dad!?””

Yui must’ve come to the same conclusion, because our voices overlapped perfectly.

Ding-dong

“Let’s just answer it for now.”

I looked at the monitor and turned on the intercom.

“…Hello. Sorry to keep you waiting.”

Usually Yui would handle this, but since the visitor was a man, I decided to respond myself.

『Oh good. I thought nobody was home.』

Despite the sketchy appearance, the man’s voice was youthful and clear over the speaker.

“Sorry for the delay. Um, I’m really sorry to ask this, but… Who are you?”

I need to at least confirm that much first.

『Ah, I guess you wouldn’t know. Yuko didn’t tell you? It’s Kousei. Kousei Takeda. In other words, I’m your father.』

＊＊＊＊

“Man, I completely forgot how safe Japan is. I got stared at like crazy all the way from the airport. I thought I was gonna get in trouble or something.”

Yeah. Now that we were in the living room and I could get a proper look at Dad, it was honestly surprising he hadn’t been stopped for questioning. His hair was a tangled mess, hiding most of his face, and his beard was far beyond “stubbly”—it was practically a wild thicket. That alone was quite a sight, but his outfit made it worse.

He wore a wrinkled long-sleeve T-shirt and a camping vest with way too many pockets. His cargo pants were just as pocket-laden. On his back was a well-worn, sagging backpack, and in his arms he carried a large, tall cardboard box.

“Why are you dressed like that?”

“Well, I’ve been traveling all over the world, right? And when I dress neatly, people always try to kidnap me. So at first, I started dressing messy as a safety measure. But over time, I got used to it and now I can’t stop.”

“But in Japan, that might make you stand out in a bad way.”

“Yeah, I really felt that the moment I arrived. Anyway, do you mind if I borrow the shower? I’d like to freshen up before seeing Yuko. A look like this could kill a hundred-year love in an instant.”

We ushered Dad to the bathroom and I messaged Mom via app.

『Dad has arrived at the house. He’s currently taking a bath. What time will you be home?』

Her reply came almost immediately with a ping.

『He’s already there!? I’ll come home as soon as I can. You can order anything you want for delivery, just make sure there’s food ready.』

『Got it.』

“Yui, Mom says we can order delivery.”

“Really? What should we get?”

“She said anything we want.”

“Then let’s splurge a bit and get sushi? It’s been a while.”

“Sounds good. I’m in the mood for vinegared rice anyway.”

Looking excited, Yui placed the delivery order. Now all we had to do was wait.

“But wow, that was a surprise. Showing up dressed like that…”

“Now that I think about it… He’s not some imposter or anything, right?”

“I think we’re good. I mean, look.”

Yui pointed to the contents of the cardboard box Dad had been carrying. He’d handed it to us, saying it was a souvenir, so we’d opened it right away.

Was it a houseplant?

A square wooden stake stood in a white ceramic pot, with glossy, teardrop-shaped leaves twining up around it. The thick, bright green leaves grew along a vine, and at the tip of the vine were clusters of about ten green pods.

“What about it?”

“This was brought from overseas, right? Importing plants into Japan requires a certificate, inspection, and customs clearance.”

Huh. It’s that complicated?

“Yui, you sure know a lot.”

“Hehe, I looked it up before.”

“For a school project or something?”

“Something like that. So, when I saw how much trouble he went through to bring this plant, I figured it must be work-related and that made me think this person must be really our Dad.”

Work-related, huh? Crap. His profile just says “Company Employee.” But I’ve got no clue what kind of company.

“Uh… So what’s the connection between Dad’s job and this plant?”

“Onii-chan, are you being dense? There’s a huge connection. Oh! Wait! You don’t know what this plant is. That’s why you’re asking weird questions, right?”

Of course I didn’t know what plant this was. I didn’t know anything. But yeah, let’s just go with that.

“Bingo. What is it?”

I was never good with plants, and I was pretty sure I’d never seen this one before.

“This is a perennial from the Vanilla genus in the orchid family. It’s a vine—vanilla.”

“Vanilla? You mean, like, the one used in desserts?”

“Exactly. What’s used in sweets is the vanilla bean—or sometimes the extract made from it. Remember, Dad works for the ‘World Committee for the Love and Popularization of Pudding’? So this vanilla might be something special you can’t even buy in Japan.”

What kind of ridiculously long organization name is that? Is that even a  legit company?

“Or it could be related to the trading company he used to work for. That’s also possible.”

Ah, so he really was a company employee at some point. The diary wasn’t wrong after all.

《We strive for real-time updates.》

Sorry. I wasn’t doubting you. I just panicked a bit. I’ve been slacking on checking the diary lately, but maybe I need to keep up with it.

“So those green things that look like string beans—are those vanilla beans?”

The vanilla beans I’d seen sold in baking sections were dark brown, almost black, and dried out with lots of wrinkles.

“Yep. But to make them into extract, they need to go through sun-drying, curing, and fermentation. It’s a super time-consuming process and they won’t even be harvested until they’re more mature. Probably a few months from now.”

“Wow. You know a lot, Yui.”

“Fufun. Leave all pudding-related matters to me!”

We kept chatting about this and that for about thirty minutes. Then Dad came back into the living room, water still dripping from his wet hair.

“Man, shaving after so long feels weird. My face feels all cool and tingly.”

“Whoa. Dad, you really are Onii-chan’s dad. But, um… the floor is soaking wet now.”

“Oops, sorry, my bad. It totally slipped my mind.”

“Jeez, Dad!”

Yui’s flustered reaction made her slip into odd Japanese, but I couldn’t blame her, because he looked like a completely different person. He’d shaved his beard and was drying his hair as he casually pushed it back. He looked a bit older than in the photos in the album, but—

Kousei Takeda. Currently in his forties. A super handsome, dripping-with-sex-appeal “ikemen uncle” and this man… Was our father.

ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー