In This World That Favors Men, I... ~Starting a Sweet School Life in a World With a 1:8 Gender Ratio~ - 112

Chapter 112: Indoor Gardening

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The morning after Dad came to the house, a delivery company dropped off a large package at the front door.

“Is this the one?”

“Yeah. Japanese delivery services are amazing. It’s already here.”

“For now, let’s unpack it and check if all the parts are there, shall we?”

In front of the boxed-up cardboard, Dad and Mom talked with thoughtful expressions on their faces.

“Hey, what exactly are they doing?”

Yui and I were curious too, so the whole family ended up gathering at the entrance.

“They’re setting up a greenhouse. You know the potted plant Dad brought as a souvenir? It’s for that.”

They went to all this trouble just for that plant?

“To make it easier to care for, I chose an indoor greenhouse. It’s a cabinet-type, assembly-required model.”

“Assembly-required? So we’re putting it together ourselves?”

“That’s the idea. I’m sorry to ask on a day off, but it’s hard to do alone. Could you please help me out?”

And so, the four of us read the instruction manual and worked together to assemble it. The process went smoothly, and about two hours later, a glass-walled greenhouse was standing proudly in the living room.

“It looks a lot sturdier than I expected. This should be safe for indoors use.”

It had a solid aluminum frame and reinforced glass. Compact, yet it looked surprisingly high-end.

“The slanted ceiling panel is stylish and the automatic opening and closing system is cool too.”

After adjusting the level with the feet, we plugged in the heater-humidifier and ventilation fan, then set up an electronic thermostat that would control them automatically. We also installed a thermometer, a hygrometer, and a plant-growing light with a built-in timer.

“Vanilla likes warm, humid environments, so managing temperature and humidity is important. Air circulation, too.”

“So that’s why we’re buying a greenhouse for growing orchids.”

“Yeah. This greenhouse has a gentle airflow function. Plants need airflow to stay healthy and to help with photosynthesis and respiration.”

With the greenhouse ready, we immediately placed the vanilla plant on one of the shelves. Bathed in the artificial sunlight, the vanilla’s green leaves looked lively—it almost seemed happy.

“It’s fine in this position for now, but since vanilla vines grow long, we’ll probably have to rearrange the shelves eventually.”

“Longer vines make it easier for flowers to bloom, right?”

Ah, so that’s why the support rod was so tall. Everything makes sense now.

“You know a lot, Yui. This vanilla is a specially blessed variety, so it’s pretty hardy and should bear flowers and fruit easily. I’d love to propagate it with cuttings someday.”

“I thought it was amazing that it was already bearing fruit in a pot this size! If it’s hardy, it’ll be easy to grow.”

Blessed? Is it some kind of specially bred variety? 

Since he went through the trouble of bringing it all the way from overseas, this plant was probably different from what you could buy at a local gardening shop in Japan.

“Well then, great work everyone. It’s almost lunchtime—we need to think of what to eat for lunch now.”

“How about oyakodon? We made it in home economics class recently.”

“We just bought eggs, so we should have everything we need.”

“That sounds perfect. I’ve been craving Japanese food—something like that would really hit the spot.”

I love oyakodon too! The kind where the eggs are just barely cooked, all soft and runny. I’ll ask Yui to make it extra saucy.

“Alright then, it’s decided! I’ll give it my all, so look forward to it!”

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Knock knock!

After the break, I came home from school and was relaxing in my room when I heard a knock.

“Yuusei, do you have a moment?”

“Come in.”

“Thanks. I’ve been wanting to have a proper one-on-one talk with you.”

Mom was at work, and Yui was still at school. So right now, it was just me and Dad in the house. He had probably waited for this moment on purpose. But what did he want to talk about?

Don’t tell me… “Who are you really?!” “How dare you impersonate my son!” …or something like that? No, that’s too ridiculous. 

But I couldn’t help feeling a bit anxious.

“There’s not much time, so I’ll get straight to the point. You have one, don’t you? A diary.”

A diary? You mean, like a notebook where you write about your day…? No, that’s not it. With the way he asked, it’s definitely that kind of diary. But how does he know?

“Come on, show me. I’ll show you mine too.”

Wait, what?! What did he just say?

“Heh. That face says it all. Is this your first time meeting another diary holder besides yourself?”

No way. I had suspected there were others like me, but never imagined Dad was one of them.

“Yes, it’s my first time.”

“Don’t worry. You and I are under the protection of the same god. That makes us allies—with a shared goal. So there’s no need to be on guard.”

“So… You mean there are multiple diary holders in this world, and some of them should be treated with caution?”

Are the gods on bad terms with each other or something? Being told to be cautious makes it sound more dangerous than that.

“Well, yeah. Diary holders compete for resources to realize their dreams in this world. Most of the time, everyone minds their own business, but occasionally, someone troublesome shows up and causes problems.”

Competing for resources? What does that even mean? The diary always says dreams require energy to come true, and it runs PR campaigns around that—but does that mean someone might try to interfere too?

“If that’s the case, I don’t mind showing you my diary.”

I had kept the diary secret from everyone until now. I just didn’t think anyone would understand. So finding myself in this unexpected situation, I couldn’t help but feel a little excited.

Dad probably knows a lot about the secrets of this world that I don’t.

“Alright, I’ll show you first. This is my diary.”

Dad, who hadn’t been holding anything, suddenly had a yellow diary in his hands, looking quite similar to mine.

“Oh, then I’ll…”

The diary suddenly appeared out of thin air.

《First encounter with a kin. Exciting, isn’t it?》

As I sat on my bed, a heavy weight suddenly pressed down on my lap.

Whoa, what the heck? It’s been a while since I’ve taken this out, but it’s definitely heavier than before. And the design looks even fancier. There’s gold foil everywhere, gleaming like crazy.

《Thanks to you, I just upgraded the other day.》

“Wow, you’re incredible. What did you do to make it turn out like that?”

Dad stared at my diary, clearly impressed. His diary was a bit fancier than the one I started with, but mine looked even more extravagant now.

《Master, shall we exchange information with the other diary?》

“Uh…”

I don’t mind, but how do we do that?

“Hmm. Let’s just set them on the desk and let them bond on their own. Meanwhile, we can have an honest, man-to-man talk.”

An honest chat between men, huh? Not sure how deep this’ll go, but it might be the first real experience of its kind since I came to this world.

“Sure. I don’t know much, so I’d appreciate it if you could tell me about this world and the other diary holders.”

The secrets of this world I haven’t been able to uncover on my own. What could be hidden out there?

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