In This World That Favors Men, I... ~Starting a Sweet School Life in a World With a 1:8 Gender Ratio~ - 125

Chapter 125: Rainy Skies Over Catherine

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Let’s go back in time a little. The season was the rainy one.

“I didn’t know this was an all-girls’ school!”

《I believe I informed you that there would be no students here who could become your romance targets, Master. The current top priority is the replenishment of your divine protection energy and this academy happens to be the place in this entire region where the most maiden energy gathers.》

“But, but, but! It’s no fun if there aren’t any guys around at all! I hate this!”

Outside the window, the sky was unusually dark. The gloomy, rainy weather seemed to perfectly mirror Kurara Tsuzuki’s current mood. She had transferred into St. Catherine’s Academy, Japan’s most elite school for young ladies. As a dormitory student, she now sat in her room, venting her frustrations to her pink diary.

《It took considerable effort to arrange your transfer here as well. Due to an energy shortage, the diary’s special functions will be unusable for some time.》

“…When will I be able to leave this place?”

《During the summer break, there will be no students present, and thus energy supply will nearly stop coming in. Therefore, you will need to remain here after autumn too. Including the time needed to secure surplus energy, the earliest you’ll be able to leave this academy will be next spring.》

“What!? That long!?”

《Yes, that long. The large-scale multi-layer operation at Azuchi Momoyama Academy and the battle against the resistance at Eika Shuuei Academy—those two operations have depleted nearly all of your divine protection energy. This is a grave situation. I repeat, the current goal is swift replenishment of divine energy. We used up the last of the remaining energy just to ensure your transfer into St. Catherine’s, which is the optimal site for this purpose.》

Kurara had been aware that she had gotten carried away when she found herself in an otome game world and began launching into reckless routes without a proper plan. But she still couldn’t fully accept that this was the outcome of her actions.

“…I’m sorry I pushed too hard. But can’t we do something? Being stuck in this prison-like place until next spring without seeing a single hot guy is just too cruel.”

《No, we cannot. With this communication, I will now enter a dormant state. I plan to reawaken around March next year. Master, please take care not to overdo anything, and I pray for your well-being. Just to be clear, this world is not a game. It is reality. Please keep that in mind and act with caution. Now then, goodnight—》

“W-Wait! What do you mean ‘sleep’!? Don’t leave me alone!”

But it was already too late. For the first time since arriving in this world, Tsuzuki Kurara was truly alone. Up until now, she had been able to act so recklessly and selfishly because she had a super-item: the pink diary that could make any supernatural phenomenon she wished for come true.

Without the diary that brought miracles to life, there was no one to clean up the mess she left behind and in St. Catherine’s Academy, a place filled with maidens, her charm skills that only worked on men were virtually useless.

In other words, she had become nothing more than an ordinary girl with a slightly cute face at most.

“What am I supposed to do now?”

The magic diary that had granted all her wishes had entered a deep sleep for several months. Kurara felt like she’d been suddenly dropped into the middle of a vast wasteland. Now that she was in this situation, she finally realized—she didn’t know a thing about this world. She had assumed she’d entered an otome game, so she hadn’t even thought to investigate the reality of this world.

Status screens, unique skills, even a ready-made scenario titled “True Route! Azuchi Momoyama Academy ♡ The Forbidden Romance with the Handsome Heir Hidden Behind the Curtain”—with all of that, she’d had more than enough reason to mistakenly believe she was inside a game.

So of course… When things didn’t go her way, she just assumed it was because she hadn’t raised affection points high enough or missed an event trigger. She wholeheartedly believed in that simple explanation. Desperate to collect flags, she chose only forceful methods, trying to mold reality into a picture-perfect otome game scenario.

“Aaah. Even if they tell me it’s not a game… I do have to admit I was the one who refused to listen.”

Looking back, she now realized that the diary had tried to warn her several times. Especially when she tried to implement her reverse harem plan—it had told her to narrow her targets, not to date for fun, and to be sincere with the one she truly cared about.

“…Maybe if I hadn’t been greedy about the reverse harem, things would’ve gone better? Hey, Momo-cha—oh. Right. You’re not here anymore. Ugh. I’ve got no other place to go, so I guess I’ll behave and stay here until Momo-chan comes back.”

＊

So she said, but…

“Everyone, I’d like to introduce your new friend.”

The classmates she now faced were all refined ladies who seemed detached from the real world. Naturally, they were completely out of sync with Kurara, who loved handsome guys and had a more down-to-earth, commoner-like vibe.

“Good day to you.”

“Good day to you.”

“Good day to you.”

Everyone she met greeted her with a barrage of “Good day to you.”

“Hey, why is every greeting just ‘Good day to you’?”

“Huh? Isn’t it a standard, everyday greeting?”

Standard, huh…

Upon closer listening, ‘Good day to you’ apparently was a convenient word that could be used morning, noon, or night. It had the nuance of “Are you doing well?” and the reply could also just be “Good day to you” in return.  But still, it was kind of hard to say.

“Tsuzuki-san, we’ll show you to the dining hall.”

A few kind classmates kindly invited her to join them for lunch. They were all very polite, which made conversation a bit difficult, but fortunately, they all seemed like genuinely nice people.

“You’re all so kind. I thought everyone would be a lot snobbier since you’re all rich girls.”

“Snobbier? What does that mean?”

“I’ve never heard that term before. It has such a curious ring to it. For some reason, I find it quite intriguing.”

Kurara hadn’t expected them to latch onto that part of what she said. Seeing their sparkling eyes, she couldn’t bring herself to tell them it was short for “high-handed, insufferable people.” So she improvised a toned down translation on the spot.

“…Um, let’s see. It means something like, ‘noble and hard to approach.’”

“Oh my. I had no idea there was such a convenient abbreviation. As expected of an external student, you’re so knowledgeable. But I don’t think people like us could ever live up to being called ‘snobbier.’”

“That’s right. When I think of truly noble and untouchable people, it’s the Empress-sama who come to mind first.”

“Empress? What’s that?”

“Oh, Tsuzuki-san wouldn’t know since you came from outside. Kougyoku-sama, Genshou-sama, and Gosakuramachi-sama. They’re all third-year students in the senior division. Because of their high status and exceptional nobility, we refer to them with the utmost respect as the Empresses.”

“I see. So, kind of like classic villainous noble girls.”

“Villains!? How preposterous! The Empresses are paragons of Yamato Nadeshiko virtue—not only are they beautiful, but their personalities are truly admirable.”

“They’re the ideal we at St. Catherine’s aspire to. Everyone looks up to them.”

“The grace and refinement that radiates from them… You can really sense the difference in their upbringing.”

The group pressure from the other girls made Kurara flinch a little. Even she knew that upsetting her new classmates here would be a bad move.

“R-Right. Got it. Sorry, I must’ve misunderstood.”

“As long as you understand, that’s what matters. Now then, shall we?”

After that, they kept to safe topics until they arrived at the dining hall—only to be met with a massive crowd.

“Whoa. Is the dining hall always this packed?”

“No. This is most likely…”

“It’s White Rose-sama”

“What a lovely sight. She looks so close with Kougyoku-sama”

“White Rose-sama. I haven’t seen her in a while, but she’s as wonderful as ever”

“I’m so happy I got to see her gallant figure”

“White Rose-sama usually dines in the courtyard, but it looks like she came to the dining hall today because of the bad weather.”

“Who’s White Rose-sama?”

“Why, she’s the ultimate onee-sama who represents this entire academy, of course!”

Kurara, intrigued by the otome-game-sounding title White Rose-sama, pushed through the crowd to take a closer look. There, she saw a dazzling scene: a cool, ikemen-like beauty with star presence, and a graceful, refined girl with an air of nobility, happily sharing a three-tiered lunch box together.

“…Well, yeah, this is an all-girls school. No matter how cool she is, she’s still a girl. But… I can’t stop thinking about her.”

Her active skill, Target Checker, which she reflexively used whenever she spotted a handsome guy, kicked in automatically. Though it didn’t work on women, it somehow triggered on this beautiful girl.

“Huh? Why did it activate on a girl? Romance target… Karen Kousaka? What does that mean? Don’t tell me… She’s actually a hidden ikemen? But no matter how you look at her, she’s a woman. Could it be… She’s a beautiful man in drag? That can’t be it, right? This makes no sense. What the heck is going on here?”

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