In This World That Favors Men, I... ~Starting a Sweet School Life in a World With a 1:8 Gender Ratio~ - 158

Chapter 158: 3DCPP

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There had to be some men out there who didn’t like sweets, right? When the whole world was overflowing with chocolate, of course people who didn’t like sweets would want to rebel. Even back when the gender ratio was more balanced, most people in Japan had already accepted that Valentine’s Day gifts were supposed to be chocolate.

Why?

I liked sweets myself, and that included chocolate. Though maybe I preferred chocolate desserts more than chocolate on its own. Cookies, muffins, donuts, macarons, éclairs, cakes, brownies—when you started counting them, you realized chocolate-based sweets were everywhere in our daily lives. But even so, could there really be anything out there that surpassed the sheer mass of this homemade dessert sitting in front of me right now?

This was Yui’s magnum opus, an upgraded version of the Deluxe Decorated Giant Pudding—aka 3DP—that she’d made before.

Now presenting: the Deluxe Decorated Deka(Giant) Chocolate Pudding Parfait, or 3DCPP for short. I couldn’t help but want to ask where she’d even gotten this elegant sundae glass shaped like a blooming flower.

This thing was probably meant for buffets, parties, or maybe even for display purposes. I mean, it was clearly 30 centimeters wide. The overwhelming parfait was piled so high it looked like it might spill over the frilled rim of the glass. The visual impact alone gave it incredible offensive power.

At the center stood the Twin Pudding Peaks: one custard, one chocolate. The custard pudding mountain was slightly larger than the chocolate one.

“Why are they different sizes though?”

“Well, that’s to clearly show who’s on top… Wait, no! Scratch that. I mean, it’s to symbolize a happy couple snuggled up together.”

“I see. Both sauces are melting down so nicely—they look delicious.”

The thick, slightly bitter caramel dripping from the custard pudding looked just like a crown. It was a bit early, but it almost gave off a Hinamatsuri doll vibe.

“This pudding kind of looks like a king.”

“You think so? Great! I had a hard time getting the heat just right to make the caramel all melty.”

“Then what about the chocolate sauce? It doesn’t really look like a dress.”

The glossy chocolate sauce draped over the chocolate pudding only covered half of it.

“That’s the knight’s cape, offering his unwavering loyalty—wait, no, forget that too. Umm… how about a veil, like the kind a woman wears?”

“Ah, I get it now.”

On top of each pudding was a swirl of whipped cream, like snow caps. Nestled into the cream were large strawberries, seated like dignitaries. At the base of the dish was a bed of vanilla and chocolate ice cream, marbled with chocolate sauce, strawberry syrup, and custard cream.

The decoration around the pudding was packed with volume on every side.

There were coiled mounds of whipped cream, strawberry sherbet scooped into neat spheres, and slices of orange, banana, and melon tucked tightly along the rim. Blueberries, raspberries, and even rabbit-shaped apple slices were scattered across the surface.

Would we really be able to finish all of this? Even I was starting to feel nervous in the face of such a formidable dessert.

“I’m home~ Oh wow! You really went all out, didn’t you?”

“”Mom!!””

Welcome home, Mom. I couldn’t have asked for better timing. 

That’s right. If it’s too much for one person, the three of us can enjoy it together.

“Mom, did you already have dinner?”

“I ate out.”

Yes!

“In that case, let’s all eat this together.”

“Oh? But didn’t Yui make this for Yuusei?”

“Of course I’ll have some too, but look, there’s so much of it! It’ll be more fun if we all eat together. So Yui, you join in too!”

“Yeah! Yay! It’s a parfait festival! We’ve got plenty of ingredients, so you can have as many refills as you want! Eat as much as you like, Onii-chan, Mom!”

Refills? Plenty of them? Yui-san, I’m gonna try my best here, but there’s no way I can keep up with your expectations.

＊＊＊

After we’d fully indulged in the pudding parfait, Mom gave us an update on Dad. Originally, Dad was supposed to stay in Japan at least until the vanilla bean harvest. But apparently there was a reason he had to cut his trip short.

“Catherine-san is pregnant?”

“Yes. She’d given up hope since it never happened before, but now it turns out she’s suddenly expecting. Catherine herself was overwhelmed and became emotionally unstable, and with her running such a large business, figuring out who would take over temporarily became a huge ordeal. So Kousei-kun had to fly to the UK to check on things.”

So that was the situation.

“I see. Since Catherine-san is such a big-time businesswoman, I guess something like this isn’t just good news—it’s a logistical challenge too.”

“Exactly. That whole mess happened in mid-January. Just when things seemed to be settling down, it came out that Marie-san is pregnant too, so now it’s chaos all over again. He’s heading to Madagascar next, apparently.”

That’s some serious traveling in such a short amount of time. I guess when you’re dating across international borders, this kind of drama is par for the course.

“And so, with all that going on, Kousei-kun won’t be able to come back to Japan for a while. Also, now that Catherine-san and Marie-san’s pregnancies have come to light at the same time, it seems the other two women are starting to get their hopes up too.”

“Where do the other two live again?”

I remembered hearing it once, but not the countries.

“Lin Mei-san is in China. Veronica-san is in Papua New Guinea.”

“Whoa. I’d need to look at a map to place those.”

“And one more thing. I’m going to the UK soon too, on a long-term business trip.”

“Huh? Why?”

Why was Mom suddenly going overseas now? I didn’t see the connection.

“Catherine-san specifically requested me. We’ve known each other for a while, and her company has done business with mine.”

“So the request came through the company? She wants help with work stuff?”

“That’s what I thought too, so I asked Catherine directly why she chose me. She said it’s because she believes the reason she was able to have a child was that Kousei-kun had changed—and that change must’ve come from his family in Japan.”

Whoa. Catherine-san really sees things clearly. And she’s probably spot on too.

Dad was a diary holder and knew he was a reincarnated soul. But he never quite fit into this world, and for years, he wandered the globe searching for others like him.

But then, due to divine intervention, he suddenly ended up with two grown children, and even heard the voice of a god during the process. He told me himself that those events made him finally realize he had people he loved in this world.

Was that the key?

A reincarnated soul who could truly accept this world with all their heart—only then could this world, in turn, accept the reincarnated soul not as a guest, but as a rightful resident. That was why, at this moment, he was finally able to have a child—the manifestation of love. Maybe I was overthinking it, but it felt like that had to be the answer.

“Catherine-san also said she wants to meet you two someday. But I told her it’s not that simple. There are a lot of adult circumstances to consider. So even if you do meet, it’ll have to be once things settle down.”

“So, are we going to the UK eventually?”

“Most likely. When that time comes, they’ll probably send a private jet for security—especially for you, Yuusei. Yui’s one thing, but you’re in more danger.”

“Wow, how generous.”

Right. Traveling to foreign countries was like a paradise for kidnappers—it was supposed to be super dangerous. If I ever went to England, I’d want to tour famous castles and museums, but I wondered if sightseeing casually like that was out of the question for a man in this world.

“The problem is, it seems you’ve become kind of famous on the internet. Some videos that were meant to be domestic-only appear to have leaked overseas, bypassing restrictions. Apparently, people abroad are calling you ‘Bubble Bath Prince’ or ‘Naked Prince.’”

“Bubble Bath Prince and Naked Prince?”

That didn’t make me happy at all. Especially not the Naked Prince one. That made it sound like I was some kind of nudist.

“So then, the leaked video was the EXA commercial?”

“I wish it had at least been the one of you eating pudding.”

Seriously, I couldn’t agree more! If anything was going to spread, it should’ve been the pudding one. Not the nudist one!

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