In This World That Favors Men, I... ~Starting a Sweet School Life in a World With a 1:8 Gender Ratio~ - 40

Chapter 40: Valentine’s Prelude at Eika Shuuei Academy

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As February began, the atmosphere in school felt unusually restless. It was obvious that the female students were fidgety and couldn’t calm their nerves.

“Hey, don’t you think the girls seem kind of jittery?”

“Of course. It’s because Valentine’s Day is coming up.” 

Yuuki responded in his usual indifferent manner.

“Lots of chocolate! Man, I love this time of year.” 

Contrary to Yuuki’s indifferent attitude, Houjou was practically bouncing with excitement.

Ah right. If I remember correctly, I think he really likes chocolate.

“Valentine’s Day? I have no interest in such frivolous things.” 

Uesugi said, though he somehow looked pleased. 

Well, surprisingly enough, he does have a sweet tooth.

For me, rather than feeling happy or excited, I was more shocked. Even in a world that had changed so drastically, Valentine’s Day still existed. Valentine’s Day. Even if it was just a ploy by confectionery companies, for any man living in Japan, this event brought both pressure and a faint sense of anticipation.

A once-a-year chance for a girl to confess her feelings to the guy she likes.

There were different kinds of chocolates: Honmei choco (true love chocolates), giri choco (obligatory chocolates), and tomo choco (friend chocolates). So many variations of feelings that could be conveyed through chocolates. It was also… A day of judgment, mercilessly revealing a guy’s social standing and worth in the eyes of girls, which they usually kept vague or ambiguous.

“Takeda? Why do you look so down? You don’t hate chocolate, do you?”

“Huh? No, actually, I kind of like it… No, I really like it, actually.”

Rattle, rattle, rattle!

“Takeda, you like chocolate too? Me too! Chocolate is amazing, right? It makes you feel happy when you eat it. I love any kind of chocolate dessert, but what about you, Takeda?”

Chocolate desserts, huh? There were parfaits, crepes, mousses… All of them were delicious, and I liked them all. But for this season…

“Right now, I’d say I’d love to have fondant au chocolat.”

“I know, right?! That stuff is so good! The way the warm chocolate sauce oozes out of the hot cake is the best!”

“Freshly baked is even better.” 

Uesugi chimed in, surprisingly engaged in the conversation.

“Freshly baked, huh? Yeah, that does sound amazing. But that’d be impossible for Valentine’s Day.”

“Not necessarily. If you make a request for Joyful Valentine, you could probably get it.”

Joyful Valentine? What is that?

“Oh? Takeda looks confused.”

“Your previous school didn’t have it? I thought most schools had adopted it by now.”

No, we didn’t. Adopted? Was this some kind of school event?

“No, we didn’t have it.”

“Do you think we can still submit a request for Joyful Valentine?”

“Ah, right. The deadline might have already passed. The collection box in front of the staff room might be gone by now.”

Too bad… Wait, hold on! What exactly is Joyful Valentine?! Someone explain!!

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Valentine’s Day. The gender imbalance in society had dramatically affected this once-glorified winter event in Japan. After all, the number of men to receive chocolates had dropped drastically.

The number of people who could be given honmei choco had obviously plummeted. Most office bosses—who used to get giri choco—were now women. At best, people could only exchange tomo choco. The ones hit the hardest by this change were the confectionery companies.

Without Valentine’s Day, White Day—the holiday that was supposed to follow—would also disappear. A double financial blow. Tomo choco alone wasn’t nearly enough to make up for the loss. If they didn’t take action before younger generations forgot what Valentine’s Day was all about, they were doomed. So, with all hands on deck, the confectionery industry banded together and came up with a plan.

Joyful Valentine. The idea was simple. They turned Valentine’s Day into a school event, like a sports festival or a cultural festival. Of course, the Ministry of Education would never approve such a blatant money-making scheme by private businesses.

Or so you’d think.

Shockingly enough, they approved it.

The Ministry of Education had been growing increasingly concerned about the societal impact of a world where a small number of men were pursued by a large number of women. They saw this event as an opportunity to promote “the proper way of one-to-many gender relationships” to the younger generation. So they adopted the plan.

That said, it was still a controversial issue. Some schools, such as single-gender institutions, didn’t need this event at all. Thus, Joyful Valentine was categorized as a part of integrated studies, leaving it up to each school to decide whether to implement it or not.

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“Hina, we’re going to the staff room!”

“Fondant au chocolat… I totally underestimated him…”

“We thought we’d surprise the guys with something unexpected, so we didn’t do a survey… That misstep really backfired on us.”

“Every single guy except Yuuki reacted, huh? Yuko, what do we do?”

“The collection box was just picked up. If we negotiate with a teacher, we might still be able to change our submission.”

“Shouldn’t we check with the others before changing it?”

“I was the one who got forced into being on the Joyful Valentine Committee, which means my opinion is everyone’s opinion. No one will complain… Probably.”

“Yeah, there wasn’t anyone who was super picky about it. So it should be fine even if we tell them after the fact.”

“I’m sure they’ll be on board… I mean, did you see what happened? The moment the prince said ‘fondant au chocolat,’ all the girls immediately turned to look at me. That was a “Do something about it!!!!” I received the message loud and clear through their stares alone.”

“It’s not just the prince, either. Houjou-chi and Uesugi-kun like it too, so the majority is in favor of fondant au chocolat.”

“Exactly! Hot fondant au chocolat to melt the heart of your special someone! That’s how we’re doing Joyful Valentine this year!”

“I can’t wait. We have to make this event a success!”

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