In This World That Favors Men, I... ~Starting a Sweet School Life in a World With a 1:8 Gender Ratio~ - 53

Chapter 53: White Day Love Sonata Part 1

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《Girl’s Feelings》 

Today was White Day. I had been nervous since the morning. Of course, so had the other girls. …I wanted to believe everything would be okay. But if the response I received was just “a small bag of candy,” I would be crushed. Honestly, I might not be able to recover from that. 

I had become so deeply in love with Takeda-kun, my “prince.” Takeda-kun was kind. Not just to me, but to all the girls. Takeda-kun was handsome. Really, extremely handsome and yet, he was a natural airhead. He didn’t flaunt or use his charm. 

There were men in the world who, from birth, were raised in an environment where they were spoiled and treated like royalty, making them arrogant toward women. In fact, this kind of behavior was pretty common among men. Thankfully, there were almost no men like that at this school. But that was because the school had a system of filtering out certain boys before they were allowed to enter. 

Once we graduated high school, that filter would be gone. After that, unless I gave up on marriage, I might have to consider dating men with undesirable habits. After getting to know Takeda-kun, who was like the finest sweets, I found myself worrying about whether I could compromise and be with men like that. 

I had been doing my best to get closer to him and had tried to show my charm as a woman. From here on, I would continue to do whatever I could to make Takeda-kun’s wishes come true. …So, please, god of love, smile upon me!

《Boy’s Feelings》 

Unlike Joyful Valentine’s Day, today, White Day, we had regular classes. But just like me, there were plenty of guy who had been confessed to by multiple girls. Even something as simple as giving back gifts alone could be a big challenge. 

If left unattended, it was obvious things would get out of hand. Therefore, a special time had been arranged for this purpose. The long homeroom session (LHR) at the end of the day had been temporarily scheduled for this. 

Normally, even if you were going to reject someone, you should talk to each person face-to-face. That said, since there would be far more girls who would be rejected with “sorry” than those who would get a “yes,” doing it that way would expose too many mixed feelings, resulting in a chaotic situation. Because of this, the school had set a rational procedure to handle responses to the girls.

First, the girls would wait in the classroom.

Meanwhile, the boys who had received confessions (which was all of us) would make their way to the girls’ shoe lockers. For the girls who were getting a “sorry,” a small wrapped bag of candy with their name written on it would be placed in the shelf meant for indoor shoes. Since the shoe lockers had lids, you couldn’t see inside unless you opened it.

For the girls who were getting a “yes,” no candy would be given. Instead, an envelope with a card inside would be left. The card would say something like, “I’ll be waiting in the classroom.” Of course, both the girl’s and my name would be written on the card. The name part was very important!

After that, the boys would return to the classroom and wait. Then, the girls would all head to the shoe lockers at once. The girls who got the candy would head directly to the gym, where they would have a party, which was actually a debriefing session with snacks. The girls who got the cards would return to the classroom to receive a face-to-face response from the boy. 

This was the procedure the school had prepared to smooth things out… Alright, I guess I should go too.

The boys left the classroom, each holding a bag with candy and cards inside. 

“This is bad. I’m really nervous now.” 

“I hope it’s a card… Please, a card.” 

“Probably not. It’s definitely going to be a bag of candy for me.”

Around the classroom, there were girls murmuring nervously, with some of them resting their heads on their desks or praying with their hands clasped. Amongst all this, one boy after another returned to the classroom and sat down. Once all the boys had returned, the classroom, now filled with tense energy, was interrupted by an announcement.

《Girls, please begin moving to the entrance hall.》

At that, even those who had been whispering or talking to themselves immediately stopped, and everyone fell silent, their expressions turned deadly serious. In anticipation of the results, but also fearful, the girls made their way toward the shoe lockers in an orderly manner.

The doors to each classroom opened one after another, and groups of girls gathered in the hallways. The flow of students, like a river, quickened as they neared the entrance hall. Upon arriving, a cacophony of screams and cries filled the space.

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“Um, where would be a good place to talk?” 

After waiting for a while in the now-empty classroom, the three girls who had received a “yes” returned, looking embarrassed but unable to hide their joy. Together, they walked over to me. 

There wasn’t much charm in giving answers in the classroom, so I thought it might be better to change the location. I asked the girls for their preference.

“How about the botanical garden?” 

“The one outside? As long as it’s not too cold, I’m fine with that.”

Fortunately, the weather was nice today. Though the wind was still a little chilly, the sunlight was warming things up. 

“Is everyone okay with that?” 

It seemed like we all agreed unanimously.

 “Alright.” 

I said while getting up from my chair. Oh, I almost forgot, I had to take the pendant I had prepared. On the school grounds, there was a small greenhouse in the botanical garden. It looked like that was where we were heading. 

This spot was a good place. The place was secluded, and more importantly, it was warm. 

“Can we actually go inside the greenhouse?” 

“Usually, it’s locked. But today, everything, including the special classrooms, is open for use.”

So, the space for confessions had been properly arranged too.

“Takeda-kun, could you wait inside? We’ll go in one by one.” 

“Okay, got it.”

When I opened the door to the greenhouse, a soft, humid air brushed my skin.

Where should I go? Since I was here, I wanted to find a spot where there were beautiful flowers. The greenhouse wasn’t that large, so I decided to move a bit. I soon found a shrub covered in bright yellow, bell-shaped flowers in clusters. Wow, it was beautiful. But what was this flower called?

《Golden Bell Tree. The flower language is ‘cheerfulness’ and ‘being with you calms my heart.’》

Thanks. I guess I should be grateful to my ever thoughtful diary.

…That was close. I hadn’t even thought about the flower language. I had heard that girls care a lot about things like that. But I guess this place should be okay. Ahh. I was starting to get nervous. On Valentine’s Day, I was just on the receiving end, but today, I needed to respond properly to the girls’ sincere feelings.

Click! 

The sound of the door opening echoed. I wondered who would come first.

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