In This World That Favors Men, I... ~Starting a Sweet School Life in a World With a 1:8 Gender Ratio~ - 83

Chapter 83: A Capture Target…?

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Ever since the commercial started airing, it felt like things had gotten a little more chaotic around me. I had this ominous sensation that even more people than before were watching me, and I couldn’t let my guard down at all.

Lately, I’d been careful not to go out alone in the city, but that wasn’t exactly an option at school. Just like when I first transferred in, it wasn’t only students from my year—complete strangers, especially new first-years, would swarm in during every break just to peek into our classroom.

“Kyaa! It’s the Pudding Prince!“

“Whoa, he’s super handsome in real life too“

“He smiled! Oh no… I totally felt that spark!“

Because of that, whenever all the guys moved together to the gym for PE, we kept getting pointed at like, “There he is!” That kind of thing had been happening a lot lately.

“Takeda, you’re really getting a lot of attention.”

“That commercial was everywhere during the holiday break.”

“Rokkaku Pudding looks so good. I wanna try it, but it’s always sold out. I wish they’d make more.”

Did this much attention mean Rokkaku Pudding was selling well?

《Pudding sales are at an all-time high.》

I see. Good. Since I went all-in and agreed to appear in the commercial, I’d really hoped a lot of people would end up trying it.

At the gym entrance, we suddenly ran into a group of underclassmen who had apparently finished their class early. Immediately, the buzzing started again.

“Third-year boys? Are they from Class A?!“

“Yes!“

“It’s the pudding guy! We found him!“

“What? Wait, are those upperclassmen? …And boys?”

Amid the chatter, a girl’s loud voice rose above the rest. It was unusual for a girl at this school to react like that, since most of them usually just watched from a distance. As I was thinking that—

“Move. Get out of the way!”

“What the heck?“

“Don’t push!“

A single girl burst out from the crowd, forcing her way through. Her long twin tails looked like something out of a magical girl anime—they really stood out. But I didn’t recognize her at all. She was a complete stranger.

When she saw us, she froze with a stunned look. Then, she clenched her fists and started trembling all over.

“Th-the capture targets are heeereee!!”

A near-scream erupted from her mouth. Then came the ominous muttering.

“Target checker activated! …Takeda, Uesugi, Saitou. Oh man, this is bad. Then, Houjou, Yuuki… YES! They’re totally Sengoku boys! This is great! They’re all super hot. This is totally a win!”

Uh. Who is this girl again?

She was loud, breathing heavily, and frankly… She was kind of terrifying, but the creepiest part was how she kept pointing at each of us while talking nonsense to herself.

《Contact not recommended. Please ignore and proceed quickly.》

“Come on, let’s go before we get tangled up with her.” 

Yuuki said, urging us forward like what the Diary had told me too. 

“Yeah, good idea.”

I don’t get what’s going on, but even the Diary is telling us not to get involved with her.

“Hey, hey! Where do you think you’re going, leaving the heroine behind?! What about the love-at-first-sight encounter?! The accidental encounter bonus?! And the intimacy-building event that’s supposed to start now?!”

“Hey, stop bothering the upperclassmen.“

“Tsuzuki-san, don’t go over there.“

“Everyone, help out!“

“Okay, we’ve got her. Let’s go back to the classroom.“

“Why? Why is everyone getting in my way?! I’m the heroine!”

She was still shouting nonsense.

《With suspicious individuals: do not look, do not listen, do not engage. That is the rule. Absolutely avoid eye contact. This helps ward off curses.》

Suspicious individual?! I think this is the first time the Diary is blatantly classifying someone as a suspicious individual. And did it just say “curse”?! Seriously?! That’s actually a thing?!

It looked like the other students were able to hold her back, so we took the chance to get away. Just hearing the word “curse” made me too scared to even look back. Ignoring the commotion still echoing behind us, and the sound of girls arguing, we rushed off to the boys’ locker room.

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《Today, there was contact with the target of concern.》

“What?! No way?! Seriously?! What was it like?”

《Upon first sight, she identified all of the third-year Class A boys as capture targets. She attempted to activate a charm ability, but the disruption barrier worked, so no effects were noted.》

“Whoa. She really opened with that? I figured it might happen, but I didn’t think she’d go all-in with a skill right from the start.”

《She managed to catch us off guard this time, but we’ve marked the target. From now on, we’ll focus on avoiding and obstructing any encounters.》

“Please do. I’m in a different year, so I can’t respond quickly. Dia-chan, you’re my only hope now.”

《I’ll do my best.》

“I want to get her to leave the school before anything serious happens. Is there a way to make that happen?”

《According to our findings, the scenario in the place where her game was originally meant to unfold collapsed, and having failed there, she diverted her attention to us. So if she continues to fail here too, we believe we can drive her away.》

“Hmm… So basically, she came here because she messed up her original plan. Why do you think she failed there?”

《We suspect she misunderstood and believed the world’s settings still functioned like a game.》

“So she thought this world was still inside a game and just blindly followed strategies from a walkthrough site?”

《Most likely. If you act assuming real people are NPCs, then of course things are going to go horribly wrong in reality.》

“Yeah, that makes sense. If you’re convinced the world will bend to your will, then it’s only natural you’ll end up failing.”

《Someone who tries to impose their will without regard for coexistence has no place in this world. If she keeps acting that way, the world itself will eventually make the proper judgment.》

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