In This World That Favors Men, I... ~Starting a Sweet School Life in a World With a 1:8 Gender Ratio~ - 88

Chapter 88: The Girls’ Invisible Battle

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That’s the five stores now. Please let me find it this time!

Praying as I rushed into the convenience store, I quickly glanced toward the register.

Ah! They have it! Not just the pudding one! They have Petit Takeda-kun too and to top it all off, they have it in both colours too!

Behind the register, a display box meant for promotional items sat on a shelf, and the straps I had been looking for were hanging right there.

“Please keep all the hexagon puddings there! I’ll take them! Excuse me! Please ring me up!”

While keeping my eyes on the straps, I called out to a store clerk who was stocking shelves. She looked startled, probably because I’d come out of nowhere like that, but I didn’t have time to worry about that. At the store two stops before this one, someone had swiped the prize while I was away fetching the product. I wasn’t about to let that happen again.

There didn’t seem to be anyone else in the store, but I needed to hurry just to be safe. I was not going to repeat the same mistake!

“There’s a special spoon that comes with it, so I’ll include that as well, okay?”

I paid with e-money. The bagging process felt annoyingly slow. I was going to put them in a cooler bag anyway, so it didn’t really matter how they bagged it.  I just wanted to get on the train already.

Come on, it’s only six puddings… You could bag them in a second. 

I thought to myself. Still, I couldn’t risk offending the clerk here. I needed to coax out the supply schedule from the clerk.

“Do you always get the hexagon puddings around this time of day?”

“Yes, we usually put them out first thing in the morning. But we also restock in the afternoon and evening, I believe.”

“What time in the afternoon and evening?”

“Around one o’clock and nine o’clock, I think. But it can vary depending on the delivery schedule.”

“Thanks. I’ll come again.”

“Thank you for your purchase.”

The sky was still dim when I left home, but now the sun had risen high and everything was bright outside. Takeda-kun in his onmyouji outfit. Both the white version and the purple version…. Having finally secured what I’d been after, my mood brightened just as much as the daylight.

And I could still just barely make it in time. I had to go see him….

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Ah~ I’m here~ ♡ 

I was standing at the station nearest to Eika Shuuei Academy, where he went to school. That said, it was still a bit early for when he normally arrived. 

That’s okay. Getting a good spot is crucial. 

People were already starting to gather bit by bit. It wasn’t quite like fans waiting backstage—it was more like a quiet crowd waiting just outside the ticket gates. Everyone just wanted a glimpse of him. Ideally, with a smile on his face. To make that happen, we all waited patiently. Of course, we didn’t want to bother him or make it too blatantly obvious, so we pretended we were just waiting to meet someone else.

No one called out to him. We only watched. There was an unspoken rule between us: no touching, no interaction.

But sometimes, someone with a thick face would try to break those rules. At that time, we, the “Yuu☆Watch Squad,” banded together to act.

《Good morning. Captain Maya, please give the command.》

A notification popped up in the group chat on our messenger app. Oops. My vice captain, Yuki, beat me to it.

《Good morning, everyone. Let’s begin today’s Watch Squad operations. The rule-breakers have been getting more active lately. If you see any suspicious behavior, please report it and work together to respond quickly.》

The present squad members began stamping the message with their agreement. Our activities were purely voluntary, of course. Anyone could skip if they were busy or not feeling well. But we all wanted to protect his smile. That shared desire gave us a strong bond, and our attendance rate was always high.

《Our ☆Star-sama is scheduled to arrive at the station on time.》

That report came from a scout member who used the same train line as him.

《Rule-breaker spotted. Codename “Long Twintails.” Standing next to the escalator inside the ticket gates. Requesting backup.》

I knew it. She showed up again.

The newest rule-breaker was a student from Eika Shuuei Academy. She wasn’t even particularly close to him, but she kept persistently trying to get near him just to make herself stand out. We couldn’t let him notice her, so we would casually form a human wall between them to block her approach. For that, we needed numbers.

Honestly, we couldn’t manage it with our squad members alone. Luckily, we had allies—the school’s unofficial student patrol group. According to intel they’d shared, the rule-breaker had been toying with the feelings of multiple boys at school, treating romance like a game.

At first, some students had naturally started to push back against her behavior. Eventually, that movement grew across classes and grades, forming a kind of vigilante group against her. That just showed how disruptive the rule-breaker had become.

《Wall formation successful. ☆Star-sama is about to pass through the gates.》

Tension ran through the crowd waiting near the ticket gates. Everyone wanted to see him as soon as possible. To burn his image into their minds. We all felt the same way.

He’s here! He’s smiling! He’s super dreamy today too ♡

Still, I couldn’t bask in this bliss forever. I had to hurry to school too. The rule-breaker had been spotted already, and the patrol team and local squad members could handle the rest of the route.

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“…This is bad.”

“Onii-chan? What’s wrong?”

“No. It’s nothing. I’m fine.”

I’d been recommended this application by the Diary, so I decided to try installing it—【Gaze Checker EX】. This morning, I activated it before I left the house just to test it out.

And from my house to the station… Yeah. I could feel some people were watching me a bit. I rode in the male-only car on the train, so I didn’t feel any eyes on me. The app’s receiver gauge stayed pretty calm, too.

So I thought,”Huh? That’s it? Maybe I was just imagining it? Am I being overly self-conscious?” I started to feel a little embarrassed.

But the moment I got off at the station near school… BAM. The gaze detection gauge skyrocketed. It shot up at a terrifying rate. Meaning—I was being watched. Really watched. But when I looked around, I didn’t see anyone openly staring at me.

Who the heck is watching me this much? How strange…

【Emotion Sensor GL】. Maybe I should try turning that on too, just like the diary suggested.

《Activating 【Emotion Sensor GL】》

The scenery around me instantly changed. Well, to be accurate, I could now see something above people’s heads. And there were a lot of them. Floating above most people’s heads were these mascot-like things.

What are those?

I squinted and looked closer. They were all things I liked—karaage, hamburger steaks, and more. When I looked at Yui next to me, she had something floating above her too.

But it wasn’t food—it was a creature. A cute little yellow chick, a bit modified from a real life chick. The cartoony chick tilted its head as it floated on top of Yui’s head. Knowing Yui, I honestly expected to see pudding above her head. But a chick, huh.

What’s the difference between food and chicks, anyway?

But this was a problem. Even though I’d eaten a proper breakfast, I was now surrounded by my favorite foods—and it was making me hungry again.

《Temporarily deactivating 【Emotion Sensor GL】》

Maybe I’d turn it on again once I got to class. If I looked around with it activated at school, I might figure something out.

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