In This World That Favors Men, I... ~Starting a Sweet School Life in a World With a 1:8 Gender Ratio~ - 90

Chapter 90: Daikoku Festival

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Today was the first Saturday of June and today was also the day of our festival date with all four of us together.

It had been raining constantly lately, so I was a bit worried about the weather, but the weekend turned out beautifully sunny. Blue skies and white clouds. It was the perfect weather for a date. And of course, the location was the shrine at Yuuki’s house.

Maybe because it was just before noon, the place was already bustling with a large crowd. It was a bit difficult to walk all four of us side by side. I was wondering what to do when…

“Yuusei-kun, we already talked among the three of us and decided on the walking order, so don’t worry.”

They looked up at me with cheerful smiles. Dressed in casual clothes and lightly made-up, they looked even more feminine than usual. They looked utterly adorable. It seemed like they’d anticipated this situation and planned ahead.

Am I just careless? Or are they all just that considerate? Probably both. If I’m seriously planning to have multiple brides, I really need to start thinking things through more…

That thought hit me all over again. And so, we rotated pairs as we walked, with two people in front and two behind.

“Should we head to the shrine first before it gets too crowded?”

“Yeah, probably a good idea to get that done early in case there’s a line.”

With that, we decided to go make our offering at the shrine and swing the Uchide no Kozuchi, the shrine’s famous good luck charm. I wondered what it would be like. Yuuki had only said to look forward to it and didn’t give me any details.

Come to think of it, when I turned on the 【Emotion Sensor GL】 the other day and observed the three of them, I saw cute little chicks above each of their heads. And oddly enough, they were all colored chicks. Fancy pink ones like strawberry milk, chirping away above their heads.

Incidentally, my mom had the same yellow chick as Yui. The boys in my class all had young grass-green chicks. I wonder what that meant? It seemed like I could see chicks above the heads of people I was close to.

Since it was called an emotion sensor, it had to be expressing some emotional state of the other person.

Maybe yellow meant affection, pink meant romantic love, and grass-green meant friendship? But people outside my circle—like strangers on the way to school—usually had food floating above them. Often, it was food I liked.

Food wasn’t a single color, obviously, but a mix of various shades, so it was hard to figure out what emotions that represented. It was a pretty tricky skill to interpret. I kept it OFF for now because it stimulated my appetite too much if I left it ON.

Just as expected, there was a line at the shrine, so we queued up and waited our turn. Eventually, it was finally our turn.

“This is surprisingly heavy. I might not be able to do it alone. I won’t be able to lift it.”

“Then I’ll help.”

“Can I ask you to?”

There was a standing sign that said if you couldn’t lift the mallet by yourself, we mustn’t force it. We should do it with two or more people, which made total sense. The Uchide no Kozuchi was way bigger than expected. It was more like a small drum than a mallet. It was big enough that a girl would have to hold it with both arms.

It looked hollow inside, but since it was made of wood, it was still quite heavy. I could probably lift it on my own, but it would be tough for women, kids, or the elderly.

“Shizu, could you hold it first?”

Also, the handle of the mallet was disproportionately short compared to the head. So if two people tried to hold it, they had to be physically close, and their hands naturally overlapped.

What kind of perfectly engineered couple setup is this?

Maybe this was what Yuuki meant when he said something good would happen if you swung the Uchide no Kozuchi. It really did feel like something that would bring people closer. This kind of design might play a role in matchmaking.

“I’m first? How should I hold it?”

“I’ll cover your hand from above, so just gently hold the handle like this, okay?”

Saying that, I wrapped my hand around Shizu’s, enclosing it completely. …So delicate. A girl’s hand was nothing like mine. Her fingers were so slender, I felt like they’d break if I squeezed too hard.

“Does it hurt?”

Shizu’s face was right there next to mine.

“I-It’s okay.”

“Alright. Ready? Let’s lift it.”

As we did that, I started to hear murmurs from the people around us.

“Whoa, they’re a couple.”

“So cute. I wanna try that.”

“It says to say your wish aloud as you swing it.”

That was written on the posted instructions. And I already knew what I wanted to wish for. I’d already prayed for exam success the other day, and since we were here as a group of four, there was only one wish that made sense.

“Let’s keep it simple.”

“Okay, ready… Go.”

“‘Enmusubi!’” (Matchmaking!)

Enmusubi meant being bound to the person you love, strengthening your bond, and eventually leading to marriage. Please, may the blessing come true!

《Love Link Operation ♡ Couple 1v1 has been initiated. Displaying visual effects.》

Huh? Love what now?

A jarringly out-of-place voice, like a diary narration reverberated in my head. Right after that, two large glowing neon-pink hearts appeared in the air in front of us. They hovered about two meters apart. Then, from each heart, small points of light like an LED board started blinking toward each other, slowly forming a straight line… Until they suddenly stopped just before connecting.

Huh? They stopped there?

《Mutual affection level: 100%. Bond completion level: 75%. Requirements unmet. One more step to complete the connection.》

Bond requirements? Does that mean we still have something left to do to complete the matchmaking? But if so… There’s something that comes to my mind.

“Yuusei-kun?”

Shizu tilted her head, puzzled, maybe because I had suddenly frozen up.

“It said ‘100% mutual affection.’ That’s the voice I heard.”

“Really? Was that the voice of the gods? If so, that makes me really happy.”

Shizu’s joyful smile was insanely cute, but the line behind us was getting longer, so unfortunately we couldn’t just bask in the moment forever.

Next, Kobayakawa-san and Arima-san each took a turn swinging the Uchide no Kozuchi with me. Since it was clearly an activity for couples, people were watching closely, and honestly, holding hands in public was still a bit embarrassing to me.

“Kobayakawa-san, are you okay? Should I lift it now?”

“…Y-Yes…”

But Kobayakawa-san was even more embarrassed than I was. Her face was beet red and she looked completely flustered—which only made her all the more adorable.

“Yuusei-kun, hug me tight. Don’t hold back, just really squeeze me tight.”

“Like this?”

“Yeah.”

And then there was Arima-san, boldly asking me to embrace her from behind like we were a two-person kimono, instead of just standing side by side holding the mallet. At that point, I could only surrender completely to her. That soft “mugyu” moment had an incredible power to capture attention. The destructive power was incredible, really. I couldn’t help but stare at the soft mounds being pressed against me.

I mean, it’s not my fault, right?

Even with everyone watching, her gestures and expressions were so cute that I found myself becoming more bold too.

As for the Love Link Operation ♡ Couple, it changed from 1v1 to 1v2, then to 1v3. Now, three straight beams were radiating from the heart on the left to three hearts lined up vertically on the right. All three showed 100% mutual affection and 75% bond completion. Since they all had the same missing condition, it had to be that, right?

Meeting each of their families and getting their formal approval to date. That was probably the one condition still missing.

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