In This World That Favors Men, I... ~Starting a Sweet School Life in a World With a 1:8 Gender Ratio~ - 94

Chapter 94: Today Is an Auspicious Day

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“Thank you very much for having me here today. I’m truly happy to be able to meet you all.”

I was so nervous to be the one giving the speech for the toast. The atmosphere was pretty relaxed and homely, but still—everyone here was someone I was meeting for the first time.

“I’m very grateful for this opportunity and for all the preparations you’ve made. I hope that during our time together, I’ll be able to talk with you all and let you get to know what kind of person I am. And if that helps you feel reassured about me, I would be very happy. So, let’s raise our glasses in celebration of us all coming together here—cheers!”

Today’s venue was a party room in the high-rise building where Arima-sa—where Coco lived. They rented this room just to have this meeting. The place was fully equipped with a kitchen, cooking utensils, and even a fridge. The dishes crammed onto the table were partly brought in from outside, and some had been prepped in advance and finished up right here. Everything looked delicious.

“Wasn’t it really tough preparing this much food?”

“Actually, not really. We split it up among three families.”

“The shopping was a bit of a hassle because of the volume of food we needed to prepare, but we had plenty of women to help out. So once we divided the tasks, the preparation was finished pretty quickly.”

The family members talking were from Yuu’s side—her mother and her younger sister were here. Her little sister was apparently a middle schooler.

“You’re even cooler than in the videos and pictures. Now I totally get why Onee-chan was gushing about you. She kept saying you were her ideal prince.”

“Hey! Don’t go blurting out unnecessary stuff like that.”

“Yuuko is aiming to become a public servant, so she’s going to have a hard time studying for that, but I think she’ll have a stable future. Please take good care of her for a long time.”

Both her mother and sister looked a lot like Yuu. They had a down-to-earth, gentle aura.

I’d heard Yuu was aiming for law school and wanted to become a local government worker. She said it was easier to get time off compared to the private sector, and even if she were to get transferred for work, she would likely be transferred within the same area. It sounded like the perfect job for someone like her who wanted to have a lot of kids.

“Yuusei-kun, will you marry me too?”

“Hey! No fair! I was going to say that first!”

Two little girls suddenly came dashing in, bursting into a sudden confession war. Was I popular or what? Just kidding.

Though it might’ve sounded like they were fighting over me, those words came from Shizu’s older sisters’ daughters—in other words, her nieces—and both of them were still in kindergarten.

Today, they were wearing adorable summer dresses, with cute ribbons braided into their hair. All of them dressed up like little princesses. They’d been quiet at first, but they were still just kindergartners so once they’d filled their tummies, they started running around and getting all boisterous.

“Hey! No being loud! No fighting! We made a promise, remember?”

“If you bother Onii-san, Shizu will get mad at you.”

“But Mama, you were staring at Yuusei-kun during the bath time too!”

The bath… Ah! The commercial.

“Oh my, you little rascal. But really, all those EXA commercials were wonderful. The latest one is especially excellent. It’s been getting great reviews at my workplace.”

“Totally! That commercial series is seriously popular.”

Shizu’s older sisters were both clinical doctors who worked at their family’s general hospital. Everyone in Shizu’s family had gone into medicine. Maybe because I had this preconceived image of female doctors, they gave off a kind of composed yet commanding vibe. Or maybe they just couldn’t hide their natural dignity.

Since Shizu was aiming for medical university too, I couldn’t help wondering if she’d end up like that someday. In this world—or rather, in this society—the higher education system was pretty different from the one I came from. Most universities were vocationally specialized, combining academic study with hands-on training, more like technical colleges.

Apparently, this was the result of widespread social work-sharing—or division of labor. To make up for the low population, the goal was to efficiently produce job-ready individuals through intensive, small-group training. Of course, there were still a few general universities around, but they were rare.

“Since Shizu has to prioritize her studies while she’s still a student, we, as her family, worry a lot. Everyone here has been so kind and supportive, but if you ever find yourselves unhappy with her, please let her know right away. I think she’ll do her best to work through it in her own way.”

“We all agreed to put studies first while we’re still students, so please don’t worry about that. I’ll make sure to help out and keep things running smoothly for everyone.”

“I think our Kyoko probably has the most free time, so she should be able to help everyone out when needed.”

Saying that, Coco’s mother joined in on the conversation.

“Thank you. But I’d feel bad putting all the burden on you, Arima-san.”

“Not at all. We’re here to help each other out in times of need. My daughter’s fully on board with that too, so please don’t hesitate to speak up.”

That was kind of her to say, but honestly, the one with the most free time during school was definitely me. Coco’s mother was the founder and CEO of a popular women’s lingerie brand known for its online sales. In other words, a powerhouse entrepreneur.

Coco was an only child, and it seemed she was expected to inherit the company one day. She’d said she wanted to go to either the business or commerce department in university to study marketing. Since she was aiming to be an executive eventually, her path wasn’t exactly going to be easy.

So what was I planning to do in college?

Well, it wasn’t set in stone yet, but my current goal was to enter the education department—probably the math program. Watching Mizushima-sensei, our homeroom teacher, made me think about that. In a world with so few men, maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad thing to be involved in the education world.

The women around me were all kind and hardworking. They thought seriously about their futures, striving earnestly toward their goals while also making time to enjoy life and fall in love. They sparkled in a way that made them seem far more attractive than any woman decked out in fashion or makeup alone.

That was what I truly thought and if I could help support those kinds of women—even just a little—if I could cheer them on and be someone they could rely on, then I’d like to give it a try.

I didn’t really know yet what I could actually do. I was still groping around in the dark. Maybe it was silly to talk about “giving back” to this world. But even so, I hoped that someday, I’d be able to do something like that.

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