It's a Chastity-Reversed World, But It's Different From What I Imagined? - 11

Chapter 11: What Do You Want to Do?

ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー

A month of student life passed by in the blink of an eye. From the entrance ceremony to Golden Week, just one month. The days were spent keeping up with studying and the curriculum, trying to get used to high school. Even so, it wasn’t as if nothing happened—there were changes.

One of them was…

“Yoru, let’s eat together.”

Back in middle school, not only girls but even boys never approached Yoru. The one who called out to him was the boy sitting next to him—White Prince, also known as Seiya Shirogane.

Who is the “White Prince”? I had asked my childhood friend Yuuna Aoyanagi, and she said Seiya Shirogane was so popular with the girls that they had given him the nickname “White Prince.” It seemed obvious enough, but to girls starved for the presence of males, a friendly, kind boy like Seiya who spoke to them without hesitation must have seemed like a prince.

“Yeah.”

Seiya invited me to lunch almost every day. I felt sorry for the countless girls who probably wanted to invite him instead, but the truth was, I had no one else to eat with except Seiya, so this small gesture actually helped me.

“““Thank you for the meal!”””

I heard a chorus of voices shouting thank you for the meal from girls who had brought lunches, even though they hadn’t eaten yet. I never understood girls’ behavior.

On top of that, when walking down the hall toward the cafeteria, I could feel countless eyes on me. It couldn’t be helped since I was walking with Seiya, but still, Seiya was becoming a special existence in this chastity-reversed world.

“What should I eat today? Yoru, are you getting the usual?”

“Yeah, the B lunch.”

My mom wasn’t the type to make me a lunchbox, so I always ate in the cafeteria.  The food there was cheap and tasty. Above all, when Seiya entered the cafeteria…

“They’re here!”

At the sound of Seiya’s voice, the girls quickly moved to either side, clearing a path straight to the meal ticket machine. Moses parted the sea, but Seiya could part the line of girls.

“Thanks, everyone.”

At first, Seiya had been hesitant, but since the girls wouldn’t use the ticket machine until he bought his meal, he now hurried to get his ticket. With Seiya around, getting a meal ticket was easy—I just had to follow him.

As we walked the ticket road the girls made, I sometimes heard the sound of someone swallowing hard, or a sigh-like moan. That was how happy they were just to have Seiya pass nearby.

“I’ll get the A lunch. Yoru, you’ll get the B lunch, right?”

“Yeah.”

A lunch set was the daily meat dish. B lunch set was the daily fish dish. A nice balance that suited each of our preferences. When I handed over my meal ticket to the beautiful cafeteria lady, she grabbed my hand.

“You two always have such handsome faces. How about it? Won’t you marry my daughter? Or heck, I could be your partner myself.”

It was a standard line for her to try and push her daughter, but honestly, since the cafeteria lady was a bimajō (a beautiful middle-aged woman), I didn’t think I’d have any problem even if she meant herself. Back in middle school, classmates and even family had avoided me. If someone wanted to pay attention to me—even if it was a beautiful older woman—I had no objections.

“Now, now, ma’am. That’s sexual harassment. Just the usual, please.”

“Sei-chan, you’re so cold. And Yoru-chan, you’re so quiet. Haa~ really, you two are such a feast for the eyes.”

The seats by the window overlooking the courtyard were my special spot. At first, groups of girls used to sit there, but ever since Seiya and I started sitting there, for some reason, no one else sat at those seats anymore. I sat at the end by the window and looked out at the courtyard.

“You really still love this spot, huh.”

“Yeah. Aoba High has three school buildings divided by department, right? The courtyard between them was designed to show the beauty of the four seasons.”

“Fufu. A high schooler talking about the courtyard like that… You talk like an old man. Yoru, you really like flowers, don’t you? More importantly, here’s today’s info.”

He laid out five photos between us.

“What’s this?”

For the past three days, every time Seiya came to the cafeteria, he showed me pictures of girls. At first, it had been only one photo, but today there were five. Since every photo had Seiya together with the girl in it, they weren’t secret shots or anything, but still—he should consider how I felt being shown all these two-shots.

“So? Any of these five your type, Yoru?”

At Seiya’s words, the noisy cafeteria suddenly went silent.

“Haa…”

I let out a sigh, not quite understanding what he meant.  In the photos, each girl was smiling happily just to be photographed with Seiya. The five of them were all beautiful, each with a different type. A sporty girl in a club, a bespectacled bookish girl, a gyaru with a bright hairstyle, a tall, model-like girl flashing a shy peace sign, and a petite, underdeveloped loli-type girl.

Compared to the ones he had shown me yesterday or the day before, these were definitely on a higher level of cuteness. But I had no idea what that had to do with my tastes.

“Hmm. No good, huh… You guard is pretty strong, huh…”

“What are you trying to do? If you want to get close to girls, stop eating with me and eat with them.”

“No, no, eating with you is way more fun. Sure, girls are cute. But staying by your side means exciting events just keep coming. Or… Could it be that you’re after my body instead of the girls?”

The entire cafeteria resounded with the loud sound of people swallowing.

“You’re gross!”

“Eh, I’m not gross! I’m beautiful!”

“Don’t say it yourself.”

I didn’t get it.

I was supposed to have come to a world where chastity values were reversed, yet girls avoided me. My little sister and childhood friend called me gross. The only enjoyment I had was watching beautiful girls from a distance, and now even that was being interrupted by a beautiful boy sitting beside me.

“Speaking of which, you have a childhood friend, right? What’s she like?”

“Yuuna? Yuuna’s… She’s energetic and a good person.”

“Energetic and a good person? What’s that? Isn’t she cute? Don’t you like her?”

He asked with eyes that looked completely pure.

I remembered my childhood friend’s smile. She had always been by my side since we were little, loved swimming, and was a little airheaded.

When we first met, she had said, “Let’s always be together, okay?” I had taken her at her word, always staying by her side. But in our first year of middle school, I overheard her talking to her friends behind my back.

“Ugh, that guy’s not my boyfriend or anything. Honestly, boys are gross.”

That betrayal from someone I trusted had left a deep scar in my heart…

“I think of her as a friend. That’s all.”

I didn’t know what kind of face I made when I said that. But Seiya didn’t press any further.

ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー