It's a Chastity-Reversed World, But It's Different From What I Imagined? - 2

Chapter 2: Childhood Friend

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I was treated like I was gross by my family. Even though I thought I had been reborn with decent looks, I started to doubt that maybe I really wasn’t.

I spent a month of my third year of middle school in this chastity-reversed world. Women around me avoided me, and when I rode the train, they kept their distance. It was like those middle-aged men holding their hands up to show they weren’t molesters.

My classmates avoided my eyes. The “gross” comments I got from my family started to feel more and more like the truth. Saying I spent New Year’s with my family sounded nice enough, but in reality, I hadn’t received a single invitation from classmates.

Since entrance exams were already finished, there was no longer any point in attending school, so I stopped going. I spent my extra time training my body and studying to learn about this world.

My smartphone still worked as it was, so I drowned myself in surfing the net. On a video site called NewTube, women gained views by being funny or playing sports, but then some fat, ugly male tuber just smiled at the camera and her views skyrocketed.

That made me wonder—maybe if I became a male tuber, I could rack up views too? During that New Year’s period, the only person who contacted me was my childhood friend.

Yoru had no classmates or friends, but since his parents had been close with hers, he had known her since childhood. His childhood friend, Yuuna Aoyanagi, was his only conversation partner.

We were at the same school, but since we weren’t in the same class, we hadn’t interacted much during middle school. I was happy to get a message from her.

『Yoru-kun. You haven’t been coming to school lately, right? What happened? Graduation is coming soon. Will you be at the ceremony? If you are, our moms said they want to go out for dinner after.』

Even with Yoru’s social anxiety, he could still talk to Yuuna, who had known him since they were little.

『Oh, so graduation is already here. Yeah, I’ll go. Dinner, got it.』

After a month of surfing the net, what I had confirmed was that this world really was exactly the chastity-reversed world I had imagined. Women were all beautiful, carnivorous types who actively pursued men. Men were few, mostly herbivorous, and even ugly men could build harems.

Thanks to the Male Protection Act, men could live without working. Still, even if that was the case, being a lazy bum who didn’t work was impossible for someone timid like me.

As long as my family thought I was gross… I had to be prepared to be abandoned. I couldn’t talk to them about my future. That left only one person I could confide in.

『Hey, Yuuna. Do you think I’m gross?』

The read receipt appeared on the Main messaging app. My childhood friend was a boyish-type beauty who had been on the swimming team during middle school. She had even competed in national tournaments, making her famous, not only athletic but also smart, with plenty of friends—a perfect beauty.

She was also set to enter Aoba High School, though Yoru was going into the academic track. Yuuna could have gone into the academic track too, but she chose the sports program. In this world with so few men, having a childhood friend who treated me casually and without discrimination like a boy was something I was grateful for.

Back in middle school, even though the ratio had been three boys to thirty students, maybe because I was “gross”? But none of the girls had ever spoken to me.

『Yeah. You’re gross!』

“What!?”

I was speechless at her reply. So even my childhood friend thought I was gross.

That hit harder than my family. With family, I could excuse it as being too close. But from a childhood friend—an outsider—that was basically an undeniable fact.

Wasn’t this the part where the childhood friend comforted you!?

『What’s up, asking me something so obvious all of a sudden?』

Obvious! She just wrote “obvious”! This childhood friend of mine… She just shattered my dream to pieces! I was crushed!

『…Well, you know, high school’s starting soon. I just got nervous, wondering if I’d do okay.』

I somehow managed to reply.

I couldn’t exactly say, “My family keeps calling me gross, so I wanted to know for sure.”

『Oh, I see. Well, in that case, I think you’re so gross you shouldn’t even bother going to high school. Your eyes look scary, your face looks old, you’re bad at talking—overall, you’re gross, so isn’t it better if you don’t leave the house? I’ll help you with homework and studying. Only because I have to, though. Because we’re childhood friends.』

That was some brutal trash talk. Scary eyes? My eyesight had actually gotten better than in my old world, so if I squinted, I could see fine! Old-looking face? My features were just a little deep-set, making the parts come together in a rough way, that was all! Bad at talking? That was social anxiety!

Stop listing real reasons I’m gross—you’ll make me cry for real! Don’t think ending it with “because I’m your childhood friend” makes it sound nice!

But still, I didn’t want to lose the only friend who paid attention to me. Because honestly, she was super beautiful.

Ping!

A message notification from Main popped up. When I looked, I saw a photo of a beautiful girl in a tank top, throwing out a fist. Her still-developing chest was faintly visible. Was that unintentional? Or on purpose? Either way, it healed my soul!

『Th-thanks. Yuuna, you’re my only friend, after all.』

The sadness of being called gross, and the fear of losing her, were completely blown away by the destructive power of that picture.

『Yeah, yeah. Anyway, I’m gonna stretch a bit and then sleep. Good night~』

Right after that, Yuuna’s main screen switched into a video call.

Huh? 

I thought, when suddenly— On the screen, Yuuna, not realizing the camera was on, was stretching on her bed. She had her back turned, but she took off her tank top.

I gulped and stared at the screen. Her healthy, swim-trained body still marked with swimsuit lines was on full display. I knew it was wrong, but inside I told myself it was her fault for forgetting to turn the camera off, and I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the screen.

Her developing chest flashed in rhythm with each twist of her torso—flash, flash, flash, flash, flash—pinning my gaze completely. After a while, I pressed my palms together.

Thank you for tonight’s material! But I should turn this off before Yuuna notices. 

But just as I reached out, she shifted her legs, and through the gap in her hot pants, I caught a glimpse of a metallic red V-line. A mature side I could never have imagined from her boyish appearance. When Yuuna almost turned to check her phone, I panicked and shut it off.

“I got to see something good.”

The happiness of that moment made me forget all about being called gross.

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