It's a Chastity-Reversed World, But It's Different From What I Imagined? - 26

Chapter 26: Cheering

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I had spent all the weekdays going around visiting clubs, but I hadn’t come across a single one that I actually wanted to join. No matter where I joined, there was no doubt I’d be able to interact with girls. But I still hadn’t found a club that made me think, I want to belong here.

When I went around the cultural clubs alone, I didn’t see girls flocking around Seiya. Instead, each girl seemed to be enjoying her high school life in her own way. It felt like I shouldn’t interrupt that with impure intentions.

“Good morning.”

“Ah, good morning.”

The weekend came, and I met up with Seiya in the morning to go cheer for the soccer club. Part of it was because I had promised, but also because I still hadn’t decided on a club by the weekend, so I wanted to talk with Seiya.

“So, where are we going today?”

We met up in front of Aoba High’s front gate. I asked Seiya about the destination. I didn’t know where today’s soccer match was being held.

“What are you talking about? It’s right here.”

“Here? At Aoba High?”

“Yeah. They only do the finals of the national tournament in a dome. Regular preliminaries are held at properly maintained soccer fields like this.”

Led by Seiya, I arrived at the soccer field. Many high schools had gathered, and the preliminary tournament was underway.

“With this many girls gathered, it’s quite a sight.”

In the spectator stands, there was a section reserved exclusively for male students, but only a few seats were filled here and there. I thought about sitting somewhere else, but since the other seats were taken by female students from other schools there to cheer for their own teams, I decided not to get in the way and chose the men-only seats.

“…Hey, Yoru, do you like girls?”

After we sat down, while I was looking around at the girls, Seiya suddenly asked that.

“Hm? What’s with that? Well, I’m a guy. Of course I like them.”

Not understanding what Seiya was getting at, I gave him a half-hearted answer while watching the girls playing soccer.

“‘Of course,’ huh… Lately, I’ve started to think girls are a little scary.”

The topic sounded more serious than I expected, so I turned to look at Seiya’s face.

“Scary?”

“Yeah. While you were going around on your own this week, I was spending time with Kuramine-san, right?”

I had thought I was being considerate by letting the heroine and protagonist spend time together, since I heard in the student council room that Kuramine didn’t have any friends.

“Yeah.”

“Well, when I’m with Kuramine-san, she tries to take me to dark places or get me alone with her.”

I knew Kuramine was a gorgeous but disappointing type, but I didn’t know she was such a blunt, clumsy predator.

Kuramine… You’re way too obvious.

“And, you know, everyone says they like how kind I am and how easy I am to approach, which is nice to hear, but… Being swarmed like when we were observing sports clubs, that was a bit much even for me.”

From my perspective, it was an enviable scene, but for Seiya it seemed to be torture.

“They groped me, or reached for my clothes to try and undress me…”

Whoa, that’s nothing but carnivorous girls overflowing with desire!!!

Even in the normal world, if a group of guys surrounded a girl, groping her and trying to undress her, it would be a crime!

“When I first entered high school, I thought I’d be fine with both guys and girls. But lately… And also, I heard from my family that the accident back in middle school actually happened because of a girl…”

Hearing that confession from Seiya, whom I always thought of as an ultra-handsome, outgoing guy, left me at a loss for words. If a guy were born into this world where the ideas of chastity were reversed, then the herbivore-type boys would be relentlessly subjected to lewd gazes and shameless harassment from girls, and eventually be driven into a corner mentally.

Then, being constantly pressed for sex, they’d just lose the interest for romancing someone of the opposite sex entirely.

“Yoru, you’re amazing, you know. You’re always so composed…”

What could I even say to that? I honestly didn’t know.

A cheer rose from the crowd as Aoba High’s soccer club scored a goal. The one who scored was Ai Souda-san, the same girl who had asked me to come cheer.

“Hey, Seiya.”

“What?”

“Do you hate girls?”

Seiya had said girls were scary.

He’d been in an accident caused by a girl. By being kind, he drew in shameless gazes. Kuramine tried to drag him into the dark like some pervy predator. If Seiya thought girls were scary and ended up hating them…

“…I don’t know yet.”

“I see. Then lift your head and look.”

I pointed toward Shikae Baba-san and Ai Souda-san, who were giving it their all.

“What about them?”

“Don’t you think they’re working hard?”

“Well, it’s sports. Of course they’re working hard to win, right?”

“Yeah. But I think it’s not just sports. In romance too, everyone works hard because they want to win.”

“What do you mean?”

If I didn’t say something, Seiya would be swallowed up by the predicament of this chastity-reversed world. He might turn into just another useless herbivore boy. Whether that was good or bad, I didn’t know…But I did know it wasn’t natural. It was strange.

“Some are clumsy. Some are good at it. Some have talent. Some don’t. All kinds of girls are out there, working hard to show off their strengths, so they can be chosen.”

That was the same reason the cultural club girls had tried to show off to me.

“Today, those girls who are good at soccer are giving it their all so that we’ll cheer for them.

And they want us to praise them for their efforts.”

Seiya followed their movements with his eyes.

“You came here because they asked you to cheer for them, didn’t you?”

“That was… That was before I started feeling scared.”

“Sure, if you only look at that side, girls can seem scary. But you said it yourself that you’re still unsure, right? Then you just need to learn more about them.The parts where they’re working hard. The parts where they’re cute. The way they think. Even the way they think naughty things, get interested in boys, and struggle with the impulse to pounce on them—learn about that too. They all want to be chosen by you, so they want you to see their efforts.”

I stood up.

“Souda-san! Baba-san! You can do it!!!”

I shouted my cheers. None of the other guys were cheering. The girls from the other schools turned startled eyes on me, shocked that a boy was shouting so loudly. 

Maybe because my voice reached her, Souda-san thrust her fist into the air. Baba ran past, her face burning bright red. Their reactions were different, but both of their movements improved dramatically.

“Hey, we’re guys, and they’re women who seek men. I don’t think that’s something gross. It’s only natural. There’s nothing weird about that.”

I said what I wanted to say, then devoted myself to cheering loudly.

“…Just as I thought, Yoru… You’re interesting. More than any girl, I feel like it’s more fun to be by your side.”

Seiya muttered that to himself, but I was too focused on cheering to hear it.

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T/N: W-What is that?! Seiya! What do you mean?! Σ(°ロ°)