No Wonder I'm Unwanted in This Chastity-Reversed World - Chapter 08.5: Side Story - Rui 1

Chapter 08.5: Side Story – Rui 1

“Suu…suu…”

Soft snores escaped from Ikuto, who was seated next to me.

We were in geography class. The teacher’s monologue was likely drowning out the snores, but it was inaudible to anyone else.

Except, of course, to me.

“Really… Ikuto is as carefree as ever, with no sense of urgency.”

He was likely sleepy due to his full lunch.

In a classroom filled mostly with girls, Ikuto was the only boy who could afford the luxury of sleeping so freely. 

The other boys were in a perpetual state of vigilance, afraid that any sign of weakness might cause them to be “eaten alive.” Some had even retreated to the infirmary for respite.

“But being able to see Ikuto’s sleeping face like this… maybe it’s not so bad.”

His mouth was slightly open as he snored softly, as if he were leisurely rowing a boat in his dreams.

I found myself entranced by his adorable sleeping face, and I realized that my pencil hadn’t moved for quite some time.

“Fufu.”

I chuckled softly to myself.

Ikuto was genuinely charming and attractive, and he was exclusively mine.

Flutter… flutter.

“…”

Realizing that I had been staring at Ikuto for quite a while, I shifted my gaze towards a girl who was seated diagonally across from me. I had sensed her staring at him for some time.

“(Smile)”

“!”

Our eyes met for a split second before she quickly averted her gaze.

Even if Ikuto’s snoring went unnoticed, simply shifting my gaze allowed me to see him sleeping once more. It appeared that she had also noticed Ikuto’s slumber and was trying to steal a glance.

Hmm. I suppose I can allow her a little peek. After all, it’s important to feast one’s eyes occasionally.

But anything more than that was off-limits.

You see, the Ikuto at school is entirely mine.

It’s partly because of me that other girls don’t approach him.

I feel bad for Ikuto, who gets sad because he’s not popular among the girls.

But I can’t just hand him over to those girls who would be content with just any guy.

“Back then, I used to have no interest in boys at all.”

As I watched Ikuto, I vaguely reminisced.

◆◆

I used to hate myself.

I was taller than most men, had a full chest, and a decent figure.

—Characteristics that would either intimidate men or make them dislike me.

Going back to elementary school, I was the tallest in my class. In fact, I was taller than the boys.

In this world, many women are aggressive in their pursuit to secure one of the few available men. Sometimes, they even commit crimes to do so.

From a male perspective, most women give off that vibe, and so, many men are uncomfortable around women. As I was already a tall woman with a decent body, it was obvious that boys would be even more afraid of me.

That’s why I was hated by boys.

“Uwa, she’s huge. Scary…”

“She’ll attack you if you get close, they say…”

“She’s called Tohsaka…”

Just meeting eyes would make boys, whom I’d never spoken or interacted with, afraid of me. Judging me solely based on my appearance.

This treatment naturally made me uneasy around boys.

If it were just that, it would have been bearable… But there were no girls who wanted to be friends with me, who was hated by boys. Everyone was trying to be liked by the few boys, or at least, not disliked. So, they avoided me.

I was lonely throughout my elementary school years.

When I moved on to junior high, I decided something had to change. First, I started binding my chest with cloth to minimize its prominence. Then, I read about something called “handsome women” in a magazine, claiming it was popular among girls. So, I cut off my shoulder-length hair.

I even changed the way I spoke, adopting a more mature and relaxed tone.

There wasn’t much I could do about my ever-increasing height, but I did everything possible to at least communicate effectively with other girls. Thanks to these efforts, my life in junior high was somewhat better. I made friends and carved out a niche for myself as a “handsome girl..”

However, deep down, I began to loathe myself even more.

I had to pretend to be someone I wasn’t in order to interact with others. The real me was disliked. I hated the fact that I could only make friends by being dishonest. I despised myself.

Even so, I had no choice but to continue being a version of myself that wasn’t true.

As high school entrance exams loomed, I didn’t have a particular school in mind; I thought any decent high school would do.

“Tohsaka, why don’t you try for this high school? With your grades and athleticism, you could even aim for the male bodyguard position.”

My homeroom teacher recommended this to me.

Male bodyguards.

A bodyguard-like role, to ensure men could go about their school life comfortably. The position was treated somewhat like a recommendation-based admission. I’d heard the competition ratio for these slots exceeded 100:1 each year; it was a role many girls aspired to.

I’d known about such a position since junior high, but it never piqued my interest. 

Why would I want to guard boys, the very people who denied my worth? They’d surely be intimidated by me and terminate the arrangement immediately.

But when I learned more about the perks of being a male bodyguard—tuition waivers, full coverage of rent and utilities for living alone—I became intrigued. What really caught my eye was the condition that male bodyguards primarily wore men’s uniforms and adopted a more masculine appearance.

The idea was to minimize the intimidation factor for the boys, given that the male bodyguards would be in closest proximity to them.

My current appearance as a “handsome girl” is already quite masculine. I’m going to maintain a masculine look in high school anyway. Given that, I thought, why not just become a male bodyguard and take advantage of the benefits?

With that mindset, I took the test for the male bodyguard role and passed.

The day before the entrance ceremony, female students who had been accepted as male bodyguards were summoned to the school. The reason? To meet the boys they would be guarding.

Our duties as male bodyguards would begin from the entrance ceremony.

“I suppose they’ll be scared of me. But it’s not like I plan on getting too involved with them anyway.”

I felt a sense of dread as I approached the designated classroom door. But when I opened it…

—A fateful encounter awaited me on the other side.