Someone Who Believes They Can Live Normally in a World Where Chastity Is Reversed (Did You Think You Could Live Normally in a World With a Male-To-Female Ratio of 1:5?)

Literary Girl JK Makes a Wish

January 1st. The day welcoming the beginning of a new year.

Last year was a wonderful year. Mainly thanks to Masato-san. Please treat me favorably this year as well (with deep meaning).

“There, is this good?”

“Ooh! Thank you! Yes!”

Looking at the mirror in front of me, I saw my own figure dressed in the furisode my mother had helped me put on.

Mm-hmm, not bad, right?

Masato-san should praise me for this!

“Still, you’re lucky. A guy like that must get invited everywhere, but he’s actually going to hatsumode with Shiori.”

“Shut up, it’s fine!”

“Ah, I see, his college friends probably went back to their hometowns and stuff. Otherwise your turn wouldn’t have come around.”

“Do you enjoy bullying your own daughter???”

What a rude thing for this mother to say… well, the fact that this possibility was likely made me angry again.

Since I had been beaten to the punch at the summer festival and couldn’t go on a date, I was glad I had invited him to hatsumode early this time.

I had decent confidence in Japanese clothing, if I did say so myself. I didn’t have to worry about not having a good figure!

“Well, I’m not expecting much, but it would be nice if you could make some memories with Masato-kun.”

Being told that, I suddenly remembered. Mom didn’t know what had happened between Masato-san and me.

My first kiss was a failure, but… after he kissed me, and then…

“Dufufu.”

“Ew, what’s that creepy sound?”

I had gotten excited remembering it. My sincere apologies.

“Ahem, my mistake, my mistake. Ah, life is truly unpredictable. Oh yes, I’m grateful you called Masato-sama here, Mother. I’ll keep quiet about the boys’ bar incident.”

I had heard in some video that doing certain things makes the world look different, and maybe that wasn’t entirely wrong?

Mm-hmm, I wanted to tell last year’s me that reality wasn’t so bad after all.

“Well then, Mother, I shall depart.”

“Huh. Have a good time?”

Leaving behind Mom with her puzzled expression, I gracefully departed the house.

Today seemed like it would be a very good New Year!

The meeting place was a station near the biggest shrine in this area.

Masato-san wasn’t at the ticket gate exit yet. It was still before our meeting time, so naturally.

When I opened my smartphone, there was no message from Masato-san. But instead, there was a message notification from Mom.

[I took a photo. Enjoy yourself.]

Apparently she had taken a picture of me in my furisode.

The image showed me in furisode with both arms spread wide.

Hmm, the photo turned out pretty well too. Come to think of it, I hadn’t contacted my friends at all since the new year started, so maybe I should send it.

(Gathering of Saints)

<Shinomiya Shiori> [Greetings greetings everyone, Happy New Year. I’m about to go on a hatsumode date with Masato-sama first thing in the new year. You must be envious.]

There, that’s good.

Looking at the crowd in front of the ticket gates, I could see several people in furisode like me scattered around.

Ah, a man in a kimono. That’s nice.

Masato-san would surely look good in a kimono too. He’s tall and has a good figure.

While I was having such fantasies, I got a notification.

(Gathering of Saints)

<Miaki> [Annoying right from New Year’s.]

<Mana> [I don’t care about your solo pic, give us photos of Masato-san.]

<Hatsumi> [Stop it, it might be a lie. She just wanted to show off.]

<Mana> [I see… sorry about that…]

“What rude people…”

Why was I friends with these girls?

“Ah, did I do something wrong?”

“Hyai?!”

When someone suddenly spoke to me and I turned around, there was Masato-san! This had happened before too!

“Good morning! I mean, you didn’t do anything rude at all!!”

“That’s quite energetic.”

The rude ones were those girls, and frankly it would be rude to even explain it to Masato-san.

And today too, Masato-san’s appearance was truly divine…

…At the same time, I remembered what had happened between Masato-san and me last time.

Oh no, I’m getting excited again?

“Ah, Happy New Year.”

“That’s right, Happy New Year. Shall we go?”

“Yes!”

I had even forgotten the New Year’s greeting.

I had to recover from here…

“The furisode looks really good on you. I thought Japanese clothing would suit you, and it was just as I imagined.”

Masato-san smiled cheerfully.

Mm——10 million points!

#1 on the “guys I want to date” ranking for 10 consecutive years!

Ahhh—I want to go to a hotel instead of the shrine——

“Masato-san, shall we go to a hotel instead of the shrine?”

“Yeah, that’s obviously not happening.”

Tehe-pero.

If I got too carried away, our relationship might get cut off, so I’ll restrain myself.

…Ah, I don’t mean “relationship” in a weird way, okay? (To whom?)

We walked to the hatsumode shrine.

Indeed, being the biggest shrine in this area combined with today being New Year’s Day, a considerable number of people were lined up.

I lined up in the worship queue with Masato-san and made small talk.

“So that happened… don’t you think they’re rude people?”

“Ahaha… all the friends around you are interesting kids.”

Masato-san was a good listener.

Being a good listener naturally made me want to talk, but I was also happy that he told me about himself in moderation.

I’d feel bad if I was just talking one-sidedly. Well, in terms of the amount we talked, it was about 7:3 with me talking more.

“Now, it’s almost our turn, Shiori-chan. Are you okay with the etiquette?”

“Of course. As a former refined lady, this kind of thing is common knowledge.”

“You say ‘former’ yourself… well, that’s fine though?”

Two bows, two claps, one bow.

This much was natural, right?

The problem was what to wish for.

Health was important too.

This year was an exam year, so prayers for passing? It would be nice if I could go to the university where Masato-san was.

—But, after all.

Our turn came.

I threw a five-yen coin into the offering box and bowed twice. Timing it with Masato-san, I clapped twice.

Then I put my hands together… and made my wish. I closed my eyes.

(Please let me always be with Masato-san.)

The day I confessed my feelings to Masato-san, I thought about it. If I had to give up on Masato-san from now on, would I be able to like someone else again?

I thought it would be impossible. Though I thought it was creepy of myself, I couldn’t possibly think I’d meet such a wonderful person again.

Having experienced such a good person, I absolutely couldn’t move on to “next.”

So.

Please let me always be with him. Even if I’m not number one, I want to become someone he’s okay with being around.

I opened my eyes. Looking beside me, Masato-san seemed to have finished his wish already and was looking at me.

The two of us bowed one last time together.

After that, we decided to draw omikuji fortunes along the route before leaving the shrine.

“Is it true that ‘kichi’ (good fortune) has a higher tier than ‘chu-kichi’ (moderate blessing)?”

“Setting aside whether ‘tier’ is the right expression, well, ‘kichi’ (good fortune) is apparently the second best after ‘dai-kichi’ (great blessing).”

“When you put it that way, it doesn’t sound bad! Second place!”

What I drew was “kichi” (good fortune). I had recently heard that this one was pretty decent. Mm-hmm, not bad!

When I glanced at the “awaited person” section, it said “already met.” Hmm, this omikuji was pretty good too.

“Still, Shiori-chan, you were really earnest in making your wish. What did you wish for?”

“Well, you see…”

Hmm. Telling Masato-san directly “I wished that I could always be with you” would be too heavy, right?

Some wish to cover it up…

After thinking about it, I suddenly remembered what Masato-san had said.

[I’ll give my own answer in March, so please wait until then.]

That meant I would possibly be told goodbye in March.

Not possibly—probably. Thinking normally, with people like Igarashi-senpai around, my chances of being chosen were less than a paramecium.

…But how could I raise those sub-paramecium odds even a little?