(Chastity Reversed) The Legitimate Wife War: How I, a Harem-Hater, Ended Up Creating an Ultra-Eccentric Harem with a Villainess, a Sadistic Beauty Teacher, a Scheming Classmate... etc. - Chapter 26: The Reflection Meeting with Kazari

I returned home and headed straight to my room on the third floor.

I took off my clothes and collapsed onto the bed.

“Welcome back, Kyo-sama. From the looks of it, today’s date didn’t go so… smoothly, did it?”

The sound of Kazari-san amused voice reached my ears.

“Alright then, instead of sulking, why don’t you tell me what happened? After all, I, Kazari, your ‘mommy’, am here to help! Considering you don’t have much experience with women, it’s no surprise that you’d struggle with a date. In fact, failure is expected. Think of this as a stepping stone to progress to the next stage. You know the saying, right? ‘One success is built upon a hundred failures.’ Even if you’ve got a super strong d**k, you’re still a romantic weakling, a clueless virgin when it comes to women’s hearts, Kyo-sama! It’s only natural that you’d make mistakes, so there’s no need to be so down about it.”

“Alright, that’s enough.”  

I stayed quiet and let her talk, but wow, she really said all of that with zero hesitation, didn’t she?

“Oh, you’re alive?”

“Yeah, sure, I’m clueless about women’s hearts or whatever, but come on—also, I’m not a virgin!!”

“Of course not. You graduated with me, after all. But I wouldn’t call myself a typical girl, you know?”

“True, that’s fair. So, does that mean I’m basically still a virgin?”

“Let’s start by rejecting that line of thinking, shall we? That’s exactly why you’re the clueless romantic weakling we were just talking about.”

“Agh.”

“And let’s also retire the phrase ‘basically a virgin’. How about we go with ‘technical virgin’ instead?”

“No, let’s not.”

That had a completely different connotation. For the record, I’d never been to a professional either. Eh? Kazari-san was a civil servant, so… wait, what?

“…By the way, have you eaten dinner yet?” she asked.

“No, I didn’t quite make it to dinner.”

“I see, so you dropped out at Stage 2, huh…”

“What’s this about stages? You’re making it sound like a video game! What are the stages, anyway?”

“Stage 1 is a lunch date. Stage 2 is drinks and casual conversation. Stage 3 is, ‘What’s wrong? Do you want to talk about it?’ followed by a second location where you get them tipsy. And Stage 4 is when you take the castle and claim victory!”

“You’re such a perv!”

“What ever could you mean? I simply meant you win their trust by listening to their troubles. Honestly, what an innocent-minded boy you are.”

Kazari-san smirked coldly.

“What do you mean by ‘innocent’, huh!? What are you even implying!?”

“My, how youthful.”

Ah, I’d never win an argument against her!

“Ugh, whatever. Sorry, but is there any food? I haven’t eaten yet.”

“Ah, so Kyo-sama is finally at the point where he commands his maid to fetch food for him. How tragic. You used to say, ‘I could never ask a maid to do such things’, and wouldn’t even let me clean properly. But now, look at you… sigh.”

Pretending to cry, she cast me as the villain in this situation.

“That was only because back then, Kazari-san, you were working yourself too hard! You did nothing but work—everything except sleep and eat!”

“Well, I did run out of things to do, so I even went around picking up trash in the surrounding area. Looking back, I was quite diligent back then.”

Her expression didn’t change much, but her behavior was very different from what it had been in the past. 

Honestly, I was glad she’d changed.

“Alright then, now that Kyo-sama seems to have regained some of his energy, shall we have some dinner? I’ll go prepare it, so why don’t you take a shower in the meantime? Your face looks terrible—just like it used to back then.”

Just like it used to, huh.  

She must be referring to the time when we’d first met.  

When I was nearly crushed by the weight of the path I had chosen, even as I bent my own desires to walk it.  

Or perhaps she brought up that silly conversation earlier because she anticipated this mood of mine.

“Having someone with such a miserable-looking face at the dinner table would ruin the meal, after all!”

That’s what she said, anyway.  

But, I could really use a refreshing shower right now.

I headed to the shower on the third floor and set the water temperature slightly higher than usual.  

The sensation of the hot water pouring over my head felt amazing.  

The cold stiffness that had settled in my body melted away, and my thoughts softened along with it.  

A lot had happened today.  

I talked about many things with Hosho-san 

I thought I’d gotten to learn a bit about her, and I thought she had gotten to know me in turn.

Up until a certain point, everything had been going well.  

But those 15 minutes I spent away in the restroom…  

Those 15 minutes had changed everything.  

She said they were her former fiancé and his partner.

Those men.  

The ones who interrupted what was supposed to be a pleasant date.  

I decided to set my anger aside for now.  

Since meeting them, Hosho-san’s attitude toward me had noticeably changed.  

But why?  

Those men had nothing to do with me.  

I mean, ever since I came to this world, I’d hardly had any male acquaintances. Young men? Practically zero.  

So it couldn’t be that.  

Which meant… could there be some connection between me and them…?

“Ah, enough! I don’t get it at all! And I’m starving!”

After washing up, I stepped out of the bathroom.  

“Here’s a towel for you,” came a voice.  

“Oh, ah, thanks,” I replied.  

“Shall I dry your hair?”  

“Well, I’ll take you up on that offer.”  

With a soft “Good grief, what a handful,” Kazari-san gently brushed through my hair and began drying it.  

Her hands were warm, her touch calming.  

The soothing scent she carried had a sweetness to it, and together, they began to heal my frayed nerves.  

Once my hair was dried, I enjoyed a delicious meal, sipped some tea, and took a breather.  

“You’re finally looking somewhat presentable,” she said.  

“That makes it sound like I was looking terrible earlier,” I replied.  

“Oh, earlier, your face was so full of disgust, frustration, and various other emotions that… well…”  

She trailed off, as if the rest was too awful to put into words.  

“Was it really that bad?”  

“…So, what happened?”  

Perhaps seeing that I’d calmed down, she asked the question tentatively.  

But, to make sense of my own feelings, I decided to speak everything out loud.  

After explaining the whole series of events…  

“What do you think?” I asked.  

“What do I think, you ask?”  

“Okay, yeah, maybe that was a vague question… At first glance, do you see any obvious problems?”  

“Hmm, not really.”  

I figured as much.  

“Which means the problem lies on her side, doesn’t it?”  

“Yes, that does seem to be the case. Unless, of course, you lied to show off or there was some fundamental misunderstanding between you two.”  

“That may be true, but isn’t it a little early to jump to that conclusion?”  

“Yes, I know. I was just teasing you, Kyo-sama. Like Conan-kun¹ roleplaying, you know?”  

“Please don’t do that kind of roleplaying with me, okay?”  

Still, that wasn’t the main issue—I understood what she was trying to say.  

“Now then, will you finally tell me about her? Kurokawa-san.”  

I deliberately directed my voice toward the closed door in the room.  

Ever since a little while ago, I had been aware of someone standing there.  

Knock, knock, knock.

“How proper. Please, come in,” I said.  

“My apologies for disturbing you at such a late hour,” Kurokawa said, bowing courteously as he entered.  

Although her actions were polite, her demeanor was incredibly tense.  

“It’s only 8 PM, so don’t worry about it… So, you’re here to tell me about what happened today, right?”  

“The young lady instructed me to answer any questions Kyoya-sama might have. Thus, I will share what I can within the limits of what I’m permitted to disclose.”  

“That works for me.”  

“But before I speak, there is something I would like to confirm.”  

Confirm?  

“Sure, if it’s something I can answer.”  

“It’s a simple question.”  

With that, Kurokawa smiled faintly.  

“…Why does Kyoya-sama feel the need to dig into the young lady’s wounds? …Are you—”  

Kurokawa’s eyes narrowed sharply.  

“—an enemy now, as you seem to have changed since the beginning?”  

Her hostility was palpable, radiating openly.