(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.

Yesterday was tough.

Getting scolded by Mio-nee was still as rough as ever. It wasn’t because she was venting her frustration or anything—it was because everything she said and did came from a place of genuine concern for me.

As punishment for Kazari-san, for not informing me beforehand, I made sure to exhaust her plenty yesterday. Afterward, she said, “That was totally misdirected frustration…” so I gave her an extra dose of reprimand.

Well, she wasn’t wrong about the misdirected frustration.

Thanks to that, I was still lingering in a state of fatigue today.

By the time I arrived in the classroom, quite a few classmates were already there.

“Good morning, Takeda-kun!”

“Morning!”

“Good morning.”

The moment I walked in, everyone greeted me. It seemed like I didn’t mess up my start to the day. Good.

“Good morning.”

I made sure to return everyone’s greetings properly…

“Oh, he responded! He actually responded to me!”

“I can’t believe I got to talk to him this early in the morning…”

“So, yesterday wasn’t a dream after all.”

“Right? I thought it was a dream too!”

And just like that, they showered me with praise.

For a second, I almost thought I was some kind of idol or celebrity.

Smiling wryly at the overly enthusiastic reactions of the girls, I made my way to my seat.

“Good morning, Takeda-kun!”

Aoyama-san arrived. As always, her outfit was… quite bold, with her cleavage provocatively on display. Her attractiveness was almost overwhelming.

If I hadn’t dealt with my… frustrations yesterday, it might’ve been dangerous.

“Good morning, Aoyama-san.”

Right after her, Tachibana-san showed up. Still groggy, perhaps because it was morning, she let out a yawn and looked as though she was barely awake.

“Good morning, everyone.”

With a slight stretch, she took the seat next to mine as usual.

“Good morning, Kyo-kun.”

“Morning.”

“So, you had quite the fun time yesterday, didn’t you… with Hosho-san?”

For a moment, I tensed up. Did she hear about the time I’d vented my frustrations with Kazari-san yesterday? Was I too loud?

But it seemed she meant something else entirely.

“We just went out for a bit, that’s all,” I said.

“Oh, I see. Did you do anything naughty?”

She dropped that question so casually, as if it were the most normal thing in the world. I could feel the whole class suddenly listening intently.

And then, I realized her aim.

Tachibana-san was trying to act as a buffer.

She was asking all the questions everyone wanted to ask, playing the role of the go-between for me and the rest of the class. In other words, she was acting as a window to glance in my life and a sort of cushion against their prying.

If that was the case, I needed to respond carefully.

“Of course not, we’re still high schoolers.”

“But she’s your fiancée, right?”

“Which is all the more reason to follow proper steps. I want everything to be done the right way because I genuinely like her.”

This was the kind of response Hosho-san had instructed me to give. Of course, in reality, we’d had no such romantic developments.

“Really? Can you swear that on our bond of friendship?”

“I can. Though the only issue is that, including today, our bond of friendship is barely two days old. If you’re fine trusting that…”

I’d done nothing with Sayaka-san that could be considered inappropriate. In fact, the only physical contact we’d had so far was holding hands.

“Two days is still two days! So, no physical contact either, huh?”

“Well, it depends on what you define as physical contact… but if holding hands counts, then yeah, nothing beyond that.”

Thirty seconds.

The moment I said that, the class, who had all been eavesdropping, erupted into murmurs.

“Hand-holding…”

“They held hands?!”

“And he said it was ‘just’ holding hands!”

“That’s so indecent!”

How was that indecent?!

“Ah, Kyo-kun, that’s no good. That’s inappropriate conduct between boys and girls!”

Tachibana-san wagged her finger at me like some smug detective trying to accuse a suspect.

“So, does that mean the promise you just made has already been broken? Hmm, what do you all think?”

“Guilty!“

“Verdict reached! The defendant must spill everything!”

What an outrageous trial this was.

“I haven’t even been assigned a lawyer yet!”

“I’m your lawyer! But I have no defense for you—guilty!”

So I was guilty no matter what, huh? Well, everyone was just joking around. At least, I believed they were joking… right?

“What are you all making a fuss about? Class is about to start,” a voice interrupted.

At that moment, Akizuki-san entered the classroom.

Perfect timing. This should put an end to this chaotic conversation. However, there was one miscalculation on my part—she didn’t immediately start the lesson.

“And Takeda-kun, just because you’re a boy doesn’t mean you should let it get to your head,” she said coolly.

“…Huh?”

Wait, how was I the bad guy here?!

“Is there a problem?”

Her sharp, cold gaze left no room for argument. It was the kind of authoritative pressure only a teacher could exude.

“No, nothing… Sorry about that.”

I didn’t get it.

Hey, the girls who were causing a racket just now! Don’t quietly sneak back to your seats without a word! Don’t pin this all on me!

And Tachibana-san—how about defending me for once?

Oh, great. She was whistling and looking away!

Even Aoyama-san was waving her hand at me as if to say, “My bad!”

“Alright then, let’s begin the lesson.”

For some reason, it felt like Akizuki-san was colder toward me than usual.

Was it because she was trying to hide the fact that she was my fiancée?

Seeing her standing at the podium, though, she really did have the perfect presence of a strict teacher.

When I thought back on how she had treated me over the past month…

…Huh. Actually, it was not much different from the usual.

Yeah, now that I thought about it, she had always been this standoffish toward me.

It was kind of depressing to realize that was just her normal behavior.

The bell signaling the end of the lesson rang. It was nice to know that some things didn’t change, no matter how much time passed.

Before eating lunch, maybe I should drop by the restroom?

At this school—actually, in this world in general—it was pretty common to see fewer restrooms designated for men.

For example, shopping malls might have a women’s restroom on every floor, but only one restroom for men in the entire building. Something like that.

This school was no exception. Although, considering they promoted the fiancée system here, they had more male restrooms than average—three in total.

Still, even with three, that was not a lot. It was usually sufficient, but the problem was they were all a bit far from my classroom.

That made it inconvenient to go during breaks between lessons. Most guys ended up going during lunch instead.

When I got to the restroom, I happened to run into two classmates. Coincidence? Maybe.

But hey, this might be a good opportunity. I hadn’t had many chances to talk to them in the classroom.

“Hey, Tanaka-kun and Sato-kun, right? We’re in the same class.”

When I greeted them, they both visibly flinched.

Were they… wary of me?

“Sorry for suddenly talking to you,” I said gently.

“N-no, it’s fine,”

“No problem,”

I made sure to keep a soft smile on my face. I’d hate for them to think I was intimidating or anything.

The one speaking awkwardly was Tsuyoshi Sato, while the one with curt, broken sentences was Hajime Tanaka.

I was really glad that Kazari-san had told me to make sure I’d memorized the names of all the boys in my class.

“You actually remembered our names?”

Tanaka-kun stayed quiet but nodded.

“Of course I did! There aren’t that many guys in our class, after all.”

“O-oh, I see…”

“That’s… true.”

“Do you two always eat lunch together?”

“Yeah, we usually eat together,”

“That’s great! We should eat lunch together sometime. I left my lunch in the classroom today, though.”

“Why not eat with us now? We can share some of ours.”

“Yeah, that’s a good idea.”

They were surprisingly eager to invite me.

“No, I’d feel bad taking your lunch. You guys would get hungry later,” I said, feeling a bit guilty.

Plus, I kind of wanted to eat the lunch Kazari-san had made for me.

“It’s fine! We’re not big eaters.”

“Our lunches… are usually too much… anyway.”

I was a bit surprised by how insistent they were. These two usually gave off a timid vibe in the classroom, so this was unexpected.

“Alright then, since you’re inviting me, I’ll join you.”

“Great! Let’s head to our usual spot.”

“Yeah, let’s go.”

We left the restroom, and I followed them. It seemed they had left their lunchboxes outside beforehand for hygiene reasons. Responsible of them.

We exited the school building and headed to the courtyard. There was a nice spot under the shade of some trees, with a good view of the surroundings.

“This place is kind of a hidden gem.”

“We… eat here a lot.”

I noticed their lunches were indeed on the smaller side.

Wait, this was what they called “too much”?

Sato-kun’s lunch was the size of something you’d expect a dieting high school girl to have, and even Tanaka-kun’s, despite his larger build, was about the size of an average girl’s lunch.

“Are you sure that’s enough food for you two?” I asked.

Even if I combined their lunches, it wouldn’t be nearly enough to fill me up.

“It’s plenty for us!”

“Really… it’s enough.”

Sato-kun’s lunch consisted of a single rice ball and some side dishes, while Tanaka-kun’s had one small sandwich and one type of side dish. They even tried to share it with me, but…

“No, I can’t take your food! I’ve got lunch waiting for me in the classroom.”

“But your lunch is in the classroom, right? It’d be awkward to eat it there.”

“Hard to go back… isn’t it?”

Hard to go back? Why would that be an issue? It was not like I was being bullied or anything.

“What do you mean? I can just go back and eat. Or eat during break, even.”

“But, you know… with all the girls around…”

“Wouldn’t you… feel uncomfortable?”

Ah. At that moment, I realized what they were getting at. They were probably nervous about being surrounded by girls.

“Oh, I don’t mind. We just talk while we eat, that’s all. Anyway, I can’t take so much of your food, but I’ll take a little, okay?”

I took a small side dish from Sato-kun and a single sandwich slice from Tanaka-kun.

Even though their lunches had cooled, they were delicious. The flavors were well-seasoned, and the sandwiches had different fillings, showing how much care had been put into them.

“Wow, this is really good!”

“We’re glad you liked it.”

“Yeah.”

As we ate, we chatted about random things—hobbies, favorite things… just light-hearted conversation.

Once we finished eating and had a moment to relax, Sato hesitated before speaking up.

“Hey, Takeda-kun… can I ask you something?”

“Of course, go ahead.”

But Sato-kun seemed reluctant, fidgeting awkwardly.

“Just… don’t tell anyone I asked, okay?”

“Of course!”

Judging by how awkward he looked, I figured it was probably some kind of love confession or crush-related question.

Ah, here we go! A classic boys’ talk about romance. They say talking about this kind of thing was the quickest way to bond!