(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.

“Tekeda-kun… aren’t you scared of girls???”

“Scared of girls? …… Do you mean including the girls in our class as well?”

“Yeah, that’s right. Especially Aoyama-san is scary.”

Scary, scary, huh……

Is it like being afraid of gals?

I held my head in my hands at their’ questions. I myself had never really thought of women—in the broader sense—as something frightening.

Well, yeah, of course. When Mio-nee gets angry, or when Kazari-san gives you that wordless pressure, or even the uniquely harrowing atmosphere of girls in my past life…

I had felt an instinctive fear of those kinds of things, but that never meant I thought girls themselves were frightening. So, to be honest, I just didn’t understand the feeling of being scared.

I had always just seen girls as the opposite sex… after all…

Sure, I did have my reservations about the harem system. But that wasn’t so much about the girls themselves as it was about my own views on chastity.

Yeah, even when I thought about it, I’d never really been scared.

Or rather…

“Hey, Sato-kun, you guys are scared of girls, right?”

“Y-yeah.”

“Right, yep.”

“What exactly is it that scares you?”

If you couldn’t pinpoint it, I felt like there was no real way to discuss what exactly was frightening.

Saying “girls are scary” was just too vague.

“Well, I mean… first of all, the ratio of girls is just so high… right?”

“Oh, yeah, you’re right; there’s definitely a higher ratio. It’s a bit better once you enter society, but in school it’s even more skewed.”

Having three boys in this class right now was actually quite a lot.

“Yeah, I… I’m really glad I have Tanaka-kun with me,” Sato said.

“Me too,” Tanaka added.

It must be tough being the only boy in a class full of girls.

Honestly, even with the normal values from my previous life, I wouldn’t think, “Wow, it’s a harem!” At most, I’d feel like, “Oh, that’s impressive.”

For Sato-kun and Tanaka-kun, who share this world’s perspective, it must feel even more overwhelming.

“I’m glad you two are here. It makes me feel less alone too. Anything else on your mind?”

I spoke gently to encourage them.

I’d heard that if you agree with people during conversations like this, it helps them open up more easily. When I prompted them, Tanaka-kun began speaking again.

“Well… it’s like… I feel like we’re being targeted.”

“I hear a lot of news stories about men being attacked,”

They were probably talking about it in a sexual sense, weren’t they?

“Yeah, yeah, even around here, there’ve been incidents like that,”

“Aoyama-san, for example… I know this sounds bad, but she feels like a predator,”

She’s not a lion or a tiger though.

I couldn’t help but smile a little at the comparison.

But now I understand. From my point of view, Aoyama-san seemed frank and approachable, but to Sato-kun and Tanaka-kun, with their typical worldview, she probably seemed intimidating. She did give off a strong impression, after all.

“Yeah, Aoyama-san seems confident and self-assured,” I said, deliberately rephrasing it in a positive light. It’s all about whether you interpret it as a positive or a negative trait, really.

“Can I ask you two something, though?” I asked.

“W-what is it?”

“Sure,” Tanaka replied.

“Have you two talked to any girls recently?”

The two exchanged glances.

“Um… I think the last time I talked to Aoyama-san was yesterday?”

“It was just school-related stuff, though—like giving a response. Oh, and I’ve talked to my mom.”

“Oh, in that case, I’ve talked to my mom too!”

Moms, huh. Okay, I see where they’re coming from now.

“Let’s leave moms out of the equation for now. How about people you aren’t related to by blood?”

“In that case, it’s just like I said earlier, I think,”

“Yeah, same for me,”

“Has it been like that ever since you started high school?”

“Pretty much,”

“If Sato-kun is like that, I guess you’re the same, Tanaka-kun? You two seem to stick together a lot.”

“Y-yeah.”

I felt like I was beginning to understand their situation, bit by bit.

“Can I ask one more question?”

Before I knew it, I’d ended up taking on the role of interviewer in this conversation.

“S-sure.”

“Yeah, go ahead.”

“Have you two always avoided talking to girls, even when you were little?”

In elementary school, especially in the lower grades, I don’t think kids were that aware of the differences between boys and girls. Physically, there weren’t as many noticeable distinctions at that age, so it’s not something they consciously think about.

The things they’d mentioned earlier—like feeling targeted—seemed to be more about sexual situations, though.

“When we were in elementary school… we talked to girls,”

“Me too,”

“Was there a reason you stopped?”

Their expressions darkened.

It seemed like there was.

“It’s totally fine if you don’t want to talk about it,” I quickly reassured them.

I wasn’t trying to dig up old traumas. I just wanted to understand their feelings about being scared of girls.

“N-no, it’s okay. It’s just something that happened a long time ago,”

“Back then, I used to play with girls, you know? Like playing house or running around outside. Just normal stuff. I think I vaguely thought, ‘There are a lot of girls around,’ but that was about it.”

Well, that’s how kids are, I suppose.

“But as we got older, things started to change. Like… when changing clothes, I started noticing their glances. Or when we played, there’d be times when they’d touch my butt or… sensitive areas, you know? It wasn’t blatant, but more like brushing against me. And some of them would keep repeating things about, uh… genitals.”

Sato-kun’s voice lowered as he continued.

“It made me not want to play with them anymore. Of course, when I told my mom, she complained to the school, and those things eventually stopped. But… whenever I went to the restroom, I’d feel like they were watching me.”

Sato-kun sighed softly.

“That’s when I started avoiding talking to girls. I guess that’s how it happened,” he concluded.

“It was similar for me,” Tanaka-kun added. “With other guys, those kinds of things never happened, so I could feel safe around them. I think I stuck with the boys throughout middle school too. In fact, I think most guys have had similar experiences,” he said, glancing at me.

Both of them were now looking at me.

Had anything like that ever happened to me? I thought about it. Not really. Maybe it was because I had the mental awareness of an adult in my previous life. Plus, I’d grown up in the countryside, where the number of kids was scarce to begin with.

“Hmm, I don’t think I’ve experienced anything like that. There weren’t many boys or girls around me in general, and there weren’t many kids in the area at all,” I said honestly.

“That’s great for you,”

“Yeah, that’s nice,”

They didn’t seem envious or resentful. If anything, they seemed genuinely happy for me.

“Thanks for sharing, you two. Last question, then,” I said.

“Y-yeah.”

“Sure, anything you want to ask.”

“Are your romantic preferences for girls? Or guys?”

…Slowly and gently, I asked.

I pictured Mio-nee’s face, like that of a saint.

A gentle smile, a face that could bring ascension.

“P-probably girls, I think? I’ve never really looked at guys, um, in that way,” Sato-kun answered, blushing slightly as he said the word “that.”

“I’ve never thought about it. I guess I’ve never even considered wanting to fall in love,”

*Is this what they call herbivore men? Or maybe fasting men?*

“I-If I had to choose—really had to—I’d probably say girls,”

It really felt like they were forcing themselves to come to an answer.

Still, I felt like I had a good sense of what they were thinking.

“Thanks for answering all that. So, about whether I find girls scary…”

“Y-yeah.”

“That’s right.”

“I’ve never thought of girls as scary,” I said plainly.

“R-really?”

“That’s amazing.”

They looked at me like I’d just made some remarkable declaration.

“You probably asked me because you were worried, right? About whether I might be forcing myself to talk to Aoyama-san and Tachibana-san and to hang out with them?”

This must have been their way of showing concern for me.

“It’s nothing that big,”

“If you’re okay with it, then it’s fine,”

“So, why did you ask me about it? You didn’t really have to, did you?”

“Well… we’re the only boys in the class, after all”

“I just wanted to talk, that’s all”

“Yeah, there’s no way we could mix in with the girls”

Sato-kun and Tanaka-kun both chuckled nervously. Their good-natured personalities shone through.

“By the way,” Tanaka-kun hesitated for a moment before asking, “why don’t you find girls scary?”

Why don’t I find them scary?

“T-Takeda-kun, you’re participating in the arranged engagement system too, right? That seems way more terrifying than what we’re dealing with, doesn’t it?”

Sato-kun hit me with a tough question.

Honestly, everything could be explained with, “Girls are my type,” but I doubt they’d be satisfied with that answer.

“Hmm… well, you know, girls smell really nice,” I said.

“Huh?” Both of them responded, confused.

“Their skin is super soft, you know? Their breasts feel great when you touch them, and their hips are… uh, really seductive,” I continued.

Their faces froze in a *‘What is he saying?’* kind of expression. But I didn’t stop talking.

“They smile at you like saints, show you this intense, jealous love, care for you with devotion, scold you when you need it… they do so many things for you, and they make you want to do so many things for them,” I added.

“Wh-wha…?” Both of them now looked completely lost.

“What I’m trying to say is… girls are amazing!!” I declared passionately.

I said everything I wanted to, but the two of them just looked even more bewildered. Well, that’s understandable.

“Oh, but I’m not saying you two should suddenly become close with girls or anything, alright? Don’t get me wrong,” I clarified.

Honestly, I think it’s fine if they stay as they are. But at the same time, I feel like it’s a bit of a waste.

So, this is basically just me meddling. It doesn’t matter if it doesn’t change the way they think.

“I was just thinking after hearing your earlier conversation… Sato-kun and Tanaka-kun, I think your image of girls is a bit too negative. I mean, it can’t be helped considering stuff from elementary school and all.”

In reality, guys in our previous lives often didn’t know how to express that they liked someone, so they’d tease the girl instead. That’s probably what happened.

Plus, it’s said that girls mature faster in terms of emotional development. Around middle school, that’s when boys and girls start becoming curious about… certain things, right?

But for these two, their perception of girls seems to have stopped at that elementary school level. At first, they probably only disliked certain girls, but over time that dislike grew until it turned into an aversion toward all girls.

And that impression only got reinforced by things they saw in the news or media. That’s probably how things ended up this way.

Actually, I wonder if this pattern was more common among guys than we think. Well, either that, or they might develop a kind of elitist mindset like Kuzuryu.

“Anyway, like with Aoyama-san, I think the girls you two know now are probably quite different from the ones you knew before.”

By high school, people are already halfway to adulthood. They know what’s acceptable and what’s not.

“Not everyone is like that, of course, but I think most of the girls at this school are friendly and easy to talk to. Plus… Well, a lot of them look really nice and have, uh, big boobs.”

Aoyama-san was pretty impressive in that regard, after all.

“Y-you can’t say stuff like that about boobs!”

“This must be the adult world…”

Both of them turned red. How innocent can they be?

“So, what do you think? Did you get why I don’t find girls scary—or rather, why I like them?”

The two of them looked down but slowly nodded.

“T-Takeda-kun’s love for women came across loud and clear.”

“So, you’re… kind of a womanizer?”

That’s such a misleading way to put it! They’re not wrong, but they’re definitely not right either!

At the very least, I’m all about pure love! Even if the system complicates things, my foundation is pure love, okay!?

“B-but even if I understand, I don’t think I can just start talking to girls… I mean, they aren’t exactly the way I imagined them, but still…”

“Y-yeah. I get that I can’t avoid interacting with girls forever, but…”

That’s how they feel, apparently.

And that makes sense. My little talk wasn’t going to change everything just like that. But if it serves as a starting point, that’s good enough.

“That’s fine, you know? Take it slow. It’s not like you can just start chatting up girls out of the blue anyway.”

That’d raise the bar way too high.

“For now, how about you just watch me interact with Aoyama-san or other girls from a distance? That way, you’ll at least see if girls are still like they were when you were in elementary school. Maybe you can start learning about them that way? It should be low-pressure, right?”

“Y-yeah, that sounds good.”

“Yeah, we’ll watch.”

“And while you’re at it, you can see if they eat me alive, too. Though, who knows? Maybe I’m the one who’ll devour them,” I joked.

Not that I’d ever actually do that.

“Ahhh! W-what!? That’s so lewd!”

“This must be… adulthood.”

Their reactions were so refreshingly innocent.

“You’re kind of… different from what I thought, Takeda-kun,” one of them commented.

“Huh? Different how?”

“You talk about dirty stuff…”

“Even though you seemed so serious.”

Apparently, they didn’t expect that from me. Honestly, though, isn’t it weirder for three guys to hang out and not talk about this kind of thing?

“Did it turn you off?”

“No, it’s actually kind of funny,” one said.

“Yeah, me too,” the other added.

Both of them smiled. Before we knew it, lunchtime was almost over.

“Let’s eat together again next time. I’ll make sure to bring a packed lunch,” I said.

“Yeah, I’d like that,” one replied.

“Me too!” the other chimed in.

Great—seems like we grew a little closer than before. Guess we have dirty jokes to thank for that.

When the three of us got back to the classroom, everyone else was already in their seats.

“Takeda-kun, you’re late,” Aoyama-san said with a smirk, one knee up on her chair.

The two guys quietly slunk back to their seats.

“Did you manage to make friends?” she asked.

“Well, yeah, I guess?”

“Like, this much?” She gestured with her hand, thumb and fingers forming a tiny gap.

“No way.”

Thank goodness the other two didn’t see that. Starting with a dirty joke right off the bat would be way too much.

“Oh, so you do get it. Pervert~,” she teased.

Well, I am just your average guy.

“It’s for warding off evil, right? What’s perverted about that?” I played dumb. In some Latin American cultures, that’s really what the gesture means.

“Ugh, that’s so unfair! I thought we were having an R-rated conversation!”

“If it’s something perverted, wouldn’t that make you the biggest pervert for knowing about it, Aoyama-san?”

“Wh-what!?”

“Alright, alright, stop bullying Setsuna~,” Tachibana-san said, watching us with a grin.

“But it’s so funny seeing Setsuna get flustered,” she added.

“Mizuri!”

Talking to the guys somehow feels more like chatting with girls, while talking to Aoyama-san and her group feels closer to guy talk. What’s up with that? It feels like the roles are reversed.