Chapter 24: An Ominous Invitation
“—You’re Otomi Asuka-san, correct?”
Asuka was on her way home after school, walking down the hallway, when an elegant girl with milk-tea colored bobbed hair stepped directly into her path.
“Uh… yes, that’s me, but… who are you?”
“My apologies for the sudden approach. I’m Magami Makoto, a third-year. I serve as the vice president of the student council.”
“T-the vice president of the student council!?”
Caught off guard by the unexpected title, Asuka’s eyes widened.
“We haven’t really had many chances to meet the new students, so I suppose this must have come as a surprise.”
That was true. At the entrance ceremony, the only one who had stood on stage was the student council president, Ouran Onikisu.
As a result, very few freshmen actually knew much about the student council.
“So someone like that… has business with me? What might that be…?”
Asuka couldn’t understand why someone like her—who wasn’t in any clubs and had nothing particularly noteworthy about her—had been approached.
“—Would you be interested in the student council?”
“Eh… w-what…?”
The invitation, thrown at her from completely out of the blue, made her thoughts freeze for a moment.
“Fufu, I startled you, didn’t I?”
“B-but why me? It’s not like I can really do anything special…”
It was a perfectly reasonable question. Asuka had always believed that the student council was a place reserved for the chosen few.
“Not everyone in the student council has some kind of special talent. The president is in a league of her own, of course, but the rest of us are just ordinary students.”
“T-then all the more reason… it doesn’t have to be me…”
“That’s not true at all. For now, why don’t you come have some tea in the student council room? It’s a much calmer place than you might be imagining, Otomi-san.”
“Tea…? Um… please give me a little time to think about it.”
“Of course. Then I’ll come speak with you again another time.”
“Yes…”
Makoto gave a polite bow and quietly walked away.
Asuka stared absentmindedly at her retreating back for a while longer. Then, carrying the faint stir of unease that had taken root in her chest, she headed home alone.
◇◇◇
“Hehe… hehehehe…!”
“Hm?”
“Fukase-kun!!”
Kokonoe arrived at my place a little later than usual.
As usual, we’d gotten together—though this time it was for a study session ahead of the upcoming tests.
After I showed her into the room, Kokonoe twisted her lips nervously, clearly trying to work up the courage to share something important.
“O-Otomi-san—she was invited to join the student council!!”
“Huh? Asuka? That sounds like a good thing, doesn’t it?”
Asuka was pretty, cheerful, and easy to get along with.
She’d never been involved with the student council back in middle school, but honestly, it felt like something that would suit her.
“W-what are you saying!? Don’t you remember what we talked about before!?”
“Uh… what was it again?”
“Kazuto-kun, wasn’t it about the harem thing?”
“Harem? What does that have to do with Asuka…?”
Seeing me frown in confusion, Kokonoe leaned in closer.
“Otomi-san is in danger!!”
“……Huh?”
Maybe I’d been underestimating this world’s values.
Somewhere deep down, I’d still been clinging to the mindset of my old world—where romance between men and women was the norm.
But that wasn’t the case here. In this world, women’s romantic interests were, for the most part, other women.
Which meant that if Asuka were to join the student council… there was a real possibility she’d become a target.
“I-I looked into it myself after that… And what I found was… apparently, there was a certain second-year student who was invited to one of the student council’s tea gatherings, and after that, ended up in a physical relationship… Since then, there’ve been rumors that she’s completely devoted to the president…!”
“D-does something like that really happen? This is a school, you know. If it’s just a rumor even you could dig up, then surely the president wouldn’t act so carelessly—”
“—If the person involved doesn’t believe they were assaulted, then it doesn’t become an incident.”
The words sent a chill down my spine.
“F-for example… someone like me, who’s bad at romance… if someone as amazing as the president invited me out, I might be so happy I’d just go along with it…”
“Really?”
“I-I mean, not now! …Probably.”
“You’re way too easily swayed…”
“I-it just means the student council officers are all that charming—you can’t resist them! Th-that’s why, if Otomi-san actually went to one of those tea gatherings… I-I’d honestly be really worried!”
Seeing the desperation on Kokonoe’s face, I could tell this wasn’t something that could be brushed off as a joke.
“Otomi-san is just an ordinary student. If she isn’t used to romance, being treated kindly could make her open her heart… and before she even realizes it, she might end up giving in physically. And once she can’t pull herself away from that pleasure… Otomi-san’s heart will completely turn away from you, Fukase-kun.”
This was serious.
But was there really anything I could do?
“Then what am I supposed to do…? If I tell Asuka to stop right now, it’d probably just make her even more stubborn instead.”
“—I-I’ll talk to her!”
“You will, Kokonoe? Are you sure you can handle that?”
“If it were for Kazuto-kun’s sake…! And for the sake of being able to have sex with you in the future, that’s the least I could do…!”
Her motivation was blatantly impure.
Still, right now, she was the only girl I could rely on.
That said, it was worrying in more ways than one.
“Watching Asuka today made me feel a little uneasy. I think I can stop her now. I’ll show you that I’ve grown too!”
“……”
“Kazuto-kun, shouldn’t you trust her at least a little? Worst case… no, never mind that. Anyway, Kokonoe-san seems really serious.”
Her drive was clearly pointed in the wrong direction, but at this point, leaving it to her seemed like the only option.
“…Alright, Kokonoe. I’m counting on you to look after Asuka.”
“Yes! Leave it to me!”
……I’m still really worried.
Character Summary (non-official)
- Fukase Kazuto (深瀬 和人) — A normal boy of average build, 173 cm tall, and a former member of his middle school’s soccer club. Transported to a self-sufficient yuri world where boys are typically feminine and frail, he becomes a clear oddity simply by being himself.
- Kokonoe Touka (九重 燈花) — A quiet girl with long pink hair and round glasses. Soft-spoken and seemingly shy, she gives off a gloomy yet intelligent impression and prefers reading over joining clubs. Beneath her reserved exterior, however, she harbors an intense, restless curiosity about boys.
- Otomi Asuka (音海 飛鳥) — Kazuto’s classmate since middle school. She has glossy black hair cut in a bob and held by two red hairpins, snow-white skin, and a striking F-cup figure. Despite her popularity and the countless confessions she received throughout her three years in middle school, she has never dated anyone.
- Yuuki Sena (結城 星渚) — A gyaru with short, light-blue hair, small earrings, and sun-tanned skin. She wears her uniform skirt shorter than usual, giving her a flashy appearance. Despite her casual look, she’s a serious athlete who has been devoted to track and field since middle school and plans to continue it in high school.
- Ouran Onikisu (王蘭 黒曜姫) — The student council president, known for her beautiful, androgynous appearance and her cool, confident demeanor, which has made her popular among the students. While she maintains a polished and authoritative image in public, behind the scenes she is secretly involved in perverted activities, and this hidden interest is the reason she actively seeks out and recruits girls into the student council.
- Hareruya Aoi (晴谷 碧) — Kazuto’s classmate. Short and slender with a small frame, Aoi has an androgynous appearance accentuated by his soft golden hair, giving him a delicate, almost feminine presence.
- Fukase Tomoka (深瀬 友香) — Kazuto’s sister in both his previous world and the current one. A third-year high school student, she looks after Kazuto out of concern for him as a boy, since common sense in this world treats boys as an inferior species.
- Fukase Saya (深瀬 沙耶) — Kazuto’s mother in both his previous world and the current one. In the current world, she conceived him with another woman, who left after learning the child was a boy and refusing to accept Saya’s decision not to abort. Kazuto is the only boy she loves and protects in this world.