CH 40

40. My Resolution

After finishing my date, I came back home while summarizing that it was a really fun day.

“Take-kun, welcome back.”

“I’m home. Nee-san, here, it’s a souvenir.”

“Thank you. Wait, could this be… GOLUVA chocolate?”

Sis said so as she looked at the paper bag.

“Yep. There was a branch of it near the station. I thought that some sweets would be good for recharging your energy after study.”

I mean, I’ve already told you about today. You know it. So, how can I come back bringing nothing?

Sis clutched the paper bag with trembling hands.

What is it? Stomachache? So suddenly? No way, right…

“Thank you! I’ll cherish it and put it on display in my room!”

“Please eat it!”

It’s a joke, right? I mean, together with the paper bag?! Really?

Are you going to seriously display it like that?…… please no! Don’t do that!

“So, Take-kun, how was the central station? Scary?”

When I was lost in my thought, I was told that.

… if it was that “Taketo Souya”, he would never have thought of going to Central Station. But, not me.

Well, I know you are worried about me.

“Hmmm… There were more women than I thought. Or rather… Hmmm? I didn’t see any men…”

Wait… we didn’t walk very far, but were there any men? Did I miss them?

No matter how few men are in this special ward, I saw them occasionally around this area, so…

“Well, it’s a day off. Even if they have something to do, they can ask someone else to do it for them, so I don’t think any man will go out of their way outside, more so, to go there.”

“I see… but then what do normal men do on their days off?”

Maybe my question was strange, Sis was dumbfounded.

“Of course, study. I mean Take-kun, you’ve always been the same until recently.”

“Well, that’s true…”

Based on my memory, I often read books or study at home on my days off.

Basically, in this world, men were less likely to enjoy entertainment.

However, it wasn’t that surprising. It wasn’t that they were being stoic, just that there were too many things for women than men.

Women’s towns, even TV programs, magazines, and manga were mostly for women… women were the ones that run the economy after all.

Inevitably, only products that targeted women could be seen.

It would be nice if there was more entertainment for men…

When I thought about it, I remembered something.

In the original world, not long after I entered middle school, I developed inflammation in my shoulder from overdoing judo.

At first, I thought I pulled a muscle, so left it alone, but the pain became intense, so I went to a nearby orthopedic clinic.

And the nearest clinic was a clinic for women who came for cosmetic surgery. Anyway, I went in, and in the waiting room, there were only magazines for women.

I picked it up and flipped through it, but the contents weren’t interesting at all.

It made me question why anyone would read this.

Page after page featured trending nails and the latest outfits.

In the end, I flipped till the end quickly, put it back on the shelf, and decided to never touch that again.

Something similar also happened not long after.

It was when I went to the bank. I saw a booklet about asset management and picked it up, but I didn’t understand the contents at all.

…Right, people will have a hard time understanding things they aren’t interested in.

Men of this world don’t want to bother watching TV or magazines for women.

Even if they want to go outside. All they can see are things for women. And they’re not interested in those things.

In the end, all they can do is read their favorite books at home or study.

And they don’t complain about living in such an environment.

“Now that I think about it, everyone is so serious.”

No one has raised their voices, even though, I’m sure, some of them must be feeling the strictness of being a minority.

“Because, all men are thinking about the future.”

“The future, huh…”

It’s said that what you want to be in the future reflects the social conditions.

In the original world, many said, “I wanna be a doctor or I wanna be a minister.”

What about here?

“… So, what is the dream job of ordinary men?”

Would it be athletes, celebrities, or video commentators?

I think that steady occupations such as doctors and lawyers are still popular even here, but people will work harder the higher the dream is, right? So, what’s on the top…

“Hmm… men’s dream job for their future… If I remember correctly, civil servants top the list every year. Others than that, doctors, researchers, and lawyers.”

“Civil servants are at the top?”

When I thought it was too steady of an occupation, Sis explained it to me.

The term civil servant seemed to be used in a fairly broad sense, and it seemed to include teachers and police officers in addition to government officials.

If you put them all together like that… it’s not that strange that it’s number one. I guess?

In this world, many men wanted to become school teachers. And also, doctors.

Perhaps, it wasn’t only because many predecessor men had such occupations, but also because many were required in the field.

Being a civil servant meant having a stable future. Well, another reason might be that they didn’t want to be part of a private company or normal business.

In the original world, doctors and teachers were the dreams of children in developing countries.

This was because it was overwhelmingly demanded.

It could be said that there were very few children in developing countries who wanted to become game creators or an owner of a sweets shop.

…Most of the time, a dream will come to people’s minds based on the environment.

So, what about men in this world?

Although they can go out freely, no one goes to areas like Central Station.

The entertainment around is mostly aimed at women.

There may be companies that offer products for men without regard to profitability, but that means, the options are limited.

Although it’s called freedom, it’s not free in an essential sense.

And being in that environment, “dreams” might not come into men’s brains.

It’s too late now, but I realize the things that were taken for granted in the original world aren’t here, it’s different here.

“For some reason, I think that being a man here isn’t all that sweet.”

“Well, I think the overwhelmingly small number is a tremendous handicap.”

Even Sis seemed to think so.

◇

I went back to my room and sent a thank you message to Yuuko.

The reply came quickly. As expected, it seemed that she had been worried about me.

Since there was no point in hiding it, I told her that I had gone to the central station to interact with the high school group members.

I also talked about the involvement with the women of the General Associate Party.

After a while, she replied, “I’ll look into it as well.”

Then, I was strongly advised not to do anything too dangerous.

…Yep, I don’t regret intervening with the women of the General Associate Party to protect Kikuya.

I’m glad it was in the public eye, but right, let’s be careful from now on.

……in the end, I feel that both men and women are compelled to put up with this situation.

There may be no other way to keep society running smoothly.

…If men and women act according to their desires, a disaster-like situation may happen… But I don’t think that everything should be left as it is.

At the very least, I want to make the women around me happy.

Also, I want to change this environment in which men, including Atsushi, find it difficult to live ――

“――So that men can go out of the special ward with peace of mind… as expected, it’s still a long way. Let’s start with a small little step like making it so that men will have no worries when visiting shops or parks.”

If the consciousness of women changes, the consciousness of men will also change. It works on the reverse too.

I’m nothing more than a 15 years old boy, I can’t just change society anytime soon, but life is long.

And society can be changed gradually.

So, let’s do what I can do immediately.

What I can do immediately is…

…Gather friends, earn trust, and change this environment together.

That’s the first goal.

If so, what should I do first is…

” ―― Alright, let’s be popular!”