Living in a Class-Based World

A certain day in April.

Yuuta visited the estate of the Eternal Yoshiwara for the first time. He had heard from Aoi that her mother wanted to meet him, and so he readily gave his consent.

He wore a casual outfit consisting of a fresh and clean white shirt as well as black pants. Once he got out of the car, the gate leading into the estate towered in front of him with a wall seemingly eternally extending to either of its sides.

The estate was so huge that he couldn’t tell just how big it was with just his eyes alone. The realization that this was an eternal family reaffirmed Yuuta once more of the weight behind the name Yoshiwara.

“We have been waiting for you! Yuuta-sama♪ I am so happy to welcome you!”

As soon as the gate opened, Aoi leaped into his embrace accompanied by a cheerful greeting. She was wearing a lovely yukata.

“Oomph. G-Good morning.”

“Good morning to you as well♪”

The people working inside the estate were slightly surprised by Aoi’s behavior, but they immediately put on smiles on their faces, watching over the two warmly while feeling reassured that the rumors they had heard were actually true.

Aoi led Yuuta onto the grounds while nestling close to him.

“Your second Stream Service was wonderful! Yuuta-sama, you are pretty good at God of War, aren’t you♪?”

“I managed to get the hang of it. It’s good that it didn’t take me an hour to beat just one boss like last time.”

“Ehehe, it was amazing how everyone wanted you to read their names and comments.”

“Well, it’s hard to read everything with so many comments. It was a lifesaver that the state’s employees immediately passed me a list with the names of those having commented.”

“Even so, it took you close to two hours again to read all the names.”

“You’re right. I’ll be slightly troubled if this happens every time.”

Now that he was able to start his high school life, Yuuta resumed his Service activities. In the latest Stream Service he played God of War as a continuation from last time.

“I must think of some measures to reduce the burden on you, Yuuta-sama.”

“If only there was some smart solution to this…whoa! W-WOOWW!”

“Hihihi♪ This is the pride of the Yoshiwara family, our Nihon garden.”

A beautiful Japanese garden spread out inside the huge estate.

They even got carps in their pond.

Aoi was very cute and usually faced him with straight-forward affection. Because she also treated common citizens like Moe very kindly, it didn’t really register with him under normal circumstances, but having the reality of the Yoshiwara’s mind-boggling wealth thrust at him like this, he could clearly sense the overwhelmingly huge authority Aoi possessed as next matriarch of the Eternal Yoshiwara.

Such an amazing girl loves me with all her heart, huh?

The Yoshiwara stand on the side of absolute power in Nihon. As he walked while feeling the grandiosity of that family, they arrived in the room that had been prepared for the sake of welcoming Yuuta. A single woman in a bewitching yukata waited for Yuuta inside.

“Thank you for coming all the way and welcome to our home, Yuuta-sama. My name is Nanase Kagura. I am Aoi’s mother and the family head of the Eternal Yoshiwara. I am pleased to make your acquaintance.”

“N-Nice to meet you! I’m Yuuta. I have had the privilege to get along with Aoi-san. She kindly became my direct affiliate in my high school class and she always helps me out wherever she can.”

“Hehe, you sure seem to get along very well.”

Probably out of nervousness, Yuuta ended up rattling down his words in front of Nanase. Meanwhile Aoi had been staring at her mother while having her arm wrapped around Yuuta’s.

“Now, now, don’t stand out there. Please come inside and sit down over here. I would love to hear about your Stream Service from the other day, Yuuta-sama.”

As prompted by Nanase, Yuuta sat down on a chair opposite of her with a table between them. Aoi took the place next to him.

Afterwards, they had a lighthearted chat for a while. Mostly it revolved around Yuuta’s recent Service activities. They didn’t only speak about the Stream Service, but also the matter of his class actively recommending him Services. Those Service recommendations also included those coming from the common girls who belonged to his class as indirect affiliates.

“I already heard about it from Aoi-san. You approved of commoner girls becoming your indirect affiliates.”

“Yes. We discussed together how many indirect affiliates I would accept. Then I approved two common citizens as indirect affiliates per high family daughter. We chose this distribution so that the high family girls would be able to provide support without straining themselves. Ah, this doesn’t apply to Aoi-san and Manami-san though. I have Aoi-san manage the whole class while Manami-san looks after the high family daughters for me.”

There were twelve high family daughters present in Yuuta’s class besides Aoi and Manami. With them taking care of two commoner girls each, 24 commoner girls in total had become indirect affiliates. The number of applicants for a temporary affiliation was incomparable to that, but they settled with this as a realistic compromise that would allow the class to operate without problems.

The high family daughters chose commoner girls with a good compatibility to them from among the temporary affiliation applicants. As a result, Yuuta’s class grew to 39 girls, including Aoi. And if you included Yuuta, they’d hit the round number of 40.

“I’m looking forward to the sports day in May.”

“Yes. We have discussed a sports meet that would be enjoyable for all of us.”

The sports meet, which would happen around the middle of May, had no defined form or schedule. The girls were free to decide on the type of sports event they wanted to hold while adopting the boy’s opinion. Yuuta’s class had talked it over while listening to their homeroom teacher Tomoe’s advice.

“I will go shopping with Yuuta-sama before the sports day♪”

“You’re going to decide on everyone’s track suits, right?” Nanase asked.

“Yes. I would like to choose an outfit suitable for Aoi-san.”

In a boy’s class the boy wouldn’t only decide the girl’s school uniforms, but also the gym clothes worn during athletic meets. Yuuta planned to go with a simple design that wasn’t too revealing.

“Aoi-san’s school uniform is wonderful. It’s charming while also being neat and proper,” praised Nanase

“Thank you.”

The women paid close attention to the small points such as what uniforms Yuuta designated for the girls in his class. Of course this applied to all boys and not just Yuuta. A boy was given various rights in his own class, but at the same time he was being observed how he used those rights.

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As they got all excited talking about the sports meet, the door opened. The one entering the room was Takashi.

“Sorry for the sudden interruption. I’m Nanase’s husband, Takashi Kagura.”

“Nice to meet you, Takashi-san. I’m Yuuta. Aoi-san has been taking good care of me.”

“I’m happy to be able to meet you, Yuuta-kun. I was interested to find out what sort of boy you are.”

Aoi had informed Yuuta in advance about Takashi joining them. In the first place, Yuuta’s visit at the Yoshiwara had been set up because Takashi wanted to meet Yuuta after having returned home.

What an energetic person. He perfectly fits the image of a hearty, strong-willed company president as you could occasionally find them in my previous world.

Nanase yielded her seat opposite of Yuuta to Takeshi and sat down next to her husband instead.

“When I heard that Aoi wishes to become your direct affiliate, I was worried, to be honest. I had heard about you from my caseworker.”

“You’re talking about me staying home while refusing to do any Services, right?”

“Yes.”

Neither Nanase nor Aoi interrupted the conversation between Takashi and Yuuta. They quietly listened to the male talk.

“Given that it’s a fact, I won’t try to excuse it in any way.”

“I have also heard about the incident. That was something justifying a certain degree of sympathy.”

“That incident…”

Ouch!

Yuuta was assailed by a headache. The instantaneous pain disappeared as quickly as it came.

“That incident was certainly terrible, but that’s still no excuse to live on without contributing anything to society.”

“Hoh…”

Takashi altered his perception of Yuuta at this point. He had clearly thought that Yuuta would fully rely on Aoi for everything with his only redeeming worth being his kindness. Takashi believed that the men of this world should be kinder to the women. But, not a kindness for the sake of fully depending on the women, but a kindness on equal standing where both would desire each other. Of course, this was still based on the premise of men being controlled by society.

“Because I haven’t achieved anything yet, it’s just empty words. But, I would be happy if you could watch my actions from now on.”

“I like the sound of that. You have the backbone to boldly declare something like that to my face. That’s what I wanna hear!”

Takashi had an honest and hearty character, and because of that, he immediately took a liking to Yuuta’s sincere attitude. Of course, he’d keep a close eye on whether those words would be accompanied by results.

He looked at Aoi with a broad smile. Aoi happily smiled back because she immediately knew that her beloved father hat taken a liking to Yuuta. Seeing her daughter like that also beamed a smile on Nanase’s face.

He sure is quick to change his attitude. I had expected another development…more like him refusing to give his cherished daughter to a stranger of doubtful origin or something like that. But I guess his insides are as hearty as his outward appearance suggests.

“I planned to give you a good smack talk if you had been just some weak guy who fully relies on Aoi, but it looks like that worry was unwarranted.”

“Yuuta-sama even protect me!”

“I heard about that as well. I thought it was slightly exaggerated, but after seeing Yuuta-kun today, I can believe that it’s actually true.”

“N-No, wait, that was me actually being protected instead.”

Yuuta immediately comprehended that they were talking about the time when Takuya had arbitrarily Yuuta’s classroom.

“Bearing the risk of having his body injured is the very definition of being irresponsible for a guy. Yuuta-kun, you unleashed your wrath at the boy called Takuya-kun when he selfishly hit on Aoi in front of you, right? That is more than enough. Stopping Takuya-kun from punching you was a responsibility resting with Aoi and Manami.”

“Yes! I shall always protect Yuuta-sama!”

With Takashi having adopted a positive opinion of Yuuta, the conversation was wrapped up in a gentle atmosphere. At this point Aoi and Nanase started to happily chat away while inserting their words into the conversation between Yuuta and Takashi.

And just like that, noon approached soon.

“Yuuta-kun, you’re going to eat lunch with us, right?”

“Yes, we are going to treat him.”

“Okay, I’d like to have a little talk between men while eating lunch with Yuuta-kun,” Takashi said to Aoi and Nanase.

Although Aoi was disappointed for a second because she wanted to eat lunch together with Yuuta, Nanase agreed right away, “Of course, no problem.”

“Sorry. To you as well since Dad is stealing your time with Yuuta-kun.”

“Uuhh. Yuuta-sama! Can you spare me some time after lunch?”

“Y-Yes, sure. I have nothing in particular planned for today.”

“That’s music in my ears! Then…please come to my room after lunch with my father.”

“Ehh!?”

Even though he was surprised, Yuuta couldn’t hide his joy over being invited to Aoi’s room of all things. It was the room of a female high-school student he had dreamed of.

“Ha ha ha, I never expected Aoi to be so aggressive.”

“Hehehe, she’s my daughter after all.”

“You got a point. Mother and daughter have been cast in the same mold, I suppose.”

“Takashi-san and Nanase-san, you are a couple hailed to be the greatest love story of the century. Was Nanase-san also so assertive in her approach?”

“Well, various things happened between us, but Nanase was definitely quite aggressive. I think calling it passionate would fit the bill even better.”

“Sheesh, you’re such a tease, Dear♡”

Seeing the married couple having started to flirt for some reason, Aoi couldn’t help but be envious of them.

“Okay, please allow me to guide you to the room where your lunch has been prepared.”

With those words of Nanase, everyone stood up and headed to the room in question.

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“Forgive me for dragging you away from Aoi.”

“No, it’s fine.”

Sometimes it’s also important to openly talk about something between men.

“I’m really glad that I was able to meet you today, Yuuta-kun.”

“Thank you. I’m happy to hear you say that.”

“Please take care of Aoi. I thought that she’s smart girl since she was still small, but somehow she kept her distance from men, so I was worried about her.”

“Since I was allowed to spend a wonderful time with her since our first meeting, I couldn’t believe this, despite having heard rumors about this.”

In reality it had been their second meeting since the first one basically took place during his first attendance at junior high. Even so, Aoi had faced Yuuta with straight-forward affection since that time. Previously Yuuta himself had some questions about this as well, but nowadays he could somehow understand why.

He suspected that Aoi must have been drawn to the kindness of the Old World man hidden inside Yuuta. Yuuta was able to meet Takashi, and although their styles were different, their kindness towards women appeared to be different from the standard among the ordinary men of this world.

Lunch with Takashi was mostly about listening to Takashi’s high school life.

“The times are different now, so I don’t know how much of it will serve as any reference for you, Yuuta-kun.”

While making such a restriction, Takashi kept talking about his own experiences. And naturally that led to him also talking about Nanase and Mizuki.

“So your great love story wasn’t just about Nanase-san, but it also included Manami-san’s mother, Mizuki-san, huh?”

“Mizuki has been quite successful. I often talk with Nanase about how Mizuki actually takes the top spot among us three.”

Yuuta assumed that Takashi, Nanase, and Mizuki could keep up a harmonious marital life because of Mizuki’s ability to keep things balanced. Even Manami, Mizuki’s daughter, kept Yuuta, Aoi, and the whole class in mind, truly improving life for all of them.

“But, recently my age is starting to show. In the past I could keep going all the way till morning while taking on both of them.”

Yuuta got to hear some complaints out of Takashi’s mouth when their lunch was nearing its end.

“You must be joking. In my eyes you still look very young, Takashi-san.”

“Looks can be deceiving. I’m still going to actively continue my Service activities for a long time to come, and I want to believe that I’m overflowing with vitality. But, my body is honest.”

While thinking that even a guy like Takashi, whose life seemed to go pretty well, had his own share of problems, Yuuta also pondered whether he’d be able to help him with his worries.

“Now then, thank you for the nice time. If I monopolize you too much, I’ll get scolded by Aoi for real. Please enjoy your time with Aoi.”

“No, it is I who have to thank you for the time you devoted to me.”

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