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Chapter 74 Part 2

After a five-minute break, they drew lots using the notebooks that Yoshie had brought with her and split into two teams.

In the actual game, it was decided that there would be 10 infielders and the rest would be outfielders, but right now, they were to start with 5 infielders each and 2 outfielders each (the extra one would serve as the referee).

There Yuu and Haruto split up and played as infielder.

As such, the girls who won the lots and got to play as infielder were extremely happy.

After all, it was the first time they got a chance to play ball games with boys since elementary school. Moreover, even though there were only two boys, they were able to play with Yuu and Haruto, two of the best-looking boys in the first year.

For first-year girls, it was a rare opportunity to be in such a close distance with boys, so close they would be able to reach them if they reached out with their hands.

「Let’s have a match, Hirose! Loser buys juice.」

「Hohou, sounds good. I accept your challenge.」

The two were surrounded by girls, but it was a very youthful development, which made Yuu happy inside.

Unknowingly, perhaps having overheard their voices, the girls who had remained in the classrooms were gathering and watching from the balcony of the first school building.

Yoshie, who had the misfortune to end up serving as the referee, held the ball in the middle line and the game was finally starting.

Yuu and Haruto jumped at the ball that was thrown high in the air.

Haruto was superior in terms of height, but as Yuu made up for it with his jumping ability, the two touched the ball at almost the same time.

As the ball fell slightly behind Yuu, the game started in earnest.

The ball went back and forth between the infield and outfield of both sides.

As soon as the game started, one girl on each side was hit and had to go to the outfield, so the score was still tied, 5-5.

After several exchanges of balls, Yuu, who had successfully caught a ball from the outfield, turned around and threw it at the nearest girl from the opposing team.

The ball they were using was a volleyball.

It didn’t hurt much even if it hit, but as expected he didn’t throw it with everything he had.

Even so, Yuu aimed at the lower body so that it would be difficult for the opponent to catch it.

When she realized that Yuu was aiming at her, she tried to retreat in a hurry, but because she was showing her back, Yuu’s ball ended up hitting her on the buttocks.

「Kyan!」

「Yossha!」

「Ahn~, I got hit by Hirose-kun….」

For some reason, she seemed a little happy to have been hit.

After that, the exchange of balls continued, and players left the infield one after another, reducing it into a 3-on-3, including Yuu and Haruto.

A high ball flew in from the opponents’ outfield as it got passed to Haruto.

It was probably a scheme to pass the ball to Haruto and have him throw it at their opponent.

「Fufufu. It’s time for me to finish this!」

Striking a pose with the ball in his hand, Haruto sharply pointed at Yuu and declared.

「O, oh.」

The two girls on the opposing side were staring at Haruto with sparkling eyes, but Yuu was smiling wryly.

「Take this!」

「Oops!」

Haruto threw the ball as hard as he could, but it was right in front of him, so Yuu caught it.

In return, Yuu also threw the ball at Haruto.

Over and over again, the ball continued to be thrown back and forth between Yuu and Haruto.

The girls in both the infield and outfield watched the match between the two boys with bated breath.

Without delay, Yuu threw the ball he had just caught at Haruto’s feet.

Just before it reached him, Haruto was at a loss whether to catch or dodge the ball that looked like it was going to bounce, so he missed the chance to catch it as it hit his leg.

「Darn it!」

「Aah! It’s Houshou-kun’s revenge!」

Bouncing to the side, the ball seemed to happen to come into the reach of the girl who was nearby, and she threw it at Yuu.

「Huh?」

It was a curved ball with no power, but it ended up hitting Yuu, who had let his guard down, below the knee.

Fweet, fweet.

「Houshou-kun, Hirose-kun, please step out to the outfield.」

When they heard the voice of Yoshie, the referee, both of them went out to the outfield in a dejected manner.

◇ ◇ ◇

「I hit you first, so it’s my win, right?」

「But as a team, we’re the last one standing, you know?」

「Mumumu….」

Yuu and Haruto argued with each other, but then realized that they had not properly decided on the terms of victory.

In the end, as Masaya, who had interceded, suggested that they buy each other a can of juice, it was settled with that.

By the time the unprecedented match between the male participants was over, the time was almost up, so the dodgeball team decided to disperse.

There was also a scene where as Yuu, who was sweating from moving around so much, tried to take off his shirt and be down to his tee shirt, the boys around him stopped him in panic.

After all, the number of galleries around him had grown much larger than they had expected.

After promising to cheer for the girls including Yoshie, a member of the class committee, at the actual event, Yuu and the other male students took the shuttle bus from the second school building and headed for home as usual.

◇ ◇ ◇

「Phew~. Playing with girls like that is also fun, right?!」

「Is, is that so? … I think you’re the only one who would think so, Yuu-kun…」

「Huh, but this time, Houshou was having fun too, wasn’t he?」

「Well, that’s certainly true, but….」

In the bus, Yuu and Rei sitting next to each other as usual were chatting.

*Pomf* Yuu lightly patted Rei on the shoulder.

Sporting a slender body and sloping shoulders, Rei’s shoulders were like that of a girl.

「We have enrolled to a co-ed school, so I think it’d be a good idea for you to be more proactive in interacting with girls, too, Rei.」

「U, umm….」

As he walked around the school with Yuu, Rei often got kyaa-kyaa-ed at by the girls they met, but it seemed like he was still unable to make up his mind.

That was the common reaction of the boys in this world.

While they were chatting about the inter-class ball game competition in such a manner, the bus seemed to have entered the urban area.

When the bus stopped at a traffic light, Yuu saw a large group of women gathered in what looked like a vacant lot.

「The heck is that?」

「Hmm? What’s wrong?」

When Yuu pointed out the window, Rei leaned closer toward the window.

Naturally, the distance between Yuu and Rei became closer.

The hair on the side of Rei’s head was long enough to cover his ears, so at a glance, he could really be mistaken for a girl, but as expected, Yuu’s heart wouldn’t skip a beat because of a boy.

「What is it… How do you read that? Man-ling?」

There was a box on top of a white minivan, the kind you often see at election campaigns, with three middle-aged women standing on it, and the woman in the middle was holding a megaphone and yelling.

They could see noboris (long banner) hung out not only on the body of the van, but also in the surrounding areas, written with words like 『Men-Folks Movement Promotion Union』, 『Let’s Aim for the Improvement of Women’s Rights』, or 『Seize the Right to Choose Your Man with Your Own Hands』.

『We are… for all women… abolish the current policies… we mustn’t allow the government’s tyranny to continue…. the liberation of all men….』

At a quick glance, there were probably about 100 people gathered in front of the van.

Most of the women walking on the sidewalk ignored them and passed by, but there were also some who joined the crowd or listened from a distance.

「I remember seeing the Men-Folks Movement on TV before. Do you know about it, Rei?」

「Umm…I think I once saw it on the TV news too, but… I don’t really get it.」

While Yuu and Rei were chatting in such a manner, they could see a woman wearing a matching red happi coat near the van pointing at them.

While shouting something, 3 or 4 of them came toward the stopping bus.

The bus had the name of the school written on it, but the windows were smoked so they shouldn’t be able to see that there were boys on board.

Nevertheless, the women seemed convinced that there were boys on the bus and were approaching.

The only students who noticed this were Yuu and Rei.

However, the security guard, who had a hat on, riding with them seemed to notice, and tension appeared on her face.

Fortunately, the signal seemed to turn green before the women reached the bus, and the bus managed to start off without incident.

Who knew what the women from earlier intended to do as they approached the bus.

Since he listened to it only for a short moment, coupled with the surrounding noise, he couldn’t really tell what they were talking about.

When I saw it on TV the other day, was it a movement that sought the improvement of women’s rights? Wondering about that, Yuu looked through his memory.

At a time like this, if I had a smartphone, I’d have been able to easily look it up, though~; he recalled the overly-convenient age before his rebirth, but there was nothing he could do about something that didn’t exist.

To begin with, back when Yuu himself was a high school student, he didn’t pay much attention to what was going on in the world unless it was a major incident.

Just now, too, he was a little curious about it, but when it came to political stuff, he couldn’t help but think that it was not really a relevant matter to him, a high school student.

At that time, Yuu had no idea that the figures from the Men-Folks Movement would get related to him on a later date.