Kaminoge High School, Japan.
"Make sure you finish before the bell rings!"
The command came from a female teacher standing at the doorway. Her posture was upright with her chin held high, looking down at the crowd of teenage boys before her.
A sense of superiority clearly radiated from the way she folded her arms across her chest. Without waiting for an answer, she turned and left, her footsteps echoing arrogantly against the corridor floor.
When the female teacher left, leaving the male students alone, one of them grimaced.
"They do nothing but give us orders every other day." He complained while half-heartedly scrubbing the floor.
The person speaking was named Wakura Yuuki, 18 years old. He had blue eyes, and his hair was short and dark blue, with two strands sticking up like insect antennae.
"It's pointless for you to complain, Wakura." The voice was calm, coming from a student standing on a chair, wiping the window glass with methodical movements. "The world has changed. The concept of gender equality has vanished with the emergence of Mato."
This was Kamikawa Naoki, also 18 years old. His face was handsome with a sharp jawline, but there was a cold impression attached to it. His clean white hair gleamed in the light, contrasting with his burning red eyes that appeared dim with resignation.
As the most handsome young man at Kaminoge High School, Naoki should have been the center of attention, but in this era, handsomeness was merely worthless decoration.
(What's the use of being handsome in a world where superhuman women are everywhere? Haah... I'm probably one of the most unfortunate Reincarnators. Truly, I'm a disgrace to my kind. If they knew what kind of life I'm living, they would laugh their heads off.)
That was Naoki's greatest secret: he was a reincarnator, a soul from another world reborn here.
"Kamikawa is right. Since Mato appeared, the world has entered female supremacy. We can only say we were born in an unlucky era." chimed in a student with short yellow hair while sighing deeply. He leaned against a desk, staring at the classroom ceiling with an empty gaze. "If only we had been born before Mato appeared, our lives surely wouldn't be this miserable. We might be talking about video games or dates, not forced daily cleaning schedules."
Mato.
An event that changed everything.
Several decades ago, mysterious Gates appeared in Japan, opening a path to a parallel dimension the size of Kyoto. From there emerged terrifying creatures called Shuuki.
All Shuuki had proven to be vicious and aggressive toward all humans, attacking several cities and areas, resulting in brutal deaths of many humans after passing through the Gates.
Only tanks and bombs could hurt them, and even then with great loss of life.
That despair changed when Peaches were discovered inside Mato.
"Come on, don't be so pessimistic." said a boy with dark brown hair, trying to lighten the mood. He casually played with a ball in the corner of the classroom. "And also, thanks to Wakura, we can do our work more calmly."
This boy was playing with a ball, while another boy, with dark blond hair, swung a broom as if it were a baseball bat.
Suddenly, noisy chatter began to be heard from below. The three students near the window—including Naoki and Yuuki—reflexively looked down. From the upper floor, they saw a scene that had become a painful routine: a large group of female students in uniforms began entering the school yard leisurely.
"Here come our queens, late as usual." commented the blond-haired boy with thick sarcasm.
"It's inevitable." Yuuki sighed, his eyes following the girls' movements. "Men can't receive blessings from the Peaches."
"Peaches, huh..." Naoki muttered softly. His hand holding the cleaning cloth clenched tightly until his knuckles turned white.
Peaches were special and unique fruits that grew in Mato. After being eaten, the consumer would obtain unique powers, and it had been theorized that the powers were based on background and emotions, meaning even if two people ate one Peach, their powers wouldn't be the same if their temperaments were different. It had also been mentioned that women should not eat more than one Peach.
For some reason, unlike women, men did not receive unique powers or enhancements after eating Peaches, so the balance of power between the sexes collapsed and women became superior.
This immediately caused men to become menial workers or even servants to women; even in the school environment, male students were forced to clean the school before female students arrived at school, most of whom came late without punishment.
This was the reality that Naoki, Yuuki, and other male students lived.
(This world is too biased toward women. Even animals can get powers from Peaches! Just look at Devil Fruits in the One Piece World—aside from the side effect of not being able to swim and being vulnerable to Sea-Prism Stone, Devil Fruits can be eaten by anyone regardless of gender!)
As a Reincarnator from another world, this helplessness felt ten times more humiliating.
But what could he do? He wasn't blessed with a golden finger, aka cheat abilities, like others of his kind received.
(Forget it. There's no use thinking about it.)
Naoki sighed, then returned to wiping the window. The cloth moved up and down, reflecting the images of the female students who were now getting closer.
Most of the girls looked normal, like typical high school students. However, some were clearly different. One girl carried a bag containing a strand of her own hair, while her other hand gripped a water bottle that seemed always within her reach. Another girl stepped lightly, as if her feet barely touched the ground, her body moving as if floating in the air.
A sight that was already considered normal in this world.
"Our lives have been complicated since we were born." Yuuki said bitterly, breaking Naoki's reverie. His words hung in the dusty air.
And not one of them argued.
◆━⊰✿✧✿⊱━◆
The school dismissal bell finally rang, marking the end of an exhausting day. Naoki, Yuuki, and a brown-haired male student named Sato walked side by side toward the nearest station.
The three blended into the stream of commuters dominated by school uniforms and office suits.
In just a matter of years, the world had completely changed. That change was most clearly visible at the train platform. On one side, there was an exclusive women's car that looked spacious, clean, and air-conditioned—a space where women could travel in complete comfort. However, on the other side, the three young men had to struggle to enter the men's car.
The conditions were deplorable. They had to squeeze together, shoulder to shoulder with other men until there was hardly any room to breathe. The smell of sweat and stuffy air became constant companions during the journey.
Naoki stood still, his back pressed against the door, his face expressionless. Yuuki held the overhead handle with one hand, while Sato was wedged between two adult men much larger than him. The short journey felt long, oppressive, and exhausting—not just physically, but mentally as well.
Finally, the train stopped at their destination station.
The door opened, and the three got off with the flow of other male passengers. As soon as they stepped onto the platform, Sato immediately took a long breath, as if he had just emerged from a sealed room without air.
"I feel sad that soon I'll be a working adult. Traveling by train like that every day really sucks..." Sato complained while wiping his forehead.
"Yeah..." Naoki answered briefly, his gaze empty as he stared at the rails. "We'll become just another corporate slave..."
"Mm."
Yuuki could only nod in agreement. However, his attention was diverted by a small detail in his friend's clothing.
Sato felt his chest confusedly. Sure enough, the second button from the top was hanging by only a thin thread.
"Ah, this thing probably got caught on something or pulled when we were squeezed together inside earlier."
"Leave this to me."
Yuuki took out a small box from his bag—a neatly arranged sewing kit. With well-practiced movements, he took the button, threaded the needle in one attempt, then sewed it back on. His fingers moved quickly and precisely. In a matter of seconds, the button was perfectly reattached, as if it had never come off.
Sato looked at him with slightly widened eyes.
"Thanks! You're really skilled at this."
Yuuki smiled slightly. "That's thanks to my older sister. She's the one who taught me. She said I should hone my abilities, because men can't have powers."
"..."
Naoki standing beside them could only look at Yuuki with deep sympathy.
(How pitiful... Since childhood, Wakura has been systematically trained to become a househusband by his older sister.)
He realized how harsh this world was in shaping male roles from an early age—as supporters for women who held the power.
The three arrived at a crossroads. With brief waves, they separated toward their respective homes.