Establishing the Hunters' Pecking Order (3)
Establishing the Hunters' Pecking Order (3)
#
There was something called femdom.
The word came from the first letters of Female Dominant. Strip away all the complicated explanations and get to the core of it, and it referred to the sort of women who derived pleasure from abusing men.
But to think... to think Yuri was one of those people!
Of course, it wasn't as if there had been no signs at all. If I'd wanted to pick up on it, there was plenty to pick up on. In another future, Yuri's hobbies had been live goblin experimentation and torture. That sadistic side of her had been there all along!
...Honestly, I couldn't say I didn't have any of those slavish urges to be dominated by a beautiful woman myself. Didn't everyone have a little bit of a thing for a slightly coercive mommy, deep down? Still, there had to be limits! Who could have guessed she'd deny me sex all night long?!
C-could I even handle something this full-on? Was it really okay for things to go like this? I was more the type who liked doing the tormenting...
Lying there pretending to be a log like Yuri told me to was genuine agony. Hold on. Her body was twitching. Was she starting to talk in her sleep? Had she finally started drifting off?
"Yuri. You asleep?"
"Nnnh... just try touching me..."
I tried casually striking up a conversation, and even half-asleep, she still threatened me!
She was right in front of me and telling me not to touch her?!
Treating me this badly! How could she do this to me!
Was Yuri really... really a dominatrix? Could I actually handle this extreme a personality shift going forward?
"Hwaaam... if you touch me... it's over... heehee..."
"..."
...Could someone spouting goofy nonsense like this really be a dominatrix? No way. I had the feeling I was, somehow, missing something.
Sure, even if Yuri had a sadistic side, for it to fully manifest she'd have to go through the right kind of event. But I'd cleared that event out of the way.
Wait. Now that I thought about it, this girl...
[Name: Yuri Fogswaithe]
[Traits: Boastfulness (B) / Bravado (A - Strengthening) /...]
"..."
Her Bravado was being strengthened.
...I'd been played.
Played! I'd been played! That damn girl!
Thinking back, from the moment we first met she'd been lying as easily as she breathed to set up a persona! Lately there hadn't been any occasion for persona-building so I'd forgotten, and then I'd gone and handed her the perfect opportunity! Pretending to be mad so she could...!
"..."
It probably wasn't entirely a pretence of anger. That face and voice earlier weren't put on. She wasn't that good a liar.
But her anger had dissipated partway through. I didn't know exactly when, but that was the moment she'd started layering on the bravado.
...I understood it, but it still rankled. How dare she bully me?
Fine. Today I'd lie still like a log just the way you wanted. But don't think it was going to be like this next time.
Grinding my teeth, I began running through simulations of how I'd torment Yuri in return.
# # #
"Wake up!"
-Slap!
"Gahk!"
"I said wake up!"
-Slap-slap!
Pain flared across my mouth and nose. Yuri had woken me up by hitting me in the mouth and nose!
"Hey! Gahk! Stop! I'm awake! Hahk!"
Tears leaked out. It wasn't a hard hit, but getting struck in a vital spot like the nose when you were asleep hurt like hell!
I pulled myself together and opened my eyes to find Yuri straddling me and looking down. Her lips were pressed tightly together as she glared, and she looked profoundly displeased about something. If there was a silver lining, it was that the atmosphere wasn't icy the way it had been yesterday.
But why was her fist rising into the air...?
"H-hey. What's this about! What's wrong with you!"
"I told you not to touch me yesterday..."
Not to touch her? I didn't touch...
...When had my hand gotten onto her thigh?
Still, seeing her fist go up again, I had no choice but to defend myself for dear life!
"Wait. Wait! Fine! I-I might have touched you in my sleep. But it's said that you can't hold a person responsible for things they do while unconscious! That's what the law says!"
"..."
Creaaak. I could practically hear a sound that had no business being audible. Her knuckles were turning white from how hard she was clenching her fist...! This was insane. She'd told me not to touch her, so I'd gritted my teeth and held back, and this was the ending I got?! I was so wronged it was driving me crazy!
"Hey! Fine! Let's say I did touch you! But it was force majeure! You're telling me not to touch you when I'm lying in the same bed as someone like you—does that make any sense?!"
"...Someone like me?"
"When a girl as g-good-looking and curvy as you is lying next to me half-undressed, there's no other way this goes!"
"..."
Yuri's movements stopped, but my mouth didn't.
"But I held back! Because you said you didn't want to, I held back! So you can't turn around and blame me just because my hands happened to wander in my sleep! No—if you didn't want it, then fine, you didn't want it, but isn't asking to sleep together and then telling me not to touch you just unreasonable?!"
When I poured out my accumulated resentment from the night, Yuri's eyes went round in mild surprise. A brief silence naturally followed my loud outburst. Yuri swallowed once and opened her mouth.
"H-hmph... fine. Whatever. Let it go."
It's over?
"..."
So it really was bravado after all. If she'd actually been angry, she would've stormed out or snapped back at me no matter what I said.
"...Rebecca said to come down for breakfast."
"Yeah..."
Shouting first thing in the morning had completely drained me...
...
After a quick wash, I stepped out of Yuri's room just as Reni was coming out of hers.
"Ah, Yoo-jin..."
Her golden hair was a little tousled, as though she'd not slept well. Her eyes were still slightly dazed from sleepiness. But the moment she saw me, she broke into a beaming smile and threw herself into my arms. Then her expression immediately fell.
"...Yoo-jin?"
"Hm?"
"L-last night... with Rebecca... did it go well...?"
The face looking up at me was the picture of misery. But I had nothing to hide. Because—
"No, I didn't go all the way with her. I only gave her a massage and that was it."
"What? Why..."
Because she came too quickly, obviously... She was an assassin-butler so high-level I couldn't even measure her, yet in bed she came in no time. Maybe it was because of the inverted nipples? But I couldn't exactly say that...
"Just. Things turned out that way..."
I protected Rebecca's honor. Spreading tales about someone else's physical traits or nighttime activities wasn't right. Besides, it wasn't exactly something Reni would want to hear.
"I-is that true?"
"Yeah."
Reni smiled brightly again at my answer, then her expression shifted to one of concern.
"D-did she accept that?"
"I'm not sure. She probably did? I amplified her twice at different levels."
"...T-twice..."
Her voice had turned a little ominous. I felt a chill on the back of my neck and quickly added:
"I-it's fine. It wasn't like the act itself appealed to her all that much either. She probably won't ask for more."
"Okay..."
Reni buried her glum face against my chest to hide it. Hm. Having her pressed up close like this was kind of exciting. A natural result, given that last night had also ended without anything happening. Reni must have sensed my excitement, because her body stiffened.
"Yoo-jin...?"
...Her voice was even more ominous than before. W-why was she acting like this?
"If you didn't do it with Rebecca... then why... are you here...?"
"N-no..."
Caught red-handed. A cold feeling washed over my chest. Why was I here? I'd started with Rebecca and stopped midway, so I'd come to finish the rest with Yuri. But if I told her that straight, what kind of face would Reni make?
"Why else? He came because he wanted to see me."
"Huh...?"
The answer came from an unexpected direction. Yuri had opened the door at some point and was watching us!
Arms crossed and posture slouched with her weight on one leg, an insolent stance. But her face was wearing a supremely self-satisfied expression. Th-this woman—the first thing out of her mouth after stepping out was a provocation aimed at Reni! And she'd popped out as if she'd timed it, too! Could she have done it on purpose?!
"Ah, unlike some people, I didn't cut in line, you know? Yoo-jin came to me all on his own?"
"Huh?"
I felt like I was mentally choking. Th-this woman—she acted like she didn't care, but she'd been holding a grudge about the line-cutting after all! She really was petty!
"Well. You don't have to worry. Unlike someone who's always all about the physical, we spent a pure and innocent night?"
"Huh? Pure...?"
"I mean a platonic relationship. Not a relationship that needs amplification—one where just spending the night together without touching is enough."
Th-this woman—at night she'd been all pathetic and whiny, and I'd gone along with her demands, so now she'd done a complete face-switch and was acting all high and mighty?!
"...Yoo-jin didn't touch you?"
Yoo-jin... there was no way... no way... Reni muttered the same words over and over, as if she couldn't process what she'd just heard.
So that was how she rated me. It was accurate, sure, but it stung a little. And did Reni, of all people, have the right to say something like this? I was starting to feel a bit incredulous when Reni's teeth began chattering as she turned to me.
"Y-Yoo-jin, you r-really didn't t-touch her...?"
"..."
Stunned, I looked over at Yuri. She was calling that a pure night? When there'd been a footjob involved? But I couldn't tell it like it actually happened, either!
"Hahk!"
"Yoo-jin!"
Reni apparently interpreted my silence in an entirely different way and tugged at the hem of my clothes! Was she seriously falling for that nonsense, just like that?!
"Yoo-jin! I-is our relationship purely physical?! Is that all I am?!"
"Pff-hff...!"
Reni was grabbing me and shaking me furiously as if she was dying of indignation, while Yuri was snickering as if she was dying of laughter.
Th-this wasn't a harem. This was hell...!