The Reluctant Tsundere
"Forget everything you saw just now."
Lucia had blindfolded me and hidden the cute doll once again. She spoke in a curt, grumpy tone. Honestly, with a teddy bear clutched in one arm, her words carried zero credibility. Did she have any idea how adorable she looked saying something like that?
She's definitely doing this on purpose.
Judging by how that wicked Golden Sun usually acted, this had to be another calculated move to get the upper hand on me. The real problem was that I kept falling for it even though I could see her intentions clearly.
"What are you going to do if I catch you again?" I asked, lightly chewing on my faint sense of defeat as I sat back down on Lucia's bed. She answered with absolute confidence.
"Hehe, you'll never find it. I hid it somewhere really, really hard to reach."
To be honest, the moment I already knew what she'd hidden, the exact location made the whole thing pointless. But if she wanted to play it that way, what could I do? I'd just have to go along with it.
"So, what do you want to do now? Anything in mind?" I asked, glancing around the suddenly empty room where the doll had vanished.
Lucia approached instantly, as if she'd been waiting for the question. She plopped down right beside me and slowly leaned her body into mine.
"What do you want to do with me?"
Then, when I tried to pull away, she grabbed me tightly. Her arms wrapped around my waist and yanked me firmly toward her so I couldn't escape.
"Board games? Want to chat? Or cook something?"
She closed the already tiny gap between us even more, bringing her lips right to my ear as she whispered.
"Or... do you want to do something a little naughty?"
"Please get off me."
This crazy perverted Golden Sun. If I made it out of here safely, I was filing a sexual harassment report the second I got home.
"Aww, you're no fun at all."
Lucia patted my back like it was all a joke, but her face—still flushed bright red from that previous bombshell—didn't cool down one bit. Realizing that, I felt the same competitive spark I'd experienced at the café before.
Why do I keep letting her drag me into this?
Once that feeling took root, it refused to stop. It spread rapidly, pulling my body toward an extreme reaction. I surrendered to that half-forced impulse, snatching the hand that had been smacking my back hard enough to make it sting.
"Eek?!"
I shoved her onto the bed, knocking her flat, then pinned both her arms down so she couldn't move. Somehow the situation had flipped completely—I was now straddling the previously cocky Lucia.
It didn't take her long to realize what had happened. Her initially dazed, panicked expression gradually turned bright red. Her deer-like eyes trembled violently, and her voice shook as she spoke.
"Wh-what are you doing... get off me right now..."
Seeing her like that hit me with two conflicting emotions at once: the joy of defeating the girl who'd been teasing me, and the embarrassment of being in such a compromising position. Strangely, though, I didn't hate lying here like this.
It was a completely perverted thought, but watching her blush beneath me gave me an undeniable sense of conquest. Yeah... I was just as messed up as the rest of this world.
The fact that I'm the one feeling this sense of conquest is the real problem...
Objectively, the strength difference between us was overwhelming. If Lucia put even a little effort into it, she could break free anytime. The way she kept glancing up at me with those expectant eyes while telling me to move proved it.
"...Pervert."
In that sense, Lucia was definitely the pervert. Getting pinned by a guy and looking up with eyes full of anticipation? That was next-level.
"You're a total beast."
It was ridiculous for the one doing the pinning to call the other a beast, but honestly, wasn't lying there expectantly crazier than pinning someone without thinking?
"Y-you're the one who pinned me!"
Lucia sounded genuinely taken aback by my words, but I shot back immediately.
"You're the one expecting it, Lucia. If you're going to pretend you don't want it, at least make it believable."
She knew better than anyone that I wasn't the type to lose control so easily. If I were the kind of guy who would pounce just because she let her guard down a little, I would have fallen for her a long time ago.
"I'm a guy too, you know. If you act that defenseless, I might not be able to hold back."
Anyway, whether we liked it or not, staying in this position was both uncomfortable and embarrassing. I released her arms and started to pull back.
Or at least, I tried to.
"...Ugh."
If Lucia hadn't suddenly wrapped her now-free arms around me in a tight hug, I might have succeeded. Instead, I let out a low groan and found myself completely buried in her embrace.
She quietly stroked my head for a moment, then grabbed it firmly and pulled me even closer.
"...You don't have to hold back, you know."
I had already been dying of embarrassment with my face pressed against her chest. Those words nearly made my brain explode. Did she have any idea what kind of storm she was inviting by telling a healthy adult male not to hold back?
"If you say things like that so casually, you're going to cause serious trouble."
I somehow managed to lift my head from her chest to speak. She let out a small laugh, then wrapped her legs around my waist and pressed even closer. With all four of my limbs now trapped and unable to move properly, Lucia licked her lips once and said,
"Then let's go ahead and cause some serious trouble together."
Still in that position, she grabbed my chin. The mischievous smile on her face was downright wicked. My face was already burning as hot as it could get—she was probably seeing nothing but a bright red tomato at this point.
"...This is the absolute worst."
I turned my head away, forced to sound like some tsundere heroine. If I didn't redirect my emotions somehow, I was genuinely afraid I might do something I'd regret.
What would you even call this? A forced tsundere?
"...Hik."
As I had that thought and shot her a sulky glare, Lucia flipped our bodies over while still holding me. Our positions reversed naturally. Now I was the one being pinned down.
"Now that I'm on top, I can do whatever I want, right?"
With those words, she casually pulled a lollipop from her pocket and thrust it straight toward my mouth. Thinking I wasn't about to get devoured, I relaxed and reached for it, but—
Whoosh!
"Are you joking right now?"
Before my hand could reach the candy, Lucia smoothly pulled it back. After several rounds of this playful struggle, she looked at me—who still hadn't managed to grab it—and waved the lollipop tauntingly with a mocking smile.
"Want it?"
She let out a soft laugh, then put the end of the lollipop in her own mouth and leaned toward me.
"Ea' i'."
Her pronunciation was slightly muffled because she was holding the stick between her lips. I turned my head away. Was she crazy? Did she expect me to bite the other end like we were playing the Pocky game? That was something couples did.
"I don't wa—mmph."
The moment I opened my mouth to refuse, the lollipop slipped between my lips. Our faces were now less than ten centimeters apart—closer than any normal Pocky game. While I was still flustered by the proximity, Lucia began rolling the stick with her tongue.
"Please stop..."
The lollipop danced inside my mouth in time with her tongue movements. She would lightly sweep down, slowly graze with her teeth, and manipulate the candy with surprising delicacy. It was so skillful I almost wondered if she'd practiced it somewhere.
After teasing every corner of my mouth with the lollipop for what felt like forever, Lucia suddenly moved at a speed I couldn't react to.
"...Hup."
Our faces drew close enough for our lips to brush against each other for the briefest moment. The sensation of soft, plump flesh against the edge of my lips brought a ticklish feeling that spread through me. It wasn't deep or long, but for that instant we shared each other's breath before pulling apart.
"Wh... just now... what..."
My brain had completely short-circuited. In contrast, Lucia slowly licked her lips, then pulled the lollipop from her mouth. When I realized the tip of her tongue was touching the exact spot where my lips had been, my face grew hot all over again.
In the end, all I could manage was a stupid, meaningless question that would sound ridiculous to anyone listening.
"What... what are you doing?!"
Even though the area where our lips had touched was tiny, the fact remained: if lips met at all, it was still a kiss. What had just happened was unmistakably a kiss.
"Hehe."
Lucia didn't seem bothered in the slightest. She licked her lips again in a rather sensual way, then gently traced my lips with her finger as she added in a seductive voice,
"...Hmm, that was a bit unsatisfying. Should we do it more passionately this time?"
"Have you lost your mind?"
What a crazy woman. She'd just sexually harassed me and was acting completely shameless about it. With some of my rationality finally returning, I couldn't help feeling a little wronged.
Sigh...
And just like that, I'd lost my first kiss to the Golden Sun without putting up any real resistance. At the time, I had no idea that my chastity would soon follow.