Sleepover?
"Is this a success or a failure?"
Lucia asked, trailing after me with quick little steps as I entered the dormitory with a sour expression. Yeah, I had no idea either. Objectively speaking, it was a success. But somehow... it felt way too anticlimactic.
'I'm sure there's something more to it...'
There was no way to find out what she was hiding right now. On top of that, Francis Watson's story hadn't properly appeared in the novel yet, which made things even more complicated.
'I got transmigrated into this damn romance-fantasy while it was still being serialized...'
There were still plenty of unresolved plot threads and foreshadowing left. For example, the background behind why Grayson lost his memories, or Francis's past. If you're going to send someone into a story, at least make it a completed one, you lousy author.
'I don't know for sure, but it seems like this hunter certificate is somehow connected to Francis's past...'
Each episode of The Reverse Harem Feels Slightly Off had one male lead who stood out. For instance, in the third episode, "The Divine Artifact That Covers the Demon," the protagonist was Raul. Just like how the fifth episode—which had been forcibly erased—"A Dream That Never Ends"—had Eden as its lead.
'The last episode I read before I got transmigrated...'
The eighth episode, "Ruins of the Suicidal Civilization," had Francis Watson as its protagonist. Unfortunately, I only got to read the beginning of the eighth episode before being sent here, so I had no idea about Francis's backstory or the specific events that happened within it.
'...But how am I remembering all this?'
I was the type of person who could barely remember names. I only vaguely recalled jotting down a single sentence about the Ruins of the Suicidal Civilization in my notes, yet here I was remembering it clearly. It seemed I really was a genius after all...
"Are you having weird thoughts while ignoring me again?"
...Yeah, of course not. Thanks to Lucia forcibly dragging me back to reality, my mind only grew more tangled. I let out a deep sigh and was about to unwrap a candy and pop it into my mouth when—
"Yah!"
Lucia snatched the candy right out of my hand. Instead of the sweet lemon flavor I was supposed to taste, I ended up with a mouthful of dust.
"..."
I glared at her, silently demanding she return my candy. She grabbed both of my hands, pinning them together so I couldn't move, and said,
"Open wide."
"...Excuse me?"
"I said, open your mouth."
She waved the candy teasingly and tapped it against my tightly closed lips. I appreciated the intention to feed me, but I had absolutely no plans to open my mouth. Actually, now that I thought about it, her intentions weren't pure at all. She was just stealing the candy I was about to eat to satisfy her own desires, wasn't she?
'This is the last shred of my pride...'
It had started with my thighs, and now it had escalated to holding hands, hugging, and all sorts of other things that I'd been half-forced into allowing. At this rate, it seemed like Lucia was starting to take all the skinship she initiated with me for granted. These days, whenever we went anywhere together, she would automatically reach for my hand first.
'...Of course, the fact that I can't shake her off in time is also a problem.'
Anyway, if this kind of life continued, I'd eventually get completely swept up in Lucia's pace. I was starting to worry that I'd come to my senses one day only to wake up in an unfamiliar bed.
"Open your moooouth... I'm gonna give you the candy..."
That's why I absolutely refused to yield my mouth to her. After all, a mouth wasn't just for eating—it was also where lovers kissed. If I let Lucia do whatever she wanted with my mouth now, my first kiss... well, that had already been stolen, but my second one would probably get taken without any proper resistance either—
-Chu!
...Chu? That sounded ominous. I'd had my eyes closed while thinking, but at the suspicious noise, I opened them again.
"Nom nom..."
There was Lucia, chewing on my cheek.
...Chewing? On my cheek?
"Uwaaaah!!"
I scrambled backward and touched my cheek. It was wet, as if someone had sprayed it with mist. Getting hit square in the face with 100% pure natural Lucia mist left me utterly bewildered.
"Ugh... guh..."
I was so embarrassed I couldn't even form a proper sentence.
-Clack!
At that moment, a cheerful, marble-like sound came from inside my mouth. Something had slipped in without me noticing.
'When did she put that in?'
I rolled it around with my tongue to check the flavor. It tasted like the lemon candy Lucia had snatched from me earlier. No, it was definitely that candy. She must have shoved it into my mouth while I was screaming pathetically and reeling backward.
"Slurp..."
Lucia watched me quietly rolling the candy around in my mouth, licking her lips. Since this dormitory room was originally one that Lucia used alone, there was nowhere for me to run.
'How is it possible that even after they reassigned the dormitory rooms, she still ended up with a single room...'
The dormitory positions and roommates had been reorganized by class just yesterday. Once again, Lucia had gotten a room to herself. She'd jumped for joy at the thought that she could keep bringing me over, then forcibly dragged me to her dormitory exactly as she'd wanted.
"Ugh... it's not enough..."
That was why Lucia was now grumbling that even after sucking on my cheek, it still wasn't satisfying. I shouldn't have gone along with her nonsense and followed her all the way to the dormitory. What kind of wealth and honor was I hoping to gain by letting her chew on my cheek like this?
"Just thirty seconds—no, ten seconds. Can't you let me chew on it a little longer?"
"You think that's going to happen?"
What was so great about chewing on someone else's cheek anyway? If it were Lucia's cheek, I could understand. Her face was round and cute, so it might feel nice to nibble on. But I wasn't that cute, so there wouldn't be much merit in chewing on mine...
"You're super cute, though?"
As if she'd read my mind, Lucia cut through my thoughts. Surprised that she'd figured it out, I looked at her with wide eyes. She let out a small laugh and said,
"It's simple. Normally you wouldn't even glance at a mirror, but you checked it twice just now."
...She noticed that? And how did she immediately conclude from that that I was wondering whether I was cute or not? As I stared at her in renewed admiration, Lucia winked as if answering my question.
"I've been observing you this whole time. What kind of expressions you make, what you're thinking, what you like, and so on."
"...Please restrain yourself a little. That's kind of scary."
It was a moment when I wanted to take back every bit of admiration I'd just felt. Because what she was saying sounded way too much like something a stalker would say. Constantly observing me—depending on how you heard it, that could definitely come across as creepy...
"Just looking at you makes me feel good. How could I not look?"
...She really went straight for the kill. I was still reeling from the sudden straight punch to my solar plexus when Lucia's cheerful, teasing voice reached my ears.
"Oh, you got flustered just now, didn't you? Right? Your face turned a little red."
Yeah, to be honest, I had gotten a little flustered.
"Then, since the mood is nice, can't you let me chew on your cheek? Not even ten seconds—just three seconds! Please!"
She clapped her hands together and bowed her head as if making a sincere request. I had no idea why she was so obsessed with my cheek, but I'd just heard something nice from her, so I figured three seconds wouldn't hurt. I nodded in agreement, and—
"Yahp!"
The moment she saw my permission, Lucia charged at me like a cat that had spotted a Churu treat. With terrifying speed, she collided with me.
"Uwaah!"
Hit square-on by Lucia's kinetic energy, I fell straight backward.
"Hup."
Naturally, I ended up pinned underneath her. Whether she realized it or not, from the moment I fell, Lucia had my cheek in her mouth and was happily nibbling away.
It wasn't as intense as my thighs, but my cheek was still quite stimulating in its own way.
"I-it tickles..."
If only her body was touching my cheek, maybe I could've handled it. But as I said, Lucia was straddling me. More precisely, she was lying on top of my prone body, pressing herself against me. So... how should I describe it? It felt like her maternal pouch was being squished right against me?
'Maternal pouch sounds way too crude.'
Anyway, since Lucia's chest was by no means small—in fact, it was on the larger side—the soft, squishy sensation of her flesh was transmitting directly through our clothes.
I had to ignore that stimulation somehow.
'If I mess up here, it'll be a total disaster...'
My lower abdomen was also completely pressed against her body. If I got even slightly aroused, Lucia would notice immediately. And if that happened, I'd have no excuse even if she really did pounce on me. If she had only meant to nibble on my cheek, but I started seeing her as a sexual object...
'No, the premise is already weird.'
The idea that "just" nibbling on a cheek could coexist with anything pure—
-Slide...
"Hiiik!"
Lucia's body shifted once, and her chest swept heavily across mine in a moment of crisis. But with superhuman patriotism—by mentally reciting the national anthem—I barely managed to overcome it.
'This girl's body itself is a lethal weapon...'
I couldn't let my guard down for even a second. Her personality was mischievous, her face was unnecessarily cute, her behavior was adorable, and even her body was dangerous...
'...Is that a good thing?'
Shaking off the useless thoughts, I looked at Lucia. She was still happily chewing on my cheek with a blissful expression. It had definitely been more than three seconds. Figuring it was about time to stop, I pushed her off me.
"Hiiiing..."
Lucia let out a pitiful sound as she was pushed away.
"That wasn't three seconds, Lucia."
I spoke to her in a deliberately stern tone and tried to stand up. My lower half had already risen halfway, so I couldn't stay with her any longer. I pulled my hips back, braced my legs, and was about to hurry away when I heard Lucia's voice from behind.
"Um, it's getting pretty late now... so, do you want to sleep over?"
...Huh?