「That's!…」

Straf exclaims, now pointing his finger at Nona, but his sentence trails off after just one word. A look of consternation briefly flashes on his face.

《…Actually, if not for the hammer, I'd have a hard time turning her down now- No! Banish that thought! I'm building a harem, not being a manslut!》

He shakes his head violently, shrugging the idea of giving in off.

「Say, Straf…」

Nona utters out with her head lowered, taking a single step forward. With a tight-lipped, concerned grimace, Straf mirrors her move and recoils a step back.

「…Am I just ugly? Is that it? I got a few compliments here and there, but I don't know if it was just people being nice…」

She asks, tilting her head a little. She looks deep into Straf's eyes, fluttering her eyelashes with a little pout to her lips.

「I… Wouldn't say.」

Straf cautiously replies, carefully picking his words to avoid either winding her up, or frustrating her. As she stands in place and allows him some reprieve, he takes a longer look at her face.

Indeed, while Nona may not be a stunning beauty, it's easy to see why she would receive compliments. Her round, big, innocent eyes stare at Straf with a longing look in them. Her full lips are currently downturned into a frowny pout.

Her tanned, olive skin is free from blemishes. Her brown neck-long hair, while relatively short, is voluminous and like a woolly sheep, almost inviting him to ruffle it. She is, simply put, conventionally attractive and cute.

「Is it because you think they are too small?…」

Nona asks, and grips one of her breasts through her uniform jacket, easily holding the hammer in one hand.

「…They might look small, but that's because of the clothes! They're bigger than you think! I can show you!」

With her eyes snapping wide open, she desperately bargains, taking another step forward. Straf takes another step back, slowly being driven into a corner by her.

「No, that's not the problem…」

《But, uh, I wouldn't mind…》

Straf calmly replies, pointing his finger at her, trying to placate her a little.

「…Or do you think I'd be boring?」

Nona pitifully asks, and lowers the hammerhead to the floor with a thick clunk when her arms slump. Her brows furrow as she stares at Straf with her glowing puppy eyes.

「…I might not have hands on experience, but… But I'm friends with some girls from the red light district back in Ossen! We talk about stuff sometimes!」

She says, attempting to smile at Straf, but it comes out wrong. A grin that may be called awkward at best, or vile at worst appears on her face.

Crrk.

She takes another step with her manic eyes wide open, dragging the hammer behind her along the floor a little. Straf likewise backs away into the corner.

「We talk a lot, actually! They told me a bunch of stuff about men, so while I don't have experience, I have a lot of know-how! And I learn new stuff quick! It'll be fun, you'll see!」

Madly gesturing with her free arm, Nona adds, and takes another step towards Straf. He has no more space to retreat, and so the distance between them narrows a little.

「Look, Nona!…」

Straf calls out, shoving his open palm towards her as if to command her to stop like a traffic officer at an intersection. She inquisitively tilts her head, staring at him with crazed, glowing eyes.

「…It's not about your looks, or your body, or your lack of experience, or most of the things you want to do to me. The problem lies with your personality…」

He cautiously explains, pointing at her confused face.

「…To be specific, it lies with a half of your personality. I don't know which of your parents was a sex pest, but I know that you're a walking-talking advertisement for condoms of all brands!」

Straf exclaims, and clenches his teeth with a wide-eyed, tight-lipped nervous grimace on his face.

「…What's a condom?」

Nona innocently asks, tilting her hatted head with genuine confusion on her face.

「…That's exactly the type of line I'd expect from you- Oh shit!」

He quips back, but an abrupt hammer swing interrupts him, forcing him to dodge for his knees' well-being.

SMASH!!

Straf leaps and deftly rolls to his feet, and Nona shatters another piece of furniture into splinters behind him after a near-miss. She yanks her sledgehammer out, and a wardrobe comes crashing down onto the ground.

THUD!

「Ahahaha! Come on, Straf. Stop it already!」

She calls on Straf, stepping over the wrecked cabinet with a strained creak of its hard wood as it struggles to hold the weight of the hammer in her hands.

「Right back at you! No means no! Not「Break my legs and we'll see!」you psycho!」

Straf shouts back, skittering sideways like a crab. He glances at the door, then back Nona's grinning face.

He breaks into a mad dash for the door, reaching for the distant door handle. An incoming hammerhead swinging for his face shatters his plan of escaping.

FWOOSH!

「Gah!」

Straf cries out as he bends his knees and back, as if playing limbo. The hammer swings just a hair's breadth above his grimacing face, and flies wild. He rolls like a barrel along the floor towards the desk.

「What the fuck!? Are you trying to rape me, or kill me!? Make up your mind and pick one!」

Lifting himself by the desk's help, he screams at Nona as she maneuvers between him and the door.

「Ahahaha… Sorry, I panicked a little!」

She giggles softly in response, holding the hammer behind her back again with a grin, and leans onto the door with it. She apologizes, and sticks her tongue out with a little wink.

Slam!

「Alright! Fine! Fuck! I'll admit it!…」

Straf slams his hand on the desk, and stands up to his feet.

「…You have a very specific allure, and it's not because you're a landmine!」

「Landmine?…」

Nona tilts her head, furrowing her brows in confusion as he shouts, pointing his finger at her face.

「Honestly, it's taking a serious effort to stay true to my core, and not just dive head-first into this contrived wish fulfillment shit!」

He continues, still shouting away. Nona tilts her other way, and smirks a little, apparently pleased by Straf's words.

「I can resist my urges, and I am a better man for it! Impulses don't control me! I am the master here!」

Straf proudly declares, pressing his thumb into his chest again. He then strikes a victorious pose with his fists on his hips, and a scowl on his face.

Nona begins giggling softly. She bends forward and lowers her hatted head a little, laughing with a greatly amused grin on her face, her grin then shifts into a different expression.

「Ahahahahaha… So you're saying you're fighting back an urge, Straf?」

She calms down, and lets out an amused sigh. Nona then bites her lower lip, and asks with a sultry gaze.

「…Yeah. I know the fact I'm not doing it would piss some people off, but I hope at least one person would praise me for staying true to myself. That would make the tightness in my pants worth it.」

Straf nods, and calmly explains with an awkward, tight-lipped grimace. Smiling, her glowing amber eyes drift down from his face down to his groin, and her bottom lip slips out of the grasp her teeth.

「Ahahaha… So you'd do me after all, Straf?」

Nona giggles softly, and asks with a greatly pleased smile.

「In a vacuum, if we would take everything out of context… Probably.」

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

He replies, and shrugs.

「Hmmm… Why don't you let me help you release that pressure?」

She asks with a gently tilted head, and takes a step away from the door. Her smile slowly transforms into a grin. Straf wordlessly lifts his index finger, but says nothing.

「You said you're the master here… I can be your slave, Straf. Would you like that?」

She takes another, slow, swaying step, unabashedly looking Straf in his eyes.

「…Nona, you are doing the opposite of helping.」

He declares, and takes a step away from her. She takes another step, and swings the hammer out to her front again, causing Straf's face to gain a nervous grimace once more.

Clunk.

She sets the hammerhead down in front of her feet, and lowers herself to her knees by its handle. Straf furrows his brows in confusion, but continues to warily watch her like a hawk.

「Why don't I serve you right now, Straf? I told you, you can do anything to me. So… What is your desire, master?」

She asks with an impish grin, submissively kneeling a few steps away from Straf.

《Fffuuuckkkk.》

With his teeth clenched and his fists balled into fists, Straf's eyes snap aside with his lips powerfully pressed together. He lets out a puff of air out of his nose.

「…Doesn't it hurt, master? You can release all that pressure on me. On my face…」

Nona says, as Straf steals a quick glance at her face. Her uncanny orange eyes are locked onto him, with a steamy, half-lidded look as she's resting her face on the back of one of her palms.

「…Or in my mouth.」

She adds, and opens her mouth, sticking her tongue out a little. Strands of saliva stretch from the roof of her mouth to her tongue, as she lets Straf take a good look at her throat in the moonlight.

《Lia… If only you knew the things I endure for your first girl rights…》

Straf thinks, forcibly pulling his gaze away from Nona as his face snaps to the side. His eyes bulge, and his pupils jitter as his face is twisted into a pained scowl.

He tries to sneak a quick glance at Nona again, and sees her lunging at him with her hammer swinging for his shins.

Crack!

Her swing once again narrowly misses Straf, sending him sprawling as he jumps backwards. The desk's legs takes a hit in his stead, and the frail legs snap like twigs, collapsing it.

「Ahahahaha!」

「Gah!」

Straf screams out, falling on his back from a barely evaded blow. He gasps for air rapidly, and skitters away from Nona on the ground.

「You tried to distract me! You tried to distract me, but it won't work on me! I'm invincible!」

He declares with a nervous grin, pointing at Nona and panting heavily as she cackles. She recovers from her swing, and puts the heavy hammer on her shoulder.

She takes a few steps towards Straf, causing him to skitter away further across the wrecked room and its debris scattered around the floor. His back bumps into the wardrobe.

「…Take off your pants.」

Nona demands, and they both stare at each other, breathing heavily.

「…How about a coffee first!? Or a dinner date!? I- I'm not easy! I have standards, too! I haven't even met your parents!… But you almost made me!」

He shouts at her as she steps closer, still holding the hammer on her shoulder.

「Straf, why don't you stop acting shy? It's okay to do things that feel good, sometimes… And I'll make you feel really good. Promise.」

Nona says, towering over Straf, adjusting her grip on the handle.

「…I was at a dinner date with Lia, and we didn't do anything! Why do you have to be so hasty!? Just wait your tur- Gyah!」

SMASH!

Straf rolls out of the way of an overhead blow coming for his head, and skitters away, shooting up to his feet as soon as he clears some distance.

「You are actually trying to kill me!」

Nona pulls the hammer out of the wardrobe, ripping it apart further. She glances at Straf with a fell face, but it quickly turns into a smile.

「Whoops! Didn't mean to do that! Tehee!」

She remarks with a cheery tone, and slowly walks towards Straf through the ruined room.

「Just stop resisting. If I have to break your arms, too, it won't be any fun…」

Nona says with an expressionless face, and lowers her hammer to her side. After a brief moment of uneasy silence, she lunges at Straf with her arms spread, focused on his waist.

Straf quickly reacts by intercepting her torso with his hands, and gently pushes her away with his fingertips.

Thud!

She flies across the room, and impacts quite possibly the room's last remaining piece of undamaged furniture. Her back slams into a mostly-empty bookshelf with a loud, meaty thud.

Her peaked cap drops onto the floor with a sad fwap, and the bookshelf's scarce contents begin falling down like a waterfall.

Thudthudthudthudthud!

Thwack!

「Ow!…」

Nona yelps in pain as a thick book hits right in the head, and drops beside her with a random page open.

「Aargh! This is the fucking worst! If your parents were normal, you would be normal too! And my knees wouldn't be in a fucking jeopardy right now!」

Straf exclaims in frustration, gripping onto the sides of his head.

「I don't think it's the fault of my parents, Straf. I'm certain they were just two normal, regular humans that loved each other until death parted them…」

Nona says, still sitting on the ground. She takes her peaked cap in hand, and gently dusts it off with a somber face. She puts her hat back on her fluffy head, and turns her glowing eyes to Straf.

「…I think it's just my head that is messed up. He he…」

She glumly says, and shrugs. She then smiles at Straf with tilted head, and a quiet, brief chuckle, but her face briefly winces in pain, and her amber eyes are remarkably sullen despite her smiling mouth.

Straf freezes, looking at her smiling, pained face with a troubled expression. She abruptly stands up, gripping her hammer into both of her hands.

「Straf, I'm not going to leave empty-handed. I never do.」

Nona ominously declares, and steps over the books around her feet. Straf glances at the door again, but Nona rushes to the center of the room before he can even take a step.

「Haah… Haaaa… Straf… Come on, let's just do it…」

Breathing heavily, she pleads with a wide grin, standing in a combat stance with her legs slightly spread, ready to react to any move.

《Fuuuuck… How do I get out of this situation with my virginity and my legs intact!?》

Straf thinks, rapidly looking around at random items and debris in the room with his teeth powerfully clenched.

「Ah.」

Straf's eyes widen, seemingly coming across a realization.

「Why are you like this, Straf? Is she special to you? Why am I not?-」

「See! I told you a maid will walk in!」

Straf interrupts her with a shout, pointing aside. Her brows furrow, and she looks at the closed door.

「Sucker! That guy was right! You're really are as sharp as a bag of bricks!」

He shouts, and dashes for the window while Nona is distracted. She rushes in, but looks at him with a confused expression on her face.

「Straf, there's no way out of here. If you stop fighting me, I won't hurt you, I promise.」

Nona says, smiling. Straf smugly grins back at her, and opens the windows, throwing them ajar.

《Please fucking work, please fucking work, please fucking work, please fucking work…》

Straf repeats in his mind over and over, and stomps his boot on the window frame.

「Eh? Straf, what are you-?」

She tilts her head with her brows furrowed, and he leaps out, slyly grinning. Her glowing eyes widen in shock, and she lets out a stunned gasp.

「Did I just make him-!?」

Her heart sinks, and Nona exclaims in horror. She rushes up to the window, gulps, and peeks out.

Below, on the ground, Straf is running towards the side of the palace.

He peeks over his shoulder up at the window, and his eyes appear like spotlights in the moonlight. Nona sighs with great relief.

Straf looks at her face with a immensely troubled scowl, like a raccoon that was just caught rummaging through a trash can well into the night. He breaks out into a sprint.

He reaches a door and a wall covered by flowering vines. He opens it, takes one more glance at Nona as she peers out of the window, and disappears through the doorway.

She sighs again, this time with a hint of disappointment to it. Nona steps away from the window, and heads for the door.

Cla-clack.

It swings open. Multiple red-plumed palace guards warily look inside, and a concerned maid peeks over their shoulders.

「…What happened here? Why is the room in ruins!?」

The guard holding the door asks demandingly.

「…There was a rat. I tried to kill it.」

Nona explains, showing her hammer to the guard, and places the hammerhead on the floor with a clunk. The guards all glance at each other.

「…You destroyed the room because of a rat?」

He asks, completely stunned by her reply.

「Tehee…」

Nona lets go of the hammer, lightly slaps the top of her head with her fingers, and innocently sticks her tongue out…