Morning already. The Sun's rays peeking out through the blinds are the first thing to greet me, as the birds' chirps soon follow. Despite it being summer, I find the air in my room to often be quite cold in the mornings, making me have to snuggle up under the covers with all my might. Hugging the pillow as tightly as possible to extract as much of the heat from it as I can, I noticed an odd firmness to it. What could it be? The texture is silky, yet the material underneath is like... skin?

"You gonna stop fondling me now?" Lem sighed unamusedly after I finally noticed him.

"Gah!? S-Sorr... No, wait! Why're you in my bed!?" I threatened, "Don't tell me you were actually gonna try something? I'm gonna call dad and-!"

"Zip it!" He calmly got out of my bed, "And listen to my side of the story."

"Hm..." I ultimately agreed to hear him out at least, "Okay, but if the story is too ridiculous, I won't believe it for a second."

"Believe it or not, I don't care cause it's the truth." He sighed, "I woke up early today because your dad told me we had to work. That's when he told me to go wake you up so that your lazy ass wouldn't sleep through the entire day."

"Dad did?" I tilted my head, "And you went to wake me up even though I specifically told you never to enter my room?"

"I told him that too, but he just said he didn't care and that I'll get a bonus on my pay if I go." He shrugged, "At that point, there isn't a single thing that'd deter me from waking you up."

"I see." I grunted, "And you opted to do so by sneaking into my bed while I was vulnerable."

"Wrong again, geez you never listen..." He complained, "I creaked open the door and gently shook you up, but you were sleeping like a log."

"Rude! How can you even say that to a girl?!"

"After I realized gentle shaking wouldn't work, I kept going stronger and stronger, but you were still out like a light." He shrugged, "That's when this damned vacuum dog thing your dad gifted your mother snuck up on and scared the shit out of me."

Wow, he's right, this thing is actually in my room. Roomba, I think we named it? How did it climb to the second floor, though? Scary! I'd be scared too!

"B-But that still doesn't explain..."

"After it made me jump like a motherfucker, I tried running away, but little missy here seems to have quite the strong grip strength when she's asleep, so you grappled me and pulled me into the bed. That's when you had your whole episode of waking up and fondling my nipples."

"Those were nipples!?" I blushed, "Why didn't you say anything sooner?"

"Please do enlighten me." He threw both hands in the air, "What could I have possibly said or done after all that pushing and pulling failed that would have helped the situation in that moment?"

A-Ah, I guess that's fair... But damn, am I really that heavy of a sleeper? And a strong one at that... Wait, is that why Meil rubs his neck as if he's in pain every time we sleep in the same bed together? Am... Am I actually a pro wrestler in bed? Wait no, scratch that, that sounds like something uncle Ed would say, and he definitely wouldn't mean it literally like I do...

"In any case—Congratulations, you woke me up." I tried shooing him away, "Time to go to work now."

"Congratulations on waking up yourself, missy." He snarkily replied, "I was sure you were cursed to an eternal slumber with how much my plans failed."

"Just get out of my room, geez!" I ordered, "You're breaking a very important rule we set up, y'know!?"

"Yeah, you're right." He quickly outmaneuvered me and ran back inside my room, "So if it's already broken, why not use the situation to check things out in full?"

"Hey! What kind of just the tip logic is that!?"

"J-Just the-!? How the hell do you know that but don't know what a condom is!?" He got flustered.

"Eh?" I raised an Eyebrow, "Uncle Ed says it all the time, what's it got to do with condoms?"

"Don't say it from now on, geez..." He clutched his chest.

"Okay? But regarding the other thing..." I looked down to not have to look at him directly, "I know what a condom is, obviously, but I never saw it in real life, so..."

"Pheh, so your first thought was candy?" He snickered and jeered, "Seriously, how the hell do you mess up that badly?"

"It was an honest mistake, besides!" I caught myself, "B-Besides, you still accepted it, so..."

Damn, I never intended to bring this up again, but here we are... Right, there's just no way he was actually going to throw it away, right? He had to have just used that excuse to trick my parents, but looking back—The way he was talking to me, the way he grabbed my hand, and his Eyes... None of that looked like he was just trying to get rid of it. In other words, umm, I think it's that...

"Whoa there, someone's being a bit too narcissistic." He leaned on the bookshelf in my room, yawning, "Didn't I tell you guys already what I was thinking in that moment? I definitely wasn't planning on throwing away my V-card on you."

Eh? What's with that tone at the end when he said "you"?

"And where's all this high and mightiness coming from, huh?" I admittedly got a wee bit pissed off at that comment, "Just to set it straight, I wouldn't ever do YOU, not the other way around."

"You saying you're out of my league?" He shot back.

"Tenfold."

"You little-!"

And just like that, the bickering started. Back and forth, back and forth, but neither of us were gonna give in. Seriously, what the hell does this dope think he looks like? Prince Charming? Seriously, with that ginger/Brown colored hair and his rough looking freckly skin, I'd have taken him to be from the streets, but apparently this is just how he looks like even when well-groomed! And this idiot thinks HE'S out of MY league!? Phah, don't make me laugh! Oh wait, you already did!

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"You're so short you still can't reach the cookie jar!" I yelled.

"You're so annoying that the mosquitoes consider you their queen!"

"Well at least I'm part-royalty!" I smugly replied, "After all, my godfather is the king of Cardina!"

"That doesn't make you royalty, dipass! That just means your family is mooching off of his money!"

"So what!? You're mooching off of ours, so we're even!" I pouted, "Your skin's so full of freckles it might as well be a minefield!"

"...Hey." He got deathly quiet all of a sudden, "You're taking it way too far now."

"Oh, hit a nerve, did I?" I continued to jeer, but stopped when he pulled up his shirt to reveal his chest, "A-Ah, what...?"

"I knew you were low, but making fun of a guy's scars?" He pouted, "That's just... That's low."

Wait, scars? But while I was accidentally feeling him up under the covers, I thought they were... Wait, I was expecting maybe pimples or acne, but seriously? Why does he have so many scars? It's like dad's arms, but on his chest...? Hell, Meil got whipped in the prison, and it doesn't look like this, so...

"Burn marks." He explained quietly, so that no one could hear him, "From the time your dad burnt down our base."

"Lem..." I thought about approaching him, but instead took a step back, "I'm sorry, I..."

"I didn't show this to you just so you could feel sorry." He pulled his shirt down before jeering, "It's to show you that even the thing you thought was disgusting about me was actually something really cool! Hahaha!"

"Eh? Wait, you...!"

"Suck it! I won this, and you know it!" He celebrated on and on, "Face it, Nel! No matter how you look at it, there's just no feasible way you'd be good enough for someone like me!"

This twerp...! He's getting cocky just because I made a flub and thought to mock a part of him I wasn't entirely sure of. But still, it's a fact that he got that from dad's pyromaniac stunt all those years ago, which... matters not because he's gloating about it! Damn, I gotta knock him down a peg or two or he's gonna...!

"Ah, by the way." He pointed to the wall behind me, "What's that hung up in a picture frame above your bed? Oh wait, don't tell me it's...!"

"Shut up!" I lunged at him, "What the hell's your problem!? Get out of my room already!"

"Hahaha, I'm just asking, come on!" His loud guffaws filled the room, "Was that what you wanted to hide from me all this time? Meil's framed hair strand? Was that the big bad?"

"Tch, the hell do you know!?" I shouted, "Meil's everything to me! A beautiful, smart, elegant and tactful prince! He's everything you're not and more! So what if I like him, you also liked Kiara before!"

"Cheh, yeah, but I never stole a piece of her hair and hung it up on my wall." He snickered, "Weirdo."

"What's your deal!?" I finally snapped, "You entered my room and woke me up, good job! Now go away, you did everything you were told to, so what the hell do you want from me now!?"

"Just waiting to hear you say it—I'm the one out of your league." He stood firmly in front of me, laughing to himself, "Honestly, this whole debate is stupid as is, and I would have been fine with just accepting defeat if it was looks alone, but you went above and beyond to try and shame me, which only ended up resulting in the pie being thrown at your face instead. After seeing this spectacle in full, I don't think a single person in the world would allow you to win this little argument."

"But I'm...!" I defaulted to just shouting angry nonsense, "I'm cuter!"

"Okay? It'd be weird if I was the cuter one out of the two of us."

"I'm smarter!"

"They do say girls generally have better brains than guys, yes."

"Y...!" I stuttered for a second, "You're definitely tiny down there!"

There, the ultimate trick against overconfident men! It's a bit low, but it's a surefire hit! Just hit them where they're weak, or rather, where they're insecure, and the win is yours! I've read in one of the books in the Library of a Thousand Passages that most guys like him fold completely when you mention their size! So there, try and think of a comeback for that one!

"Don't knock it 'til you've tried it." He even prepared for that one as well.

"Graaahhhhh...! Well fine!" I yelled in the heat of the moment, "Maybe I will!"

"...Huh?"

Ohh boy, not good. I said something I really shouldn't have. Well, it'll be fine. I just gotta double down and scare him off. Should be simple, right?

"Midnight, my room! One round and I'll prove it!" I blurted out, "You still have that condom, right!?"

"Wuh-? I-I mean, I do, but Nel...?"

Wait, you do? What the hell, you should've thrown that out ages ago! Goddammit, now I can't back down under the excuse of us not having it! Crap, I'm in way too deep, I'll only end up looking stupid if I stop now!

"No buts!" I shoved him out of the room, "That is unless, I'm actually right! I am, aren't I? Ha-ha, tiny wiener~!"

"Wait, Nel?!" He whimpered as I shut the door in his face, "Calm down, let's talk about-!"

Slam! Ahhhh...Finally, inner peace. My room's never felt so calm before... Ughhhhh, whyyyyy'd I doooo thaaaat~? Crap, I totally messed up and got caught up in the flow! He definitely thinks I'm a damned horny succubus now, and honestly, who could blame him!? God, what the hell is wrong with me, just making a random bet like that? Is... Is he gonna tell my parents? That'd be in line with how he'd usually act, but... I gotta know, I gotta know if he was actually telling the truth that time. Because if he was really just going to throw it out, then he would've done so by now, yet he still has it. I don't mind even getting into a ton of trouble because of this if it means outing him! It's a simple test—If he really didn't want to do it with me then, then he just won't show up tonight! Yeah, now I just have to wait until midnight! ...Ohhh, but if he does show up...!!