Sleeping Beauty and the Tsundere

Shigure-san was even more tired than usual today.
She was rolling around on the bed, just lying there staring at her phone.
The chest of her mysterious sweatshirt — printed with chibi versions of salmon roe and prawn sushi — had bunched into wrinkles.
Shigure-san spending a Saturday afternoon in idle laziness was quite a rare sight.
Rare. Rare Shigure-san.
Bored, I sat on the rug and watched her.
Looking more carefully, Shigure-san’s expressions were quite varied. She’d soften her lips into a quiet smile, then furrow her brow and purse them, and then just as I thought that, she’d go still with eyes focused somewhere far away, and silently well up with tears.
Haa, Shigure-san breathed out.
I slipped my voice into the gap.

“What have you been doing this whole time?”

“Hm? Oh, yeah. Reading a web novel.”

A novel.

“Huh…… Shigure-san, you read novels?”

“Sometimes. Don’t you, Ibara?”

“Not really.”

A lie. The truth is I never read them at all.
During morning reading period, my standard move was to open the language arts textbook and gaze vacantly out the window. Books that are nothing but words make me sleepy just looking at them.

“What kind of books do you read?”

“Hmm, fantasy? Stories with witches in them.”

“Ooh.”

I said that, but no follow-up came to me.
It’s not like we’re the kind of pair that frets over finding conversation anymore, but even I think — I should probably say something.

“Is it good?”

“I like it. The main character is cute.”

Oh?

“What kind of girl?”

“She’s stubborn and cheeky, but she’s actually hardworking, and the way she acts prickly toward the person she likes is adorable.”

“Shigure-san, do you like tsunderes?”

“Hm, do I? Hmm…… now that you mention it, maybe. Girls who act prickly are cute, aren’t they.”

“Hmph.”

I felt a little unsettled by that.
Not to brag, but I am not prickly in the slightest. My default setting is melted and gooey, like an over-boiled mochi.
I got to my feet in a decisive manner, folded my arms, and turned my nose up to one side.

“It’s not like I even like Shigure-san or anything!”

“What’s gotten into you all of a sudden?”

She looked completely blank.
And for the record, I, the one who’d said it, was the one taking damage. I feel sorry for lying. I like Shigure-san so much.
Lying really is a double-edged sword. Tsunderes are incredible. Telling the person you love that you hate them — isn’t that just genuinely painful?

“I don’t think tsundere suits me.”

“Ah, yeah. Probably not…… why did you suddenly……?”

It’s obvious, isn’t it.

“Because Shigure-san isn’t paying attention to me.”

“Huh.”

“It’s a precious day off, so pay more attention to me. Look at me instead of some novel.”

I know I’m being completely unreasonable. But I’d hit my limit.
I put my knee on the edge of the bed and dove at Shigure-san like I was collapsing into her.

“Whoa.”

Shigure-san caught me.
The feel of the sheets, and Shigure-san’s scent. Sweet and settling, my very favorite scent in the world.

“Honestly, Ibara……”

“Eheheh~”

I buried my face in her soft chest and looked up at the shape of her chin and nose. Shigure-san’s cheeks tinged faintly pink. Aha, she’s embarrassed.

“D-don’t look at me from below.”

“You look wonderful from every angle.”

“No I don’t.”

She covered her mouth with her hand and turned her face away.
I moved my body like a snake winding forward, drawing closer and closer to Shigure-san’s face. Until the distance was close enough to count her lashes, to hear her breathing.
And then the distance became zero.
Savoring the sweet sensation to the fullest, I gazed at her phone lying on the sheets and spoke to the novel’s protagonist in my heart.

——Instead of acting prickly all the time, you should try being honest once in a while.

Or something like that.