I blinked once.

Twice.

Then, my eyebrows shot up all the way to Mars and I was swiftly running my gaze up and down the comic book summary and pages.

Between Two.

A story following Yasumi Konamine, a juvenile delinquent enrolled at Korura High School who finds herself possessing feelings for both Mr. Popular and the Student Council President. It's either one or the other, but none of them are willing to hand her over. Even if it means taking possession of her in more illicit ways...

Fudging fudgesticks!

Flying fuckbombs!

They were right.

I was there.

My hair, my face, my sloppy appearance—everything down to the last unnecessary detail were in these pages!

In a smutty love triangle between characters eerily resembling both Junto and Shuuhei!

What in the name of holy flippin' horseshoes was this?

"You put me as the main character in an erotica!?"

If my anger travelled like baking soda and vinegar up a paper mache volcano, these guys had moments to witness me erupt.

Junto quivered in his shoes a safe distance away, as petrified as a kid who'd found out Santa Claus wasn't real. "Y-Yonamine, it's not as bad as it looks like!"

Even my love for Junto's gorgeous face didn't suppress the urge to sock him upside the head, currently slithering to the tips of my curled fingers.

"Not as bad as it looks like?" I echoed. "I'm not-so-subtly bumping tooshes with two guys in a book that are identical to you guys! This is harassment!"

"A-actually, we haven't reached that chapter yet," Junto awkwardly pointed out.

I almost chucked the sheets to the ground. "That's not the issue!" I cried. "I'm asking why the fu—"

"Kasumi, you should be grateful," Shuuhei declared, his puff of haughtiness not deflating like Junto's. "This is our most popular series. And like Junto said, the fun has yet to come."

"How in the—" I halted myself from exploding into curses, poking my finger into the pages. "When the hell did you start this?"

Both males paused to share a look.

"Three months ago," they simultaneously answered, turning back to me. "When you transferred here."

"Forget it!" I shook my head vigorously. I already hated Shuuhei's ass and this just made it worse! "I-I am not taking this!" I snapped. "Discontinue this now! Take every book off the market and—"

"It's our own creation," Shuuhei reasoned, simply.

"And why the hell should I accept a book written about your sickening fantasies about me?" I exclaimed. "I'll sue!"

My attitude popped a nerve in Shuuhei as well. "Why must your attitude be so uncouth all the time? I always tell you to respect your master."

"You. Are. Not. My. Master!" I hissed, grounding my teeth. "And you do not belong in a love triangle with me, no less! I'm perfectly fine with Upperclassman Anzai alone!"

Forget the books and movies, Junto blushed fifty shades of red, and I not-so-discreetly did so as well.

"N-not that I condone you for this!" I quickly added.

"I-I..." Junto stuttered, his eyes pressed shut, "I'm sorry, Yonamine. I really don't see you in that kind of that way. I sincerely want to treasure you, and do innocent boyfriend-like things like cuddling and making sure you're always smiling as cutely as ever— i-i-if you want me to, of course!"

"W-w-wait! You want to be my boyfriend?"

Holy shiznuts, this was embarrassing! And too, too mortifying! I ducked my head. Did I really just ask that?

I was given the reassurance I needed because Junto gasped and nearly lost his footing over thin air. "I-I-I'm sorry!" he said, looking anywhere but me. "Of course not! You can reprimand me for ever jumping to conclusions!"

"N-no, I mean"—I was a pathetic, stuttering mess also—"I wouldn't particularly mind! I-It's just a little..."

Shuuhei slammed his arm past my head. His hand made frightening contact with the wall behind me. My heart stopped in my chest, and I was stuck gawking for a good while.

"You are not allowed to be his girlfriend."

My surprise reverted into immediate anger. "And why is that? Do you want to be his instead?"

Shuuhei flushed to the tips of his ears, and Junto had gone slack-jawed.

"Shuuhei?" He paused, averting his gaze. "I'm sorry, I didn't realize you—"

"You be quiet!" he enunciated, frustration building up on his face. He scowled, at me this time. "I'm telling you that as long as I'm around, I'm not giving you to him."

"So I can continue to be abused by your ass?" I responded. "Um, no fucking thank you."

Shuuhei bared his clenched teeth. "You..."

"Upperclassman Anzai is a sweetheart anyway," I went on. "I bet you're the one that tainted him and talked him into this revolting fetish of yours!"

"That isn't what's important. He's always been my partner in crime," Shuuhei snapped. "He wrote all those stories himself while I merely illustrated."

I folded my arms over my chest, withholding eye-contact. "He's still a better alternative. Go die in a hole, you scumbag."

Shuuhei faltered at my threat. A small twinkle fixed itself on his countenance, catching my confusion. I quirked an eyebrow, but he managed to regain his earlier animosity.

"You are not to obey anyone other than me," he stated firmly.

I jutted my chin. "I will."

"Kasumi," he hissed.

"'Kasumi,' 'Kasumi'... Is that all you can say? Get it through your damn head that I'm not your deceased bird!" I huffed. "You're always treating me like I'm your possession. Like you have feelings for me or something."

In a thundering clash, Shuuhei's fist once again collided with the wall. "If you understand that why are you throwing yourself all over another guy?"

My body stilled in place.

Wait... what?

If my eyesight wasn't playing a trick on me, colour promptly appeared on Shuuhei's cheeks. A blush.

Shuuhei Okabe—the human being said to never lose his cool—had reduced to a blushing, stammering mess.

"I-I mean..." He coughed into his fist for emphasis. "I have mixed feelings for you because of this punishment," he hurried on. "Since you're my pet."

My astonishment settled as my expression fell to a state of impassiveness.

Obviously that was what he meant. What else could it refer to?

"Now," he said, narrowing his eyes. "Address me as 'Master.'"

"No!" I pushed him away with a forceful shove. "Do you know how I badly want to reciprocate that messed up ideology of yours so you can understand just how much of an asshole you really are?"

Shuuhei surrendered a step to which I prowled towards him. I shook off the collar I'd worn over my upper arm, waving it before his eyes.

"How about if I went around telling you to call me 'Master', giving you this damn collar and leading you around on a leash or whipping and telling you to obey me? How would that nightmare be for you? Huh?"

I slipped the collar I'd received from Wateru between his fingers, huffing and puffing his petty wall of cockiness down. Shuuhei was silent for a good while, his head hung. He fiddled with the collar, and his faint whisper that came next only managed to graze my ears.

"...Bliss on earth."

"Huh?" I asked, urging him to speak louder.

"I'd like that so damn much."

I was hit with a softball to the face. There was the initial jolt of confusion, and the spiralling sight of Shuuhei's now awestruck countenance. Like a newfound puppy, he'd perked with an air of giddiness, and dropped down to one knee, scooping up my hand.

"Screw acting like a sadist!" he shouted, only adding to the entire dreariness of this all. "You don't know how much I've wished for you to give me a collar and boss me around! How much I've dreamed for you to punish me for ever acting so rudely towards you! I beg of you, Master—hit me, smack me, yell at me, pleasure me as you will! Do with me whatever you please! This body of mine belongs to you and only you!"

Even as a minute droned on, I couldn't feel any sensation in my extremities. The thudding of my heartbeat had slowed considerably as well.

Was he shitting me? He had to be. Or was this a dream? I mean, this was Shuuhei I was talking about. The sadist who'd made my life a living hell since the first day we interacted. There was no way...

"Master Kasumi." Shuuhei crawled forward with clasped hands. "You are absolutely, astoundingly gorgeous, my holy saint whom I adore with all my heart!"

"Fucking shit biscuits!" I hollered in fear, fumbling over my feet. He was complimenting me! He said he adored me!

"—and those inappropriate words you use to address nobody else but me... There's never been one moment I haven't desired to cave beneath your feet and treat you like the queen you are," Shuuhei continued to gush, the sparkles surrounding him not dwindling in the slightest. He reached into his pocket, revealing a coil of rope. "I do not deserve to gaze into those amazing eyes of disgust from you. For all those moments I've acted out of line, please do torture me for my incompetence."

What in the name of crapping bricks was going on? Shuuhei Okabe, the devil I'd deemed was the overruling sadist of the school was on his knees, with my collar and a nightmarish rope in possession. Not to mention awed stars dancing within his eyes.

Was this an act, or had he been faking this whole sadist act this entire time in order to implement that discipline on me?

"For submission and dominance again?" My ears perked at Juuna's choice of words—way back at the beginning of this whole discipline, master-pet ordeal. "Obviously you can't control her, Shuuhei. As long as Kasumi here is hard-bitten you'll forever be butting heads until one of you submits. Like you for instance. Why are you acting so oppressing anyway? We all know you're a—"

—masochist. Was that what Juuna was going to say that day?

Crap.

Crappity crap.

This was worse than Sunday and Junto.

Shuuhei Okabe was actually a motherflippin' masochist who drew illicit mangas, and apparently 'adored' me. How was I supposed to take this all in? This oddly repulsing yet shocking truth.

He was succumbing to me. For once, I had power over this oppressing figure that had been bothering me for such a long time; since my admittance to this painful sentence.

I had dominance over the prince of the school—the leader of the Student Council.

Hold on. Was I was seriously enjoying this?

"Holy flying horsefucks," I gasped.

I was loving the hell out of it!