In the end, Leticia's showdown turned into a farce; since she couldn't break free from Melanie's embrace, the long speech she'd given earlier instantly lost all credibility.
"Seriously... it's frustrating to the point of exploding," Leticia muttered to herself, gnashing her teeth.
Her final request was used to make Melanie stop bothering her for the rest of the day, so she could finally calm down and properly reflect on what had just happened.
Provided, of course, that she wasn't playing online with the Captain.
"What's wrong? You sound a bit unhappy, Qianqian?" The Captain's voice was as pleasant as ever, though it felt slightly familiar to Leticia.
The voice of that grey-haired girl she had beaten up seemed quite similar to the Captain's.
Could it be... no, no, no, impossible. With a personality as similar to her own as the Captain's, why would she ever bother being a hero?
The Captain should be a shut-in who loves staying at home, very beautiful, and acts perfectly in front of others... just like in some manga.
Although Leticia knew this was pure daydreaming, people always need to have hope. Who knows, maybe the Captain really was such a perfect girl?
"It's nothing, just a conflict with someone," Leticia muttered, propping up her cheek.
The Captain pondered for a moment and asked, "With York Rose?"
She didn't actually know much about Leticia's social circle, but from the last time they played online with the York sisters, she had deduced that Leticia was a shut-in with basically zero social activity.
The only person she could have a conflict with seemed to be York Rose.
As for Leticia, the Captain didn't really believe Leticia would be petty enough to get angry at a younger girl.
And York Rose was very likely. After all, according to York Rose herself, she had a small conflict with Leticia in the past, which had caused Leticia to hold a grudge against her even now.
"Who else? I clearly told her not to bother me, but she still does whatever she wants. Do I not have any dignity? Coming and going as she pleases, does she think my house is a public restroom?" Leticia complained about Melanie like a rapid-fire cannon, the thick resentment in her voice almost making the Captain envision a mass of pitch-black gloom.
"Uh, Qianqian, did something happen between you and York Rose before?" the Captain asked cautiously.
She didn't actually know what had happened between Leticia and Melanie; she only knew that the incident made Leticia hate Melanie, yet Melanie didn't seem to feel much about it.
"We used to have a very bad relationship, the really bad kind, not fake bad. For example, the kind where I wanted to kill her and she wanted to kill me too."
"Later, I transferred schools while she stayed at the old one. I thought we'd never cross paths again, but then she suddenly showed up a few days ago."
"It would have been fine if she just showed up, but for some reason, she seems to have latched onto me, running over here every day. It's so annoying."
"Captain, what do you think I should do?"
The Captain expressed that she was a complete relationship novice and couldn't understand the emotional issues between these two little geniuses at all.
No, wait, Leticia's description could easily be misinterpreted, couldn't it?
What does "the relationship used to be very bad" mean?
If the relationship was that bad, could you two be like this now?
"Qianqian, tell me the truth, do you actually hate York Rose or not?"
"Of course I..."
"Don't be a tsundere right now; I want to hear the real answer." The Captain interrupted Leticia, knowing exactly what words were about to come out of her mouth.
"I..." Leticia fell silent. She remembered Melanie's embrace that made her lose all resistance. In fact, she didn't hate Melanie that much.
"Actually, you don't hate her that much, do you?" The Captain chuckled. This girl, Qianqian, was truly a textbook example of a major tsundere.
She claimed to hate York Rose so much, but in reality, she probably liked her a lot. This girl was just stubborn and couldn't bring herself to admit it.
In today's world, tsunderes have no future. While others are already making moves, you're still here being indecisive—how like a loser.
"I really do hate her, but I don't know why I can't bring myself to refuse her." Leticia was truly troubled; she simply couldn't harden her heart to reject Melanie's requests.
She was the Demon King; the idea of her not being able to harden her heart was practically a joke.
Back in the day, she could hang her young sister from a tree and whip her vigorously. If anyone said she couldn't be ruthless, they'd be a fool.
But Melanie was an exception. Leticia truly felt that inability to be ruthless; she wanted to refuse Melanie, but the words never came out.
"Sigh, Qianqian, although I, your Captain, have never been in a relationship and don't have many good friends, based on my years of experience immersed in the 2D world, you've fallen for her."
"Fallen for what? I hate her to death!" The Captain's words left Leticia a bit dazed. Her, falling for someone? It was impossible for her to fall for Melanie of all people.
Absolutely impossible.
The Captain didn't know whether to laugh or cry. It seemed Qianqian's tsundere habit was engraved into her very marrow. Look at her now—isn't she just a young girl in the midst of a youthful romance?
And yet she still stubbornly claims she hasn't fallen for her. As the Captain saw it, this girl was already in deep.
"Really?"
"Really," Leticia said decisively.
Of course she hated Melanie. That was a life-and-death grudge; she couldn't just forget it so easily.
"Uh-huh?" The Captain was amused. Meeting such a classic stubborn tsundere like Qianqian these days was truly an interesting thing.
"What do you mean by 'uh-huh', Captain? Are you saying you don't believe me!" Leticia was about to blow her top. The Captain's attitude of treating her like she was just being dishonest with her feelings was incredibly frustrating.
"No, no, no, I absolutely believe you, Qianqian." The Captain immediately expressed her absolute trust in Leticia. She was Leticia's Captain, after all; how could she not believe her?
However, York Rose was also her good friend, right? So in a moment, the Captain planned to find York Rose and ask about the situation.
To be well-informed, one must listen to both sides; believing only one side leads to ignorance, especially when it comes to the words of a stubborn tsundere like Leticia.
Words spoken by a tsundere are generally better understood when interpreted as the opposite.
"Captain, you sound so insincere."
"Ahahaha, how could that be? It's just your imagination, your imagination."
...
The cover is a meme I happened to see in a group chat; I felt it matched my image of Melanie quite well, so I put it up.
But Leticia is definitely not that cat!
She's not that fat!