THE TSUNDERE TYPE.
AKA the type of love interest girls loved in fiction but would despise in real life. These characters started off hostile—regularly insulting and humiliating the protagonist—before increasingly opening up. There was usually some tragic backstory or explanation to excuse their rude behaviour. Well, even if there wasn't, the protagonist gladly accepted the verbal (and sometimes, physical) abuse that this character inflicted upon them, and the two went on to receive a happily ever after the ending credits. Examples of tsunderes in otome games included, but were not limited to: Takeru from Collar x Malice, Shin from Amnesia: Memories, and Riku from Olympia Soirée.
As a general rule, tsundere characters lacked romantic experience or they struggled to express their feelings, which resulted in mixed messages and awkward insults. But, when a tsundere character did fall in love, they fell hard. They showed the heroine a softer and warmer side of themselves that they didn't show anyone else.
Most importantly, they blushed. A whole lot.
Gosh, blushing fictional boys gave me so much serotonin.
I was a huge advocate for the tsundere character archetype (of course I was, I loved my grumpy-turned-sweet boys), but this trope had its exceptions.
Very often, tsundere love interests were absolute douchebags. They abused the main character and treated them like dirt. Sometimes even after they receive a happily ever after.
Personally, I could only handle being called an "idiot" a certain amount of times by a guy before I'd lose my patience and snap their neck. Yet, these heroines happily allowed these tsundere love interests to utterly degrade them, dehumanize them, and ultimately, make them cry. Repeatedly. Without even batting an eyelash.
At some point, you have to wonder if these love interests either really liked the heroine or if they just really hated them. Which waved so many red flags.
Ren Takumi—my own, twisted version of such a love interest—hated me once upon a time. But it wasn't the type of bullying a boy who supposedly liked a girl would put her through. He was the devil in the disguise of a little boy. He wanted me to suffer and boy did I suffer.
And now, after all that, after all these years, he didn't even recognize me. That, or he was pretending not to.
(I was going to believe it was the former).
(Which angered me very, very much).
"Anri! Get out! You've been in there forever!"
Aoto pounded the door with raving force. My other brothers howled after him.
The Hinomori household had one bathroom. One bathroom with a total of six people living under one roof.
Mornings were a battlefield. Wake up early, and you could get ready at your leisure. Wake up late, however, and you had to stand in line outside of the bathroom door, waiting and waiting and waiting until it was your turn to finally use it. Obviously, if you were the last to use the bathroom, by the time you got dressed and to the kitchen, everybody else had already emptied the fridge and cupboards, and you were left with nothing but crumbs.
Dad was usually out of the house first. That, or he spent the night at whichever girlfriend he was seeing at the time.
Therefore, it was me against my cavemen brothers who all had places to be in the morning.
"Anri!" Asahi shouted.
"What's she doing in there?" Azusa remarked. "It's not like she's putting on makeup."
YOU ARE READING
Project Cupid | Ongoing
Teen Fiction(A Reverse Harem) If there's anything Anri Hinomori loves more than fictional characters, it's drama. By day, she's responsible for the anonymous gossip column for her high school's newspaper, and by night, she blogs extensive, long-winded reviews o...
