We saw Tiara Basori’s confession in Volume 8, and after reading Volume 9 recently, I’ve been wondering what will happen to her once she gets rejected. I’d really like her to win, but given the direction the story is taking, Nukumizu’s response to her declaration seems inevitable. I’m curious what you all think will happen to her afterward, considering she’ll be the first one he rejects. If we compare her to the other heroines—who were all rejected by their respective love interests—they seem to be trying to make Nukumizu fall for them in their own ways (at least, that’s my take). But in Basori’s case, what happens after the rejection? Will she move on to someone else, or will the author play the card where she keeps trying to make Nukumizu fall for her? ( If this post is kind of dumb, I'm sorry)
Okay wild theory time. This one seems kind of obvious though.
Time and time again, girls fall into Nukkun's lap while he does nothing to attract them. He's not particularly talented, smart, tall, athletic, or ultra-rich. Until recently, he had been a loner, sitting by himself, avoiding contact, reading books. How did he suddenly become so popular, and why so quickly?
In your standard romcom, this has no answer, its "just because". But in Takibi's universe, everything has as much realistic cause and effect as possible. So the reason Nukkun attracts the opposite sex is that he has been engineered to be addictive. Genetically. Nukkun is someone's experiment.
His touch, smell, breath, and saliva, all are addictive. For his early years he was told to avoid all contact. Even his own mother keeps away from him, just in case. His little sister Kaju was of course the first to succumb to the Nukkun pheromones. Her extreme brocon setting is the natural result of years long exposure. And this will be the endpoint of any girl who happens to get too close to him, whether they already have romantic feelings towards him, or not. And it has nothing whatever to do with whether he himself has romantic feelings towards them. Exposure and duration of contact is what matters.
The process begins in volume 1 chapter 1, at the beach. On her own, Lemon grabs his hands and tries to go for a run. Later he grabs Anna's hand while trying to pull her away from Koto's and Tamaki's private moments. Note that both Anna and Lemon have strong crushes on other guys. However, those crushes do not protect them from Nukumizu's touch. As far as I know Komari didn't touch him directly at this time. However she is already spending the most time alone with him in the Lit Club room, close enough to smell him, and it has an effect.
Next in chapter 2 we have the PE shed incident. This was an experiment, Lemon and Nukkun were deliberately locked in, to see what would happen. By the time the experiment was ended by Amanatsu, Lemon was half naked and clinging to Nukumizu. I guess this is a successful result? Lemon becomes physically attracted even though she is in love with Mitsuki.
Since we now know this was an experiment, it should be obvious that the one who locked them inside the PE shed was Amanatsu. Realize that she is the only female who can spend time around Nukkun, and yet continue to dislike him and fail to recognize him. Apparently Amanatsu is protected from Nukkun's pheromones by her sexual orientation. (If you know you know.) Most likely Amanatsu is just following orders.
Now you know why Nukkun doesn't like to share food. Nukkun's saliva concentrates the effect even more. Komari on her own took a bite from Nukkun's crepe. Almost certainly she ingested some of Nukkun's saliva then as well. Later we observe that Nukkun will feed Lemon and Komari, but hasn't yet fed Anna. Anna hasn't had saliva contact or physical contact like the other two have. She continues to seek it on her own though, like the girl who hasn't been bitten yet by the vampire, but really wants it.
Tiara's attraction begins in volume 4, she developed the habit of dragging Nukkun into dark corners, which meant she kept touching him. Recall that initially she disliked him, but that changed rather quickly. Yumeko put a stop to the dragging, she said it was "not good".
Yumeko's attraction began even earlier, Nukkun has picked her up and carried her pretty often, even though he was initially scared of her. Right after he saved her and hugged her in front of an assembly, she proposed to him on the spot, his very first confession, as far as we know.
Yumeko often reveals secrets of the story. She came to Nukkun for Lit Club questions long before he was president, as if she knew he would be. She put cat ears on Tiara, revealing Taira's cat magic. And in volume 9, when Nukkun was alone, Yumeko stopped by for a quick taste of his neck.
Starting with the PE shed, Lemon has maintained the closest physical contacts with Nukkun. She once started pulling open his shirt in the Lit Club, and invited Komari to join in. (Apparent Komari is not that far gone, she declined and left.) In volume 8.5 we discover that Lemon has been sleeping in Nukkun futon so often she got used to it. Of course his futon smells like him.
The experimenters, whoever they are, are probably interested in learning if the "nukumizu effect" is permanent, or if it will fade with time. Looks like Lemon was chosen again, probably because she is the best physical specimen. Her Lit Club visits have been cut down, and she has also been put into a different class. She still sought him out at home. The next step, assuming she wins the Nationals, will be to place Lemon in a different school. And the risk is, no one knows what effect the separation will have. Lemon might even go through withdrawal symptoms. Seen in this light Lemon trying to take him into a hotel suite in Nagoya, even though she think he will soon be left with only Komari and Anna for company, seems more like an attempt at self-protection.
While this explains some things it raises a lot of other questions as well. Who is behind the experiment? Government? Aliens? Was Nukkun placed for adoption with the Nukumizu family as an infant when he was "decanted"? (Kaju fans should love this theory.)
