Tyranny of Steel

Mizuno Ai sat in the library with a glum expression on her face. She was seated at the table where she and a peculiar young man usually sat across from one another. It had been two weeks since she met the arrogant bastard, and yet he still had not given her his name.

While it may be true that she also didn't volunteer such information, the man seemed to have a leg up on her as he somehow learned of her identity. Meanwhile, everyone she spoke to about the strange young man who reads alone in the library responded with the same comment.

"Who?"

She figured that today would be the day where she finally learned the man's name. Except he was nowhere to be found. This caused her to be quite troubled. Why was she troubled? That was a question even she did not know. Since when was she the type to get hung up on some asshole? At the moment, she was certain that she felt bitter towards the man, as he was the first person in her entire life who did not recognize her brilliance.

Inspired by Julian's hard work ethic, Ai had gone to great lengths to keep up with the man. In terms of completing school work ahead of time, receiving high marks in physical activities, and gaining knowledge from the books in the library. The one area she could proudly say she was ahead of him in was social life. Aside from the mandatory Cadet activities, Julian seemed to have no social life whatsoever.

Was she stalking the man? Not yet, primarily because she still didn't know his identity. However, she could surmise as much, because everyone she spoke to didn't have the slightest clue who he might be. If they did recognize who she was speaking about, they would only know him by the moniker "that loner in the library". However, nobody really knew his name or schedule.

Clearly, the teachers would know his identity, but she felt asking the faculty about who this guy was would possibly cause suspicion of fraternization. Thus, she was left to investigate this matter by herself. As she was thinking about such things, the man in question appeared before her with a stack of books in his hands. He promptly sat down across from her, without even paying the girl the slightest bit of attention.

He had grown accustomed to this thorn in his side, and tried to interact with her as little as possible. However, this had gotten the adverse reaction he desired. For whatever reason, this girl became more interested in him and thus wasted more of his time. Thus, it was no surprise when she got upset over the fact that he ignored her existence.

"Hello? I'm sitting right here. Aren't you going to greet me properly?"

Julian had yet to even open a book and yet the nuisance was pestering him already. He sighed heavily as he grabbed the top book and opened it before chastising the girl for interrupting him.

"I'm dreadfully busy. We can exchange pleasantries later..."

Despite being treated so coldly, Ai's glum expression had disappeared and she now had a smile on her face. Julian thought this was peculiar, and immediately made an inappropriate comment, seemingly unaware that it was probably a question he shouldn't ask a woman he hardly knows.

"Why are you smiling? Are you perhaps a masochist? That would explain a lot... Please, whatever fantasies you may be having about me, keep them to yourself..."

The smile on the pretty Japanese girl's face immediately soured when she heard this remark. Smiling? Who was smiling? She certainly wasn't! She immediately harrumphed and crossed her arms, before opening a book of her own. Though she snuck a few glances from the edge of her book to see how the man reacted. His stoic expression only further enraged the woman. Thus, she decided to interrupt his precious reading time as payback.

"What was your name again? I forgot..."

Julian sneered when he heard this. Such a trick might work on your average troglodyte, but to a man of his intellect, he could clearly remember never giving this nuisance a name, and thus he responded with a smug expression on his face.

"How can you forget something which you never learned to begin with?"

This response only further outraged the young woman as she glared at the man sitting across from her before chastising him for his cruelty.

"Are you seriously not going to tell me your name? We've known each other for two weeks now!"

Julian merely responded with indifference to this question.

"Why would a stallion reveal its name to the fly that pesters it?"

Ai looked at Julian with shock as the man shamelessly said this. Did he seriously just compare himself to a stallion? No wait, what was that about a fly? Oh, he was going to get it now! Her brow was thoroughly furrowed with rage as she mocked the man for his analogy.

"You consider yourself a stallion? What a joke. I bet you are still a virgin!"

Julian did not even look up from his book as he properly responded to this insult.

"A virgin stallion is still a stallion. Why do you care how many women I have had intercourse with? Are you perhaps propositioning me? I'll pass. I have no interest in loose women."

Ai immediately blushed as she heard this response. How shameless was this man? Did he seriously just call her loose? She had lost all reason and immediately stood up and scolded the man for insulting her purity.

"I'm not loose! I'll have you know I am still a pure maiden!"

Julian finally reacted as he looked up from his book in surprise. This girl was the definition of "he who lives in a glass house should not cast stones." However, more importantly, her outburst had drawn unwanted attention. Julian was not the kind of man who enjoyed being the center of attention and immediately tried to placate the woman as he scolded her for her unruly behavior.

"Ahem. You should really take notice of your surroundings before you make such a bold statement..."

Ai immediately remembered she was in the library and looked around to see that all eyes were gazing at her and Julian. It shocked even the librarian that she had openly said such a thing. Ai immediately sank into her seat with a depressed gaze.

She realized she had made a huge mistake by letting this man rile her up like that. She wanted to commit seppuku in that moment. Seeing that the woman was not in the greatest mindset, Julian sighed before attempting to comfort the woman with a single word.

"Julian..."

Ai immediately snapped out of her funk and gazed at Julian with a curious gaze. She didn't quite hear what he said, and quickly asked for clarification.

"I'm sorry, what was that..."

Julian had an awkward expression on his face as he repeated what he had said.

"My name is Julian..."

AI repeated the name a couple of times beneath her breath before wearing a pretty smile.

"It's nice to meet you Julian! My name is Ai!"

The cute expression on the girl's face caused Julian's heart to skip a beat, which instantly unnerved him. He was not accustomed to feeling emotions, or at least not positive ones. Since he did not know how to react to this new and alien feeling, he reacted by burying his head in his books and focusing on his studies.

Ai saw this response, despite Julian's best attempts to hide it and found it to be cute. Though the man was perfectly average in appearance, and an arrogant ass to boot. It was endearing to see him have such a reserved side to his otherwise foul character.

After thinking this, Itami woke up from her dream in a cold sweat. She immediately slammed her head on her pillow and pouted as she remembered what she had dreamt of very clearly. She screamed her thoughts into her pillow, which was thankfully muffled.

"Why am I so hung up on a dead guy?"

If her subordinates had known she was having such difficulties, they would probably use it as a chance to question her sanity and attempt another takeover. She did not understand why she was having such vivid dreams of her old memories from her past life. However, thinking back upon how many opportunities she had given Julian to go out with her, only for him to ignore the signals, instantly drove the woman mad.

Even if it was against the rules, she desperately wanted to be intimate with the man. Yet he had never taken notice of her feelings, hell she doubted if the dense fool ever thought of her as a friend. In fact, he had more than once stated he had no friends.

What did he mean he didn't have any friends? You don't get invited out to another university on your spring break by someone you knew in high school unless you were friends! Wait a second. There was something more important to be upset about. He had her as his friend the whole time! Gods, that aspect of his character was frustrating.

Upon realizing that there was no way she was going to get any sleep, Itami rose from her futon and prepared herself for a visit to her hot spring. She needed to sort out her thoughts before she could get any work done, and there was no better way to achieve that than a nice soak.