Tyranny of Steel

Mizuno Ai sat across from a perfectly average young man. If she could say that he had one redeeming physical quality, it was the extent of his muscles. By now, she and Julian had known each other for roughly three months, and today was just a normal Saturday.

Since she had met Julian, Ai had been plagued with troubles in her attempt to coax the man out of his self-imposed exile within the library of Westpoint. She honestly did not understand how the man was able to live his life with as little human interaction as possible. Julian was practically a hermit outside of his studies and the academy ’s mandated social events.

Both Ai and Julian had an open schedule this weekend, and because of that, she had dragged him out of the library and to an amusement park in the city. It was only now that she was beginning to understand the extent of Julian ’s social anxiety.

Ai carefully observed the sweat on Julian ’s brow as he struggled to deal with the large crowds. The man, who was normally calm, collected, and a bit of an asshole, was now pumping his leg frantically as his eyes darted back and forth. He slowly sipped from his milk shake while his gaze was lost in space.

The two of them had stopped for lunch at one of the overpriced restaurants provided in the park. If there were two things that Julian enjoyed in this world, it was cheeseburgers and milkshakes. Of course, he could never afford the prices of amusement park food, and because of that, Ai had paid for his meal, just like she had done with his ticket.

Ai observed the man ’s unusual behavior as he snacked on his burger and drank from his milkshake. She found his anxiety to be endearing. It was unusual for Julian to show weakness. He normally had a smug attitude when dealing with people, as if he were a god descended from the heavens, and the people around him were mere hairless apes. The fact that he was bad with crowds made him seem more human, but more importantly, it was a weakness that Ai could exploit should the man ever step out of line.

However, she would never admit that she had such cruelty in her mind, instead she wore a convincing facade of a worried friend, as she grasped hold of Julian ’s shaking hand, and attempted to calm him down.