Demonic Sadist System

It didn't seem like a very good tactic at the moment, Hitomi thought, as she marched down the hall, following James. It had just left her in this situation, after all. And even though she wasn't seriously considering it, it would probably be an even worse call now. The campus was always relatively calm when she arrived, but it was full of much more foot traffic now as people meandered and traversed between classes.

She gulped. They'd be at the library building very soon, which meant there wasn't much time to think about any of this. So she settled on figuring out what the dawning event in front of her called for.

"W-why do I have to say something to him?" She squeaked out. He wasn't responding, maybe he hadn't heard her? If that was the case was he not paying attention? Maybe she could-

"Are you kidding me?"

Nevermind. He answered sharply, looking over his shoulder back at her with that questioning "are you stupid?" glance. "First you're screaming your head off, then you run the f.u.c.k away? How does that look? Wrack your brain for a second why don'tcha?"

Ahahaaaaa, yeah. Hitomi felt like her brow was drenched in sweat. Yeah that was definitely leaving him hanging, but it wasn't like she'd done it out on the street! It was in the lobby!

Which, now that she thought about it, might have been worse. If that was the librarian, there could be disciplinary troubles from making a scene like that.

"I… I-I what happened?" Hitomi asked, reluctantly.

"What do you think happened? The guy wanted to give me a f.u.c.k.i.n.g inquiry because he thought I was 'giving you trouble.' And that he'd be checking up on stuff." James answered, scorn flowing along with his words. "So you're gonna tell him there's no problem and he doesn't have to do anything. Got it."

She flinched, unable to look him in the eyes as he turned back to her. "Y-y-yeah… okay that… that's fair…" She hazarded locking stares and couldn't do it. She had spoken her mind earlier cause he'd driven her overboard with it, but she didn't want to hurt him. She did find it fair, if not uncomfortable.

"... yeah it better be." James sighed and resumed walking.

They came to the library fairly quickly and James stepped to the side and turned to her. She stood there, not fully understanding what was going on now. "H-huh?"

James crossed his arms and nodded towards the doors. "Well, go on. Find the guy and tell him you just flipped out and I had nothing to do with it."

Hitomi blinked. "W-wha? By myself?!"

James' head dropped as he answered. "Obviously. What, you want him to think I'm forcing you into this? You go in alone and tell him it's fine."

Hitomi shivered, but didn't retort that he was pretty much forcing her because, well, she would try and get someone else to do this kind of thing for her as well. She balled her fist, gathered her strength and passed through the door.

She didn't frequent the library. Once again, she didn't consider herself smart or bookish at all. She usually only went when it was required for a project, and that usually wasn't very often. She scanned the room, taking it in more or less for the first time.

It wasn't an old, hallowed place like she thought of public libraries. The roof wasn't that much higher than a normal classroom, and there was a large space right in the middle with computers on desks, nice soft looking chairs around little tables with jigsaw puzzles and magazines and other things against the wall lined with windows. It was kind of comfy, not giving off a silent or imposing vibe at all.

The people inside didn't seem to have their heads buried in books either. They were casually sitting down at the tables and chairs, working in pairs or alone, shuffling some notes and reading fairly lazily. Most people must go to the computer lab to actually study.

She stepped in towards the overall cozy environment and looked around. Even the light shattering of expectations couldn't totally take her mind off of the fact that she needed to talk to the librarian.

Approaching the main desk she didn't see the man from this morning though, just a kind looking older woman.

"Um, excuse me?" Hitomi quietly addressed the lady.

"Hmmm, oh, can I help you with something?"

"Uh, yes, actually. I was, sorta, looking for someone."

"Oh, looking for someone?"

"Y-yes." Hitomi stuttered. What was this casual dialog like this was an NPC conversation? Wasn't this how it went when you ordered food? Were librarians jobs on the same level as standing behind a register? "Uhh, I'm looking for a man, I think he works here. He's about this tall and… oh he's got a blue turtleneck on!"

"Oh, that's Mr.Baek. He's the head librarian. I think he should be over in the nonfiction shelves right now, if you want to go speak with him." The woman smiled as she told Hitomi exactly which section the so called Mr.Baek could be found in.

It was genuine, but it seemed almost mockingly nice how helpful the lady was being, almost like she knew Hitomi would be fine putting it off for a few minutes. Almost.

And Mr.Baek? Was that right? That was Korean or something, wasn't it? Earlier Hitomi was about to pat herself on the back for remembering about how tall he was but if she hadn't mentioned the turtleneck would the woman at the counter have been able to get the picture? She'd honestly been so stunned this morning she hadn't taken in any other details. She considered it a bit philosophical, but would she have been able to find this person on her own if she needed to? It left a troubled tingle at the back of her mind as she went down the shelves.

They weren't very thick, or tall enough to reach the ceiling. They were more or less just shelves that books were sitting on. A bit disappointing, really, Hitomi thought as she walked by them. It was probably only bigger libraries that had the "Omph" to them.

"Omph!" Hitomi let out as she stepped back. She'd walked straight into a cart sitting halfway in one of the ailes, stacked with books.

"Hey, hey, careful now!"