Stella was looking at the pink and golden twilight sky through the window of her room while in the nurse side of the campus. She didn't have any real or dangerous damage but was sent there after her battle with Ikki to decide their shared dorm's room. She lost. A rank A lost to a rank F. It wasn't a real battle of course; it was on phantom mode but still what if it had been a real one? Would she had lost so easily?
She heard the director's steps coming near her hospital bed.
"Vermillion, how are you feeling?".
"You know, I had actually forgotten", the princess was still lost in her thoughts "what it's like to lose a match like this" she hoped to be humbler from now on. "How is he?".
"To use all that power in one minute, that's something he can only do once a day. He used all he had to beat you. And he is in much rougher shape than you are. But you'll be glad to hear he'll be fine", Kurono explained.
She had to ask what couldn't leave her thoughts since their match started. "Director, what is happening?".
The woman seemed confused.
"Don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about. He's a rank F and I'm a rank A so how did a man like him defeated me?" she needed her answer.
"Those ranks are based solely on your ability as a blazer, meaning your combat skills, your swordplay, your physical progress, are not subject to evaluation" the new director explained what she had explained over and over to those former teachers who refused to teach the F ranked student "currently, there just isn't a system that can truly evaluate Kurogane".
Yes, knights should not trust blindly on their talent or there wouldn't be schools for that. Stella knew that. But even so, it was undeniable that Ikki Kurogane was an excellent knight, making no sense to why he was called "the worst one" or why he was still in his first year.
"But failing him?". The director just sighed.
"It is a very complex situation, but I should also say it's simple and classic..." the professional educator knew better than gossiping about her students. Even if Vermilion seemed genuinely curious and worried, it was not Kurono's place to tell her about Kurogane's personal backstory. "One thing I can say, though, is life has been very unfair on Kurogane. He had plenty of good reasons to give up, but he never stopped pushing himself to improve. That's the kind of man he is".
Kurono stopped wondering on the rather vague story to Stella and tried to be more real to what the new student knew.
"Vermillion, I asked you this morning about what made you study abroad". Stella remembered her own words from early that morning after getting in Tokyo's airport: "In my country, I was labeled as a 'genius'. I do not have the freedom to try something and fail.".
"So, princess, I think you could learn a lot from Kurogane", the director said, finally, as she walked towards to leave the room, "I can feel it won't be a waste of your time".
Not much longer after the director went away, the school's doctor allowed her to go back to her normal activities. Given it was nighttime, Stella could only go to her own dorm. As she entered the quiet of their room, she noticed Kurogane was fast asleep, snoring a bit, even. She walked to their bunk bed and wondered whether to wake him up or not, her arm in the way of deciding to shake him a little or letting him rest. Before she made that choice, the unconscious young man turned aside in his bed, turning his back on the princess and accidentally making his own pajama shirt go up a little. She couldn't help but fixate her eyes in that skin till she touched it. First her finger, then her palm in the smooth, harden back of her new roommate. "So, this is the back of a man…" she whispered to herself. Maybe his sleep was troubled by her sound, but he turned around again, this time locking Stella's arm between his own arm and the mattress.
The situation embarrassed her, and she had to get up in his mattress to find a way of unlocking herself without waking him up. She then found herself on top of him – although holding her own weight – and staring at him in his sleep. Her eyes, guided by teenage curiosity, traveled down his chest and felt, again, tempted to touch his exposed skin around his stomach.
"No, Stella! You are a princess, and this is completely disgraceful" she said internally to herself. "but then, he totally walked up on me in nothing but my undergarments and, as he said, this would just make us even", she was arguing with herself a lot about this and before she knew she was touching him. Touching his abdomen, his chest, all his well-defined torso and panting, breathing hardly and with a heated face in the process. "W-what is happening to me? What am I doing?" she whispered alone again, breathlessly, feeling, not only her face but all of her body feel extreme heat.
"Yeah" a masculine voice said between a yawn, "I was going to ask you the same thing". She was petrified with shame as Ikki became fully awake, "hey, Stella, what are you doing?". What was she supposed to respond anyway? She knew she'd make him expelled if not killed if she was in her place so what could she say? Her shame and anxious thoughts made her get up and scream instantly. Except… Ikki's bed on the bunk was the topper one, so Stella hit her own head in the ceiling.
Ikki called that dorm a home for much longer than her and knew where things like those were. She thanked her roommate for finding her a band aid since, thankfully, it was a small scratch.
"I'm just glad it wasn't a concussion" he always made his best to remain polite.
"I'm sorry" but he couldn't tell exactly what she was sorry for "I despised everyone at home who put this label on me… And then I did the exact thing to you". He didn't know what that label was, although it made sense a princess was always a little under pressure, so he just listened. "I didn't try to see you for who you truly are. If I had, I wouldn't have freaked out like that. Well, I'm done freaking out, Ikki", she said the last word with a rather cute smile.
"I see…", he wasn't exactly sure of how to respond those words, so he just put his first aid box down and turned to her, "so, from now on you'll… You're gonna be, like, my servant, right?".
Those words confused her.
"It was you who said, 'the loser will obey the winner for the rest of their life', didn't you?", she had completely forgotten about her own words from that morning.
Stella suddenly felt both embarrassed and desperate about the bet she created "N-no way, t-that was j-just a figure of speech!".
"You'll do what I say, right?" he kept smiling innocently to provoke her "anything, isn't it?".
They both knew damn well she just created that extra bet, along with the dorm rules, so she could humiliate him more the way she pleased, but at that time, she never thought the tables would have turned.
"A-anything? There's no way, buddy! The deal is off!" she truly said this as she was used to: making an order to her servants.
"Okay… So the Vermillion family isn't so great at keeping their own promises then, I guess…" he knew this would convince her but forgot how fierce she is.
"How dare you do such a thing?!" she got up in rage and made him walk away slowly again, just like in their director's office, like a prey slowly walking away from their predator, "Fine! I'll be your servant, or your dog, or whatever you like!". With or without bet, that woman had never and would never know submission. "Bent me to your dark wishes! Use me to your filthy sexual desires you- pervert- peasant- I hate you!".
She stuttered in her rage and embarrassment, which made his light fear go away to be substituted by a giggle.
"Okay, then this is your order, Stella: I order you to be my roommate". He was being genuine and honest. "Stella, I want us to become closer, to become friends".
One more time, he flipped her feelings to rage from embarrassment and even a bit of admiration.
"That's just… Inappropriate… To say to a princess…" she wasn't brave enough to look at him.
"Well, then… I guess we have to talk to the director again" he had been through that before, honestly. With most of his teachers refusing to teach him, with no official training, with all the mockery for being the worst one… His previous roommate had required to find another dorm, too, so they wouldn't be associated with someone as bad as he was. Ikki couldn't explain why he thought a princess wouldn't think the same thing.
"No, I… Don't", Stella still hadn't gathered enough bravery to look him in the eye, something her crimson fringe helped a lot with. If she was being honest with herself, admiration was growing inside of her for this cute, honest peasant even though he had been a little pervert, she hated to admit she could be just as much.
"Don't what?".
"Let me finish!" their eyes finally met again, "let's make this clear: I made a deal, I will honor it, but I have no desires to be closer to you, do you understand?", which, we all know, was a big ass lie.
"Fair enough, Ms. Stella". He offered her a hand to shake.
"Stella", she hadn't uncrossed her arms yet, "It's just Stella or the agreement is off".
"Okay" that was even better. Even with she saying she didn't want to become his friends; it would be good to not go through formalities.
And their deal was finally made.