"Honestly, this library is huge!"
An Xiao casually picked up a book from the shelf beside him and remarked with a sigh.
He'd come here out of curiosity at first, not expecting it to be a library, but now that he was here, he found it pretty interesting.
The schools An Xiao had attended before had libraries too, but they were much smaller than this one. Most of their books were textbooks, practice exams, or literary magazines that had yellowed with age.
Yes, he meant you, Some Forest, and the even more boring Read Some.
The library at Advanced Nurturing High School was different. It had some books like study guides, but most of its collection consisted of literary classics, along with a handful of light novels.
An Xiao was pretty happy about that.
After picking out a few light novels whose titles appealed to him, he set off to find a place to sit. But he'd barely taken a few steps when he stopped.
Was that... a weird person?
A few steps ahead of An Xiao, a petite girl with silver hair falling to her shoulders sat curled up on the floor, reading a book.
Was it... Journey Under the Midnight Sun?
Stacks of books were piled on the floor beside her.
As if she'd noticed An Xiao looking at her, the girl slowly lifted her gaze from her book and looked at him with wide, slightly dazed eyes.
"Am I in your way? Sorry," the girl said gently, drawing her legs in a little.
"No, it's just that there are plenty of seats over there. Why sit on the floor here?" An Xiao said, quickly waving his hands.
It was dinner time, after all, so most people had gone to eat. The library was nearly empty, with lots of vacant seats.
"Mm... The light's better here. It's not too bright, and besides..." The girl pointed to the stacks of books beside her. "It's easier to switch books this way."
Seeing her explanation, An Xiao didn't know what to say. He crouched down and curiously examined the books piled beside her.
And Then There Were None, Murder on the Orient Express, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes...
They were all famous detective novels.
"You really like detective stories. All these books are."
"Mm." The girl nodded, and her eyes brightened when she heard An Xiao say that.
"Do you like detective stories too?"
"Huh?" An Xiao scratched his head and answered honestly. "They're all right, but maybe not in the way you're thinking."
"I read books like these too, but I mostly read Kindaichi and Detective Conan."
"I see..."
The silver-haired girl didn't look disappointed at all. Instead, she seemed delighted to have found someone who shared her interests. She introduced herself without prompting. "I'm Shiina Hiyori, from Class 1-C."
"Oh, I'm An Xiao, from Class 1-B," An Xiao replied automatically. But then he realized something, and his expression turned strange.
Class 1-C—the class where every fight was a full-on brawl, and which was more like a gang than a class?
She didn't look like one of them at all!
Looking at the petite, delicate girl in front of him, with her gentle manner and slightly dazed expression, An Xiao couldn't imagine her belonging to the Class C he'd seen earlier.
"Are you sure you're in Class C?"
"Mm." Shiina Hiyori nodded.
"Well, that's... a remarkable variety of species."
While An Xiao was still stunned, Shiina Hiyori, sitting across from him, patted the empty spot beside her. Her violet eyes fixed silently on him.
Was she... asking him to sit there too?
An Xiao uncertainly pointed to the floor, then to himself. When the girl in front of him nodded again, he finally realized she really meant it.
An Xiao's mouth twitched. The girl was just looking at him without saying a word, and for a moment, he didn't know what to do.
As she continued gazing at him with those adorable eyes, An Xiao felt both amused and helpless.
He didn't make a fuss. He took his books and sat down beside her.
Once An Xiao had sat down, Shiina Hiyori's slightly dazed expression brightened, and her lips curved into a small smile. She picked up the unfinished book in her arms and quietly resumed reading, just as she had before.
Time passed slowly, marked by the soft rustle of turning pages.
When An Xiao finally came back to himself and rolled his neck, he noticed that the sky outside the library windows had grown dark.
There were even fewer people in the library than when he'd arrived.
"How long have I been reading?"
"About... three hours." Shiina Hiyori's gentle voice sounded again. An Xiao turned to see her slipping a bookmark into her book before carefully closing it. She looked completely at ease.
"Will you come back to read next time?"
"Huh? I probably will, pretty often," An Xiao replied after a moment, not sure why she was asking.
After all, he preferred physical books to e-books.
Sometimes, even if the content was exactly the same, he couldn't focus when reading the electronic version. But when he switched to a printed book, that problem disappeared.
So he'd probably keep coming to the library whenever he had free time.
"I see! That's wonderful."
After hearing An Xiao's answer, Shiina Hiyori visibly relaxed, and her smile grew a little brighter.
"After all, you're the first person I've met at school with interests similar to mine, An Xiao. I asked everyone in my class before, but unfortunately, not one of them liked reading."
As she spoke, a hint of disappointment crossed the girl's face.
"..." An Xiao fell silent. Remembering what he'd seen in Class C, he didn't know what to say.
Class C might have been a little better than Class D, but not by much.
An Xiao could hardly imagine trying to read in a classroom while listening to his classmates fight.
So why had she been assigned to Class C?
Shiina Hiyori had no idea An Xiao was complaining about it in his thoughts. She carefully set the books in her arms aside, then held up her phone in front of him.
"Next time, let's read together again."
Before you continue