The days that followed slipped by at an unhurried pace.
Class D's anxiety still permeated every corner of the classroom.
Some students were downcast because their personal points had long since run out, and they were even in debt.
Others were anxious about the fast-approaching midterms, clutching their textbooks and cramming at the last minute.
And then there were people like Ken Sudō, who had grown irritable and given up, finding fault with everything around them.
Linmu Fujimiya, meanwhile, stuck to his usual routine, seemingly unaffected.
He showed up in the classroom on time each day and sat in his seat, letting the lessons from the teacher's lectern go in one ear and out the other.
His mind was either on the clouds drifting past the window or on which dessert shop in the shopping district deserved the honor of providing his next treat.
In his spare time, he either went back to the dorm to play games or looked for a quiet corner on campus.
Maybe beneath a big tree, or on the roof of the school building. If it wasn't locked, he would stand on the roof, let the breeze blow over him, empty his mind, and enjoy the quiet of being alone.
One afternoon, the sun was shining, and a gentle breeze swept by.
After a dull Japanese history class, Lin Mu felt bored. He didn't want to go back to the dorm and stare at his phone, nor did he feel like going to the noisy sports field or shopping district.
With both hands in his uniform pockets and a lime-flavored lollipop in his mouth, he wandered aimlessly around campus.
Before he knew it, he had strolled up to the academy's imposing library.
It wasn't as though he'd suddenly changed his ways and decided to hit the books—that was completely unnecessary for him.
He'd simply thought that, even if he went by the title of Divination Immortal, he ought to occasionally browse books about the occult.
He'd never need them, but they could help him pass the time.
Maybe he'd even find some interesting urban legends or theories about supernatural phenomena to read for fun.
The academy's library was so spacious and bright it seemed almost extravagant.
Its high vaulted ceiling and enormous floor-to-ceiling windows filtered the afternoon sunlight into soft beams, which slanted across the polished dark wooden floor, casting mottled shadows from the window frames.
The air was filled with the comforting fragrance of paper and ink.
There was also the distinctive scent of old books, slightly musty yet charming.
The library was extremely quiet. Only the occasional rustle of a page turning or soft footsteps could be heard, as though everyone had instinctively lowered even their breathing.
Lin Mu ambled through the forest of towering bookshelves, avoiding the crowded academic study section and the popular fiction section.
Guided by instinct and a quick scan of the classification labels on the nearby books with Psychokinesis,
he walked straight toward the "Occult, Folklore, and Supernatural Phenomena" section, tucked away in a quieter part of the library.
The bookshelves here looked a little worn, and most of the books had old-fashioned, weighty covers.
Some even had gilded or embossed designs, making them quite different from the thoroughly modern sections nearby.
His fingertips brushed over row after row of spines, as though he could feel the faint roughness of the paper and the weight of history.
He glanced over them casually, his eyes passing over An Introduction to Astrology, The Mysteries of Tarot Cards, World Mythologies, Files on Unsolved Mysteries...
At last, he pulled out a book with a dark purple starry-sky cover and a gilded title, Tarot Card Symbols and Their Deeper Meanings. He leaned against the nearby bookshelf and opened it to read.
Mostly, he was just too lazy to find an empty seat. It was all the same wherever he read.
Leaning casually against the shelf and flipping through the pages now and then, letting time drift by, seemed nice enough.
Time passed in a flash. His eyes wandered over the complex explanations of symbols on the pages,
but his thoughts had already drifted to what flavor of pudding he should eat that evening.
Out of the corner of his eye, he happened to notice a figure in the "Mystery, Suspense, and Crime Fiction" section not far away.
She was a slender girl wearing the standard Advanced Nurturing uniform for female students: a dark red blazer, a white pleated skirt, and gray over-the-knee socks.
She had long, smooth silver hair that shimmered faintly in the light filtering through the gaps between the bookshelves.
(Actually, I thought it was blue when I watched the anime, but the card says silver...)
She was looking slightly upward, her delicate brows knitted as her amethyst eyes searched one spine after another for something.
Her fingertips absently traced the backs of the books. She looked completely absorbed, with a hint of frustration at her fruitless search.
She stood straight and still, surrounded by a quiet, refined air that fit the library perfectly, yet somehow stood out.
Like a lily of the valley blooming alone in a secluded valley, fragrant and best left undisturbed.
At a glance, she seemed like one of his kind: someone who wasn't good at socializing, or simply didn't want to, and was used to being alone.
Lin Mu wasn't one to meddle, especially when it came to strangers.
After all, that was a good way to avoid unnecessary social exhaustion.
But watching the girl search so earnestly and come up empty again and again, her lips faintly pursed in concentration, somehow stirred the last faint trace of his "helpful" side.
Maybe it was because she had the same sort of solitary air about her?
He closed the heavy book about Tarot Cards and gently returned it to its place on the shelf.
Then he walked over quietly and stopped about two steps away from the girl, careful not to stand too close.
"Looking for a book?" His voice instinctively softened, taking on a gentler tone that sounded clear but not out of place among the quiet shelves.
He even tried to shape his lips into a faint, supposedly friendly smile, though it probably wasn't very convincing.
Trying to break the silence in that corner, he added, "Maybe... I can help?"
At the sound of his voice, Hiyori Shiina came out of her focused search and looked up.
Her amethyst eyes were first clouded with the confusion of someone interrupted, then settled on Lin Mu's handsome, stern face, made a little odd by the lollipop in his mouth.
She paused for a moment, a flicker of surprise quickly crossing her eyes.
She was probably surprised that someone had approached her, and by his striking appearance.
But the surprise quickly sank from view, and her expression returned to its placid calm.
Her gaze rested on Lin Mu's face for a second, then shifted away slightly. Her voice was cool and clear, like the first snow falling on a lake, naturally distant but still polite:
"I'm looking for Edgar Allan Poe's The Murders in the Rue Morgue."
Her voice was soft, and she spoke in short, simple sentences. "I've looked all over, but I can't find it."
After she spoke, she glanced at the bookshelf in front of her again, her brows still slightly knitted. She looked completely unused to talking to people and eager to end the conversation so she could keep searching for the book.
Edgar Allan Poe? The Murders in the Rue Morgue? One of the pioneering works of detective fiction. Lin Mu understood.
He nodded calmly, as though considering the matter.
At the same time, his thoughts stirred—Psychokinesis swept outward from him like an invisible scanning wave, passing over every book spine on several nearby shelves.
Information surged into his mind like a tide, then was processed at incredible speed.
In moments, he had located his target: the third bookshelf on the left, the third row from the top, and the seventh book from the right.
He raised his hand and reached naturally toward that spot, his fingertips accurately grasping the thin book with an antique-patterned cover.
Its spine bore a gilded title. He pulled it free and held it out to Hiyori Shiina.
"This is the one, right?" He still wore that faint smile, not quite practiced enough to look natural.
Before you continue