Hiyori Shiina looked at the book in his hand—the very one she had been searching for without success—and obvious surprise flashed across her violet eyes.
She spoke without thinking, her voice rising slightly from before. "You... How did you..."
She stopped short, clearly unable to understand how he had pinpointed the book so precisely, finding it on the packed shelves almost without a second thought.
She had carefully searched that section herself just moments ago.
Seeing her reaction, Lin Mu found his classmate kind of amusing.
He waved a hand casually, his tone laced with playful teasing as he brought out his all-purpose cover story:
"Actually," he lowered his voice and put on a mysterious air, "I'm a pretty amazing fortune teller.
I just... um, 'divined' where it was. What do you think, classmate? Do you believe me?"
He blinked at Hiyori Shiina, whose confusion had not faded—in fact, it had deepened.
Lin Mu knew the excuse was ridiculous, so he smiled and added a more "reasonable" explanation:
"I'm kidding. I'm actually a little interested in mystery novels, too. I happened to read this one before, so I more or less remembered it was somewhere around here."
Then he changed tack and steered the conversation back to "fortune-telling." "But I have been studying the occult lately, and I'm not bad at fortune-telling. Would you be interested in learning a little about it?"
Noticing that the conversation had started to stall, he naturally tossed out a question to keep it from going completely flat:
"By the way, classmate, why do you like mystery novels? It seems like a lot of the girls aren't too keen on this kind of book."
He remembered that Kikyo Kushida seemed to prefer romance novels or light essays.
Hiyori Shiina took The Murders in the Rue Morgue from him. The cool touch of its cover made her fingertips pause.
She lowered her head and gently traced the raised pattern on the book. Her expression softened a little now that she had found what she was looking for.
At Lin Mu's question, she looked up at him with violet eyes and replied softly:
"I'm drawn to the tight logic in mystery novels and the truth revealed at the end, which is often unexpected."
Her voice was still quiet, but when she talked about something she liked, her speech grew just a little quicker.
"Following the scattered clues the author provides, thinking things through for myself, eliminating the wrong possibilities one by one, and finally solving the puzzle...
It feels so satisfying, like completing a workout for my mind."
After she finished, she seemed to think she had said too much and paused briefly.
Then she looked up at Lin Mu, a hint of genuine curiosity in her eyes, and asked in return, "What about you, classmate? What is it about the occult that attracts you?"
She seemed skeptical of Lin Mu's identity as a "fortune teller," but she had become a little interested in talking with him.
"The occult..." Lin Mu leaned back against the cool bookshelf and moved the nearly melted lime-flavored lollipop in his mouth to the other cheek, clearing enough room to speak.
His tone was relaxed, but he spoke with a few ideas of his own, no longer just making things up.
"I think exploring unknown forces and interpreting fate and symbolism are really interesting. Though..."
He shrugged. "A lot of people think it's nonsense, just a con.
But I think it has something in common with deduction, in a way."
"Oh?" Hiyori Shiina tilted her head slightly, inviting him to explain.
"Both are searching for some kind of 'truth.'"
Lin Mu explained, "Deduction looks for the factual truth behind a case, while the occult looks for...
Maybe a projection of the human heart, a reflection of the subconscious, or simply a self-consistent system of symbolic signs.
Both require observation, making connections, and even a bit of intuition."
He paused, his tone turning a little self-deprecating. "It's just that most people who use the occult as a front are really running scams, muddying the waters."
Hiyori Shiina nodded lightly at his words. A little more agreement showed in her violet eyes, and the faint distance in her expression seemed to recede.
Hugging the book to her chest, she said softly, "You make a good point.
They both require careful observation and rigorous thought. It's just that... they have different goals and ways of verifying their conclusions."
One searched for an objective chain of evidence, while the other interpreted subjective symbolism; at their core, though, they had a curious connection.
The two of them stood between the shelves, in a quiet space where only dust motes danced in the shafts of light, and chatted casually.
Their conversation went from Edgar Allan Poe's pioneering methods of deduction and his dark, ornate prose to the logic behind different Tarot Card spreads and the mythological archetypes behind the cards.
From Edogawa Ranpo's Japanese-style classical mysteries to the history of Crystal Ball divination and its psychological explanations...
Neither made any effort to force the conversation. They simply followed their overlapping interests wherever they led.
Now and then, they fell into a brief silence. It didn't feel awkward; instead, it was comfortably quiet.
As they talked, they naturally learned each other's names and classes.
"Linmu Fujimiya, Class 1-D," Lin Mu introduced himself in an even tone.
"Hiyori Shiina, Class 1-C," Hiyori Shiina replied softly, giving a slight nod.
They were in different classes, but shared a similar introverted, solitary nature. And in that moment, they had unexpectedly discovered a curious connection over a niche branch of their reading interests.
They weren't exactly close friends yet, but they had become the sort of special acquaintances who found each other likable and could talk easily.
"I enjoyed talking with you."
After about twenty minutes, Lin Mu checked the time on his phone and decided it was about time to go.
He was going to head back and continue his "doing-nothing campaign."
As he spoke, he casually pulled an unopened strawberry-flavored lollipop from his uniform pocket and offered it to Hiyori Shiina.
"Here. A little gift for someone I... 'hit it off with'?"
He smiled and added, "I usually carry candy around to keep my energy up. Strawberry should be pretty good."
Hiyori Shiina looked at the pink lollipop in his hand, and clear surprise flashed through her violet eyes.
She stared blankly at the candy, then looked up at Lin Mu, seeming unused to accepting gifts from strangers, even after they had just had a pleasant conversation—especially a childish snack like this.
She hesitated. The faintest blush seemed to touch her cheeks, though it might have been a trick of the light. In the end, she reached out.
Her fingertips brushed the ones Lin Mu had extended with the candy, then darted back as though burned. She closed her hand around the lollipop and spoke so softly it was almost inaudible:
"Thank you... I, I don't eat these very often. But... I'll take it today."
She lowered her eyes to the candy in her palm, her long silver eyelashes veiling her expression.
"I hope you enjoy the book."
Seeing that she looked a little awkward but didn't seem to mind, Lin Mu's smile grew a little more genuine.
He waved casually in farewell. "Well, I'll get going. Maybe I'll see you in the library again."
Then he turned and walked at an unhurried pace between the rows of tall bookshelves, heading for the library entrance.
His short white hair caught the afternoon sunlight slanting in through the windows, a soft glimmer passing through it as he gradually disappeared into the library's shifting backdrop of shadow and light.
Hiyori Shiina remained where she was, the copy of The Murders in the Rue Morgue held against her chest.
She gripped the strawberry-flavored lollipop tightly in her palm, still warm from Lin Mu's fingertips.
Watching the direction in which Lin Mu had disappeared, she lightly bit her lower lip. A complicated emotion flickered through her violet eyes, one she herself might not have been able to fully understand.
What an... interesting person. She thought to herself.
He was nothing like the usual rumors about Class D's chaos and laziness.
Calm, a little mysterious, knowledgeable about all sorts of obscure things, and... surprisingly easy to get along with.
Maybe... he would be the first person she met at Advanced Nurturing High School she could call a... "friend"?
Lin Mu stepped out of the library and was once again embraced by the bright afternoon sun.
He rubbed the corner of his mouth, a little stiff from holding a smile, and crunched the last bit of candy in his mouth.
Fresh air filled his lungs, carrying the scent of greenery.
Thinking about their brief encounter and conversation, he found the faintest smile tugging at his lips.
Well... little interludes like that in everyday life.
They weren't bad at all.
He'd met a classmate who shared his interests and seemed to get along with him, too.
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