A Promise at the Library

The library after school was half as noisy as usual. With a week left until midterms, most students were holed up in their dorms memorizing material. The cafeteria and shopping center were both less crowded than normal.

Two people sat at the table by the window, each reading their own book. The occasional sound of a page turning was especially clear in the empty reading room.

Kiryu Yume turned The D-Slope Murder Case to the final page of its third story. When he closed the book, his fingertips lingered on the cover for an extra second. During that second, he wondered whether he should speak first.

The sound of pages turning across from him stopped as well. Shiina Hiyori looked up, her gaze passing over the spine of her book and landing on his face. "How far did you get?"

"Psychological Test."

"What did you think?"

"I figured it out when the culprit was revealed."

Shiina did not respond immediately. She closed The Black Death Mansion Murder Case in her hands and set it on the table, tapping the cover twice with her fingertips.

"You figured it out, or you guessed?"

"...Figured it out. There was a detail early on about his dream, mentioning where a pair of scissors was placed. Later, it repeated twice that scissors couldn't possibly have been placed there. I thought it was too deliberate for that information to come up, and when I got to the end, it was exactly what I thought."

The corner of Shiina's mouth lifted slightly. "You're the first person who's told me they figured it out."

Kiryu Yume froze for a moment. The book in his hands was not set down properly and slipped, but he caught it again, knocking his fingertips against the spine.

"No one's ever told you that?"

"No one's ever talked to me about it." She opened her book again, her fingers brushing along the edge of the pages. Her fingertips paused on a crease before she turned it.

"People in our class don't really read this kind of thing. Not many people borrow mysteries from the library either. Most borrow one, read two pages, and return it. When they bring them back, the pages look brand-new, without even a crease."

He pushed The D-Slope Murder Case to the middle of the table. "So who do you usually read?"

"Edogawa Ranpo, Seishi Yokomizo, Matsumoto Seicho." After listing those three names, Shiina paused. Her eyes shifted slightly toward the upper left before she added, "And Yumeno Kyusaku."

"Yumeno Kyusaku?"

"The Hell of Brains. Have you read it?"

"No."

"Then don't read it yet."

"Why?"

"Once you do, you won't be able to get into anything else." Her expression was serious, not joking. Her chin rested on her wrist as she looked at him over the top of her book.

"After I finished that one, I didn't touch mysteries for over a month. Every book I picked up felt bland."

Kiryu Yume gave a laugh. "And you're still recommending it to me."

"Finish the short stories first. You can't get through a novel right now. If you start one before exams, they'll be here by the time you're halfway through. By the time you put it down and pick it up again, you'll have forgotten all the character relationships from the beginning."

He could not explain why, but being seen through by her did not make him uncomfortable. He turned back to the table of contents, glanced at the remaining stories, and ran his finger down the titles until it stopped on the last one.

"How old were you when you first read Ranpo?"

"First year of middle school."

"Which one?"

"The Human Chair."

"Wasn't that scary?"

"It was." Shiina turned her gaze toward the window, fixing it on some point on the glass.

"But you remember the scary things. Things that don't hurt or itch, you forget as soon as you finish them. If you asked me now what unremarkable books I read in my first year of middle school, I couldn't name a single one. But I remember every scene in The Human Chair."

As she said that, the light outside happened to slant across her face. Her silver-gray hair was outlined in a warm glow, and the shadows of her lashes fell across the bridge of her nose. Kiryu Yume was very much like.

"The Astrology Murders."

Shiina's eyes lit up. "Shimada Soji."

"Yeah."

"The central trick in that one has been copied by a lot of people."

"I know. After reading the original, every imitation feels like it's missing something. Once you break apart the structural elements, they fall apart. The original framework holds up. The imitations never do."

Shiina nodded. The motion was slightly quicker than usual. She pulled The Black Death Mansion Murder Case out from beneath the table and set it on top, but did not push it toward him right away. Her fingers rested on the cover for two seconds.

Kiryu Yume noticed the hesitation. He did not urge her, nor did he reach for the book.

"When are you free?"

"...What?"

"Midterms, right? After they're over, if you finish The D-Slope Murder Case, we can trade books. I just finished this one last week. I wanted someone to talk about it with, but I couldn't find anyone."

She pushed The Black Death Mansion Murder Case toward him, her fingers sliding over the spine before withdrawing.

Kiryu Yume looked down at the cover. Gold lettering on black, with a crooked tower drawn beside the title. He reached out and took the book, opened the cover to check the publication details, then closed it again. The paper edges were slightly rough. It was not a new book; it had been read many times. There was a thin crease on the spine.

"I'll return it before the exams are over."

"No rush." She lowered her gaze back to her own book and turned a page. "Besides, no one but you can talk about this with me."

She did not speak again after that, but the atmosphere had changed. Kiryu Yume lowered his head and continued reading, yet fewer of the words went in. His eyes moved along the lines, but the content never entered his mind. A small part of his attention remained on the person across from him.

For around forty minutes afterward, neither of them spoke. There was only the occasional rustle of pages and the occasional whisper of wind through the leaves outside.

Near four-thirty, Kiryu Yume closed his book. He rubbed the back of his neck. After looking down for so long, his cervical vertebrae gave a faint crack. He did not stand immediately. First, he looked at the person across from him. Shiina Hiyori's eyes were still on the page, but her page-turning had slowed. She was near the end. He waited until she finished the final page before rising, the legs of his chair scraping against the floor.

Shiina looked up. "Leaving?"

"Yeah. Going back to memorize history."

"History?" She drew out the last syllable, unnaturally. She normally did not speak with trailing tones.

"What?"

"Nothing." She lowered her head and turned a page, but did not immediately read it. Her gaze remained on the page for roughly two seconds before focusing.

"I just wanted to say I'll be in this spot again the day after tomorrow."

Kiryu Yume slipped The Black Death Mansion Murder Case into his bag. As he pulled the zipper shut, he paused. "Oh, right. Do you have any short story collections you recommend? I want to change things up after exams."

Shiina thought for a moment. She picked up a pen, spun it once between her fingers, then put it down. "Agatha Christie's Deadly Grass."

"Is it good?"

"It's not the best, but it's good for after exams. It doesn't take much thought, and finishing one story makes for a good break. The stories aren't connected, so even if you put it down and pick it up the next day, you won't lose the thread."

"I'll remember that."

When he walked out of the library, he had an Oguri Mushitaro book in his hands. At the entrance, he looked back once. Shiina Hiyori was still sitting in that spot, her silver-gray hair hanging down on either side of the book. One hand rested on the spine, her fingers not turning the page. She was looking out the window.

Kiryu Yume crossed Keyaki Shopping Center toward the dorms. There were fewer people than usual on the shopping center's first floor, with only two or three people lining up outside the milk tea shop. He had planned to walk straight past, but the corner of his eye caught a familiar figure inside. Kushida Kikyo stood at the counter with her head lowered, searching through her bag.

He did not stop, but the milk tea shop door was pushed open. Kushida leaned half her body out, holding a cup of milk tea with the straw already bitten flat. When she saw him, she smiled, her eyes curving into crescents. "Kiryu-kun, what a coincidence."

She came out two steps and stopped in front of him, standing around half a step closer than normal social distance.

"Didn't you go study today?"

"I got tired of studying. Came out for some air."

She tilted her head. "Oh, right, do you drink milk tea? I'll treat you."

Kiryu Yume looked at her, and then he sensed it. He could feel the object's shape and position, as if he knew someone was standing beside him even with his eyes closed. A voice recorder, running in the left pocket of her jacket.

"No, thanks. I still need to go to the convenience store."

"Don't turn me down. You didn't drink it when I treated you last time either." She had already turned toward the counter, then looked back at him with a smile. "It'll be quick. What flavor do you want?"

Kiryu Yume stood where he was and counted two seconds. The first was spent deciding whether he should stay. The second was spent deciding what information he could get by staying. Then he heard himself say, "...The house special is fine."

When Kushida returned after ordering, she stood beside him, her shoulder nearly brushing his arm. She was close enough for him to smell the sweet peach scent on her. Her tone was natural. "Is Class A's workload way heavier than Class D's?"

"About the same."

"That's nice. Our class has no atmosphere like that at all." She sighed and patted her chest with one hand.

"Chabashira-sensei chewed Sudo-kun out last week for sleeping in class. Sudo-kun talked back, and then he spent the entire afternoon running laps. Afterward, he came back and collapsed on his desk, unable to move at all."

Her tone was light as she spoke, her eyes narrowing slightly, with a faint bitter smile at the corners of her lips.

Kiryu Yume took the milk tea handed to him by the clerk and had a sip. It was sickeningly sweet. "Too sweet."

"Sweet tastes good. I think this place is on the sweeter side too." She took a big sip herself.

Kiryu Yume held the milk tea without rushing to take a second sip. He leaned half a step closer to her and lowered his voice to a level only she could hear.

"Kushida-mom, isn't your voice recorder tired?"

Kushida's smile froze for an instant. The pause was brief, around half a second. The curve of her lips remained, but the brightness in her eyes dimmed. Then she smiled again, wider than before. "Kiryu-kun, what are you talking about~?"

Her voice was as sweet as before, but her fingers tightened around the milk tea cup, her knuckles whitening before relaxing again. She lowered her eyes and took a sip, as though buying herself two seconds to reset her expression.

Kiryu Yume noticed. He smiled. "Nothing. The milk tea is delicious."

Kushida raised her eyes and looked at him. That look was different from before. She was not sizing him up; she was reassessing the person before her. Her smile was still there, but it now sat differently on her face.

She did not pursue the subject. "By the way, are you heading back to the dorms now?"

"Yeah."

"Then let's go together. I'm heading back too."

The two walked back side by side. Kushida talked quite a bit along the way: which store's black tea was bad, how annoying next week's exams were, how she wanted to buy a newly released facial cleanser over the weekend. It was all ordinary, harmless conversation. As she spoke, she occasionally tilted her head to look at him. Her ponytail swung just enough to brush through the air a few inches above his arm. But Kiryu Yume noticed that she tilted her head slightly less often than before.

The voice recorder was still running. She had not turned it off.

Kiryu Yume drank his milk tea without saying a single unnecessary word. Near the shopping center exit, he stopped. "I'm going to the convenience store to buy a few things."

Kushida stopped too. "Then I'll head back first."

"Yeah."

She smiled. "Come hang out with me again next time."

She turned and left, her steps light, no different from any ordinary girl's.

The sky had darkened halfway by the time Kiryu Yume pushed open the convenience store door. He nearly collided with someone about to enter.

Kamuro Masumi stepped half a pace aside with a shopping bag in hand. After seeing that it was him, she paused for around half a second. Then, as if she had seen nothing at all, she turned sideways to pass him and headed toward the convenience store entrance.

"Kamuro."

She stopped without looking back. The line of her shoulders tightened, then relaxed. Her fingers tightened around the shopping bag handle, her knuckles whitening, then relaxed again.

Kiryu Yume turned around and glanced at her shopping bag. The corner of an instant noodle cup had poked through one side. Beside it were several bottles of barley tea, and at the bottom was a pack of red cherry tomatoes bearing a discount sticker. He did not even realize the corner of his mouth had moved until it had already curved upward.

"What are you laughing at?"

"Not laughing."

Her tone was hard as stone, but she turned around. Her eyes fell on his face first, then quickly shifted away, then came back again. The pale pink at the roots of her ears spread toward their tips without any sign of stopping.

Kiryu Yume leaned half a step closer, near enough to see the tips of her teeth biting her lower lip, turning it faintly pale. She seemed not to realize she was biting it. He lowered his voice until only she could hear.

"Kamuro-mom, have you eaten?"

Kamuro's shoulders stiffened. In that instant, her breathing stopped. Her eyelashes did not blink. Her whole body seemed to have been put on pause.

Then she turned her head toward him, her expression like someone whose tail had been stepped on. Her brows knitted together and her lips pulled downward, but the tips of her ears were already scarlet. The red burned from their tips all the way to their roots, and even her neck began to flush pink. "...Have you had enough?"

Her voice was half a note lower than usual, and the ending drifted slightly.

"If you haven't eaten, I'll treat you."

"No."

She glared at him. Disgust and irritation churned together in that look, with something beneath them that he could not identify. She gritted her teeth, pressed her tongue against the roof of her mouth, and made an extremely quiet sound. "...Urusai."

She turned and left. After taking two steps, she paused. Without looking back, she raised the hand holding the bag, spread her fingers, then curled them together again before continuing on. Her steps were a little faster than before.

Kiryu Yume stood where he was, watching her back turn around the corner. A black hooded jacket, a low ponytail swaying behind her head. Her ponytail flicked once as she turned, then vanished.

It was nearly seven by the time he returned to the dorm. Kiryu Yume placed The Black Death Mansion Murder Case and The D-Slope Murder Case side by side on his desk and sat there for a while.

He remembered Shiina Hiyori's tone when she said, "Besides, no one but you can talk about this with me."

He opened The Black Death Mansion Murder Case.