Everyone began searching among the shelves.
But the search took longer than they had imagined.
Rows of book spines passed before their eyes, the densely packed names seemingly endless. Emilia and Betty checked them, taking down any books that might be relevant. Julius and Ram split up to search as well, while Anastasia stood beside a shelf, quickly scanning the names.
But there was nothing.
"Natsuki Subaru" was nowhere to be found.
Natsuki Subaru stood where he was, watching everyone check the books one by one, then put them back one by one. The unease in his heart sank deeper little by little.
Could Louis have been lying to him?
No.
That wasn't right.
If that guy could resist Cognitive Obstruction's ability, he wouldn't have needed to reveal any of this information, so he could only have genuinely believed that this thing existed.
Then where was the problem?
Natsuki Subaru lowered his head to look at his hands.
His name.
Natsuki Subaru.
He abruptly raised his head.
"Wait."
Everyone stopped what they were doing.
Betty immediately looked at him.
"Subaru?"
Natsuki Subaru swept his gaze around.
"Does anyone have paper and a pen I can write with?"
Anastasia quickly took out a small notepad and handed him a pen as well.
"What are you going to write?"
Natsuki Subaru accepted the paper and pen, looked down at the blank page, and paused for a moment.
Then, stroke by stroke, he wrote three characters.
Natsuki Subaru.
They were not the characters of this world.
The square, angular strokes appeared on the paper, so unfamiliar that the others nearby instinctively looked over.
Emilia blinked softly.
"Is that... Subaru's name?"
"Yeah."
Natsuki Subaru held up the sheet so everyone could see it clearly.
"This is my name too."
He offered no further explanation, merely pointing at the three characters on the paper and keeping his voice as steady as he could.
"If what Louis said is true, what's written on that book might not be characters you recognize, but these shapes instead."
He paused.
"Please help me find a book with these same three characters."
Betty stared at the characters on the paper for a good while, then nodded gently.
"Betty has memorized them."
Emilia also studied the sheet intently, as though trying to commit every stroke to memory.
"I've memorized them too."
Shaula leaned in closest, nearly pressing her face against the paper, and pondered, as though she had seen them somewhere before.
"This is Master's name?"
"Right."
Looking at how excessively serious she was, Natsuki Subaru couldn't help saying:
"Don't eat the paper."
"Shaula doesn't eat writing."
Shaula immediately shook her head.
Ram glanced at the characters on the paper and said flatly:
"I can't read them at all, but their shapes certainly are strange."
"Let's not critique the lettering at a time like this, Miss Ram."
"Is Barusu's handwriting ugly?"
"Don't attack my calligraphy skills at a critical moment."
The brief banter eased the heaviness weighing on the library a little.
Soon, everyone spread out again.
This time, rather than searching for the otherworldly characters corresponding to the pronunciation "Natsuki Subaru," they checked each book against the shapes on the paper.
Time passed little by little.
Time passed little by little.
Then Shaula's voice suddenly rang out from the other side of a shelf.
"Master."
Natsuki Subaru looked up.
Shaula stood before a towering bookshelf, holding a book in her hands.
She did not loudly boast that she had found it. She looked down at the cover, then at the paper in her hand. Still seemingly uncertain, she checked back and forth several times, even holding the book much more gently than usual.
Only when Natsuki Subaru walked over did Shaula slowly hold the book out to him.
"This."
"It's the same as Master's name."
Natsuki Subaru looked down.
Three characters sat quietly on the cover.
Natsuki Subaru.
At that moment, all the sounds around him seemed to fade into the distance.
Standing beside him, Betty asked softly:
"Did you find it?"
Natsuki Subaru let out a soft breath.
"Yeah."
He reached out and took the book from Shaula's hands.
"We found it."
Shaula did not let go immediately.
Briefly puzzled, Natsuki Subaru looked up at her.
Shaula looked down at the book. The usual boisterous sparkle was, unusually, absent from her eyes. Instead, she seemed to be trying hard to confirm something very important to her.
"Is this the book that can bring Master back?"
Natsuki Subaru's fingers paused slightly.
Then he nodded gently.
"Yes."
Only then did Shaula slowly let go.
"That's good, then. Shaula was the first to find it, you know."
She spoke softly, then stood there fidgeting, like a little girl waiting for praise.
"Shaula found Master's name."
Natsuki Subaru looked at her and thanked her.
"Thank you, Shaula."
Shaula blinked.
After being thanked so earnestly, she seemed a little unsure what to do instead. She raised a hand to touch her hair, unconsciously twirling it into a loop. The corners of her mouth gradually rose into a somewhat awkward, somewhat happy smile.
"Shaula remembered it this time."
"Remembered what?"
"Master's name."
Shaula looked at him and answered in an utterly serious tone.
"Next time, Shaula will definitely be able to find it too."