After the frantic scramble for bread at the school store was over,
Sunohara, apparently having lost his memory, grumbled about why no one had woken him up at lunchtime,
while the rest of us silently handed him some bread.
When Kyo approached after seeing that,
Sunohara seemed to recall what had happened earlier and
quietly stiffened.
"Just you wait..."
"For what?"
"...It’s nothing."
And so, amid all the commotion, a peaceful stretch of time passed.
Before we knew it, school was over.
"Hah, I’m bored..."
Sunohara, who had been slumped over his desk, slowly raised his head as he spoke.
"You’ve been sleeping the whole time. What are you bored for?"
Okazaki looked at him as though he were pathetic.
"No, I wasn’t sleeping. I was making a plan."
"A plan?"
Sunohara was making a plan?
Surely he wasn’t plotting something like escaping through a window again?
"Shh, not here. The class rep might hear us."
Ah. So he really had meant that "just you wait."
"I think you’ll just get hit again..."
"Yeah, this time he might get knocked out with one finger."
"Why are getting hit and passing out a given?!"
After getting worked up for a moment, Sunohara looked around him,
then lowered his voice and spoke carefully.
"This time, I’m going to be intelligent about it."
"Intelligent? You?"
Ignoring Okazaki’s incredulous stare,
Sunohara continued.
"First, this place is dangerous, so let’s discuss it in my dorm room."
It looked like something big would happen tomorrow, too.
"Sorry, but I think I’ll check out the school library."
I wasn’t particularly keen on plotting something against Kyo, either.
And it was a good opportunity to test out my [Learning] skill.
So I decided to visit the school library.
"No need to apologize."
Okazaki waved a hand as though it were nothing.
"See you later."
"Heh heh. Look forward to tomorrow, Morita."
Sunohara’s voice sent a slight chill down my spine,
but I pretended not to notice, packed my bag, and left the classroom.
"Should I at least warn Kyo...?"
But she seemed to have already gone home. She was nowhere to be seen, neither in the classroom nor the hallway.
There was no way to contact her, either.
I resolved to make sure I told her when I saw her tomorrow.
The halls after school were quiet, perhaps because the entrance ceremony would be held tomorrow.
System, where’s the library here?
[It is on the third floor of the main building.]
[I will guide you along the recommended route.]
Please.
I slowly followed the recommended route displayed before my eyes.
The halls, which had been packed with students only a few hours ago,
had become unbelievably quiet once school was over.
A learning skill, huh...
Honestly, during class, the atmosphere had still been awkward,
and I’d been paying attention to this and that, so I hadn’t properly seen the skill’s effects.
Could someone as dim as me change, even a little?
[Excessive self-criticism reconfirmed.]
"..."
It felt as though it had needlessly crushed my expectations.
As I considered what I should say back to that self-criticism this time, I had already arrived in front of the library.
"Come to think of it, is it even open right now?"
I wondered if I had come here without thinking it through.
Since it was after school, perhaps the librarian had already gone home.
Was this a wasted trip...?
With a sigh, I placed my hand on the library’s doorknob.
Please be open.
Creak—
"...It’s open."
I cautiously peered inside, and a silent library, utterly devoid of any sign of people, greeted me.
"Excuse me..."
Was no one here?
Had the librarian stepped away for a moment?
Or had they forgotten to lock the door?
"I should go get the key in a little while."
If the librarian had forgotten, I could just lock up when I left.
I slowly entered the library and looked around.
The librarian must have kept it well organized; the books on the shelves were arranged neatly, without a thing out of place.
The center of the room had more space devoted to desks and chairs for studying than to bookshelves.
"Maybe I’ll read one of the novels I put in my inventory."
I bought a novel the system had recommended.
It was convenient that small things, like books or snacks, went straight into my inventory as soon as I bought them.
My footsteps echoed softly through the quiet library.
I slowly walked toward a desk.
As I neared it,
I caught sight of the edge of a curtain swaying, as though a window were open.
My gaze naturally turned in that direction.
By the window, where the afternoon sunlight streamed in long and warm.
There...
in that still scene, surrounded on all sides by books,
the first friend I had made in this world was reading barefoot.
"...Kotomi?"
Ichinose Kotomi was quietly reading a book beneath the afternoon sunlight filtering through the curtains.
The moment I saw her like that,
I didn’t want to disturb that peaceful scene for no reason.
Without realizing it, I gripped the novel in my hand tightly.
...
The words would not easily leave my mouth.
Was it because it had been so long since I’d seen her?
Or because I felt sorry that, even after coming to school, I hadn’t sought her out to greet her first?
Guilt and gladness I couldn’t make sense of mixed together,
and I could only stare blankly at Kotomi.
How many minutes passed?
Even the regular sound of pages turning came to a stop.
Kotomi took her eyes off the book and slowly raised her head.
As though she were still immersed in the world of the book, she blinked a few times, her gaze seeming unfocused,
before finally turning her eyes toward me.
Kotomi met my gaze,
blinked two or three times,
tilted her head,
looked at me for a moment,
then seemed slightly surprised.
"...Shu...?"
Suppressing my awkwardness and happiness, I slowly opened my mouth.
"It’s been a long time... Kotomi."
"Mm..."
Kotomi blinked a few more times before quietly closing her book.
"And... call me Kotomi..."
"Ah... Kotomi."
Only then did Kotomi give the faintest smile, as if reassured by my answer.
A fragment of the dictionary Kotomi had given me as a gift, which I had carefully placed atop my dorm desk,
and the word friend suddenly came to mind.
A girl who was quiet outwardly like me, though her mind was noisy.
A girl who had quietly accepted me as a friend into her own world.
A girl who, like me, was shy around strangers
and found it difficult to talk with people.
Was it because I felt a sense of kinship with her?
Even now, I didn’t really know why we had become friends.
But when I was with Kotomi,
I was comfortable, even without speaking.
Maybe that alone had been enough for us to become friends.
"...Shu, why does your expression look so stiff...?"
"Huh?"
The unexpected observation made a stupid sound slip out of me.
"When we first met at the bookstore... you looked like you were having a hard time... but you still smiled when you saw me."
[Analysis: [Poker Face] currently active.]
"..."
"But now... you aren’t smiling for me."
My [Poker Face] was definitely active.
I was even smiling naturally as I looked at Kotomi.
But did Kotomi know that smile was a fabricated one?
Would it be all right to show her how pathetic and awkward I was?
At least,
not to Kotomi,
who accepted who I had been.
With a trembling heart, I carefully deactivated [Poker Face].
[Poker Face deactivated.]
As the muscles in my face relaxed, the smile I had been forcing disappeared.
Kotomi looked at me without saying a word.
"Would it... be all right... if I’m like this?"
"Mm... it’s all right."
Kotomi nodded with a very small smile.
Without realizing it,
the tension drained from my shoulders, which had been stiff with strain.
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