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Volume 7, Chapter 2: Notice of Parting and Reunion Part 2

The library at the start of the lunch break is surprisingly empty. Since food is prohibited inside the library, we can\'t use it as a place to have our meals. Right now, it appears only a few people are present so it looks like I\'ll be able to go through the process of returning the book smoothly.

"I\'m already here so I might as well borrow another book...".

Whether I borrow one book or two books, the trouble of returning them will be the same either way after all. Before I return the book, I suppose I\'ll look for a book I\'m interested in reading.

While holding \'Farewell, My Lovely\' in one hand, I went over to the Mystery corner.

Since it\'s going to be this way, I might as well borrow one or two detective themed books.

It would best if I could borrow another one of Raymond Chandler\'s. Upon arriving at the Mystery corner, I spotted a lone female student. Struggling to reach out with her arms to retrieve a book that\'s placed higher on the bookshelf than her height. The book is located at this strange height where one moment it seems like she\'d be able to reach it yet being unable to reach it the next moment.

Since it appeared as though she\'d be able to reach it, she seems reluctant to use the step stool provided.

I suppose it\'s like this whether you\'re a boy or a girl.

The book she\'s trying to grab hold of is \'Wuthering Heights\' by Emily Bronte.

It\'s a novel written by the Bronte sisters and is well-known in the literary world. No, while the synopsis alone may make it seem like a mystery, the actual genre of it would have to be romance, wouldn\'t it? I then reached out to grab the book "Wuthering Heights", which the girl was also trying to reach. "I may have done something unnecessary but...". At that moment, I realized that I recognized the female student beside me. "You\'re Class C\'s...".

Shiina Hiyori.

She was a student who appeared together with Ryuuen before us a while ago. After quietly looking at my face, it seems she also similarly recognized me. "If I recall you\'re...Ayanokouji-kun, was it?" she asked. It seems she\'s remembered my name. Considering the strange manner of contact we\'ve made with each other I suppose it was inevitable. "Yeah. For now here...". I handed her the book.

"Thank you very much". "Do you like it? Bronte". "Personally, I neither like nor dislike anything. But the book was in the wrong place, genre wise, so I just thought to return it to its proper position" she replied. "I see". It seems she was trying to do the same thing I was. "By the way, the book you have with you...is "Farewell, My Lovely" right? That\'s a masterpiece" she told me.

And with that, it seemed something lit up in Shiina\'s eyes. "I managed to borrow it from a friend today". "You\'re certainly in luck then, it seems Raymond Chandler is very popular amongst the 2nd-year students and there\'s been a battle over this book for a while. I\'ve been wanting to read it for a while now, but I wasn\'t able to find it here today either" she continued. "I seem to have done something bad. Monopolizing it" I replied to her.

"I don\'t mind. I\'ve read it before after all. And besides, while looking for that book, I was blessed to run into another one. It seems the library in this school has a large collection of books. I might graduate before I could read them all" she said while holding the Bronte book in her hands and slightly smiling. "I see, that might be so". There is indeed a large amount of books stored here. Even if you don\'t read one particular book, you can easily kill time in here.

"Sorry for disturbing you". This is a valuable lunch break. She came here instead of eating lunch, she\'s surely unwilling to let a student from another class bother her during this time. And so I decide to leave.

"Umm...are you looking for another book to borrow by any chance? If it\'s only about looking for a book to borrow, I would be glad to lend a hand. Since you\'re already here, wouldn\'t you rather borrow another book?" Shiina asks me as she stops me from leaving.

"I thought I\'d leave it for another time---what are you doing?" I asked her. Shiina had already taken her eyes off me and was looking around in the mystery corner of the library. "Have you already read the Dorothy L. Sayers series?" she asks me. "No. I\'ve read Christie, but not Dorothy yet". "If so---how about "Whose Body?" I recommend it. Also the Lord Peter series, if you read one of it you\'ll surely want to complete the series too". Saying that, she pulled the books off the shelves and presented them to me.

"Umm". The sudden development left me bewildered. I was left uncertain of how to respond to her. "I\'m sorry for speaking out like this, did I annoy you?" she asks me. I was not particularly interested, but I also was not going to refuse her here. And besides, borrowing a book is free anyways so I suppose I\'ll go along. "Sorry. I was a bit surprised right now. But since I\'m already here I\'ll borrow them I guess" I told her. "If you\'d like". I don\'t know what she meant by this, but Shiina faced me with a happy expression and asked. "I don\'t think it\'s lunchtime just yet. If you\'re ok with me...would you like to eat together with me" she asks me.

"Eh?". From recommending books, to a development I did not expect. Rather than a chance encounter, I should assume she received instructions to do this from Ryuuen. Whether I refuse or accept her invitation, the impression Shiina would gain of me is the same. Whatever path I choose, I would inevitably be marked as gray by her. "There\'s no one in Class C who likes reading novels, so I have no one I could talk to".

Perhaps she just could not stand by silence, but Shiina said that to me.

"This won\'t be a problem? Right now Class C is in an uproar looking for someone from Class D right? I think I\'m being counted as one of the suspects here".

Shiina probably heard I\'m the one behind Karuizawa and Horikita and is likely trying to confirm it. If not, the chances of running into me here are infinitely low. It\'s extremely likely she was sent to make contact with me here. In a sense, she\'s an even creepier existence than Ryuuen. Because to me, Shiina Hiyori is a completely unknown quantity. I haven\'t even noticed her in the previous exams.

I\'m sure I could dig up some information on her by using Karuizawa, but now that she\'s being targeted by Ryuuen that option is off the table. Since I only have a small community of people I can use, I don\'t possess the means to investigate Shiina at the moment. Keisei and Haruka, of course, are not useful for gathering information on other classes. I could use Hirata, but he\'s more or less neutral. And since I still don\'t know how Hirata feels about me, or how he views me, I don\'t want to rely on him for this. At least not with this timing.

"Please don\'t worry. I was only making a move formally for Ryuuen-kun. From the start, I was never interested in things like conflict anyways. Or is it a problem for you to talk to me?".

"No. If there\'s no problem on your end, I have none either".

"That\'s a relief, I would hate for classes to fight each other over such trivial things like that. I believe making friends is the most important thing".

It can\'t be helped. The school system was set up like this from the beginning. And besides, most of the students still interact with each other as usual. Since Hirata and Kushida seem to be especially popular, they will simply break through your personal walls to make \'friends\'.

"Shall we leave then? It seems time is passing us by".

I then glanced at the clock in the library.

"Please let me finish borrowing this book first".

Who would have expected that I would have this kind of development in the library?