The time has come, friends! The time to embark on our final route, with one Nageki Fujishiro. He spends his time in the library, so we shall too, signing up for the library staff at the start of the year.
It’s on the fifth floor, though, so at least the view is nice. Sitting here twiddling my thumbs is bad for me. I wish someone would come ask me something.
…
…
…
There’s nobirdie here.
“I wonder if it would be okay to close early…? Aaah, I wish I could just spread my wings and fly away!”
The protagonist’s flight of fancy is dispelled by a quiet, dour voice.
“Planning to jump off the building? The window there is rather good for that, miss receptionist.”
“Nageki!? When did you…?”
“I’ve been here all along.”
I never noticed… he’s almost as bad as the doctor.
“You’re thinking I have no presence, right? It’s okay. I already know that.”
Stealthy and psychic.
“You certainly seem to like this place.”
“Yes. Is that a problem?”
“Umm…”
We can suggest he should go outside, or acknowledge that books are pretty nice. No need to start things off on the wrong foot.
“… they are.”
“Why don’t you join the library staff, Nageki? You could read whatever you want.”
“I already read whatever I want.”
… touche.
“You shouldn’t slack off, miss receptionist.”
And with that, he takes a book and is gone between the stacks. What a strange bird…
Certainly the frostiest start we’ve hit upon yet. The indifference is almost worse than dislike.
A little over a month later, it’s time for the sports festival. We don’t much go for sports, though, so we slip away to the library.
Aah, much better!
“… it’s nice that the AC is on, but do we really need it? Nobirdie’s in here today.”
“It’s not on.”
”!”
Nageki’s sitting off in a corner, reading.
“It’s you, Nageki!”
“It’s you, miss Thielle.”
Woah! He called me by my name.
“They don’t turn the air conditioning on until June. It just feels cold compared to outside.”
“Oh, is that it?”
It would be a little strange to start spending money to cool a barely-used library in May.
“Anyway, aren’t you going to participate in the festival, Nageki?”
“Aren’t you?”
“Eep!”
Nageki’s got quite the beak on him, for one so quiet.
“I don’t like it outside. So I stay in here. That’s all.”
“Hmm… I see.”
The protagonist takes a seat beside Nageki, getting settled in.
“…
…
…
Why are you sitting next to me?”
“Do you mind?”
“…… not really.”
The awkward silence descends on the library again.
“U-um, listen, our class president got duped into being a cheerleader, and…”
“……”
“S-sorry…”
“…… No. Keep going.”
And so I spent the day telling him about the festival and whatnot while he read. I don’t know how much he was listening to me, but he didn’t seem to mind… I think?
He did ask to continue.
A few months later, Tanabata arrives. As usual, we visit the bamboo tree, but Nageki doesn’t seem to have hung a wish. We hang one of our own and head home.
Sometimes it seemed long and sometimes it seemed short, but either way, it’s summer now! I need to check all the assigned books before I go home. There will be a lot of students coming in to borrow their summer reading pretty soon!
Am I the only one? Well, that just makes my job easier. … but I’m probably not alone. I’ve seen this situation before.
It does seem to be a recurring theme.
“Nageki?”
No reply. Maybe he’s not here.
“Are you here, Nage—”
“Hello!”
“You’re rather noisy today. Did you want something?”
“Nope! I was just wondering if you were here.”
“Of course. I’m always here.”
He replies from his corner, in a somewhat annoyed tone of voice. Oh! The book he’s holding…
“That’s assigned reading this semester! Is it any good?”
“… not really. I’m almost done with it. It forces its ‘safe’ ethical viewpoint on the reader. Like all assigned reading. The whole concept is inane. Why force everyone to read the same books?”
“It is pretty boring most of the time.”
“What do you like to read?”
Nageki turns to look at the protagonist, faint curiosity in his expression.
“Huh?”
“You volunteered to work here. So you must like books. I was wondering what to read next.”
“So you want me to recommend something?”
He nods.
We can choose to recommend either Night on the Galactic Railroad, a classic of Japanese children’s fantasy, or OreHato (My Little Nicobar Can’t Be This Cute!), which, well. Since we have at least a little bit of taste, we’re going for the former.
“What about Night on the Galactic Railroad? I liked it.”
“… too stereotypical.”
“Oh! Sorry. You’ve already read it, I imagine.”
“Yes. Though… I liked it, too.”
He might be smiling, ever so slightly.
And so I spent the afternoon working in the library, occasionally exchanging a word with Nageki. Time flows slowly by. This sort of thing is nice, too.
The protagonist may be a hot-blooded hunter-gatherer, but she can appreciate a bit of quiet time.
Choosing not to get our job, our summer is quiet again, until the festival comes.
I’ll invite Nageki. He needs to get out more! … but I don’t know his address or phone number. I’d go look in the library if the school weren’t already closed.
Now that I think about it, I only know him as “the depressed freshman who’s always in the library”. I’d like to learn more about him… though, he’d probably never tell me anything if I asked.
Aah, going out is too much trouble. I think I’ll have some udon and go to bed!
Well, there’s worse ways to spend an evening.
A week or so later, even though school’s still out, we’re called upon to staff the library.
There’s nobirdie here, as usual. Maybe I should work on the newspaper…
When we say “nobirdie”, though, we mean “nobirdie besides the usual”. The protagonist wanders over to the quietest corner of the library.
“Nageki?”
“Do you have a minute?”
“What is it?”
“Want to write a book review? I’m working on the library newspaper, and there’s a corner open, so I thought…”
“Can’t you write one yourself?”
“I’m always writing them! We never get submissions, so the book reviews are just turning into our personal soapbox!”
“Perhaps it would be better to remove them from the paper.”
My thoughts exactly.
“I’d like to see how you’d write one, though. It doesn’t have to be very long, either!”
“… I’ll write one later. Leave the paper there.”
“Yaaay! Thank you!”
I think that’s everything for the September issue. Wheee!
Not only do we have the newspaper filled out, we get to learn a little more about our enigmatic love interest. I’d say something along the line of “two birds, one stone”, but that might be a little tasteless here. With that, we’ll leave things here for now. Tune in before long when we resume our final route. Until next time, everybirdie!