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Volume 2 - Chapter 30: The Prefectural Library?One day during summer break, Kyouya came to the library.
It wasn"t the tiny library nearby, but instead the large one he had gotten to by riding his bike.
He parked his beloved bicycle and went inside.
The excellent air conditioning dried up his sweat in an instant.
Seeing the bookshelves lined up with no end in sight, Kyouya had to admire the magnificence of the prefectural library.
Although he was here to do research for his homework, if that were all then the local library or the school library would"ve been sufficient.
Kyouya"s true motive was out of print novels. As one walked further down the road of light novels, they would find themself following specific authors. Bookstores would usually not stock the books most authors debuted with and even ordering out of print works was usually a futile effort.
There were light novels that Shion-san enjoyed on the club room"s bookshelf as well. This author had written some science fiction novels under a different penname, Ninomiya Shuuji. Kyouya had found through the library"s online catalog that the library possessed some of these books.
As Kyouya started walking towards his destination, he suddenly came across an older girl with long black hair, stopping him in his tracks.
The girl"s glossy black hair swayed left and right as she walked. Although there were lots of girls who had long hair, it was truly rare to see one whose hair reached down to their waist.
He could tell that she took very good care of her hair. It was truly a magnificent sight.
For some reason he thought of Shion-san, and as he took a glance—
"Huh?"
Kyouya recognized her face as she disappeared between the bookshelves.
"Shion-san?"
He chased after her while calling her name. The girl turned around.
"Oh. Is that you, Kyoro-kun?"
So it was Shion-san.
At first, Kyouya had thought it was someone else since she looked much older than him.
Shion-san wasn"t wearing a skirt today, but long pants instead. It fit her perfectly along with the cut & sewn shirt and knitted cardigan she was wearing. Her blouse could be seen peeking through near her chest area, which excited Kyouya slightly.
Shion-san already looked older than her actual age normally, but now in her casual clothes, no matter how you looked at it, she looked like a college student.
"Are you here to study as well?"
"Ah, no, um..."
Being questioned by the gla.s.ses wearing Shion-san with her intellectualist aura, Kyouya was at a loss for words.
He should just say clearly that he was here for science fiction novels. Kyouya didn"t like that timid part of himself very much.
Shion-san didn"t seem to be bothered. She pulled a book off the shelves, quickly flipped through the pages, and then returned it to the shelf.
Kyouya gazed at her spectacled face absentmindedly. He had heard that she was farsighted, meaning she could see distant objects clearly but objects close to her became blurry. With her self proclaimed 20/5 vision, Shion-san only transformed into her spectacled form while reading or using the computer.
After a short while, Kyouya finally realized.
Trying not to disturb those around them, Kyouya whispered,
"Shion-san, are you here to check out some books?"
"Hmm? No, I"m just here to read."
"Ah, is that so? What kind of books are you looking for?"
"What kind...?"
Shion-san pulled down her gla.s.ses and gazed back with an incredulous look. Seeing her confusion, Kyouya tried desperately to remember if he had said something strange to cause the genius girl"s look of bewilderment.
Shion-san returned the book in her hands to the shelves, and then reached for the next one over. She could reach books that Kyouya couldn"t, even without standing on her toes. It was thanks to her tall, model-like figure.
This volume, too, stayed in Shion-san"s hands for no more than 10 seconds. After she flipped through it quickly, it was put back on the shelf immediately.
"Are you looking for something specific? I can help you if you want."
This time, Kyouya was sure he didn"t say anything weird.
From what he"s observed so far, Shion-san was no doubt looking for some specific book. And so, he should be able to be of help if it were just looking for a book.
"I"m not really looking for anything. I"m just reading."
Shion-san grabbed another volume. She flipped through the pages in a mere 10 seconds, and returned it to the shelves.
That was reading? The reading speed of a genius really was different from common folk.
"Could you wait a little bit? I"m almost done with this shelf. Since we"re both here, let"s talk for a bit in the cafe area."
"T-that"s right, it"s been a few weeks since we"ve seen each other."
"More precisely, it"s been 12 days 20 hours and 53 minutes."
Kyouya was at a loss for words.
That day, Shion-san treated Kyouya to a can of coffee, and they had a nice long conversation.
Character Profile
Shion ② - How She Spends Her Days Off
Reading. If it"s educational books, then she can easily finish a hundred volumes by noon. But just one volume of a novel tires her out. Aside from that, playing the piano and being pampered by her brothers.
Shion: Sorry about this.
Kyouya: I don"t mind.
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