Silence.
“……”
Bang—!!
Sasha practically slammed the door open. She quickly looked around, then stuck her head out and frantically waved her hand.
What the…
Was that a signal for me to leave?
Was it really that shocking of a question? …Or maybe I was the one being rude? It might’ve sounded totally out of the blue, especially after not seeing her for so long.
As I stood there, silently swallowing my awkwardness, she suddenly yanked me by the collar.
“Uwah─?!”
Just like that, I was dragged back inside the library.
Thud─!
The door shut behind me. But that wasn’t all. I heard a click.
Did… did she just lock it?
That was some strange intensity. Why the heck did she lock the door? Was she that desperate for people not to see us talking?
“…Is your ego that inflated?”
“Ah. So it does seem that way?”
“What even was that question? You grow your hair out a little, work out a bit, and suddenly you think you’re…. you’re something now…?!”
“Wait. S-So you did notice a bit of a change?!”
“Well… okay, a little, yes! But that doesn’t mean this is okay!”
“Uh… more importantly, are we really supposed to be yelling like this in a library?”
I tried to calm things down by saying something or anything, but it didn’t work on Sasha. If anything, I think it provoked her even more.
“Do you realize? There’s nothing more pathetic than a guy getting cocky just because he got a bit more handsome! …That kind of thing is the worst! You’re the worst, Adel!”
“…The worst? That’s kinda harsh, isn’t it…”
“No! It’s not harsh! It’s accurate! You think girls will just read into your vague questions and fall for you? You’ve probably pulled that line on dozens of girls, haven’t you?! Yes! Dozens! And now you think you can do the same with me too?! Snake! Weasel!! Golden orangutan!!”
“Dozens…? I don’t even have that many friends…”
“Then what?! You’re saying I’m the first person you’ve ever said something that embarrassing to?!”
“…Mhmm.”
“……?”
“There’s no one else I could ask but you.”
“….…!!”
Silence.
The sound of water droplets falling from a small statue of a woman on one wall echoed unusually loudly.
“…P-Please give me… some time to think.”
“You even have to think about it?!”
“W-Well, I’ve never thought of Adel that way before…!”
“What?! Then how have you thought of me?!”
“…I thought of you as a good friend…”
“…Huh?”
I tilted my head.
That’s when I finally realized something felt off about this conversation. She said she thought of me as a “good friend”. Isn’t that basically answering the question already?
“I was perfectly fine with things staying that way… You were someone I could feel at ease around…”
“Wait. Hold on. Sasha.”
“No matter how I answer, things probably won’t go back to how they were… Why do people feel the need to define relationships…?”
“No, that’s not it. Stop! Stop misunderstanding!”
“……?”
“I was asking as a person to another person, nothing more!! D-Don’t tell me you thought this was some kind of confession?!”
“……?”
“…Who confesses like that?!”
“……!”
Suddenly, Sasha adjusted her clothes. She smoothed down her hair, which had become messy from holding her head in her hands.
Then she cleared her throat and raised her index finger.
“I see. So it was just an evaluation of Adel. Understood.”
“…Hey.”
“Well. You were always off in the corner reading, so I don’t really know…”
“Your ears are way too red. Are you gonna explode?”
“………..!!!”
Sasha lowered her head deeply and quickly turned away.
***
After closing hours, the library was utterly silent.
In this place where even everyday ambient noise had vanished, it felt like you could hear the sound of a book’s pages crumbling.
I was being served tea from who knows where.
Well, not so much “being served” as just sharing tea that Sasha had brewed to calm herself down.
“…Haaah. What a relief. For a moment there, I thought you were stalking me or something…”
“Don’t make a criminal out of someone who was just standing there. I’m already batting zero in confessions and one in rejections.”
“…You haven’t been rejected… not yet, anyway.”
“Wow. Thanks. That’s… actually touching.”
Sasha slurped her tea. Only then did she start to look a bit calmer.
“Still, asking someone what you mean to them? Did you suddenly go on some kind of soul-searching journey?”
“Hmm. Something like that. More precisely, I just wanted to know how I looked from your perspective.”
“You looked like an idiot.”
“…You could’ve hesitated a little…”
“Always hiding behind those bangs so long they covered your eyes, wearing dirty clothes that stank….it was your daily routine. Even when people talked down to you, you just smiled.”
“What a guy.”
“…I was talking about you, you know.”
“Ah. Right.”
That really was a picture-perfect image. I could more or less see it now.
A boy who smiles through hardship… but can’t quite hide the darkness inside.
“Something like that?”
“Not even close.”
“This is harder than I thought.”
I let my bangs fall over my face and tried to act a little foolish, but Sasha’s reaction wasn’t exactly favorable.
After a few minutes passed like that, I started to feel like it didn’t really matter anymore.
People’s attitudes can change depending on their mood. Just because I changed my tone or behavior a little, it’s not like Camilla would suddenly start feeling sympathy for me.
It was time to give up on any plan to provoke sympathy.
Adel was no longer someone else. I was Adel now, and it made more sense to do things my own way.
“Since you’re already here, would you mind returning some books for me?”
“I heard that wasn’t why you came here, though.”
“Didn’t I lend them to you under your name? Who knows….if you leave them, they might end up overdue.”
“……I suppose I don’t have much choice. Give them to me.”
“Good. Then I’ll leave the table for you to clean up.”
After gathering up the teacups, I left the library. The sound of the closing door echoed down the hallway.
It was already night. The darkness that had settled everywhere cast a completely different atmosphere over the academy than during the day.
“……It’s gotten quite late.”
“Sorry.”
“It’s fine. I misunderstood things too.”
“Alright. I’ll be back again sometime.”
It was time to part ways with Sasha.
Now that it was night, I needed to find a secret way out of the academy.
“……Adel.”
“Hmm?”
“……I didn’t hate the old you.”
“Is that so?”
“At the very least… you were someone who knew how to respect others.”
“That’s kind of you to say.”
“So, at least in front of me…”
“?”
“……No. It’s nothing.”
Even the original Adel would’ve been grateful for that remark.
Though even his own sister avoided him, there was at least one person who had seen him in a positive light.
As we walked out of the building, we didn’t exchange any more words. I escorted her to the path just outside the library and waved.
“…….”
It was the middle of spring, but the night wind still carried a chill.
I should hurry and get back inside.
……The secret passage was further inside the library.
On the way back,
I pulled a card from my pocket. I had secretly slipped it away earlier while we were having tea.
[Sasha Koskov]
It was Sasha’s student ID.
A student ID at Tane Academy contains a range of information. It’s not a magical device on its own, but it’s coated with an expensive magic catalyst.
Even without specific magical inscriptions, it can accept simple enchantments. That’s probably how the timer spell cast on my own ID had lasted a whole week.
Students often used these as a form of personal identification.
For example, to enter buildings or to use the dining hall. Thinking back to the gym access card I got from Aaron which was meant to be attached to the back of the student ID, it’s likely that most access permissions are tied to the ID itself.
And Sasha’s student ID would be no exception.
If it was her student ID, the ID of the librarian, then it could open the library doors even at this late hour.
Sasha being flustered made things easier. I didn’t plan it, but…
I quietly tucked her student ID into my coat.
I did feel a little guilty, but it’s not like I was going to do anything illegal.
I’d be breaking a few school rules, sure…
Sorry, Sasha.
There’s a saying: It’s easier to ask for forgiveness than permission.
***
“……Flare.”
Fwoosh—
Flames flickered to life at my fingertips, casting light in all directions. The library, now fully closed for the night, had not a single lamp lit. The only thing reflecting light was the surface of the water in the urn held by the statue of a woman on one side of the wall.
There wasn’t a hint of movement anywhere.
“…….”
At this late hour, the reason I had come into the library wasn’t for anything ordinary.
A secret passage.
Given the long history of Tane Academy, it was no surprise that there were all kinds of hidden routes for various purposes.
However, most of them were well known even to the professors. Those passages were only “secret” in name. They were no longer useful as true hidden paths.
And considering most of the professors had once been students here, it only made sense.
That’s why, even if you stumbled upon a hidden passage during the game, charging into it without caution wasn’t a wise move. You’d have no way of knowing whether it was a genuine secret route or one of the many open secrets known to everyone.
Worse still, there might be something lurking deep inside one of the older ones.
……But.
Whether something dangerous lay inside… or whether a professor might know about it…
Things were different for someone like me, who had access to all the information.
The route I had discovered, this passage through the library, was one of the very few true secret paths.
Even those demon-worshipping bastards watching over the academy would have no idea it existed.
I stepped in front of the statue.
Drip…
If you listened closely, you could hear the sound of water draining. During the library’s closed hours, the water in the urn slowly emptied, allowing it to catch the next drops that would fall.
To anyone else, it just looked like part of the elegant, old-fashioned decor.
But the truth was different. The real purpose was simply to give off the impression that it shouldn’t be touched carelessly.
…Push the third urn to the right.
Clunk—clack—
As I gave the urn a strong push, the sound of draining water came to a stop.
If it had just been set up as a drainage system, the urn shouldn’t have moved or water would have spilled everywhere. But neither of those things happened.
All that had changed was that a tile, previously pressed down by the weight of the urn, was now released.
Rumbleeee…
The vibration of a bookshelf filled the library’s silence for a moment.
“…….”
A passage had opened.
Stairs leading down underground.
Without hesitation, I stepped into the darkness.
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