In reality, Naomi had picked it up at the bus stop, not on the bus itself. It wasn’t responsible for him face-planting into her butt.
In other words, he was lying to her. But Sensei insisted that such “minor details” weren’t important. The only thing that mattered was getting results.
“I was looking for that.” Ruri rose from her seat quickly, the hostility gone from her face. She stood ramrod straight in front of Naomi for a moment, then bowed her head to him.
“I’m very sorry. I didn’t even give you a chance to explain.”
It made Naomi feel seriously awkward. He hadn’t been expecting an apology, and he didn’t really deserve one.
“Uh, that’s okay,” he said, flapping his hand in the air. “It never would have happened if I’d just spoken up, you know?”
He knew it sounded plausible enough, though knowing that he had no good reason for bumping into her backside made him embarrassed all over again.
He really, really wanted to end this conversation. Stepping forward, he practically pushed the bookmark into Ruri’s hands. She finally raised her head and accepted it.
Ruri looked at the colorful little thing, and then looked Naomi in the eyes. The disgusted look was gone, but she wasn’t exactly smiling at him, either. Her face was composed, neutral, and cold—almost like a metal mask.
“Thank you very much.”
“Oh, don’t worry about it…”
Just as Naomi was handing back the strangely grandmotherly bookmark, a group of other committee members came up the stairs from the second floor. It was a cheerful group, chattering loudly as they approached; unsurprisingly, Kadenokouji Misuzu was among them.
Sensing a good moment to withdraw, Naomi cut off the conversation with Ichigyou as politely as he could.
In all honesty, speaking with her had been kind of intimidating. Much like Misuzu and her friends, Ruri really wasn’t the kind of person Naomi had ever interacted with before.
Naomi watched Ruri as she left the school building and walked off at a steady pace. It looked like she was heading straight home now that the committee meeting was over. Not that he knew her well enough to propose walking home together, of course.
“We’ve got a long way to go…but you made some progress today. A little, at least.”
Naomi thought his heart would jump out of his chest. At some point, Sensei had materialized at his side. These jump scares couldn’t be good for his heart.
“Don’t get too impatient yet, okay?” Sensei said with a smile, taking out his notebook, the Ultimate Manual, with its tantalizing promises of guaranteed results. Sensei held one of its first pages between his fingers as he continued. “Your romance is just getting started.”
3.
[April 23RD—WiZ message from the library committee]
NAOMI WAS READING IN HIS BEDROOM when his phone started to vibrate.
There was a WiZ notification on the screen, just as Sensei had predicted. Opening the app, he read the entire message.
“Chairman: For the shelf cleaning on Monday, we’re asking you all to bring your own dust cloths. Please let anyone who isn’t in the chat know before the end of the weekend.”
Naomi furrowed his brow slightly.
A certain someone wasn’t in the group, and he was responsible for passing this message to her. But the two of them weren’t in contact, really. He didn’t have her phone number or her email address.
“How am I supposed to—”
As he turned around, the question half-spoken, he found Sensei ready and waiting for him. The three-legged crow was perched on his arm like a falconer’s bird. In its beak, it held a blank white envelope, which it had presumably plucked from Naomi’s drawer.
Naomi understood what Sensei was implying.
He didn’t have Ruri’s email or her phone number, but he did have one means of reaching her. Technically. Although the idea felt very weird.
The committee members sat in a circle of desks that faced inward. On the whiteboard in the back of the room, the words CLEANING DAY were written in big, bold letters, and someone had added cutesy little stars around them. Naomi guessed they were Misuzu’s doing, which ended up being correct. She was the kind of girl you’d expect to do that sort of thing.
Naomi glanced at the girl sitting next to him and tried to picture her drawing sparkles on a whiteboard. It was totally impossible.
“Okay, so! As you saw in the message, we’re going to be cleaning the shelves today.”
The committee chairman started to divide up this sizable task. Soon, everyone began taking out their dust cloths and placing them on top of their tables. As Naomi did the same, he glanced over just as the girl next to him was looking his way.
Their eyes met.
Ichigyou Ruri gave him a small bow of thanks.
Naomi nodded back at her and felt himself relax a little. Apparently the letter he’d written on Friday had made it to her house in time.
Yes, he’d sent a letter. An actual, physical letter. Through the mail.
It was a pretty convenient system when you thought about it—you could send anyone a message as long as you knew where they lived. But Naomi had only taken advantage of it a handful of times in his entire life. And writing that letter in particular had been genuinely nerve-racking.
If he’d been writing to an old friend, it probably wouldn’t have been so bad. But he was writing to a girl, specifically to one he was trying to get closer to. Surely his anxiety was understandable.
In the end, he’d crumpled up seven failed drafts before finally approving his eighth try—a totally bland, businesslike message. Sensei had indicated that this was the correct approach. Naomi had paid a bit extra to expedite the letter. It had clearly gotten there on time, so that was 360 yen well spent.
Once everyone had their assignments, the library committee got to work cleaning. Ruri and Naomi didn’t really strike up a conversation; for the most part, they just ran their dust cloths silently along their assigned shelves.
When Naomi got home that day and checked the mail, he found that a letter addressed to him had arrived. It was a plain, standard envelope, with no decorations of any kind. But on the back was the name Ichigyou Ruri.
Hurrying back to his room, Naomi carefully opened the envelope with a pair of scissors. The letter that emerged was a simple handwritten note: Thank you for passing on the message.
The sight of it made him chuckle. Something about this sincere, one-sentence letter was oddly funny. He found himself picturing her sending it—methodically writing out the words, sealing the envelope, and placing it into the mailbox.
He tried to visualize her at that specific moment. Somehow, he doubted she’d been smiling. She’d probably dropped it in there with that flat, neutral expression of hers, like she was mailing in a warranty card or something.
The mental image made Naomi chuckle again.
4.
[May 6TH—Desk duty at the library]
RURI AND NAOMI SAT next to each other behind the checkout desk, reading their books.
The committee members on desk duty were expected to man the library during their lunch period and after school. They were there to process check-outs and returns, keep the shelves organized, post any new announcements on the walls, and repair slightly damaged books.