However, Nishiki High didn’t have that big a collection in the first place, and there usually wasn’t enough work to fill the entire shift. Unless there was some sort of special event going on, the people on duty had plenty of time to goof off.
Naomi shot a quick glance to the girl next to him. Ruri appeared to be totally engrossed in her book. He was reading too, so he wasn’t about to complain or anything. The total lack of conversation was starting to feel a little awkward, though.
They were both avid readers. Surely there were plenty of things they could chat about. A simple question like “What are you reading?” would have been enough to kick things off. Naomi had read plenty of interesting books in all sorts of genres; if he knew what kind of book she was reading, he’d probably be able to keep the conversation going for quite some time.
Of course, taking that first step was never as easy as it sounded. Otherwise, he never would have resorted to buying some rip-off self-help book.
At the moment, the only thing he knew for sure was the color of the book cover Ruri was using.
Ten minutes passed that way, as Naomi tried to psych himself up to say something. But then Ruri closed her book, got up, and started tidying the shelves. They couldn’t leave the checkout counter unmanned, so Naomi couldn’t follow.
With a very quiet little sigh, he turned back to his own book. Thanks to his less-than-cheerful mood, he was finding it hard to focus on the story.
“Oh, that sucks, dude!”
Naomi jumped a little in his seat.
Someone was talking in the library, and their voice was way too loud. The sudden burst of sound had rattled him. Looking nervously in the direction it had come from, he saw a pair of third-year boys sitting in the browsing area.
“Yeah, no kidding. And then that jerk Nishiyama just went home.”
“What a moron!”
This wasn’t going to be a one-off thing, apparently. The volume of their voices was slightly lower than it had been at first, but it was still far too loud for the library. To make matters worse, the voices were joined by the sound of a plastic bag being torn open.
Keeping his head down, Naomi glanced over. The two older boys were eating packaged bread from the school store in the browsing area. Of course, there was no eating or drinking allowed in the library. And it was the committee members’ job to enforce those rules.
Naomi tried to picture himself scolding those two and immediately winced. Averting his eyes, he returned his focus to the pages of his book. Nothing had even happened yet, but he could feel himself physically cowering.
Those guys had been at this school for much longer than him. They knew how things really worked around here, and they obviously thought they could behave any way they pleased. How was he supposed to reason with people like that?
He wanted to tell them off. Of course he did. He wanted to make them put their food away. He wanted to say, Hey, you’re going to get the books dirty, or something. No one wanted a bunch of food stains on their library books, right?
Naomi lowered his face a little further.
Why do I have to be so pathetic?
“Please don’t eat or drink in the library. It’s not allowed.”
Naomi jerked his head up in surprise. Ruri was standing right next to the two older boys, looking down at them coolly.
“Oh, right. Sorry about that.”
The two students put their food away without protest. After watching them do so, Ruri offered a small bow and a few polite words, then returned to sorting the shelves.
Naomi just looked on, his mouth hanging partially open. This ordinary girl had suddenly become an all-powerful superhero.
By the time they left school, Horigawa Street was glowing orange in the light of the setting sun.
There was a city bus stop just outside the gates of Nishiki High that many of the students used to commute. Ichigyou Ruri was one of them, so she lined up at the stop as usual.
“Okay, then. I’ll see you later.”
As Naomi tried to say goodbye, Ruri gave him a strange look. “Weren’t you on the same bus as me the other day?”
“Oh. Yeah, true.”
“I assumed your house was in the same direction as mine.”
“Uh, well, I was…”
Naomi felt a shiver run down his spine. Ruri probably thought of this as an innocent question, but he couldn’t help feeling like he was being interrogated. If he slipped up now, only the death penalty awaited him.
And of course, the bus was here, just to add some time pressure to the equation. It had already come to a stop and opened its doors. He had to answer now.
“I w-was actually heading to the Kita Library that day. It’s a little far away, but it’s the only branch around here that gets Deduction Magazine.”
Naomi ended up spitting the words out a bit too rapidly. It made him want to cringe. If he were a girl, he definitely wouldn’t want to date this big an idiot.
“Ah, I see.” With those flat words, Ichigyou stepped up onto the bus. But just as the doors were closing, she added one additional comment.
“I read it there every month, too.”
The doors slid shut, and the bus pulled away.
Naomi’s expression grew a little brighter as he watched it go. All in all, that had gone pretty well. He’d spoken with Ruri. He’d talked to her about reading, specifically. He’d even found out they read the same magazine. And he’d carried out his mission.
Once the bus had safely disappeared from view, Naomi took a note out of his pocket. On the small square of paper, he’d written down the exact conversation they’d just had in advance.
Thank God for the Ultimate Manual…
Naomi looked up and off to one side. Sensei was standing on the top of a building across the street with that three-legged crow perched on his arm.
Naomi offered him a small wave. It was a little embarrassing, but he wanted to convey that he’d succeeded.
Sensei responded with a thumbs-up.
5.
IRON, NAOMI CHANTED.
He didn’t speak the word out loud, but he repeated it in his mind many, many times. The more he repeated it, however, the more counterproductive it felt. The word iron wasn’t iron itself, after all—it was just a pair of syllables.
Giving up on the word, he decided to visualize the substance instead. He gripped his gloved right hand’s wrist with his left hand to steady it. He sensed that keeping it perfectly still might improve the results somehow.
With renewed focus, he mentally pictured a piece of iron. Sensei had told him not to close his eyes; he had to learn how to work with them open, apparently. The glove started to tremble slightly. Its vague, indeterminate form pulsed against his fingers. It felt a bit like the first tremors before an earthquake.
Naomi focused.
He pictured the shape, the weight, the color—the real, concrete properties of matter.
And then, he closed his hand forcefully.