Oh! I only saw a glimpse of the cover of the book, but I recognized it instantly. After all, I was holding the same one. It was the prequel novel of a movie that had come out a few years ago. Despite it being a popular story, it hadn’t done too well at the box office, but I thought the novel was a masterpiece. Now that the world was leaning more towards valuing diversity and inclusivity—in other words, showing more diverse viewpoints—people were favoring stories that had multiple protagonists.
Even if an old shonen manga got rebooted, the protagonist was always ridiculously strong and could defeat a powerful enemy single-handedly, but lately they’d resolve the situation by having him and all of his friends work together.
Anyway, out of all the multi-POV stories I’d read, I thought this novel was a masterpiece. It depicted the harsh realities of the world post-2000. There was no central protagonist, but showed how various people were at the mercy of the world around them. The story had an overwhelming feeling of powerlessness and was presented in an omnibus format, but it beautifully showed how people were connected by a thin strand of hope. Unfortunately, that part was absent from the movie version of the first book.
My brain was bustling with my opinions on the story. I thought it would be nice to talk about the novel with the boy in front of me, but even if he said something, I probably wouldn’t be able to respond. I’d just keep thinking all kinds of stuff in my head but nothing would come out of my mouth. And if I did manage to say something, it wouldn’t be enough anyway.
Just give it up. There’s no use in getting your hopes up over this. No one would ever wait for me to finish my thoughts anyway. Not when I had so much trouble expressing them properly.
I started reading my book. It was funny that two complete strangers sitting near each other were coincidentally reading the same book. I bet someone else looking in would think we’d planned it or something.
Huh? Wait a minute...
All of a sudden I got déjà vu. A boy and a girl reading the same book...
Just like in Samarcande...
Samarcande was one of my favorite books, written by Amin Maalouf. The story is divided up into two parts; the first part follows the life and times of Neyshabur-born tent-maker Omar Khayyám, and the second half occurs eight hundred years later, detailing the efforts of a French-American who tries to obtain the original copy of Khayyám’s Rubáiyát, a collection of quatrains.
The parents of the main character in the second half coincidentally reading a book about the Rubáiyát is what quickly strengthens their bond and leads to him being born in the first place.
Does that mean if I lean forward and ask the boy in front of me, “What are you reading?” that could be the start of my epic romance? Heh. Just kidding.
I smiled and kept reading my book.
◊◊◊
We had a long homeroom period to decide which jobs each of us would take. You didn’t have to join a club at this school, but you did have to at least join some type of committee. I wanted to spend my lunch breaks in the library, so I’d planned on joining the library committee from the very beginning. I raised my hand to volunteer to work at the library and the boy who sat in front of me did the same.
“Um... Okay. Yashiro-kun and Torano-san will work at the library then.” With no other volunteers, in the end it was just the two of us.
Apparently his name was Yashiro-kun.
“Guess we’re gonna be working together from now on, huh?” he said.
I froze and couldn’t say anything back. I’d been told that I come across as unfriendly in situations like this, and I was sure my facial expressions hadn’t changed one bit. As expected, Yashiro-kun seemed uncomfortable and scratched his cheek.
“Um...”
I still couldn’t say anything. Now Yashiro-kun wasn’t sure what to say either, so he just turned around. I made the worst first impression ever. It always happened like this for me, and I was sure it always would. That was why I couldn’t get my hopes up for anything else. After all, I was nothing more than a nuedori, and no one would ever notice me crying in the shadows.
◊◊◊
That day after school, we had our first library committee meeting. The older committee members gave a simple explanation of our duties, and then said we would decide which shifts we would work opening up the library and at the circulation desk. The library was open Monday through Friday during lunch and after school, so ten shifts in all. I could tell most of the members thought it was a pain.
I don’t mind at all...
I loved being surrounded by books at the library. It was comforting to me. But since these days you could read whatever books you wanted on your phone, it was rare for students to actually walk to the library to check out a book. So I had a feeling I wouldn’t really have to deal with many of my classmates. That meant I could spend all my free time at school reading books, which sounded like heaven to me.
I can just go home after school, but I’d love to spend my whole lunch break there...
I looked around at my unenthused fellow committee members. None of them seemed to care which shift they worked. And if one of them worked a shift I didn’t, I’d have to wait in front of the library for them to open it up for me...
“Does anyone care which shift they work?” an older committee member asked.
My hand shot up.
“Um, you’re a first-year, right? Which shift do you want?” he asked me. I decided to just come right out and be clear about it. Everyone always thought I was the kind of girl who didn’t care what others thought. I could use that to my advantage.
“I want to work all the lunch shifts.”
“Huh?”
“I was already planning on spending my lunch break at the library. So I can be the one to unlock and lock up when I’m done.” I’d expressed my wishes, but I felt confusion from the other committee members. Yashiro-kun was sitting next to me, and even his mouth was hanging open with surprise.
Huh? Is that really okay?
Well, she says that’s what she wants...
I heard them whispering among themselves. But I felt like I’d finally been able to clearly express my wishes. The older committee member scratched his head, looking bewildered.
“Well, that won’t work. What if you get sick or something? We have to choose someone to fill in for you in case you’re absent.”
I didn’t say anything.
“Don’t make that face.”