Chapter Four: Intensity

Misae smiled when she opened the door and saw me. "Ah, Okazaki-san! It's been a while! You must be very busy."

I smiled at her obvious attempt at sarcasm. "Oh, you have no idea…actually, you have every idea!" I complained as she laughed. "May I come in?"

She narrowed her eyes at me, smile still in place, but stepped aside. "Come on in. Please don't stay long, though; it's late, and I need to get to bed before long."

"Okay," I acknowledged as I entered her room. Looking around, I saw that the place hadn't changed much. But I guess that was hardly surprising, since it only seemed like it had been a long time; in reality it had only been a few days since my last visit. I turned to say something witty to her, but was stunned into silence when I saw her.

"Is something wrong?" she asked.

I figured that to most people her appearance would be unremarkable. She had on her usual outfit; white shirt and blue jeans covered by her apron. Her hair was up as usual, but she must have been cleaning or doing something to exert herself, because some of her hair had stuck to her forehead.

She looked…she looked…I swallowed hard. "You…you look beautiful, Misae-san."

Her look of utter disbelief was understandable as she drew some loose hairs over her delicate ear. "Are your eyes bad, Okazaki? I'm a mess! I just came back from sweeping and mopping the halls, and you're telling me that?!"

I may have been in awe of her, but I still had my faculties. "That's exactly what I'm telling you." I took a deliberate step closer to her. "You're very beautiful, Misae-san," I repeated.

She took a deliberate step away from me. "How can you say that when you go to school with so many cute girls, one of whom I know really likes you?"

"It's simple," I said. "You caught my eye first." Noticing that she appeared to be trying to keep the table between us I said, "Don't worry; I won't do anything that would give you a reason to drop-kick me or anything. I'm not Sunohara," I finished with a chuckle.

She stopped retreating. "No, you're not," she admitted. "But in some ways you're even scarier than him."

"I'm sorry, really." I made my way around the table to stand before her. "Like I said, I won't try anything funny." I cautiously reached out and gently caressed her cheek with my fingertips. "I've already told you how I feel about you, and I don't want to make you afraid of me or anything."

I felt her shiver under my fingertips. "Please don't touch me," she said with a trembling voice.

I quickly removed my hand and took a step away from her. "I'm sorry, Misae-san. I didn't mean to uh…to…uh…take liberties." I moved to put the table between us again. "I will not touch you again without your permission. I didn't mean to get into your space and make you uncomfortable."

Her lips pursed and I could see moisture in her eyes. "Why are you so interested in an old woman like me?"

I sighed. Why did she think of herself that way? "I really wish you'd stop talking about yourself like that. You're not 'old', you're just older than me. And not even by that much. Anyway, I'm not interested in you because of your age; I'm interested because of who you are, remember? I didn't fall in love with the Misae-san from back then-"

"I remember!" she cried as she held up a hand. "Just…stop. I don't want to cry right before going to bed."

"I'm sorry," I said again. "I guess I still have a lot to learn. I want to say one more thing before I go. Can I?"

She nodded wordlessly, and the lost expression on her face made me want to hold her.

"I'm in love with you, Sagara Misae. I know I've said it before, but I'm saying it again. So you can send all the pretty girls and their problems to me that you want. I'll help them as much as I can but…" I said, raising a finger, "…once I'm done helping them, I'll be coming back for you." I winked at her. "I can be pretty stubborn, you know." And without giving her a chance to respond I left her room.

When I figured I was safely out of sight of the dorm I finally let my legs buckle, and I collapsed to the ground. "Man, that was hard on my nerves!"

I slept really well that night.

"Let's see, the library should be-ah, here it is," I said as I stopped in front of the large double-doors that formed the entrance to the library.

I felt like I was forgetting something as I slid the door open and saw… "Oh…right."

The girl with the hair ornaments sat where I remembered meeting her: next to the window, seated on a large cushion, surrounded by books. I smiled as the thought occurred to me that if the books were spikes, they would have made an excellent tank trap.

I greeted her with a 'hello' but, as expected, she didn't answer. So I set about doing what I came to do: check the arrangement of the books to see if their system could be duplicated in the Reference Room.

I took down notes as I moved along the bookcases. "I see, so they're organized by…category, I'll call it; History, Art, Languages…" I poked myself in the forehead with my pencil eraser. "But how would I use this with Miyazawa's stuff?" I sighed as I realized that I would have to take another look at the Reference Room's books. "Oh well, at least I have some ideas about how to organize." I turned to head to the exit. "Now I just need to-WHOA!"

'Hair-Ornament Girl' had somehow made her way behind me without me hearing her approach. When I yelled she jumped and looked behind her. Finding nothing, she turned back to me. "Are you all right?" she asked.

"Yeah," I gasped, with my hand on my chest. "You surprised me. Don't sneak up on me like that!"

Apparently not understanding what I was referring to, she angled her head at me like a puzzled puppy. "A-Are you hungry?"