The library had always been one of my favorite places to hang out, whenever I needed to get out of the house. I made a habit of doing light reading whenever I wasn't occupied with video games or other otaku pursuits, so it's only natural that I'd be a regular sighting at the library.
Besides, they had a nice collection of old light novels and manga, so I didn't even have to stop being an otaku to come. The librarians don't judge you as long as you're quiet, and everybody else has to be quiet in return. It's my sort of place. Speaking of which, I haven't even introduced myself yet!
My name is Naofumi Iwatani. I'm a college sophomore, majoring in history with a minor in art. (I know, not the most functional degree. That's what my mom said too.) Compared to most of my classmates, I guess I'd be considered a nerd. Rather than focusing on sports or clubs, I mostly spend my time at home, playing video games or reading manga. Honestly, things like that tend to take up more of my time than actually studying, which frustrates my parents to no end.
My little brother, on the other hand, was forced to work overtime to make up for my rather disappointing lifestyle. He got sent to top-notch prep schools and expensive music lessons by our parents, who wanted him to be the type of kid they could brag to all their friends about. He was basically working himself to the bone for most of our childhood, constantly in class with no time for friends or fun. Steadily, he became something of a delinquent. He'd spew curses around the house, dye his hair crazy colors, ditch class, and basically do anything that would give our mom a heart attack.
Luckily for him, his big brother was willing to help him get out that pent up stress. All it took was introducing him to some cheesy old dating sim I knew. Of course, he'd been indignant at first. He definitely did not think he was the type to enjoy some ecchi dating sim, especially not when he had a delinquent reputation to uphold. Still, he knew I was the authority on fun, so when I gave him the recommendation, he eventually believed it.
Needless to say, I'd brought one more otaku into the world. His room was suddenly adorned with all sorts of merch from that game, which probably freaked my parents out even more than the hair dye had. Still, after that, he'd gotten right back on track and had earned his way into Kyoto University.
After that, my parents pretty much got off my back. As thanks for my help, they gave me a ten thousand yen monthly allowance, along with helping out with my apartment's rent. Sure, our relationship is pretty cold, but I'm fine with it. I don't publicly disappoint them too much, and they let me live my life and keep the money flowing.
Still, given how much I like to buy in a given month, I burned through that pretty quickly. To help get some more money, I'd picked up a part time job, and I sold art commissions in my free time, but even that disappeared pretty quickly with the summer festivals that go on around here.
All that to say I was pretty much flat broke at the time, and I'd worked through all my reading material. Sure, you might say I could just pirate something to read, but I've never really liked reading on the computer. And sure, I could probably play a video game, but I always ended up getting too sucked into the world and wasting hours trying to collect money or beat whatever boss. It's doubly bad for me, who's always been more focused on collecting the most money than actually making any progress
Anyways, I had been walking through some old bookshelves near the back of the library, looking for some classic novels. Old fantasy novels were some of my favorites, especially ones that featured fantastical journeys with bearded wizards and dragons to slay. I'd been running my fingers along the weathered spines of the old books, looking for any interesting titles, when something fell right on top of my head, bouncing off to the ground.
Wincing and rubbing at the top of my head, I glanced down at the floor to see what had hit me. An old, weathered leather-bound book was sitting there at my feet. Now, I'm definitely not the superstitious type, but as an otaku I know that something like that has to be an omen. Old books falling on your head is a classic story hook, right up there with an old wizard giving you an important quest. I picked it up and glanced at the spine.
'The Records of the Four Holy Weapons', huh? Weird title. The book itself was pretty nondescript. The front and back covers were just plain leather, and the spine was written in simple block kanji, no special adornments. Still, that's somewhat expected for a book that looks this old. Still, why couldn't the person who was reading it last just put it back where it belonged, and save me the hassle of getting hit on the head?
I took the book back to my table, taking a seat and opening it up. I began to flip through it gingerly, not wanting to mess up the pages of such an old tome. It's the type of fantasy novel that starts off by telling you all about its lore. Pretty standard stuff, all things considered. Seems to be a medieval world where magic is totally normal, with a few warring states. There's an ideology of human superiority that seems to be an allegory for real world discrimination, of course. There's also some sort of apocalyptic prophecy saying that a bunch of waves are going to wash over the world and destroy it, until it's totally ash. The only way to stop it is, naturally, to summon otherworldly heroes that will save the world.
It's a pretty overdone premise now, but with how old this thing is, it was probably fresh at the time of its writing.
The four heroes each have a magical weapon that will help them stave off the waves of destruction, it seems. The jewel, the blunt instrument, the hunting tool, and the ofuda. Weird choices, in my opinion. They all seemed more like concepts than actual weapons to me. I guess the jewel is probably some sort of magic staff, the blunt instrument would be a club or mace, the hunting tool would be a bow… but the ofuda? How could that even be a weapon? What, like you'd give the enemies papercuts? Seems pretty dumb. I decided to just skim ahead to get to the good parts.
The four heroes each went on journeys to prepare themselves for the incoming destruction, gaining power, gathering a party, all with the final goal of stopping the world from being destroyed.
I yawned, having to keep myself from dozing off. This book is unbelievably boring. There aren't even any cute girls yet, nor are there cool fight scenes or anything like that! There was some princess, but she was super manipulative, trying to play the heroes against each other for some reason. Why not just pick one and stick with him?
Each of the heroes were very distinct as well. The hero of the Jewel was stern and powerful, never tolerating injustice. The hero of the Blunt Instrument was brave and cool, seeking out fights with big monsters and taking them out with ease. The hero of the Hunting Tool had a big party that he'd take on long hunts, and he'd split the spoils amongst them all without any greed. All of them were good people with shining personalities- you don't see that a lot in stories these days.
However, as I got to the Ofuda Hero's story…
"What the…?"
I had to exclaim as I saw it. The page was totally blank! In fact, every page from that point on was! What kind of library would keep an unfinished book on their shelves?
"What a joke," I murmured, shaking my head to myself. Then, I felt my head going fuzzy. My hand came up to my head, pinching the bridge of my nose. I tried to stand up, but I tumbled backwards over my chair, feeling my consciousness leaving me as my eyes fluttered shut.
Author's Note:
So! I was asked by a reader elsewhere to crosspost this here! This story can also be found on AO3, under the same name, with the account name being soullessshoku. I will do my best to keep this version up to date, but all updates will end up there first, so if you want to see it right away, go there! Also, any content not fit to this site will be posted there, if and when any such content arises.