An Open Book

Summary: Just when he thought everything in life was almost blissfully perfect, a short trip to the supermarket forces him to think twice.

Disclaimer: I don't own Library Wars/Toshokan Sensou. It belongs to its rightful owner.

Chapter 3: Changes in Perspective

"We're back!" Doujou called out as he entered through the front door of his parent's home, with Akane only a couple steps behind him. He turned and made sure his sister got inside the house, in case she decided to bolt out the last second. The action seemed to be very obvious, and Akane shot him a glare out of the corner of her eyes.

"Atsushi! Akane! Welcome back." Their mother, who works as a nurse in a nearby hospital, took the week off. As soon as her children took off their shoes, she started fussing over them.

"Atsushi! You haven't come back to visit in a long time! How has work been going for you?" Her forehead creased in worries for her son, already worrying about the condition of his work life as well as his private life. Although recently she'd also been prodding into his love life, bugging him about his relationships (or lack of).

"Everything's…fine." As usual, whenever someone mentions his work, the first thing that comes to mind was the clumsy subordinate that he had to deal with every day. Quickly shaking off the thought, he smiled as reassuringly as he could. However, his mother's attention had already moved on to something else. She now focused her eyes on Akane, who was still sending glares to her brother's back.

"Is something wrong?" She looked back and forth at the siblings, who decided to look away from each other. Even as children, whenever they quarrelled, they would get into the habit of crossing their arms and looking in opposite directions, trying to best to act as if everything were normal. The next thing they knew, their mother was forcing them to sit down around the living room, and before long their father had been forced to put down his newspaper and join them.

Doujou knew his mother would insist to have a 'family talk' until they cleared the matter up, and he didn't want let it drag on. The sooner they get to the point, the sooner the talk will end.

"I think you should keep an eye on Akane and her relationships."

"Hey!" Akane wacked her brother with a pillow, who blocked it without any effort. "I don't need someone to 'keep an eye on me'! I'm an adult! I'm perfectly capable of deciding who I date!"

"You idiot! Tezuka Satoshi is-"

"Atsushi! Calm down…" His mother laid a hand on her son's shoulder and sent a disapproving look to her daughter. "Can't you trust your sister to find a decent boyfriend by herself?"

"It's Tezuka Satoshi I can't trust."

The blunt statement pushed Akane to her limit. Her pretty eyes were filled to the brim with tears, and she bit her lip, making that face that would always cause Doujou to feel an immense guilt at whatever he did. But this time, the situation was serious, and he couldn't back down. Neither can she. "Onii-chan, you idiot! I hate you!" Throwing down the pillow, she stormed upstairs, making sure to slam the door to her room to emphasise her anger. When he finally noticed the looks his parents were giving him, Doujou realized he was in for a long talk.

The sun was starting to set by the time he was let out of the house. That had to be, by far, one of the longest lectures they've ever given me. Doujou was exhausted, and he ran his hand through his hair, letting out a sigh and feeling the refreshing breeze on his skin.

"I'm so sorry!"

Doujou immediately stopped in his tracks, tensing up at the overly-familiar tone that came with that overly-familiar sentence. The one problem was, he was only used to hearing it on the Library Base, when a certain female Task Force member failed to properly complete the required drills, or when a certain blockhead subordinate takes much more time than really necessary to locate a book in the stack room. But he was standing in the middle of the streets, nowhere near the library grounds.

He turned and quickly scanned the street, glancing at each person to see if it really was who he thought it was. Doujou looked pass a tall, elegantly dressed woman just a few meters from where he was, then blinked, and looked again. There was no mistaking that short brown hair and height, but he couldn't believe his eyes at first.

Many years ago, when Kasahara had showed up for the job interview, Doujou remembered her dressed in a neat attire, and she had been wearing dress pants. Throughout the many years as her superior officer, he'd only seen her wearing the defence force uniform and different pairs of dress pants for work within the library. He had never seen her wearing a dress, or skirt, anything that was relatively feminine. Of course, with the high percentage of guys in the library, he'd sometimes hear others talk of the long legs she had, and how they think she'd look in a short skirt.

But today, not only was Kasahara wearing a short black skirt, she also had on knee-high black boots. With high heels, he noticed, and a feminine-looking silk scarf. The attire had brought whole new atmosphere about her; it emphasised her height as well as her slim, fit figure.

"Takashi, sorry for being late!"

Doujou watched as Kasahara stop in front of a handsome man and catch her breath. The action reminded him once again of her troublesome personality and clumsiness. What the heck was I thinking? The sight of her in completely different clothing had thrown him off guard. She was his subordinate! The clumsy, forgetful, unintelligent subordinate who was always getting herself into some kind of trouble! Instinctively, he stepped inside a store where it was still close enough to hear them. As he was busy desperately trying to clear his mind, he missed part of the conversation between them. To his slight surprise, the man took Kasahara's hand as they headed down the street, towards the subway station. She didn't seem to mind; in fact, she acted as if this was perfectly normal. Is he…her boyfriend?

For a split second, he considered asking her about it the next day at work, but he quickly snapped out of it. That would definitely be crossing a line! He no longer had any desire to continue his trip to the supermarket. Filling up his fridge would have to wait; clearing his mind and calming himself down his was first priority. But no matter how hard he tried, how much he concentrated, the sight of Kasahara that evening could not leave his mind. And to think, no matter how far-fetched it seemed, this all started from a simple trip to the supermarket.

Author's Notes: Thanks for reading! Please leave a review :)