I don't own any of Nakamura-sensei's work.
When I think of wardrobe for Ritsu, I think of cardigans. Lots and lots of cardigans amongst collared long sleeved shirts. It's just so adorably handsome!
Ritsu POV
It's been a week now since I first met Takano-san.
It has also been two days since I've seen Misaki- being a student must be hard.
Other than that, it's just like any other day.
Well, not really; ever since I've met Takano-san that day, he always came by after that. He would come and sit at the desks after it got dark outside and do corrections on drafts-storyboards... something along those lines.
Takano-san... he is a nice guy. Kind of. He's really mean on the phone- well, not mean per se, but he... he gets angry a lot, yes that's the word for it. Nice, but gets angry past a certain point.
Sometimes he'll get so loud I have to ask him to go outside. It's scary when I go ask him because I can feel the other people reading looking over at me; it feels somewhat embarrassing.
After he comes back from his phone call outside, everyone stares at him curiously until he stares at them back. I laugh silently; from my point of view it's rather comical. As I'm sitting while this is happening, I look back down to the book I'm looking through for any abuse.
Only Misaki knows this but... I really get annoyed by anybody who abuses the books carelessly. And when someone plays around the book shelves. I suppose that's every librarian's pet peeves, but for me, I really, really don't like it.
Taking care of this precious library was what I promised to my Grandfather's best friend, and I will continue to take care of it for as long as I can. It's also the least I can do for him in thanks for taking me in after I ran away from home. He was like family to me; Grandfather was really close to him. His name was Hikase.
Mother and Father didn't like him though- I think Father probably did like him, but after growing up and marrying that like most likely withered away into detachment. I always loved visiting them when I was younger; him and Grandfather would tell me stories and read to me.
One day though around when I was about ten, Mother didn't want me to go see him or Grandfather anymore; when I asked she just shook her head and changed the topic. Father would say nothing and act like I didn't say anything.
Grandfather and Hikase didn't do anything wrong. To my parents though, they did and I could not understand what they had done wrong.
When I turned 13, Grandfather passed away. And I never got to see him in all those 3 years until his funeral. I never thought I'd see Hikase so depressed. He was always smiling and joking. It was so strange that day, I remember, no one went up to him but me. Father and everyone else ignored him; at that point, I felt angry. He was Grandfather's best friend and they just acted like he didn't exist...
I always made sure to visit him after that. Never did I let Mother and Father know, because I know they'll not want me to. When I visited, he'd tell me stories about our family that Grandfather had told him. The more he told me about our family, the more I realized how much we changed since then. From back then to this present, I learned that our family gradually grew more... more careful about who we interacted with.
Now that I thought about, the most my parents told me about our family was that Onodera publishing went back some generations. And that was it.
It also brought to my attention that Hikase was the one who inherited Grandfather's belongings and knowledge. That didn't bother me though; I knew that Mother and Father would probably lock it up somewhere to never see the light of day.
Hikase also showed me some pictures of a really, really Great Uncle that looked vaguely like me. He had a twin but he had disappeared as a child. The really, really Great Uncle had died young during a feud, but Hikase said Grandfather had thought there was more to it. Their younger sister was the one who carried on the Onodera line.
It was so interesting to learn, I never wanted it to end.
Around that time, was also when I saw Senpai for the first time. I never thought that I would fall in love at first sight, but I did. I-
A hand waves in front of my face. "Hello?"
I snap out of my thoughts and look up to see a middle school student wanting to check out a book. "Oh," I say to her, "I'm sorry."
Closing time is now. I look around to find that everyone had left except for Takano-san, who looks very immersed in his work.
I don't really want to bother him, maybe I should let him stay a bit longer? I know- after I put up all these books I'll tell him to leave.
As I put up a book, I sneak a glance at him. He looks like my age, maybe a bit older...? "Um, Takano-san?"
He looks up at me, the hand holding his pen stops its movement. "What?"
"How old are you? You look around my age-ah... I'm 25."
"I'm 27."
"I see..." Just two years...
He continues to look at me. "When does your shift end here?"
"Hmm? It never ends."
He looks confused now. "You don't ever go home?"
"I live here. This library is connected to my living space."
"..." He just blinks. "When did you start working here?"
I turn to put up some more books as I talk. "10 years ago. It's owner died a little bit afterwards and put me in charge." I bit back my sad emotions; it was so sudden and lonely back then when Hikase died. By now I'm used to it, and I have Misaki visiting me so it's no longer big deal.
"It must be easy to get out a lot, huh?"
"I don't get out a lot- ever. I never leave this place."
He seems really surprised. "You never step foot outside even once?!"
"I don't like going out there. It's no big deal; there's a garden dome connected here so I get plenty of sun."
"Why?"
"Why?" I repeat. Trying not to reveal anything too much, I say, "I got bullied in high school, especially walking home. My parents, they... they didn't believe me, so I ran away." Yes, that sums it up, not too explicit...
"You ran away here?"
"The owner before me was my Grandfather's best friend and I was really close to him, so..."
He became silent after this, and he looked sort of angry.
"What's wrong?" I ask.
"How exactly were you bullied?"
I didn't expect that type of question. "U-uh... Tacks in my shoes, signs on my back... most of it was verbal though; I just couldn't handle it well, that's all."
"...It was my fault, wasn't it?"
I look at him confused. "What do you mean?"
"You don't remember me?"
"No..." I look at him a bit more, "Maybe...?"
He put up his work and gathered his stuff together. "Before my parents divorced in high school, my name was 'Saga' Masamune."
Saga...
The only Saga I knew...!
All the memories come together in my head as I look at Takano-san again. I ignore the pain coming through my chest.
It... it's him?! I mean, he just grew taller, and his hair is different- heck we all go through changes after 10 years!
Ah... "Saga-senpai...?" I back away a bit, hitting the shelf behind me, "It's really you?!"
"Yeah," he stood up with his stuff on the table, "Took you long enough."
"Oh... So you realized..." I begin weakly, "That day we met..." I laugh nervously, "W-wow, you changed a lot..."
Takano-san widens his eyes at me incredulously. "That's all you have to say?!"
W-what is he saying?! "W-well, when I figured out you moved the next day, you did that cause you were angry or something like that since that other time when you yelled at me and said I was gross."
"That..."
Eh? I was right? Whew. I put a hand to my heart and sigh. All these years I thought he most likely hated me or something. Still though, the aftermath of that day was hell. I look in the cart to see that I have two books left for the non-fiction section and head over there.
"Takano-san," I called out to him, "When you leave, make sure you shut the door okay? I already locked the door from the outside, so..." I paused when I see his shadow loom over me. "W-what is it?" Natural to me, I blush in nervousness.
"Aren't you mad at me?"
"For what?"
"What do you mean for what!" he shouted, "I mean for back then, you idiot!"
I cringed a bit due to the abrupt loudness. "O-oh... Well," I thought about it, "A little bit, I guess. It really hurt. In the aftermath though, I ended up here, so I'm okay... kind of."
"Kind of?"
"Th-the pain still lingers, you know? I understand that you were angry, and I forgive you for that, even if it did bring me into the worse days of my life."
I sigh. Living here, with all the time free to think and think about my life, I feel prepared on feelings like this.
"I'm sorry," he says after a while.
"I know," I say after I put up the last book for the day. I rolled the cart back into its place near the main desk. Looking up at the time, I looked to Takano-san. "It's getting late. You should go home now."
He looked up at the clock and frowned a bit. "No good now. I just missed the last train home."
"What?! Really?" I give him a disbelieving look. "You better not be lying! I-I know I don't go out but I'm aware of trains!"
"You are... aware of trains?"
"You know what I mean!" I look out the glass doors. "Do you want to call a cab?"
"I don't think cabs come around here at this hour."
"Oh, right..." I think... I still have the futon out from when Misaki was here... "Do..." I look over at him, "Do you want to stay here for the night?"
He looks at me in surprise. "I can stay here?"
"Yeah," I nod happily. "It'll be strange having a different person other than Misaki sleep over, but I'm fine with it!" I look at him hopefully. "I never had another friend sleepover before!"
"..."
"...?"
"Friend?"
I nod. "Yes!"
At hearing nothing I look to see him looking troubled. "What is it?"
"You... You realize we technically didn't break up, right?"
"...Eh? I thought we did."
"We didn't."
"But it's been 10 years" I say, being logical, "We barely know each other now."
"..." He doesn't look happy.
"Everyone mostly start out as friends, right? Can't we just be friends now?"
"No." So blunt!
"W-why?"
"Because..." he stares at me seriously, "I've been in love with you for 10 years now."
"T-that's impossible." I try to stay logical. "We've changed."
"No."
"B-but..."
"I couldn't find you anywhere for all that time, you know how much hell that put me through?!"
"I-it's not my fault!" I counter.
He huffed and looked away. "I know," he comes over to me and hugs me close to him, "I just really missed you."
I blush, before I fidget and put my hands on his chest to push him away. Before I could though, I swear I just heard a thump somewhere and look around. "D-did you hear that?"
"What?" He still has me in his hold while I look around.
"I heard something drop in between the Manga and the Language sections," I manage to get out of his grasp and walk over there.
Suddenly, he grabs me from behind and holds me close. "You can stay here. I'll go check it out."
I pulled away. "It's fine, Takano-san. I feel nothing threatening." I have been here for so long, I can sense the atmosphere in here.
Finally arriving to the section, I look to see no disturbance until I hit my feet against something. Looking down, I see a big case of sorts. Lifting it up and remembering something I had read earlier, I deduced that it was a rather extravagant wooden doll case. Seeing something flicker I watched as a shiny card slipped off the case and fall to the ground.
Takano-san picked up, and as he did, the card flashed, and changed to a small square piece of parchment. I went closer to him to read what it has written on it.
'Please take care of me. From the 9, I am the 3rd. I can be placed in future, I can be placed in the past, but forever I am placed in the present. What is my name?'
"A bookmark...'Shiori'?" I guessed as he flipped the card front to back, finding nothing that indicated the answer.
How was this...?
Is there anything I got wrong on the bookmark thing? Cause, I don't know it seemed right to me...