Ryuu tries to come on the least busy days, when he has a day off from work, just to grab a couple books, brush up on his studies, and continue to learn. You grow stagnant, if you don't keep learning, right? And he's determined to keep learning, to keep growing.
The shelves are full of books that mostly appear to be cheap reiterations of the same old thing that he's studied before, and many books that already line his bookshelves at home. He'll have to try the bookstore on the other end of town, if he can finally make his way there and give it a try.
He reaches up to a higher shelf than he used to be able to reach to grab a couple books that might not be duds. One's a listing of various herbs and quick explanations of their uses, categorized easily into simple lists, for quick comparison. Not the most exciting book as far as herbology goes, but usually the categories yield one or two new discoveries.
And then there's a book going over the history of different herbs in medicine, and a sequel to it as well that he spies on the shelf. All of which could yield some helpful discoveries. Ryuu believes history still has so much to teach us after all.
And as he peruses the bookshelves, he moves on with another basic herbology book. Just an ordinary one that goes into the medicinal purposes and properties of various herbs. It's not a set of categorized lists, but a very detailed book that focuses on plants with clear diagrams and photographs, plus detailed information of the known medical properties, how to grow them, where to find them, and other useful information.
Then Ryuu wanders over to the general scientific section and finds books on plant biology, covering the known information from cells onward. There's always something that scientists that work with plants in different ways than he does uncover. Ryuu is an eclectic reader, as he's always branching out from ordinary subjects to try to find information wherever it is buried.
When he isn't working or sleeping, he's likely reading, taking extensive notes, and then bringing that knowledge into work in order to make new discoveries. There's a reason he is highly acclaimed in his field, and a reason that Garack tells him he should just write a book already; it would be a best seller after all and bring his career into a wider sphere of influence.
Ryuu isn't after the attention, and he doesn't figure he needs it. If someone wants to compile what he learns after a lifetime into a published book, they can do so after he's died. He really doesn't care that much.
Five books is all that he could find today. Five new books to help him learn even more about the plants he works with or could work with in the future.
The store isn't buzzing with activity, but he is certainly not the only customer in the store. As he makes it to checkout, there is one person in line in front of him, with a variety of books.
"Is that series any good? I've heard about it before." The cashier seems pretty friendly, and the woman at checkout is a person that sort of stands out whether she wants to or not.
"I haven't read it yet, but everyone keeps recommending it to me." The red haired woman shrugs, and the cashier smiles.
"I hope you enjoy it then!" She's cheery and lively; Ryuu can already tell. And the only really interesting thing that the woman in line in front of Ryuu is buying to him are some of the same plant books and a few books he already owns.
And yet in the midst of them is a manga called "Snow White With The Red Hair," and Ryuu wonders why she's buying a manga volume for a series she hasn't even read before.
"I'm sure I will. My friends usually recommend good stuff, and they say the main character reminds them of me?" She shakes her head, smiling, and when she finishes checking out, she leaves. It's as easy as could be, and Ryuu is just eager to buy the books he picked up and get going.
"Hello!" And the cashier smiles at him; one of those bright smiles that it's rare to find on someone working customer service, let alone on someone in general. A genuine, happy, enthusiastic smile, like somehow Ryuu being here has made her day.
"Hi." And Ryuu sets his books down, so they can finally be scanned and bought.
"Oh, you're getting some of the same books as the lady who just left. They must be good then?" And Ryuu finally catches the little nametag she's wearing, 'Rona.'
"I'm hoping. I haven't read them yet." Ryuu shrugged, "But I own the rest."
"You must be a regular then!" A little pause. "And really smart!"
"I work with plants." And Ryuu can't really figure out why he feels awkward all of a sudden or why his face is slowly turning red.
"You must know a lot about them then." And as she scans the books, she easily puts them in a bag, "I just work here, you know?" And a little chuckle.
"You're around books all day; you must be really smart too." Ryuu has never really been good at this, but if she's going to go out of her way, he might as well get out of his own comfort zone and compliment her. Never mind the fact that working at a bookstore doesn't require one being an avid reader.
"I don't read that often." Rona admits as her face goes a little pink in embarrassment.
"But you still read." And Ryuu wonders if he's somehow failed as he buys his books and gets ready to leave, just as he finally acknowledges the fact that the cashier was really, really pretty. He hadn't really thought of it before.
In about three weeks, he's exhausted and more than exhausted the books he bought most recently. And besides that, it has been enough time that there might be new books at the store. And if not, he can always get desperate and buy a couple of magazines on plants. Sometimes those yield good results too.
And Ryuu almost grumbles as he realizes he's completely ignored the existence of the other bookstore in town again as he steps in to the familiar ding of the doors, to the much too large bookstore for what he's after. Especially since his preferred topic isn't one that makes the store a lot of money, he's pretty sure.
And there's nothing new. Not a single book, not a familiar author with a new title. And he wanders the other aisle too. Even the plant biologists have decided to not publish another new book. Sometimes it's better to wait a month or two anyway, but there's nothing here. Not a single title. Ryuu sighs.
Slowly he marches down to the fiction section, way too big in his opinion, and he strolls through the fantasy books. There's one he hasn't read. 'The Myths And Legends of Particular Plants'. A promising title, even if half of it may be made up. Oddly enough, even fictional books on plants can provide some good facts and history on plants.
Ryuu goes to the magazines and picks up the six copies of plant related magazines they have. Very little in the way of information, but it's a decent start, and he gets out of the bookstore spending way less than he did last time. Though he's even less sure he's found anything good here.
The last books were not very impressive or at the very least didn't have all that much new information for him to discover and contributed little to his own research and discoveries. They became just duplicate references mostly despite being by different authors and having very different titles.
And then he steps up to checkout. There's no one in line in front of him this time, and as he figured, showing up at the exact same time and day of the week as last time, there's the same young cashier.
Right now, she looks bored out of her mind. Head resting gently on her hands as she stares at nothing in particular. Lost in some kind of thoughts that Ryuu is almost afraid to ask about as he makes his way up to the counter.
"Oh? Hi!" And Rona straightens up, a little surprised, a little flustered, and her face definitely a shade of pink though one darker than her hair somehow though not by much.
"Hi." Ryuu places the book and magazines down on the counter in front of her.
"I remember you!" For a moment, she points and doesn't scan the books. "Were the books you bought last time any good?"
"I mostly knew it all." And Ryuu suddenly wonders if that sounds overconfident, like how Higata once told him guys could sound in a random conversation when work was moving so very slowly. Higata was their newest intern, and he was clever and a pretty quick learner. He was far more polite and gentle speaking usually, but he had his moments where comradery won out over politeness.
Ryuu found that fascinating, but he wasn't a huge fan of asking others questions, even if he worked with them. Though Higata seemed far more comfortable doing so, if something crossed his mind that he wanted to know anyway.
"That's impressive!" Rona compliments him, "Those weren't small books."
"It gets hard to find new ones at times."
"You must be a pretty avid reader then!" She's so enthusiastic that Ryuu no longer feels like he committed some kind of social blunder last time.
"I read often." It's a little easier to admit than he reads and works and that's about it.
"I bought one of the books you bought? Not the one with the lists, that one made no sense to me, too many lists. And I've only made it a few pages in, it's a tough read." She sighed, looking a little defeated, and her honesty and memory both throw Ryuu for a loop.
"I could help you some time? I've been reading books like that since I first learned to read." Ryuu still isn't sure how well he's doing with these conversations, but she's social enough that his social awkwardness seems to blend into a normal conversation.
"That's impressive! You must be a child prodigy then." And while Ryuu wants to brush that away and not admit to it, it's true, and he knows he can't deny it, "I'd love that!"
"Really?" And Ryuu isn't sure what he expected, but her genuine enthusiasm wasn't it.
"Yeah, here." And she places the magazines in the same bag as the book after scanning them all, and she pulls out a little notepad and scrawls a number onto it. "I'm not supposed to do this. Don't tell my boss." She whispers to him, hand beside her lips, and Ryuu isn't quite sure where the bubbly feeling of amusement springs up in him or why.
"I won't tell your boss." Ryuu pledges, and Rona beams.
"That's my phone number. Text me or call me or whatever. I don't mind either way. And I'm Rona, though I guess my nametag gives it away." And Ryuu is suddenly struck by just how cute her smile is.
"Um," Ryuu's at a loss for words; he's never gotten a girl's number before, whether he was trying to or not, "Thank you."
"No problem!" Rona smiles, "I'm a little bored lately. Work's supposed to help with that." She shrugs and tells him his total.
After Ryuu pays, he just stands there for a moment before Rona wondering how this all happened and how it happened so fast, before he finally walks away with a bye that he hopes she hears.
And with her cheery 'bye' echoing in the air, he knows she's definitely heard his.
"You got a girl's number?" Garack asks him as Ryuu had just told her, to ask just what to do. Does he call? Does he text?
"Y-yes?" Ryuu isn't sure why it sounds like a question, but he's really unsure how to go on.
"She's not someone's grandma, right?" Garack ignores the look Yatsufusa aims at her.
"She's around my age? I think?" Ryuu isn't entirely sure why her age matters right now. It's not like it's a date. Really, he's just helping her learn about plants, what he knows and loves.
"Oh..." Garack looks ready to faint, "I'm so proud of you, little Ryuu!" She's beaming like a proud mother, "Someone finally sees how great you are!"
"I'm just going to help her read herbology?" Ryuu is trying to convey that it isn't a date; she's just a really nice cashier who has a lot of time on her hands and would like to learn something new that Ryuu just happens to know after all.
"She sounds perfect for you!" Chief is clapping, and Ryuu is about ten steps away from putting his head in his arms and hiding away from this conversation he started.
Garack takes another look at him and finally answers a bit more seriously, "Text her first, so she knows it's you. Explain how you met, if you haven't introduced yourself to her. Then, you can go from there."
"Oh." It makes practical sense, and Ryuu didn't know why the idea hadn't crossed his mind earlier, "Thank you."
"No problem!" And after a pause Garack adds on, "And tell me how your date goes after!"
"Not a date." Ryuu adds, as he finally takes out his phone and types a quick text. 'It's Ryuu, the guy who was buying herbology books.'
And a soft ding not even a half an hour later, 'Hi, Ryuu! So glad to finally learn your name! Are you free tomorrow to teach me? I don't work then. -Rona.'
'Maybe in the evening after I get off work?' Ryuu isn't very comfortable texting. His phone was more of a paper weight that he kept on him until Garack had questions on his days off or if Ryuu couldn't find a place he was trying to go to. It wasn't really something he used all that regularly.
His parents hadn't called him in years, and Chief and Yatsufusa were the only numbers Ryuu had in his phone besides his parents old number anyway. And now Rona's.
'I'll send you my address! Looking forward to it!' And it ended with a little heart, and Ryuu wasn't quite sure what that meant either.
Ryuu can anticipate new discoveries with plants, had a bunch of theories that he could easily prove or disprove, but Rona's place was not what he expected.
The house towered into the sky. Way too many stories. There was a gate out front that kept outside traffic outside, and he's pretty sure working at a bookstore does not pay enough to pay her bills, unless she owns the bookstore.
And Ryuu stares down at the address on his phone again, questioning whether he had been pranked. Though he doesn't know how one figures out they've been pranked, but surely she doesn't live here.
Ryuu gets out of the car, walks to the gate, stops, unsure what to do now. He'd never been somewhere so fancy before. Is there a doorbell? An alarm system? A camera that sends his image through?
"Ryuu!" And he looks up, there's Rona approaching the gate from inside it, "Did I say that right? I'm sorry I'm late; I should have known you'd be here already."
"You said that right." And then the gate opens. Rona must have pushed a button or something.
"Come on in."
"You live here?" Ryuu follows Rona through the long inner driveway and up to the house, feeling completely lost.
"With my family, yeah?" Rona pauses, "Oh, sorry the place is so big! My dad and my brothers live here too, and two of them like fancy houses."
"It looks like a castle." And Ryuu is still startled as Rona opens the door to the house and lets him in.
"...Thank you?" She tries, though she looks as awkward as Ryuu still feels.
"I-how?" And Ryuu only realizes a moment after he stutters, that that's probably impolite, and Higata and Garack clearly taught him better than that. And yet, what does one say to all this?
"Dad has a lot of money. Family business and inheritance." Rona sighs, "But I needed something to do, and it gets boring after a while." She leads him easily down winding hallways, up at least one flight of stairs, and off to a sizeable room that was probably a living room of sorts.
The room has a large couch, a t.v., some armchairs, and a small bookshelf with far too few books on it.
"Let me get the book!" And Rona opens a large, ornate door, and Ryuu realizes there's a bedroom there with a bed far bigger than he's ever owned, and a small nightstand with a book on it. "I've been trying to read it when I can, but I'm still a little confused." And when she steps over, she spots the look on his face finally.
"Sorry, that's my bedroom, and it's a bit messy and probably a bit rude to show you. And I should have gotten the book out sooner, just I hadn't thought of it?"
"Your room is huge." And Ryuu still isn't sure what to say as Rona shuts her bedroom door and steps closer.
"Please take a seat. Sorry, I forgot this might be odd." And Rona sits on the couch, and Ryuu awkwardly sits across from her on another one.
"I-It's fine." And Ryuu wonders why it was so much easier to talk at the bookstore, but way harder to talk sitting this close to her bedroom.
"You won't be able to see the book at all from over there!" And Rona moves over to sit down right next to him and opens the book up to page one.
And suddenly, it's as if she's too close to him. She's warm beside him, and Ryuu's throat has went dry, and he's not quite sure he can speak.
"There's a lot of scientific language in it, I'm pretty sure." Rona points to a word early on, "I'm not quite sure what that means."
And somehow with her getting right to the point, something eases up in Ryuu, and he remembers why he came over now.
So, he begins to teach her, and before he knows it, they've made it twenty or thirty pages in, and she has him laughing.
"You don't say it like that." He tries to be serious, but there's not even a hint of sternness left to his voice.
"Well, I do and I can!" She challenges, but she's laughing and can't be serious! Especially after a moment ago, she'd asked him how to say it and stumbled over it, awkward and fumbling syllables that she wasn't quite used to saying yet.
"Rona?" And they pause, as she looks over to the owner of the voice.
And Ryuu isn't sure who he's seeing. A young man, probably around Higata's age, and he isn't sure if this is one of Rona's aforementioned brothers or not.
"Raji!" She replies, "I'm sorry. Are we too noisy?"
"It's late; your friend should probably be going home." And the man's face is red as if he's embarrassed he's the one who has to tell her that.
"Is it really?" Rona looks over at a clock that Ryuu hadn't even noticed before, nestled perfectly against the wall, quiet though.
"I thought I just got here." Ryuu mumbles it to himself, and Rona catches it anyway.
"It's been almost four hours really?" She stares wide eyed at the clock, "Let me walk you out, Ryuu."
And Ryuu, who has never really been the trouble making sort, feels his face go red; this is the first time he can recall he's ever been in trouble and the first time that time flew by when he wasn't working.
"I guess so. Thank you." He doesn't want to admit he'd get lost without her to guide him, and she nods at Raji as she gestures for Ryuu to follow her out of the little room.
"That was so much fun!" Rona added, "Also don't let Raji get to you, he's harmless."
"Who is Raji?" Ryuu finally asks, "Is he one of your brothers?" He was certainly too young to be her dad after all.
"Oh, yeah. He's my oldest brother." And after she looks around and sees nobody else near them, she reaches over and takes Ryuu's hand in hers.
And though that gesture makes his face go pink, he figures it makes it easier for her to guide him through the long winding hallways even though she hadn't done that when he first arrived.
In far too little time, she's already guided him to the gate and let him through it.
"You'll have to come over again sometime." Rona added on, "This was fun, and I learned so much."
"Even if you can't say the last plant name?" Ryuu isn't sure why he brings it up now, but it makes sense too, kind of.
"I'll practice it, and then I'll be able to say it right next time!" And Rona's grinning at him just the same.
"I count on it." And Ryuu, while unsure what difference that will make, at least feels like he taught her something and that he's had fun.
"Come over earlier in the day next time. Then you can eat with us, and we can read for longer." And Rona's still smiling in a way that still mesmerizes Ryuu.
"Okay." And he doesn't promise, because he doesn't know when Rona's next off work yet, but this was a more enjoyable way to spend his evening even though he's read the book before.