Vol. 1 Chapter 3.3 – I Tried Going on a Date with the Bookstore Girl

Sunday. 9:55 a.m.

Issei stood beneath the clock tower in front of the station.

The people passing through the station plaza had a different age range and vibe compared to weekdays.

While watching them with mild curiosity, Issei simply waited for time to pass.

This was the day, the time, and the place—where he was supposed to meet Shiori.

Of course, after what had happened, there was no reason to think she would show up. Her affection level was probably at negative one billion by now.

Chitose, Nanako and even Niko—whom he consulted via LINE—all gave the same opinion.

For the record, Niko had blown up with replies like 『Who the hell is Shiori!?』and『Are you saying weird crap to someone again!?』—so he left her on read.

Issei’s own conclusion was also: 『She won’t come.』

And yet, he stood there at the designated meeting spot, because they had made a promise.

The time and place had been set.

That promise had not been explicitly withdrawn.

Given the situation, it was understandable if Shiori chose to break it. But Issei himself couldn’t be the one to go back on it.

A king does not speak empty words.

The clock’s hands reached 10:00.

The promise had been fulfilled.

As expected, Shiori didn’t appear.

Issei turned to go—he was just about to start walking when a voice called out from behind him.

“Why… are you here?”

Issei quickly turned around, startled.

For a second, he thought he might be imagining things when he saw Matsura Shiori standing there.

But Issei, being a genius, did not make mistakes like that.

“…What about you? Why are you here?”

“Because I never actually said I was canceling.”

Shiori answered coldly, both in tone and expression.

“It felt gross to be the one to break the promise. I came to check that you weren’t here and then I was planning to leave.”

Her eyes glared up at him from beneath her glasses, dim and piercing.

They were the exact same eyes as last night’s.

“So, what will you do now?”

“I’m going to the library. I always go to the library on Sundays.…If possible, I’d appreciate it if you didn’t follow me.”

“What a coincidence. I was planning to go to the library as well.”

“…I see. Suit yourself.”

Turning her back to him, Shiori began walking.

Issei followed.

◇

Maintaining a distance of several meters between them, the two walked along the same path—one in front, one behind—continuously.

During that time, there was no conversation at all.

And then, they entered the municipal library.

“Why are you following me?”

“The folklore books are on this shelf.”

“……”

She glared at him with a highly suspicious look.

But Issei had no ulterior motive.

At the bookstore where Shiori worked, he had already gone through the travel guides, handicrafts, and cooking sections—having conquered each one in turn—and now, it was simply time for folklore.

According to information that Chitose had ordered her subordinate, the Black Glasses Squad, to gather, Shiori’s interest lay in folklore. She seemed to like things like old tales and such.

It wasn’t as if he was targeting that on purpose.

Keeping a precise distance of about two meters from Shiori, he began searching for books.

Scanning the spines for titles and pulling out several that looked useful to check their contents—when suddenly…

“You’re the worst as a person, but your taste in books is actually good.”

“Did you say something?”

“No. Nothing.”

Before long, Shiori seemed to have found some good books and picked up one or two from the beginning of a series. But when she reached for the third volume, her fingertips stopped—pita.

“Ah… the third one…”

Only that one volume from the continuing series was missing.

A pained, sorrowful expression surfaced on her face.

Hmm. Issei, who usually couldn’t grasp the psychology of ordinary people, was able to understand that emotion alone.

She had probably wanted to complete the set, but just one missing volume ruined it. Like a dragon painting missing the pupils.

“If you’re looking for the third volume of that book, I saw it on the rack next to the return counter.”

He had caught sight of it for a brief moment when they first entered the library. And since Issei was a genius, he of course remembered it.

“Eh? Really?”

For a brief moment, Shiori’s face lit up with joy. —But she quickly caught herself and returned to her usual stern, displeased expression.

“If you’re messing with me… I’ll be really mad.”

When she went over to the counter, the book she was after was indeed there.

Naturally. Issei was a genius, after all—mistaking things was not in his nature.

“No way, it really was there… Ah, sorry for doubting you…”

Just as she started to apologize, Shiori suddenly snapped back to awareness and hastily covered it up with her usual stern demeanor.

“…Still, that doesn’t change the fact that I despise you, Issei-san.”

It seemed that the minus one hundred million points in favor from yesterday still hadn’t been fully recovered.

But at the very least, she had gone from calling him 『okyakusan』back to 『Issei-san』.

Issei realized that, compared to being called『okyakusan』, being called 『Issei-san』 made him feel just a little bit happy.

◇

They sat across from each other at a table in the library’s reading corner, reading their books.

Even though he sat at the same table, she didn’t say a word.

Issei could finish one book in just a few seconds, so he had no real need to sit down and read at all… But to match her pace, he slowed down to about a tenth of his usual speed, reading each character one by one, carefully scanning the surface of the words. It was the first time in his life he had ever read a book so slowly and thoroughly.

Even reading that slowly, he still ended up going to exchange the towering stack of over a dozen books in less than thirty minutes.

Shiori’s gaze, as she watched Issei, gradually shifted from impressed to genuinely admiring — but…

Issei eventually discovered that compared to reference or educational books, reading literary novels allowed him to read even more slowly.

The reason was that literary works often focused on the emotions of their characters — and those ordinary human emotions were completely unknown and incomprehensible to him.

Whenever a character found themselves conflicted, he would stumble every time — which made it perfect for slowing down his reading pace.

“Kusu…”

When he looked up from the book, Shiori, sitting across from him, was laughing.

“…?”

“You’re reading a romance novel so seriously, it’s kind of funny…”

“Is there something odd about that?”

Issei had absolutely no idea why Shiori was laughing.

Also, up until just now, she had been looking at him like he was some kind of bug, but now her expression had returned to normal.

There should always be a reason for a change in someone’s feelings… but he couldn’t figure out what that reason was.

After all, he had gotten so absorbed in the contents of the book, he’d completely forgotten about Shiori’s presence.

“Ah, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to say it’s wrong for a guy to read romance novels or anything… My motto is 『There’s no hierarchy in books.』Incidentally, it’s a knockoff of a quote by someone named Ishida Baigan, who said, 『There’s no hierarchy in professions.』” Ishida Baigan¹

“I completely agree. No matter what kind of book it is, the knowledge written within is always valuable.”

“Even girls’ novels?”

“Even girls’ novels.”

The sound piron♡, which hadn’t been heard for a while, began to chime again.

“But still, Issei-san… you really do read fast, don’t you…”

“I’ve read hundreds of thousands of books, after all.”

He made it a point to spend about 400 seconds a day on 『reading.』At an average of 10 seconds per book, multiplied by 17 years, multiplied by 365 days—Yeah. That math checked out.

Incidentally, he had been doing this since he was a little kid.

“I always thought that anyone who starts talking in 『ten-thousands』was probably lying. —But when it’s Issei-san saying it, I feel like it’s actually true.”

Shiori said that with a smile.

Then, she looked to the right, then to the left, making sure none of the other library patrons were looking their way, and leaned forward—bringing her face close to Issei’s ear.

‘That series… actually, I’ve read it too. Tell me what you thought about it later, okay…?’

As if confessing some kind of secret, Shiori whispered into his ear.

◇

Closing time approached.

Chin-don… The chime began to ring.

“Ah— oh no! I haven’t decided which books to borrow—! Ah, ah— which one should I pick!?”

Shiori, who had been so focused she lost track of time, was now flustered.

“I have already made my choice.”

It was the romance novel series Shiori had highly recommended. All ten volumes.

He had already decided to borrow it, so he hadn’t read any of it yet. According to the summary, the story was about a junior high school girl who finds out that the person she fell for is actually the worst, grows to despise him, but later realizes it was all a misunderstanding and that he’s actually a good person—something along those lines.

He felt like he had heard it somewhere before, but couldn’t recall exactly where.

For a genius like Issei to not remember something—that was an extremely rare occurrence. That alone made it interesting in a different way.

“That was the warning bell. We still have five minutes. No need to panic.”

“R-right, of course!”

“Take a deep breath.”

“Suu-haa, suu-haa… hih-hih-fuu, hih-hih-fuu…”

“That’s the Lamaze method.”Lamaze²

“I’m joking! Mou, Issei-san, you’re really knowledgeable. You caught that right away.”

“I’ve read hundreds of thousands of books.”

There had been a book on childbirth knowledge too. The Lamaze method was a breathing technique used by pregnant women during delivery.

“…If you can still crack jokes, you’re fine. Have you decided what to borrow?”

“Yes. Thanks to you, Issei-san, I’ve calmed down. I’ll take this one, and this, and this one—these three here, and these seven as well.”

He helped her return the remaining books to the shelf, went through the borrowing process at the counter, packed the books into the eco bag Shiori brought, and they exited the library.

Shiori had brought an eco bag for Issei too. That struck Issei as a little odd.

That morning, she had said she came to make sure he wasn’t there.

So then—why had she brought a bag for his books too…?

Human emotions really were hard to understand.

“Haa… So many books… I’m in bliss right now…”

Hugging the heavy, book-stuffed bag to her chest, Shiori blushed and said that with joy.

“It seems it’ll be a challenge to get through all of this. But it does feel rewarding.”

“Fufu. The main character is a junior high school girl, so it might be a little hard for you to empathize with her, Issei-san.”

That wasn’t the reason at all.

It was simply that tracing the thought patterns of ordinary people was always a challenge for him—

But seeing Shiori smile, he decided not to say it.

Well, to be fair, empathizing with a『junior high school girl』was definitely difficult for him. On that point, she wasn’t wrong.

“Haa… Today has been such a happy day. So many books… and I got to spend it with someone who shares my taste in reading…”

Chira, Shiori glanced at Issei.

Compared to the grumpiness she showed that morning, she was like a different person.

He still didn’t understand what had lifted her mood—but the fact that she was in high spirits now was a good thing.

Chira, she looked at Issei again.

Ah. So that’s what it was.

Issei understood.

“It must be heavy. Let me carry it.”

“Ah, no, I…”

He took the bag that was far too heavy for her. After all, it held around ten books.

Issei walked side by side with Shiori.

When they came to the library, they had been separated by several meters front and back. But on the way home, they walked with just thirty centimeters between them.

It is fair to say that their relationship had improved quite a bit.

◇

They arrived at the door of her apartment.

“Ah, um… w-would you like to come in for some tea or something? I-I live alone, so the room’s pretty empty, but… i-if you don’t mind…?”

Shiori said this while sweating profusely, clearly nervous and flustered.

But Issei raised his hand gently in refusal.

“No. I’ll pass.”

“R-right… I-it is too soon, isn’t it…”

Hmm? What did she mean by『too soon』?

…Well, no matter.

When it comes to tea, the kind Chitose brews is undoubtedly better—so he had simply declined for that reason.

Today’s objective had been achieved.

By confessing his『true purpose』he’d managed to recover from the plummeted reputation he’d suffered, rising from rock bottom. He had likely restored things to the level they were at before the confession.

Starting tomorrow, he could resume visiting the bookstore.

This time, he wasn’t hiding anything. With no guilt weighing on him, he could go there proudly and openly.

“Well then, see you tomorrow.”

“Yes. See you tomorrow…”

Until Issei had fully descended the stairs of the apartment, the door to Shiori’s room remained open.

And only after he heard the soft patari of the door closing……did Issei clench his hand tightly into a fist.

“…?”

At his own gesture, Issei tilted his head in confusion.

What was that just now?

Why had he done something so meaningless as to clench his hand like that?

For someone like Issei—a genius—acting unconsciously was a rare occurrence.

Tilting his head the whole time, Issei began walking back toward the mansion.