Chapter 22.1

“Hnn…”

Aching head in my hands, I managed to sit up.

Thanks to a strange nightmare I’d suffered from until dawn, I barely even slept.

It was a dream in which the contents of the book were strangely mixed up. I felt like I could still see the notice of expulsion hovering in front of my eyes.

It was still early, but if I wanted to avoid Noah, I had to leave now.

“… What the, are you leaving this early?” Woken up perhaps by the sounds I made, Dora mumbled sleepily while rubbing her eyes.

“Yeah, sorry for waking you up. I’m heading out first.”

“What time is it..?”

“You still have time to sleep. Join me later.”

She must have heard me, seeing how Dora’s breathing became more and more regular. Soon, only the sound of her light snores could be heard.

Sweeping all the books into my bag, I left the room.

Yaawn.

Sitting in an empty classroom by myself, sleepiness was washing over me, but time flew by quickly as I looked through the books I’d brought.

“Hahh—ack.”

In the middle of another big yawn, I gasped.

Out the classroom window, I could see glimpses of long silver hair fluttering past.

Very slowly, I crouched under the nearby desk and held my breath. This way, Noah wouldn’t be able to see me.

Hah, the schedule changed this semester. Look for me if you can.

“What’re you doing?”

At the door stood Dora, looking at me with a puzzled face after she’d opened the door in a huge motion.

“Shh,” I whispered, frowning.

Right behind her was Noah. I felt a rush of gratitude at how tall Dora was.

“You’re Katelin’s friend, right?”

Discovering Dora in the midst of wandering around, Noah walked toward our direction.

Ack. I curled into myself again.

“Yes. Are you looking for Kate?”

Nodding, Noah asked Dora once more.

“Do you know where she is?”

“Beats me, I don’t really know. But why are you looking for Kate?”

After exchanging a brief glance with me, Dora countered with a question of her own with a tilt of her head.

Dora, nice.

Noah was silent for a moment before he answered with a slightly quieter voice.

“No reason, I only wanted to see her face.”

My breath stopped.

I could see that Dora too was standing there looking pretty dazed.

“… I see. I’ll let her know if I see her.”

“Thanks. Sorry I bothered you.”

Dora stood outside watching until Noah walked away, then slammed the classroom door open.

With an excited expression, she shouted in a booming voice.

“Yo, congratulations! What in the world?!”

I fiddled with my lower lip, unsure of what expression to make.

I knew I should be telling her that whatever misunderstanding she had was wrong, but I couldn’t say a single word. I just felt very, very strange.

***

Having avoided Noah for the past few days, I checked the watch with stabbing anxiety.

I’d arrived earlier than the club meeting time on purpose. He wouldn’t be here yet, right?

“Hello, long time no see.”

… Yes, it was.

As soon as I opened the classroom door and went in, Noah smiled at me faintly from where he sat.

I awkwardly tucked my hair behind my ear.

“You’re here very early.”

“You too.”

Calm down. Act like usual. Don’t do weird things again, like a fool. And if he asks why I’ve been avoiding him, pretend like I don’t know. Pretend…

“Um, Noah. You left this at our house.”

After awkwardly moving toward him, I placed a card-shaped bookmark on the desk.

Picking the bookmark up, Noah nodded. “I’ve completely forgotten about this.”

“And this, too. Since the bookmark was in the middle of the book, I thought you might not have finished it, so…”

Trailing off, I held out the book Noah had been reading but left behind. Taking the book, Noah blinked, then smiled a little.

“Thank you. I was looking for it, but apparently, you can’t get it in the capital.”

“I’ll lend it to you. You can return it once you’re done.”

Smiling, I let go of the book.

I’d thought he would only read books about magic, but Noah seemed to also like reading novels as well. Though if I thought about it, that would be why he was in the club, right?

That book was one that I’d read a lot when I was younger.

Though it was a romance novel of pretty ordinary content, I’d read it over and over again until I’d practically memorized it, because…

“That was written by my mother, you know.”

I pointed to the author’s name on the book.

“Jennifer Blair. See?”

Noah rubbed the book with a concerned expression.

“… Is it okay for you to lend me something like this?”

“We have a bunch more in my dad’s room.”

When I waved my hand to say it was fine, Noah took the book and smiled softly. “Thank you. I’ll be sure to be careful as I read it and return it to you at a later time.”

Scratching my arm, I quietly swallowed.

This wasn’t it. I kept trying to stick to different subjects in the fear that he might ask me why I was avoiding him.