Chapter 38 Library Buddies

Chapter 38 Library Buddies

Alicia White flipped the pages of the book she was reading, silently consuming the information within it.

As her eyes teetered across each letter—every word—she could see all the information she desired to understand.

Still, for some unknown reason, she could not grasp it.

'Looks like my mind is wandering again...' Alicia thought to herself.

After reading for hours without end, it seemed she had finally arrived at her saturation point for the day.

'It's around 7 PM already. Maybe I should take a break...'

As she sighed and closed the book that she read, a small sigh echoed from her lips.

She glanced around and noticed that no one was present in the library but her.

Times like these felt lonely, but also somewhat comforting.

There were no eyes to glare at her, or no mouths to bash her.

'It's not so bad...'

The moment she had this thought, the doors to the library creaked open, and someone entered.

The moment she heard this, Alicia swiftly carried her book and shoved it in her face, as if she had been reading this entire time.

'He's here!' Her thoughts echoed as she tried her best not to peek behind the pages of her book.

Pretending to be so immersed in reading, she kept her eyes locked on the texts therein.

"Um... hi, Alicia."

The moment she heard the very familiar, but awkward voice, Alicia straightened up and slowly looked up from her book.

As expected, she found Rey standing right next to her.

"O-oh, hi Re—"

"What are you reading?" He suddenly drew nearer as his face closed in on hers.

'Did he just take a shower? He smells nice...' Her thoughts echoed as she tried her best not to look directly at him.

'Let's just pretend I'm reading, and—"

"Your book is upside down, Alicia. Are you sure you're okay?"

"...Eh?"

At this point, she had no point but to look at Rey, and then turned to see that her book was indeed upside down.

More importantly, he was pretty chill to be around.

So why was he not talking to anyone else? Why did he only come to the library and speak to her?

'Maybe I'm just overthinking things. I'm always cooped up here, so maybe he actually had friends I don't know about...'

The moment Alicia had this thought, she sighed and nodded.

"Hey, Alicia... did you hear anything I said?"

Rey's voice woke her from her torrents of thoughts, and she instantly felt a wave of shock flow through her as a result.

She sharply turned in his direction, and her face nearly touched his thanks to him being very close to her.

'A-ahh...!'

His gaze was intent as he stared straight into her eyes, and she could feel a strange weight placed on her mind.

"W-what did you say?" She quickly looked away.

It felt like her heart was racing for a second there, but now it was perfectly fine.

"I was asking if you've read any books on Goblins—specifically Hobgoblins. I've only read about them in the General Monster Encyclopedia."

"O-ohh... that's quite a specific topic." Alicia muttered, rubbing her chin slightly.

Thankfully, she had the ability to switch from embarrassed to serious if the situation called for it.

"Y-yeah! I need it for... reasons..."

Once again, Rey was being mysterious. Alicia didn't know whether to like his current personality or find it a little discouraging for her.

She wanted to know more about his plans, and what he was hiding, but she didn't know how to phrase it without seeming like a busybody.

'If I'm too forward, he might think of me like a prude...'

That was the way most of her classmates viewed her, despite most of her actions being geared towards the greater good of everyone.

'I... I don't want him to dislike me too...'

As a result, Alicia decided not to speak on the matter despite her fervent curiosity.

"A book on Goblins and Hobs, huh...?" She mumbled, slowly rising from her seat.

A smile formed on her face as she stared at Rey with an official, yet friendly, demeanor.

"I think I have just the thing for you."

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