CH 28

When I Returned From Another World I Was A Silver Haired Shrine Maiden: Chapter 28

Library

After the opening ceremony ended there was a second homeroom, finishing that meant that school was over for the day.

Now, I am making my way to the library to fulfill my promise to Alicia.

『So this is the school library! Books…. It’s full of books…!』

Alicia has been in a good mood the entire time after arriving at the library , I let out a small sigh of relief.

Considering it makes her this happy, I will probably be coming here often in the future.

It’s a silly thing to have to rely on the library when I’m in trouble… I’m counting on you, partner. (TN: Alice referring to the library itself when she says partner.)

Beside me was the onee-san from the bookstore who I became friends with today, Fumika. When I said that I wanted to go to the library after school, she said that she would guide me to it with her eyes shining.

Furthermore, Yuna had also come with us but, upon arriving in the library, left us and was reading a fashion magazine in the magazine section.

Jun, who I had also became friends with today, also wanted to come but couldn’t because she had club activities.

「So, what kind of books are you looking for?」

「I don’t have anything in particular that I’m looking for…」

In the first place, it is Alicia who is looking for a book, not me.  I would normally read manga and novels but not to the point of being an avid reader.

Back during the 2 months of high school when I was Ikutari, I never came to the library after the initial orientation when I enrolled.

『Alicia, what kind of books do you want to read?』

『First of all, I would like to walk around and see what kinds of books they have here.』

「For the time being, I would like to look around the library in general.」

「That sounds good. Well then, you can look on the map over there to see the sections.」

The place where Fumika pointed had a map that outlined the general location of each genre, there was also a guide on how the books are classified.

I move in front of it and observe the guide. Although it is a familiar site in any library, it was something fresh to Alicia.

『How wonderful! Such a large number of books are separated by genre and classified according to this guide…』

Hou, an amazed sigh comes out.

「… Is it that amazing?」

Fumika asks me while standing in front of the map.

「It is the same classification method that is used in libraries throughout Japan. Seeing how your eyes went right there, it seems Alice has the nature I expected you to have.」

What nature? I give an ambiguous smile in return to her words.

「The number of books here is pretty good. Because the librarian is very good at his job, the management of the collection is thorough… Isn’t it wonderful?」

『Yes, I think it’s very very wonderful! I want to live here!』

「… That’s right.」

I make a wry smile at Alicia’s words, then answer Fumika with a short reply.

『Can we live here!?』

『No, we can’t.』

「Well then, you should look around as you like. I’ll be around the new publications or the loan counter, call me when you decide what books you want to take out. You can only borrow up to 3 books at the same time.」

Saying that, Fumika walked towards the new publications section.

As expected, we aren’t going to move around in a group while looking for books in the library. When choosing a book, one doesn’t want to be disturbed by anyone and wants to be able to choose carefully.

… After all, people just want to find a book that they want to read.

『… Well then, what should we do. Is there any genre that you want to look at?』

『Firstly, I would like to look through the titles one by one.』

So, I started to walk around the Library. Alicia was overwhelmed with the feeling of wanting to ready every book she got her hands on, she spent ages trying to remember all the titles, I had to have a lot of patience.

Furthermore, she managed to memorize all the titles completely.

Her ability memorize things isn’t normal, if necessary she could recall every page of a book just by flipping through it once. When we were reading the textbooks for Japanese history, world history, and science for the transfer test, I flipped through the textbooks and had her to memorize the contents, this way Alicia’s desire to read was answered without taking away my study time as she could read it while recalling it later.

After around 30 minutes of walking around the library, we go and pick up the three books she decided on.

The first book was an instruction book about how steam engines work. The contents were rather rudimentary and it was filled with photos and illustrations.

The second book was one on laws and politics, an overview of our current political system and the history leading up to it are explained in it… That being said, I find it hard to understand such a strongly written book.

The third book was the original light novel for one of the anime I watched with Alicia for the first time.

… This is a library in a high school after all. However, is it alright that there are some slightly lewd descriptions and illustrations? Thinking about it, even normal novels have things like love scenes, so it’s probably fine.

I return to the entrance with the 3 books that Alicia chose.

Fumika is at the loan counter near the entrance, she was chatting with what appeared to be a student member of the library committee. I have a feeling that she was a regular here. Fumika noticed me and gave a small wave with her hand.

「Alice, how was it?」

『Great, it was a great experience!』

「… Yeah, well, it was fun.」

「Go ahead and pass your student ID and the books you chose to the receptionist.」

It was with her saying it that I noticed it.

It seems that you needed your student ID to take out books.

「… Ah, what should I do. My student ID hasn’t been made yet.」

「I’m sorry, unless we can scan the bar-code on your student ID we can’t lend out books.」

The student at the counter tells me so with an apologetic expression.

「I was careless… What should I do, the rules say I need to have a student ID card.」

It can’t be helped if it’s a rule.

Is the only way to memorize everything while in the library…?

「Those books, I’ll check them out.」

Saying so, a student ID card is placed on the counter.

「There isn’t any rules that say I can’t take out the books and let my imouto read them at home, right?」

『Yuna…!』

It was Yuna who appeared to save me.

Onee-chan is so cool.

「Anyway, there wasn’t any books I wanted to take out!」

She confidently says that.

Onee-chan is ruined…

With that, though there was some problems, I was able to take out the books safely.

Alicia is in a good mood, I’m thankful to Yuna for her help.

「Thank you, Fumika, for coming here with me… Did you get bored while I was picking stuff out?」

「I’m the type of person who comes to the library in my free time, so it’s fine… I’m sorry that I didn’t notice you didn’t have your student ID.」

「Don’t worry about it. Thanks to Yuna it didn’t become a problem.」

「FuuFu-n. By the way, I was bored! After this you’re going to taste a bunch of sweets, right? Let’s go quickly. Fumika, are you also coming with us?」

「I, I wouldn’t want to get in your way…」

「You’re welcome to come!」

「Then, I’ll join you. Should we also invite Jun since her club activities should be ending soon?」

「Of course!」

When Fumika sends Yun a message with her phone, it seems like there aren’t any problems, thus the 4 of us will be hanging out in town after school.