"This is... a manga?"

  Kenta flipped the cover open. His eyes widened as he stared at the very first page.

  "Sora... Haruki?”

  Just as Kenta was about to pick it up properly, Sora froze at the cssroom entrance. She spun around and hurried over to her desk, gncing around frantically for the missing book. She pulled off her bag and started rummaging through it. Kenta walked over to her.

  "Looking for this?" Kenta asked, holding out the manga.

  Sora's eyes darted to the book, then up to Kenta's face. She quickly ducked her head.

  "Thank you," she mumbled, snatching the manga from his hands. She shoved it deep into her bag and zipped it shut tightly.

  Slinging the bag over her shoulder, she turned to leave.

  "Wait." Kenta's voice made her stop in her tracks. "I'm, uh, sorry for reading the front page. But I just wanted to ask... did you really draw that manga?"

  Sora's lips trembled. She took a shaky breath and whispered, "Yes..."

  Then, she practically sprinted out of the room. Kenta opened his mouth to call after her, but the words died in his throat. A faint smile touched his lips.

  "Never mind. It's probably not important."

  ---

  Meanwhile, Rondo stood in front of a massive brown door, left halfway open. A wooden sign mounted right beside it read "Library District".

  He stepped inside. The front area was filled with small tables, each surrounded by three chairs, scattered randomly across the floor. At some tables, students were buried in their books in absolute silence. At others, groups were joking around quietly, careful not to make too much noise.

  Rondo walked further in until he was met with rows of elegant, brown wooden bookshelves. He gnced to his left and spotted a 'Be quiet' sign pstered on the side of one shelf. Genre bels were neatly dispyed in the center of each row. Coincidentally, the shelf Rondo was leaning against had a bel that read: 'Action'.

  He scanned the neatly arranged books on dispy. One of them, gring with a bright red cover, caught his eye. Rondo pulled it out.

  He flipped it over to look at the front. The cover featured a creature that was half-human and half red-and-bck monster. A massive title loomed across the top: 'Broken'.

  "Looks interesting," he muttered.

  Turning the book to read the back, his eyes locked in on the small blurb.

  "'A child running into a cruel world and allying with a demon.' Hmm... why does this feel like a horror story?" Rondo scratched his chin.

  "Looking for something, kid?"

  Rondo jumped at the sudden voice right beside him. "Jeez... you nearly gave me a heart attack."

  He turned to see a smartly dressed man wearing bck gloves and rectangur gsses, offering him a faint smile and a soft chuckle. Rondo's eyes flicked down to the nametag on the man's shirt: Marcel, librarian.

  "Sorry for startling you. Are you looking for a specific book, or just something to read?" Marcel asked.

  "Y-yeah, I'm actually looking for three books. The categories are, uh... money, city, and prison."

  Marcel blinked, taken aback for a second. "Oh, sounds like you're looking for economics, politics, and w, right?"

  Rondo shrugged. "Eh... probably."

  "Alright, follow me."

  Rondo trailed behind Marcel, constantly gncing left and right. He was completely mesmerized by the sheer number of bookshelves towering around the room. The two of them climbed a pristine white spiral staircase.

  Reaching the second floor, Rondo noticed another staircase leading even higher up. But Marcel guided him straight ahead until they stopped in front of a shelf beled 'Economics'.

  "Here we are. Feel free to pick whichever one you want," Marcel said, sweeping his hand across the row.

  "Thanks."

  Rondo scanned the titles one by one. His eyes locked onto a book called 'The Economy of Everything'. He pulled it out from the tightly wedged stack, almost dragging the two books next to it down with it. Luckily, Marcel reached out and caught them just before they hit the floor.

  "Take it easy, no need to rush," Marcel said, sliding the two books back into their pce.

  "Hehehe, thanks again," Rondo replied.

  Rondo opened the book in his hands, flipping past the first three pages. His eyes traced every word with intense focus. He kept reading, completely losing track of time until he had breezed through several pages.

  Marcel snapped his fingers. "Hey, hello..."

  Rondo snapped his head up. "Eh, uh, yeah. Sorry, I got way too into it."

  Marcel chuckled. "I guess that one is a good fit. Hold onto it for now. You still have two more to find, right?"

  Rondo nodded. "Yeah. So that just leaves politics and -"

  *Beep! Beep! Beep!

  Rondo instantly dashed to the balcony. Peering down, he saw a red light fshing frantically above the entrance. A female student had just walked back into the library, clutching a book. A man wearing the exact same uniform as Marcel approached her, giving her a stern scolding. The girl just kept her head bowed, nodding repeatedly.

  Marcel stepped up beside him. "Hey, don't run like that next time. The floors here are slippery, you could easily take a nasty fall."

  "Yeah, my bad. Won't happen again. I just rushed over cause that arm sounded like an absolute emergency."

  "Rex, there's no need to panic. It's just a minor security arm. It goes off if you try to take a book outside without confirming it with the staff first."

  Rondo let out a long breath. "Jeez, talk about a heart attack..."

  Marcel ughed softly. "It's normal to get spooked. You're lucky you found this out now. Otherwise, you might have ended up as one of the students getting a lecture down there."

  "E-eh, are there really that many people who get scolded for taking books out without checking?"

  "Plenty. We've already had nine students get caught by the staff just this morning, haha. Anyway, ready to hunt down your st two books?"

  Rondo nodded. "Yeah, let's go."

  Marcel led him down another aisle. By the fifth aisle from the far-left row, Rondo had picked up a massive politics book titled: 'How to Know the System'. By the seventh aisle, he grabbed a w book called: 'The Law Angel'. He stacked the heavy books on top of each other.

  As they walked back, Rondo looked over at Marcel. "Thanks for this. I finally found the exact books I needed."

  Marcel smiled. "You're very welcome. I'm always happy to help people find the perfect read."

  "Oh, by the way, it turns out this second floor is packed with some pretty heavy stuff. And everything is arranged so perfectly. It kind of makes me want to come back here sometimes, but just to read fiction, hehehe. You guys have that, right?"

  Marcel gave a small nod. "Yes, we do. That first floor you saw earlier? That's entirely dedicated to fiction. The second floor houses the heavier topics, like the ones you're holding now. And the third floor is all cssic literature."

  They arrived at the administration desk. Rondo dropped his stack onto the counter. Marcel immediately tidied them up and ran them through an automated wrapper.

  "Do you want to carry these with you now, or wait for a delivery drone to drop them off at your house ter?" Marcel asked as the machine worked.

  "I'll just take them with me now."

  "Okay. Psst, hey, watch your head."

  Rondo blinked in confusion and took a small step back. Marcel pressed a button, and a holographic monitor shot up from the desk. He started typing away on a physical keyboard in his hands.

  "How long do you pn to borrow these?" Marcel asked.

  "Uh... I'm not sure. Maybe right up until the exams start? So around six months," Rondo replied.

  Marcel quickly typed '5 months' on his keyboard, making the numbers fsh on the hologram. Rondo stared at the screen, a bit puzzled.

  "Why does it only say five months?" he asked.

  "Come closer, let me let you in on a little secret." Rondo checked his left and right before leaning in to hear Marcel's hushed voice.

  "Thirty days before the exams, you need to prepare yourself and hoard a good amount of GP. You have no idea whether you'll be promoted to Css A or drop all the way down to Css E ter, right? That's why you have to be ready way in advance, before the surprise exam hits you," Marcel whispered.

  "S-surprise exam?!"

  "Exactly. I honestly don't know the exact details myself. But you better start preparing yourself mentally and physically right now."

  Rondo leaned back, his eyes wide. "Wow, that is... incredibly important information. Thank you."

  Marcel dipped his head in a polite nod. "Don't mention it. Oh, and want to hear a fun fact?"

  Rondo narrowed his eyes. "What kind of fact?"

  "Like I said earlier, every floor represents a different fvor of reading. Fiction, heavy topics, and cssics. We put the fiction books on the first floor specifically to bait teenagers like you into actually reading. Fiction has this... magnetic pull to it. Once they get hooked on those stories, it's a lot easier to get them curious about the other genres too," Marcel expined.

  Rondo was genuinely impressed. "Wow, that's... actually really smart. How do you know all these details?"

  "That's the art of library design, hehe. Besides that..."

  Rondo's Or suddenly vibrated. He slid his finger across his Or.

  [1 New Notification!]

  [Confirm library book borrowing.]

  [Stats] [Maps] [Friends] [Camera] [Messages] [Notifications] [Settings] [Close]

  Rondo tapped the notification button fshing on the screen.

  [Are you sure you want to pay for this?]

  [Estimated cost: 350 GP]

  [Yes] [No]

  [Payment successful!]

  [Handled by: Marcel - Head Librarian Staff]

  Rondo froze. He slowly looked up at Marcel.

  "Head Librarian?!"

  Marcel just smiled back at him. "Thank you. Enjoy reading."

  He handed over the small, neatly wrapped bag containing Rondo's books.