Blythe could scarcely believe she got to witness this first encounter firsthand, too. She’d already counted herself extremely fortunate to have seen the scene between Daisy and Cole in the school garden earlier this morning.

  In the game, this mob character had confessed her feelings to Noel after several months of asking to share his table to pretend to read library books. Unfortunately for her, while she’d thought she was building some sort of relationship with him through the questions she’d asked him and the monosyllabic answers he’d given her, he’d merely viewed her as an unusually chatty schoolmate who liked to read books.

  “The truth is,” the girl stammered, “I’ve been pretending to be reading books when I asked to sit at your table so I could be closer to you. I’d thought I would muster up the courage to tell you how I felt before school ended last semester, but I still wasn’t brave enough … But now, I can tell you that I really, really like you!”

  “What? You’ve been pretending to read those books this entire time?”

  Blythe sighed internally. That’s not the point here, Noel!

  Actually, now that she thought about it, this girl was really brave. She was doing this with witnesses all around. There were only a total of about six people, excluding Noel and his admirer, in the vicinity, but six was a whole audience when it came to something as private and sentimental as a love confession.

  “I, um, know I should’ve been upfront, but it was the only way I knew how to approach you and ask to sit with you.”

  Noel just frowned, looking even more irritated. “And you prevented other people from reading those books you were pretending to read just for that reason? What if someone else had wanted to read them?”

  “I … pardon?”

  “In the time that you wasted pretending to read those books, other people could’ve wanted to read them as well but were forced to give up on the idea because you were occupying them. Could you be anymore inconsiderate?”

  “No, that was not my intention …” Her voice quivered.

  “So you’re saying it never crossed your mind someone could want to read those books you were using as accessories? What makes you think I’d be interested in someone who thinks this way?”

  “No, I …” She sounded choked up now.

  Still, despite the tears he’d reduced her to, Noel was relentless. “What is wrong with you?”

  “What is wrong with you?”

  And the heroine made her entrance. Daisy, wearing an annoyed frown on her face, stepped out from behind the bookshelves and walked up to stand beside the girl.

  “It’s a love confession. You can simply say no and move on if you have no interest in her. You don’t have to tear down her character for taking books off the shelf.”

  Honestly, Blythe wholeheartedly agreed with Daisy on this matter. She knew Noel was fond of books and treasured the acquisition of knowledge very much, but he was being a bit too pissy about it in this scene.

  With shock written all over her face, the girl turned to Daisy.

  “She’s been doing this for months,” Noel retorted. “She’s possibly deprived other people the chance to read those books just to deliver some silly confession, but I’m the one tearing down her character?”

  Blythe’s hand crept to cover her mouth. Come on, now. It’s not that deep.

  “You’ve been sitting at this table with him for a few months now, correct?” Daisy asked the girl.

  She hung her head in shame. “Y-yes …”

  “This is by no means a private area; anyone who comes into the library can instantly see what people at these tables are doing, including what books they’re reading. If people truly needed the books she was reading, they could verbally request for them, couldn’t they? Surely you wouldn’t have declined if someone had asked for the specific book you were holding?”

  At the last question, Daisy faced the girl, who nodded hastily. “I-I would’ve been happy to give them the book!”

  Noel stared, dumbfounded for a moment, but he quickly regained his composure. “If they had thought she was genuinely reading the book, why would they approach to ask for it from someone who also had need of it? And regardless of what she might or might not have done in that situation, she has still approached me through deception.”

  By this point, tears were streaming down the girl’s cheeks. He had no concern for a maiden’s delicate heart however, appearing unmoved by the display.

  Daisy’s mouth fell agape. “Her actions may have been a little disingenuous, but they weren’t out of malice.”

  “T-thank you,” the girl stammered out, drawing in unsteady breaths, “for speaking up for me, but it’s alright. I … I should go.”

  If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  Given Noel’s cold response, she already knew his answer to her confession. She ran off with a loud sniffle.

  “Please wait!” Daisy called out, beginning to stride after her. “Are you feeling alri—”

  Noel cut her off, rising to his feet and narrowing his eyes at her. “Who even are you? Mind your own business instead of sticking your nose in the business of someone you’ve never even met.”

  Attention diverted, Daisy whirled around with a scowl of her own. “Never even met? Not only are we in the same botany class this year, but we also share several other classes. I would have thought you would at least be aware of who your classmates are, but that is evidently not the case.”

  It was Noel’s turn to stare at her, taken aback by the revelation. Noel didn’t pay attention to his classmates unless group projects were involved, so he genuinely hadn’t noticed Daisy was one of them.

  Daisy took advantage of his momentary silence to add, “Moreover, I would say that as you both spoke loudly enough to be overhead in the school library, you’ve effectively made that the business of every passing student. I was merely wondering what the commotion was about.”

  His shock subsided, to be replaced by annoyance once more. He glanced around the area, realizing that near everyone who was seated at the surroundings tables was staring at them. It was a shame Blythe didn’t have popcorn with her at the moment.

  “I’m going to remember you from now on,” he informed her, gathering up the books on the table into his arms.

  When Daisy met this vaguely threatening response with a faint, challenging smile, he glared at her one last time before striding away with his books and school bag.

  Behind her mouth, Blythe’s lips twitched into a smile. She fondly remembered Daisy’s thoughts at this line from Noel: ‘As you should, after three whole years of shared classes!’

  In the game’s narrative, Daisy had a deep desire to make female friends and was soundly disappointed and frustrated by the lack of progress she’d made in that area despite the years she’d spent in the academy. Most of the girls didn’t enjoy being in her company because of all the attention she drew from the male mob characters, leaving them to feel like Daisy was hogging the limelight. In modern terms, they thought she wasn’t a girl’s girl, even though she really was.

  Thus, she went about white-knighting or helping out any girl she could find in hopes of receiving an extended hand of friendship. Unfortunately, having difficulty befriending girls remained a sore point for her throughout her days in Novalbus in spite of the great lengths she went to.

  Blythe knew that after this confrontation, she would try to find the crying girl and comfort her, but the girl would already be out of sight by the time Daisy left the library.

  For Noel, however, this confrontation would irk him so much he would nitpick over Daisy’s answers in their shared classes from now on. Every time she participated in class by answering a question, he would try to find fault with her words until the next event with him triggered.

  Blythe watched Noel check out the books at the counter with a large ‘Circulation Desk’ sign in front. It was a little far from where she was presently sitting, so she couldn’t quite see the process. Hoping it would be intuitive, she decided to try borrowing a book after she was done here.

  She continued reading from where she’d left off, discovering that the bonded beasts had increased resistance to ailments and boosted immunity in general, which extended to their diets and enabled them to eat a greater variety of foods than their regular or non-bonded counterparts could. Beast tamers had to work with beast specialists to formulate an appropriate menu to ensure they received the nutrients they needed from their diet.

  It was her first time having fun reading a ’non-fiction’ book. She realized this was likely because of the fantastical feel to this whole thing, being in a world that had animals some people just naturally were able to understand. Originally, she’d been thinking of picking out a novel from the second floor, but now she decided to check out this book on beast taming if only to learn more about how it worked. It wouldn’t hurt to be more knowledgeable about this world.

  She got up and went to the circulation desk, planning on making a stop at the café after that. Micah would arrive at the courtyard in another thirty minutes, giving her enough time to enjoy some hot chocolate and sweet treat before she had to leave.

  The lady in her mid-thirties sitting behind the circulation desk smiled as Blythe approached. She wore a tag on the lapel of her blazer that read 'Librarian'.

  "Good afternoon," she said before Blythe could open her mouth, her eyes landing on the book Blythe was clutching with both hands. "Are you here to check out a book?"

  "Good afternoon," Blythe said, relaxing at her pleasant disposition. "Yes, I'd like to check this out, please."

  After the lady took the book from her, she opened the front cover and slid it under a white machine about a foot in length and breadth. Actually, it looked like a carefully carved thick, rounded slab of stone with a glossy surface, but Blythe could only assume it was a machine from the way the librarian slotted the book cover into the space at the bottom.

  A soft, white glow appeared at the top of the machine.

  Blythe waited patiently for whatever the librarian needed to do, only to realize she was staring right back at her.

  The librarian's eyebrows rose before she coughed politely. "Your hand?"

  Blythe started. "My hand. Yes, I ..."

  She raised her right hand in the air and held it out, palm up, to the librarian. The latter gave her another strange look.

  "Your hand goes on the registration machine," she said, her tone still light.

  Her insides seized up.

  It's okay, it's okay, she repeated to herself. She just thinks you're a weirdo who totally forgot how the check out system works.

  She jerked her arm to place her hand on the registration machine, the recollection of opening her locker door the same way coming back to her. Sure enough, the white glow switched to a blue glow. The librarian touched the surface next, causing the blue to turn pink. Two seconds later, the glow vanished, and the librarian pulled the book cover back out. Closing it, she set it back onto the desk and pushed it toward Blythe with both hands.

  “As always, the loan period is two weeks. Will you need a written note of the date as a reminder?”

  “Yes, please.”

  She received a blue memo note tucked behind the book cover.

  "Gentle reminder that all our books and recordings are installed with anti-tardiness alarms," the librarian said, waving at a yellow notice on the countertop in front of Blythe. "Enjoy your day!"

  Blythe scanned it quickly: the notice informed students that the anti-tardiness alarm embedded in their borrowed items would begin to sound once it was past the return date. Having their borrowing privileges revoked for a week was the penalty for not returning an item on time. The academy seemed to take this very seriously. She made a mental note to keep an eye on the date.

  With all these mental notes she was taking, she’d need a planner to write it all down. Blythe had one in her bag, but she hadn’t had the chance to do more than skim through it. She just had to make sure nobody got their hands on it.