Book Girl Ascends the Stairway of the Gargoyles and Idiots Chapter 1
Book Girl and the Summoned Beast summoned by the girl
“—I want to battle you—”
The ‘Book Girl’ declares in such a poignant voice as she tosses the greenish-blue thread that was lod
Ahh…she finally said it out~
I can’t help but clutch my head the as I stand beside Touko-sempai, who has completely lost it.
Everything began here.
“Hey, Konoha, I found a great library here!
It was a little far away, but soon, we found ourselves heading there to look. I was doing up a map of the library. As a member of the literature club, I had to know what kind of books there were in which libraries, what kind of facilities they had, and so on.
The books were stacked heavily like a graveyard in the clubroom without the air-conditioner, giving off a fragrance. It felt hard to breath during this hot weather as I loosened my uniform collar with one hand while fanning myself with a paper fan with the other.
She answered,
“How tiring. I don’t want to go. It’s your own interest anyway Touko-sempai. It has nothing to do with club activities, right?”
“Seriously~ you’re younger than me, Konoha, but you always act so lifeless~ This is sempai’s order. Go~”
Touko-sempai’s braids sway slightly as she starts pouting like a kid. I can only stare at her in a dumbstruck manner, and finally succumbed under her continuous persuading.
We took a long ride on the train, and finally reached that library. It was surrounded by many lush green trees, and had 3 storeys. It looked like a new building, and it was very spacious inside.
“Ahh, it’s a mountain of goodies! I can’t look away!”
Touko-sempai’s eyes were glittering.
“Please don’t eat them all.”
I reminded. Touko-sempai is a youkai who will rip books out and eat their pages.
However, she herself insisted, “I’m just an ordinary ‘Book Girl’! I am different from those Kitarous and Eyeball Father [1]…”
“Really, I get it. Ahh, but but! This is the only library with the entire collection of Jean Anouilh books. [2] There’s also the entire collection of Yoshiya Nobuko’s works here!”[3]
Endou-sempai showed a slight blush on her face as she leapt through the rows of bookshelves with light steps. I didn’t dare to relax, fearing when she would fall for the temptation and read the book.
At this moment, Touko-sempai suddenly stopped.
“Oh my, Mizuki? Isn’t that Mizuki?”
A girl in uniform was sitting by the window that was letting the soft sunlight through, silently flipping through the books.
I suppose she would be a high school girl like us. The loose long hair lay on her back softly, and she was a petite and cute girl. She lowered her snowy white face, and her eyes that were staring at the pages were somewhat drenched with a seemingly tinge of loneliness.
“Touko…”
“It’s been a while, Mizuki.”
Touko-sempai went over happily, and the other party showed a gentle smile of an acquaintance. To think that such a tranquil girl would actually know Touko-sempai—
“Mizuki’s a friend I met in another library around here. We would often meet to share our reflections on some books we read.”
Touko-sempai smiled as she said.
“Mizuki, this is my kouhai at the Literature club, Inoue Konoha. He’s a second year like you too.”
Mizuki looked rather shy. Her face was red as she nodded at me. She was really someone who would give others the urge to protect her.
“Fumitzuki Gakuen. Is that the school that became hot news for the ‘test summoning system’?”[4]
“Yes..”
“I heard that you can call out summoned beasts by obtaining points in exams.”
“Wow, it’s like magic.”
Touko-sempai always had interests in unique things as she asked with interest,
“In other words, the higher the points, the stronger the summoned beast?”
“Yes. Theoretically, that’s the case.”
“I wanna try too~ it sounds like an interesting school!”
“Eh? …It’s true that, it’s rather fun…whether it’s the school, or everyone in class…I like them all…”
Mizuki’s voice was rather stuttered.
Eh? Just when I felt that it was strange, a drop of clear liquid suddenly slid down her clear face. Wah!
“Mizuki, what’s wrong!?”
“So…sorry.”
She frantically apologized as tears rolled out of her large eyes.
Mizuki kept holding the book in her arms, saying sorry as she sobbed while her shoulders trembled.
At this moment, Touko-sempai and I didn’t know what to do.
“What happened, Mizuki? If there’s something wrong, you can tell us, alright?”
Touko-sempai brought the sobbing Mizuki out of the library to sit at a bench surrounded by trees, handed her a violet handkerchief, and asked.
Mizuki sobbed as she answered,
“Uu…A, Akihisa-kun…gave the cookies I made, uu…to Sakamoto-kun…”
“Akihisa is?”
“Uu…my classmate. He’s very kind…cheery, optimistic…treats others well…ever since a long time ago, I’d…but Akihisa-kun seemed to think that I bothered him…he said thanks when I handed him the cookies I made during cooking class and took it…but maybe it’s because he didn’t want to hurt me…uu…after that, I saw him bring it to Sakamoto-kun…and even…made him open his mouth and force-fed him”
“THAT’S SERIOUSLY TOO MUCH!!”
Touko-sempai shouted, causing me to feel a chill.
Not good. Looks like this will end up like before…
Notes
- ↑ A reference to a series called GeGeGe no Kitaro, a series that was…run during the Sixties…
- ↑ Writer from France. Thing is, I researched up the collection of stuff the author wrote, and there are 99 from I can see. Either Touko wants to eat them for breakfast, lunch and dinner, or I don’t know…
- ↑ A Japanese author
- ↑ To those wondering why Konoha was asking such a question…Mizuki’s wearing the uniform…and no, I don’t find any missing lines here.
