Afterward, Takumi tried to go through with the routine, but ultimately, his "Takumi" was useless. He tried to rouse himself, but his body increasingly shrunk in inverse proportion to his will. This caused Kotori to give him a wry, unreadable look.
"I-It was sudden, after all."
"E-Even a boy needs mental preparation."
"I-I wish I was a more appetizing ready-made meal..."
Kotori offered Takumi such words of comfort. When they parted, she also said, "I'll try a little harder on my own." He, the one who was completely unable to perform, was being offered consideration by her, who felt she was the one who needed help.
He had performed the routine countless times before, but this had never happened.
He never thought that merely being in a different location could make him so nervous that he'd become unusable.
Takumi's confidence as a man was completely shattered.
"............"
Lunch break was far from over.
However, he didn't feel like eating at all.
He wandered aimlessly down the corridor, trying to escape the noise.
His chest was filled with self-pity, shame, and self-loathing.
To distract himself, he decided to at least try to be helpful to Kotori and searched his phone for ways a highly socially awkward person could talk to strangers.
However, the results were all about extending conversations: find a common topic like the weather, use questions to expand the discussion, or ask about the person's belongings.
He couldn't find anything for severe social anxiety sufferers like Kotori and himself, who stumbled at the point of just saying hello.
He couldn't help but let out a sigh filled with complex emotions.
"Hah... Huh?"
He suddenly realized he had arrived in front of the library. It must have been out of recent habit.
He looked down at his phone. Searching the internet only brought up the same kinds of advice.
He thought there might be some useful reference books in the library and stepped inside.
Since it was lunch break, the library was quiet.
Only a handful of people were reading or studying. No one was paying attention to him. That was one of the things he liked about the library.
Now, where would the book he needed be? He usually only looked in the light novel section, so he had no idea.
He wandered around the bookshelves.
There were encyclopedias, specialized books on astronomy and science, photo collections of mountains and stars around the world, and surprisingly, magazines and newspapers.
The sections for famous essayists and works by people once called literary masters were also well-stocked, and he thought it might be nice to borrow some of those next time.
However, whether it was due to poor searching or not, he couldn't find the right book or even a promising genre.
A library committee member or a teacher-librarian might know, but the hurdle of talking to someone was too high for Takumi, and there was no one who looked like they fit the bill, perhaps because it was lunchtime.
Takumi stood there with a serious face, arms crossed, bitterly gazing at the rows of bookshelves. Just as he dropped his shoulders in resignation, he was tapped sharply on the back.
"Hey, are you looking for something?"
"Agh, ...Ikoma-senpai?"
He turned around to see Akira.
Since it was the third time, he wasn't overly surprised, but he still blushed when a senior girl smiled so adorably at him. He quickly averted his gaze out of embarrassment and noticed she was pushing a small, movable bookshelf.
When Takumi looked at it curiously, Akira explained with a knowing look.
"This is called a book truck. You sometimes see them in bookstores, too."
"Oh, really? I didn't know that. Are you helping the library committee, Ikoma-senpai?"
"Yep, I'm putting the returned books back in their original spots."
"Ikoma-senpai is always helping out with something."
"Well, I'm in the Volunteer Club, so I go wherever I'm needed."
"I see, a club."
When he asked about something he'd been wondering about, Akira puffed out her slender chest and answered.
As always, their conversation flowed easily. The name "Angel of Aid" was well-deserved.
As Takumi took this in, Akira turned her wide, expressive eyes toward him.
"So, Hashio-kun, if you're looking for something, I can help you."
"Um..."
Takumi stammered, partly because the problem was Kotori's and not his own, and partly because he had so little experience relying on or consulting others.
An awkward silence hung in the air. But Akira didn't rush him; she just smiled, waiting for him to feel ready to speak.
He felt sure she was offering this out of genuine kindness.
And since he was truly stuck, he decided to accept Akira's goodwill.
"Actually—"
He prefaced his explanation with an apology for his poor communication skills and, subtly obscuring Kotori's identity, explained that he (or "someone") would tense up and be unable to say anything when trying to greet a stranger.
After listening to the whole story, Akira placed a hand on her chin and pondered for a while. Then she nodded lightly and, with a knowing grin, raised her index finger.
"Yes, in that case, I have a secret weapon!"
"Really, Ikoma-senpai!?"
"But there's one condition."
"A condition..."
Takumi leaned forward at Akira's suggestion of a brilliant plan but recoiled when she mentioned a condition.
Becoming hesitant, he started thinking that the only thing he could offer was money, and wondering how much he had in his wallet, when a slightly stern-looking Akira poked the tip of his nose with her index finger.
"It's not Ikoma, it's Akira."
"Aki... what?"
"I said, you have to call me Akira by my first name, not my family name! It's cuter that way, and I really like my name."
Akira winked playfully.
Takumi was taken aback by the surprisingly simple condition, and with a blank look on his face, he spoke.
"Huh... then, Akira-senpai, right?"
"Mmm, acceptable."
When Takumi called her by her first name, she placed her hands on her hips and nodded with satisfaction.
A slight wave of shame washed over him—this was the first time he had called a girl other than Kotori by her first name—but he tried hard not to show it and quickly returned to the topic.
"So, what is this secret weapon?"
"Simply put: You don't have to talk!"
"...Huh?"
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