[2]

“That Victorique&h.e.l.lip; What’s her problem? She b.u.t.ts heads with me, she flings insults at me, and then she suddenly turns her back on that book and disappears&h.e.l.lip;. What a weird kid. I just can’t figure her out&h.e.l.lip;. I’ve never met a girl like that before&h.e.l.lip;. No, I’ve never even heardof girls like that before&h.e.l.lip;.”

Grumbling under his breath, Kazuya tucked the book under his arm and walked away from the library.

Just when he thought that he was starting to make friends with that mysterious girl at the top of the library, Victorique&h.e.l.lip; He felt like he had lost sight of her. It was as if he had gotten a little bird to sit in his hand, and then had it suddenly fly away. He felt frustrated, lonely, and thrown off balance all at the same time.

Kazuya remembered that time when he had gone inside the library and saw something flutter down from up above. Victorique had heard him sneezing, and dropped a piece of tissue for him.

“&h.e.l.lip;And I’d hoped we could be friends,” Kazuya whispered, his shoulders slumping.

On his way back to the dormitory, Kazuya took a different gravel path from the one he normally used when walking around campus. When he pa.s.sed in front of an abandoned building, a thought suddenly occurred to him, and he halted. This place had once been a storehouse, but at some point it had lost its a.s.signed use and was now completely deserted. Left forgotten to the elements, it gave off an eerie feeling.

As Kazuya carefully scrutinized the building, a cold wind whistled past him. Within an instant, the warm sunlight had gone dark. Looking at the sky, he saw grey clouds swiftly ama.s.sing to block the sun. A gust of wind whistled by again.

Seized by curiosity, he approached the storehouse. Peering inside, he saw old tables, chairs, and tarnished mirrors jumbled up haphazardly.

He took a step inside, then another&h.e.l.lip;.

A hard object slammed into the back of his head. The impact felt infinitely heavier than the blow he had received earlier from a small girl wielding a book. The scene before his eyes turned bright white.

And then he crumpled heavily to the ground&h.e.l.lip;.