Chapter 2 Part III

The two of us headed over to the cafeteria.

As 20 minutes have already passed since the start of the lunch break, it's already crowded with a lot of students. But a lot of the students there appear to have finished their meals as there weren't many of them lining up at the ticket machine.

I chose the daily special but here's the problem. Shiina appears to be unable to choose, her fingers waving about in front of the buttons.

"Please wait..."

I waited patiently for about two minutes after being told that. Looks like she finally made up her mind and chose the same meal I did.

"I got a bit indecisive there."

"It's fine, it's not like there's anyone lining up behind us."

Right afterwards, two set meals were placed on the counter. Shiina seems to be having trouble holding the tray with the meal on it since she brought her schoolbag along with her to the cafeteria.

"Isn't the bag getting in the way? I'll carry it."

"No, I can't possibly ask you to do something that troublesome..."

"It's ok, tripping while holding that tray would be far more troublesome."

"Sorry..."

As she apologetically handed the bag over to me, I took it in hand and actually found it rather heavy. I wonder if it's got textbooks in it.

"It's heavy, isn't it? Thank you."

Avoiding the crowds as much as possible, we found empty seats and sat down facing one another. And we then belatedly began eating our lunch slowly.

"Do you usually eat here at the cafeteria?"

"No. I normally buy my lunch at the convenience store in the morning and I usually eat in the classroom. Do you come here often, Ayanokouji-kun?"

"Convenience store food isn't very delicious. I suppose nothing beats food fresh out of the oven."

It saves you the trouble plus it's worth the effort too.

Shiina then picked up the food with her chopsticks and brought it to her mouth in a very dignified manner. I observed her movements in admiration. The way she handles her chopsticks is exceedingly elegant.

"Hmm, I see...the school cafeteria's food is certainly delicious. I'll make sure to keep it in mind."

"Could it be that this is your first time eating here?"

"I suppose the cat's out of the bag?"

"I've been thinking that since we were at the ticket machine, that perhaps you haven't....."

We're already at the end of our second semester and students who haven't made use of the cafeteria are a rare breed.

"I've been curious about it for a while now but once you lose that initial trigger to go then you just end up procrastinating, don't you? I thought this is as good a chance as any so I mustered up my courage to come."

Somehow, I do understand her feelings. You do need a fair bit of courage to show up at a place you normally don't go to. You don't know how you're supposed to act there so you end up hesitating.

Your own feelings of not wanting to show the people who go there regularly how out of your depth you are would end up stopping you. I also had my reservations about buying drip coffee from the convenience store at first.

Because I wasn't sure I would be able to smoothly make coffee from a coffee cup with nothing but ice in it. But in the majority of cases, you'll find that it's nothing that difficult once you try it out.

"Then that means this could be the trigger for you to come here from now on."

"Yes."

Afterwards, we talked a bit while finishing our lunch.

Since we are the latecomers here, most of the students eating lunch here have already finished up and left. Of course, there are students here and there who have stayed behind to have a chat or to take their time eating.

"I'd like to continue where we left off at the library. If it's not a bother, would you please read this?"

Saying that, Shiina places something on the table.

Don. A heavy sound you wouldn't have expected from it at first glance resounded.

"Have you read any of these books before, Ayanokouji-kun?"

She just took four books out of her bag. No wonder it's so heavy.

William Irish and Ellery Queen as well as Lawrence Block and Isaac Asimov.

"You've got good taste....."

These are all mystery novels, masterpieces of old.

"You can tell?"

"I'm also a fan of the mystery genre."

"I see."

Shiina happily laughs while bringing her hands together. And that's when I realized something was off about the books.

"These aren't from the library, are they?"

"They're all mine. I'm carrying them around in case I meet someone who shares my interest in them one day so I can lend it to them. It was only a book at first but before I found someone like that, they just kept piling up."

"Is that so?"

This girl's got a few screws loose.

"Please don't hold back, take whichever one you like."

"Then...I suppose I'll go with Ellery Queen since I haven't read that one yet."

"Please do."

If this is her putting up an act, then it's one hell of an act but I don't really feel that from her. I can only imagine these actions of hers to be because she genuinely loves books.

But I've made a strange connection in a strange place. Of course, I should be on my guard if this is a trap that Class C is setting up but I think it's safe to say this matter is a complete coincidence.

I promised to return it to her at a later date just as the bell signalling the end of our lunch break rang.