DAY 20 NIGHT- THE LADY FINGER BOUDOIR INTERLUDE: GIRLS’ MEETING

"HARUKA-KUN IS TRYING to leave by himself," I said.

"Yeah, it seems like he's gearing up to leave"

"Even though all of our problems have disappeared since coming

here!"

"Just the opposite," I said. "Everyone seems totally exasperated by

Haruka-kun's antics, especially the guild."

"I think Haruka-kun is waiting for Oda-kun and his friends to show

up so Shimazaki-san and I can finally thank them!"

"But why?! He's our boss, isn't he?! Why would he leave us?! We

still haven't thanked him properly! We still haven't…paid him back…"

Vice Rep B nodded. "Isn't there anything we can do to convince him

to stay?"

"I know that my body won't do," whispered Fukunuki-san. "No one

wants me…"

"Excuse me." It was the president of the book club. "I do know one

way to change his mind…but we don't have it here."

"Tell us!" everyone shouted in unison.

"A library."

"A library?" The room burst into chatter. "There's no library here,

right?"

Of course, I should've known. We would need to build a literal

library to keep him around… No, he could make the building himself. He'd

probably make it absurdly modernist, too.

If he stumbled onto a large volume of books, he'd probably build a

library overnight. Scratch that, definitely. He'd build St. Peter's Basilica in

one night to store those books.

The book club president was right—there was no way he'd leave if

there were a library in town. They wouldn't even be able to kick him out if

they wanted to. He'd conquer the town if it meant he could hole up with

books.

He's been obsessed with books for as long as I've known him—

eleven years. They're all he's ever wanted.

He'd saved us so many times. Everything that we had in this world,

we owed to him, including our lives. But we hadn't done anything in return.

There was no way to make it up to him.

We would probably keep talking about it all night, trying to figure out

what to do. Someone would probably burst into tears, unable to bear it

anymore. The discussions wouldn't stop, we'd just keep going.

No matter where the conversation went, it always wrapped back

around to that subject.

"If Haruka-kun goes back to the cave, it will probably be to stop the

other guys from reaching town," I said. "Since he's worried about all of us,

Oda-kun, and his friends, he'll probably make his stand there. He doesn't

want anyone to get killed, or to kill anyone himself, so he'll probably try to

do everything alone…" I trailed off. "But no matter how strong he is, he

can't ignore the level wall. Even if he is stronger than all of them, he can

still be defeated. He might even die. Even knowing that, he's still trying to

do everything himself. He only seems stronger than everyone else. He is

actually weaker, more vulnerable. He's the real one in danger here."

Since I confiscated his money, he wouldn't be able to leave quite yet.

Until that day comes…