No One's Ever in the Library

"I see you decided to pay me a visit." Of all places that Arata could come up with, the library seemed to be the best option. It appeared that Hifumi believed that was what he was going to do.

"I'm not here for you." He responded to her, choosing a seat where he thought he'd be able to avoid her. But since no one's ever in the library, that wasn't going to stop her.

"Really? You don't want to sit with me?" She followed him, carrying what he felt was a suspicious bag.

"What's in there?" He was alarmed with how forward she was being. As a stranger, her actions made him feel a little fearful.

"Oh nothing." She poured out the contents into a bowl on the table. "It's just some treats I baked for you." She knew that he'd tried to hide here.

"Treats?" Arata picked one up, an eclair, and gave it a sniff. "Are these poisonous?"

"Why would I poison them?" She asked him, no apparent reaction came from her. Though, with the way he couldn't see her eyes. Arata had no way of knowing for sure, how she was feeling.

"Sorry, I guess with everything happening. I've gotten a bit paranoid." He took a bite of it, really tasty. Even if he was more of an ice cream person.

"Though, you could say I added an extra ingredient in them. Hearing that, he ran into a coughing fit. His eyes scanned for a trash can nearby so he could throw up in it. Getting up, she quickly stopped him. "It's love…" She whispered to him.

"What?" He couldn't believe his ears. "So you were confessing to me earlier."

"Well, I wouldn't say my feelings are any more than just a simple crush." Arata didn't get it, isn't that something a lot of highschoolers feel? She seemed to be above that if she was baking him treats.

"Then what's with this act you're pulling?" All the things she was doing, those would be strange to just about anyone.

"Well, I suppose it all began last year. During the culture festival..." At that time, she wasn't really that different of a girl. The one girl that always spent her time in the library, reading her favorite manga. Being an open otaku, people had already started avoiding her.

Not having many friends, or any at all, technically. She didn't really expect him of all people to walk in when there was such a major event occurring. Especially with what he had in his hands.

Hifumi was rather good at hiding, so it wasn't a surprise to her when he didn't see or hear her when entering. Even then, she could tell that he was guarding this secret as he went to hide towards the back. Not even using a table to read.

Her sneaking ability, she was able to grab a picture when he wasn't paying attention, which wasn't easy. With the way Arata was acting while reading, she could tell there was no way he was actually reading all that much.

What he never knew, was that his attempts to avoid all people, gave an air of mystery to him. In fact, there were even some girls that had their attention on him. Wondering what was behind the person.

But she knew, and that made her feel something special between the two. Even if they had never spoken once to each other.

"I guess you could say that I fell for that part of you." She finished her story.

"Really?" The bigger part of that story that stuck with him, would be the part where she found him out. Arata was beginning to regret his decisions that day.

"But, I can't say I like the other parts of you." She told him. "After all, you rather spend more time being fake and a loner."

"Look, those parts are honest too." He responded. "And I haven't been a loner for a while now."

"True, and it's not like I can say I'm not a loner myself." The truth being that no one ever spent any time with her. Only if they ever needed a book for a project. "But if you're going to be here, perhaps I could enjoy you for myself." She picked up a macron from her pile of treats.

"What? You can't just feed me that?" She held it up for him, which he rejected and grabbed instead. "That type of stuff, I think only… Wow these are good." This baking, it was even better than his mom's. "I think only couples do that type of stuff."

"I'm sure that plenty of non-couples do it too." She replied. "Now please, can you feed me a piece? After all, I did put in hard work to make these." Arata glared at her, upset that she was taking advantage of his plight. Still though, these weren't bad. So how bad could it be to rewards her for it?

"...Fine." He relented. "Just, here." He grabbed another macron for her. Holding it up for her, Hifumi opened her mouth to accept his gift.

"Hello! We're here to check out some…" Just his luck, some other people came in just as he was doing this for her. Even worse, it was the gardening club. "...Books." Matsu was the first in, and she couldn't believe the sight she was greeted with.

"I wasn't expecting to see you here." He greeted the club as if there wasn't anything wrong with what he was doing. Even though his mind was aware that this would cause a misunderstanding.

"Did we walk into something we weren't suppose to?" Hanaka was the one to respond out of this group.

"Oh no, he was just rewarding me for baking these sweet treats for him." While that wasn't a lie, Arata wasn't grateful for her putting it that way.

"I think that might cause more misunderstanding." He spoke with gritted teeth. "Anyway, since you're all here. Maybe I could help you find those books you're looking for." He would've loved nothing more, than an excuse to avoid this girl right now.

"Sure." Hanaka took control of this situation, since Matsu was on the silent side right now. "We're just looking for some books about flowers right now, so that we can determine what would be good to do during the winter." Then she gave Matsu a push on the shoulder, to break her out of the trance she was in.

"Huh?" It was as if she blanked out what had just occurred in front of her.

"Maybe you should take Arata and look for books together?" Taking advantage of this chance, she knew that it was a good opportunity for those two.

"Oh yeah, come on Arata. Let's go!" Without giving him any time to protest, which he wasn't going to anyway, Matsu grabbed his arm and pulled him towards an aisle.

"Can you please be more quiet? We're in a library." Hifumi scolded her behavior. Partially because she was upset that she couldn't spend alone time with him anymore.

"So what type of books are you looking for?" Now that the two were alone, well at least as alone as you could get in this library. It was time to get to work, but Arata wasn't sure what he should be looking for.

"Well, we were wondering about indoor plants." She told him. "Since during the winter, we can't exactly do anything outside."

"That is a good question." He was wondering if he should find something for himself. Maybe that might be something he could do for Hine during the upcoming winter months.

"It would be really nice if we could decorate the club room with growing flowers. That way, people might be even more interested in the club!" Even with their wonderful display during the festival. It appeared that no one was interested enough to actually want to join.

"Yeah, that could be fun." Thinking about the things they did. It almost made him want to join the club, but he wasn't that interested in gardening.

Taking a small stepladder. Matsu checked the upper shelves for books that might contain the information her club needed. Arata took the lower parts, though he wasn't sure why it had to be this way. After all, he could look at the higher selves without the assistance of a ladder.

This was Matsu's plan, or at least what the other girls had told her might be a good idea. In this position, he might take more notice of her body. Since if they talked, he would see all of it, just to look at her face.

However, the truth of the matter is that she was really nervous if that could even work. After all, she wasn't that developed in specific regions of the body. She figured that Arata might be the type to prefer more mature girls.

"Oops." In her anxiousness. She accidentally dropped a book, which fell fairly far from her.

"Don't worry. I got it." Arata went over to grab it. But he miscalculated how far his foot should've been from the ladder. Accidentally kicking it, it lead him to trip. The sudden instability also made her lose her balance.

Matsu fell, her foot getting caught in one of the rung. She landed right on her back. Arata quickly turned his head to see if she was all right, but there was more to the landing than just the pain.

Her skirt had moved upward on her body. Since one of her legs was still higher up, from being caught on the ladder. Her pink panties were on full display to him.

When Matsu regained her bearing, she immediately saw how much of herself was exposed. She rushed to cover her decency, along with a cute little yelp from the embarrassment of him being the one to see her like this.

"Is everything okay?!" The rest of the club and Hifumi came rushing to their aid.

"I hope so." He answered them. "We just had a little accident." Arata got up, and went to free her leg from the ladder.

"Ow… Ouch, that hurts." Matsu was almost in tears from the pain she felt.

"It appears that she's been injured." Hifumi commented. "We should take you to the nurse, can you walk?"

"I… I don't think so." It hurt so bad, that she could hardly concentrate on anything, but her ankle.

"She doesn't have to." Arata informed everyone. "I'll carry her, it's my fault that she's like this anyway." Without any argument, he picked her up in a princess carry.

"Okay, well we'll see you at the nurse office." Hanaka told him.

"Aren't you coming with me?" He was sure they'd want to be with their friend during her time of need.

"I'm sure she can handle herself." Was the answer he received. "We still need to look for books, and there isn't much time left."

"It's okay." Matsu told Arata. "It's fine if it just the two of us."

"If that's what you want." It wasn't what he wanted, but he wasn't the one hurt here. Right before he left, Hifumi made sure to give him his bag. Arata was a bit sad that he never had the chance to read through his old notebooks. It was a bit of a waste to bring them along.

"Um, Arata." They were walking towards the nurse's office, which was taking a while for him. Considering the weight he was carrying. "Are you fine with holding me like this?"

"It's easier for me, than putting you on my back." He informed her.

"But what about… I mean, where your arm is." Instead of hooking his arm under her knee for leverage. Arata was keeping his arm more closer to her butt. Matsu was feeling self-conscious, that he was getting a feel of her backside.

"It's so I can keep your skirt up." He informed her, a bit bashful that she noticed. "You know, so no one can look up it."

"That's so considerate." She glowed. This boy, he was even better than what she had even envisioned he'd be like. Though Arata would disagree.

"It's no big deal." He played it off. "You're my friend, and I'm sure you don't want any peepers."

"I don't think it's no big deal." She replied. Matsu wrapped her arms around his neck.

"What are you doing?" He asked, feeling her bringing herself up to his face.

"Just a little reward…" Without knowing what was coming, Arata felt the soft touch of her lips on his cheek. Matsu gave him a kiss, the feeling from her face. He could feel the warm of her body near him.

Arata heart couldn't contain itself. It was beating so fast, so intensely. The rush from just a simple kiss. It wasn't just him either, in her head. Matsu couldn't believe she did such a thing. Her hands were shaking, she never thought she could get this far.

It took everything inside of him to not drop her from the shock he had received. His legs could barely keep the two of them up, they felt like jelly to him. Arata wasn't sure how to respond to what she just did to him. He didn't get the chance to either.

"This is hardly appropriately behavior." It was none other than Misei who said those words.