CH 19

Mob High School Student Talks

It’s been a week since Eihashi-san talked to me and Ichinose-san called me out.

Considering how hectic it was, the week I spent afterward was surprisingly quiet and peaceful

After a week, the weird love story that was prevalent in the class that day disappeared and I haven’t heard any strange rumors about me so far.

Isn’t it obvious that I don’t know about them since I don’t normally talk to others? Don’t look down on a mob. Mobs are scenery, Mobs are the air, taking in everything in our surroundings is as natural as breathing for us.

As expected, I can’t go back to being an unnamed mob but at least I can be a named mob by passing my time reading books while keeping an ear out in the morning like usual.

Anyway, I came to the library after school today to study for an upcoming test. Well, I have been visiting the library since yesterday.

Despite my work, I have never cut corners in studying and always properly take a break to study when a test comes up. That being said, since the school still hasn’t announced the suspension period for club activities yet, there are only a few people in the library.

Well, the reason I started studying so early is not that I am diligent or anything. It is simply due to the fact that I can’t study at home.

Whenever I try to study at home, there’s always a strange phenomenon happening. My, how mysterious! garbage in my room suddenly vanishes! or wow, my bathtub and sink suddenly turned brand new!

That’s right, I am the type that starts cleaning when I try to study at home.

Even if my house is not particularly dirty, I would start cleaning it anyway, I would even start attaching transparent covers to every book I own!

In other words, I would end up clean my place on Weekends before the test where most people are studying in earnest.

………I haven’t started cleaning this time but if I want to study on those days I will have to go to a cafe or library.

For the time being, I don’t want to go out on weekends so I compensated it by studying a week early.

The reason I go so far to study is that in this school, where many students went out of their way to attend from other prefectures, the standard is quite high, the lessons are appropriately difficult and their tests also cover a lot of areas.

Since this place is not a self-proclaimed prestigious school, this place doesn’t forbid taking part-time jobs or enforce hair color regulation. Instead, their tests are so difficult that you can not pass without studying.

(TLN: The hair color regulation in school is an Asian thing where most/all of us have black hair so if your hair is not black, you will be seen as a delinquent.)

“Good afternoon, Seiya-kun. So you’ve come again today……Since you are here, I can take it that the test period is approaching right.”

When I entered the library, the school librarian talked to me. ………with that said, this Librarian Sensei is the one who talked to me the most after Masato so I can talk normally with her.

“Good afternoon, I have been coming since yesterday. ……well, I only come here during the test period so it seems like I am some kind of signal for you isn’t it, Sensei.”

“Since being a librarian is mostly free, I would remember the faces of the people who often come here you know……..well, since Seiya-kun usually only visit the library to borrow books during lunch break, I would immediately know that the test is approaching when you visit this place afterschool right.”

“Well, this is where I basically do most of my study after all.”

Well, to be precise, it’s not [Where I study] but [Where I can study] though……

“That’s true, you told me before that you can’t focus at home right. The environment is important when you want to study after all!”

“Yes, I can’t concentrate at home at all so I think that I should study in a quiet library that doesn’t have many people around like this.”

Yup, even if I say that there are not many people around here, the reality is that the only ones in the library right now are only me and Sensei. Actually, I don’t think I remember anyone visiting this place after school at all.

“Recently, it seems that the people using the library are getting fewer so being the librarian here is really free you know…….. Besides, even if this place is a library, it is a school library so it is only limited to students too. Plus, since this room is on the fourth floor, there are only a few people who visit it during lunch break and there’s only Seiya-kun who visit this room after school you know……”

“Well, thanks to that, it is like I have the books here all to myself so personally I think that this place is great as it is though.”

“Even if it’s good for Seiya-kun, it is not good for me you know. Even though this library is so nice and quiet, I wonder why people don’t come here. Well, when I was a student, it was almost full every time I came though…….”

When Sensei was a student……..that was not 10 years ago but only 4 years ago right! It’s just 4 years, isn’t it!

“Well, for me who come here to study by myself, the quieter this place is the better though. “

“I think that it is certainly quieter when there is no one around but you can have someone who can teach you math problems you don’t understand or you can study with friends too you know.”

Hmm, Sensei sure can make a funny joke huh. Seriously, even if you don’t do a group study there is a way for you to learn to solve math problems right. ……………..eh, you don’t have to study math alone in a group study?

“Well, I can find out what I want to know on my smartphone……hmm, maybe the reason why people stopped visiting the library is that they can do anything with their smartphone nowadays?’

“C, Certainly, you can study math formulas, read and write Kanji, and read textbooks on smartphones……..have the books become obsolete already?”

Sensei said so with a look of terror.

This is an era where everyone has a smartphone. An advantage that doesn’t exist when Sensei was a student……..4 years ago, the smartphones were not that widespread after all.

A subject like comprehensive reading might be impossible but as she said, it is perfect to look up mathematical formulas and textbooks on history and geography.

Well, she is correct that my scores tend to drop on subjects like liberal arts and Japanese because I don’t have anyone to study with but instead I am doing well in Science and mathematic.

“Well, if I have any questions I will go ask the teacher in charge of the subject.”

“Right, that would be the surest way…….come to think of it, it’s a common question in the test to ask about the Author’s thoughts in Japanese literature right? I think you would better ask that kind of question to the authors themselves though. You never know what the author is actually thinking after all.”

“A-h….about that, there’s a question like that in the recent national exam but the author later tweeted ‘Sorry, I didn’t particularly think about anything back then’ you know.”

“EH, something like that happened!?……wait, ah! Sorry! If I keep on rambling like this I will waste your time…..”

“Ah-, it seems that we talked quite a little bit. This is a good change of pace for me. I am going to study now but if I have something that I don’t understand I will come to ask Sensei later okay.”

When I jokingly said so, she said ‘if it’s Japanese literature then leave it to me!’ and returned to her work. With that said, Sensei is more like a friendly older sister rather than a teacher though.

She looked quite young and she said that she is 26 years old in her self introduction but her details inside the teacher introduction pamphlet were unclear so her age is probably a little higher than that.

She told the students in the library recreation period that they can come to talk to her any time so she did create an atmosphere where it is easy to ask her where certain books are in the library even though this place is rarely visited by people, she even accept the request for books that originally doesn’t exist in this place too.

Manga is no go but if it’s not too erotic, even requesting light novels is possible. As a book lover, I repeatedly requested books from her and she always told me when the book I requested arrived whenever I visited the library.

This year is especially fulfilling for me since I got to read every book I requested here.

Somehow, it is a little rude but I was requesting books that I want to read but didn’t want to buy myself from her too.

From the fact that I got to read all the books I requested, I can see that there are really a few people who visit this library though.