Li noticed the white-haired Faunus girl often went to these sections in the library: History and Folklore, Geography and Natural Science. She tended to pile up a few books on a table in one reading corner near those sections before skimming them one by one. Once she found what she’s looking for, she would sit down and take notes.
This one time, Li actually met the girl. Not just seeing her from a distance.
Li was putting books back to the shelf, standing side by side with the Faunus girl. She tiptoed, trying to reach the shelf just a few inches above.
“This one?” Li took out one of the books she assumed the Faunus wanted.
And just like that, the girl went back to her favorite reading corner.
Finishing with the books in her hand, Li returned to the librarians’ desk near the library entrance.
“I think that’s all for today,” said the librarian in charge. He nodded at Li. “Thanks a lot for your help!”
“Can I look around for a bit?”
“Of course! Anything specific you’re looking for?”
Li already read the latest issue of her favorite comic magazine. There were a bunch of light novels that arrived yesterday, but the librarians hadn’t done labelling and registering them into the database. They did tell Li that she could read those novels as long as she read them in the library, not borrowing them before they finished the labelling.
I want to know what she’s reading.
And with that in her mind, Li went to the History and Folklore section.
The girl wasn’t there. Slightly disappointed, Li moved on to Geography and Natural Science.
The Faunus girl wasn’t there either.
Maybe … she already left?
Li walked by the reading area in the corner and saw stacks of books were still there. The librarians would have complained a long time ago if the Faunus girl had a habit of leaving without returning the books to their place, so this meant she was still here.
Curious, Li kept searching for a bit longer.
Until, finally, in a section Li rarely visited (Archive, the section in which you could find old newspapers, old magazines, and scrapbooks made by some lecturers), Li found her.
The Faunus girl was climbing the shelf. Actually climbing. Not using a stepladder or the low bench as a step. She pulled a box on top of the shelf.
Li grabbed the girl on her waist, pulling her away from the shelf. This sudden movement made the box on the petite Faunus girl’s hand knocked other things next to it, sending them falling. Li shifted her grasp, now holding the Faunus with only one hand, while she caught a falling scrapbook with another hand. She almost managed to pin another falling scrapbook between her shoulder and the shelf, but Li let it fall down anyway, because she might damage it if she insisted on catching it.
“Don’t do that!” Li exclaimed, with the loudest volume allowed inside a library. “It’s dangerous! The shelf isn’t fixed to the wall!”
“Oh. Yeah.” The Faunus girl looked surprised for a brief moment, before turning into a grin of someone who made a worth praise achievement. “Cannot find the steps. I just want to grab this box.”
Li was at loss for words. A second later, she realized the way she held the girl and immediately put her down.
“Thanks, by the way,” the white-haired girl said.
“Just ….” Li was simply flustered at this point. Did she accidentally hug this girl just now? “Just find me on the librarian desk. I’ll help you return the books. And the box. Okay?”
“It’d be easier if I just climb–”
“No! Do not do that!” Li hissed like an upset cat. “I’ll … I’ll be around. Don’t climb the shelf!”
Li went back to the front desk, grabbed a novel from the unlabelled stacks without seeing the title, briefly said she would be on the reading corner on the back (Li usually read on the table near the entrance), and left to sit down at the table where the Faunus girl worked.
Li took a volume she already read. On her second reading, she disliked the story even more than her first reading. And she read it while still contemplating whether what she did to the Faunus girl was considered rude or not.