cliché . hq | ✓

VI. bibliothecary

soma oyasu sighed for what it seemed like the hundredth time, it was starting to annoy you. so instead of staying silent about it, you spoke up your thoughts — which had been lingering in your head for a while now.

"can you please stop doing that?" you remarked, sounding a bit too pissed off — even for your own liking.

"doing what?" he questioned, making you more furious. how can he not know that the continuous obnoxious sighing of his were getting under her nerves?

"sighing like an idiotic buffoon that's what. what's gotten into you anyway for you to sigh that much in one minute?" you slapped his hand away, noticing the book he was holding is supposed to go in the biology shelf, and not this one.

"geez i'm sorry. it's just that all my friends are probably out there doing some fun shit while i'm stuck here organizing stupid books like a nerd or something." he muttered, rubbing the spot where you slapped his hand.

you audibly gasped, offended by how he thinks only nerds can organize books. what does that even mean? when was that even a thing? literally everyone organizes their books, what is this guy on?

"what? you were the one who volunteered to help!" you whisper-yelled, paying full attention to him now. there weren't any people in the library at the moment since it was a holiday, and not many people decided to stay back at the dorms.

"i only volunteered 'cause i had nothing to do, and because i needed extra co-curricular marks." he replied, pushing the book trolley to another aisle, callously leaving you behind.

you quickly caught up to him, bothered by how selfish this man is. he's not even doing this willingly, it's for the marks! that's not even supposed to be considered volunteering at this point.

"if you don't like it so much then why did you agree? there were plenty of other people who actually wanted to help." you questioned, emphasizing the word 'actually', hoping he would catch on.

"as i said, the marks. my reputation right now is a real low blow." he sighed — again — hoping you would just stop asking questions and for you to just get the job done, so he could go eat some lunch. man was he starving.

you rolled your eyes, accepting the fact that he was certainly not doing this as a genuine act of service. you continued to stack the books on the shelves, until you saw one of your favourite books in the trolley. 

"oh my god!" you gasped, slapping soma's arm repeatedly while eyeing the said book. it has become a habit of yours whenever you're excited or laughing.

"please stop." he said, pushing away your hand and continuing his job. he wasn't giving a single fuck about what you were so thrilled about, talk about rude.

"no way! it's my favourite book! here — look." you said, gently holding his wrist so he won't go any further. you pulled him to your side, then shoving the book right in front of his face.

he slowly took hold of the thin book, murmuring the title of the book.

"tuesdays with morrie.. by mitch albom..?" he said, not really amazed by this so called favourite book of yours. what? it seems like such a boring book to him.

"it's such a good book — when i first read it, i literally cried." you gushed, remembering the melancholic feeling when you first finished the book, it gave you goosebumps and left you awake the whole night.

"okay.. good for you i guess." he said, putting the book away on the nearest shelf. you looked at him in complete disappointment, since you were hoping he would be at least a little motivated to maybe, read it — since it wasn't a thick book.

suddenly, you got an idea. probably not your best, but it was still an idea. and so, you went for it!

"hey, soma." you called his name, making him stop and turn to look at you.

"what now?" he replied, yawning afterwards which honestly made you annoyed but it's whatever.

"read the book, and i give you a hundred bucks." a cliché deal, i know. but now that, definitely caught his interest.

"you're bluffing." he chuckled, about to lose his attention until a hand appeared in front of his eyes. a hand holding a hundred dollars, more specifically.

"read the book, and it's all yours." 

with that said, soma is now sitting at the cafeteria, reading the first few chapters of the book while he ate his lunch. 

then, he found himself reading through chapters 9 until 13 at the park, reaching the fourth tuesday.

free time, he wasn't playing volleyball like he usually would. he ended up reading chapters 14 to 19 — surprising himself when he jotted down some quotes and lines from the book.

walking to his dorm from the convenience store, he almost got hit by a motorcycle for not paying attention while crossing the road — since he was too caught up with the book in his hands.

and then comes chapter 25, where soma oyasu shed a tear on his bed before he slept — finishing tuesdays with morrie right before midnight.

the next day, he went looking for you as soon as the library doors opened.

"hey." you turned, finding a gasping soma oyasu, who seemingly ran his way here.

"hi soma." you paused, remembering the silly deal you made with him yesterday. "finished the book?" 

"i did." he blatantly replied, handing over the book to you.

"well! here's your hundred bucks then." you offered him the money, as how the deal was supposed to go — but instead, he rejected your offer.

"how about.. we use that money to go book shopping instead. you and me, yeah?" he shyly asked, rubbing his nape as he did so.

he honestly felt embarrassed by the fact that he's asking out the girl who he made fun of for enjoying reading just yesterday.

but tuesdays with morrie was definitely not the last book he'd be reading from now on, especially since he has his own walking library now.