Genshin Impact - One Shots & Small Stories

Layla x Reader | Under Stars, Together

* HER POV *

"...so much work... so much work... there's still so much work left to do..."

I was on my way back from the library, holding a stack of books so huge I could only see where I was going through the gaps between covers. What muscles I had were definitely screaming from the strain– not just from the weight of all these hardcover books that I was carrying, but also from the exhaustion from my lack of a good night's rest... an exhaustion that I've felt for months now.

It wasn't uncommon for students of the Akademiya to be walking through the halls of this place with an unsafe amount of books in their arms, or for these students to be going several days if not weeks without a good night's rest. And so it wasn't out of the ordinary for people to not even be looking in my direction as I struggled through these halls back towards my room.

But even though I didn't expect anybody to even consider lending me a helping hand, I probably should have expected what would happen as I went around one of these corners—

* WHAM! *

I collided with someone as I walked around the corner, and I wasn't at all prepared for it, the collision sending me careening to the floor and my books crashing down and scattering around me. The sound was deafening, and I'm sure even the most engrossed studying at the Akademiya would have heard it.

"Ugh... oww..."

It felt like everything hurt now. But it wasn't so much a pain from the fall, or even of any of the books hitting me on their explosive exit from my arms, but rather it seemed more like my body finally realised just how exhausted I was. Every single muscle in my body seemingly woken up by the impact of me hitting the floor, and now all of them protesting all at once that I had neglected yet another night of rest and was pushing myself to the absolute limit once again.

I staggered back up to my feet, my legs doing their best to fight the wobbling, like a sapling in a typhoon. And I then started reaching for my scattered books, beginning to reassemble my dangerous armful of books once more.

???: "Heh. Here, let me give you a hand with that."

If I had the energy in me still, I would have most definitely jumped in surprise at that: a hand suddenly reached out and picked up the book that I was struggling to pick up, and it didn't just stop at that book either. No. Now all of the books that littered the hallway were being picked up by this person, and they were now collecting them all into a couple small towers on the floor in front of me.

"I... I don't mind, you don't have to... I can—"

Before I could even finish my sentence I found myself interrupted. Not by this kind stranger, but rather by a huge yawn that I found myself unable to hold back. All I could bring myself to do was to lift a hand up to cover my open mouth as I fell victim to my body now audibly complaining about my lack of sleep alongside the physical complaints I had been ignoring.

???: "It's okay, I'm sure it was mostly my fault anyways! I should have taken a wider berth around the corner. Quite a lot of books you're absconding with though... setting up your own library, are we? I hope you didn't steal any of these! Of course, I'm sure I can keep a secret for you if you ask nice enough~"

It was strange. The more he spoke, the weirder this all felt. He was helping me, and yet I had this weird sense of unease... it felt like my inner-self was trying to set off warning bells, but— w–Wait! I can't just let him do all this work picking up these books for me, I should be helping to—