Adventure Beyond The Firmament [Heiscara]

Chapter 12

After deciding to give up on searching aimlessly for the Doctor and focus their efforts on fixing the teleportation device themselves, Heizou and Scaramouche had a very serious problem to face: lack of knowledge. They had no idea what was wrong with that cursed piece of metal in the first place, how would they be able to fix it? The detective suggested they visit a library and take it from there. If he had any other ideas, the indigo-haired man would've disagreed without hesitation, but that wasn't the case, so he went along with Heizou's plan.

Scaramouche asked a pedestrian they found if there were any libraries around the area and she gave them directions for the nearest one, even offering to escort them there. She said it was "to make sure they don't get lost", but the Balladeer could tell there was another reason behind her actions. The way she stared at him as if she hadn't seen another man in her entire life was a dead giveaway of her intentions. The puppet, however, wasn't the only one to heavily dislike how head over heels she seemed to be about him. The green-eyed man, too, wanted her as far away from Scaramouche as possible. Why, you ask? The Harbinger hadn't a clue and Heizou would never admit his reason out loud.

Thankfully, it didn't take much persuasion to get that woman to leave them alone to their own devices and they got right back on track after that little setback, managing to find the library quite easily. Almost immediately after setting foot it the library, a librarian that was seemingly minding her own bussiness stroke a conversation with the duo. "Hello, you two."

Due to exhaustion, the observant detective did not notice the woman approach them and was startled when he heard her voice, turning to face her instantly. He was met with the sight of a woman around his heigh, maybe a little bit shorter than him, with long, black hair tied in two ponytails and green eyes. Hanging from her ears were two earrings that looked like stars. While the burgundy-haired man didn't recognise her at all, the same couldn't be said about Scaramouche. He had definitely met someone that looked just like her back in Teyvat.

"Hi." They both said in unison, as emotionlessly as they could.

"I've never seen you around here... Do you need any help finding anything?"

The Harbinger was about to reply, but Heizou beat him to it. "Yes, we could use some help actually."

"What exactly are you looking for?" She asked them.

Scaramouche then tried to explain to her what it was that they needed and, while she was weirded out by how vague and peculiar their request was, she had an idea of where they could find a book with the information they needed.

"Alright, follow me." She said. "I'm Mona, by the way."

The two men introduced themselves too as they trailed behind her. She guided them through the maze of bookshelves with ease, clearly knowing the place like the back of her hand. "Here we are!" Mona exclaimed, finally stopping at one of the corners of the library, bookshelves filled to the brim with books hugging the walls. "Whatever it is that you're looking for, it should be here. There are some tables over there if you want to sit down and read." She informed them, pointing to a sitting area to their right. "And if you want to borrow anything, come and find me at the front desk. Anything else?"

Heizou shook his head as he spoke. "I think we're good, thanks a lot."

"Alright, goodbye then."

"See you around." The detective said, while the indigo-haired man remained silent, not wishing to interact with Mona in the slightest.

With a deep breath, Heizou put his hands on his hips before asking the puppet. "Damn, that's a lot of books. Where do we even start from?"

Shrugging his shoulders, he replied. "Just pick whichever book you think may the information we need. Then, we'll sit at one of those tables to skim through them." Then, Scaramouche got closer to the one of the bookshelves, to take a better look as he read the countless titles of the books, trying to tell if they could be useful. The green-eyed man bent down next to him to check the books at the lower shelves.