Library of the Scarlets

Scene 4

            “So are you saying that the gigantic library just moved on its own?”, I asked Sakuya after she explained what happened.

            “No, I am saying that someone made them move on their own.”

            “Eh… I see…”

            I stood up after sitting to listen to her story while resting earlier.

            Izayoi Sakuya is the chief maid of the Scarlet household and also one of the strongest spellcard users in this mansion. Being the chief maid, it is one of her duties to keep the library in order.

            She was cleaning the library with Patchouli when the illusion started. She explained that the bookshelves tried to sandwich them in between, and books started flying at any direction. Also, lost youkai appeared in the library and attacked anyone who was around them for no reason, maybe surprised for being dragged in the library. The walls melted like water and formed more rooms and doors in the library.

            They both ran towards the entrance doors and tried to outrun the books chasing them and youkai firing at them. The bookshelves also tried to block the doors, but only Sakuya managed to escape.

            But if Sakuya escaped through the exit, then…

            “Why did you appear on the other side of the corridor then?”, I asked curiously.

            “The illusion sent me straight back to the entrance of the mansion, like it’s trying to get me away,” she answered calmly.

            “What about the others, Remilia, or Meiling? Koakuma?”

            “They are presently having a meeting in the Grand Hall. But the Grand Hall is also affected by the illusion.”

            “What do you mean?”

            “The corridor to the Grand Hall is missing. Didn’t you notice that, Marisa?”

            I shook my head a no. I can still remember the three corridors I saw earlier.

            “If it is affected by the illusion, like the library, then there is a chance that the corridor can be found in the malformed library, so everyone else is in the library,” Sakuya explained.

            I looked back at the doors with dark mist, and asked Sakuya one last thing.

            “Patchy is still alive in there, isn’t she, Sakuya?”

            “It is impossible for a bookworm like Patchouli to die from books,” Sakuya smiled once again.

            “It’s settled then,” I said as I fixed my hat on my golden hair and tightened my ribbons. “I’m going in.”

            I walked towards the doors, and the mist that met contact on my skin gave a tingling sensation, but I bet it is a bundle of a million microscopic sized knives being stabbed on my skin, for no particular reason.

            I reached the handles and pushed them, but the doors didn’t budge. I then tried pulling, but even with my flying broom helping me pull, it felt like as if the handles were attached to a wall.

            “Maybe there is another way in, the bookshelves have probably stacked on the other side,” Sakuya suggested.

            “There is no time for thinking a new way, the flower viewing would start soon,” I said as I walked backwards and tried investigating the doors even more.

            Without seeing any openings, I had no other choice but to use a spellcard.

            “Sakuya, you are the only person here, right?”, I asked her.

            Sakuya answered a confused nod.

            “Then can you cheer for me?”

            Sakuya turned her head, not understanding what I meant.

            “I meant literal cheer.”

            “You mean like ‘GO MARISA, YOU CAN DO IT’?”, Sakuya cheered while pokerfaced.

            “…that can do,” I sighed.

            “GO MARISA YOU CAN DO IT, GO MARISA YOU CAN DO IT,” she said in a flat tone, as if she was annoying me.

            Turning back at the door, I stepped backwards again. When the doors are fairly far enough, I jumped on my broom and charged my energy on it. I looked straight to the line between the two doors and focused on hitting it.

            “Sungrazer.”

I calmly said my Last Word with a devilish grin. In the corner of my eye, I saw Sakuya very surprised at what I just activated.

            “Cirno is here to help!”

            I boosted a little and gave a vertical somersault flying with my broom, hitting two different objects. I don’t know the other that went flying (I saw only a bluish blur, then it flung away with a wail), but I knew I hit the middle of the doors with the end of my broom.

            The doors opened a little and the space in between them started to close again, but my spellcard is still just beginning.

            After the somersault, I flew upside down towards the other side of the corridor and became faster and faster that flaming blue aura surrounded me, and I gave another somersault. Using the fastest speed this broom can handle, I charged in like a meteor to the space between the doors.

            I felt like I also hit the blue thing earlier and dragged it inside, but it is too fast that I couldn’t see anything clear. I gave a last glance at the doors being closed by falling bookshelves, and saw a blurred maid giving a thumbs-up to me before the doors completely closed.