Alfenheims Warlords (a SAO fanfic)

Chapter 45

It was morning when Klein woke up and when he moaned, he stretched and then sat up as he looked at his clock. It was 8'o clock in the morning and as he looked to it's right, he saw today was Friday. Date day with Shisho.

A smile spread across his face as he thought about that girl, one of the few girls who had not only been nice to him but was also going maybe one of his first girlfriends. But only time would tell if this love story would end in either a "friend zone" or an actual relationship.

He jumped up from bed as he quickly got into the shower and after a 5 minute scrub time he was out and getting on some normal clothes. The date would be later on in the day so he had figured he would spend the day going to one place he had been wondering about: the local library. Normally, the library was the last place on his mind but since this event had begun in Alfenheim he had wondered if he could find some info through mythology on their enemies and maybe just whole thing itself.

Besides he was running low on Samurai novels to read that he already owned, both light novels as well as various manga.

And so as he put on jeans, a shirt, and threw on a hoodie with the Takeda symbol, making his way from his apartment as he locked it behind him and stuffed the keys next to his wallet. He went down a flight of concrete stairs which he took them quickly, two at a time, before reaching the bottom and heading out quickly on the nearby sidewalk. He perused the sidewalk as he past only a few people out on the somewhat busy street and as he came to the light, he stopped and waited for the crossing sign to turn green before proceeding his way along the X-crossing to the other side.

Compared to where his apartment was, the Library was about a kilometer away and it was centered in a beautiful part of the city where there was a park somewhat surrounding it. He didn't mind going to the library, only when it began to slowly take his yen from his because of late fees did it become annoying. Still, given he had been able to keep up with his books lately and had some extra yen not meant for various items online or for rent, he figured getting some more Samurai novels would do him well enough.

He journeyed while thinking of the various novels he would be getting to continue reading, totally not paying attention much to his surroundings, but he soon managed not to run into anyone as he came to the Library's exterior. It had a two story, boxing dimension with a skylight on its top and colonnades going down from the roof to the ground all around its front entrance. Tall windows let more light stream into the library's floors and onto its many bookshelves and people he could see in the windows.

He walked through slowly as the smell of books, paper, and ink wafted through like a musty odor but he didn't mind it as much as some other smells. He walked past the desk as two older ladies smiled and waved at him and he politely waved back at them before heading deeper into the library. He passed tall bookcases, most being tall enough to touch the ceiling in 4-shelf bookcases, as he was looking for his samurai section when he passed someone on a ladder.

At first, he would've simply looked past them and kept out of their way but as he heard a small yelp from up top, he instinctively looked up to see someone familiar. Her brown hair flowed down towards her waist as she had blue eyes behind a pair of thin-rimmed glasses. She was wearing a blue shirt and jeans as she was trying to put a book into a shelf while trying not to fall on her wobbly ladder but as she looked down, she then saw Klein and managed a pause.

".. Klein?" She asked him.

Wait was she- "Shisho?" He Asked Back when then the ladder suddenly gave out and sent her falling.

He snatched her out of the air with one arm as he grabbed the ladder from falling and as Shisho held an arm around his neck and a hand on the book, Klein grunted as he put the ladder down gently before helping Shisho onto her feet.