the librarian ❆ kagehina

not-so-new arrivals.

shōyō tied the apple red apron tight at the small of his back, smoothing out the wrinkles on the front and threading his name tag through the worn out holes left by so many insertions of the same safety pin. in a swift motion he rolled up the sleeves of his tawny canvas shirt, shoving them roughly up to his elbows and slightly softly; he hurried over to the small device hanging on the wall beside the door to the break room and swiped his card through the side, clocking himself in for the day's shift. today was the long haul; seeing as most of the library's employees are students, the schedule is modified to fit their needs as they travel to and from classes. thursdays are shōyō's duty. everyone has classes during the day, but he has thursday cleared every week, and from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. he is plundering away through the musty isles of the library doing busy work. he doesn't really complain, though, because he also has the weekends off, so spending a free weekday dusting the shelves isn't a bother in the least.

     he poured himself a cup of piping hot coffee and made his way out into the main area, where the rectangular open desk sat squat amongst the old, wooden tables and fat, carpeted chairs. he swung the floor-facing hatch upwards and entered his little workspace, closing it behind him and setting the paper cup down beside the computer at the front of the cubicle. the information desk was always cluttered from the disorganized shifts of other employees, so the first thing shōyō does every time he comes in is sort out the messy state of the information desk. it's good for him- it centers his focus, and it makes him feel less stressed. messes make him anxious.
     he logged himself into the computer system with his school account and opened spotify, navigating the cursor over to his work playlist and pressing play. it was curated one late night when sleep evaded him, as it often does, so that his lonely days at the library wouldn't be filled with empty noise. the place is empty enough as it is nearly every day- some music won't bother anyone.
     soft, low harmonies began to flow from the muffled speakers on the back of the old desktop, and shōyō swayed as he knocked crumpled up power bar wrappers and late fee receipts into the trash can he held at his hip. making his way out of the enclosed desk and into the open space by the worn couches and tables, the worker hummed beneath the hazy glow falling from the large skylight in the ceiling as he shuffled his janitorial work along;
when the little garbage bag was full, he tied it up and dropped it in the larger can in the break room.

     he settled into the chair behind the reception desk and was just about to sort through a pile of new book order requests when the creaky door opened softly and gave way to a student. shōyō recognizes him when the boy looks up, brushing a bit of black hair away from his eye. he was holding three novels under his left arm, and a receipt in his right hand; he walked awkwardly over to the boy behind the desk and set the books down before him.

     "hello,"

     "you're back so soon," shōyō grinned, "you read fast, huh?"

     "yeah, i guess so."

     "how were they?"

"really good. the scary one was my favorite. very descriptive." he nodded, wiggling his fingers around as he spoke.

"tobio, right?" the young librarian asked with a smirk, scanning the backs of the books and checking them back into the system.

"oh, uh, yeah,"

"are you gonna pick out some new ones today? we just got a new shipment of mysteries, i haven't unpacked them yet." shōyō raised his eyebrows excitedly.

"actually, i'm looking for something specific this time. do you think you could look it up for me? see if it's here?"

"oh, sure! yeah," the boy admitted the three books back into the database and clicked out of tobio's tab, pulling up a fresh one with a search bar. "m'kay, what's it called?"

"the book is how to stop time,"

"by matt haig?" shōyō sampled the author's name, earning a nod of approval.

"yep. it's the the young adult section, by the h's. shiny blue cover, can't miss it."

"oh, great. thank you!"

"sure," he smiled. shōyō reminds himself he needs to go to the eye doctor while watching the student scamper away through squinted eyes until he was out of sight.

he sure has a range of taste when it comes to books, shōyō thought as he closed the search tab, going from a murder story straight into a romance novel, huh?

the coral-haired boy spun around in the desk chair and scooted over the shaggy multi-colored carpet to reach the beige box full of new orders sitting across the cubicle. he sliced the top open with a box cutter and began unloading the volumes, organizing them by genre on the freshly tidied floor of the workspace. his hands worked diligently, separating the fantasies from the autobiographies and others alike; a few books jumped at him after every few handfuls, and shōyō made a mental note to pluck them from the shelves later for a quick read.

a throat cleared itself from behind, and the boy spun around quickly to see tobio back again with his book in question, and two more.

"get caught up?"

"i always do."

"don't you have to study?" shōyō giggled as he took the books from tobio's hands, getting right to scanning.

"yeah... doesn't mean i don't take breaks to read though."

"i'm the same way, except i don't study very much at all. i probably should."

"books are nice little breaks for me. they give me incentive to study- if i tell myself that i can start a new story after finishing one essay, then i will write a damn good essay for my own little reward."

that's cute, shōyō smiled to himself.

"that's nice," shōyō replied, returning the newly checked out stories to the tall boy and grinning brightly.

"yeah... uh, thank you,"

"no problem. make sure to tell me all about them when you come back for some new ones!"

"i will! see you."

"see you!"

tobio flashed a small smile over his shoulder as he left the library with a few new treats in his hands, and shōyō found himself watching the other leave. once his jet black hair wasn't visible from a distance anymore, though, he dove right back into sorting the new novels and sipping on his unfortunately cold coffee.
he's always forgetting about the damn coffee.