Sunlight streamed through the decorative windows across one wall of the library, catching motes of dust as they drifted along. Its tall hardwood shelves towered overhead, dwarfed only by the pillars and impressive arched ceilings of the space. The shelves almost seemed to form a series of concentric walls extending from the perimeter of the room, each hiding behind it collections of tables.

In the far corner, Kaitlyn had long since claimed a small table for herself. Before her lay a familiar genetics textbook and a collection of note-taking supplies. Her positioning wasn’t out of necessity though - this early in the semester, only the real tryhard students were studying here. Most of the library was a ghost town, rendering it absent of even the quiet scratching of pencils or flipping of pages.

After a few more moments, Kaitlyn leaned back in her chair with a quiet groan of frustration. Nope. Not happening.

Studying in her room had never proved to be the most effective tactic. That’s why, as part of her renewed efforts to really study the right way, she’d decided to scope out other possible locations. The library was an obvious first choice. Unfortunately, it simply wasn’t working out.

It’s just too quiet in here. Too stifling. I can’t even focus.

Those old troubles with procrastination and studying reared their heads once more. She’d made progress in improving her focus, of course. It was what allowed her to memorize all of those midterm answers. But truly learning something took a lot more effort.

With another sigh, she checked her phone. It was getting close to lunchtime. Another glance at her genetics textbook made her frown.

Five more minutes. Five more minutes of practice problems, then I’ll go take a break.

With that compromise, she dove back in. The current plan was a big change for Kaitlyn, so it made sense that it would take some adjusting to. But knowing that and actually doing it were different matters.

The idea was to focus on two classes per loop – math and one other. She’d keep studying those subjects until they were mastered. And by mastered, she meant acing the midterm and final without memorization. It might be hard to separate out what she remembered from previous loops and what she actually understood though, so she had decided to only take the test once she was fully confident on a subject. This time, her topic of choice was Genetics. Her other subjects – Chemistry, Statistics, and Writing - were getting completely ignored until then.

She expected math to take a long time to master – after all, she’d be running through years worth of curriculum just to get to the starting point for Calculus. Who knew how long that would take? That’s why she’d started by pairing it with Genetics. At least that subject was interesting enough that she might not give up entirely right away.

Halfway through a practice problem about Punnett Squares, her phone buzzed loudly on the table. Her hand darted forward to silence it, gaze darting around apologetically. Luckily, no one was around.

One more reason to hate the library. I can’t even set timers without freaking out about them. Taking another minute to finish up the problem, she packed her things and stood. Maybe I should try a cafe next time? Or the common room, or even outside…

As she mulled over other possibilities, her eyes wandered across the shelves. Rows upon rows of colorful book spines lined them in neat collections.

Actually… I wonder if they have anything good here? Maybe a nice fantasy or romance? She winced. Ok, maybe not a romance, but something like that.

It was incredibly unlikely. College libraries were for research, after all. Home to dusty old tomes about history, textbooks, or dry analyses of famous literary works.

She stopped. Famous literary works. That brings up a good point. Do they have different classics than the ones I know from my world?

She eyed the exit. There was no rush, really. She wasn’t even too hungry yet. Might as well investigate a bit.

I never was a fan of the classics, exactly, but at this point? I might as well try. A cursory effort to scan the shelves was abandoned in favor of finding a library computer. I’m getting a little desperate for something different. There’s still lots of webnovels I can check out, but… well, I’m getting tired of picking up unfinished series.

A quick search on her phone indicated that there were, in fact, a wealth of unfamiliar titles and authors that were apparently influential in this world. With a little more browsing, she landed on a collection of books to look for. Unfortunately, the library computer indicated that Hartland did not stock more of the popular or modern ones. But it definitely stocked the “classics”

Soon enough, she found herself at the front desk checking out Journals from the Overland. It was by some Russian-sounding author whose name she couldn’t begin to pronounce. But it came highly recommended.

It sounds kind of depressing, honestly. A journal from some kind of recluse doesn’t sound like the kind of fun read that I was looking for. It could be boring and awful. She thanked the librarian and stored the small book in her bag. But maybe it’s actually good. Either way, at least it’s short and got a definite end. I need more resolution in my life.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

As she finally headed for the exit, Kaitlyn resolved to look into what else the library had in store later. Once she’d tried this one out, of course.

***

The familiar sounds of rapid clicking and 8-bit music greeted Kaitlyn like an old friend. Stepping into the familiar classroom-turned-gaming-space revealed tables arrayed with flashing monitors and round PlaySpheres. Sitting before most of them were grouped twos and threes of huddled students, each in the midst of a match or commenting on one from the sidelines.

At this point, the place felt more comfortable than practically any other. Though improving at Bash Bros wasn’t the highest priority on the list of things to master at the moment, that didn’t mean she wasn’t going to try. Besides, she wouldn’t pass up the opportunity to kick back and enjoy herself once a week. Not with how hard she’d been studying.

Near the edge of the room, she spotted Ian and John at their usual setup. Ian’s curly chestnut hair and mint hoodie stood out among the more muted clothing of the other tournament attendees, even without him being a male lead. John, on the other hand, with his wispy stubble and pale skin looked like he belonged in a game store.

Kaitlyn stepped toward the pair, then stopped herself. Should I go talk to them like usual?

Ian was one of the few people who had kept her sane in early loops. The relative consistency of their friendship from loop to loop gave her something to cling to, not to mention a bar to measure her Bash Bros progress against.

But… should I be clinging to him so hard? Or should I be staying away from him too, if I want to avoid thinking about endings? I don’t want to risk getting too close on accident or anything.

It felt like a paranoid worry. Resets hadn’t affected her so much when it came to Ian. Also, from what she’d seen, even his friendship ending required a good deal of conscious effort and choice on her part. In theory, it would be safe to keep practicing with him at least.

But maybe this is another chance to do something different.

She glanced around the room curiously. There were plenty of people here. Many she was aware of or had faced in tournaments before, but other than that? There wasn’t anyone else around she could say she really knew.

Because they weren’t as important. They’re not male leads. The realization dawned on her slowly. Dang. I really have been treating them like NPC’s.

With a resigned sigh, she turned toward another setup. Perhaps these people were NPC’s. Maybe they had nothing to do with actual endings. If so, that was perfect. If there was one thing she needed to get better at, it was talking to people.

I’ll still talk to Ian, of course. Maybe he’ll still team with me. But I think I need to branch out for at least some weekends.

It was easy enough to find someone to approach. She spotted a pair of familiar players near her level at the opposite side of the room, huddled together in the midst of a friendly match. After picking up a loaner controller and waiting for the game to end, she stepped up to them.

“H-hello.” She suppressed a wince at the sudden reappearance of her stutter.

The two glanced up in surprise, one lanky and the other more stout. Both tensed up at her appearance, their gazes uncertain.

“Um… C-can I join you?”

They looked at each other for a moment before the lanky guy answered. “Uh, sure.”

After a moment of shuffling, the trio clustered together before the monitor. She plugged in and selected Ray-Chu as her character. The stout guy decided to face her first, selecting the turtle-like Sir Bowe, and with a short exchange to decide the stage they loaded in.

Kaitlyn proceeded to take the guy’s first life without issue, catching him off guard. Evidently, taking a few months off last loop hadn’t made her go rusty. As he respawned, she saw him lean forward slightly out of the corner of her eye. Evidently he’d been underestimating her. From there, things got more interesting.

Ray-Chu blocked a headbutt from Sir Bowe, following it up with a quick tail lash. The tortoise was sent stumbling backwards, giving just enough of an opening to shoot a gout of flame after him. The tortoise retreated into its shell, head lashing back out in a blinding counter as the flame hit. Fortunately, Ray-Chu hadn’t taken the bait, choosing instead to dart back and reposition.

Kaitlyn didn’t have as much experience in this matchup as she’d have liked - one more reason to interact with other people, she supposed - but she did have a solid amount of practice under her belt. More importantly, the times she had played against Sir Bowe had taught her in no uncertain terms to be wary of that counter.

After a few more exchanges, she managed to take two more lives. Unfortunately, they came at the cost of two of her own. Still, it meant she had a comfortable one life lead over her opponent. Ray-Chu aggressively capitalized on that lead, pressuring Sir Bowe and forcing him into tough positions.

Soon enough, an opening arose. Sir Bowe sent Ray-Chu flying upward with a heavy kick, following the fiery mouse’s descent like a hawk waiting to strike. Kaitlyn waited patiently, maneuvering toward the center of the stage. The tortoise leapt upward eagerly to the platforms above, jumping off of them to meet Ray-Chu in midair with a finishing blow.

Rather than dodge, however, the mouse met the strike head-on. It transformed into a red-orange meteor, crashing into Sir Bowe’s outstretched fist. The pair collided in an explosion of color and sound, each sent flying into the abyss with finality. As the tortoise crossed the threshold, a victory screen splashed across the display.

Kaitlyn celebrated internally. It wasn’t luck so much as a calculated risk. With one extra life, she could absolutely afford a kamikaze attack like that. She was just happy that she hadn’t missed.

“Good game.” She gave an uncertain smile to her opponent.

He gave her an appraising look. “Yeah. Uh, you wanna go, Spotty?”

“Sure.” The lanky guy scooted in to take her on.

As they loaded in once more, Kaitlyn marveled at the lack of conversation. Wow. They’re not really talkers, I guess. Maybe it’s my fault though?

It felt like a reasonable assumption. Most of the initial fear of talking to someone wore off after meeting them for the third or fourth time. But with someone completely unfamiliar, it felt like that nervousness made an appearance once again. Not that they were helping much, though.

The progress I made feeling more comfortable with the male leads really does come from repetition, I guess. When it comes to meeting someone new? I still really suck at this. Sighing, she sent Ray-Chu dashing across the screen once more. One more thing to get better at, I guess.