“Yes!” I said excitedly without skipping a beat. Her eyes widened for a moment. She nodded at my excitement and I could see her mouth forming a small smile. I could feel blood rising up to my cheeks, so I hurriedly took the novel and excused myself before rushing out of the class.

I was embarrassed. I just said yes immediately without thinking. For a moment, I thought Aoi was going to confess to me. But… joining the club wasn't so bad either.

After that, every day after school, I would sit alone with Aoi at the library. There were multiple copies of certain novels, and we decided to read it at the same time and rate them when we were finished. I was pretty new to it so I just said the obvious things that I noticed the first time I shared my review.

But Aoi? She became a completely different person. The usually passive gloomy girl became so passionate and active, waving her hands around while explaining the plot holes in the story and how it could be fixed. My jaws dropped to the floor.

She must have noticed my shocked face, because she apologized not long after for being too absorbed in her speaking. I just smiled and said I enjoyed it. And thanks to my luck, the wind blew at that moment, revealing her shiny cerulean eyes and blushing cheeks. I was able to see her full face while smiling.

My heart just completely stopped. And that image of her would be burnt forever in my head. Not even amnesia could erase it.

After our first novel review, Aoi was starting to feel more comfortable around me, so I started eating lunch with her at her table. Most of the time we just talked about novels we were excited to read about.

And I think my presence helped other students to approach and talk with Aoi. Since, you know, she no longer looked like the loner girl they thought she was. And it's not only the girls, but also the guys. Sometimes, Aoi would be at a loss of words when talking to them, and I would help her continue the conversation.

Admittedly, I was a bit jealous. Especially when she was laughing with another guy. But, I helped her anyway, because she looked happy to be interacting with so many new people. And if she was happy by it, then I would help her however I could.

My odd and sudden change in behavior didn’t escape my friend’s attention. I just said that I was interested in novels and she was an expert. He was starting to get worried I got charmed or something, but didn’t question further.

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

One day, the teacher in charge of the library asked us to help reorganize the books since she had a meeting. We immediately started so we can return to reading our book sooner.

She got on a ladder, but one of its legs gave up, and Aoi fell off. I was standing right next to her, so I managed to catch her. For a moment, we and everything around us, stopped. I thought my senses were going to get overwhelmed like before, but the rush never came. I was able to enjoy her warmth without much worry.

With Aoi’s bangs to the side, our eyes truly gaze directly into each other for the first time. I could feel my face heating up as I watched her face slowly overtaken by red color.

“P-Please, let me down…”she stuttered while hiding her face in her hands.

“O-Oh! S-Sorry!” I let her down immediately.

“Man... That ladder must have been pretty old, huh?”

Aoi nodded.

“You… uh, you should handle the lower shelves. Leave the higher ones to me, okay?.”

Aoi nodded again.

There was only silence between us after that. And when we finished reorganizing the books, the sun was already setting. So we packed our stuff and prepared to leave.

I was going to walk out when I felt a tug at the back of my jacket. My heart skipped a beat. Turning around, just as I thought, it was Aoi

“Eden… I…”

“Y-Yeah?”

“Thank you so much!” she said while suddenly bowing down.

“... Eh?”

“Ever since you talked to me that day.... I felt like my life has changed for the better. You helped me save and liven up the club. You listened to my pent up rants. You even bought me a new book.”

“Y-You knew?”

“Of course. I marked all my books.”

“Sorry about that…”

“Its okay. After all, because of you, I can fulfill my wish of getting closer with everyone in class. So, thank you very much!”

“... That’s your wish? But why do you always stay by yourself in class?”

“I... tried to talk to others, but I kept failing to continue the conversations. My knowledge was really only around novels. I tried to learn more stuff so I could talk more, but... it was already too late. Everyone stopped approaching me and... I just accepted it. Eventually, I got used to it. But it's all in the past. Because now, I have you.”

She had a bright smile on her face, one that would rival even the sun itself. And it just broke all restraints that I had left in me. I wrapped my hands around her and pulled her in for a tight hug. She didn’t resist or scream, and I even felt her hands slowly wrapping around my waist.

We stayed in that position for a couple seconds.

When I realized what I just did, I pulled back in panic.

“S-Sorry! I didn’t know what got into me! I-I-”

With a low voice and lowered head, she said: “I-I don’t mind if it's you…”