“So, did you enjoy your time with Obadiah?” asked Marnick, as he walked beside Kai towards their next destination.
“Hm?” asked the distracted teen. “Yeah, it was surprisingly good.”
“I guess he gave you something to deal with that ghost, am I right?”
“Nope, but he said he’d help me figure out how to get my adventure.” Kai hesitated. “Well, something like that, I guess.”
“Good! That’s good,” said Marnick with a polite smile. ”By the way, Sheila wanted me to hand you a list of the books you’ll need! Might as well get textbook shopping out of the way while you’re at the library.”
Kai silently took the parchment with only a nod and began looking through the list. Unlike the other written material the rainbow-haired woman had given him so far, this one was printed in a neat, technical font, as if by a machine rather than being hand-written.
“So they finally got those printers fixed, huh?” asked the teen.
“Yup!” exclaimed his chaperone. “And they even set up some guards in the printer room this time so we won’t get a repeat performance.”
“But did they do anything about the reason why they were smashed in the first place?”
“Er… I don’t think the tech team would’ve had enough time to fix things so soon. So probably not.”
“Do you know if they are?” asked Kai with a raised eyebrow.
“No clue! But since you’re headed there right after this, why don’t you ask them yourself?”
“Sure, might as well,” shrugged Kai.
As the teen began to skim through the list, he hummed in contemplation, trying to make sense of the various textbook names. “Introspections into the mathematical nature of Algebra 2”, “Treatises of the tales and mythologies of various religions present on Earth,” and “Analysis of various chemical formulations and universal laws governing molecular nature” were but some of the books printed on the paper in small font, such that each took up only a single line.
“Ok, what the hell’s up with these names?” Kai wondered aloud.
“Beats me,” shrugged Marnick. “Why don’t you ask the librarian, since we’re here?”
The two found themselves in front of a now open door that led to a blue-gray carpeted room lined with rows upon rows of wooden shelves. As Kai made his way inside, he could see a circular service table several feet into the entrance that gave the man sitting within it a full periphery of the main chamber.
White-painted walls lined with various colorful pieces of art depicting several book covers of different genres stood on the far edges of the literary sanctum, providing a campy yet peaceful atmosphere that the young man immediately began to lose himself in.
“I’ll pick you up once you’re done to drop you off at the labs,” whispered Marnick as he made to leave, earning only a half-hearted nod from the glamored young man. “Have fun!”
As the teen walked forwards, his gaze went to the tall wooden shelves on either side of him, taking note of what looked like old-timey VHS box covers for different pieces of media displayed within. He couldn’t make out any specifics, but it all still captured his curiosity nonetheless. He was ready to forget his textbook list and leave it for the last minute, but a voice pulled him back to reality.
“Hello there, I don’t believe we’ve met!” exclaimed the man standing behind the counter in a soft and fanciful voice. “Are you new here at TOAL, perchance?”
Not wanting to appear rude towards a total stranger, one whose help he would need soon and often according to what everyone said about this place, Kai shuffled his way towards the man.
“Nope, this is my third day here,” replied the teen with a polite nod.
“In that case, as head librarian, let me be the first to welcome you to my humble library,” he responded with a smile and curt head bob of his own. The librarian had short, black hair and a wool sweater over his relatively pale skin. His eyes showed off a burdened kindness that put Kai at total ease.
“Thank you!” said the teen, repeating his previous gesture.
“Not a problem,” replied the librarian, doing the same again with his own head. “Before I turn us into a pair of moshers at a heavy metal concert, I’ll ask what I do to everyone who passes by here. Do you have a copy of the Last Airbender movie?”
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“What?” asked Kai, caught off guard by the strange question. “No, I don’t, they never even made one,” he apologized.
“Alas, that one piece of lost media still eludes my grasp!”
“Lost?” chuckled Kai. “How can something be lost if it was never made?”
“That is where you’re mistaken, my good man!” replied the librarian with a glint in his eye. “The multiverse is a large, and very diverse place. Though divergences between variations of Earth may be overall minor, they are more than enough to spawn differences in media. One Earth may have produced a particular work, while another may have produced a variation of it, or none at all! Case in point, your so-called nonexistent Last Airbender movie.”
“Oh yeah, Gus did say that all the different Earths are… well, different.”
“Indeed he would make such a statement,” the librarian nodded sagely. “But for some reason, this particular movie happens to be rarer than anything else! It appears that nobody has ever seen it for themselves!”
“Yeah, I mean, who would willingly put themselves through it?” scoffed Kai. “It’s supposed to be terrible!”
The man behind the counter suddenly looked up at the teen with an expression middling between engrossment and confusion. “Excuse me, but what did you just say?”
“Uh, that… oh! My bad, I was just joking,” apologized Kai with a guilty smile. “They did actually make a Last Airbender movie where I’m from, but it was so bad, everyone collectively jokes about it not existing. ‘There is no movie within these walls,’ and all that.”
“Ah yes, a meme!” exclaimed the librarian with an understanding smile. “I’m quite well-versed in them, for the most part.”
“Right… but I have a lot of other things on my phone you might like. Adilet said that you guys accept just about anything, but some of my stuff isn’t exactly PG.”
“Excellent! We do accept those and have a separate collection for adult material.”
“Huh, I never expected to get that stuff from the library. I mean, I did back home and I had to be really sneaky to get it on my phone without getting caught, but I’m talking about officially. I never had a librarian check out a playboy or a doujin for me before.”
“Hold that sentiment. Regrettably, the collection I’m talking about is the Earth cultural archive, and this section of it is not for borrowing. Too many ‘ethical issues’ according to the executive council, apparently involving children getting their hands on content that is not quite age appropriate.”
Kai let loose a frown. Honestly, what did he expect? This wasn’t that kind of isekai, after all.
“But worry not, my young pervert! There happens to be quite the prevalent underground trading ring for such material. I’m sure whatever you have will make for excellent bartering!”
“Pervert?” asked Kai, slightly miffed at the insult.
“But of course! What do you call it? TMI, too much information?”
Kai silently chastised himself over pouring out his inglorious escapades to the librarian without prompt, and quickly settled with the self-promise to be more careful with what aspects of his past he shared with others. His inner thoughts did well to distract the teen from the fact that his cheeks were beginning to redden, visible even through his dark skin.
“Though I don’t mind, it’s all ethically-obtained information and being used responsibly, so who am I to judge? But enough talk about an uncomfortable subject. How may I help you?”
“Well, I was hoping to get a copy of my school textbooks. Here’s the list,” replied Kai, handing over the slip of paper. “But I was really hoping to find something fun to read or watch.”
“Judging by the list you gave me, there are several works that I’m sure you’d enjoy. Mainly of the fiction section. The Gilded Hero for one, our inspiration for one of the names in the World classification system, is quite the poignant tale.”
“Alright, I can get behind that,” replied Kai. “But I was hoping for something more… visual. Like a movie or a TV show? You said that there are alternate realities and non-existent media, right? Any chance one of those Earths has a good Game of Thrones season 8?”
“Do we? Why most certainly! But while many of its viewers have thanked me for bringing back the magic originally brought about by the show’s earlier seasons, most of the joy I’ve seen comes from people watching the Sky High trilogy.”
“I think I remember that movie,” replied Kai with a thoughtful hand on his chin. “I watched it when I was a kid. But it was just a single movie.”
“Alas for you, it was. But elsewhere, it was greenlit for three movies which did exceedingly well in the box office! They won several academy awards, in fact, and honestly blew Game of Thrones out of the water. They even helped influence the near-equally successful Japanese series ‘My Sky High Academia’.”
“Damn, that’s definitely something,” replied Kai. “How many surprises are you all going to throw at me here? The cafeteria, free college, the ghost, and now some old kids movie somehow becoming one of the best things ever?”
“Hold on, what was that third item you mentioned?” asked the librarian, a hint of concern in his voice.
“The ghost? Some weird floaty guy who was eating information from the arcade cabinets. I told Sheila about it and she said she put Gus in charge of finding the thing.”
“I… see,” nodded the man carefully, before snapping back to his previously cheerful mood. “Say, why don’t I get these books for you? I need an excuse to step away from the counter anyway. In the meantime, why don’t you go exploring and try to find something to watch? I can check them all out at once when we’re both done.”
“Sounds like a plan,” shrugged Kai.
“Excellent! See you in two clicks and a whistle!” exclaimed the librarian as he jumped over the counter and made his way behind a series of sprawling, ceiling-height shelves.
“Alright, guess I’m on my own,” whispered Kai to himself as he began to wander the grounds. “Now let me get my hands on that season 8!”