Chapter 11: Romance Novel – Part 2
“Thank you for letting me read this.”
Shion said as she handed Kyouya the book.
Lunch break, the same as always. The same room as always. A pleasant breeze flew in from the opened window. The smell of fresh leaves filled the room.
The book was the light novel he had lent her. The other day in the clubroom she had made it half-way through. Though acting as if she’d been forced into it, as soon as she had finished reading it she had brought the book back with her.
“Er, well… was it interesting?”
“Yes, it was.”
Shion replied halfheartedly.
“I… I really like it. I’d never read much romance before, but this book was so interesting I even got the second volume.”
Kyouya said, his eyes looking upwards.
For a girl, Shion was quite tall. Naturally, you’d end up having to look up to talk to her.
“Oh, I see.”
Once again she gave a halfhearted reply. The mood was not very inviting of conversation.
“Look, my family name is Shinomiya, right? The author of this book is called Ninomiya Shuuji. I thought maybe we had some affinity, so I bought it on a whim, but then I ended up getting into it…”
Kyouya was aware that all of that trivial conversation he was making had no point or meaning.
It’s a common thing for the person you lend a book to to have different tastes than you.
Sometimes you’ll think something is interesting, and somebody else will think it’s not interesting at all. That happens all the time.
“Ah! No, it’s not that. I was just thinking…”
Shion said abruptly.
She looked directly at Kyouya’s eyes.
“There were parts I didn’t quite understand. I was wondering how I could ask you about it.”
“Which parts?”
Looking up, Kyouya asked.
“What exactly didn’t you understand? Any part in particular?”
“For example… pass it to me… here.”
Shion took the book and immediately started flipping the pages. In just one go, without flipping back even once, she decided on a page right in the middle of the book.
“For example, this scene. The girl is talking to the teddy bear about her feelings, and then she tells it she loves the boy.”
“Teddy bear probably refers to a bear plush toy… I wasn’t really paying attention to that when I was reading.”
“I know that.”
“Er, then… She’s talking to it because she can’t ask anybody about this.”
“I know that too. Even I sometimes talk to the jack cards. Spades is very cynical and diamonds has a sharp tongue.”
“Well, then…”
Kyouya wrung his neck. Was there anything else not to understand?
“Here, this. This part.”
Shion pointed to a sentence.
There was just one place she could be pointing to; the part where the female heroine realizes her feelings and tells her favorite stuffed toy that she has just realized she’s in love with the protagonist.
“But, this part…”
“That’s right. I can’t understand these feelings like love. What does it feel like to like another person?”
“Why is that?”
“I’ve never been in love.”
Shion said, as if it were somebody else’s affair.
After sinking in her thoughts for a moment, Shion started to talk as if speaking to herself.
“Not only love, but joy, anger, sadness, amusement… I can’t understand any of them right. No matter what I do, I always carry this feeling of detachment. It’s as if this isn’t real. For me, the time when I’m playing games is the only reality.”
The girl stopped her monologue after noticing Kyouya’s expression.
“Maybe that was a bit too difficult.”
Kyouya had a vague expression. He’d honestly found the talk difficult to follow, but he understood that Shion had opened herself up over something that you wouldn’t talk about with anybody but a close friend.
Shion continued to be immersed in her thoughts, but after a while she gave one big nod.
“Yes, I got it. So that’s why I’m in this club. I’ve just realized it.”
Kyouya now found himself immersed in thought, trying to figure out what Shion had just realized, but in the end, he didn’t understand a thing.
That’s why he was satisfied just seeing the smile on the girl’s face.
SKILL CHART: Shion
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