You were in the school library. It was probably the least frequented room in the entire Hyakkaou Academy.

It felt like a place forgotten by time.

It was not large, nor was it particularly modern in design. The walls were lined with old, dark wood, and the bookshelves came almost near the top. The colored light of the sun setting outside filtered in through the large windows, giving everything a soft, warm hue of orange. The dust motes in the air sparkled slowly, as if suspended stars were gently floating in the space. It was as if the world had stopped in there.

Outside, within the rest of the school, everyone was always far too busy gambling, betting, and risking everything. Chaos like this amused you, of course… but not always.

Sometimes, you would have preferred to lose yourself in the quietness of the pages. To flip a few pages and relax in the quietness.

You were lingering in front of the section where classical books were placed, undecided between which book to read. Your fingers were tracing slowly across the surface of the books when, suddenly, your hands touched someone else's.

You froze; you had not even noticed that you were not alone.

“Sorry…”

you murmured, pulling your hand back.

You turned around, and standing in front of you was Yuriko Nishinotouin. Apart from being part of the student council, she was also president of a general culture study group and was, by all accounts, fairly well known and rather intimidating too.

Yuriko let out a soft little laugh, with a gentle smile you had never seen on her before. She picked another book from the bookshelf and handed it to you.

“I think you’ll like this one more.”

Her fingers brushed against yours again, just for an instant.