The train ride was quiet.
Not awkward quiet, but soft quiet.
Like the silence between page turns in a library, or the stillness right before it starts snowing.
Rin sat beside me, both hands neatly folded over her bunny bag. Her eyes followed the changing scenery past the window—sunlight filtering through wires and trees, rows of vending machines, a sleepy old man with a cat on his shoulder.
And me?
I was trying not to sweat through my shirt.
Every few seconds, she'd sneak a glance my way and quickly look down again. Like a squirrel who just stole your snack and is pretending to be innocent.
When our eyes met, her cheeks turned the color of boiled shrimp.
And yet, I found myself… smiling.
What a strange feeling.
I cleared my throat, mentally rehearsing conversation starters.
"So... the weather's nice today."
Too grandpa.
"You like... cats?"
Too ambiguous. What if she prefers dogs? Instant game over.
"Do you believe in aliens?"
Why am I like this.
But then, she beat me to it.
"U-Um… Mizuki-kun," she said, barely louder than the train's humming.
Her voice was so soft the seats probably heard her better than I did.
"Yeah?" I replied, hoping my voice didn't crack like a middle school recorder.
Rin fiddled with the ears of her bunny bag. "D-Do you… ride the train often?"
Was this a conversation or a dating sim tutorial?
"Only when I'm on my way to do shady things," I said with a straight face.
She blinked. "E-Eh?"
I couldn't help it. "Yeah. Like underground business deals. Trading rare Pokémon cards. You know, serious stuff."
Rin's eyes widened. Then—giggle.
A real, honest-to-goodness giggle. Like a tiny wind chime inside a sunlit room.
"I-I thought you were being serious for a second," she said, hiding her smile behind her hand.
"That's the trick. I'm always just serious enough to make people question their sanity."
"I've… never really done this before," she admitted.
"You mean going on a date?"
"No, I mean… everything." She looked down, clutching her bag tighter. "Even taking the train alone used to scare me."
"…I can't tell if this is sweet or terrifying," I said, pretending to scribble notes on a clipboard. "So far we've walked ten minutes, boarded a train, and you've survived without crying. Statistically speaking, you're already doing better than 80% of RPG side characters."
"Th-that's not a real stat…"
"It is in my heart."
We both laughed softly.
The train rattled gently as it carried us toward our destination: "Enmachi Bunko," a quiet little bookstore-café tucked away in the old part of town.
Rin had suggested it in her shy, indirect way.
"I… like books. I thought maybe you… um, might too…"
She said that while staring at the train floor like it had just confessed its undying love for her. Adorable. Also, completely unaware of what she had just unleashed.
She had no idea.
That place? It was my holy ground. No, not just holy. Sacred.
Bookshelves lined the walls like cathedral windows. A tiny reading nook in the back, tucked between coffee tables and worn sofas. The air smelled like old pages and freshly ground beans. The kind of scent that could make a grown nerd cry.
And best of all?
Floor-to-ceiling thriller novels.
I swear, when we walked in, a beam of light shot down from the heavens and a choir went "hallelujah" in my ears. I almost knelt.
"Ah—! They restocked the Kisaragi Jun series!!"
I shot toward the shelves like a guided missile. Zero hesitation. All instinct. If this were a shounen anime, that moment would've had speed lines and dramatic zoom-ins.
Behind me, Rin followed, her heels clicking softly against the wooden floor like she was worried she'd disturb the books. She probably thought this was just a casual outing. Like, "Oh wow, he probably likes light novels or something cute."
Hah.
I turned around, holding up a familiar paperback like it was a holy relic passed down through generations of monk librarians.
"This."
She blinked. "H-Huh?"
Oh no. That was the "I'm trying my best to understand but you're speaking in riddles" blink.
"Kisaragi Jun's Shadow in the Glass. The third in the Obsidian Labyrinth series. Have you read it before, Kamoshida-san?"
She shook her head gently, eyes wide like she was watching a nature documentary. Narrated by me, probably.
'Observe as the nerd, in his natural habitat, attempts to attract a mate using obscure literary references.'
I grinned—too wide, probably—but I couldn't help it.
"Okay, okay, so there's this detective, right? Tsukimura Aki. Cold, calculated, kind of like a noir antihero—drinks black coffee and never takes off his gloves. Ever. I swear he even showers in them."
"...Eh?"