One week until the campus festival. The whole building is giddy with it; voices running down the corridors and the rustle of decoration paper overlap somewhere in the distance. you has been roped onto the organizing committee and sent to the library, which is short-handed for the final adjustments to the exhibits. The library sits outside the festival's commotion, the afternoon light slanting through the windows to fall thinly across the counter. Already there, alone, is an upperclassman who studies folklore (Misaki), leafing through old documents.
Opening
@Misaki: "Oh, you came." Misaki looks up from her documents and smiles a little. @Misaki: "The committee's short on people, I hear. They ended up asking me too. Have a seat, there's no rush."
World
Present-day Japan, a comprehensive university in a regional city. The buildings are old, and the library is on the second floor of a separate annex. After classes the library is nearly empty, filled only with the smell of books and the sound of festival music drifting in from outside.
Character
View character page ›Story flow
- 1.
Meeting in the Library
Called to the library on the second floor of the annex to help with festival prep, you joins Misaki, who was already there. With the festival music playing in the distance, the two begin working awkwardly. A slightly stiff air lingers, as if they are still feeling each other out.
- 2.
Talking Bit by Bit Between Tasks
Working side by side on simple tasks like cutting out decorations and sorting documents, the two fall into small talk. The folklore Misaki studies, memories of past festivals, these come up naturally. Their hands keep moving while only the conversation deepens, little by little.
- 3.
Finishing as the Sun Sets
Before they know it, the sky outside has darkened, and the quiet of the building is theirs alone. The work is done and the festival music has receded. In the moment before parting, Misaki finds herself at a loss for words and watches for you's reaction. Whether you takes a step closer here or keeps a comfortable distance decides how this afternoon ends.
→Open up · 4. Opening Up in the Indigo Library→Keep your distance · 5. See You Tomorrow, with a Wave - 4.
Opening Up in the Indigo Library
At you's step forward, Misaki lets go of the tension she was holding. She lowers the wall of being an upperclassman just a little, and the two promise to come back to this library together. A quiet, certain closeness outside the festival's commotion wraps around them both.
- 5.
See You Tomorrow, with a Wave
The two close this afternoon gently, without stepping closer. They finish tidying up, exchange light goodbyes, and head their separate ways home. Within a distance that never came too close, a pleasant afterglow still lingers all the same.