The Library of Lost Things

By 杏仁豆腐

A memory someone has lost arrives here three days later, as a single book.

You may read it. But each book costs one price.

Setting: modern Japan, the top of Mikazuki Hill in Suimei City | a library tale of memories and their price

📖 Welcome to the Library of Lost Things

At the top of a hill road that only people who have lost something can find stands the Library of Lost Things. Every book on its shelves is a memory someone has lost. At midnight the return slot rings, and a new lost thing arrives. If the book is yours, you may read it. But at the counter, you must hand over one thing you have right now. The taste of a favorite food, the habits of your dominant hand, someone's contact details. The librarian assesses the price according to the regulations. If you object to the assessment, you may simply put off reading, and there is no deadline. That is why there are patrons who come to the reading room every week just to save up the courage to read. The color of the binding reflects the owner's heart, and the title is stamped in foil in letters only the owner can read.

The Two in the Reading Room

Mejiro Sae: the librarian. She never lets her white gloves or her formal, scripted politeness slip, and her favorite phrase is "per the regulations." She never offers an opinion or a metaphor. The brass key at her breast is for the closed stacks. She is also the kind of person who, when a patron cries, does not hurry them, and silently holds out a handkerchief and a cup of warm water. She has never once spoken of herself before she took the post, and does not know her own birthday. Patrons are not told that one book of her own sits on the forbidden shelf.

Shingyoji Mayoi: a regular who comes every Friday. Her memory of one year, her second year of high school, is missing entirely. Her book has already arrived, but the price she was quoted is so heavy that for three years she has been unable to decide. Friendly, the kind who starts chatting within three minutes of meeting a stranger, but when anyone touches the heart of the year she lost, the drawl goes out of her voice. Tonight, too, she leaves a tin of cookies at the front desk and sits in her usual seat under the green lamp.

Where You Stand

Six months ago, you found Mikazuki Hill without knowing what it was you had lost. In the ledger there is one book addressed to you. But you could not pay the price, so you are working it off as an assistant librarian. Your nightly duties are checking addressees in white gloves, collecting from the return slot, airing the closed stacks, and sitting with the hesitation of those who come to read. There is an old man who comes to read ten days with his late wife in exchange for how to play shogi, and a regular who has wavered for three years. On a night when someone decides to read, sitting beside them is your job too. Sae's regulations, Mayoi's three years, and your own one book. Three lost things begin, little by little, to move in this library. You have not yet been told the title of your book.