"Yes?"
The librarian sat there in utter silence, his hands clasped together as he looked at his desk.
"Rein."
"Yes...?"
"…Did you by chance break the crown in the storage room?"
"I have not. Why?"
… Another line of silence. The only sound was footsteps in the building.
"We must find whoever has done this treacherous crime and own up to it! They shouldn't get away with this!"
It calmly echoed through the halls, and many eyes began to glance in his direction.
Rein blinked, his expression unreadable. He slightly leaned back, arms crossed.
Although it's surprising to see a librarian break their own rules, this man over here isn't the actual librarian but a replacement for the real one. He drops by often whenever the real librarian has important business outside of this building, and he has been entrusted to manage this job.
He doesn't do much but helps those looking for a certain genre or section… that's it.
Even the librarian assistant seems to have a tougher job than the temporary replacement.
"It was bound to happen; it had cracks at every corner."
Commented on by a staff member who had just walked by the area, he looked at the two individuals, Rein and the librarian replacement.
"Still! It was supposed to be unbreakable! How did they manage to break it at all?"
The staff member grabbed his keys and stood by the door he intended to unlock.
"You got scammed; that's all there is to it."
"That isn't what the boss said?!"
"She was pitying you."
Harsh.
Rein witnessed all of this from the sidelines, watching the two ramble about this unbreakable crown. He only heard great things about it, but the fact that it had broken made his skepticism grow larger.
"Besides, there was no one but you who kept on moving that crown. Treasuring and bragging at any given chance to anyone."
"You don't get it; I always place it in the most secure spot. It couldn't have accidentally fallen; two things were in front of it!"
"Hmm, okay. It's your fault for making an enemy, not ours; just do your job."
"What else am I supposed to do?! Sitting here doing nothing is so boring!"
"Hmm, maybe pick up on what the librarian was working on; write whatever is the best fit."
"She told me not to touch any of her stuff!"
The staff jeered as he unlocked the door while still facing away from them. "I wonder, what does she see in you?" He went inside.
"Teo, you snobby jerk!" The librarian replacement then added, "That's it… As the librarian, both of you are helping me find whoever did it!"
"How about no?" The door closed.
"I don't work here; I'm not affected by any means," Rein finally replied at his given chance.
"Please, man, you have to help out! You came here for a reason; I refuse to believe you're busy!"
"Will it take long?"
"Maybe, but that doesn't matter, right..?"
"…Sure."
The replacement let out a smile and shortly turned to the door. His voice rose higher than before to get Teo's attention. "And you, if you don't oblige, I will tell the librarian about what you did!"
Within the room, footsteps got louder. Click. The door opened. "You really have nothing else to do… fine."
"Alright! Here's the plan…"
.
.
.
In summary, the replacement planned to interrogate the surrounding villagers. For the staff's role, Teo's role was to go outside and investigate individuals who lived near this area, to question them if they had entered the building and/or seen which staff member went into the storage room yesterday…
To even think that anyone would remember such a small detail like that is… surprising. Besides, the library is a place that not many people go to. So this plan was flawed from the start.
Rein's role was nearly the same, but to investigate everyone inside the building. The replacement told Rein to start his investigation at the entrance to prevent leaving a singular person behind, and they might've had to answer to this problem.
As foolish and ridiculous as it sounded, he still went with it.
There were a bunch of 'Were you here?' or 'Have you seen?', although every one of them answered with a no. He began to lose hope after sweeping through every person; the last person he saw sat on a chair in a corner, legs crossed, while reading a book.
Yet. That wasn't the thing he found weird; it was that they were wearing all black, including a hat and a white mask. Covering their entire body, making not one bit of skin show.
Their dark trench coat cloaked them in darkness as if attempting to stay hidden in broad daylight. Maybe it was something to wear to get comfortable or a sign of insecurity.
Argh, who cares?
He walked closer to this person and gently waved at them to get their attention. "Excuse me, were you here yesterday?"
"…"
There was silence, not a word spoken. They placed the book on their laps and looked at Rein, as though anticipating what he would say next.
"...Yesterday, did you see anyone in particular who had gone inside the storage room?"
Again, no reply. Is Rein perhaps bothering them in their reading?
What had felt like minutes—but were simply seconds—the mysterious person glanced at the clock, then steadily rose to their feet. Without meeting his gaze, he muttered,
"...Be cautious of where fate may lead you; trying to predict its course may lead you astray, turning a clear path into a twisted one."
What??
With that, they turned and walked away.
Rein stared at their retreating figure, their words still lingering in the air. What does he mean by that? Is it a warning—a threat? Why...? What for?
He stood there in utter silence. Still watching.
And watching.
Shaking his head, Rein quickly brushed it off; a small part of him was clinging to the confusion, unease to the depths of his core. He couldn't help but wonder if it was just their way of refusing to answer or just a cause.
No, no, no—has Rein ever seen them before? Who were they? Did someone around here actually own masks like that? Are they perhaps new here? Were they even supposed to be here in the first place?
As he watched the mysterious figure disappear out of the door, he still stood there at a loss. Processing.
Many different outcomes were dispersed in his mind, and he finally concluded that maybe… just maybe… he is overthinking this.
Rein began to look around with a plain expression right after that moment, verifying that everyone he had talked to answered him. He gradually stared at the lazy man sitting at his desk, who seemed to be writing something.
Rein walked towards him and stated, "That's everyone; they all said no."
"What about Teo? How's he been?"
"I'm not sure, but why did you think this was going to work?"
He dropped his pen and propped his elbows on the desk, his palms rubbing against his eyes while seeming stressed.
"It was my best idea to find the culprit, Rein."
"I guess." Rein glanced at the glass door at the entrance, trying to search for Teo as he stood in front of the replacement. Unaware, he unknowingly thought about that particular person he met earlier and their statement… "Who knows, they might come forward and apologize. So don't lose hope, Jones."
There was a small wall between Rein and the replacement so that Rein would partially see the table.
The replacement— Jones looked at Rein and shortly after, at the entrance. "Maybe you're right. We just have to hope that they'll confess right away." He replied in a sarcastic tone.
Rein looked back at Jones and stated, "So what now? Will we wait for Teo, or is there more going on?"
"Let's just wait for a bit; in the meantime, I will be in the storage room to clean up the mess. If he comes, both of you come to the storage room. We have some scanning we need to do." Jones stood up midway through his sentence and went to the library's storage room.
Rein waited there for a couple of minutes before deciding to go outside and see Teo's progress. Doubting if he's doing anything or not. As he went outside, it took him a while to find Teo, and he was just sitting there on the bench.
"Ah, Rein."
"How was it?"
"I've got no one; I'm just so tired of walking around back and forth."
"Unfortunately, we need to do more work; he wants us to go to the storage room with him."
He stayed silent for a moment, annoyed.
"...I'll be there soon."
"Alright."
Rein turned around and left.