After a brief chat, Hime and I went into the library.
"It's cool."
"Yeah. I prefer to stay inside."
The inside of the building is cool, so much so that the air conditioning feels a little strong.
The room temperature probably wasn't that low, but the tranquil atmosphere that is unique to libraries seemed to contribute to the cool impression.
"Yohei-kun, can I go over there?"
"I understand."
I don't think that small talk is prohibited. However, as a matter of etiquette, we want to refrain from speaking loudly as much as possible. Perhaps that's why both Hime and I lowered our voices a notch.
Without any unnecessary chatter, I followed Hime who was walking ahead of me.
She walked with small steps, but her pace was slower than usual. She looked around restlessly, as if searching for the section that contained the book she was looking for.
(Um, there are diet-related books...)
I also looked around the area, considering the possibility that Hime might have overlooked something.
We are looking for a diet book. The reason, of course, is for Hime's older sister, Kiyoshi.
"I want to get my sister back in shape this summer, so I'd like to borrow a diet book from the library. Would you like to come with me?"
That's what Hime had asked me to do.
It must have been a few days ago. We had originally made plans to meet on this day, but I didn't have any plans to go anywhere, so it was perfect.
That's why the two of them came to the library.
"Hmm. Yohei, it seems there isn't a section marked "diet section" after all. Where do you think they're located?"
I walked around a bit. The bookshelves were roughly categorized by genre, but there didn't seem to be any area specifically labeled "diet."
Well, I thought it would be quick to look it up in the search section, but then I happened to look around and saw a section called the "Medical Section." I thought there might be some books related to dieting there, so I urged Hime to go there.
"Oh, I found it. I see, dieting is indeed a type of medical treatment."
"If anything, I think it's closer to being healthy."
"I think health is also medicine."
In a corner of the library, closer to the entrance than I expected, there was a bookshelf with a medical section. Everyone, regardless of gender or age, is interested in medical topics, so I guess they made it easy to find. There were also diet books here.
"...It's surprisingly little. I thought there would be a little more."
Hime muttered softly as she looked at the bookshelf.
Indeed, there aren't that many books that seem to be related to dieting, only one shelf on the bookshelf, and the rest are books about medicine, such as illnesses.
"These days, you can find out anything online."
I feel like we are no longer in an age where people go to the trouble of looking things up in a book. If there's something I don't understand, I first look it up on the internet. I think that's less time-consuming, less expensive, and most importantly, easier.
However, Hime seems to be different.
"The accuracy of the information is low, there are a lot of unnecessary sentences before you get to the information you're looking for, and there's a lot of irrelevant, unnecessary information... so I'm not very good at it."
That's right. This girl is a rare type in this day and age who doesn't use the internet.
She has a naturally excellent memory and can remember everything she sees or hears, but she has previously said that she has difficulty using the internet because the amount of information available is too vast.
It seems that she doesn't like electronic media such as television or videos, let alone the internet, so she reads a lot of books.
"The information in the book is neatly organized and easy to understand."
So, what about e-books?
"...My eyes get watery. Also, I'm not used to using electronic devices, so I make a lot of mistakes and I'm not very good at it."
A rare girl in this day and age, she has no connection to the masses of people on the internet.
That may be why she stands out from the average person.