This library is special.
You can tell at once just by looking at the books flying around as they please, managing themselves, and duking it out with other books.
But even aside from that, there were plenty of peculiar things about the library itself.
First of all, the space inside this library was vastly different from how it looked on the outside.
There was definitely an end to it, but from where I stayed, I couldn’t see the end of the library.
Even though, from the outside, it was only about the size of an ordinary library—or maybe a book café.
It seemed there was some mysterious power at work in the space itself.
‘Or maybe it just feels bigger because my body got smaller.’
I hadn’t become a woman my own age; I’d gotten a little smaller.
No, it honestly felt like I’d gotten a lot smaller.
About 150 centimeters, maybe.
When I stood on tiptoe, I was definitely 150. Anyway, I was 150.
It wasn’t just my height that had shrunk—my stride and weight had also decreased a lot, so… getting around this enormous library was work in itself.
Once, I’d seriously made up my mind to go all the way to the end.
Back then, I did somehow manage to reach the library’s final bookshelf, but getting back was so exhausting that I had to sleep midway through.
“And I even have to climb the shelves using ladders or stepping on books…”
Each and every bookshelf was so enormous that managing the books was impossible without a ladder.
And if I happened to forget and leave the ladder behind? I would use the help of the nearby books to make a makeshift staircase and put the book away.
Of course, when that happened, I had to carefully tend to the books I’d stepped on afterward, so the work doubled.
The library wasn’t the only mysterious thing.
Those books, moving around however they pleased, were mysterious enough on their own.
From what I could tell, most of them contained complicated content about the universe, Earth, the solar system, space, dimensions, time, and… anyway, things like that.
As for the contents… they were too difficult, so I gave up trying to understand them.
Sometimes, when it seemed like I was giving up on them, some books would kindly change their sentences like a children’s program, but even then, it was impossible.
“I can read them, but they’re way too hard…”
Still, well, my relationship with the books was fairly amicable.
Though I didn’t know much about what those books really were.
Then why was I doing something like managing books in such a mysterious library?
It was because of a request from an old woman who had saved my life.
The old woman who saved me and, at the same time, turned me into a little girl appointed me as the librarian of this library and then disappeared.
[Mysterious Library Librarian: ■■■]
In a way, you could say it was forced on me… but surprisingly, I was satisfied with this job.
Because I’d always liked books, and more than anything, my dream was to write novels.
So to me, this Mysterious Library was practically my dream workplace.
“Even if I ended up with this body, I can’t give up on my dream.”
Flutter. Flutter!
At my declaration, a book beside me that had been scratching its cover with its first page sent me its encouragement.
“In that spirit, Swamp, I wrote a new draft this time. Would you like to read—”
Flutttter!
“……”
My hand, holding the manuscript paper, stopped in midair.
I watched the book flee in a panic and nearly teared up, but I barely held it in and thought,
‘You’re excluded from the next maintenance.’
Was my novel really that boring?
I sighed and scrubbed the manuscript away with an eraser.
I wish someone would at least come by to talk.
This vast library was wonderful in every way, but I was the only person in it.
As for guests… they almost never came.
* * *
Inside the library, where no windows existed, there was no way to gauge the time outside.
But still, at some point after enough time had passed that one could roughly call it “evening” or “night.”
At the hour when the girl, the library’s sole librarian, had nodded off while revising her manuscript.
Creeeeak…
The entrance to the library opened.
Guuuuuh…
Squelch. Squelch.
Something entered, leaving wet footprints behind along with the sound of phlegm boiling in its throat.
The monster, resembling a corpse imitating a human, wandered in search of something with half-melted eyeballs, as if craving prey.
Past the antique brown door, in the lobby, one rule was written.
It was the rule that had to be observed inside the library.
But perhaps because the creature had no reason, it ignored it and passed by.
Guuuuuh…
Everywhere the monster passed, black foam and steam burst out.
Dribbling a dark red liquid between its shattered teeth, it finally passed through the lobby and was about to step into the stacks where the books and the girl slept.
Shraaak!
Guuuuuh!!
The monster’s right arm vanished without a trace.
The monster, belatedly realizing this, tried to roar in rage, but soon something thick blocked its mouth.
That something… was a tentacle made of paper.
Shk-shk-shk!
The paper tentacles instantly pierced through various parts of the monster’s body, then tore it apart into several pieces.
Splatter.
Dark red liquid scattered in every direction in an instant, but as though blocked by transparent walls, it froze in midair in the shape of a cube.
Even though its body had been torn to pieces, the monster was still clinging to life. Before its murky eyes, something appeared.
It was a memo with some words written on it.
[-̲̤̠͖͔̘͇̦̲́̽̃͋͊-̙̖̜̙̮̋͋͑̓̾̾̊̋̍̊-͍̜̘̖̪̘̜͓̋̌͊͂ -͉͔̘̯͈̯͆̍̐̈͑͋͑͒̄-͚͈͉̘̯͕͗̍́͋-̯̞̝̰̗̟̖̪̃̌̎̓̓̔̿-͇̦̗̫͕̗̯̣̤͖̍͆͒͋-̥͕͍͎̃͌̉́̒̄́̽̃-͈̗͖̜͚̞̞̘̩̈̇̎̈̀̀́̓̌͊̀͗ -̪̯͕̯̈̐͂̍͆̎-̞̘͇̠̥̣̠̩͔͈́̓̀̐̃́͋-̩̩͚̘̲́̂͗̓-̙̲̣͈̪̭̖̖̯̔̍̀͂͌̈͗̎̄̔̈ͅ-͖̠͇͚̝̩̳̄̊̿̎́̚-͚̮̖̭͓͖͖̟͚͈̩̈́̆̾̓̎͌̑ -̣̬͍͕̰̮̭̜͐̇͋̋͐͗̏̇́̆̋̚-̜͔̙̗̫͓̃͋̅̎̀̽̊̓̚ͅ-̰͚͕̱̬͔̲̫͈͎̞͓̅̂̋͋͗͋̌́͆]
And the one holding that memo… was none other than a book.
Three books were floating in front of the monster.
The paper tentacles that had pierced its body were protruding from one book, and the transparent cube splattered with blood transformed into an illustration in another book.
And the final book… shoved the memo it had been holding into the monster’s mouth.
Then, the light returned to the monster’s eyes.
Ghhh!
Ghhhhhh!!
And soon, the monster began to struggle with eyes full of terror.
It looked like the end of one who had lived only by instinct and was experiencing rational thought for the first time.
Right now, the monster had been forcibly granted intelligence by one of the books.
The intelligent monster immediately received mechanical knowledge of its own situation and the books before its eyes, and in the end, its brain burst from terror and it died.
Of course, the burst fragments of brain and blood were also caught inside the transparent cube and sucked into the illustration.
And the remaining corpse of the monster was instantly swarmed by the other books that had been quietly sleeping nearby, and they began to share it among themselves.
Flutter. Flutter-flutter.
After deliciously sharing their banquet, the books were about to curl up and go to sleep, but then remembered one thing they had forgotten and headed out to the restroom.
Then they brought back a large mop handle and a bucket of water, carefully avoiding getting their own paper wet as they wiped away the traces the monster had left behind.
Once the cleanup was finished, the books surrounded the girl, who was still fast asleep.
Then they covered her with the brown cardigan that had been draped over the chair so she could sleep comfortably, stroked the girl’s head once each with their fluttering pages, and returned to their places.
…It was an ordinary day in the library.
* * *
“Huaaah…”
The library was wonderful in every way, but there was one thing I found regrettable.
The fact that no natural light came in.
Of course, I knew sunlight wasn’t good for books.
But how should I put it? Maybe because I was still human after all, sometimes I missed bright sunlight.
Of course, after basking in it for about three minutes, I could endure another month or so. It was only to that extent.
And so, my once-a-month walk ended quickly.
Ah, and if there was another fascinating thing about this library, it was that the entrance was a door to anywhere.
Every time I went out, a different landscape appeared, so there was a subtle excitement to it.
And those landscapes… were mostly similar.
A gray city.
My guess was that this library couldn’t move through space completely freely.
Instead, it seemed to be a method where one could come and go through multiple entrances disguised as bookstores, libraries, book cafés, and the like.
“It really makes me realize all over again how little modern people read…”
When I thought about it that way, the chances of a human coming to the library should have been surprisingly high, yet ever since I became the librarian, I hadn’t welcomed a single human patron.
As someone who loved books, I also liked seeing other people read books, so that was a bit disappointing.
Of course, the people I liked were only those who read while strictly observing the library’s rules and etiquette.
If a patron did come to the library, I hoped it would be someone who would naturally know to follow the rules written in the lobby.
And a few hours later.
The library door suddenly swung open with a violent crash.
Startled awake by the sound, I wiped away my drool and looked over… only to see three men and women in suits entering, bleeding.