In the early morning, the sun rose behind the clouds, scattering its golden hue throughout the heavens, painting the dark sky with gold and blue.

Once the library opened, a young girl could be seen entering the building, a backpack slung casually over her shoulder. Her short, black hair swayed as she walked, and she was dressed neatly in a white blouse paired with a crimson plaid tie and skirt.

Behind the circulation desk, a man could be seen typing away from his computer, his focus directed at the screen. The soft sound of shoes creeping down the polished wooden floors attracted the man's attention. He looked up and saw the young girl happily enter through the opened doors.

"Good morning, Maria." He greeted her with a gentle smile. "Are you here to read another set of books?"

"Isn't that what libraries are usually for?"

"I don't think sleeping counts."

"Might as well be," She joked. "Libraries are the best places to sleep in."

It had been almost two years since Maria began to visit the library. The first time the librarian saw the girl was when he had just started working in the library.

She was only in her junior year and mostly went to the second floor where the Literature, Historical, and Science books were kept. Sometimes she also came to do her assignments or take small naps.

The librarian thought she was a bit interesting, but he didn't expect himself to get acquainted with the young girl. Although he never imagined himself to befriend a teenager, he still enjoyed the girl's company whenever he was on break.

His fingers tapped the numerous keys and the sound of clicks filled the silence of the circulation desk.

While looking at his monitor, he suddenly heard footsteps and noticed Maria approaching him.

"Do you need something?" He asked.

"Mhm, I was wondering if you have any fantasy books here?"

The librarian tilted his head. "Sorry, but we don't have any fantasy books here."

She had expected it, but she was still disappointed.

"Not surprised, I only see historical and academic books in this library." She said with a bitter smile. "A few of my classmates started reading fantasy books, so I wanted to try reading one."

"It's a popular genre after all." He said and nodded in understanding.

After a second of silence, Maria bid her goodbyes and left.

Even if they had known each other for two years, they could only hold a few minutes or even seconds of their conversation before parting ways. The people who regularly came inside also noticed the strange relationship between the student and the librarian.

Were they friends? Were they strangers? Or were they just two people who like to talk to each other? No one knew.

Some even go as far as to assume the two were secretly dating. This resulted in rumors spreading across the library.

"Look at them, flirting in public." A woman said, eyeing them.

"I swear, young kids these days..." Another person murmured, this time, an old man who was scrunching his nose.

People inside often gossiped behind their backs. Rumors started going around the library about the student and the librarian's relationship.

Gossip could often lead to misunderstandings. A few students who knew about the rumor were very nosy and eventually spread the rumors outside of the library, leading it to gain attention from other people.

Once word got out, people began to give Maria odd looks, leaving her confused as to why they were looking at her so strangely. However, Maria soon discovered the reason for their repulsion.

After finishing her assignment, she immediately left the library without uttering a word, not even sparing a glance at the librarian.

"How odd..." The librarian muttered.

This wasn't the first time the girl had acted a bit cold toward him, but he wasn't worried.

"She did mention that her exams were coming up. She must be focused on studying this week then." The librarian naively thought and continued his work.

He didn't know that that would be the last time he'd ever see her again.

☆ ★ ☆ ★ ☆ ★

The library was empty and the sun began to set, casting an orange hue over the windows, bringing in light to the interior. It was quiet, only the sound of distinctive whispers and footsteps reverberated through the area.

It was now closing time and the last batch of people had left, giving the employees time to rest.

Workers went to the nearby staff room, coming out of the room while holding their bags. A few hurriedly left while some remained, opening their snacks as they talked with their co-workers.

"Are there seriously no other vacant rooms to use?" A young woman complained with a disgruntled expression.

Stepping foot out of the staff room and into the hall, the smell of paper and wood wafted the woman's nose, enough to ease her nerves. She looked around the lines of tables and chairs, empty and isolated, except for one man occupying one of the long tables.

The woman looked at him for a minute before sighing. After restocking empty bookshelves and organizing them, she wanted to take a few minutes of rest before leaving. But she didn't want to spend her rest hours in the lounge room, it was too crowded and noisy for her liking.

"A crowded lounge room... or talk to that guy?" She thought with her brows furrowed.

Although she wasn't particularly close to the man, she wanted to at least strike up a conversation with him, considering that they were colleagues.

The woman strode toward the man and sat down on an empty chair beside him. The man didn't move nor even glance at her as he continued to stare into nothing.

It was a bit awkward between them before the woman curiously asked, "The girl didn't come today. Do you know when she'll come back?"

"..."

"You don't know?"

"..."

The man was silent at her questions, avoiding her gaze by looking down. The woman stared at the man's sullen face. She could see him fiddle with his fingers, a common habit of his when he was nervous. The woman was a bit reluctant but knew she couldn't ignore this further.

"I know about the rumor," She said. "Everyone in the staff room was talking about it."

The man's face became dark when he heard this. He knew about the rumors people and students had started about him and the young girl.

Despite trying to ignore it, he couldn't.

Because rumors were like fire; they can be small wisps that could easily be extinguished, but they could also be big, leading them to grow into a blaze that eventually gets out of control. The worst part is that once the flames have subsided, there will be nothing but ashes left behind, the burnt remnants of one's reputation and mentality.

For that reason, his mental state soon dropped, and he felt guilty, knowing that not only he but Maria was also affected by this.

It was only a matter of time until one of his co-workers would start asking him questions about the rumor. He wondered if the woman thought the same as everyone else, making him close his eyes to embrace himself for her words.

But what he heard next surprised him, "Like I'll believe it."

"People nowadays like to assume things and create such false rumors!" The woman said, crossing her arms.

Her eyes were fixated on the man, looking at him intently.

"It's like people forget that adults and teenagers can be friends, so why can't a librarian and a student be friends?" She said and asked. "Are you two even friends?"

The man was silent before letting out a deep sigh as if he had been holding his breath. His shoulders dropped and he felt his heart relax a bit.

"I don't know... We only talk about books and... sometimes school works."

"Like teachers and students, they also talk about books and school work." She said and asked again, this time, her tone firm. "Still, you two are friends right?"

The man didn't answer as he looked down, not knowing what to say, so he remained silent. He didn't know, it was he who considered her a friend, but what about the girl? Did she also see him as a friend? Or just someone to talk to?

Based on his silence, that was her answer, making the woman sigh helplessly.

"She'll come back. She wouldn't just leave you here without saying anything." The woman tried to assure him. "Just give her some time, I'd be pretty pissed off too if someone made a rumor like that about me."

The man thought for a moment and smiled slightly. "Thanks."

And so, the man waited for the young girl to return.

He waited, waited, and waited.

He had hoped to see her one last time, just once, but she never came back.

✦ ✧ ✦ ✧ ✦ ✧

It was late in the afternoon and the glaring light of the sun shone through the windows. School hours had ended and teachers were dismissing their classes one by one.

Students in groups of three or four walked outside of their room, their chattering and footsteps resounding the entire corridor. Loud noises could be heard throughout the hallway until eventually, silence replaced it.

Less than a minute later, the second-floor hallway became empty. The students who remained in each classroom were those assigned to clean their rooms.

The sound of running water emanated from the bathroom before coming to a halt. Maria picked up a bucket from the floor and turned to leave, walking silently into the hallway. She strolled past classrooms while carrying a bucket of water.

Once Maria arrived in front of her classroom, she saw four of her friends cleaning together in pairs. The one to notice her first was her best friend, Amelie.

Her mousy brown hair was tied in a ponytail and strands of hair could be seen sticking out from her head.

"Just leave it at the door. Lia and I are still sweeping the floors," Amelia said as she continued to sweep the floor.

Two girls were sweeping the floors while two boys were wiping off the blackboard using a used cloth. Maria stood by the door with the mop in her hands, patiently waiting for her group mates to finish.

The two boys had just finished wiping off the chalk dust from the board, but there was still a noticeable white smudge left after wiping it with a dry rag. One of the boys, Nick, walked over to Maria and handed her the dirty cloth.

"Can you soak this in water?" He asked, his glasses gleaming from the sunlight.

The girl didn't say anything and crouched down, dipping the cloth in before wringing it out to remove the excess water.

"I heard you scored less than 20 points in the Science and Math exam." Nick suddenly brought up. "You do know the exams count for 40 percent of our grades, right? Not to mention the fact that we have to at least maintain our grades and not let it fall below 85 if we want to get into our chosen strand."

Maria listened quietly with her brows slightly furrowed.

"Did you slack off during the weekends or something?"

Maria stood up and stared at him, drops of water trickling between her fingers. Her expression remained indifferent, yet her grasp on the soaked rug tightened, trying to suppress her anger.

"I didn't," Maria said and handed him the damp rug. "I got a bit busy and didn't have time to study."

Nick seemed to be curious and wanted to know more, but they were interrupted when one of their friends, Zack, a tall boy with a light-built body, called out for him.

"Huh, it's a bit disappointing." He turned around and added. "And here I thought you were going to one-up me this school year."

Maria stared at his obnoxious grin, then watched as he turned and assisted Zack with the blackboard. She cast a glance at him and complained under her breath.

Her mood became complicated when Nick suddenly brought up her score on the exams. She wanted to tell him to stop minding people's business but controlled the urge to do so. This wasn't the first time he had done this, so Maria was used to this behavior from him.

She tried to control her irritation by letting out short sighs, and it helped her relax, but it was short-lived when she suddenly felt uncomfortable. Her uniform was drenched in sweat and she had a pounding headache.

Because of the hot weather that had been occurring these past few weeks, most students couldn't help but feel dizzy and lightheaded.

Having to be assigned on Friday to clean was already bad enough, but Nick mentioning her scores on the exams added salt to the wound, which along with her splitting headache, further worsened her mood.

Maria grumbled and craned her neck up to notice that the two girls had finished sweeping.

"You can start mopping now, we'll wait for you to finish," Amelie told her.

The two boys were already playing around while the two girls began taking their seats. They had already finished their assigned tasks, leaving Maria with the last task to mop the floor.

Maria took the mop that was still standing in the doorway and dipped it inside the bucket, squeezing out the water before placing it down.

She started from the front row next to the teacher's desk, moving the mop head up and down, and scrubbing the wooden floors seriously. Her friends watched her clean and waited for her to finish.

It only took about fifteen minutes for Maria to fully mop the entire floor of the room. With sweat dampening her forehead, she made sure to dry the mop first before returning it to the closet.

Afterward, the five students began preparing their bags to leave. Maria was still on her desk, fixing her things while Zack had already left to throw away the dirty water that was used for mopping.

While Maria was checking her notes, something caught her attention. Amelie noticed Maria standing back with her gaze fixed on a certain desk. She heard her voice ask, "Who's book is that?"

She pointed at a hardcover book that had been left on a desk located at the end of the third column of desks.

"A book?" Amelie glanced to where her finger was pointed and answered. "Isn't that Reyn's seat? Maybe the book belongs to him."

Maria was a bit curious and made her way toward the back of the room. She took the book from the desk and quietly examined it.

The book's cover lacked a title, only a faded silhouette of a crow painted on the front. The book wasn't heavy but it also wasn't light. She couldn't identify what book Reyn had owned or borrowed. She wasn't particularly close to the boy, but she knew that the boy didn't like books.

He often complained about reading books daily. Whenever the teacher would leave, he would silently complain about the use of books for no reason, but most of their classmates ignored him.

If he hated reading so much, why does he own this book?

Maria didn't want to open the book, knowing that it would be an invasion of his privacy. If this was a journal or a diary, the first page might contain secrets about the boy that Maria didn't want or need to know.

But I'm curious if it's a story...

At this moment, Zack returned and saw Maria holding the book. He had overheard their conversation and said, "If you want to read his book then read it, he probably wouldn't care since he left it here."

Still, it didn't feel right to her. An unknown emotion hovered over Maria's heart when she looked at the book.

"Is he a hypocrite and secretly likes books? Or does his parents or relatives own this book and he could only temporarily keep it for them?"

Maria didn't know and hesitated. But soon, curiosity got the best of her as she began to peek through the first page. She was planning to see the contents of the book first before closing it.

Upon turning to the first page, she was immediately greeted by lines of sentences. There was no copyright page, preface, foreword, or even a table of contents. These parts were necessary when publishing a book, yet there were none. Instead, she was brought to the main text.

She skipped the first page and went to the last page. As she expected, there were no afterwords or acknowledgments. Maria's lips pursed into a frown as she returned to the first page and began reading the row of words.

Game of Survival

The world was in absolute chaos.

Games and instances appeared throughout the world.

Monsters lurked across the plains while powerful beings conquered the ruined cities.

A portal opened where a new hell would generate.

The only way to survive was to reach the end.

Only reading the first lines of the paragraph, Maria guessed that this was some sort of fantasy, apocalyptic book.

The title of the book was [Game of Survival] since it had a bigger font size compared to the other texts. With the synopsis placed below the title, the premise of the book seemed a bit interesting.

Maria mostly preferred reading web novels rather than physical novels, but it didn't change the fact that they still had a story.

In addition, an antique pocket watch was attached to the book, sandwiched into the middle, giving off a steampunk vibe from its beautiful silver case.

One look made Maria immediately drawn in by its antique design, the middle displaying a set of tiny gears behind the pane of glass. The outer edges were decorated with Roman numerals, and the arrow hand resembled a key. The material was made of gold and silver, with a soft radiance emitting from it due to the rays of sunlight.

It reminded Maria of the old pocket watch her Uncle had gifted her. Although his pocket watch was much older and damaged, the one in the book appeared to be new and untouched.

Her fingers ran through the case, slowly pulling it open, but her hands came to a stop.

What is this?

"We'll be heading to a convenience store, are you going to tag along?" Nathalia suddenly appeared behind Maria and asked.

The expression on Maria's face stiffened for a moment before she frowned.

"Don't sneak up on me like that."

Nathalia, with her wavy, brunette hair loose freely behind her back, ignored her words and asked again, "Are you coming?"

Maria nodded in response, quickly placing the book down and hiding the pocket watch.

"Do you guys want anything? It's my treat!" Zack proudly said with a large grin.

"Oh? You finally have money on you?" Nick asked in a mocking tone. "And here I thought you were going to continue leeching off from me."

Zack felt offended and exclaimed, "Hey, at least I kept my promise! I'll buy whatever you all want today!"

The two boys bickered while the two girls just laughed at them. Maria on the other hand, quietly stared at them with the book still in her hands.

It's Friday which means there's no class tomorrow. Then...

Maria picked up the book and calmly placed it inside her bag. She intended to borrow the book, but with there being no class the following day and the fear of the book getting taken if left here, she was hesitant to leave it behind. She wanted to use this as an opportunity to take the book without looking suspicious.

Amelie and Nathalia saw this but thought nothing of it. It would appear as though Maria was safely keeping it in her bag to return it once Monday approached, but that wasn't the case. She was planning to keep it until Reyn noticed.

She didn't consider this as stealing since the owner was careless enough to leave this book in a large place like a school. The owner disliked reading and this might've been a way to throw it away.

"Yes! This isn't stealing! It would be a waste to throw this perfectly good book!" She thought, stuffing the book in her bag.

Once her bag was closed, Maria toted the book on her back and took a glance at her desk.

Game of Survival...

The title lingered in her mind for a second until she snapped out of her daze and went after her friends.

"What do you guys want?" Zack suddenly asked, stretching his hands up. "Anything you want, I'll buy it!"

Maria thought that eating would help her calm down, so she said, "Ice tea and a hotdog sandwich would be fine."

Then Amelie followed up by saying, "I want Coke and clover chips."

"Just chocolate and water for me." It was Nathalia who said this with her gaze fixated on her phone.

Nick, however, wanted no food and bluntly gave his answer, "You owe me 350 remember?"

Zack smiled awkwardly and said, "I told you I'll pay you back next time."

"You said that last month..." Nick mumbled, clearly doubting Zack's words.

"I promise this time!"

The five friends rambled down the vacant corridors, bickering and laughing together. Maria was still feeling a bit uneasy but felt her worry dissolve when Amelie started conversing with her. Her attention soon shifted to her friends as she tried to ignore her uneasy feeling.

As she walked through the school, Maria didn't notice her bag was left slightly open, revealing the book she had taken. The pocket watch hung from outside the book, emitting a faint luster, flickering one or two blue lights.

The faint light soon diminished once Maria left the school grounds. Shortly after leaving the campus, Maria finally noticed her bag was open and pulled the zipper shut, then trailed after her friends.