+ + +

Lately, Kiu was feeling particularly evasive.

She had no desire to see any of the server staff, especially not @Flan or @Sybius.

After the October Staff Meeting, the supervisors had attempted to confront her a few times, but Kiu was adamant about refusing to meet them. Their persistence was slightly scary. She received dozens of private messages that she declined to open. @Flan had camped outside of the door to her private room in the 「Tower Library」 for four consecutive days, to the point that Kiu was starting to think she was a fugitive. 

Kiu was almost positive that they were monitoring her online status, since the notifications seemed to flood in as soon as she logged on. At a certain point she had even modified her privacy settings to make herself 「invisible」 to her friend list, which yielded temporary relief. However, later it caused her staff to switch strategies to a more "traditional" approach.

One day Kiu logged into the 「Tower Library」 with the entryway to her private space completely plastered over with flowers, posters, streamers, balloons, and various other festive decorations. There were sticky-notes attached everywhere as well as various index cards with handwritten messages.

Someone had even baked a cake.

At this point, it was impossible to ignore what they were trying to say. Kiu struggled to take down the meshwork of ribbons and streamers that were blocking the door. Meanwhile, she glanced at one of the index cards that had been scrawled over with somewhat ugly handwriting. Incidentally, she didn't recognize the penmanship — although honestly she didn't know the handwriting styles of any of her staff.

 

『 We are sorry. Please don't be angry with us. 』

 

A frown appeared on the black-haired girl's face.

"They're definitely misunderstanding something," Kiu mumbled aloud.

She flipped though a few more apology cards and continued to stare at them.

"I'm not angry," she spoke blankly.

+ + +

That said, Kiu still did not return to her normal behavior.

She remained absent on her own server.

After briefly stopping by her room in the 「Tower Library」 to pick up a small notebook, Kiu promptly logged off and switched to the 「Global Portal」.

Today, Kiu had chosen to visit the 「Historica 1900」 server of 「The Earth Project」.

There were many virtual reality servers on the Internet, and Kiu occasionally explored some other ones whenever she wanted to take a break from her own little community. 「The Earth Project」 was a famous consortium of open-source servers affiliated with the 「Wikimedia Foundation」, and many of their projects were educational in nature. The 「Historica 1900」 server was a full-scale replica of Earth circa 1900 CE. It primarily served as a museum, and there was an admission fee charged for visitors. 

Although it operated on a more primitive VR engine than 「MagnoliaOnline」, the project was very mature and open-source. It lacked weather and environmental simulations entirely, so the experience was much like walking through a plastic model of Earth frozen in time. Due to its bare-bones features, the server was fairly low-population in general. Aside from the occasional history geek, the majority of the visitors were students on class field trips. 

Kiu liked it precisely for its emptiness.

+ + +

A sudden wince appeared on the black-haired girl's face the instant she stepped out of the 「Global Portal」 in the historical city of Salzburg, Austria.

She had felt a flash of dull pain in her torso, but it was quickly suppressed by the neuroinhibitory circuitry of her virtual reality console.

Kiu blinked a few times as she struggled to regain her composure.

Thankfully, the streets were totally vacant.

Internally, Kiu felt a sigh of relief.

Finally — peace and quiet — everything that she ever wanted, anyways.

+ + +

A few days ago, she had developed those annoying cramps again.

Kiu didn't like to be around anyone in that kind of state, so she had been actively avoiding people for the past week.

She was a little bit like a grumpy hibernating bear. As soon as one of those episodes started, Kiu would immediately retreat and lock herself in a metaphorical dark cave for a few days. She didn't talk to anyone, she didn't read any messages, and she had an ill tendency to lash out at anyone unfortunate enough to cross her path.

It was always irritatingly inconvenient whenever the cramps incapacitated her completely. It threw a wrench into Kiu's schedule, and all of a sudden she would end up behind on a dozen different affairs that she needed to catch up on. On Wednesday, she had canceled meetings with the family financial adviser and their patent lawyer, and she hadn't even gone to school.

It was common for the pain to last for several days, and the first day was always the worst.

She was doing a lot better today, and it was definitely on the path to resolving completely.

However, Kiu was still feeling a bit sour nonetheless.

+ + +

Kiu slowly trudged her way through the streets of Salzburg to the Schloss Leopoldskron, a rococo palace that was formerly the seat of the Salzburg Global Seminar. In particular, she was looking forward to visit the Max Reinhardt Library, which was situated inside the mansion.

She had spotted a photo of it online, and she suddenly had a desire to go see it in person.

Ordinarily, her agenda was much too busy to justify taking this kind of time-consuming vacation on a pure whim, but Kiu had every intention to spoil herself since she was taking the day off anyways. Besides, she considered it to be a kind of "self-care".

That said, it was a bit frustrating that her user account on the 「Historica 1900」 server lacked 「Teleport」 permissions, so it took a good hour of walking from the nearest 「Global Portal」 entry site to reach the rococo palace. Honestly, the exertion made her feel a little discomfort in her stomach, but the black-haired girl was adamant on reaching her goal.

Kiu was filled with determination.

Fortunately, the scenery wasn't bad, and the snow-covered peaks of the Alps were visible in the distance.

+ + +

Eventually, the black-haired girl reached the front door.

She pushed it open with some effort.

Unexpectedly, she was greeted politely by a young man who was sitting at the desk in the foyer.

He was scratching away at some paper with a pen, and he looked up with violet eyes at the sound of the door being pushed open.

+ + +

This genuinely took Kiu by surprise — after all, 「Historica 1900」 had an average population of less than 100 users online at a time. 

The Earth had a total surface area of nearly 150 million square kilometers, which mathematically computed to an average of one person every 1.5 million square kilometers. That was three times the size of Spain or six times the size of the United Kingdom. 

It was exceedingly improbable for two human beings to encounter each other randomly on this server. This was especially the case in a somewhat esoteric location like the Schloss Leopoldskron in Salzburg, Austria. What was a probability for an event like that? The entire Earth was a big place.

The black-haired girl was so taken off guard that she forgot to close her mouth and return his greeting.

+ + +

"Good, I'm glad you showed up." The man spoke calmly as he gathered his papers together. "I was beginning to think you weren't coming."

He lightly tapped the stack of sheets on the desk to straighten out the edges.

There was no response from the girl at first.

The neatly dressed man continued to wordlessly pack his papers into a briefcase.

"...You... w-were expecting me?" Kiu's reaction was delayed.

It occurred to her belatedly that it was considered polite to respond to the conversation at some point.

"Yes, of course. You're a little late, but there's no problem. We should get started immediately." His voice was levelheaded.

"...Started?"

"Correct. A little bit of practical experience is a never a bad thing, and we have quite a lot ahead of us. We can chat on our way inside."

"I'm sorry?"

"Oh, I forgot to introduce myself. My username is @Kurotora2, but you can just call me Kuro."

"Kuro..."

"Right," he nodded as opened the door at the end of the hall. Kuro held the door handle as if offering Kiu to enter first.

"I'm sorry, but I'm a little lost?"

"Ah yeah, that's totally normal for newbies around here." The man nodded his head sympathetically. "Although, you'll be fine as long as you stick with me. I'm a veteran at this kind of stuff, so I can show you all the ropes. There's no need for any prior experience, so don't be anxious."

"Huh? Experience?" Kiu was beginning to feel very concerned.

The dark-haired man suddenly slapped himself in the forehead. "Oh! Silly me! I totally forgot!"

Kuro fumbled around the outer pocket of his briefcase and dug out a half-crumpled piece of paper.

He extended an arm out to the perplexed girl, while gripping the sheet of paper in his hands. It seemed like he expected her to take it.

"Do you like books?" There was a sparkle in his eyes. 

"Books? Of course I—"

"—that's the only question in my interview. If you pass, you're hired for the part-time job."

"—really like books. I was really hoping to browse the collection here."

+ + +

Kiu eyes ballooned when she realized what exchange of words had passed between them.

The facial expression of the other party had brightened noticeably.

Both of them had spoken at the same time, and she hadn't waited for the man to finish his sentence!

+ + +

"Excellent answer!" Kuro seemed especially pleased with himself. "I'll be your supervisor from now on. We're extremely desperate for any help, and I'm very relieved that the job posting finally got a response! Oh — but we only pay the International Standard Minimum Wage (ISMW) — although promotion opportunities may be available in the future if you perform well."

Kiu was suddenly extremely flustered. This wasn't what she meant! How had she even ended up in this situation??

"...I'm not here for any job though!" Kiu protested desperately.

"...Huh? Why not? You've walked all this way for the interview! The last applicant never showed up too! I know that the ISMW doesn't pay enough for most people, but technically this counts as working from home, right? Flexible hours? Low physical impact? Cool and amazing boss? It's a pretty nice job! ...Although no social benefits..."

"I didn't apply! I never applied to anything! I'm just here to visit the library!"

".........Oh."

"Yeah."

"Oh, but you do know that the Max Reinhardt Library is currently closed to the public? For restoration in progress?"

"..."

"Yeah..."

"...Damn."

 

∎