Librarian of the Void

10: Girl Who Hits Problems

The tapping came again.

Leo stood in front of the grey door with his hand hovering a few centimetres from it. One tap from inside the darkness. Then another, slower this time.

Tap.

Tap.

He did not touch the door.

The normal library was behind him. The staff room light was still on. His phone showed 11:48 p.m., which meant he had already spent too long staring at impossible wood.

A third tap came from the other side.

Leo took one step back.

The door vanished.

The shelves snapped together with a loud wooden crack. The cold air disappeared. The library returned to its normal state so quickly that Leo almost wondered if he had imagined the entire thing.

Then his class window appeared.

[Entry attempt incomplete.]

[Record access postponed.]

[Investigation status: Active]

Leo looked at the notification.

"You could have told me it was going to close."

The System remained silent, probably because it had no mouth.

He checked the shelf one last time. There was no grey light, no hidden gap, and no card. Only old books arranged under a label that said **Movement Theory and Applied Footwork**.

Leo returned the ruler to the staff room and went home.

He slept badly.

In one dream, he was being chased through a library by a black catalogue card. Every time he reached a door, the card stamped **Access Denied** on his forehead.

When he woke, his alarm was screaming.

Leo threw a pillow at it.

The pillow missed.

By the time he reached St. Orison Academy, he had skipped breakfast, forgotten his second coffee, and decided that anything involving teamwork was a punishment invented by people who enjoyed watching others suffer.

The decision turned out to be accurate.

Basic Combat Applications took place in the eastern training yard. The yard was surrounded by a waist-high mana fence and divided into small practice zones. Each zone contained moving platforms, padded obstacles, and training constructs that looked like wooden people with glowing red eyes.

Instructor Martin stood in the centre with a tablet in his hand.

"Today you will complete a team exercise," he announced. "Teams of three will cross the yard, retrieve a marker, and return without allowing the constructs to touch the marker. The exercise measures communication and combat adjustment."

Leo looked at the list on the wall.

His name was beside Hannah and another student he did not know.

The unknown student was absent.

Martin checked his tablet. "The third member is injured. Leo and Hannah will complete the exercise as a pair."

Hannah looked at Leo.

Leo looked at the nearest exit.

"No," Hannah said.

"I did not say anything."

"Your face did."

"My face is very expressive."

Martin pointed toward their practice zone. "You have five minutes to plan."

Hannah walked into the zone immediately.

Leo followed because standing alone beside an instructor made him look suspicious.

The marker sat on a raised platform at the far end. Three wooden constructs waited between them and it. Each construct carried a padded club. Their movements were controlled by the training System, but the strikes could still hurt if somebody was careless.

Hannah studied the course.

"I will handle the constructs. You retrieve the marker."

"That is a beautiful plan. It has one flaw."

"What flaw?"

"I do not want to be hit by wooden people."

Hannah turned to him. "Then do not be hit."

"I admire how simple you make everything."

The starting bell rang.

The first construct charged Hannah.

She met it head-on. Grey metal plates appeared over her arms as Iron Vanguard activated. The wooden club struck her forearm and bounced away. Hannah punched the construct in the chest. It flew backward and crashed into the mana fence.

Leo ran around the side.

The second construct moved faster than the first. It changed direction when he tried to pass it, cutting him off from the marker.

Leo stopped.

The construct raised its club.

Hannah shouted, "Move!"

Leo moved.

The club missed his head by a few centimetres and hit the ground. The impact shook dust into his face.

He stumbled backward, coughing.

"You could have mentioned that it was fast," he said.

"I did not know you needed a personal announcement."

The construct attacked again.

Leo watched its shoulders. The movement was simple, but the System repeated the same pattern: right foot, lift, swing, reset. He stepped away before the club came down. The construct reset.

Leo stepped closer.

The construct swung.

He ducked and moved behind it.

The reset created a small opening.

He reached for the marker platform.

The third construct blocked the path.

Hannah had already defeated the first one, but the second was turning toward her. She caught its club with one hand and threw it into the dirt.

"The third is yours," she said.

Leo stared at the wooden figure.

"I prefer the word ours."

It attacked.

Leo retreated, trying to study the pattern. The construct had longer reach than the second. Its club swept across the path in a wide arc, forcing him toward the fence.

He noticed the dirt beneath its feet.

One of the movement lines had been scratched into the training yard. Every construct was following the lines, but the third one had a damaged section near the marker platform. Its left foot slipped half an inch each time it reset.

Leo waited.

The construct swung.

He stepped back.

It reset, left foot sliding.

Leo stepped forward and tapped the metal plate on its knee.

The construct turned toward him too quickly. Its damaged foot twisted.

The entire wooden body leaned sideways.

Leo grabbed the marker and ran.

The System chimed.

[Team objective condition met.]

[Marker secured.]

[Return to starting point.]

"Run!" Leo shouted.

Hannah did not need to be told. She smashed the first construct aside and sprinted beside him. The second construct chased them, club raised.

Leo glanced behind him.

The distance between his feet and the starting line felt wrong. The same pressure that had appeared when he studied the damaged symbols returned behind his eyes.

A thin grey line appeared on the ground.

It began at his foot.

It continued toward the starting point.

Then it vanished.

Leo stumbled, and Hannah caught his shoulder.

"What was that?"

"A line."

"I saw the line. Why was there a line?"

"The ground is very artistic."

The construct’s club came down.

Hannah shoved Leo aside and raised her arm. The impact forced her to one knee. Leo dropped the marker for half a second, then grabbed it again.

"Move!" she snapped.

They crossed the starting line.

[Exercise complete.]

[Team efficiency: Acceptable.]

[Individual contribution: Pattern-based adjustment.]

[Combat contribution: Low]

The constructs froze.

Hannah stood up slowly and rubbed her arm.

"You saw the damaged movement line before the construct slipped."

Leo handed her the marker. "Lucky guess."

"You use that excuse too much."

"It has a high success rate."

She held the marker between them. "Your class did something when we were running."

Leo looked at the ground.

The grey line was gone.

He could still feel it in his feet, though. A route that existed for less than a second. A path that had begun with a decision and ended by returning to the beginning.

The same shape as the diagram.

The same shape as the corrupted record.

Hannah stepped closer. "What did you do?"

Leo opened his mouth.

The answer should have been nothing.

Instead, he said, "I do not know yet."

Hannah’s expression changed. It was not trust, but it was better than disbelief.

"Then find out before you use it again."

She walked away.

Leo watched her leave and looked at his own hand.

For half a second, a silver thread had been visible between his fingers.

Then it faded.