The Comfort of Books (Open to all)
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Post by Nakamura Hanako on Jul 12, 2019 18:11:31 GMT -6
Date: May 15th, 2003
Hanako loved the library.
It didn't matter which library it was, so long as it wasn't too crowded or loud. Hanako hated places that were crowded or loud. She particularly like the library of Hikarizaka Private High School, though. She'd have to say it was her favorite library that she had ever been in.
It gave off the vibe of a vintage bookshop, with old wooden bookshelves lining the walls and set up in neat rows throughout the room, loaded with hundreds upon hundreds of secondhand books. There was a strange wistfulness to it — filled with thousands of old books you'll never have time to read, each of which is itself locked in its own era, bound and dated and papered over like an old room the author abandoned years ago, a hidden annex littered with thoughts left just as they were on the day they were captured.
She always found comfort in being surrounded by books. Even when everything was too loud and bright and simply too much, she found that books had the strange ability to make her feel at ease. They could be considered something of a comfort item for her. That was why she had decided to go to the library during her lunch break, spending her time running her fingers along the spines of the books.
Hanako hadn't been having a good day today. Everything she did seemed to require an extensive amount of energy. Even forcing herself to get out of bed that morning had been a chore. She felt like there was a heavy pressure on her body — and not the good type of pressure, like her weighted blanket provided. No, this felt more like heavy bags of sand were sitting on her chest.
She thought that maybe it would've gotten better when she arrived at school, but she was very wrong. It had only gotten worse Everything seemed magnified — the lights, the noise, the people. Everything was an assault on her senses, and she felt as if all the sensory things were going to make her explode. But they didn't. Rather, they made her withdraw. She couldn't speak, as it took up for too much energy for her to do so. It was even too difficult to make a facial expression, so she'd been walking around with an emotionless look on her face for nearly the entire day. '
And now here she was, in the library. She still felt drained, but being surrounded by books made it a bit better. She even mustered up enough energy for a small smile to grace her lips. Yes, everything was perfect right now. She would have to deal with all the things that had made her overwhelmed later, but that didn't matter right now. Nothing mattered right now.
She sat against one of the bookshelves, crossing her legs in a criss-cross position, and pulled one of the books off of the shelf. She peered curiously at the title. Seven Japanese Tales, it read. The cover was of a pale, black-haired woman. She looked to be asleep. Or perhaps she was just resting her eyes.
Hanako put the book on the shelf after reading a few pages. It simply wasn't her cup of tea. She preferred nicer, more simple stories. Her favorite stories were children's tales. They were easier to focus on, and her brain didn't get overwhelmed with all of the information. But she had a feeling that the school library didn't have any children's tales. So, rather than finding a book, she simply sat there with her head tilted up towards the roof. It was nice.
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Post by Ikezawa Hanako on Jul 29, 2019 18:53:37 GMT -6
Libraries were always such a convenient place for someone who didn’t want to interact with people. Expectation of quiet, norms about not bothering people, and plenty of material to get yourself lost in. It was the introvert’s perfect safe space. That was why Hanako spent a lot of time in it. A loooot of time. If anything, she was probably more in the library now a days than home. Not that she really had much of a reason to go home nowadays anyway.
Weirdly enough, though, this had her to be kind of familiar with a few of the other dwellers of the library. There was Kotomi Ichinose, for example, who practically lived in the library from the amount of time that she had seen her there. So, when she noticed another girl starting to become a familiar face, she was curious. From watching her habits, she tended to be a fantasy and folklore type, almost always reading what looked like myths or children’s tales from what she could tell. It wasn’t exactly her own personal taste – she had a tendency towards science-fiction – but she was always looking to expand her interests.
Which also made for a convenient excuse to talk to the new girl. She didn’t do it a lot, but, well, there was a bit of a difference between the everyday students versus the other quiet loners in the library. There was a small sense of comradery there that made her feel comfortable reaching out, just a bit.
Knowing the look of someone skittish like herself, Hanako gently made her way towards the girl, being careful to not scare her.
”Oh, excuse me, do you mind if I look at the books on that shelf?”
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Post by Nakamura Hanako on Jul 30, 2019 8:48:24 GMT -6
”Oh, excuse me, do you mind if I look at the books on that shelf?”
Hanako had not noticed the footsteps coming towards her, so the voice surprised her. But that wasn't very obvious. The only indication that she was surprised was her confused blinking as she looked at the girl. She was much taller than Hanako was, with long dark purple hair that covered her face. Hanako recognized her as an upperclassmen, but couldn't recall her name.
Oh, right. The upperclassmen had asked a question. She wanted to look at the books, but Hanako was sitting in front of the shelf. Hopefully she wouldn't think badly of Hanako now. It must have seemed rude for her to simply sit there without saying anything. Hanako would apologize, but words weren't exactly working for her right now. The smaller girl stood up, neatly stepping aside so that the girl could look at the books. She was quiet for a few moments, focusing her attention on her shoes.
"Hello," she said finally, the words slipping out of her mouth before she even had a chance to stop herself. She immediately scolded herself for greeting the girl — now she would have to have a conversation! Social interaction was always hard for Hanako, and she almost never initiated it herself. What had she been thinking? On the bright side, her voice seemed to becoming out. Her words came out quiet and barely audible, but it was something.
Well, now she had to say something else. Oh, that's right. She had wanted to apologize for not moving sooner. "I'm sorry for not moving out of the way sooner." She considered explaining that it sometimes took her a few minutes to process words that people were saying to her, but decided against it. The girl might ask why, and that would lead to an entire other explanation that she really did not have the energy for at the moment.
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Post by Ikezawa Hanako on Jul 31, 2019 14:28:44 GMT -6
Yep, it felt like she was talking to a younger version of herself right now. The quiet “Hello”, that mortified look that you talk to someone, and immediately getting out of the way. It was always hard to notice when you were doing it, but seeing someone else act that way really did help clarify what it looked like to everyone else. For now, though, all she could do was tap into that experience and not startle the girl.
”Thank you,” she said, giving a gentle smile as she started looking at the book spines, her hand gently sliding across as she read the titles. It was likely the other girl would likely catch sight of the scarring that was near her wrist as she did so.
After a few seconds the girl spoke up again, apologizing for not moving. Again, it felt eerie being on the other end of this behavior. It was so hard to break out of that cycle of wanting to apologize for everything, though, but at least for this brief interaction she could be empathetic.
”It’s okay, I tend to space out a bit at the library myself,” she said, taking a look at the shelf again. A second later, however, she looked back over at the girl. ”By the way, do you have any recommendations for books? I don’t really read a lot from this genre, but I’ve seen you here quite often so I thought you’d have some suggestions.”
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Post by Nakamura Hanako on Jul 31, 2019 14:59:15 GMT -6
"It's okay," the upperclassmen said, and Hanako smiled hesitantly. She didn't seem to be mad. That was good. Hanako absolutely hated it when people were angry with her. Even when the other person was clearly the one at fault, she couldn't help but feel guilty. "By the way," she continued, "do you have any recommendations for books? I don't really read a lot from this genre, but I’ve seen you here quite often so I thought you’d have some suggestions."
Hanako's eyes sparkled happily, and her hesitant smile melted away into a more eager, happy one. Books were one of her favorite things in the world, and she was always happy to talk about them. Her anxiety immediately melted away whenever someone asked about a book she was reading or recommendations for a new book. Unfortunately, she did tend to ramble a lot and people often told her she was annoying.
"A-Ah, of course!" she said, turning her attention towards the books. She had no idea what the other girl would like, so it would be rather difficult to find a book that she might like, so Hanako was just going with the kinds of tales that she herself would like. Hopefully that would be okay.
A small gasp escaped her throats as her eyes fell upon one particular book, one that she adored with all of her heart. She had her own copy of it at home, although her's was much more torn and battered — Tales of Moonlight and Rain. It was more disturbing than her usual taste, and sometimes difficult to understand due to being written in the 1700s, but she loved it nonetheless.
"I would really recommend this book," she said, holding it up so that the other girl could see the cover. Her voice was still soft and quiet, but it was easy to notice the shift in her tone. She had gone from sounding shy and hesitant to very, very excited. "It tends be somewhat disturbing though, and can be difficult to understand because of the time period it was written in. A-Anyway, it's a collection of nine supernatural tales and..." her voice trailed off hesitantly, and her face heated up. "Ah, I'm rambling aren't I? I'm very sorry." She gave a small bow, lowering her head in embarrassment.
As Hanako lifted herself up from the bow, she suddenly realized something — neither of them had introduced themselves yet. How could she have forgotten something so essential to meeting someone? How embarrassing! "What's your name?" she asked.
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Post by Ikezawa Hanako on Jul 31, 2019 20:18:15 GMT -6
The transformation was almost instant. Just showing even a little interest in the girl’s book preferences had opened her up immensely. Words were starting to spill out of her mouth pretty fast. Plus, she actually got a book recommendation out of it that sounded interesting. Her taste in sci-fi was usually towards the darker or more esoteric stuff, stuff that made you think. It was also oddly helpful to think about process such things through fiction instead of dwelling on reality.
The moment, however, was rather short, and soon the girl was back to giving an embarrassed apology. Yeah, she knew the feeling. It was odd how cathartic it was to see another acting similar to her and, more importantly, to be able to interact with her. Though, between the height differences and her uniform, she had to guess the girl was a freshman, perhaps? Maybe she’d work up the courage to interact with those of her own class at some point…
For now, however, she simply took the book in hand, took a glance at the cover, and then looked up when the girl asked her name.
”Ikezawa Hanako, class 3-A. And it wasn’t a bother at all to hear you talk about your favorite book. It wouldn’t be a good recommendation if you couldn’t sell it with such passion, now would it?” she said, chuckling. ”Admittedly, I’m more of a science-fiction reader myself, but this sounds similar thematically, so I think it’d work perfectly.”
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Post by Nakamura Hanako on Jul 31, 2019 21:18:59 GMT -6
Hanako hardly heard to the other words that the girl had said (although she did notice the part about her preferring science fiction) — she was too busy paying attention to the name she'd introduced herself with. Ikezawa Hanako. It wasn't really that strange, given how common the name was, but sharing the same name with someone was rather interesting. It made Hanako giggle a little bit.
"We have the same name, Ikezawa-senpai," she informed her with a smile. "I'm Nakumara Hanako. It's really quite nice to meet you. Ah, you said you read science fiction? Do you have any recommendations? I'm trying to branch out my interests a bit." Her therapist had suggested that. He said that if she only ever talked about folklore and fairy tales, nobody would ever want to be her friend because it would become annoying rather quickly. This should be a good place to start, right? Branching out her interests in literature.
As she spoke, Hanako rocked back and forth a little bit. It wasn't a lot, but enough for it to be quite noticeable. Others might've seen the action as a sign of anxiety or nervousness, but Hanako was actually quite content. It was simply one of those things that she did for no apparent reason. People said it was annoying, that only crazy people rocked back and forth like that, but she couldn't help doing so.
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Post by Ikezawa Hanako on Aug 3, 2019 21:21:43 GMT -6
She was confused for a moment as the girl giggled, but she had to admit that it was a bit of a funny coincidence they shared a similar family name. It was a common one, so it was unlikely they were related, but still funny enough that she joined the girl in a polite giggle.
Once that was out of the way, though, she had to think for a moment. She tried to think of what might be a good entry point for someone who read a lot of folklore like stuff. Her own tastes, however, tended to be a bit on the adventurous or darker side, and she felt like the other Hanako might not quite appreciate that. She looked down at the shelf, more just to have something to look at really, as she thought.
”Well, if you’re interested in something with a bit more of a comedic tone, maybe The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy might work. It’s about a guy who gets taken from Earth right before it’s destroyed by an alien, and the two travel around the galaxy.”
That would probably work as a starting point. It was a classic, and the tone might work better than something like Dune.
As she finished speaking, she noticed Hanako was rocking back and forth. It didn’t really bother her, though: sitting in a library could really make your legs stiff.. She personally had to take a walk herself every once in a while to keep the circulation going. So as far as she was concerned it wasn’t that big of a deal at all. If anything, helped distract from her own personal tick of using her free hand to gently nudge her hair back in place to hide the scarred parts of her face. Not very well, really, but it made her feel better.
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Post by Nakamura Hanako on Sept 9, 2019 19:41:53 GMT -6
Ikezawa didn't speak for a good few minutes, and Hanako worried that she had accidentally said something wrong. But...no, she was just thinking. Hanako had asked a question, after all. You couldn't just answer in less than a second. Her upperclassmen wasn't annoyed with her or anything. At least... she hoped she wasn't. She honestly couldn't tell sometimes.
Her eyes lit up at the recommendation. That sounded like a really good book! Aliens were interesting, and it seemed funny. "I'll definitely check it out. But..." she trailed off, taking a minute to collect her thoughts. Now that she actually thought about it, she could've sworn she had heard it before. "Is it by a foreigner? I feel like I've heard someone mention it before. I might be wrong, though."
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Post by Ikezawa Hanako on Sept 18, 2019 20:39:37 GMT -6
It seemed that the choice of book had excited the girl, which had brought a smile to her own face. She didn’t get the chance to do it often, but she loved giving book recommendations. The act of sharing your own interest with another and seeing them excited warmed her. Whether because of the sharing of enjoyment or because it offered some validation that her own taste wasn’t terrible was a different question that she was not quite up for answering.
”Oh, yes, the author was an Englishman named Douglas Adams. He wrote a lot of stuff, but Hitchhiker’s Guide is probably his most famous work. It’s also available as a radio play, though that might be difficult to get a hold of here…” she replied, trying to think of any place that might have it. Nothing came to mind, however, so hopefully Hanako would be satisfied with just the book.
”If you end up liking it, though, I might also reacommend Terry Prachet’s Discworld books. His work is more fantasy than science-fiction, so it’s not quite my taste, but he has a supposedly similar sense for satire and humor so the two are often put together.”
The girl did read a lot of folklore, so perhaps that would work better for her in the long run. It never hurt to add extra recommendations, after all.
tags/notes here, box will stretch
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