Yuki Nekoyama's Arc

Chapter 3 of 7

Three boys left. And now Yuki could ask. That thought carried her through the next morning. She checked out her favorite book again from the library castle, tucked it in her bag, and walked to her locker. The row of lockers stood covered in posters and stickers, mirrors catching the hall light. She wanted to open the book, but her hands shook. So she cracked her locker door wide and hid behind it. Inside the book, a note waited. New ink. She read it fast. "I always notice you in the library, Yuki. I hope these books bring you as much comfort as they do to me. Your classmate." A tiny cat sketch sat in the margin, holding a book. A speech bubble said, "Ganbatte, Yuki!" Her face went hot. The writer knew her name now. He had drawn something just for her. "What are you hiding back there?" Raven Nightshade leaned around the locker door. Her best friend since forever, all black hair and purple plaid, a raven crest on her blazer. Raven talked to plants in the apothecary garden and read her way through them, but with Yuki she was blunt and warm. She spotted the note before Yuki could shut the book. "Another one. I want every detail. Ramen. After class. No skipping." Yuki nodded. She couldn't have said no if she tried. After class they crowded the cat-themed ramen stand. Steam rose off the bowls. Sakura Takanawi worked the counter, pink hair bright, a grey kitten in a floral sweater curled on her shoulder. Teacup's bell chimed when she stretched. Sakura was in the Cozy Readers Club too, so she leaned close the second she heard the word "note." "Okay," Raven said. She wiped a clean spot on the counter and wrote three names in condensation. "Suspects. Kai. Hiro. Akira." "Akira's out," Yuki said. Her voice came steadier than yesterday. "He returns math books at closing. He never touches the short stories." Raven dragged a line through Akira's name. "Two left, then." Sakura set down a bowl of tonkotsu with an extra soft egg. She hadn't even been asked. Yuki looked up, surprised. "Bad-day face," Sakura said gently. "But this isn't bad. This is good, right?" Teacup mewed as if she agreed. Yuki showed them the note. The cat drawing made Sakura gasp. "He draws," Sakura said. "Kai's in apothecary, all he talks about is herbs. But Hiro?" She frowned. "Hiro carries a clipboard, not a sketchbook." Raven tapped the two wet names. "Neither one fits a boy who sketches cats. Maybe your suspects are wrong." Yuki stared at the little drawing. Sakura was right. Kai talked plants. Hiro talked lane widths. Neither had ever mentioned reading, or drawing, at all. Her three suspects had shrunk to two, and now both looked wrong. She set the book down. "Then I've been watching the wrong shelf," she said. "I need to find who draws."