Yuki Nekoyama's Arc

Chapter 4 of 7

The next day, Yuki walked to the library castle with Raven at her side. She wanted to find the artist, not watch the wrong boys. But first she needed her book. She stopped at the tall catalog shelf, ran her finger along the spines, and pulled her favorite one free. It felt heavier than she remembered. Raven leaned close. "Open it. Don't hide this time." Yuki set the book on the librarian's dark wood desk to check it out. The librarian looked up from a book of her own, glasses catching the lamp. She stamped Yuki's card and slid the book back with a small, knowing smile. Then she moved past them toward the shelves, still smiling, saying nothing. Yuki opened to the middle. This time there was no short note. A whole poem waited, written in careful ink. Around it, tiny cat sketches filled the margins, one cat reading, one cat blushing, one holding a candle. The poem said her name. It said that when Yuki turned these pages, the light in the quiet room seemed to bend toward her. Her cheeks went hot. She pressed the book to her chest. "That's a poem," Raven whispered. "He wrote you a poem." Yuki turned back to the desk. The librarian had returned to her spot, pen moving. "Excuse me," Yuki said, softer than she meant to. "The person who checked this out before me. Do you know who it was?" The librarian's smile stayed warm. She closed her own book on one finger. "I know exactly who," she said. "But I can't tell you. Checkout records are private. You understand." Yuki's stomach dropped. So close. The one person who knew the answer sat right in front of her, and she wouldn't say. Yuki nodded and stepped back. Her hope shrank, but it didn't die. The librarian knew. That meant the writer was real, and near. Raven pulled Yuki to the cozy reading corner and dropped onto a pillow. She stacked two books beside her without thinking. "Fine. She won't tell us. So we go around her." Raven tapped the cat drawings. "Look at these. Clean lines. Real shading. This isn't a doodle. Whoever draws like this practices somewhere." Yuki traced the little reading cat with her finger. "The art students." "The artists' hallway," Raven said. "Where they hang their work. If your boy sketches, his style is on a wall there." She grinned, sharp and pleased. "We match the cats to the artist." Yuki looked at the poem again, then at Raven. For the first time she wasn't just waiting for a note to appear. She had a place to go and a way to look. "Tomorrow," she said. "After class. The artists' hallway." Raven bumped her shoulder. "Now you're hunting." Yuki tucked the book into her bag. The librarian's secret still stood between her and a name. But tomorrow she would go looking for the hand that drew those cats.