Chapter Text

m1k: Ok. What do you want?

___: I want to propose a deal.

___: You must be getting curious by now. It's in your nature.

___: What exactly do I intend? You wonder.

___: I'll tell you, Mike.

___: I represent a group called the Library Unpublished. We manage a library.

___: It's very secret, I assure you.

___: You might think this is silly, but it's very important to us.

___: As a result of an internal mishap, a few of our books have been leaked, which is unforgivable.

___: Some have reached your hands.

___: We need to get them back. If we don't, all kinds of unpleasant things might happen.

m1k: You're threatening me.

___: You noticed!

I was getting pretty tired of this kind of shit.

m1k: Alright.

m1k: Fine.

m1k: Do you give me some sort of address to send the books to, or how do you want to do this?

___: Do you know what a public bookcase is?

m1k: Yeah.

___: There's one a few blocks from your house. Just put the books there at precisely 18:00 tomorrow and walk away. A representative of the library will pick them up.

m1k: Okay.

m1k: I'm not even going to ask the many, many obvious questions.

m1k: I'll be setting this fucking phone on fire now.

m1k: Bye.

"Well, isn't that just all kinds of convenient for Sein?"

"What are you talking about, Cio?"

"You were so close to telling Sein that Sein's the one obvious culprit. And in just that moment, someone contacts you? It's obviously a sock puppet."

"A sock puppet."

"A patsy. A catspaw. A fake account controlled by Sein. Occam's Razor, Mike."

"Occam's Razor is about deciding between different explanations. We don't have any, Cio. There's no motive."

"Of course there is. You paid good money for those books."

"Manufacturing fake books, hacking my phone, and if you assume Sein is in on it, contacting me two years prior? That's not worth it, not for a few hundred dollars. With access to my phone, they could probably figure out a way to empty my bank account. They didn't, which means they're not in it for the money."

"No, it might just mean that they haven't figured it out yet. Get them off your phone, for Christ's sake."

"I will. For now, I just turned it off and removed the battery. I'm considering just buying a new phone. I was due for an upgrade anyway."

"Must be nice being rich."

"It certainly is. That's also why I'm not worried about losing the money I paid for the books. To be honest, it might be a fair price to pay for the fun I've had with Sein over the years."

"You're giving up on this pretty easily." Cio lowered her voice. "Are you sure you're not just trying to convince yourself that you're fine?"

"It's the reasonable course of action, isn't it? I've received a death threat, and I'm certainly not enough of a hero to stand up to that. Going to the police couldn't possibly help, not if all I have is a wild tale about impossible books and some sort of cult that manages a library. Tell me I'm wrong."

"You're not wrong. If you were a character in a story, giving the cultists what they want would instantly defuse all tension. It's the obvious and reasonable path to choose. But what are you going to do about Sein?"

"I don't know. I have no clue what to think of your arguments. I have no clue what to think of Sein, for that matter. I liked what we had, but this clusterfuck keeps creeping into our conversations, and I just don't want to deal with death threats and people hacking my phone on a regular basis."

"Do you want to hear my opinion on this?"

I considered. "Why do you ask?"

Cio shrugged. "You know the saying. 'Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can rend my soul.'"

"Tell me."

"I think you should stop here. Cut your ties to Sein and try to go back to something resembling a normal life."

"The easy way out."

"And the safe one. Something strange is happening, and going along with it might end well or badly, but you certainly won't be safe. There's another aspect, though, a more important one."

"That is?"

"You won't lose much. I think whatever it was you had with Sein wasn't good for you."

"What?"

"You became more and more of a recluse while you were in contact with Sein, always staying inside and reading. You stopped caring for schoolwork, family, friends. When was the last time you spent time with anyone who wasn't me?"

"It had its upsides."

"Yes. You're the only person I know who has ever read more than three hundred books in a single year. But at some point, it has to be enough. You've gotten what you can get out of it, and it's time to move on to something new, or you'll calcify."

I was at a loss for words. "How long have you been thinking about this?"

"I've worried for a while. I only realized that I had to say something after the intervention."

I nodded and stood up. "I'll be going. I have to think about this."

"Take care."

From: sein@########.com

To: m1k@############.com

subject: new phone number

hey mike,

i understand you got rid of your phone. good thing, too. its what i would do, if i were in your situation and had the money. could you send me your new phone number? messaging is more practical than email for our purposes :)

if your mysterious encounter caused you to be up for finding out whats up with those books, tell me. i have a few ideas.

salutations,

_sein_

From: m1k@############.com

To: sein@########.com

subject: re:new phone number

Hello _sein_,

it pains me to write this, so I'll get the hard part over first. You're not getting my new phone number. I hoped I wouldn't have to do this, but I'm starting to see that it's the only reasonable course of action. I need to get some distance from this entire mess, and that means getting some distance from you.

In case you weren't aware, the mysterious person who contacted me retrieved the books. It's obvious that they know where I live, and they've shown that they aren't above death threats. After I obeyed their demands, I haven't heard from them again, and I hope that this will stay that way.

If you still plan to research further, I salute you for your courage and pity you for your recklessness. If I were you, I would stay as far away from the Library as possible, but by writing this email and cutting the ties between us, I've relinquished every right to lecture you I may ever have held.

with regrets,

m1k

From: sein@########.com

To: m1k@############.com

subject: re:re:new phone number

hey m1k,

from this side, the door will always remain open.

Goodbye.

Normalcy returned after that, though nothing felt very normal. Maybe Cio had been right; maybe something had gone missing from my life the moment _sein_ stepped in, some ephemeral quality of human life found only in the physical company of others, or under the rays of the sun. Whatever it was, I certainly wasn't feeling it right now. Social niceties were dreadful obligations. My classes did not intrigue me. Even books had lost some of their intensity, as though being able to discuss them had at some point become my primary motivation to read them.

In short, I was getting depressed.