Persona 3: life in I.S.

Coincidence?

Henaru stared at the boy, curiosity apparent on her face. This is the third time she had seen this boy in an unexpected place. First on that abandoned lot, being dragged of by some strange woman, then here, at IS Academy, which only girls can operate, and finally here, in her only sanctuary in this place. Was this boy stalking her? It was a possibility, or maybe it was just coincidence. Either way, she was certain she didn't want to get involved with him.

Unfortunately, fate had other plans for her. She panicked when he started to turn and froze. They met eyes, and by then, she knew that this boy was different.

"Excuse me. I hope I didn't make much noise." The boy said and bowed his head.

Henaru stared at him, then shook her head. "No, it's alright."

Henaru started to walk away, but stopped when she heard the boy silently stop her.

"Do you know when the librarian will be back? I found a book I want to check out." The boy asked her, a serious look in his face.

Henaru stares at him and gestures him to follow her. They pass by rows of books, the boy looking back and forth between them. She looks to her right as the pass another shelf. One book stood out to her, it's binding not worn at all. A new book, which meant a new world to explore. She stopped, mildly surprising the boy, and reached for the book, but couldn't reach it.

Why did it have to be on the shelf that she couldn't reach. She stretched herself trying to grasp the book, but she couldn't even lay a finger on it. Suddenly, another hand appeared, grabbing the book she wanted. The hand came down presented the book to her. She grabbed the book and hugged it to her body.

"Thank you." She said curtly to the boy.

She hoped she didn't sound rude, but it wasn't like she needed his help. The boy looked like he received no offense and only nodded. She turned around and began walking once more. Finally, they reached their destination; the check out desk.

Henaru went around the desk and sat on the chair. She turned on the computer with one hand, and held out the other for the boy's book. When she didn't receive it, she over to him. He was looking at her with a confused look.

"I'm a member of the library comitee. I can check the book out to you." She said in a monotonous voice.

The boy nodded and handed her the book. She glimpsed down at it, curious as to what the boy wanted to read, but was a little confused when she read the title.

"The History of Kirijo" was the what the book was called.

She didn't spare another moment and started to scan the book. In her mind, Henaru was thinking of the reasons as to why this boy wanted to learn about the Kirijo group. Did he have connections? Was he from a rival group?

"I knew somebody from the Kirijo group once." She heard the boy say.

She turned to look at him and gave him her own confused look. The boy looked at her, sighed, then looked away.

"You looked like you wanted to ask." He answered.

She nodded, then looked back to the computer, her heart racing a little. How had he known? Nobody was able to read her face. She had always kept it emotionless. Her classmates, the ones she didn't talk to, even called her the Ice girl, because she gave an unwelcoming aura. Not even her family could read her.

Her family. Her mood quickly soured at the thought of them. Well, at least her parents. Her sister, while only thinking of improving herself, did give the effort to try to encourage her. Her parents on the other hand, only compared the two.