Page 2457

As she continued reading, she found herself increasingly enraptured by the text.

And she didn't fully understand why, either.

It was nice, yes, but there was nothing about it that was particularly speaking to her. The text didn't resonate with her like her favorite stories did. It was clearly just too child-oriented for her tastes.

And yet... there was something about it that she couldn't quite put her finger on. An indescribable feeling. A vaguely pleasant swelling in her chest and stomach. A kind of warmth. Enveloping her body as her eyes passed over the words.

She stopped walking in the middle of the corridor and looked up from the novel in order to watch Ibai and Chergoa proceeding on even farther ahead of her.

Ibai wrote this?

She didn't know what to think. What was the best way to describe--?

"Curious, isn't it?" came the deep and sudden double-voice of Gohvis from behind her.

And she flinched. She'd been trying to stop doing that, trying to get used him sneaking up on her all the time, but it sure wasn't easy. "W-what's curious?" she asked, turning around to face him.

If the Library's hallways weren't so abnormally tall, he would've had to hunch over. "Those books in your hands. You've been reading them, no? You must've noticed it, too."

What? She couldn't tell if he'd actually answered her question or if he was doing that annoying thing he often did where he would just ignore her and keep asking his own. "I've, uh... I've only just started reading this one," she said, holding up the volume in question.

"Mm. But could you not tell? There is something strange about it."

She blinked. "...Yes. I think so."

Gohvis' glowing red eyes moved to Ibai now, too, who almost out of sight. "The first known creative works of an aberration," he said.