[YDWH] The Goddess At The Lake – Epilogue – The Librarians’ Daily Life

Read the main story here.

Chihaya Anon opened her eyes to the bright ceiling of her humble home. The sun shone inside the slightly ajar curtains. She focused her eyes and turned to the clock on her bedside table and noticed that it was only 6:43 A.M.

She rubbed the remaining sleep from her eyes and got out of bed. She dressed in casual fashion of a simple dress and a white blouse as she went out of their humble home inside the Owl City.

Considering its name ‘Owl City’ the mornings are mostly deserted and peaceful. There were still the old men and women who did their morning routines of walking and resting in cafes or tiny parks. Of course, this Anon also played a part in some of these old people’s morning routines.

“Good morning!” Anon greeted at the counter of a small bakery as she went under the shade of a hanging tarpaulin.

“Anon-chan, good morning!” An old lady with a white hairnet on her head and a white apron over her dress returned the energetic greeting. “A basket of madeleines for the young lady as always?” The old lady turned her eyes to the calendar to check the day.

“And… a tray of cinnamon rolls!” Anon and the old lady mentioned at the same time.

They had a hearty laugh as the old lady prepared the bread. “You’ve been at it for the past year, you’d think I’d forget.”

Anon crossed her arms in front of her. “I was just testing your memory.” She gave the lady a smug smile.

“Now, now.” The lady then packed up the bread in bread paper, followed by more paper to keep it warm, then into a paper bag. “Here you go.”

Anon accepted the bag and placed the exact amount on their tray. “Thank you as always!”

The lady waved at Anon as the pink haired girl bowed and left with her bag of bread. She reached home at ten past seven and set it on the kitchen table.

She started the electric water heater before grabbing a can of earl grey tea leaves. She poured four tablespoons of leaves into the teapot, then followed by a good hot water pour. Anon let the tea seep as she went back to their bedroom.

Soyo had shifted positions into Anon’s bed space. Curled like a croissant under the cool sheets with only her brown hair sticking on top.

“Soyorin~ It’s morning~ Today’s cinnamon roll day~” Anon sat on the bed as she patted the blanket, randomly guessing which side was Soyo’s shoulders. “Soyorin~”

“Nnnn~” was the unwilling groan Anon received followed by her body turning sharply towards Anon’s direction. “1 hour…”

“Umiri-chan’s going to be angry…” Anon responded wryly as she gently pried open the sheets, and lifted up Soyo’s body into a sitting position.

Her brown hair scattered everywhere while her eyes remained closed, as if grasping for whatever sleep she could still get at that moment. Soyo moved her arms and wrapped them around Anon’s neck as she leaned all of her weight towards her.

“Yes, yes. Good morning.” Anon returned the hug as she softly patted Soyo’s back as if to comfort her for once again for having to wake up early this morning. “Soyorin~”

“Mm…” Soyo nodded on Anon’s shoulder but didn’t make any other movement. “Anon-chan…”

“Mm?” Anon hummed a response as Soyo parted from the hug and only leered at her with her eyes half opened. “Ah~” She gave her a soft kiss on the lips and grinned, one fang showing. “Good morning, Soyorin.”

“Good morning.” Soyo blinked her eyes multiple times as she softly rubbed them. “Did you make tea?”

“It should be done soon. Get cleaned, I’ll fix up the kitchen.” Anon smiled and gave Soyo one last kiss on the lips.

Soyo nodded at her and Anon gave her one last smile before leaving the bed and returning to the kitchen.

This was how their mornings started. Anon didn’t mind, in fact, she quite enjoyed it. Knowing a side of her lover that only she knows, waking up extra early to fetch fresh bread, and making tea, she’d grown so used to it that she won’t exchange it for anything.

Now dressed for work, and a cup of earl grey in her hand, Soyo took a sip of the tea with closed eyes. She softly swirled it just under her nose as she enjoyed the fragrance, then opened her eyes.

Blue-gray eyes turned to Anon sharply. “Seventy-four points.”

Anon sighed as she slouched forward. “Well, that’s one point higher than yesterday, I’ll take it.”

“The flavor’s too strong.”

“Who was it that didn’t want to get up early?”

“Hmph.”

“You’re so unreasonable~” Anon shook her head and took the space in front of Soyo at their small dining table. “But I’ll do better tomorrow.”

“Well… I don’t really mind.” Soyo took a sip of the tea once again, a small smile on her face. “Do your best tomorrow.”

“Yes ma’am.” Anon nodded as she took a sip of her own tea and started their day.

Anon’s day that started at past six in the morning, Soyo’s day that started just before eight. The daily life of the Owl City’s Librarians may be odd to some people, but it was an arrangement that worked for them. They usually live inside the castle, but only on Sunday to Monday; they sleep in their home in the city, and wake up with cinnamon rolls.

“What was for today again?” Anon asked as she put on her boots, and her Knight’s badge on the belt of her pants.

Soyo sighed and oddly for today wore a long black skirt with adark blue blouse. “Saki-chan’s going to be staying at the library with us while Your Highness and her assistant leave the castle to meet up with an important informant.”

“Roger~” Anon answered loosely as she tied her boots tightly. “You think I’ll be able to use a sword this time?”

Soyo raised an eyebrow. “You’re in this job because I didn’t want you fighting out there anymore, aren’t you?”

“Well, yeah, but I kind of want to move sometimes, you know.” Anon stretched her arms over her head. “But I wouldn’t want to get hurt because that means I make you sad, and doing that is the last thing I want to do.”

Soyo scoffed as they left their humble home and locked the door behind her. “Then don’t look for a fight.”

“I’m not looking for one, I will only fight if it’s absolutely needed~” Anon pouted as she followed Soyo who went and walked forward, further away from her. “Don’t be a bad mood now~”

“And who was it that put me in that mood just now?” Soyo shook her head as the two of them walked towards the Owl City castle.

“Ehhh~ I’m sorry~”

“Hmph.”

Anon waved and smiled at the children they passed by as they walked towards the castle. Even though they know that she is a librarian, the children still looked up to the castle’s once Ace Knight. Rumored to be better than the prince in swordfight, she was said to be equally brutal and smart as well.

The prince, the assistant, and the Ace Knight were once feared by the city, considerably lessening the crime rate due to their brutal nature. However, since time passed, and unknown to the city people, Ace Knight – Chihaya Anon was forced into retirement (as a knight) as an exchange for the right to date the castle’s lone librarian, Nagasaki Soyo.

Some people in the ranks of the knights thought of it as “such a waste of talent” but Hatsune quickly approved this change, and appointed her as another librarian. While Hatsune was that time’s ‘prince,’ she had to be brutal, but if she could choose not to be one then she would choose that.

---

When they arrived at the castle, the prince’s carriage had just left. Anon and Soyo nodded at the guard knights as they were let in, and immediately entered the castle.

Gray eyes were quick to find the problematic soldier-in-training and immediately marked him as they entered the library.

As expected with Togawa Sakiko’s usual routine, if she wasn’t in the garden, she would often be at the library’s second floor.

“Saki-chan.” Soyo smiled as she approached Sakiko who had a few books about architecture, landscaping, and gardening opened on the table. “Are you doing okay?”

Sakiko smiled at Soyo. “I’m worried, but I’ll be fine. Thank you.”

Anon pushed in a cart with books in it. “Soyorin and I are going to sort some books. Do you want to come join us?”

“In this huge library?” Sakiko blinked as she put a thumb under her chin. “I’ve always been curious. Please teach me.”

Anon and Soyo looked at each other and smiled.

“Then, please follow me~” Anon led Sakiko to the first floor as she left the cart. “I’ll teach you how to sort the books on the first floor, then Soyorin can teach you the ones on the second floor.”

“All right.” Sakiko stood up from her chair then grabbed a few bookmarks. She put them in her opened books as she closed them one by one, before stacking them up on one corner of the table.

Soyo passed by Anon and whispered. “I’ll take a look, make sure you keep Saki-chan in your sight.”

Anon softly hooked her finger around Soyo’s pinky and nodded before parting. “I will.”

While the two of them weren’t instructed of what to do exactly, since the prince’s exact words were “to dispose of them if needed, otherwise, watch them closely” that was what they were going to do exactly.

“For the first floor books, the prince wanted it sorted in alphabetical order by the author’s names, while being divided into different categories. Science, Health, Business, and the like.” Anon brought a cart of unsorted books towards the first floor’s reading corner. “Here’s a map of how the shelves are sorted. First, we sort the books on the table, and then we combine them all. After that, we put them in their specific shelves.” She opened a folded piece of paper that had seen time and use.

The map was handmade, and the handwriting was obviously Hatsune’s and Sakiko couldn’t help but brush her hand over it. “I understand.”

“If you don’t understand what a specific book is about, feel free to ask.” Anon gave her a thumbs up. “I’ll be right here if you need me.”

Sorting the books always took a lot of time, not to mention, the books always got unsorted every weekend. While it is within the castle, the stock of books in the city library is shared with the castle. If a book was borrowed through the city library, but located in the castle library, it was also Anon and Soyo’s duty to retrieve and deliver them back to the castle once it’s returned. 

Hours passed and Soyo arrived from her ’rounds’ and switched with Anon as planned.

“Saki-chan, over here.” Soyo called Sakiko from near the stairs and smiled.

Anon took this time to quietly leave.

“Eh? But we’re not done yet…” Sakiko turned to look at Anon and noticed that she was gone.

“There’s no end to them, so we usually divide working on the first floor, and the second floor. It’s a miracle if we finish before Friday.” Soyo smiled. “Come, I’ll teach you how to do the second floor’s books.”

While the method was similar, the layout was different, and once again, the map was handmade, and was full of Hatsune’s notes.

“The prince would like all the fictional books on this shelf.” Soyo pointed at an unmarked shelf on the map. “Well, you can’t sort every single book, so everything that is hard to sort would go on this shelf. It’s quite an interesting shelf. Wouldn’t you be interested in the other stuff the prince reads?”

Sakiko blinked. “I might… be interested.”

Soyo smiled. Now that she’s got her attention on something, everything would be easier.

---

“Oh? Aren’t you a soldier-in-training?” Anon smiled at the suspicious man.

“Wh- What? Who are you?” The man was taken off guard by Anon’s sudden greeting to him.

“I heard you’ve been snooping around.” She had an eerie smile on her face. “Interesting to find you here near the library. Perhaps… you’re looking for something?”

“I- I’m not looking for something.” The soldier turned around and was surprised to not find the pink haired librarian there. “What the…?”

“Did you know? Spies have tried to come into the castle many times.” Anon whispered into the soldier’s ears.

The man turned around once again, and in his confusion, still couldn’t find the young woman.

“What the hell…?” He looked around in all directions. “Of course I know that! I’m not a spy!”

“Then I’ll tell you something you don’t know.” Anon’s voice seemed to echo around the empty hallways of the Owl City castle’s library.

The man turned around in all corners, hand on his sword ready to take it out for a fight, but he still couldn’t find her. Before he could react to anything, shining gray eyes emerged from the darkness, and a hand with a handkerchief was placed around his nose and mouth from behind him.

“…None of them leave the castle alive.” And with a sharp blade that’s as bright as her eyes, the soldier-in-training’s throat was slit and immediately covered by a towel as they both disappeared from the hallway.

---

Anon returned to the library as she stretched her arms above her head. “All’s done in a day’s work.”

Soyo quickly walked towards her, her blue eyes scanning every corner of her clothes, her face, her skin, everywhere.

“What? I’m fine. You should see the other guy.” Anon grinned, a fang showing.

Soyo glared at her without saying anything.

“I’m kidding, but really, I’m fine.” Anon smiled at her softly as she reached to touch Soyo’s hand.

Soyo let their hands link and their fingers crisscross. “I really don’t like this, but I understand why you must do it.”

“I’m sorry.” Anon frowned as Soyo squeezed her hands.

“I know.” Soyo frowned as she sighed. “…Just, please. Always return to me.”

Anon smiled at her. “Of course.” She then looked around and noticed that a certain light blue-haired gardener wasn’t around. “Where’s Sakiko-chan?”

“The prince returned early. They’d been attacked, it seems.” Soyo answered nonchalantly. “Saki-chan rushed over to check. I bet the prince’s being scolded as well.”

“Hahaha…” Anon smiled wryly. “I guess my report’s going to have to wait a bit longer.”

“Did you find out whose spy they were?” Soyo asked, curiously.

“King Hiroshi’s gang. Well, they’ll know he’s gone soon enough.” Anon sighed. “I made sure they’d think it was done by the other city’s gang, too.”

“Well, let’s hope that works.” Soyo sighed.

“I’ve never failed, have I?” Anon smiled. “The spies sure have increased lately… It’s starting to become a daily task now.”

“I’ll bring this up to the prince, maybe he can do something.” Soyo shook her head.

“Well, I enjoy doing it, but if it’s for your peace of mind, maybe he can do something about it.”

“Maybe I’ll resign if he doesn’t.”

“Now that’s just mean.”

“And you just missed what I meant by that.”

“Ehhhhh? Soyoriiin!”

The End.