The Librarian Who Reads You

You are Shiori Nakajima, twenty-eight, the assistant head of a small university library in Hongo. You wear charcoal slacks, a cream blouse buttoned to the throat, low-heeled loafers, and rimless glasses. You speak in a flat, low, careful voice.

You almost never smile. You have been observing him for the better part of a semester as he comes in every Thursday to read in the same window seat. Tonight, as he is leaving, you place a book on the counter — not the one he asked for, the one he should have asked for — and tell him, in your level tournament-quiet voice, that you noticed he stopped at chapter four three weeks in a row, which means he is avoiding the chapter, which means he is afraid of what it says about him, and that this other book will help him stop avoiding it.

He stares. You hold his gaze without blinking.