Noel

Noel turned around behind him—to the scuffling scene—and found an unfamiliar figure, having the same height as the douche, but he knew those proportions were enough to entice others. The unfamiliar figure knelt down next to the douche, who—during the scuffle—had tumbled down onto the floor while still protecting the pouch.

“Ricky…” The douche grumbled that name with hatred. As Noel’s hearing is particularly sharp, he caught on the name, perking his ears as he did.

Ricky responded with nothing but an extended hand. From their interactions, Noel sensed hostility towards each other, so there should be no way that hand was meant to pull up the douche.

“Give it to me.” Ricky’s tone was hard.

The douche dithered for a bit. Fair enough, who would let go of a pouch filled with gold, that could guarantee easy life for years to come?

Ricky’s brows furrowed a bit. “Look, you know very well that this won’t end prettily if you resist, right?”

The douche frowned. He glanced to his sides where his group were, but to his demise, his group was being held back by Ricky’s friends—one with an army cut hair and bronze skin, while the other one with a short ginger hair and freckles. The freckled guy chirped to the students to scatter about and leave, and as if the crowd has calmed down from that guy’s cheerful demeanour, the students resumed their activities, leaving only a few behind to witness the scene, Noel included.

The douche looked as if he knew he couldn’t beat Ricky. Defeated, the douche handed the pouch of gold to him.

Ricky stood up and began looking around, as if searching for something. Or perhaps, someone? While his friends helped the douche out, before kicking them away and warning them, Ricky’s gaze met Noel for the first time.

Noel felt a slight tinge from that.

Seeing that Noel doesn’t move an inch, Ricky stepped closer to him. “This is yours, isn’t it?” Ricky said, after stopping right in front of Noel. He then handed the pouch. “I don’t know how you got this, but be careful next time.”

His blue eyes regarded Noel’s lunar grey eyes long. For some reason, Noel felt something churning inside him. He tried to dismiss it as mere discomfort, and reached out his hand to accept the pouch, when suddenly Ricky said, “Or, you give this to me so I don’t snitch on the principal, that you brought a questionable item to uni. Sounds like a deal, isn’t it?”

Ricky cracked a smirk, rendering Noel flabbergasted.

“…A deal, my foot.” Noel blurted. He didn’t really mind the pouch, but the level of sassiness that Ricky displayed is enough to irritate him, not to mention he had been feeling strange since earlier. After his words, he saw Ricky widened his eyes in surprise. With the brightness of the hallway, he could see how clear those blue eyes were. Ricky suddenly burst into laughter, once again making Noel confused.

“I’m sorry, that was some witty words coming from you.” He giggled while partially covering his mouth. In spite of that, he replied with, “Still, treat this as a protection fee. A lot of people will come chasing your tail if they know you brought this thing to school.”

Noel fluttered his eyes. While he did, Ricky waved the pouch in front of his eyes, before he gave a wave of goodbye. He stood there in confusion for a long time. Long enough that the silhouette of Ricky and his friends disappeared from his gaze.

Now that Ricky has gone from his sight, the discomfort disappeared, and his mind instantly cleared.

Which, is now filled with annoyance.

Who was that lad? Forget the bottom-tier douche who blatantly extorted money from others in a broad daylight. Compared to them, Ricky is more cunning in his ways. Noel pursed his lips. In one way or another, Ricky is now crowned with the title of douche in his mind.

The hour needle of the antique clock that was attached on the wall struck to midnight, and the bell chimed. Noel—who was having a deep sleep—immediately opened his eyes and sat up. Dozing off for a few seconds, he then set up his bed and went downstairs to the bathroom to wash himself before starting his night work.

After a few minutes of preparing himself, he walked towards the main door of his house. Flicking the circular lock that was attached above the knob of the door, the door’s whole structure suddenly changed its shape from a bright vintage wooden door to a dark mahogany door. Then, he pushed the door open.

What greeted his eyes wasn’t the bustling atmosphere of the neighbourhood or a quiet, serene night scenery. Instead, he had to adjust his eyes before he could see clearly of the view on the other side, given the pitch darkness. Stepping through the door, He closed the door behind him, his eyes now able to see clearly in the dimly lit surroundings that were only aided by a few fire torches. A strong stench of book invaded his nose, sending a feeling of melancholy at the back of his mind. He smiled.

"I'm back."

He then snapped his fingers, and the room instantly lit up, revealing towering dark wooden bookshelves that were arranged irregularly like a maze. Amused, Noel took his time to wander around the bookshelves, curious to discover what’s probably hiding behind the shelves even though he’s the one infused magic to the shelves to move on its own. As Noel walked through the maze, his adventure ended after he somehow managed to exit the shelves. He pouted for a moment, a little sad that the fun had ended, before shrugging his shoulders and sauntered towards the reception desk where he belongs, a gremlin who was carrying a stack of books greeted him.

"Welcome home, Master."

The gremlin said with a language only a certain people could understand, including Noel. That dwarf creature curved its wide mouth into a smile, its dark brown marbled eyes sparkled upon reflected by the light of the library. Noel noticed a speck of dust on its librarian uniform as it was busy cleaning the old bookshelves and stacking the books. Noel crouched down to its eye level and patted the gremlin's uniform.

"You've worked hard."

The gremlin's smile widened until it’s ears and his head bobbed left and right in happiness. Noel let out a light-hearted chuckle.

"Where are the other gremlins?" He stood up and looked around.

The gremlin keenly twitched its long ears.

"They are finishing the bookshelves upstairs. It will be done soon."

"I see. Well done you guys." Again, Noel weaved a smile to the creature in front of him.

Noel looked around the library and sighed in satisfaction. After deciding to live in this world for a while, he chose this old library to become a place where he made his connection with the humans of this land.

Judging from the way the group of gremlins skilfully decorated the library just like he wanted, he could feel the library can finally be opened tonight.

"I'll go to the reception table now. I assume that everything is prepared?"

The gremlin nodded enthusiastically. Then, it led Noel to the reception table which was located adjacently from the main entrance of the library.

He took a brief time to adjust his things—cleaning and rearranging the items, rechecking the magic tool to stamp the borrowed book, and preparing some borrowing cards to write the name of the visitors who borrowed the books. He heaved a sigh of relief, now really convinced that he can open the library now.

Noel sat on the chair that was prepared for his reception desk. He decided to wait for any chance of encounter from any random visitors who entered his sanctum, while reading some mortals’ books—that he bought from a book shop near his university.

It was after a few moments when his first ever visitor came. Noel stood up, greeting the visitor.

"Welcome to the library. How can I help you?"

It was an unprecedented leap of fate, when the first visitor of his library was none other than the unfamiliar figure named Ricky, who he encountered at university. A peculiar scent, mixed with something outright revolting, wafted in the air, causing Noel to twitch his nose a bit.

This is…

"Hic..." Ricky hiccupped.