Act 1: The mysterious stone tablet - Chapter 1 (II)

Kyusaku had a hard time believing that Miyaji really wasn't interested in finding love, but his partner refused to elaborate on his love life, and it wasn't like he was particularly interested either – he was merely curious.
After all, Miyaji was not like him. Although he enjoyed the exploring and mystery-solving part of being an Archivist, he much preferred leaving the tedious research part of it to Kyusaku. He couldn't really see him spending the rest of his life working in the Archives, so it made him wonder if, maybe, there was someone he liked there.
Although, he was always sticking by his side, and he never saw him interact with other Archivists much – not to mention there weren't many women working here anyway. If there was someone here that Miyaji was interested in, then he really didn't show it.

As soon as he started working, however, this thought completely left his mind, replaced by countless memories of what he learned during his eighty years working here as he tied up his hair so it wouldn't bother him while he examined the stone more closely.
Carefully handling the tablet, Kyusaku looked over the engravings on its surface. The stone itself was rather dark, with a purplish hue; it was sturdy, and he spotted something glittering on it – probably another mineral mixed in. He couldn't be sure how old it was, but from the information he had, he estimated it to be at least 800 years old, and possibly up to 1200 years old.

Hours passed until the elf leaned back in his seat with a sigh, untying his hair with a single hand, the blue strands cascading around his face. Deep in thought, his eyes wouldn't leave the stone as he was racking his brain for any clue he might have missed.
His lack of sleep wasn't helping, and he found that his thoughts became less and less clear the more he tried to focus on them. If only I didn't have a nightmare last night... Maybe I should have asked Miya to stay after all...

Noticing that his mind was starting to wander, he took off his glasses and rested his head in his hands with another sigh, the darkness slightly easing the burning sensation in his eyes.

"So?" Miyaji asked, sensing that things weren't going so well.

"I'm not sure. It seems the Archivists who found it did a lot of research already." Kyusaku put his glasses back on and turned to look at his partner, gesturing as he explained their findings. "They've managed to trace the origin of the stone to a certain area, but we've never heard of anything there. No ancient, lost civilization; no ruins; nothing. The writing itself feels familiar, but I've compared it to all our records and couldn't find anything that matched..." He added, bringing a hand to his chin as he tried once again to recall something.

"What about your Master's notes? You've got an amazing memory, Kyusaku, so if it feels familiar, you have to have seen it somewhere before. And if it's not in the Archives' library, then it can only be there."

He nodded; Miyaji was probably right. The elf headed to the storage unit downstairs, where he kept all of his late Master's belongings.

A lot of Archivists lived in the dorms provided by the Archives, although the budget had always been limited, so the rooms were... compact, to say the least.
Each apartment was composed of two floors: one with a bedroom and bathroom as well as an area for them to work with a desk, bookshelves – lots of bookshelves –, and comfortable chairs; and one used as a storage area, accessible via a ladder.

Kyusaku had been there for eighty years now, when the Archives weren't as important yet, so he had one of the oldest rooms, with a creaking floor and a door with a lock that had been broken for longer than it had been working correctly.
The room next to his used to be his Master's, and was left vacant for almost thirty years in case he found a partner to work with. Archivists were required to work in groups, or at least pairs. You never knew what could happen during an investigation, so it was safer this way.
Kyusaku had a hard time finding the right partner. Everyone said he was difficult to work with, and no one wanted to take on this role until Miyaji, who stuck by his side for some unknown reason, which still left Kyusaku puzzled once in a while.
So, the room that originally belonged to his Master was now Miyaji's, and everything his Master had left behind was kept in Kyusaku's storage unit, organized as neatly as he could. In fact, that stuff was the only thing that he made sure to keep clean and organized, unlike his bedroom which had so many books and papers lying around that it was difficult to move without stepping on something most of the time.

But those were his Master's belongings. He couldn't let them get messy.

"Have you found it?" Miyaji called from upstairs. "You've been there a while."

"I have it!"

In one of his Master's notebooks, he found writing that closely resembled the characters on the tablet.