﻿All this time,
﻿for me, the only salvation,
were books.
Among them,
what fascinated me the most,
﻿was to open Les Misérables.
﻿I fell in love with Marius.
﻿I always wanted to fall in love,
﻿like it was fated to be.
﻿"He rushed forward to help her."
﻿"and when she fell limp, he simply held her in his arms.
﻿"A flash of light came from his eyelashes."
﻿"He loved her to the point of intoxication."
﻿You're not hurt, are you?
﻿Marius.
﻿What?
﻿I'm sorry.
﻿Are you all right?
﻿Yes, I'm fine.
﻿Ah, I'm fine.
﻿Even if I don't think about it.
﻿Even the sweet and beautiful scenery,
will always be crushed
by the cold hard reality.
﻿Miss Mantai, how are you feeling?
Doctor, can you not use that name?
﻿I see, I'm sorry.
Okabe-san, how are you doing?
﻿Have you been sleeping recently?
﻿I've been hearing
﻿that you've been experiencing flashbacks.
Such a condition is normal and you don't have to worry about it.﻿
﻿I see Stendhal appearing in front of me.
﻿Who is Stendhal?
﻿He is the author of this book.
﻿"Stendhal, On Love" Translated by Koichiro Shiratori
﻿This is a collection of essays.
﻿He wrote books like "The Red and the Black", "The Charterhouse of Parma".
﻿He was a French writer of the 19th century.
﻿I see. As a librarian, you would know so much about books.
So, this Stendhal character, when did you first see him?
﻿3 days ago.
3 Days Ago
﻿Good morning.
﻿Here you go.
Thank you.
Saito-san.
﻿Have you compiled the list of books requested by the readers?
﻿Yes, it will be ready today. Thank you.
﻿Is there anything else?
﻿Yes, there was a strange phone call yesterday.
﻿What was weird about it?
﻿I got really confused, I felt like something was wrong and didn't know what to do.
﻿Ozawa-san, I don't know what's the point you are trying to make.
﻿The accent was so strong that I couldn't understand what he was saying.
﻿He was asking if there was anyone here called Mandara Mandela Mantai.
﻿What do you mean?
﻿That's why I said, "I don't know.
﻿Okabe-san, that's mine...
﻿I'm sorry.
Was it a prank call?
Eh.... but...
﻿We don't have any employees with such a name. Forget about it.
Well then, I look forward to all your hard work today.
Let's do our best.
﻿Um Nishimaki-san.
What is it?
﻿This bottle is not open yet.
﻿Wow, thank you.
﻿Here you go.
﻿Okabe-san.
Yes.
﻿Don't worry about that phone call.
﻿In here, you're Okabe-san now.
Hane Municipal Tsubasa Library
﻿Okabe-san, what are you looking at?
﻿Les Misérables. You like Les Misérables?
﻿I recently read it too. Marius is really creepy.
I know, right?
You think so?
﻿At night, he sneaks into the courtyard and spies on women he fancies.
﻿That's voyeurism!
And he's a man who's so thick-headed he doesn't understand women's hearts.
﻿And he doesn't even notice Éponine's feelings. After all, he's not good at such things.
Poor Éponine! I know what you mean. So creepy!.
﻿He doesn't even try to find her. He's the worst!
﻿And he likes Cosette. He doesn't have the heart for it. Unbelievable.
﻿You don't understand anything. He's straight and dedicated.
﻿He was determined and hard-working, and devoted his life to his beloved Cosette.
﻿Marius is a great man!
﻿Hahaha, I don't get it.
Shall we go to sort the books? Let's go.
﻿We'll talk more later.
﻿Excuse me.
Yes?
﻿Could you find this for me?
Yes, let me see your card.
﻿Thank you for waiting.
The Princesse de Clèves by Madame de La Fayette Translated by Ryoichi Ikushima Library Card Name: Suzuki Ryosuke
﻿Thank you.
﻿Do you like French literature?
﻿Yes, but I only know a little, I don't know much about it.
﻿So you've dabbled.
So please tell me more,
about French literature,
and yourself.
What?
﻿I don't want to just dabble. I want to know deeply.
You embarass me.
﻿Rousseau once said
"We are born twice"
﻿But I think differently,
I think we are born three times.
﻿The first time to exist, the second time to live.
﻿And the third time?
﻿To meet you.
﻿I was born to meet you.
Marius.
It's the wrong one.
What?
﻿You've got the wrong book.
I didn't ask for this one.
I'm sorry. It's all right.
Just a moment, please.
﻿If it's not too much trouble, can I just borrow this one?
﻿The Princesse de Clèves. I read it a long time ago and I'd like to revisit it.
﻿I recommend it.
Excuse me, I need to sit.
Sorry.
﻿Can you not hover around the counter?
I'm sorry. I'm in the way.
﻿It's not that you're in the way, you're scaring the patrons.
What?
﻿Oh Okabe-san, you look like a demon.
﻿I'm so sorry, I promised you all I'd finish it today.
﻿Okabe-san always helps us every time.
If it's too much of a hassle, please tell us.
﻿We can sign a "singles treaty" to support each other in the future.
﻿What do you mean?
Most of us are not getting married anyway. We should promise to help each other.
Promise?
Yup.
﻿If anyone is sick, the healthy one will help out.
﻿If someone dies first, the funeral will be organized by whoever's alive.
﻿I'm so much younger than you two, that's unfair to me.
﻿There's no such thing, is there?
﻿Okabe-san, do you accept it? Are you giving up looking for a boyfriend and marriage?
﻿Sato-chan has given up on that, she's not interested.
﻿How can she not be interested? You're being too rough.
After all, at her age, she still hasn't had a boyfriend.
﻿You're right.
I suppose there are such kinds of people.
They obviously want to have a boyfriend but can't find one, so they pretend to have given up. I think that is the case
I look down on such people.
﻿Hey, why are you looking at me?
I'm not looking at you.
﻿No, you definitely looked my way.
Nope.
What, that was scary.
﻿What's with this "Singles' Treaty" anyway? It's good. You have nothing to lose anyway.
﻿...you look like a demon.
﻿I look down on such people.
The Princesse de Clèves
﻿The Princesse de Clèves. I read it a long time ago and I'd like to revisit it.
﻿Why did I pull out "On Love"?
Bonsoir
Bonsoir mademoiselle
﻿You must be wondering:
"Why am I, an unloved woman, seeing a great writer appear in my house?"
Yes!
﻿I am one who has experienced the sadness and pain of heartbreaking relationships and turned it into great literature.
I am the great author Stendhal!
Stendhal, wh-why?
﻿I came here to make your wishes of love come true.
﻿Not in the imaginary world, but in the real world.
You've never been able to attract women, haven't you?
Huh?
﻿Stendhal, you have not had luck with women at all, right?
That's why you wrote "On Love" because women didn't want to be with you.
﻿All the other works you've written were because you've been rejected by women, right?
﻿Yes, that's right.
﻿When it comes to the attracting the one you want, you always try to make a careful plan and act calmly.
﻿But you end up thinking too much, and you become cold and sullen in front of women.
﻿Merci!
What?
﻿A good actor doesn't necessarily make a good director. Am I right?
﻿The same goes for love.
That's why ﻿I am the only one who can guide you to be a winner at love.
﻿No, no, no.
You're a Frenchman who speaks fluent Japanese, there's zero chance this is happening.
You...
don't see things for what they are.
You're right.
﻿What I'm seeing is in my imagination.
You're not imagining things. I'm the great author Stendhal.
﻿I got it. You can leave now.
Ahh.
﻿That handsome man who came to the library, I could tell you how you could become his lover.
﻿I'll tell you how to become Marius' lover.
﻿Doctor, am I suffering from a serious illness?
Well it sounds to me like...
he's not causing you any harm, isn't he?
No, but...
﻿What does he look like?
Is he scary, creepy or disgusting?
﻿Or even cute?
He's kind of cute.
Additionaly, he didn't say anything mean.
﻿And he didn't bind you with curse words.
﻿He's just a kind of cute old man dressed as a 19th century Frenchman,
﻿who is just trying to teach you about love, right?
﻿Since you put it that way, I suppose you're right.
﻿Somewhere inside, you're thinking you can't go on like this, right?
What?
Is it possible that, you created this mentor in order to move forward? That could be Stendhal.
Mentor?
Like a spiritual guide,
to help you embark on a new journey in life.
Don't you think so?
﻿You wouldn't call it a croquette if you made it with tofu.
﻿Eh? What's a croquette without meat and potatoes?
﻿Almond tofu, almond tofu! Haha
﻿No, no, no, almond tofu is not tofu, right?
﻿You should know that tofu is not really a food.
﻿Hey, what are you doing?
This is a library.
﻿Please help me with this.
﻿What's with that sad looking face?
﻿If you look like this, love will will not find its way to you.
For me...
﻿Love is so far out of reach.
﻿For love to blossom, even a little sprout of hope is enough.
﻿Don't you have a little sprout of hope so that love can blossom for you?
﻿Please wait a moment.
﻿Okabe-san, can you put these books back?
﻿Please come to the front desk.
Okay.
You're back again today? Yes.
﻿You've been coming here a lot lately. Yes.
﻿Are you looking for something?
Well, something like that.
﻿To meet you.
﻿I'll tell you how to become Marius' lover.
Bonsoir.
Don't "Bonsoir" me! That was terrifying!
﻿I was going to ask you what you were up to.
What?
﻿Did you think I was out of the picture already?
﻿So...
What is the reason for calling me out?
﻿You want to ask me something, right?
﻿What?
That isn't funny! Why do you have to do that?
﻿Why do you have to go to a library so far away from home?
﻿That's strange isn't it? Bartender.
Yeah.
﻿The girl I like is working there
No way!!
Seriously?
There's no way you would do such a thing.
﻿So how did it go? Did you hook up with her?
﻿It doesn't matter if it doesn't go well.
What?
Marius...
﻿Please tell me how to improve my relationship with him.
﻿Why do you want to know?
﻿It's easier for you to just give up like you always do, right?
﻿That's because you're right.
Until now, when I met someone attractive,
I gave up because I thought I couldn't do it.
﻿I suppressed my desire to fall in love,
so that I could protect myself.
﻿But this time is different?
﻿I want to give up,
but I can't do it any more.
﻿Giving up is easy,
but it doesn't make you free.
For you, right now, ﻿
giving up on him is a painful thing.
﻿"For love to blossom, even a little sprout of hope is enough."
﻿That said, the situation is quite desperate,
but there is a way out of it.
﻿Despair foreshadows happiness
﻿I repeat, despair foreshadows happiness.
﻿That feeling despair, foreshadows your path to happiness
﻿Of course, you're not able to imagine
﻿how to get from this desperate situation to happiness.
﻿But the foundation for happiness is now right in front of you.
﻿In other words, this is me...
﻿The great author Stendhal who will guide you to happiness.
﻿I'm depending on you.
﻿From your appearance, find 100 attractive points.
What?
﻿100 attractive points.
﻿I can't. I can't. I can't.