﻿I've written it.
﻿My reply to Marius' email.
﻿Could you please check among A, B and C which is the better option?
Option A is more business oriented.
﻿Option B is a little more friendly and approachable.
﻿Option C uses a lot of Emoji ☺
﻿But I was so surprised.
﻿The Marius I've been thinking about is the famous Tsugumi Ryosuke.
﻿Why has he never shown his face?
﻿Even searching the internet, I couldn't find a single photo.
﻿It's such a shame, isn't it?
A face like that is sure to attract lots of fans, don't you think?
Danger
﻿What?
Danger
﻿In English, it means "dangerous".
﻿Your relationship with him is in danger now.
﻿Why do you think so?
﻿Do you know what is a good woman in a relationship?
﻿Well, of course...
Someone honest, tendern, and carefree.
﻿Wrong answer.
Huh?
﻿Listen to me.
﻿The important thing in a relationship is to strike a balance between expectations and insecurities.
﻿Sugar and whips, pride and shyness.
﻿With this wonderful balance
﻿"Oh! This person is not like other women."
﻿"It's not easy to get her."
﻿Making the other person think that way is the first step to victory
﻿But what have you done?
﻿Uhm...
Yes.
﻿Actually...
﻿I'm working on a project about French literature and I'm having a hard time finding the right documents.
﻿The library has a program where the staff helps with research, right?
﻿Yes.
﻿There it is.
﻿What a mess.
﻿When he says "staff helps with research" you have this look in your eye.
Next.
﻿Are you able to check if I've got the right materials?
﻿And here.
﻿Even though you're trying to hide it.
﻿It's overflowing. You're overwhelmed with joy.
I'm still safe, aren't I?
﻿Here's where you screwed up.
﻿Ok then, ﻿I'd be happy if you would contact me.
Huh?
﻿Ahh, I can't watch this anymore!
﻿In addition to getting Marius' phone number,
﻿you find out he is a writer and look at him that way.
﻿Like and respect are two different things, and now you've screwed it up.
If you say so.
﻿Aargh, you fool!
﻿Options A or B or C all don't matter.
﻿Listen to me carefully.
﻿Once you reply that email, your relationship with him will be a foregone conclusion.
﻿In other words,
are you the master or the servant?
A servant?
﻿A woman who is only obedient has no charm.
﻿The so-called good women in relationships, are bad women.
﻿Bewitching the other party into submission, using evil magic.
﻿In French literature, this is the "femme fatale".
"Femme fatale"?
﻿That's right.
﻿Until you become a femme fatale,
you can't answer any of Marius' emails.
No way!
Chapter 4 Becoming a Bad Woman
﻿No, no, no. I can't do that.
﻿It's not that you can't do it, you have to do it.
It feels a little uncomfortable with you staring at me all the time.
﻿You can't do it alone anyway.
﻿I'm here to give you advice.
﻿Look, he's coming.
﻿What should I say to him?
﻿Leave the front desk to the chief.
What?
﻿It's fine, do as I say and hurry up.
Chief, please take care of the front desk.
﻿Yes, hello.
﻿Hello.
Let me see. Suzuki Ryosuke-san.
﻿Do you want to borrow this?
﻿Yes, I do.
﻿Did you see that?
﻿His face was saying, "I want to be with her".
﻿What are you trying to do?
﻿Do you not understand what I'm trying to do?
﻿No, I don't understand.
﻿Once an unpopular woman like me acts cold,
﻿I will be disliked and it will be over for me.
﻿Let's say you're going to the grocery store to buy tomatoes.
﻿What?
﻿As you're paying, the guy at the grocery store...
﻿shouts out "Great! I finally sold it!".
﻿What would you think?
I'd feel like I'd lost out.
﻿He probably sold me some bad quality tomatoes.
﻿The same goes for love.
﻿Suppose you are a tomato.
Yes!
﻿What if, on the other hand, the guy at the grocery store said to the customer,
﻿"Sorry, we're all out of tomatoes."
What would the customer be thinking now?
They would definitely prefer to buy tomatoes now.
﻿Even though they look and taste exactly the same,
﻿with a little change in attitude, ordinary tomatoes now feel like the best quality tomatoes.
﻿I see you haven't understood what I'm saying.
﻿Look at this now.
Hi.
﻿Hi.
﻿Stop messing around!
﻿How could you do something like that to me?
﻿What if he gets the wrong idea about me?
﻿That's exactly why we want him to misunderstand.
That's ridiculous!
﻿Uhm... what happened just now?
﻿I'm sorry.
﻿Suddenly my legs got numb.
﻿I'm sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable.
﻿Did you bring a bento today?
﻿What?
﻿I'm...
﻿learning how to be a librarian.
﻿But there's a lot of things that are difficult.
Okay.
﻿I was hoping Okabe-san could give me some advice.
﻿Let's have lunch together, what do you think?
Huh?
﻿I'm sorry to keep you waiting.
﻿Thank you.
﻿Oh...
﻿Do you not like it?
﻿That's not it.
﻿I've never been to a place like this before.
﻿This is the first time.
﻿It's delicious.
﻿By the way, this meal...
tastes better if you add garlic.
﻿Didn't you say you wanted to talk about work?
﻿Being a librarian,
might seem like a simple job, but it's hard isn't it?
﻿Yes, it is.
﻿I thought it was just sitting at the front desk checking out books.
﻿Okabe-san, why did you become a librarian?
Me?
Yeah, you've never said why.
﻿I'm...
more comfortable among books than with people.
﻿I like the smell of books too.
﻿Like a girl who smells lavender and travels back in time,
﻿I travel in time inside the worlds of these books, just by smelling old paper or ink.
﻿Did I say something strange?
﻿When it comes to books, you're always talking about them.
﻿I'm sorry.
﻿Why are you apologizing? Can you tell me more?
﻿Tell you more about me?
Yes.
﻿Since you've read so many books,
﻿I'm sure you know a lot and have a lot to talk about.
﻿It would be nice for everyone, if you talked about different things.
Welcome.
﻿Thanks for lending me your jacket.
﻿You're welcome.
I was surprised.
﻿You look like you can drink. I didn't think you'd get drunk so quickly.
﻿Come on Ryosuke-san, what kind of woman do you think I am?
﻿Nishimaki-san.
Yes?
Is Okabe-san very busy these days?
﻿What?
﻿Okabe-san?
﻿What did you say?
﻿I mean, I was happy.
Your lunch with Muraishi?
﻿Yes.
﻿Was I too frivolous? After all, I'm interested in Marius.
Très bien!
﻿What?
﻿That's evidence that even if you're absorbed in a book,
you also feel "it's good to be able to interact with people".
﻿I'm so happy.
﻿That means you've grown.
﻿I'm glad.
﻿Grown?
﻿And I didn't expect to see the effect on Muraishi so quickly.
﻿What do you mean?
﻿It means you got him when you cornered him at the wall.
﻿Muraishi kept thinking about you while he was working.
﻿He couldn't stop thinking about you.
﻿Inviting you to lunch.
It means that Muraishi's body,
﻿is being crystallized.
﻿You should build on this momentum to charm more men!
[No new emails]
[New email]
﻿Tsugumi Ryosuke-sense, Thank you for your kind attention.
﻿I'm Igawa Mizuki from the literary arts editorial department of Akuyosha Publishing.
﻿What is the progress of the novel "Village without Sin"?
﻿I look forward to hearing from you.
﻿Good morning.
﻿Why are you here?
﻿I'm sorry if I scared you.
﻿I thought if I waited here, I could meet you early in the morning.
﻿Were you waiting for me?
﻿Yes, all this while.
All this while?
﻿I gave you my card the other day, right?
﻿I've been waiting to hear from you ever since.
﻿I'm sorry.
﻿You must be very busy at work.
﻿I'm sorry for asking you to help me when you're so busy.
﻿It's okay.
Even though I wanted to contact you so badly,
﻿I was told not to do so.
﻿Someone is preventing us from contacting each other?
﻿Who is it?
﻿I won't let anyone stand in between us.
﻿Marius!
﻿Stop that and start charming him.
﻿Sorry, we'll talk later.
﻿Look!
﻿Hiranuma-sensei is following me on Instragram.
Humph...
﻿Why the "humph"?
﻿You don't seem to be in a good mood.
﻿No, I'm not.
﻿What's going on between you and Ryosuke-san?
﻿By the way, Saito-san...
﻿What's going on with Okabe-san these days?
She's ignoring us.
﻿She's getting so close to all these men.
﻿Doesn't it bother you to see that?
﻿It's not bad.
﻿It's good for young people to have relationships with each other.
﻿Is that what you really think?
﻿I can't stand it at all.
﻿"The Truth About the Mantai Incident".
﻿Do you like it plain or with the powder?
﻿I'm fine either way.
﻿Then I'll mix it with powder.
Go ahead. Eat.
﻿Then, I'll help myself.
﻿What are you doing?
﻿Did you listen to my advice or not?
﻿I said "charm him".
﻿What are you going to do after you've had your fun with Muraishi?
﻿I won't do it again.
﻿Seriously.
That's why women can't have it.
Wasn't it you who said,
"to be able to interact with people", was a sign of growth?
﻿I suppose.
﻿Then what are you so angry about?
﻿Are you jealous?
﻿What makes you think I'm jealous of you?
﻿You've always had the special ability to communicate with me directly.
Now that Muraishi is in the picture, you're jealous, aren't you?
﻿Th-that's ridiculous!
﻿I'm worried about Marius.
﻿Isn't Marius your true love?
﻿Or are you getting attached to Muraishi?
﻿I don't really know.
﻿It's the first time I've talked to a man in a normal way.
Well...
﻿In any case...
﻿Your attitude will slowly have an effect on Marius.
﻿How about this?
﻿Beautiful.
﻿She loves lilies. Please put some lilies in it too.
﻿Just as I expected.
﻿He doesn't seem to like the fact that you're so close to Muraishi.
Eh?
No way.
You don't say?
﻿In other words...
﻿Is it finally time to answer his emails?
﻿Isn't that right?
﻿This is a big step forward. This is great!
﻿That's great!
﻿Is this for me?
﻿I heard it was your birthday.
﻿My birthday was yesterday.
﻿I'm sorry, I got the date wrong.
﻿I'm just kidding.
﻿It is today.
﻿I didn't think you'd remember,
my favorite flower.
﻿I'm so happy.
Thank you. It's nothing.
﻿Isn't today a day off?
I have something to say to you.
What do you want to talk about?
﻿There was a strange phone call the other day, wasn't there?
﻿Oh, the one from Aomori, wasn't it? I think they were looking for someone called Madela or something like that.
﻿Could it be the Mantai of the Mantai Incident?
What?
﻿Please have a look at this.
Professor Makoto Matai apology conference. Dinosaur fossil forgery case.
I'm sorry. Please explain in detail.
﻿What do you think? - How do you plan to take responsibility for this?
﻿Please apologize properly.
﻿Why did you lie?
﻿This is all my responsibility.
﻿I'm sorry for the trouble I caused you.
﻿Do you remember, 24 years ago?
﻿The Mantai incident in Aomori.
﻿Of course, I remember it. It was a sensation all over Japan.
﻿But I don't think it has anything to do with our library.
﻿Anyway, I felt something wasn't right.
﻿It's nothing to do with us.
"Village without Sin"
﻿That's a very good title.
﻿I think this...
could be a novel that transcends reality.
﻿Thank you very much.
So it's true.
﻿Using the subject of scandal,
detailing the psychology of the people involved,
you can enhance a unique world view.
I think...
this is Tsugumi-sensei's real strength.
Is that so?
Please finish the novel as soon as possible.
Eh?
﻿I believe that with the right content,
﻿I'm sure it will be the most fascinating novel ever written.
﻿And you've made a great protagonist.
﻿It's a great entry point.
Tsugumi-sensei?
Thank you very much.
It's been a long time since you've published a new book.
﻿I'm looking forward to it.
﻿So, before you reply to Marius' email, I'd like to confirm one thing with you.
﻿What is it?
﻿If you take this step,
your relationship with him will no longer be a fantasy.
﻿It will become a reality that will leave you with mixed feelings.
﻿You may even wish you didn't make a move on him in the first place.
﻿Even so, you have to move forward.
I...
﻿I...
I can never go back...
to my previous world.
﻿Surrounded by books,
﻿I can't go back to the world where I was satisfied with that.
﻿I can no longer go back.
﻿I want to know more...
﻿I want to know how far I can go...
﻿I want to know how many possibilities there are.
﻿I want to...
﻿know more about myself.
﻿That's great.
﻿The next step will be dating techniques.