Book alive!.... or not?

"Ahhhhhh!!!!"

"Someone's been crushed! call an ambulance!!!"

"Help me pull the shelf off!!"

Huh? jeez, it's so noisy... you're acting like you've seen a dead body or something. I'm still perfectly fine.... I mean, that is to say, I'm still somewhat alive.  if my ear drums burst it's not gonna be because of the bookshelf. Eh, I'll be fine so long as they can call an ambulance in time.

"Shit, I dropped my phone in his blood!! does anyone else have one"

"I left mine at home!"

ah shit.... well, at least I can die in a library. a death surrounded by books is actually quite comforting. In fact, minus the pain, it's sort of like falling asleep after taking sleeping pills or falling asleep without meaning to after working overtime.

"Crap..... stay.... us...... sir.... m...."

it's a shame really. I still had so many more stories I wanted to hear and read about. In my next life, I don't care what I am. A tree, a gorilla. So long as I can read again....

that's pretty much how my first life ended. As for how I'm telling you this well, after dying, I opened my eyes after what felt like an eternity had passed. Upon awakening I found....

"What the? what is this place?"

I was surrounded by shelves of.....

"Books?"

to be honest, I knew I should've either panicked or at least questioned my situation but the sight of them, not just one or two, but a whole sea of books, caused my brain to work overtime in an impatient rush to read.

"I definitely died, and I'm currently floating, so I can only be a ghost. this place is way too big a fantasy like to be earth, so this must be another world. in other words.... I've been isekai'ed!"

after connecting the dots, the next step becomes all too clear. I immediately grabbed the book closest to me and flipped through its pages. after a couple years had passed, I realized some things. First of all, the name of this book heaven is the Arcane Archives.

It's a spatial plane in the world of Arcadius that holds the records of every single individual or piece of matter in the world. In other words, every blade of grass, every tree, every speck of dust, everything in Arcadius has a story, and all those stories can be found here.

Secondly, if I want to know about any topic in particular, I can simply call for it and the library will bring me a shelf based on my needs. Each topic is perfectly sorted out in a way that makes everything easily accessible.

Recently, I've been getting really invested in one story in particular.

"Zane Wood's Tale"

Zane is a student attending a magic academy in the Magic Kingdom. However, it's not that I'm interested in Zane himself, no, he's just my eyes. What intrigues me is the events at the magic academy. All the individuals at the magic academy are destined for greatness, so says their records at least. The stories of these people are all so amazing that I can't get enough, and Zane just happens to be a magnet for such people, even if he's not playing any major active role. the best part of it is, thanks to the Archives, I can see their stories from all kinds of angles. That includes the viewpoint of the antagonists.

"ah, poor Risa. From everyone else's perspective, she's a ruthless villainess, when in reality she's just a massive tsundere!"

I glance over at Zane's record and float towards it. might as well check up on him. As I skim through his pages to where the current Zane's story is at, but am shocked to find....

"HE DIED?! HOW?! WHY?!"

after re-reading the final paragraph of his story, I feel slight annoyance.

"Seriously, what the heck? what force compelled that idiot to fire his magic everywhere like some sort of drunken hooligan?"

Zane's cause of death was none other than another student blasting off their magic recklessly, which led to Zane being caught up in the crossfire and the student in question was none other than Jace Heath, an annoying character who's an asshole for no reason at all.

I once checked his records in the hopes that he had some tragic backstory that could explain why such an arrogant and rude attitude had been imprinted into him. All I found was a sorry excuse of a noble who let a smidgen of talent get to his head and a useless inferiority complex towards an older brother that he had no right to envy.

"Agh! Zane was my third person camera! I can't just choose anyone to be my eyes and ears, and if I read through one of the main character perspectives I'll definitely end up making biased judgments!"

"... If I can't use someone else as my eyes, maybe..... I can just go myself?"

The idea seemed so simple yet so genius all at once.

"That's right. If I just manipulate a couple records, I can attend the school and meet my favorite characters in person, maybe even give that stupid punk Jace a good beating!"

Once the thought came, a torrent of excitement came with it. The idea of meeting all the characters I'd read about in person seemed so foreign yet so familiar all at once. I raced to prepare whatever I could, grabbing the necessary supplies out of multiple records left and right.

this was going to be fun. Look- no, Book alive Arcadius, I, Haze, The Librarian of The Arcane Archives, am coming!