Watson and Holmes, Chapter One

December 20th

In a family restaurant on the outskirts of the city, a vast tree rose above the rooftops, its leaves casting shadows over much of Auralia. Its flowers painted the city's sky with the red of autumn. By one of the restaurant windows, overlooking that beautiful view, sat a boy who drew every eye because of his strange appearance. His pale skin and brilliantly white hair made him look like a display doll. He held a cup of tea as he spoke.

Across from him sat a young woman with one intensely blue eye, while golden hair covered her right eye. She wore a complete black suit.

The girl had finished the feast she had ordered. She signalled to the waiter to clear the table, then ordered dessert. A few minutes later, it arrived: a large glass filled with fruit salad, topped with vanilla and crowned with a strawberry for decoration. It was more than enough for someone of her size. Or so it appeared.

The boy spoke, disgust plain on his face.

"I can't believe you can still eat after everything you ordered. I feel as though I'm going to be sick just watching you."

The girl raised one finger, as though offering a piece of advice.

"There's always room for dessert, as they say. Besides, a person needs sugar to keep their mind active throughout the day."

The boy put a hand over his mouth as though he were about to be sick.

"Is it possible that you don't like sweet things, Mr Yol?"

Yol overcame his nausea and leaned on the table, pressing his fingers to his forehead. His exhausted face remained turned down. He spoke with his eyes closed.

"Forget about that for now. Actually, I wanted to ask you about something that has been bothering me. Why do you wear such strange clothes?"

Wendy placed her fork against the strawberry and ate it. As she chewed, she said, "A gentleman doesn't ask a respectable lady what kind of clothes she is wearing. A gentleman only says, 'You look beautiful' or 'You look lovely.'"

"I don't think any respectable lady would wear something like this. You look more like a gangster or a company director."

Wendy ate the fruit salad, cream sticking to her cheek. She continued speaking without opening her eyes or reacting to Yol's comment about her clothes.

"It's for protection. Wearing clothes like these, along with the hat and dark glasses, will certainly draw attention to me. But at the same time, when people see someone dressed this strangely walking down the street, they will all try to avoid brushing against her or speaking to her. It is human nature to fear what we don't understand."

Yol's face filled with question marks as he looked at her with an expression that seemed to say, What exactly are you talking about?

"In any case, you wanted to ask me about something, didn't you? You aren't going to say that you invited me to this expensive place because you felt sorry for me, are you?"

Yol rubbed his head in confusion, as though she had a point.

"There's no need to be so direct about it. Good grief, you really are an unfriendly person. I bet you don't have any friends because of that behaviour."

With the spoon on her tongue, she turned her gaze away from him. Like a badly lying child, she answered with a single sentence.

"No comment..."

Yol sighed softly and took the golden invitation from his pocket.

"In any case, could you first tell me what this ticket is and whether it is really that important?"

The girl was licking the remaining cream from the edge of the glass with her finger. At Yol's question, she froze for a full minute as though lightning had struck her head. Then she lowered her head, placed both hands on the table and interlaced her fingers, overcome by disappointment.

"Am I going to have to start explaining from here? I knew there were ignorant people in this world, but this is excessive. Are you sure you don't live on a mountain somewhere?"

"It feels as though you're only trying to annoy me, which makes me want to punch you. But isn't that a bit much? I don't think this is famous to that extent. I imagine there are plenty of people like me who aren't interested in books and things like that."

"Your ignorance makes the situation even worse. In any case, I'm not sure how to put this, because this is the first time in my life I've been asked. To simplify matters, the World Tree is a place that gathers every book in this world, whether from the past or the present, and sometimes even from the future."

"The future... What do you mean? Is that even possible?"

"Yes. The World Tree was never a natural place to begin with. Some people say it is the ability of someone who decided one day to preserve every book in the world. In truth, nobody has ever seen that person. Some say he lives inside his enormous library, but there is no confirmed information about it."

The word ability was not something Yol understood well. His combat experience had given him none of the ordinary knowledge of this world, so he listened without objecting.

"His ability was originally designed to protect all the knowledge in the world. But one day he wondered what the use was in protecting the library if nobody could benefit from it. Some people say he realised it was arrogant to keep all that knowledge for himself. The whole thing was wrong from the beginning: he had gathered information that writers had spent their lives collecting without asking their permission. So he established a new rule. Every ten years, invitations would be sent to people worthy of entering the World Tree, with the right to take one book out with them. Or at least, that is what people say in the many stories told about the library. In truth, nobody knows anything for certain."

Yol held the ticket in both hands, looking at it with doubt. There were many things he did not understand.

"I still don't understand. Are books really important enough for them to send out invitations this beautifully made? If I sold this as ordinary gold, I might be able to buy an entire library with the money. So why should I go there and exchange it for one book?"

The girl listened as though she were about to explode with anger. She slammed her fist onto the table and pointed at him, leaving Yol confused by her reaction.

"This is what I mean when I say there are limits to ignorance. Have you ever thought about the nature of the information recorded throughout history? Do you even realise that some books contain things capable of destroying the world?"

"Destroying the world? You're not joking, are you?"

The girl rubbed her head in furious frustration, thinking that explaining everything to him was so troublesome.

"Of course not. Do I look like someone with that much free time to waste joking in a place like this?"

Yol's expression seemed to say, Isn't that exactly what you look like?

"When someone takes an hour to choose what to eat and half an hour to choose dessert, don't we say that person's life is empty?"

"Fine, perhaps I am not that busy. But not so unoccupied that I should have to explain common knowledge like this to you. In any case, the library contains all these things. It is not foolish enough to put them within the reach of anyone who enters, which is why there is a system for determining the worthiness of each invitation."

"A system?"

"For every person granted the right to enter the library, the invitation determines how far they can reach inside it. There are thousands of types of invitation, made in all sorts of shapes. Paper invitations, for example, are the lowest rank. As the value of an invitation changes, so does the amount of knowledge you can access inside the library. Some tickets are made of diamond or ruby, and there are even materials whose value nobody knows. Of course, if you counted all the worthless information recorded throughout history, you would find that most invitations can reach fifty per cent of the books in the library."

"Fifty per cent! Isn't that an enormous proportion, considering how many books there are? So can you tell me how far I can reach with this ticket?"

The girl glanced at the golden ticket and answered at once.

"Perhaps sixty per cent with this one. This is the rarest kind of gold in the world. Well, that is only my guess."

"Sixty per cent, then. I suppose that is not bad."

Yol continued looking at the ticket with the same calm eyes. The girl sat upright, narrowed her eyes and folded her arms like a martial-arts instructor giving a lesson to her pupil. Yol considered what she was doing, then quickly ignored her and looked towards the window overlooking the enormous tree. He seemed to notice something important and turned back to continue the conversation eagerly. Before he could open his mouth, the girl interrupted him without moving at all.

"You just thought that enormous tree might be the World Tree, didn't you?"

Yol sprang up from his seat in surprise, making that strange face of his.

"How did you know that? That's frightening!"

The girl sighed lightly and looked calmly towards the tree.

"Well, many people think that is true. But it is not so simple. That tree is only a gateway to the World Tree, one of thousands of gateways around the world. The real library is not located in this world. It exists in a special place unaffected by time or space. This gateway may lead to the library, but without an invitation it is only a huge metal door, empty inside."

"Wait a moment. In a place that enormous, how am I supposed to find the book I want? Wouldn't it take months to learn where every book is? And if there is no set amount of time you can spend inside, couldn't you read the books you wanted and memorise them? Then you could take more than one book out."

"Naive! First, time passes differently inside the library, so I see no problem there. Second, when a person enters the library, information about the books, their locations and their names flows directly into their mind, so there is no need to search for anything. Third, just as information about the locations and names of books can be implanted in your mind, the information you acquire inside the library can be withdrawn. It does not matter how many books you memorise. When you leave through the door, you will forget everything about the inside. That is why some people say the owner of the ability still lives there. In those circumstances, it would not matter whether you met him or spoke to him. When you left the library, you would forget everything."

Yol felt curious about the owner of that magnificent place and how he had built it, but it was not important enough to ask her.

The two of them went out to walk around the city. Since they had arrived that day, they visited all sorts of places. In the calm warmth of the day, the old city's sights looked more beautiful and splendid. By the end of their tour, the sun had turned a quiet red, colouring the city's trees with the hues of sunset.

On a small hill overlooking the beautiful sunset, Wendy and Yol stood leaning against an old wooden railing. Tree branches wound around it, decorated with the buds of little flowers. Behind them, an old wooden bench added to the beauty of the scene.

Wendy gazed calmly at the sunset. Unusually for her, she looked sad. She leaned on the railing with both hands and rested her head on her palms.

Seeing that expression, Yol looked at the sun again and said, "If you could enter the library, what book would you choose?"

Wendy looked at him without moving her head, then quietly returned her gaze to the sunset.

"Why are you asking? Are you trying to annoy me because you have an invitation?"

"Why do you think I'm planning to annoy you with every question I ask? I only wanted to know what you like. Is that wrong?"

"It is a little suspicious, but I suppose it does not matter. There are many books I want to read in my life. But if I had to choose one, then yes, it would probably be The Memoirs of 362 Days."

"The Memoirs of 362 Days? What is that? Some kind of novel?"

"You could call it that. It is not particularly valuable, but it is extremely famous in certain places. Although it is a novel that has survived for thousands of years, it still has a large audience in our age. I only want to read it out of curiosity, I suppose. I think I used to be obsessed with knowledge, but now I only enjoy a good story from time to time."

Enjoyment? What does it feel like to read a good book? Is it really that enjoyable? Perhaps this is something I will never be able to understand.

Yol thought about this while thanking Wendy for spending the whole day with him.

"In the end, I cannot recommend a book that suits you. You did not seem interested in books from the beginning. Still, I think you will find what you are looking for when you enter the library."

"You're right. I still don't understand what value there is in going there, but I think I have become a little interested in seeing the place. I may have asked too much of you by making you accompany me all day, but could you wait a little longer? I want to hear your opinion about the book I take."

Wendy was a little surprised by the request. A smile quickly appeared on her affected face as she placed a hand on her hip and sighed naturally.

"I don't think I have another choice. I will wait outside the gateway for a while, but do not expect me to wait for more than an hour. After all, I am not that free."

"What a thing to say from someone who insisted on taking a complete tour of the city."

Wendy ignored the comment as they headed towards the tree in the city center.

...