You find her draped over an old couch, laying on her back with her arms outstretched into the air and holding up a book in her hands. She squints at the pages without ever turning them. You've never really seen her try so hard to focus on a book before. It's as if she's trying to take in every single word before moving forward.
"Never seen you struggle so much with reading before," you say.
"Just...trying to remember some stories and adventures. That's all," says Shiori. She keeps her eyes glued to the open book.
"You've been on many adventures already, and I'm sure you still have many more to go."
She puts her books down and finally looks at you. She puts on a smile, seemingly relieved at your remark.
"Oh? Really? What kind of adventures have I been on then?"
Mental condition: 71%.
~~~~~
You bring a hand to your chin, thinking about it for a moment.
"Well... You've been on sad adventures, where the ending was really sad, and then really fun ones, but you haven't taken me on any, so I'm not really sure about the specifics," you say slowly, making sure to be careful with your wording.
She tilts her head, resting her cheek on the arm rest, blinking slowly, like a comfy cat.
"Hm... That's disappointing... I'll have to fix that," her expression softens as her voice trails off. "What kind of adventure do you want to go on?"
"Hm... I think a chaotic story would be interesting. Not Lovecraft though, I don't feel like going insane."
"Yeah, that's fair..."
The two of you fall into a comfortable silence as you sit next to her. Shiori watches you and rests her legs on your lap and hands you a book. Taking it, you see it's a Sherlock story and you can't help but smile.
"You haven't been through this one yet?"
"Not yet, was waiting for a special occasion," she replies. "How's it sound?"
You flip through the pages, skimming it, then read the summary on the inside cover. It sounds interesting...
"Sure, let's go for it. Are you gonna replace someone? Or just drop us in?"
Shiori just smiles as her eyes glow golden, and the inky shadows around you warp and waver. Your vision darkens, and Shiori's giggle resounds in the growing darkness.
"It's a surprise..."
YOU ARE READING
Shiori Novella One-shots
Short StoryThis is a collection of one-shots based on Shiori Novella's writing prompts. It will be updated every day she uploads a writing prompt. The prompt itself will be separated from my response by "~". Cross-posted on ArchiveOfOurOwn Cover art: https:...
