Follow the Script

Ending C

Y/N: H-Hey, I can't fly you know! What if you dropped me?

Like mentioned before, a phobia does not disappear in one day, only after many efforts that its influence weakens. Turning her head to look at him, she proudly gave him a beaming expression, one that he could hardly refute due to how rare it was for him. Of course, her third eyes opened allowed him to see such a sight more often but after everything that happened, she was stressed out of her mind for quite some time.

Koishi: Here we are!

Exclaiming boldly, she rose her sleeves to the sky and revealed the surprise she was keeping for the librarian. Yes, even after everything that happened, he couldn't escape from the fact that he was a librarian in the past.

However, now that the library's power and influence was gone, many things were different. One thing in particular was Marisa Kirisame's case, her emotions calming down and finally losing their physical appearance of the dress and swords. Of course, its mark on her being would always remain but no longer be called upon without the witch focusing her emotions strongly enough for it to emerge. While it could have been a disadvantage, the magician did not care in the slightest, she much prefered sticking to her shining stars and lasers than swords.

A second anomaly was Koishi's transformation that happened during her nightmare, the black dress that she wore to battle her own doubts once Y/N and the other librarians freed her of said shackles. Now that the library couldn't substain said change, it became unstable to a point that she could only muster it back temporarely at the cost of a lot of energy. Needless to say, she didn't try using said ability ever since they stepped outside the library for the final time, there was no need to.

Y/N: What is it?

Curious, he averted his attention to where she was looking and witnessed an impressive sight that left him speechless. Standing before him was a view revealing a large portion of Gensokyo, a perk of being high in the air. Standing in elevation, everything seemed so small compared to them while also being so distant.

In the distance, the bamboo forest that they went through could be seen, that was one of the only landmarks he could recognize, not like he was used to the outside world anyway. The Sun shining down upon them, his eyes were having a hard time adjusting to the brightness. Illuminated by its light but still, the one pretending to be human arbored a slight smile in response to the small girl's efforts.

A final change would probably be the librarian himself. Now that the thing binding him to his duties was no longer active, he could no longer use its powers like calling books out of thin air, nor make the library itself distort his feelings in the heat of battle for the sake of victory. The prison became nothing more than a normal library that one could find anywhere.

Y/N: That's... quite an impressive sight, do you usually visit this place?

Koishi: ...Not really, I tend to stay underground since nobody ever remembers me on the surface.

However, some things remained for him and one that was the most important was his body itself. While it may take the shape of something close to a human, it clearly was not, just like the librarians who were awoken to protect their awakening site. Seeing how their bodies combusted into golden pages, he could only guess that he himself was nothing more than a book, writing its own story.

No matter how long they lived, they never aged, they never fell ill, they could only experience death and injuries. With a body that did not comply with regular laws of nature, he could not call himself "human".

Another thing that remained was his talent to salvage from within others' history. Just like when he copied that black outfit with the red sword, it never was his, he could only borrow the user's past and experiences for combat purposes. That clown outfit, the trenchcoat, it all belonged to other people who had the combat capabilities that he didn't. If he were to go in a duel with nothing but his own skills, he would have died a long time ago.