The streets were swamped with people. Store clerks rushed to keep up. Vendors called out from every stall, racing the last of the sunlight.
Jared looked down at his bag. With a careful hand, he lifted the boxed fox pet with a smile, getting a glimpse of the pet's sleeping face.
He dropped the P.E.T. back in his bag. It had been hours since his conversation with Aizen's squad mates, and he still couldn't work out whether having one this early made sense.
'A journalist is what I want to be though… I can't really just ask someone on the street, too loaded for a question..'
Jared's eyes twitched before stopping randomly in the middle of the crosswalk.
"That's it!"
People looked at him. Noticing, Jared was a bit embarrassed and quieted himself down.
'The Insight library should have loads of information; they should at least have something about Journalists. At the very least, some valuable information about pets.'
He rushed to the library.
Sounds of pouring water echoed as springs of water burst from the statue.
Sheets of paper floated overhead, barely interrupted by the wind. Jared marveled for a moment, watching the leaves of paper enter the building behind the ornate fountain.
With three center doors and pillars standing solidly on their own, the library stood arrogantly in the center of the plaza, accepting its role as the pride of the city.
Scholars of all age ranges walked the open space. Some taking shelter on the grass under the trees, others on the benches by the outside ring of the massive circle around the fountain. The remaining few braced their backs against the fountain, enjoying their reading in the calming sound of moving water.
Smiling, Jared walked in.
…
Books floated in the air, lifting off the shelf. With one book in their hand and several others under their armpits, people walked around the library, performing extensive research in silence. In one of the many silent reading halls, Jared was already deep into a book.
'P.E.T.s are a combination of Life Formation Concepts and Sentience Crafting, thus creating a living but empty host capable of using their owners' concept of existence and influence. This is the general formula behind their creation; but there are exceptions.'
Reading the last few sentences of the last page, Jared closed the book, reflecting on the knowledge.
' …Weird. Another abrupt ending. I don't know, ' Jared looked up from his book to the three others that were stacked in front of him. ' This might be my curiosity talking but… I'm not satisfied.'
His finger tapped the table rhythmically as his mind continued to be occupied with thoughts. 'Exception, Alternative methods, and oddity… all of these point to a different type of P.E.T. and my only guess is this exception correlates with being a journalist. I doubt that the library doesn't know, if anything, they're hiding it somewhere.'
Letting out a quick sigh of frustration, Jared brushed the book's cover with his palm. 'I don't know why I'm thinking about this so hard, it's not that serious but…'
"I'm tired of jumping through hoops just to get a full picture."
Tapping twice on the table as he sat up, a circular engraving drew itself on the table. Numbers and hands formed into an ancient clock that measured more than just the hour.
Seeing the hour hand point to seven and the other to six, Jared pushed his chair, seeing that the library was quite empty, with one or two more people getting ready to go home.
Jared got up, pocketed his Textbook, and sent the research books drifting into the magic current.
Jared walked to the checkout desk, seeing one middle-aged librarian lady dusting off the shelf behind her. Stacks of books rested on the table as she used a ladder to reach the higher levels.
'Oh, Hiroko is working the last shift today.'
Jared waited at the desk momentarily, giving the lady a second to finish, and called her name. Startled for a moment, she turned to look at the desk with confusion, but the moment she saw his face, Hiroko climbed down the ladder.
"Jared! My little scholar," Hiroko said. "I didn't know you were here."
Hiroko wiped the dust from her glasses with a smile, giving Jared all her attention as he replied.
"I'm sorry, you know how I can get when I have a good book in front of me. Didn't even notice it was getting close to closing time."
"It is mighty late; what brings you to the front desk? Were you excited to see me?"
Hiroko smiled teasingly.
"Of course, but I'm also looking for a quality book, and I was hoping you could recommend-"
Hiroko's voice shifted. "Jared… I already told you last time, didn't I? You can't access restricted matters without-"
"No, this time is different; Aizen wanted me to get this for Miss Koto. They were quite busy after the whole incident the other day." 'Hopefully, she buys this story.'
"Yeah, I heard about it from some of the other staff. I even heard Elder Charles would be out of commission for a while because of it. Oh, my, that explains why he wasn't here running the library."
"That's most likely why." 'She bought it?'
Hiroko pressed a hand to her face. After talking to herself, she started putting the books back, picking up a stack of them in her hands. "So what are you looking for, my little scholar?"
"I need an all-encompassing book on P.E.T.s. The whole thing, including the Alternative methods-."
Hiroko hesitated as Jared continued to explain, trying her best to pretend she hadn't understood his precise description of the subject matter. After a moment, she returned to sorting the shelf, accepting the unavoidable situation.
"Preferably an all-in-one book, academic, zero to twenty percent. Very in-depth," Jared said.
Everything was silent for a while. After a moment, Hiroko spoke while moving her hands under the desk.
"Alright, I got the perfect book for you."
Hiroko stood up, placing the book on the desk, holding it in place with the palm of her hand. She fixed him with a look that made clear her next words were not optional.
"This is some precious information; make sure it reaches Aizen's hands… I'm trusting you Jared, so please. "
"... Alright."
Hiroko let go of the book, her eyes glowing white for a moment. The seriousness left her face slowly. With a long sigh, she smiled.
"Alright, get home safe now."
Jared smiled, holding the book close to his chest.
"I will."
With that, Jared rushed out the doors of the library.