"Shadows...?"
Yuto looked at the director in confusion
"Yes Yuto that old lady you or rather that monster you have encountered are called shadows"
"You explained it to me before, didn't you?"
"That was a summary just so you understand the simple parts, But now since you encountered a shadow yourself I think you deserve to know more"
Yuto's face was filled with eagerness for knowledge despite his best efforts to try to hide it
"Will you tell me about it, director?"
"No, I won't but I will show you where you can find it yourself"
"What do you mean...?"
"There is a hidden door towards the Orphanage library, It contains many secrets which are not to be talked about, The reason I'm telling you where to find this forbidden knowledge is that I know you aren't the most alert in class"
Yuto ignored the director's jab and decided to get straight to the point
"This knowledge hidden within the library is that important, Is there other things, like you know... Creature or weapons, I don't know what I would like to get out of it really"
The director senses the eagerness towards Yuto and doesn't wait any further to tell him what he wants to
"There are many things ranging from the supernatural to Constructing rituals and spells, There isn't an end to the knowledge in there, I personally only read a couple of those books to try not to go too deep into it, Greed isn't something you want to get"
Yuto blurs out the running commentary of the director and just waits until he hears the words of where the library is located in the orphanage
"Now since you don't care about what I was saying, Let me tell you the location of the library, Entering the apartment complex right at the very end of the hallway near your room, there is a wooden plank which is easy to take out, Under there is a switch which opens the staircase underneath the plank"
"Director who placed the staircase there to begin with?"
"I have no idea but I doubt they are still alive. The books down there seem to be dating mostly over a decade but some even for a century, I know you're a curious boy so you will probably find tons of things that interest you. Just one thing, Do not let the other children find out about the library, If that happens I will make sure nobody enters ever again"
The director gives an innocent smile despite implying he will destroy the library and whatever is left to not let anyone in, As the director finishes talking he just walks out immediately even giving Yuto goodbye knowing he wouldn't respond while lost in thought.
'Knowledge of everything? The outside world, the past and origin of the shadows and anything else I want to know, I need to recover NOW I need to get there right now, I wanted this for my entire life and now I know how to get it... I'm stuck in bed'
The entire day passes and The sunrise hits Yuto's face which causes him to instantly jump out of bed hyper to start the day and get into the library of knowledge which lies inside the orphanage, He walks out of the medical facility and back into the intersection from where he gets the memory of the lady and that incident.
'Huh who's that?'
A young boy with blondish hair with a one eye is dark as night with a red iris, He wears a black mask and torn brown clothes similar to Yuto, Standing there motionless and staring down at Yuto who's passing by, Nobody in the intersection seems to notice this being other than Yuto has some convoys pass right through the figure standing on the road.
'Am I being haunted by a ghost or something? could it be a shadow also... But no it can't be since someone would realise it standing in the middle like that yet only I'm aware of the person standing there'
Yuto looks around the place just to be sure he's the only one seeing it but it's exactly like that, Then he turns away to see the approaching military convoy and asks for assistance, turning back one last time towards the intersection he's left in disbelief.
'Where is it?'
The figure was nowhere to be as if the blondish-haired boy with the black eye became nothing but air on another day, The street activities resumed as normal and the convoy passed it as normal as if nothing was out of the ordinary.
'I'm not dealing with this shadow stuff again just get me home already'
He runs past the intersection towards his apartment and again crosses the road back into the door of the house making sure that no other of the orphanage children are around to see him about to rip out a wooden board from the floor.
'He said it was at the end of the hallway next to my room, Couldn't he have been more helpful, I'm going to have to try like 20 different planks that director damn it'
He enters the apartment complex, takes off his shoes and walks around making sure no one is around in the surroundings where he will commit the board-ripping crime.
*creak*
After many planks being checked, one of them finally seems loose and can be ready to be pulled out from how the sound it makes, With one powerful swoop Yuto pulls up the board from the ground and places it to the side carefully making sure not to cause any disturbance which would make someone show up.
'there it is'
A lever is seen below the board and Yuto goes in to try and flick open the staircase to the library he so much desired to visit, flipping the switch for the staircase it automatically unfolds next to the switch, it was very narrow but due to the nimble body Yuto possesses he can easily fit in between without much struggle.
The staircase seems to lead very deep down so that even when Yuto tries focusing can't see the bottom below, Slowly he descends the stairs and covers the floor back up with the plank to allow himself to be hidden and spend much more time exploring the contents of the library he always desired to have.