Volume 1 - CH extra

“Ah, you’re reading something. Is that a novel?”

“Yeah. It got a movie a while ago.”

Ayase-san suddenly called out to me as I was sitting on the living room sofa while enjoying a book.

“Huh. So you read paper books.”

“Judging from that question, do you prefer reading them digitally?”

“Yup. Well, I get most of the books from the library, but those that I really want I buy digitally.” She said and sat down on the sofa as well, leaving enough space for another person between us.

She took out her smartphone, and when I carefully glanced over there, I could tell that she was indeed using a digital reading app.

“I thought you needed a credit card to pay?”

“Depending on the payment, you can also use mobile credit. Mom gives me an allowance I can spend on that.”

“That’s amazing. You’re both so well-organized.”

To me, who’s just working part-time for the sake of it, allowing myself a large abundance of allowance to buy whatever I want, her moderation seemed almost dazzling to me.

“Why don’t you switch to mobile credit too, Asamura-kun?”

“If I could actually buy books digitally, I might just do that, yeah. It seems convenient because I can buy the books I want to read whenever and wherever I want. But…” I made a somewhat wry smile and continued. “I think I’ll hold off of that for a while.”

“Why?”

“I’m so used to paper that I just can’t really get fully immersed when I read books on my smartphone screen.”

“I see. I guess that’d just be a case of getting used to it. Well, that’s not something I should concern myself with, sorry.”

She probably thought she was forcing her opinion onto me and apologized. Once again, I had to admire her. Stating her opinion like this wasn’t forcing anything, but she still stopped right before reaching that final line. That’s my step-sister Ayase Saki for you. Once again she was acting considerate, like a family member close to a stranger.

“By the way, paper books actually have yet another advantage over digital books.”

“Oh, really?”

She may have sounded indifferent, but with the way she leaned forward a bit, her eyes slightly more open than before, she seemed more than intrigued.

“This novel is pretty fun, you know? Wanna read it next?”

“Ah, are you sure? I was actually a bit curious about it, but I’m not particularly rich or anything, so I wanted to wait and see if it’s actually interesting before buying it.”

“Of course. Lending something to my family is something perfectly normal… And this is the advantage I was talking about.”

“…Ahh.” Ayase-san filtered out the intention behind my words, and showed a sigh of understanding, which turned into a snicker. “I never even thought about that.”

“Same here, actually. I’ve been reading books this entire time, and yet I’ve only realized that now.”

Maybe there will be a service in the future that allows for a shared experience like this. However, the sensation of paper in your hands, the scent, and the feeling of existence when sharing it, can only be gotten from a physical copy. That being said, if Ayase-san accepted my paper book, taking a step towards me, I also have to approach and adapt to her digital reading style. I don’t particularly have anything I want to buy right now, but I still opened up the online store and tapped the [Download] button of a book that sounded interesting.