Project: Socialize

"N-nothing," I responded, averting my gaze and looking out the window.

"Hm," Emilia chuckled. "Then let us begin with the lesson for today."

As she began the lecture on Vilhemian history, I glanced back over at her. It would appear that she still took her job as a teacher quite seriously, judging off that focused expression on her face. Her style of teaching was...well...all she did was talk about the historical events as if she was telling a story. The thing is that the way she told the story made history appear quite interesting. It even captivated my interest in addition to the rest of the class.

"So five hundred years ago," Emilia lectured without looking at notes or anything. Instead, she gazed at me for some reason. "After the death of the first emperor Leshius I, who had no heir, the throne was entrusted to his lead advisor, Aerin Vilsein."

I glanced over at the other students in the classroom and discovered that they were listening attentively, taking notes as she spoke.

"It was Aerin Vilsein who continued Leshius's expansionist policy," Emilia continued. "He was able to double the size of the empire during his reign. It was also during his reign that Vilheim started to urbanize. Cities began being built, and the population grew due to years of good harvest."

The lesson continued on, and the whole period was spent on lecturing on history, with no alternative motives being present. Even when I attempted to read her body language, I was once again perplexed by that mysterious smile.

The bell rang once again, signaling the end of the period. Emilia took out her phone, checked the time, and nodded as she come to accord with the fat that class time was over.

"Alevian," she said, "come see me for a second."

I could hear sounds of mockery coming from the students who I had confronted earlier. From the corner of my eye, I glared at them with annoyance. I didn't expect this gesture to do anything; it was merely me expressing my disapproval at them. Seriously, these people are the people that I despise the most.

"Why are you here?" I approached Emilia, who was waiting for me by the door.

"I need to be able to monitor you," she responded with the usual mysterious smile.

"So why did you call me over here?" I asked, glancing around to make sure that no one could hear our conversation.

"You're not the best at socializing, are you?"

What the hell? Is it that obvious that she could tell like immediately?

"I would say it's because they don't know how to talk to others like me."

"Shifting the blame?"

"Is something the matter?" she gazed into my eyes with a confused look.

"N-nothing," I shifted my gaze away from her.

"So the main reason I called you over here is to just simply greet you," she said, "Nice to meet you, Alevian."

She reached outwards with her right hand, asking for a handshake. I glanced down at her hand and then back at her. I was confused as to why she opted to go with this gesture, but it was probably her attempts at peace with me. Therefore, with a nervous blush, I brought my right hand up to meet hers, which she shook with a smile on her face.

***

The end of sixth period marked the start of seventh period homeroom, which was the last few minutes of the school day. As I sat there in my desk, I yawned as the day of tribulation was finally about to coming to an end. My fatigue felt doubled as what they were usually at this time so I can't wait until I can just go home and lay down on my comfortable bed.

To hell with homework, to hell with study. Who cares about that when it is only test scores that matters?

Once the bell rang, the students began packing their belongs back into their school bags and streamed out of the class. I opted to wait out this first wave of students since I'm really not in the mood to squeeze with the crowd. All I have to do is wait about a minute and both doorways should be quite cleared by then. In addition, the hallways outside should be less congested as well as everybody either head home or to their clubs or sports.

Now, since there's not that many people in the hallways now, I should start heading home.

Just when I grabbed my school bag and flung it over my shoulder, I was immediately stopped by Loyd.

"Hey," he said, grabbing me by my shoulder. "Wanna go somewhere after school?"

I glanced around the classroom for any signs of those other students, but it seems like Loyd has already explained to them his decision so they were streaming out the front of the class. Also at the front of the class was Mura. She was talking to Emilia who has just entered the classroom. They would occasionally glance over at me, but that is none of my concern as I cannot control what they do or say.

"I'm not in the mood for that," I said, clinging tighter to the strap of my school bag and slowly edging closer to the door at the back of the room.

"Oh..." Loyd appeared quite disappointed by my decision. With a lowered head, he stared at the ground before him. "Then see you tomorrow." He smiled as he grabbed his school bag and started for the door, walking past me and waving as he exited the room. "Still not going to open up huh?" He whispered as he walked by.

I turned to face him as he exited trough the sliding door, and immediately, I heard people greeting him, suggesting that they spend sometime together after school. Like the good person he was, he agreed, unlike me.

He's active in seeking out social interactions, whereas I'm more introverted. I don't dislike being alone. You don't have anyone expecting anything out of you, and you can just be true to yourself and forgo that fake persona that you have to put on display whenever you interact with others. That is, unless you meet someone that you can be true to and they would still choose to stay by your side. It's sad to say this from my end, but... Loyd, if you would've seen how corrupted my soul has become since we last met, you would probably distance yourself from me as well. Therefore, I cannot be comfortable when around you, forced to put on a mask to hide my true identity and speak nonsense.

I'm actually a big fan of this novel series called As Expected, My Romantic Youth Comedy is Wrong as Expected. The main character of that novel I feel like is quite similar to me. We share the same opinions in regards to loneliness and social interactions.To be honest, I feel like I'm carved from his character.

I glanced over at Muria who had packed her belongings and chuckled.

She's the only one I believe I can be true to myself around. Probably because I expect nothing to occur in our relationship, so no fear of interaction is felt by me. If there's no expectation on either side, then there's no fear of failing. That is the reason why I feel the realist around Muria, despite how distant our relationship is.

"Alevian," I suddenly hear a voice call out to me.

Looking over in the direction of the voice that called out for me, I saw that it was Mura.

"Muria too," Mura added. "Come here for a second."

"Huh?"

I glanced over at Muria and our vision met for a brief second before she turned to face her sister once again.

"Is something the matter, sis?" Muria walked calmly towards her sister and Emilia.

"It's nothing major," Mura smiled. "Come here, Alevian."

"..." With a mute expression, I followed after Muria towards the front of the now empty classroom.

"Let's go," Mura said, smiling as she exited the classroom through the front door.

Emilia smiled at me and follows after Mura, leaving Muria and I confused as our visions met.

"You know what's going on?" I asked her with a fatigued sigh.

"No," she responded simply. Afterwards, she walked out of the classroom following after the others.

Without a choice, I followed them as well. We walked down the stairs and to the first floor, and from there, we exited the school from the front entrance. It was cloudy outside, making the concrete paradise of Palisia appear even blander in color. However, once nighttime arrives and the lights turn on, the city will be vibrant with color. I followed after Mura in silence as we approached the nearest train station, walking by the numerous pedestrians in the city.

Within the train station, I followed them through the ticket gates, up the escalator to the platforms for the elevated railway. Judging by the train that we boarded, I could not tell where we were headed since the train belonged to one of the major rail lines in Palisia that runs through the more prosperous areas of the city.

As the train left the station, I noticed droplets of water accumulating on the windows, leaving behind a trail as the wind created by the moving train pushed the droplets towards the back. Looking out the window, I realized that it was raining, which blurred the city scene in the far distance ever so slightly.

I glanced over to observe Mura and Emilia, curious as to why they were together and how they got to know each other. It should be Emilia's first day, so when did she get so friendly with Mura?

With a confused frown, I sighed and redirected my gaze out the window and at the rainy city outside.

I like the rain. When it rains, people become more reserved and quiet. This means that less people will be overly loud, which I preferred. Rain silenced people, so I like it. I like the ambient music that it brings along as well. The sound of rain droplets hitting the ground as well as the sound of car tires driving on rain for some reason sounds super pleasant to me.

I then glanced up at the screen located at the very top of the side wall of the train car. On display was the next station that the train will be arriving in. I glanced over at Mura and Emilia, and seeing a look of ambivalence in regards to the next station, I concluded that we will not be getting off anytime soon.