Project: Socialize

With the club coming to an end and Loyd, Muria, Irina, Zaksus, and I packing our stuffs ready to leave, I took out my phone and checked the time. School was out at 4:00 PM, and now the time is currently 6:00 PM. That's two hours of doing nothing that I'll never get back...

I let out a fatigued and yet frustrated sigh, looking down the empty hallway. Due to the weather being autumn, the day wasn't as long as it was during the summer. Therefore, the sunlight that shined in through the glass windows on the outside wall of the hallway was an orange, casting long shadows along the hall. Looking out the window, the outside world was dyed an orange color as the day welcomed the dusk to take its place. The sound of crows could be faintly heard from within the hallway as the dark birds flew by in the distant sky.

It was starting to get cold, and the low temperature was reflected in the hallway. This was one of the reasons why I was glad that we switched to our winter uniforms already. The second reason is that the winter uniform looks better than the summer ones. These are the two main reasons.

"So that's it for today," Loyd said to the rest of us as he finished locking the doors. "Let's leave together. On the way, I can return the keys to the faculty office."

"Sounds good," Zaksus smiled and agreed.

The rest of us didn't say anything, which Loyd took as a silent agreement to his arrangements. Although, I think it would've been fine if any one of us decided that we wanted to leave early or did not want to leave as a group. However, no one chose to do so, which basically meant that everyone else agreed with his suggestion.

With my hands in my pockets, I walked along with them, trailing behind some what to my comfortable spot at the tail end of the group. I love being in the back. Here, no one can see me and I can see everyone else. It's kinda similar to the reason why cats love boxes so much.

Come to think of it, cats... hmm... I like cats. They're nice and cute. I think they're superior to dogs because cats can function alone, unlike dogs who need their owners. If I were to get a pet, I would get a cat because they're so independent.

If I were to ever find a girlfriend, I would like one the way I like my cats: independent. I hope that they'll maybe be older than me by a few years because older girls or woman are more independent, and often times, they're people that I can rely on. They can take care of me when I need to be taken care of, and the relationship won't be one-sided. Then it's decided. My future girlfriend/wife need to be independent and someone that I can rely on.

Our walk through the hallway soon came to a brief hiatus after stopping by the faculty office to allow Loyd to return the keys to our club room. Our journey resumed once Loyd exited the faculty office, and it finally came to an end when we all made it to the nearest train station.

The station was slowly becoming busy as rush hour was in the not too far future, with large streams of people walking by us. These people were from all walks of life, some examples being the office ladies and men to students to housewives. They walked about with a sense of urgency on their faces. Everyone probably worried about the impending rush hour and dreaded the thought of boarding the tightly packed train cars. Therefore, everyone, me included, wanted to quickly board the train and make it home before the trains become extremely crowded.

"You're not being picked up by car?" I noticed that Irina was still with us whereas usually she would've been picked up by that black SUV after school. "Oh and don't you have a film shoot after school? Is it fine to stay that long after school?"

Irina shook her head. "It's fine," she said. "Father and I decided to decline a bunch of my other jobs since I'm earning enough already to help the family. There's no need for me to be over exerting myself."

"That's nice to hear," Loyd commented. "It's bad to stress oneself too much."

"Yeah," Irina nodded and smiled. "I'll have more time to do what ordinary high school girls do."

"Isn't that Irina?" I heard some murmurs originating from somewhere in the station. Looking around, I discovered a group of high school boys dressed in another school's uniform taking out their phones and pointing it in our direction.

"They're taking pictures..." Zaksus muttered to himself as he looked back at them from over his shoulders.

"Right," Muria nodded.

"Let's get going," I suggested.

"You're right," Loyd nodded. "See you guys tomorrow." He then started heading for the escalators that led to the underground metro.

"See you, Loyd," Zaksus said his goodbyes to him and then turned to face us. "See you guys tomorrow." He then took off and passed through the ticket gates for a different train line.

"Then I'll see you tomorrow," I said to Irina and turned and started for the escalators leading up to the elevated railways.

"I live in the same direction as him. See you tomorrow." Muria expressed her goodbyes with Irina and then started following after me.

As I walked, I had a bad feeling. Irina hadn't said goodbye to us, that meant that she wasn't done just yet. She needs our help. Now what is it that will lead to her needing our help? My guess is that she probably needs help using the trains. It's understandable since she's probably most used to being picked up in a car.

With a sigh, I paused in my footsteps and turned around. This gesture surprised Muria, who also stopped and followed me with her eyes. I walked right past her and back to where Irina was looking around with a confused and troubled expression on her face. In those blue eyes of hers, I saw a look of uncertainty surveying her surroundings. When her surveying gaze landed on me, she discovered me standing before her with an ambivalent expression on my face.

"You don't know how to get home?" I asked.

"I..." She averted my gaze and looked to the side.

"..." Her unwillingness to trust her problems to me made me quite irritated. Therefore, I turned around after staring at her for a few seconds and started walking away. "Goodbye."

"Wait!"

She finally called out and reached for her hand out for me. However, since I had already anticipated this action from her, I turned around right when she called my name and caught her with her hand outreached in my direction. She seemed to be frightened by my sudden motion, which I saw in her eyes, and retracted her hand. She then brought both hands together and looked at me nervously with her head somewhat lowered.

"I don't know how to get home..." she whispered shyly with a flustered expression on her face and darted her eyes about.

I stared at her, intentionally making her endure this situation even longer. It had no effect on me, but for her, being in such a flustered situation, it must've been awful for her. Well... not in a bad way for say. It's more of a... how would I describe it? It's a non-harmful feeling that I'm having her endure, but it shouldn't harm her in any way. To be honest, I kinda enjoyed seeing her blush and appear so flustered. It's kinda entertaining.

She then looked up at me, and that was when I felt my heart start accelerating. Her eyes were somewhat teary, which when combined with that blushing face of hers, it for some reason had an oddly alluring effect. It kinda makes me want to protect it from harm and only allow myself to be the one to mess with her. In summary, she's very cute at the moment.

"Y-you should've said it earlier."

God damn it. Why am I getting flustered?

"Where do you live?"

She then told me her address, and I told her which line to take depending on her address. However, she appeared to still be quite confused. Then, I took out my phone, taught her how to use the Map app to see what line to take, but she still looked at me with those helpless eyes of hers. Therefore, I decided to give up.

"I'll take her home," I looked over my shoulder and at Muria. "You can go ahead."

Muria then chuckled and crossed her arms. "Who says I'm waiting for you?" she said in a cold and mocking voice. "How narcissistic are you? I'm just here to make sure you don't do anything weird to Irina."

"..." I frowned out of being annoyed and looked at her. "You coming or not?"

"Of course I'm going," she said. "Who knows what a desperate monster like you will do once you get the chance to be alone with a girl."

"...I'm not that bad of a person," I sighed as I started leading Irina to the platform for her train.

"Are you sure you're a person and not a thirsty wolf?" Muria then responded in a mocking manner.

On her face was a look of confidence and superiority, a look that I can't bring myself to hate or despise no matter how much she mocked me. Maybe I've already accepted her character and it has no effect on me, but for some reason I couldn't sense any real disdain in her voice.

I ignored her and passed through the ticket gates by quickly bringing my phone over the scanner, allowing the machine to know that I'm going to be using this line. This train line that I was about to board isn't covered in my school commute pass. Therefore, what I scanned is basically my payment information. Once I scan my phone once again at the ticket gates of the station where I disembark, the funds will be deducted from my virtual wallet.

On the train it was already somewhat crowded, with the three of us being forced to be close together. Since this was probably Irina's first time in a long time riding in a packed train car, I used my own body to shield off other passengers and secured enough breathing room for her and Muria.

"Thank you," Muria expressed her gratitude.

So when it's situations like this, she can talk normally to me...

The train ride didn't take too long since Irina's house was on the banks of the Helliger River in one of the skyrise condo buildings by the river on the Nocsinis end of the river. It was quite a wealthy area. The stores and restaurants here all appeared quite high end, with some of the shorter buildings by the road having a rooftop park area for guests to rest at. That's not the rare to be honest and can be found in other areas in Palisia, but it's still kinda fancy.

"Which building is it?" I stepped to the side as we exited the train station at Nocsinis Station to allow the many skyscrapers that characterized the city to come into view and for Irina to point out for me.

"That one," Irina pointed at an extremely tall and creatively designed skyscraper in the distant sky.

"That one?" I looked in the direction she pointed in and then back at her and Muria. "Let's go."

I decided to lead since I probably had the best sense of direction out of the three of us. Muria has demonstrated that she does not have a good sense of direction in the past already, and Irina... I don't expect much from her. I don't blame her because she probably never had the chance to truly walk the streets since she's usually escorted around in vehicles with tinted windows which made it difficult to remember the route.

The two girls behind me don't seem to have a problem with me leading since they followed without saying a word. That works with me since it's quieter and probably made it so that we could arrive at our destination even quicker.

We walked by the numerous skyscrapers and high rises, passing by numerous stores, restaurants, pedestrians, and cars on the road. The city was lively even as night slowly approached and casted a dark veil over the world. However, the city was brightly illuminated with its many street lights, store lights, and bright neon signs. Many windows of the skyscrapers were also illuminated, creating a beautiful scene in the dark sky.

A gentle wind blew by as I walked, letting me know that the river was extremely close to us. Like I had expected, after walking for a short while, the river came into view as we approached the riverbank. On the riverbank was a trail that some people used to jog with occasional benches for resting. The river was also extremely colorful as it reflected the lights from the skyscrapers that towered over it to its and our left. I looked up at the skyscraper, taking in the beauty of its modern design, feeling as if I was in a forest but instead of trees, it's skyscrapers.

It wasn't long until the three of us came across the building Irina resided in. At the front, there was a security post where security guards were deployed to monitor that only residents or approved guests may enter the building. Seeing that she probably knows the way from here and that it was getting late, I decided that I should start heading home.

"You know the way from here on?" I asked her. "Just ride the elevator to your floor and enter your house."

"I-I know!" she blushed.

"Goodnight," I casually smiled after knowing that my mission hads been accomplished. "See you tomorrow."

"See you," Muria added as well.

"See you guys tomorrow," Irina bowed her head in gratitude and smiled as she saw us off.

Retracing our steps and walking down the sidewalk with the Helliger River now to our left, I looked across the wide river and at the Lumina District on the other side.

"That's our building," I pointed out as I saw the familiar shape of the building that Muria and I resided in.

Muria looked in the direction I was looking in as well, taking in the beautiful nighttime skyline of the Lumina District. The many windows of the skyscrapers on the other side of the river were all brightly illuminated, creating a beautiful light show in the nighttime sky. As we gazed at our home, a gentle breeze blew by, moving my hair and stinging my face with its low temperature. It blew past me, moving Muria's long black hair in the air and causing her skirt to dance in the air.

"Let's head home," I muttered.