Project: Socialize

The meeting concluded after an hour, and when leaving, Irina and Muria seemed to be plagued by a gloomy atmosphere, with their facial expressions lacking in joy and instead filled with uncertainty. The loss of the request forms seemed to have dealt a major amount of damage to them, and the consequences seemed to linger about in their minds as they walked in silence. A frown was the only thing visible on their faces, and their moodiness was to the point that even I felt somewhat affected by it.

The original plan was that after the meeting, the two would head to the theater club and rehearse for the play. However, with their current mood, it's not hard to imagine the negative impact it will have on their performance. Too much was on their mind for them to focus, and that's bad for the play... like really bad.

To break this spell of theirs, it looked like I will need to act.

Once we were at the crossroad in the secondary building where we were to go our separate ways, I looked in their direction, taking in their melancholic aura as they walked away down the hall with their backs turned towards me. Their heads were hanging somewhat low from the incident and I could tell that it must be gnawing on their conscience greatly.

"Hey," I called out to them, causing the two of them to halt in their steps and turn to face me. Upon seeing their defeated faces, I let out a sigh as I placed both hands into my pockets. "Don't worry," I said. "Just focus on the play. I'll take care of it."

Muria looked at me with doubt in her eyes, but as for Irina, she seemed to be comforted by my statement. She's been helped by me before, so she probably thinks I could do it again, which is true. Therefore, on Irina's face a faint smile appeared. She seemed to have slowly regained her vitality, which will definitely leak over to Muria.

"Let's go," Irina hugged onto Muria's arm, bringing her body close to hers. "Alevian will take care of it." She then started dragging the girl off in the direction of the theater club.

"B-but..."

Muria's eyes darted back and forth between me and Irina. She appeared still quite confused as to the situation, but she seemed to have finally accepted her fate as Irina dragged her further down the hallway until the two disappeared into the theater club's prep room.

Seeing that the two of them were finally at their destination, I for some reason felt a strange tranquility in my mind. With a sigh of relaxation, I turned to face the hallway that led to our club room, standing there in the middle of the crossroad alone. On my face was a look of stern seriousness that was mixed with a slight frown of anger. They had messed with the wrong person, and I will make sure they pay for it.

"Let's get down to business," I muttered as I started down the hallway.

Since they've committed the act without any planning, I thought, that means the place they'll hide the forms will not be very hard to find. Now, if I were to try and get someone into deep trouble by taking something vital from them, how would I do it without intricate planning and little time? Now, the answer's blatantly obvious.

I rounded the corner and walked towards the spot where I was certain the forms were located.

The only reasonable answer that anyone will have in situations like that is—

I reached in through the frontal opening of the container and immediately grabbed hold of the crumbled stack of papers.

—the trashcan.

The trash container was quite clean since it was in the secondary building hallway and the trash that people had been disposing in it were mostly paper, cardboard, and some wood. Therefore, my hands did not come into contact with any filth and the papers were still in good condition aside from the wrinkles left behind from someone trying to crumble it.

So naive, I whistled as I checked that every single form was still there. Didn't even try ripping it apart... Maybe they're in a hurry?

Those questions were of no worry to me now since I have the forms with me. Now, my job for the day is basically done. The schedule I had laid out for my simple plan was to simply find the forms today. The rest of it can all be done tomorrow. I've laid out the bait already, and I am certain the two girls will bite.

Therefore, with a relaxed mood, I started for the exit of the secondary building. There's not much left for me to do at school, so I decided to just ditch. It's not technically against the school rules since many students were also leaving campus to purchase required materials for their preparation. However, since they have obligations to help out their class or club, they all had to return. Not me though since I'm done with my job. So come to think of it, being a class representative isn't that bad.

I walked towards the front entrance of the school with my hands in my pockets. There, I could see students decorating the front gate, putting up signs and banners to make it look aesthetically pleasing. To both of my sides, I could see members of the different clubs setting up stalls, both to sell stuff like foods or handcrafted items and to appeal to future students. They seemed to be having fun, with everyone smiling and being optimistic about tomorrow.

I smiled as a gentle breeze blew by, moving the tails of my blazer in the air behind me. The wind gently caressed my face, a pleasant sensation that I was particularly fond of. I love it when the wind moves my hair and blow by my face. It truly is a tranquilizing feeling.

I left the school and headed straight for the train station. Since it was still somewhat early, I didn't want to head straight home just yet. I decided that I would first ride the train to Nocsinis and think about what I would do on the train ride there. Nocsinis has plenty to offer, so I'm not worried that I won't have anything to do there.

Nocsinis station, being one of the major train stations in Palisia, was still busy even though it was noon. Noon should be the time when commute centers are at their laziest since most people are confined to their work space. However, that just goes to show how vital Nocsinis Station is to the commute system of Palisia.

I exited the train and rode the escalators down to the ground floor, leaving the platforms for the elevated rails behind me. I scanned my phone on the scanner at the ticket gates, using my commute pass to ride the train for free and entering the central hub of Nocsinis station. From there, I walked towards the exit and into the station square.

I still wasn't sure what I intended to do, so I just meandered about the streets near the station. I actually quite enjoyed this little stroll through the peaceful metropolis of Palisia. The blue sky above made everything appear quite lively, and the autumn temperature was perfect. In all honesty, I could probably do this all day, but... I would rather not since it'll get quite boring after a while.

As I walked, I stopped in front of the windows of a cafe. I stared at my reflection from the window, thinking over my plan one last time to be sure. I wasn't particularly worried about things, which is why I had the leisure to just simply walk around. Now that I was a hundred percent certain that things will go my way, I can forget about the situation and focus on what I want to focus on.

As I slowly removed my focus from my reflection in the window, I realized that I was probably staring at the customers that were seated by the window. I looked into the cafe and to my surprise, two familiar women were staring at me. The one seated to the right had long black hair similar to Muria's, and the one on the left had a mysterious smile along with a hair of natural purple hair. I was shocked after realizing that they were my teachers, and I felt a shiver down my spine when I saw that Mura was smiling in a threatening manner and waving for me to enter.

I sighed and entered the cafe, the welcome bell ringing to announce my entrance to the employees. A waitress greeted me at the door, but I politely smiled at her and walked towards my death sentence where the executioner with black hair and green eyes awaited me. On their table were cups of coffee and strawberry topped cakes.

"So," Mura smiled at me in that same threatening manner. "Why aren't you in school?"

"I ugh..." My eyes automatically looked to the side so as to escape that death stare from my homeroom teacher. For some reason, her aura seemed to be able to oppress mine. "I'm done with my job..."

"So?" She sighed and crossed her arms. "Why aren't you helping out your classmates?"

"I ugh..." I looked towards Emilia for help, but she simply smiled, closed her eyes, and took a sip from her cup of coffee.

It's no use...

"Look," I then said, losing confidence in my voice and allowing my heart to race out of nervousness. "If I'm there, people would rely on me, and then they won't be working and gain valuable teamwork experience. Therefore, I think it's more beneficial to them if I'm not present."

"What the hell is that excuse?" Mura shook her head and sighed while Emilia simply chuckled. "What're you standing for?" she then asked. "Have a seat."

"..." I didn't say anything and simply grabbed a chair from a nearby empty table. Then, I sat down with Emilia to my left and Mura to my right. My body was extremely tense as I sat there, cowering under the pressure elicited by the two dominant women. Their expression seemed extremely relaxed, the polar opposite of mine.

"Alevian," Emilia said. As she did so, she turned her face slowly towards me, and on that face was a mysterious expression that was characterized by that scheming smile of hers.

"Yeah?" I responded. I for some reason had an ominous feeling about the situation, although I knew for a fact that it won't be something that bad. Like it probably won't be something extremely bad. Why I trust her? I don't know. I just didn't sense anything evil from this angel that sat to my left.

"My cousin will be transferring to your class next week," Emilia said with a smile. "So take care of him for me."