Project: Socialize

I could barely contain my look of surprise when I checked my phone. Two missions at once? You've gotta be kidding me. How the hell am I supposed to do this? Acquire Mura's contact information and kiss her? Easier said than done. The She's my teacher. How the hell do I even do this?

I nervously looked around as I followed behind Mura as we entered the train station nearest to our school. Since it is half an hour after school had ended, there were no students to be found in the station. However, I still remained cautious by trailing behind Mura by a few meters just so if someone were to see us, they would not immediately reason that we're together.

The commute train soon arrived at the platforms and the two of us entered. There's no open seats but all in all, the train car isn't very crowded, probably due to the fact that rush hour is still a few hours away.

"You don't have to stand that far." Mura smiled towards me.

"Ugh...this." 

My gaze shifted around the floor nervously as fear made it impossible for me to make eye contact with her.  However, I felt her hand wrap around my wrist as she pulled me closer to her.

"Much better," she smiled innocently at me, ignoring the fact that my face is a crimson red.

This whole train ride can be described with one word: awkward. Our position in life made it impossible for me to speak freely to her, and I believe the same can be said about her. We're restrained by society. Plus we don't have a single shared interest that I know of that we can base a conversation around. I mean we do share a common acquaintance in Muria, but...I can't imagine myself having a conversation about her with her sister.

Thus, the rest of the train ride is completed under an awkward spell of silence. That is for me at least since there is no way that I can tell what Mura thinks. Even when I peered over at her face, she appeared so calm, almost as if nothing is of the matter to her. 

"We are now arriving at Berjaus Station, Berjaus Station," a female's voice said over the broadcast. "The doors on your left will open. Please be careful and watch your steps."

Berjaus Station, located within the center of the Berjaus district, is one of the major train stations within the metropolis of Palisia. It is famous for its numerous dining spots and is quite popular with Palisians of all ages. This is due to the fact that here, you can find almost all of the world's cuisines, from the local Vilhemian food to even meals from across the oceans. Besides that, this district is also a major shopping hub in Palisia. 

"It's still quite early for dinner," Mura said, checking her phone for the time. "You wanna go some where else for the time being?"

"Wow, Alevian," she smiled, "so responsible."

"No." I slipped my phone back into my pocket. "I just don't want to cause her any trouble. So where should we go for the time being?" I decided to change the subject so the conversation can continue on.

Mura looked around, eyeing the different buildings, and while she's doing that, I decided that I'll take a good look around us as well. However, my objective isn't to find something to do. Rather, it is to take in the scenery. Because I don't have any friends that I hang out with, I rarely visit places so Berjaus is still quite new and refreshing to me, although it too is characterized by concrete towers and buildings.

Looking around, my eyes are immediately caught by the big screen jumbotron that hung on the building on the other side of the road. It is at just the right height that it is visible by all and did not required much strain of ones neck to see. It is currently playing a music video by a recent emerging pop artist. In the video, a young girl around my age, dressed in dazzling performance clothes, danced along to the music. Her long, almost orange-blonde hair moving behind her as she did so. For some reason, she looked oddly familiar. I must've seen her somewhere before.

I glanced back over at Mura, who's also staring at the jumbotron screen and listening to the music that played through the speakers. 

"I know," her eyes suddenly lit up, "there's a karaoke spot nearby. We can go there."

"Ehh?" I looked hesitantly at her. 

"What?" She noticed my odd gaze. "Then what would you like to do?"

"I don't know..." I responded, looking towards the ground and away from her.

"Then it's decided then."

She immediately started walking towards the crowd that is awaiting for the crossing lights to turn green, leaving me there staring at her back as she walked further and further away. I lightly jogged to catch up to her, and then proceeded to be forced closer to her due to more people approaching the crosswalk behind me.

As the light turned green and the two of us crossed the wide road within the large crowd of people, I can't help it but think: Is it normal for a teacher to go to a karaoke spot with her student alone?   

In the direction that Mura is headed in, I saw a sign that says Karaoke on the forth floor of a building in the near distance, and it would appear that that is our destination. We entered through the automatic door of the building and was greeted by an empty elevator lobby with a sign that mapped out the entire building, explaining what each floor is. On the sign, it says that the Karaoke spot is on the forth floor, confirming the sign outside.

"Welcome," a young employee behind the counter greeted us as we got off the elevator at the forth floor. 

"We would like a room for two," Mura said to the employee. "For one hour."

"R-right!" The employee immediately began navigating through his tablet after staring at Mura for a brief second. His face was red as he nervously glanced up at Mura, afraid to meet her eyes. "Please fill out this form." 

He handed the tablet to Mura, and as I peeked over her shoulder at the tablet screen, I discovered that it is the simple form that everyone has to fill out in order.   

"The room number is 4012. We will call the room to notify you when your time is up." The young employee blushed as he accepted the tablet back from Mura.

"Let's go." Mura smiled at me and started for the hallway with doors on either sides.

I immediately followed after her, allowing her to guide me to our destination. Meanwhile, I looked around the hallway, taking in the furnishing of the store. The furnishing  appears quite modern and stylish due to the fact that the targeted audience of the store are teens and young adults. All in all, the place appeared quite clean and pleasant.

We entered the door that has the number 4012 on the doorplate, and inside, we were greeted by a black table with a slick modern design with a red couch up against the wall. The room isn't the biggest and is in fact quite small, with only a small gap between the couch and the table and from the table to the television screen framed on the wall with speakers hanging near the ceiling above it. Overhead above us is a disco ball and different colored lights that could be controlled with the remote that sat on the black table. Next to the remote are the microphones that stood in their stands. Against the wall and next to the television was the karaoke machine. The machine has a tablet that one can take with them over to the couch and choose songs in comfort.  

Mura appeared to be in quite the good mood since she hummed a simple tune as she walked over to the karaoke machine, picked up the tablet, and sat right down on the red couch. She seems to be quite experienced when it comes to karaoke since she immediately began navigating through the tablet, poking at the screen with the stylus of the tablet, looking over the songs list and pondering what she should sing.

"That should do it to start off." 

She smiled, setting the tablet down on the table and grabbed a microphone. Music then started playing from the speakers and the television screen started playing the music video of the song that she picked with the song lyrics displayed on the bottom of the screen.

"I've ordered some drinks already," she said through the microphone, which caused her voice to be amplified as it returned through the speakers. "But if you want something else, just order. Don't worry about paying. It's on me today."

I nodded to her, signalling that I had received her message and sat down on the couch next to her. I laid back against the soft cushion of the couch, watching Mura who stood with the microphone in both hands, eyes almost gleaming in excitement.  

Does she come here often? She must go to karaoke spots quite often.

I picked up the tablet in order to search for a song to sing—because why not?—and I discovered that the song Mura has picked is actually a currently trending song. I listened to her voice as she began to sing, and the music sounded extremely familiar, almost as if I had heard it earlier...