Project: Socialize

The music slowly faded away as the song finished. With a glass of mixed berry juice in my hand, I sucked the fluid through the straw, watching Mura as she started fanning herself in order to relieve herself from the heat.

I don't feel much different in regards to temperature, but that is probably due to the fact that all I did was sit there and drink the blue liquid within the glass in my hand. However, singing, especially in front of someone, can cause one's body temperature to rise. Therefore, this is totally normal.

Even though I know this fact, it is still quite embarrassing when your teacher starts pulling at the collar of her white blouse so as to create an opening to deliver air to her chest. I immediately looked down at my drink so as to avoid any more awkward situations.

I started clapping out of politeness, but to be honest, Mura's singing ability in addition to her voice are both superb. I got to say, I'm impressed by the show that she put on. Even more so when I remembered that we're in a karaoke booth that lacked the professional equipment that concert halls has.

"That was nice," I said as I clapped.

"Thank you," Mura sat down next to me on the couch and began sipping through the straw of her drink. "Are you going to sing?"

"Huh? Oh."

I immediately began browsing through the tablet for songs that I know. I was to engrossed with her singing that I totally forgot to look for a song to sing.

God...This silence is so awkward.

My eyes darted back and forth on the tablet screen as I scrolled down the list. After Mura's performance before me, the pressure on me is sky high. I don't want to embarrass myself so I searched long and hard for a song that I know that I can master.

"This song!" Mura looked at me with a look of pleasant surprise as the music started playing. "It's from that one movie right? The one about the car racing."

"Yeah," I responded casually. "See Me Again from the movie Speed and Serious. Ms. Edel, you know this song?"

"Just call me Mura when we're not at school," she smiled. "If you call me Ms. Edel I won't be able to relax."

"Okay, M-M-Mura," I stuttered from being too nervous in calling my teacher by her first name.

"Hmm..." She appeared to be in thought as she brought a finger to her chin.

What is it? What is it this time?

"If it's this song," she looked over at me with a happy smile on her face, "we can sing together."

"Sorry?"

"Look." Mura pointed at the spare microphone in the microphone container. "That microphone is on as well. See?" She talked into the microphone and proved her observation. "That's for duets."

"So come on."

Mura leaned over from her spot of the couch, grabbed the other microphone, and brought it up to me. Due to her current posture of leaning forward, from my point of view, my sights were caught by the two large objects on her chest.

"R-right." I accepted the microphone from her.

She the stood up once again after having just sitting down for about a minute. She then looked over at me, smiling, and gestured for me to stand up as well. With no other choice, I forced myself up and away from the comfort of the red leather couch.   

"It's been a long day..." We started to sing.

I tried avoiding standing to close to her, but it doesn't seem to work since every time I would nudge myself a bit to the left, she would close in the gap. When I got too far from the couch and almost to the door, she hooked my arm with hers and pulled me closer to her. This resulted in my elbow occasionally being pressed against the two crown jewels on her chest.

However, I got to say, it felt kinda good.

When that song ended, I sunk back down into the couch in exhaustion. I no longer felt the cool temperature I felt earlier. Instead, I felt quite hot, especially around my face. However, that is probably due to me blushing. I'm just hoping that the dim lighting in our room can conceal that fact.

"You're pretty good," Mura complemented me as she allowed herself to sit down on the couch once again next to me.

"Thanks," I responded, taking a sip from my drink so as to alleviate my dry throat. "You were too."

"The only problem is that you keep trying to run away from me." She frowned and crosses her arm before her chest. "Do I smell bad?"

"No, of course not," I immediately denied it. "You ugh...smell quite good to be honest."

"..."

I looked over and from the illumination provided by the television screen, I discovered that Mura is blushing. Then, I realized that what I just said is...kinda creepy. If someone said that to me, then I would probably think that they're a creep and is disgusting.

"Sorry. Just forget what I just said."

Ah, why did I say that? I got too carried away...

"It's fine." Mura appeared to have returned to normal although her face is still slightly red.

***

When the hour is up, the phone that's framed on the wall by the door to the booth rang and the employee notified us. Thus, we gathered our belongings and exited the room before walking back to the counter.

"Two people for one hour and two drinks...that will be 270 Vil," the employee notified us.

Slowly, I took out my phone from my pockets and stepped forward to the scanner in order to pay, but I'm interrupted by Mura. With her phone in hand, she looked over at me with a playful smile before hovering her phone over the scanner. After a short audible beep, she removed her phone from the scanner.

"Didn't I say I got it?" She winked at me.

"T-thanks," I look to the side, blushing a bit.

We then proceeded to ride the elevator back down to the first floor and leave the building. We stepped foot once again on the busy streets of Berjaus, which is dyed a hue of orange as the sun started sinking in the horizon.

"Let's exchange numbers," Mura suddenly said to me as she held up her phone.

What? It's this easy? I mean I'll take it.

"S-sure." I nervously took out my phone from my pocket.

"That was pretty fun," she said as she started entering in her number into my contacts. "Wait. You have Muria's number as well?" She looked over at me with pleasant surprise.

"Y-yeah." I looked to the side so as to avoid making eye contact.

"I'm surprised." She handed my phone back to me. "She's not the one to give out her phone number to people."

"Huh?" I listened as I checked that she did in fact enter in her phone number.

--

Congratulations! You've completed your assignment on time.

The reward of 15 SP has been added to your account.

Your SP balance is: 75 SP

--     

That's one mission done. Now the other one...That's just impossible.

I sighed and slipped my phone back into my pockets, despairing at the fact that I'll lose 30 SP and be punished.

30 SP...That's almost half of what I have in total...It hurts, but I can't help it. There's no way that I can kiss her naturally.

"Hmm." Mura stared at her phone. "It's still a bit early, but do you wanna go eat now? She's there already."

"She?"

"Did I forget to tell you?" Mura looked over at me. "Muria's going to be with us."

You did not. You didn't tell me that. God...This will be the most awkward dinner ever.

"Let's go then."

Mura starts walking down the street with an unknown destination in mind. With no other choice, I began following after her.

"So what exactly did you and Muria do Saturday?" Mura began chatting with me as we waited for the light to turn green at a crosswalk.

"We just met up at Nocsinis Station and then go watch a movie," I said.

"Oh."

An awkward silence then followed, causing me to feel uneasy as I nervously shift my legs. As the cars on the road continuously zoomed by, this wait seems to be taking forever. Each second of this inaction feels like a torture. The atmosphere between us just feels so cold that I shivered despite the fact that it is still Summer time. God...Please just make the light turn green already.

The light soon shifted from red to green. A soft music started playing and based on the music, one could tell how long until the green light turns red.

I followed closely behind Mura in the large crowd of pedestrians that're crossing the road as well. I had to be super close to her in order to not get separated from her. We finished crossing the wide road and arrived on the other side. Then, Mura began walking towards a building. Looking over at her objective, I discovered large glass windows on the first floor of the building, and inside, there were numerous separate tables and seats with people occupying them while eating food. Through the window, I could also see Muria sitting in a seat that is by the window as she waited for her sister to arrive.