Project: Socialize

Muria's face lit up in a state of joy that I never thought she was capable of as she sees Mura approaching. However, that look of joy immediately vanished when she saw me walking behind Mura.

"Hey," I greeted her out of politeness.

"..." She didn't respond to me. Rather, she eyed me with a look of disdain. "Why's he here..." She whispered to herself.

"I invited Alevian," Mura explained as she sat down in the seat opposite of Muria. Then, she patted the spot next to her, gesturing for me to sit down as well.

I did my best to subdue my urge to release a sigh as I sat down beside Mura. I knew that the atmosphere will be tense, but this level of unease is above what I can handle. In order to hide myself, I used the menu before me as a shield and hid behind it. However, I can still feel Muria's penetrating glare poking at me.

"Alevian," Mura said to me in a gentle voice, "just relax. Order whatever you want. It's on me."

"T-thanks." I awkwardly smiled as I looked up from the menu. However, upon meeting Muria's glare, I immediately shielded myself with the menu.

"Hello," a waitress walked over to us, carrying a tablet in hand. "May I take your order?"

"I'll have the Malaharan chicken rice.," Mura said to the waitress, who immediately started entering in Mura's order into the tablet.

"I'll have the Saroffian-style omelet," Muria ordered.

After entering in Muria's order as well, the waitress turned to face me.

"Ugh...I-I'll have this spaghetti." I picked out a reasonably priced dish on the menu.

"That's it? Order some more," Mura said to me as she began flipping through the menu. "You're still growing so you have to eat up. Add this Steak with Stelhied Sauce."

"Understood." The waitress then began entering in the order for my spaghetti and the steak that Mura ordered for me.

"N-no," I tried to stop the waitress. "I'm fine."

"It's okay, Alevian," Mura smiled as she rest her face on her right hand. "Don't worry about the money. I invited you out so don't worry."

"Ugh..." After a brief moment of struggle, I uneasily accepted her offer. God...I suck at dealing with kindness. I'm just so used to people not caring about me that I'm not used to it when people are suddenly kind to me.

"You want anything to drink, Alevian?" Mura then started flipping through the beverages section. "Soda fountain or anything else?"

"Water is fine," I replied.

"Muria, what do you want?" Mura then proceeded to question her younger sister.

"Lemon milk tea."

"Alright," Mura closed her menu and looked back over at the waitress. "Two lemon milk tea and one iced water."

"So your order is one Malaharan Chicken Rice, one Saroffian-style omelet, one meatball spaghetti, and one Steak with Stelhied Sauce. How would you like your steak done?"

"Alright." The waitress typed into her tablet. "And as for the drinks, two lemon milk tea and one iced water. Is that correct?"

"Yup." Mura gathered up the menus and handed them to the waitress.

"Thank you and your orders will be arriving shortly." The waitress lowered her head and accepted the menus before walking off.

With the waitress away and the three of us given our own privacy, the tense atmosphere became even more burdensome. I nervously glanced around the restaurant, taking in its modern furnishing and the soft music that is playing through the speakers mixed with the soft chattering noise of the other customers. Then, I moved my gaze to the windows, looking at the outside city as everybody went on with their daily lives.

I glanced over at Muria and realized that she is no longer glaring at me. However, I could sense an ominous aura that is being emitted by her. She looked out the window, almost as if intentionally avoiding looking at me. I can understand why she did so. She probably doesn't want to be mad in front of her older sister.

Beside me, Mura hummed a soft tune, acting carefree as she waited for the food. She seems to be in a pleasant mood, but it would appear that she too recognizes the feeling that her sister felt.

Not too long after the waitress left us, she returned with our drinks. I accepted my iced water and proceeded to take a sip from it in order to quench my thirst and calm myself down. However, even with the water, I am still unable to wash away this uneasy feeling that preoccupied my mind.

"So Alevian, what do you like to when you have free time?" Mura suddenly asked me.

"Me?" I responded, taken by surprise by her sudden question. "Not much. Watch TV, play video games. Those sort of things. I don't have any friends to go hang out with, so I just mainly stay home."

"Oh," Mura nodded her head. "But don't you think it would be fun to hang out with friends? Like today at the karaoke with you and I."

"You went to karaoke with him?" Muria looked over at us with a look of surprise.

Mura nodded her head with a gentle smile. "It was fun. Alevian is pretty good at singing."

"Well...not as good as you..." I commented.

"Muria you jealous?" Mura smiled as she playfully poked Muria in her arm.

"N-no," she blushed and looked away.

"Next time we'll invite you," Mura said in a playful manner.

Next time? There's a next time?

I took out my phone discreetly and took a quick peek at the time. It's about 5:27 PM. This meant that the time limit for the second mission is about to be up...With a silent sigh, I slipped my phone back into my pocket so as to not appear rude.

What ever. It's just 30 SP. I'll get it back in the future.

I felt tired after realizing that my mission is a failure and accidentally slumped down in my seat. However, I soon realigned my posture as I sat there, nervously waiting for the notification that signaled my failure.

--

Mission Failed

You were not able to complete your objective in time.

Penalty: -30 SP

Your current SP balance: 45 SP

Your physical punishment come shortly.

--

I let out a sigh as I read the words on the screen of my phone.

Well...Things just have to continue on.

The waitress soon returned to us, carrying a platter filled with all the food items that we ordered. She placed the spaghetti and the steak before me, and then proceeded to place the omelet before Muria and the rice dish before Mura.

"Let's start eating then," Mura said, picking up the spoon that the waitress had placed by her plate.

I picked up the fork that is set before me and dug into the plate of spaghetti before me. The red sauce of the spaghetti shined underneath the light as I lifted it up and towards my mouth. Then, I placed it into my mouth and that is when I realized that this spaghetti is the punishment.

The red sauce that I had thought of as tomato sauce earlier is actually...hot sauce. It is hot. Very hot. Just when I was about to spit it out, I received a notification on my phone from God.

[If you spit it out or tell anyone, you're gonna have a worse time.]

Okay, I get it. I'll finish this plate. I'll eat it all...

"Are you fine?" Mura asked me and Muria glanced over at my red face as I struggled with the level of spiciness of the spaghetti.

"I-I'm fine," I forced out. Then, I proceeded to take a big gulp of iced water so as to alleviate the burning sensation in my mouth.

I took a deep breath as I prepared myself for this hellish dish. My eyes watered as I eyed the dish, recalling the burning sensation I felt earlier. It wasn't pleasant...Slowly, I picked up my fork once again and delivered another forkful of noodles into my mouth. This time, I decided to swallow as soon as possible in order to reduce the time that the sauce makes contact with the interior of my mouth. However, my throat burned as the noodles slowly slid down them, dragging the spicy sauce all over it. I had to hold back my tears as I chugged my glass of iced water.

"..." Mura and Muria remained mute on my odd behavior. As they ate their food gracefully and calmly, savoring the flavor of the meal, they occasionally glanced over at me to check on me.

I reached over the table and pressed the button that is for summoning the waiters/waitresses. Soon after I pressed the button the waitress from earlier walked back to our table with a smile on her face.

"How may I help you?" She asked with a pleasant, epitome-of-customer service smile.

"May I have some more water?"

"Of course." She left our table and immediately returned with a jug of iced water. Then, she proceeded to refill my glass of water.

"Thank you," I nodded to her as she smiled and left our table.

After about fifteen minutes of suffering, I finished the devilish spaghetti noodles. I feel quite full, probably about 70% full. However, there's the steak on the table that I still have to finish. Therefore, I started cutting the meat with the steak knife.

Hopefully the steak is normal...

I slowly bring the piece of steak up and into my mouth. Then, I was relieved when it was just a normal steak.

This, I can finish just fine.

"Thank you for the meal," I expressed my gratitude to Mura as we walked out of the restaurant onto the streets of Berjaus and towards Berjaus Station.

"It's fine," she chuckled. "I should be the one thanking you."

"What for?" I looked at her in surprise. I'm completely oblivious about what she's talking about.

"For spending time with her on Saturday," Mura glanced over at her sister, who appeared quite flustered.

"Sis!" Muria's face was slightly red. However, she still appeared quite calm and collected in general.

"And also for today," Mura added. "It was fun. If we have time in the future, we should do this again. See you."