Project: Socialize (Chapters 1-197)

80. Staying with the Moon.

Sitting there in the corner of the ballroom with nothing to do except watching the other students as they had fun indulging themselves with alcohol and socializing, I decided that it was time for me to leave. I had no further obligations here and after checking my phone, it was already pretty late at 11 PM.   

With nothing else on my mind, I got up from that seat and slowly made my way to the exit of the ballroom. My destination was the changing room where I had borrowed the tuxedo I was wearing from. There, my school uniform was stored in one of the cabinets. I walked down the lonely hallway, and in the background, the muffled noise of the music being played in the ballroom could be heard. I was sluggish from the day, and that muffled music acted like a lullaby as well as an annoyance at the same time; it's soft enough to lull my tired self near a state of drowsiness, but the music being played wasn't fit for sleep.

With a yawn, I slowly made my way to the changing rooms. By coincidence, when I brought my hands to the door handle of the men's changing room, the door to the women's changing room opened. From it emerged the two girls that I was fairly familiar with. Both Muria and Irina had changed back into their school uniforms, and as for Muria, she appeared quite relieved after escaping that revealing evening dress. On their faces was a look of surprise, but that look of surprise soon died down.

"You're heading home?" I asked after seeing that Irina had dressed herself in her school uniform.

"Yeah," Irina responded. "It's getting kinda late for girls to stay out."

"It is nearing midnight," I said after recalling the time. "I'm heading home as well," I then added. "You need someone to walk you home?"

"Sure," Irina answered with a relieved smile. "It'll be a lot safer with a boy with us."

"I mean Palisia is fairly safe," I said.

"It's still much safer if there's a guy with us at night," Irina smiled.

"Are you sure it won't be more dangerous, Irina?" Muria chimed in in her usual, cold manner.

"..." I stared at the girl who had just said that to me, and I then recalled how she had acted earlier. I remembered that shy and defenseless look she had on her face and chuckled. "That's the Muria I know."

"What do you mean?" she said, blushing a bit from being reminded of her state from earlier.

"Come now." Irina turned me around and pushed me into the men's changing room. "Hurry up and get changed."

I was forced into the changing room and the door was soon closed behind me. I stared at the closed dark wood door for a few seconds, dazed and thinking about what had just happened. Then, with a sigh, I walked over to the cabinet where I had kept my school uniform, took my clothes out, and started stripping myself of the tuxedo I had on. I carefully folded them and laid them on top of the cabinet after putting on my own clothes. Then, I exited the changing room.

Outside, Muria and Irina were both waiting for me as promised. After seeing me, they greeted me once again and we started on our way towards the elevators. On our way, we passed by the ballroom entrance, and inside, it would appear that things were slowly becoming wild as the music was now being blasted on the speakers. It's gotten to the point that I was actually glad that I had left before the music had became this ear-rape.

The elevator was located in an opened area near the wide-pane windows at the side of the building. We had arrived at the elevator area from the right side, and there was also a hallway that intersected the one we had arrived in. On both sides of that hallway were doors leading into hotel rooms.

Once we arrived in the elevator area, I saw a familiar figure standing before the wide-pane windows and staring at the nighttime city outside. Her silvery-white hair seemed to sparkle underneath the illuminations in the hotel and her beautiful face was reflected slightly in the window glass before her. This reflection confirmed to me that this was Luna, and she saw us approach due to that reflection as well.