Project: Socialize (Chapters 1-197)

116. Buried Alive?

The next morning, I wasn't in the mood to hang out with the boys. I needed some time alone. That's the reason why I decided to just walk around the city of Saroff on my own. The streets here wasn't as busy as Palisia, but there were still plenty of people and cars going about. On the road, cars drove past, and on the sidewalk, people walk past. In fact, Saroff is sorta like west Palisia where there's less activity.

It was the sixth day of our school trip, and tomorrow, we will be taking the high speed rail home to Palisia. Therefore, many students had decided to wild out today. To them, my leisure stroll through the city of Saroff might seem weird, but... it's just what I needed to calm my mind at the moment. I wasn't sure what the others were doing exactly, but that's none of my business.

With a blank expression on my face, I looked into a bakery through the windows, taking in the many cakes that were on display. However, I slowly realized that instead of staring at the beautifully decorated cakes, I was more focused on looking at myself. I took in the gloomy state of my physical appearance, and not understanding why that was. Maybe it's because I was born this way, or maybe it's because I'm often not happy... Whatever the case may be, it is what it is. This is my face, and there's nothing I can do to change it.

I continued walking down the road, never stopping but occasionally glancing into the stores to see what was available. I walked aimlessly with no real destination in my mind. Rather, I was simply doing so to pass time. I didn't feel like just holing up in the hotel room and watching television since that will just end up with me accidentally slipping into the dark abyss of melancholy. Therefore, walking around and having my interest peaked by random objects or things in the city feels more beneficial.

I approached a corner up ahead where a crossroad ended a series of buildings on my left. I've been playing this game during my walk, and that is whenever I approach a corner, I try and guess what will be the gender of the first person I see. I know it's fairly boring, and I'm often wrong, but it provides a sense of entertainment, so I continued with it until now.

My guess for the gender of the first person that I will see from that corner is a female, and I am correct. However, it wasn't just any female; it was my teacher, Mura. I looked at her in surprise, but I guess it didn't show on my apathetically bored face. However, she did appeared quite surprised seeing me.

"Alevian? Why're you here?" she asked upon seeing me.

I walked past her and waited for the light to turn green before crossing the road. "I just feel like walking around," I answered. "What about you? Not spending anytime with Muria?"

"I want to," Mura chuckled, "but her friend took her away from me."

Friend... so Irina then? That's the only suspect capable of doing such a thing since Muria doesn't have any other close friends. In fact, I don't think she has any friends at all, unless you include those of us in the club. However, I wouldn't think too highly of myself and say that I'm her friend.

"So you have anything else planned or are you just walking around?" Mura then asked.

"I'm just gonna walk around," I responded without taking my gaze away from the signal lights.

"We're returning home tomorrow," she then said with a smile on her face. "Don't you think not doing anything is a waste?"

"Then what about you, Ms. Edel?" I directed the question back to her. "What're you doing?"

"First off," she smiled. "You can call me Mura when we're alone. And as for the answer to your question..." That smile soon became an awkward one. "I actually don't have anything planned as well. I was originally going to spend the day with Muria, but... you know."