14 Sealan (1/2)

”Ugh...” I tried to speak but the words out of my mouth were muffled by the ambient noise of the busy city.

I reached out a hand towards them as I halted in my footsteps, watching as they walked further and further away from me. A sudden sense of loneliness started to gnaw at me as I seemed to have been left out, despite this supposedly being the three of us walking home.

I peered at the clock on my phone, feeling quite anxious as each second ticked by. I am quite aware of the short time limit that was set for this mission, and it is this short time limit that is making me nervous and unable to act. The pressure is just too much for me to handle.

I sighed as I started walking once again, this time at a faster pace so that I could make up the distance between them and I. Since I didn't know what to say to break into their conversation, I decided that if I were to penetrate the wall, the most effective way seems to be through physical means. Therefore, I must ram my body at the wall and fracture it. That is the reason why I squeezed myself in between the tight gap between the two of them.

I masked my intentions by looking down at my phone with my earbuds in my ear. By doing so, I hope that it creates the illusion that it was all unintentional. However, from the corner of my eye, I could see Muria glaring at me from my left, and on my right, I could see Loyd smiling, probably because he realized what I was trying to accomplish.

”Alev,” Loyd said, maintaining that smile on his face, ”wanna go and do something before we head home?”

”Huh?” I looked at him, quite confused as to what he was suggesting. However, I soon caught on and nodded my head in agreement.

”Muria,” Loyd leaned forward slightly so that he could look over me at Muria. ”You wanna go together? I could tell you more about the stupid stuff he did in the past.” As he said that, Loyd quickly glanced over me, smiled, before looking back at the girl he was talking to.

”...” Muria was silent as she pondered over the suggestion. ”Sure,” she responded soon after.

What? It's that easy? This ain't fair. Why the hell are some people born with the natural talent of charisma while people like me just have to rot away? God, this ain't fair.

”It's still kinda early so...” Loyd took out his phone and stared at the screen to check the time. ”How bout we go and watch a movie?”

He looked over at Muria and I, showing us his phone's screen.

”I have a buy two get one free coupon for this movie theater,” Loyd said, ”and the expiration date is today. Wanna go?”

”I'm whatever...”

I looked around at the people who passed us by as we approached the train station. Since it was still an hour or two before rush hour begins, the station was still quite spacious and not as crowded. However, that does not mean the station was dead. In fact, it was still quite busy, with employees of nearby stores standing by in front of the station with flyers in their hands that they were handing out for advertising.

”Let's get on the train before it becomes too crowded.”

Loyd ventured into the opened train station and towards the ticket gates. Muria followed after him, and I too started for the ticket gates. We passed through by scanning our phones on the scanner and got on the escalators that'll talk us to the platforms for the elevated railway.

As I waited on the escalator patiently as it slowly brought me up to the platforms, I stared at Muria and Loyd, wondering whether or not if what had just happened counted as joining their conversation. I frowned as I worried that it might've not been enough, and that I will be punished once again for not completing the objective. However, my worries were soon eradicated when I received the notification on my phone.

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Congratulations! You've completed your assignment on time.

The reward of 30 SP has been added to your account.

Your SP balance is: 75 SP

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That counts? Well...

I lifted my eyes up from the screen of my phone and past the roof and at the blue sky as I finally arrived at the second floor open air platforms for the elevated railway.

God really could be quite merciful sometimes...

I let out a weak chuckle as I marveled at my luck. But then, I suddenly realized that I had dragged myself into a commitment with the two of them that would eat away the rest of my day. Therefore, that faint sliver of joy quickly escaped my face as I stared at the railway before me with a moody gaze.

From here on, the train ride to the movie theater is probably going to take a while, and don't even get me started on the movie. Watching a movie is going to take a good solid two hours. And if Loyd is still the Loyd I know, he's going to want to eat something after the movie. That'll probably take an hour as well.