152 She Can Choose Her Social Circle (1/2)

The week of the final exams passed by quickly, with school being cut short so as to allow the students the longest possible time to take the exams and relax after class. Therefore, each school day there were only two periods with each period being two hours in length. Since everybody only have six classes, that means that school officially ends when the bell rings after the second period on Wednesday.

Each day following the exams, our little group would meet up and head out to relax. However, Luna didn't participate in our meetups as she was with her other friend groups. On one occasion when I was returning home after making a short detour after our meetups to hang out to an electronics store to purchase video games, I saw Luna. She was with the girl with pink hair who I believe was her best friend Erith. However, with them were also a couple older boys, some of them looking like they were in their early twenties, and a other girls as well who also appeared to be around the age of early twenties. The overall atmosphere that those people gave off to me were maybe college delinquents? but it's not my job to be judging people by their appearance. Besides, I have no right in restricting Luna in her socialization and who she chooses to associate with when she's not with us.

It was a Tuesday night when I saw her with those people. The time was about 7:30 P.M., and it appeared as if they were in no hurry of heading home. I didn't say anything when I saw them and merely watched from afar for a brief moment before continuing my journey home. For some reason, I felt somewhat annoyed, but I guess it's just me unable to accept at first that Luna would have other socialization circles beside from us.

”Let's go to a lover hotel,” I overheard one of the older boys say to the group. ”It's been a while since we last got things going.”

”You mean it's been a while since Luna's been with us?” another boy chuckled.

They were speaking loudly as they walked down the very center of the street, making other people having to walk to the side and around them. What they were talking about drew my attention and made me pause in my steps and look back at them. However, they were already walking away and turning at the corner of the street.

I felt uneasy about what I heard, but like I've stated before, it's not my right to be deciding what other people do. I do not own her as she has her own personal will. She doesn't have much longer to live so... if it makes her happy doing whatever it is she's doing, then I guess all I can do is to accept it. I'm not someone who's extremely special to her anyways as my role is replaceable. Therefore, I'm really not the one who should be talking.

However, even though I told myself all that, deep down, I still felt extremely disturbed by it all. But even then, there's nothing else that I can do other than seal it all away deep within myself and pretend that nothing had happened. I must not talk about this with anyone else in the group. That way, she can keep her reputation with the others. She's about to die soon, so... I should at least make her ending be one that is free from unnecessary drama.

On the final day of the exam during the final period, I quickly finished the test and turned my paper over so that I could stare out the window in silence. There were still an hour left and most of the other students were merely half-way done as they struggled to comprehend these difficult problems in Physics and mostly the Mana section of it all which is basically most of the exam as that is the major concept in Physics. For me, the test questions weren't particularly difficult and I know how to do almost all of them. However, I made sure to intentionally get a few questions wrong so that I won't be at the top of the class and draw unnecessary attention to myself.

Even though I had finished the exam early, I did not plan for what I was going to do. Therefore, while staring out the window and at the cloudy sky outside, I was bored out of my mind. There was nothing that I was able to concentrate about as the world remained quite bland without many changes except for the occasional planes that would fly overhead.

The sound of pencils making contact with our wooden desks was both annoying and yet tranquilizing at the same time. Almost as if they were anesthetics, the noises numbed my senses, making it so that I was simply zoning out as I stared at the city outside that was underneath the heavy sheets of gray clouds.

When the bell finally rang, I heard a sigh of relief from Noah as he raised his arms straight over his head and stretched his back. He appeared to be extremely tired as he quickly collapsed on his desk once again which I wasn't sure if that was a good sign or a bad sign.

”How was it?” Loyd asked as he walked over to him.

”Fuck Physics...” Noah whimpered with a few droplets of tears forming in his eyes. ”Bye bye vacation...”

”It was pretty hard,” Irina tried to comfort him.

”There's something else that's pretty hard,” Noah suddenly sat up and said while raising his eyebrows.

”That's sexual harassment,” Muria calmly commented. ”You will be crucified by her fans if this ever gets leaked to the public.”

”Please no,” Noah looked over in hers and Irina's direction and begged. ”I was just joking.”

”I know,” Irina awkwardly laughed as she was unaccustomed to dealing with situations like that.

”What about your other classes?” Loyd asked after laughing so as to progress the conversation. ”I'm feeling pretty confident that I at least passed on those subjects...”

”If it's only Physics then it's not that bad,” Loyd smiled.

”I guess...” Noah sighed. ”But just thinking that while I'm retaking the test and spending hours in this classroom while you people are out having fun without me makes me pissed.”

”Maybe if you would've passed the test then all would be well,” Muria chuckled and said in a mocking manner using her ice-cold voice.

”I...I got nothing,” Noah sighed and admitted his defeat. ”So, what're your guy's plans for the break?”

”I have some shows that I must go and record,” Irina responded.

”I'm thinking of spending time with my sister...” Muria softly whispered to herself and blushed slightly out of embarrassment. However, she lowered her head so as to use her bangs to try and conceal it all but it wasn't enough to hide it from me.

”I haven't decided on it entirely,” Loyd smiled.

”Let me guess,” Noah peered over at me in a judgmental manner. ”You're just gonna stay home for the break, huh?”

”If there's nothing coming up, yeah...”

”Hey, we could all go out and have some fun today,” Loyd then suggested. ”There's this new place by Nocsinis Station that's supposedly very good. Wanna try it out?”

”I'm down,” Noah nodded. ”I need to eat away this pain.”

”If everyone else is down, then let's see if the others wanna go or not,” Loyd said and then typed in the message into our group chat.

”It looks like Zaksus can't go,” Loyd commented as he stared at his phone screen at the response. ”Says that he needed to go straight to practice for the upcoming Winter League Tournament.”

After a bit longer, Luna responded to the message and everybody checked the group chat as well, reading the response.

I'm sorry but I can't go, was her response.

”Looks like something must've came up for her,” Loyd said as he slipped his phone away. ”I guess it'll just be whoever wants to go in our group.”

”I'm sorry,” Irina lowered her head and apologized. ”I have to go with my father and meet the producer for a show that I will have to be recording.”

”That's fine,” Loyd smiled in an understanding manner. Then, he looked over at Muria.

”If Irina's not going then...” She seemed somewhat embarrassed to finish her sentence but everybody already knew what she'll say.

”I'm sorry, Muria...” Irina apologized and brought herself closer to Muria, hugging her.