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."

"What about Emilia then?" I asked, thinking of the angel with that mysterious smile.

"Well," Mura continued to maintain that awkward smile. "She's staying in her room watching movies all day."

So she has that hobby?

"Mostly romance movies," Mura added.

"I take it you're somewhat uncomfortable watching those films?" I asked as I noticed that slight frown and change in tone of her voice. Her discomfort or disdain for those movies might've stemmed from the fact that she's not in a relationship, which I suppose might be disheartening for a young woman like her who's in the prime years of her youth.

"Well..." She tried to force herself out of this conversation in one piece but failed. With a disheartened sigh, she confirmed my theory. "Yeah..."

"You're still young," I continued to say in my usual voice that to others might sound as if it was deprived of emotion. "And you're pretty so I don't think you'll have a problem."

"..." She remained silent as she gawked at me in surprise. Her eyes were widened and her mouth slightly opened, almost as if she was shocked by my comment. "Why t-thank you," she responded, her face turning slightly red from embarrassment. "But a student of mine telling me that wouldn't make me feel much better."

Why do I think you are feeling better?

"I know what we should do," she then said as the light finally turned green. However, neither of us crossed the street. Instead, we just stood there. "You didn't eat lunch yet, right? We can go get lunch."

"Excuse me?" I muttered in a soft voice of shock.

"Or are you going to disobey an order from your teacher?" she then said with a smug grin on her face.

"Or are you going to disobey an order from your teacher?" she then said with a smug grin on her face

"..." Can a teacher even do that? Like when I'm not in school, can a teacher use her authority and force me to do stuff like that? I assume no, but... from that seemingly charming and harmless smile on her face, my primordial instincts could sense something dangerous. It was almost as if she was a predator that approaches her prey, luring them in with the pretty exterior of her's. However, I wouldn't say that her interior is evil or anything. Rather, it's just... kinda hard to deal with?

Therefore, I am forced to voluntarily accompany her to lunch. I mean... it was almost lunch time, so I assume it could've been worse.

I followed her into a nearby restaurant and was led to a table by the waitress. Being the passive person that I am now rendered to, I followed at the very end behind Mura as we were led to our dining booth. As we took a seat opposite to each other, we were then handed menus to order our food from. Come to think of it, recently I've been eating out quite often. I mean I am away from home after all, so the only thing I could eat is from restaurants.

"Order what you want," Mura said as she flipped through the menu. "I dragged you here, so I'll pay for your food."

"T-thanks," I said as I looked down at the menu.

The food items on the menu were pretty basic, nothing you couldn't get from restaurants in Palisia. However, the taste of things should be different because of the different ingredients that're used in different regions. I flipped through the menu, looking at the different food items offered and the prices. Since I'm not paying for myself, I don't want to order something that's pretty expensive. However, I wouldn't want to order something that's too cheap as well. Therefore, I'll have to search around.

"I'll have the chicken parmesan," I said, handing the menu to the waitress. "As for drinks, I'll take a milk tea."

"You don't want anything else?" Mura asked as she looked over at me with a concerned countenance on her face. "You can order more if you want."

"I'm fine," I answered.

The chicken parmesan costs about 80 Vil, and with a drink, the total for me will be around 100 Vil. It's not too cheap, but not too expensive as well. It's a perfectly acceptable price range for a meal like this, so I think I did a decent job on ordering.

"I'll have the meatball spaghetti," Mura said. "And a milk tea as well."

"Would you like anything for desert?" the waitress then asked.

"I'll have an egg tart," Mura said. Then, she looked straight ahead at me. "What about you?"

"..." I flipped over to the deserts section of the menu. I didn't anticipate having to order a desert, but... it doesn't hurt to see what they have. "I'll have the cheesecake."

"Alright," the waitress said with a smile as she took our menus from us. "Your food will be coming right up." Then, with a slight bow, she left our table leaving us alone.

With a slight chuckle, I shook my head in disbelief. I can't believe that I would order a cheesecake. I guess I've really been influenced by Luna...

"So Alevian," Mura asked me. "What do you wanna do after this?"

"Huh?"

I looked up and at her face, feeling a cold surprise in my heart.

Excuse me?

At that moment I knew that my fate has been sealed and that there's no way out. Like a wounded prisoner of war that's being buried alive, the only thing I could do is watch with open eyes as I'm lowered into the earth and dirt was poured over my body. I can't do anything to free myself from this coffin as my fate is sealed.