269 Back to the House

What ended up being the new teams were that the match became a seven on three match, with the rest of us matching up against Zaksus, Zevin, and Luna. However, even with this lineup, things were still rather balanced. Even with our numbers advantage, we really cannot stop an athletic freak of nature in Zaksus, who was able to recover most of our attempts at scoring as well as scoring numerous points by spiking the ball. His long arms and height only helped him in his defending as he was able to reach over the net and block our scoring attempts. If he were to play with actual volleyball players, I suppose he would be doing bad, but against us, he's doing rather well.

I don't know if they were affected by Zaksus's energy, but Luna and Zevin were able to help and did not stand idly to allow Zaksus to do all the work. It might be the chemistry between them that had developed over some time, but they were near perfect in their plays as they exploited weakness's in our coverage.

One thing I noticed while the match was going on is that whenever they would score, Zevin would always approach Luna, smiling encouragingly as Luna reciprocated the gesture. Even to now, when I observe Luna, I can still yet believe that the Luna that I had saw just yesterday was real. One other thing that caught my eye was Erith, who frowned as she stared in Luna's direction. Is she jealous that Zevin gets to be on a team with Luna while she does not?

Our journey to the beach soon ended as everyone decided to save some energy for the firework festival tonight at the pier. The festival were to open for entrance at 7:00 PM, and since it was decided that we will leave for the pier at around 7:20 PM to avoid the entering crowd, we left the beach at 4:30 in order to rest up for the night.

"We'll be doing a lot of walking once there," Loyd said as we walked back towards my beach umbrella where Mura and Emilia were resting in the shade as they watched our stuffs. "The fireworks are to set off at 8:30, so we'll spend some time walking around and looking at the different stalls and such.

I walked up to the beach umbrella and began disassembling it. As I did so, the others were grabbing their own belongings. I looked over and saw that Zevin was once again interacting with Luna in the playful way that only a boyfriend as the privilege of doing, and once again, I glanced over at Erith and saw a rather bland expression on her face, a look that I was definitely sure is out of jealousy. There appeared to be some other things concealed within it as when we started walking back to the house, she immediately went up to Luna and dragged her away from Zevin. I could see it all extremely clearly as I walked near the end of the pack.

"Hey," Zevin intentionally slowed down his pace to match mine so that we were walking side-by-side.

"Someone stole your girlfriend from you," I commented in a joking manner. However, it would appear that he must not have understood me as he had a confused look on his face, which I understand since I was speaking without really putting much effort and emotion in my words as I was tired out by the heat of the summer afternoon as the blistering summer sun stung my skin.

"I wouldn't say steal," Zevin honestly responded as he smiled and looked in Luna's and Erith's direction. "It's more like I stole Luna from Erith. They were close to each other before I even showed up."

"So you're the culprit," I nodded my head.

"Wait..." Zevin frowned for a second before a smile broke though on his face. "Were you...trying to make a joke earlier? My bad." He started laughing. "I've never seen someone say things with that bland of a voice."

"Hehehe," I weakly chuckled in order to go along with what he was saying. This is a technique that I found to be extremely useful.

"I'm not mocking you," Zevin responded. "It's just that you're different from other people and in a good way. Even in the first two days that I've known you, I can kinda tell why Luna finds you interesting. To be honest, I was kinda jealous of you at first. No lie. But now, I guess I found the reason why, and I can't even blame her."

"What?" I looked at him with a confused expression on my face as I was unsure as to what he was saying.

"Is he always like this?" Zevin said aloud to the people walking up front.

"Basically," Loyd responded, having heard parts of our conversation.

"What are you guys talking about?" I asked in a tired voice.

"We're saying that you're interesting," Zevin answered.

With that, he sped up his pace and joined into the conversation between Erith and Luna. The two seemed to welcome him as if it was a daily occurrence, which I assume must be as their relationship extends all the way back to middle school for them, which is maybe five or six years ago. They appeared rather relaxed in their conversation, something that I cannot say is the same for their conversations with us. I suppose it is simply just that we don't know them long enough.

Come to think of it, the people in our group that I've known the longest are Loyd and Muria... Yet, our conversations are probably not that natural. Maybe it is because Muria and Loyd have only known each other for a bit less than a year, but even if you consider my conversation with each of them one-on-one, it's not the same kind of fluidity that is on display by Luna, Erith, and Zevin.

"What?" Muria asked when she caught me staring at her.

"We've known each other for how many years now?" I asked.

"Almost two," she responded.

"RIght..." I sighed.

Almost two years have passed, and yet I don't feel like things have been progressing at all...

"What's wrong?" she asked.

On her expressionless face was a slight hint of worry, which is rather surprising for me as she rarely displays that countenance to me. It's a rather pretty expression to be honest, one that I wouldn't mind seeing more of. For some reason, seeing that she is worried about me, it's a...rather good feeling.

"Nothing," I responded.

"You're being kinda weird today," Irina commented. "Isn't he, Alvelyn?"

"A little," Alvelyn smiled in a rigid manner as she was caught off guard by Irina's inquisition.

"Yeah," Irina nodded. "He would actually start a conversation with other people instead of it being the other way around."

"What am I?" I muttered. "Your phone's AI assistant?"

"Something like that," Irina laughed and said. "You usually would only respond when we call your name first and stuff, like 'Hey Alevian, how are you doing today?'. Stuff like that."

"Am I like that?" I frowned as I looked down at the ground.

"That's a bit of an exaggeration, Irina," Muria said in a rather calm manner. "Alevian is actually rather compassionate deep down. He just doesn't know how to express it."

I looked up suddenly as what Muria had said about me took me by surprise. Since she was walking in front of me and slightly to my left, looking over at her I could see part of her face. On her face, there was a slight smile that she concealed from the others as she clutched onto the hoodie she is wearing that I lent her earlier.

"So kinda like you?" Irina commented.

"W-what?" Muria blushed.

"Because," Irina brought her arm around Muria's body. "I know that Muria is the kindest person in the world. Kinda like a reliable older sister almost."

"A...reliable older sister?" Muria whispered to herself. Although it was very faint and probably not caught by the others, I could sense a slight tremble of joy in her voice. "I-Irina," she cleared her throat. "It's a bit hot...Can you...let go of me?"

"Nope," Irina smiled.

As she walked next to them, Alvelyn looked over at the two with a slight smile on her face as she watched. If I have analyzed the situation correctly, Alvelyn's relationship with the two girls are closer than what I have with them. Like her relationship with them are more intimate. Which, I guess is only reasonable since Muria had helped insert a tampon into Alvelyn when I was Alvelyn, and that memory did not go away.

Wait a minute...That things is a secret between those three girls. It's a bond that holds their relationship together. So...I'm a boy that knows the secret of a group of girls? But...I don't think I will be welcomed into their group if I reveal to them my insight on that event.

A self-deprecating chuckle escaped me as I watched the three girls display their intimate and affectionate friendship. Irina had retracted her left arm from hugging Muria and brought it around Alvelyn, knitting the three girls tightly together. They appeared to be rather intimate as their faces were next to each others.

"Don't make me call the police on you, Alevian," Muria muttered in a somewhat uncomfortable but yet tolerating voice that was mixed with a hint of pleasant defeat. "That perverted look on your face after seeing three girls being intimate is rather disgusting. Especially when one of them is your twin sister."

"Are you into that kind of stuff, Alevian?" Irina glanced back at me with a concerned expression on her face.

"Excuse me?" I stared at them with a bland look of defeat and disbelief.

Upon seeing my defeated countenance, a soft chuckle of amusement escaped Muria as she turned her head and looked at the road ahead of us. She seemed to be in a good mood today...