25 But that’s so Cliche

After walking for a few more minutes, we finally came to a stop. It would appear that the destination was the restaurant in the building to our left. It was a restaurant that was quite famous in Palisia and often requires reservations for a seat.

"Let's go in."

Mura smiled as she looked over at me. Her smile for some reason was quite unsettling to me, almost as if she's scheming things.

She probably is to be honest, since she's just that type of person. Mura is someone who, like her sister, could be described with perfection. However, it is probably due to the fact that she could conceal her faults better than most. There's no perfection in humanity. All that there is is the ability to conceal one's fallacies.

As for Mura, I believe I can sense what fallacies that she was trying to conceal, yet I could not pinpoint what it was exactly. Like I have a general idea, but not exactly.

The four of us entered the building and proceeded to the escalators. Mura presses the button for the twelfth floor and we were then taken to the twelfth floor by the elevator.

Once the elevator door opened, we were immediately greeted by a waitress dressed in the special uniform of the store. The atmosphere of the restaurant, along with the professionalism of the staff, made me quite tense. I was never the best with formal circumstances to be honest.

We were led to our seat, which was booth seating by the window. Muria filled in the seat by the window with her sister sitting beside her, and as for me, I sat in the seat closest to the window opposite to Muria with Emilia sitting next to me. The waitress immediately brought us some iced water and then asked us for our drink orders. After receiving those orders, the waitress left our table and returned not too long after with the drinks.

"Get whatever you would like," Mura announced to us. "It's on me and Emilia today."

The waitress then took our food orders and left our table.

"So," I sighed, leaning my face on the palm of my right hand, "why did you call me here today, Ms. Edel?"

"Just call me Mura outside of school," Mura smiled.

Her statement elicited a surprised reaction from Muria, and she looked first at Mura and then at me. However, when she glanced at me, there was a hint of...sadness? in her eyes.

"You two are quite close," Emilia commented with a chuckle.

"He is a problem student that I have to deal with on a regular basis, Emilia," Mura explained to her. "He's so bad that even you realized it on your first day." Mura smiled slyly towards me, almost as if reminding me of my antisocial problems.

"I don't think I have a problem," I quickly avoided eye contact and looked out the window at the rainy city outside. "More so, I think it is a problem with society."

"That's your problem right there," Mura sighed. "Unwilling to notice anything wrong with yourself and laying the blame on others..."

"..."

I understand her reasoning, and I do realize that in the eyes of others, my behavior is considered abnormal. However, that is who I am, or at least who I was forced to be.

My ensuing silence continued until the food arrived, and when I picked up the fork, I could sense an anticipating gaze coming from Mura and Emilia. I was uncomfortable with this, but...what could I do about it? I slowly moved the fork over to the steak that I had ordered, used the provided knife to cut it, and then slowly brought it up to my mouth. Just when I placed the meat into my mouth, I saw a smile from Mura.

"W-what?" I asked, quickly swallowing the food.

"Alevian," she said, "I have a favor to ask of you."

"Okay..." My voice lacked confidence as I was certain that something bad is coming...

"I want you and Muria to form a club of sorts," she explained.

"No," Muria and I quickly said at the same time.

Mura sighed. "I haven't even said anything."

"My response is still a no," Muria persisted. "The idea of starting a club with him bothers me."

"Is that so?" Mura nudged her sister's elbow gently. "You were quite happy when you came home from the movies that day with the two plush doll."

"T-that's different," Muria blushed.

"As for me," I began to explain, "I dislike having to stay after school for club activities. In addition, I don't like having to socialize with others."

"Well," Mura smiled. "That is the whole reason why I want you two to start a club. Hopefully, it will cure your antisocial behaviors."

Why is she saying it as if being antisocial is a disease that needs curing? Some people don't want to be social. Leave us alone.

"I don't really see how that would work," I muttered to myself.

Then, I suddenly felt my phone vibrate. I glanced at the screen and discovered that it was a notification from the Socialization app.

--

Current Objective

Accept it.

Time Limit: 10 sec

Reward: 1000 SP

--

I immediately looked up at Emilia, who smiled as if nothing had happened at all. However, from that somewhat mocking smile of hers I could tell that this was her.

Time was ticking by fast and I have to make my decision then and there. Emilia has placed a high SP bonus for the mission, probably to force me into accepting it. Therefore, this means that me being in this club is a vital part of her plan. If it's 1000 SP, then sure. Why not? With 1000 SP, I can have future security in regards to not completing missions. All that will happen with my day is probably for the first week or something, I go to the club meets, but after that, I'll just head straight home and say I forgot.

"I'll do it," I sighed.

I then glanced over at Emilia, who nodded her head slightly in approval.

"You will?" Mura appeared quite please by this fact. "Looks like you do know to seek aid." She then turned to her sister. "How about you, Muria?"

"I expressed my opinion before," she responded coldly.

"Are you sure?"

Mura said in a voice that sent a shiver down my back. I could tell that she as about to blackmail her sister into doing so, similar to how Emilia did so to me.

"If you don't," she said, "then I might have to show Alevian here your—"

"Fine," Muria immediately agreed to her sister's conditions to protect whatever it was she wanted to protect. "I'll do it."

"Excellent," Mura smiled innocently.

Mura was someone that you would not want to come to bad terms with. With her high IQ and EQ, she can really manipulate people and bend them to her wills. Therefore, I am always cautious of her...But to be honest, what she has done so far has been for my sake...even though I would not agree to her goals, but she was trying to help me in her way. Therefore, I can conclude that she's not a bad person.

"Emilia and I can be the advisor teachers for your club," Mura added.

"But then we do not have enough people," Muria pointed out the main issue. "To start a club we need at least five people. That we do not have."

"You only need to find two more," Emilia commented.

"We've talked to Loyd," Mura explained, "and he said he's willing to join the club."

"Loyd?" I muttered with a somewhat complicated response in regards to the issue.

Well...he's probably the best person you can get in terms of me being able to interact normally with him or her second to Muria. Besides, at this school, finding people that I can be comfortable around ain't easy. Let's just say it's impossible.

"But finding two more people," Muria brought a hand to her chin. "That will be quite difficult."

"We don't even know what the club does," I commented.

"It'll be to help students with their problems," Mura answered me.

"What? That sounds so cliche," I said, recalling the numerous novels centered around school with similar clubs. "That's just a plain bad idea."

"You kids are in high school," Mura said. "What else do you want?"

"No," I explained myself. "It's just that it's a bit cliche and might be boring."

"Since when did you care about things being boring or not boring?" Mura questioned.

"That's true...but..."

Nearby, Emilia quietly chuckled, which prompted the rest of us to glance over at her.

"You really are quite adept at socializing," she said.

"Huh?" I looked at her with a confused expression on my face.

"You might not realize of it," she continued, "but you attract people to you."

"That's a bad thing," I said. "I just want serenity."

"Well, you'll get that once you start correcting your attitude towards life," Mura said to me. "I don't expect you to become Loyd in terms of charisma, but at least become normal."

"I'll try," I sighed.

"So as for now," Mura announced. "Find enough people to start the club."

I then received a notification from my phone, which was from the Socialization app.

- -

Congratulations! You've completed your assignment on time.

The reward of 1000 SP has been added to your account.

Your SP balance is: 4075 SP

- -

I've always wondered how does Emilia control the system? She doesn't even have her phone out!