196 Heading Home

When Emilia and Mura stopped by the clubroom for a quick checkup of our situation and welcoming us back from winter break, Erith took the opportunity to formally make her request to join the club. For some reason, I had expected that it would pass without any hindrance or hesitation, and that was exactly what happened. Emilia appeared quite indifferent about the issue, and as for Mura, she seemed to be quite willing to allow Erith to join.

Therefore, it was formally decided that Erith will become a member of the club, meaning that our club room will now be populated by an extra member. Even though Erith wasn't a bad person judging off of the memories I have of her in the other timeline as well as this one, I cannot help myself but feel a slight unease or discomfort. Maybe it's just the way she looks over at me. It's just...always observant, always cautious, almost to an extent even greater than mine. It just appeared as if nothing can be concealed from her as those crystal clear blue eyes of hers will see through all attempts of obscurity.

Sitting in my chair, I released a sigh of fatigue. I was mentally exhausted by that small incident that had occurred earlier. I leaned back against my seat while retaining a proper sitting position, and brought a hand up to my shoulder, rubbing them. They were quite sore for some reason, and I suspect it has something to do with my breasts.

"Tired?" Noah smiled as he walked over and stood next to me.

"Yeah," I let out a sigh and whispered to him so that the others would not be able to hear our conversation.

He's the only one that knows of my gender transformation, so I do not want to risk the chance that this could be revealed to the others through us being overheard. I glanced over at Erith, checking to make sure that she wasn't paying attention before continuing.

"Do I really have to do this for a whole month?" I asked him, still rubbing my shoulders to ease the soreness. From the corner of my eye, I saw Loyd peeking over at us, but when I glanced over, he looked away. Maybe it was just my imagination.

"That's not up to me to decide," Noah chuckled and responded. "I'm just the messenger. If you have complaints, you'll have to bring it to Ralus and see if he can do something about it."

"So this is Ralus's doing?"

"Part of it, at least," Noah explained. "God got the other half."

"So no way out huh?" I sighed once again.

"I wouldn't be that depressed if I were you. It messes with your skin condition."

"Well," I then looked down at my chest. "If it weren't for these two things weighing down my shoulders."

"Want me to hold them up for you?" Noah joked.

"Hell no," I responded. "That's sexual harassment."

***

The day soon came to a close as the day entered into the twilight with the sun hanging in the western horizon, casting its last rays onto the city. Knowing this, Loyd announced the closure of the day's activities, and all of us started funneling out of the doors and stepped foot onto the cold hallways of the secondary building.

Since I was protected from the cold by the warmth of the heater in the clubroom, the sudden cold was quite shocking for me, causing me to shiver. I rubbed my hands together and breathed air into them. Meanwhile, my exposed legs were being berated by the cold air in the hallway. Like seriously, I cannot stand the cold...

"You alright?" Loyd asked with a gentle hand on my back. He must've noticed me shivering from earlier.

"Yeah," I responded. "Just kinda cold."

"It's gonna be a few more weeks until it warms up," he said. "You want my coat?"

"No it's fine," I rejected his offer and saw momentarily a look of disappointment on his face.

Wait a minute...Don't tell me Loyd he...

I paused in my steps and looked over at him, feeling my face becoming warm at that thought.

B-but I'm a guy...

"Right now you aren't," Noah whispered nonchalantly as he walked past me as if he could read my mind.

"Alvelyn?" I felt a gentle tug on my sleeve. Looking over, I saw that it was Irina. "Is something wrong?"

"Nothing," I responded. "Just a bit cold."

"How about now?" she wrapped her arms around mine, hugging onto me.

The soft sensation of her chest pressing against the side of my arm was...well quite a nice feeling. It also made me quite flustered. I don't think I'll ever get used to this...

***

When we finally made our way out of the school and off campus, I looked up at the sky and taking in its beautiful color as the darkness of the night met the orange of the sun in the distance, blending together and creating a beautiful and mesmerizing light purple color. The view of the tall concrete buildings with lights shining in their windows around us was quite pretty to the eyes, and it was this scenery that momentarily distracted me from the cold.

Since none of us lived by the school, we walked together until we arrived at the nearby train station. And once we were there, then came the familiar moment where we would all say our goodbyes and go our separate ways.

"We'll be going this way," Erith said as she hooked her arm with Luna's while having their back facing the metro escalators. "We want to go shopping for a bit before going home."

"Shopping?" Loyd commented. "This late at night?"

"Yeah," Erith smiled in that mature and confident manner. "We can handle it."

As I gazed at her face, I couldn't help it but think back to what I had seen the two doing in the other timeline. Will they also be spending time with those...college students again in this timeline? I just have a severe lack of information about the two of them, even Luna. It just came to me how little I really know about them outside of our little circle. Erith, I could understand, but Luna as well... It just makes me—I don't know—kinda sad to know that we're actually that far apart...

"Well, have fun," Zaksus said.

Then, as if nothing had happened, every one of us went our separate ways. Zaksus and Loyd went off in the same direction towards the train line that would take them home as their homes were located close to each others, Luna and Erith went down the escalators to the metro to go shopping with Irina following behind them as her commute home required taking the metro as well. That then left Noah, Muria, and I to take the escalators up to the elevated railway to make our way back to Lumina.

As usual, with a smooth and swift motion of scanning my phone against the scanner on the ticket gates, we passed through and boarded the escalators. From there, we made our way up to the platforms where we waited in the cold wind for around two minutes for our train to arrive. Finally, we boarded it like we've always done, except this time, I'm a girl.

Since we were riding the train at the tail end of rush hour, the train car wasn't as crowded, and there were actually a few seats available. Seeing the opportunity, Muria sat down, leaving just enough space on her left for one more. I eyed the seat and was somewhat hesitant. Back when I was still 'Alevian', when I even have the thought of sitting down, I would be met with a mean look from her, as if she was warning me to stay away from her territory. That was a frightening gaze, such that it had made me never even allow that notion to be born in my mind.

I took a deep breath and approached the seat. Then, I sat down in one swift motion with my eyes closed, hoping that I would not be met with a bad ending. After sitting down, I opened my eyes and peeked over at her, and to my surprise, on her face wasn't a look of disgust. Rather, there was a casual look, as if nothing out of the norm had occurred.

So when I'm a female, I am not restrained by my usual boundaries? I thought to myself.

"Is there something on my face?" Muria asked when she noticed me staring at her face.

"No," I forced a laugh so as to escape the awkward situation.

Seeing that there was nothing further that she could escavate from me, Muria closed her eyes and rested them, probably to alleviate the fatigue that she had accumulated throughout the day. I stared at her face out of curiosity, taking in her pretty facial features. To be fair, her countenance is quite mature as well, but it's not the same type as Erith's. Rather, it's more of a protective, more caring type, which I believe describes her personality.

If I was 'Alevian' she wouldn't even let me stare at her face, I bet... I sighed.

I then looked up from my seat and over at Noah who stood protectively over the two of us. With a hand grabbing onto the handrail dangling from the ceiling, on his face was an amused smile. I frowned as I was confused by this expression, but he didn't seem to mind my confusion.

I let out a sigh once again and directed my attention back over towards Muria. Once again, I took in her beautiful profile. When her eyes are closed, she appeared to be in such a state of tranquility, and the beauty of her long eyelashes...it's almost a bit too alluring.

"Muria," I whispered to her.

"Yes?" She opened an eye and turned her head to face me.

"I've always wondered," I started speaking, thinking in my mind how I will phrase this question that had actually been bothering me ever since I've met her. It's not a question that I need to know the answer to, but I'm just curious. "Why is it that you treat Alevian that way?"

She creased her slender eyebrows together into a frown. "Did he asked you to ask me that?"

"No," I shook my head. "I'm just curious."

"Hmm..." She gazed into my eyes and frowned. Then she looked over at Noah, who immediately nodded and inserted earbuds into his ear and turned the other way. Then, she finally responded. "He never cares for himself, always just sitting there with that stupid look on his face that just seems to scream that he doesn't care, but I could just feel that deep down, he's yearning for attention. Someone like that...just to think that someone like him would be so observant, so selfless, and so eager to help others when it truly comes to it..."

"So is that the reason why?" I was confused as to how this correlates with her treatment of 'Alevian'.

"I admire him," Muria nodded. "But I despise that look of pity he would occasionally give. I feel like he thinks too highly of himself, thinking that he can accomplish everything on his own and doesn't need anyone's help. I'll leave you at that and you can try and figure out the rest."

"Wait—"

"We are now nearing Lumina Station, Lumina Station. The doors will open on your left. Please be careful when stepping out of the train and please do so in a safe and orderly manner."

The broadcast in the train suddenly activated, signaling to us the arrival of the train.

"Let's go," Muria smiled in my direction as she grabbed her school bag off of her lap and stood up.

On the walk to our residential building, I thought about what she had said to me, and I contemplated asking her. However, I decided that maybe it was for the best that I figure it out on my own. I just feel like she's given me enough help on this already and I've cheated enough. Whatever the case was though, I still did not know why that night.