35 My Saturday

When I woke up the next morning, I was greeted by a neatly made bed that was empty. Emilia seemed to have already left my room by the fact that there were no traces of her. I slowly got up from my make-shift sleeping area on the floor, folded the blanket, and stored them back into the cabinet where I found them from.

I looked around my room, in awe at the fact that Emilia had left my room with no traces of her existence. She even sprayed air refresher in the room to rid it of her scent. It was as if she was never here before, gone without a trace. There wasn't even a single strand of her hair lying about on my bed as I lifted the bed sheets up. For some odd reason, I felt lonely despite her stay only being for two nights.

She had said something about having found her own place that is also in the building I reside in but on the lower floors. Therefore, she must be there at the moment and waiting for her furniture to arrive.

Without any further thought into the issue, I exited my room to head to the washroom. There, I brushed my teeth and washed my face so as to completely wake myself up for the morning. Afterwards, I then headed in the direction of the living room.

I was immediately greeted by the aroma of coffee as I emerged from the small hallway into the living room. Loriana sat on the couch with a cup of coffee on the coffee table as she watched the replay of a variety show that was being played on television. Because it was a Saturday, she didn't have to go to work and I didn't have to go to school. As I just stared there and observed her, I discovered that she seemed to be quite absorbed by the show, and when I looked over, I realized that it was a popular variety show that she enjoyed quite a bit. Usually, the show would air every Friday night, but yesterday with the Markus coming by, she wasn't able to enjoy it. Therefore, she must be quite glad that there were replays in the morning. Even if there wasn't, she'll be able to find the show on the many video streaming sites online.

Realizing that I was actually quite hungry, I walked over towards the dining table where she had set a plate with a few slices of toast and a jar of strawberry jam out for me along with a cup of coffee. I pulled a chair back and sat down. This seemed to have drawn Loriana's attention for she glanced over at me for a second but soon returned back to her show.

I sat there eating my breakfast in silence, using my phone to provide me with entertainment as I ate. I looked out the window, seeing that the world outside was underneath a dark cloudy sky with rain pouring down on the world. I grinned as I welcomed the rain. Rain always makes home feel extremely cozy, it's such a nice feeling when you know the world outside is wet and cold but you are completely dry and warm as you sit in the comfort of your home. Man don't I love that feeling.

What should I do for the day? I can catch up on some shows using my computer, and I could also play video games for the whole day. Even though I have homework due, but it's whatever. It's not like the material is hard or anything. I'll just write something on it and call it a day.

Just when I got up from my seat, carrying the empty plate with the coffee cup stacked on top of it with one hand and the jar of jam in my other hand back over to the kitchen area, I was stopped by Loriana.

"What do you want for lunch today?" she asked without looking over at me.

I set the empty plate down in the sink and walked over to the refrigerator to place the jar back in its original place. "I'm fine with anything," I said in a casual voice as I cleaned the plate and coffee cup I had used.

"Then let's go out for lunch today."

"Huh?"

I looked up in surprise at her sudden statement. My plans...all out the window.

"It's fine," she said. "Plus," she smiled, "I haven't walked in the rain in a while."

Although I was somewhat annoyed that my plans for a peaceful day was ruined, I somehow felt quite happy that I would be able to spend time with her. I thought that maybe if I spend more time by her side, I will be able to get past that guilt I felt whenever I see her. Maybe it will become dull as time washes over it, acting like a liquid and diluting it to the point that it becomes no longer noticeable.

"So when are we heading out?" I asked.

"In the afternoon," she responded.

I returned to my room and turned on the monitor to my PC. I waited for a few seconds for my PC to turn on, and then I opened my web browser and went to a video streaming site to watch some shows to pass time. I began browsing what was offered, and sighed as nothing seemed interesting for me to watch. I hated waiting once a week for new episodes of good shows to show up. And as for the drama shows, well...they're mostly not targeted at audiences like me. Mostly, those shows target women, which is weird. Don't these show producers know that a bunch of men stay at home and loiter about as well?

With nothing to do, I took out my phone. I stared at the blank screen for about a minute before deciding that I would message Emilia and ask about her status.

How's everything? I sent to her.

Fine. She responded not too long after. The furniture came. All I have left is to arrange everything.

You need help?

No.

With that conversation ending, I closed out of the messaging app and stared at my phone screen once again. I thought about what I could do and my eyes wandered over to the Socialization app. I opened the app and checked my SP balance, which is at 4375. This is quite a large number I suppose, seeing as to how in my early days of using this app the SP rewards were extremely low. However, maybe that was because it was Ralus that was assigning me the missions and that he must be cheating me out of some precious SP.

I pressed my finger on the icon for the marketplace and browsed the items that I can redeem with my SP. It was the usual case for the items and abilities, with the majority of them having weird effects. However, my attention was caught on the Gender Swapper.

Gender Swapper

Change your gender using this item once it is in your inventory after buying. To change it back, just do the same thing. Also, unlimited uses.

Price: 3500 SP

That's quite expensive...But...the ability to change your gender. That means I will have a girl's body, right? If it is yourself, then it's not considered illegal, right?

The thought of changing my gender to the opposite one perked my interest and made me fantasize about the possible uses of the item. However, as I shook my head, I snapped out of that fantasy and focused on reality.

If the SP rewards are so high, that means the punishment for not completing a quest will also be high. Therefore, I need a secure cushion in my SP balance to assure that I won't be punished badly for it. Even though I really want to try this item out, it will have to be at a later date when I have more SP.

With nothing further to do, I spun myself around in my computer chair. However, not too long after, maybe after spinning for about 2 seconds, I was bored of the act and decided to do something else. I walked over to the sliding glass door that led to the balcony from my room and entered the balcony. Outside, the air was cool as fall slowly crept into our lives and made me shiver as my clothing were still for summer weather. Well, maybe it has got to do with the rain as well. I don't know. I'm not an expert at this.

I observed the skyline of Nocsinis on the other side of the Helliger river, and I then turned my vision towards the streets. There, people walked about carrying umbrellas, making the otherwise bland streets a colorful patch of different colors that were still mostly black, gray, or a dark shade of a color. Rarely would I see a brightly colored umbrella in the crowd. Maybe it is the mentality to try to not stand out as much in a crowd that spurred the people to wear dark colored clothing and use dark colored umbrellas in Palisia. Who knows?

I soon returned back into my room and closed the glass door behind me. I relaxed as the warmth of my room provided me with comfort. I then looked around, seeing that due to the cloudy sky outside, my room was quite dark. Therefore, I used my phone to remotely turn on the ceiling lights in my room. I actually quite enjoy having ceiling lights since when it is done correctly, like the way it is in my house, it looks modern and fashionable. No longer do I have to deal with those cheap looking lamps and stuff.

I sat back down on my computer chair and spun it so that I was facing my computer. I plugged in my headphones and placed them over my ear. Then, I clicked on one of the many shows available on the video streaming site that I had kept opened from earlier. Now, all I have to do is wait for when Loriana calls me to leave for lunch.