130 Rainy Days Does Not Guarantee Coziness

The next day when school began, life seemed to return to normal. In the morning, I commuted to school while walking behind Muria as always, entering the classroom just to be greeted with loud conversations among my classmates about the fun memories they had of the school trip to Saroff. They showed each other pictures on their phones as they told the stories of their experiences, which was mostly about how they wild out or had plenty of fun.

Seeing their smiling faces and hearing their annoying laughter irritated me, making me quite disgusted with how they're acting. I would bet that after a week or so, they would totally forget about the school trip. Even those pictures that they deemed "precious" at the moment would soon lose their significance and be buried in the photo storage on their mobile devices, collecting dust as the owner never flips back to look at them ever again.

I sat down in my desk, resting the right side of my face against the cold hard surface of my desk as I looked out the window at the city and the cloudy sky in the background. The windows were shut tight in order to keep out the cold autumn winds as the season slowly transitioned to winter time.

It was already November, meaning that winter is just around the corner. Therefore, the temperature has been dipping greatly recently which explains why the air conditioner was putting out hot air into the room as well as the buttoned up blazers that the students wore. Even I buttoned up my blazer and wore a warm wool undershirt beneath the white button-up shirt of my school uniform. In addition, I wore a gray muffler scarf around my neck to keep my neck warm as well as trap my body heat.

The bell soon rang, signifying the start of zero period homeroom. Mura, my homeroom teacher entered through the front sliding door of the classroom and walked over to the teacher's podium that was at the front of the classroom with a tablet to take attendance on as well as storing any notes on morning announcements.

"Welcome back," Mura said to the entire class after she finished taking attendance. "I'm guessing everyone had fun and is plentifully rested from the week off. But, I want you all to know that relaxation time is over, that is until winter break begins after the finals. That's right. The finals are coming up."

Her sudden reminder about the upcoming finals week led to a series of whines and groans from the other students in my class. The majority of them were definitely still in the relaxed mental state from the school trip to Saroff. Therefore, they're mostly not prepared for the super rigorous final exams of our high school.

Loyd didn't appear to be too concerned as he had a calm smile on his face. Then there was Muria, whose grades were at the top of my class. Then there's Irina, who appeared somewhat concerned but she's quite intelligent and should be fine. Besides, she already has a job as a popular singer and actor so she really doesn't need the good grades.

As for me... I'm not concerned at all. I'm not going for the top marks, even though I can achieve it if I want. I'm satisfied with only getting C's in my exams. That's what I need to qualify for the direct enrollment in the Nocsinis Imperial University that my high school offers. The Nocsinis Imperial University is a pretty prestigious college in Vilheim. Pretty much any educational facility with the word "Imperial" in its name is considered one of the top schools. Therefore, it's quite difficult to enroll in NIU, but as a student of its affiliate high school, I can enter as long as I can maintain a C in all my classes. Because of this, there's really no point in me trying to get those extra points.

School went on as usual after that. Everything seemed to have returned to their usual status. The teachers lectured and the students listened and took notes. Everything seemed normal, almost as if it had returned to its primitive state, including me. For the first time in quite a while, I felt the same sense of loneliness that haunted me prior to all of this happening. Even though it was quite painful at first, I slowly got used to it as the pain slowly dulled on me. No longer could my eyes reflect my sufferings as the light slowly dimmed from them as the black flowers in my garden slowly ate away at the small patch of colorful flowers remaining.

Lunch went by quietly. The only thing notable was the fact that it had started raining outside, a heavy downpour that seemed to disregard the fact that I did not bring an umbrella to school. With a sigh, I buried my head underneath my arms as I rested it against my desk, feeling a great frustration in life itself.

It just had to be today... I thought. The one day when I didn't bring my umbrella.

From the school to the nearest train station probably takes three to five minutes walking. Even though it might not seem like much, in this weather, it would still soak my anyways. In addition, it would likely be extremely uncomfortable with how low the temperature was outside and of the water.

Maybe if I stayed behind for the club activities, the rain might let out, I thought as I looked out the window and observed the rainy world outside, listening to the side of large rain droplets pounding against the surface of the world.

The bell signalling the end of school rang after our seventh period homeroom. However, the rain continued to pour. It poured down heavily on those who dared to brave the elements with their umbrellas and raincoats mercilessly. As for me, I was forced to stay behind as I looked out the window and at the pouring rain.

I looked up at the sky and stared into the dark grey rain clouds overhead. The blue sky above was blocked out by the clouds as they seemed to envelope the world like a blanket. However, this blanket brought with it no warmth, and instead, it brought hours and hours of bone chilling cold in the form of rain.

I followed the others in my classroom over to the secondary building to our club room. When we had to cross the elevated accessway connecting the two buildings, I shivered greatly as I stepped foot on the connecting accessway. Even though the roof of the accessway blocked out most of the rain, the heavy storm was blown into the walkway from the opened sides of the walkway by the strong and cold wind. This combination of rain and wind made it extremely daunting and cold to cross the walkway, but because of it, everybody scurried and hurried over.

When we finally made it to our club room it was dark and cold. It was dark because the lights weren't on and there were no illumination being provided by nature through the window, and it was cold because the air conditioner wasn't on. Loyd quickly made his way over to the thermostat almost immediately after we entered the club room and turned the heater on. At the same time, Irina flicked the switch to turn on the lights in the room.

Now that the room was brightly illuminated by the overhead light tubes and heated by the hot hair pumped into the room by the air conditioner, the club room gradually became quite cozy. However, that took a while because when I sat down in my seat, it was still extremely cold.

Because of the weather and lower temperatures, Muria did not sit by the window today. Instead, she sat next to Irina as Irina clung onto her for warmth. Muria didn't appeared troubled this time as she must also appreciate the warmth of Irina's body. However, she did appear somewhat embarrassed to do so at first, but when neither Loyd, Noah, or I gave much of a reaction to their behavior, she seemed to relax.

Loyd and Noah began chatting, but I didn't pay attention to their conversation at all. I didn't take in anything they said, and instead, I gazed out the window, hoping that the rain could stop. The outside world had been made a very bland color as the storm clouds blocked out the sunlight, making everything appear darker than they usually would. In addition, the concrete color of the city really didn't help much to lighten the mood as it all appeared a depressing shade of grey in the background.

Maybe when night comes and the lights are turned on would the world not appear to be so depressed, but... that still doesn't change anything. It still wouldn't change the fact that the color of the skyscrapers and concrete buildings are that shade of grey. It's just unseen because it's concealed in the dark, and because of the dark, the bright lights are particularly emphasized, especially in night life areas. But... that's just like how people works. At night, they hide whatever mental issues they might have with alcohol or some other kind of intoxicating entertainment. It's just how it is...

Zaksus entered the club room about a minute after we did, and he, too, joined in on the conversation held by the others. As for me, I still did not listen and merely watched the outside world as it's being drenched by the heavenly storm. I don't understand why and how the others could still maintain such good moods as they laughed while chatting. I just simply can not lift my spirits anymore.

I believe that if my mind was materialized and took out to be observed, it would probably be the same shade of grey as the outside world as its own miniature storm poured on.