152 She Can Choose Her Social Circle

The week of the final exams passed by quickly, with school being cut short so as to allow the students the longest possible time to take the exams and relax after class. Therefore, each school day there were only two periods with each period being two hours in length. Since everybody only have six classes, that means that school officially ends when the bell rings after the second period on Wednesday.

Each day following the exams, our little group would meet up and head out to relax. However, Luna didn't participate in our meetups as she was with her other friend groups. On one occasion when I was returning home after making a short detour after our meetups to hang out to an electronics store to purchase video games, I saw Luna. She was with the girl with pink hair who I believe was her best friend Erith. However, with them were also a couple older boys, some of them looking like they were in their early twenties, and a other girls as well who also appeared to be around the age of early twenties. The overall atmosphere that those people gave off to me were maybe college delinquents? but it's not my job to be judging people by their appearance. Besides, I have no right in restricting Luna in her socialization and who she chooses to associate with when she's not with us.

It was a Tuesday night when I saw her with those people. The time was about 7:30 P.M., and it appeared as if they were in no hurry of heading home. I didn't say anything when I saw them and merely watched from afar for a brief moment before continuing my journey home. For some reason, I felt somewhat annoyed, but I guess it's just me unable to accept at first that Luna would have other socialization circles beside from us.

"Let's go to a lover hotel," I overheard one of the older boys say to the group. "It's been a while since we last got things going."

"You mean it's been a while since Luna's been with us?" another boy chuckled.

They were speaking loudly as they walked down the very center of the street, making other people having to walk to the side and around them. What they were talking about drew my attention and made me pause in my steps and look back at them. However, they were already walking away and turning at the corner of the street.

I felt uneasy about what I heard, but like I've stated before, it's not my right to be deciding what other people do. I do not own her as she has her own personal will. She doesn't have much longer to live so... if it makes her happy doing whatever it is she's doing, then I guess all I can do is to accept it. I'm not someone who's extremely special to her anyways as my role is replaceable. Therefore, I'm really not the one who should be talking.

However, even though I told myself all that, deep down, I still felt extremely disturbed by it all. But even then, there's nothing else that I can do other than seal it all away deep within myself and pretend that nothing had happened. I must not talk about this with anyone else in the group. That way, she can keep her reputation with the others. She's about to die soon, so... I should at least make her ending be one that is free from unnecessary drama.

On the final day of the exam during the final period, I quickly finished the test and turned my paper over so that I could stare out the window in silence. There were still an hour left and most of the other students were merely half-way done as they struggled to comprehend these difficult problems in Physics and mostly the Mana section of it all which is basically most of the exam as that is the major concept in Physics. For me, the test questions weren't particularly difficult and I know how to do almost all of them. However, I made sure to intentionally get a few questions wrong so that I won't be at the top of the class and draw unnecessary attention to myself.

Even though I had finished the exam early, I did not plan for what I was going to do. Therefore, while staring out the window and at the cloudy sky outside, I was bored out of my mind. There was nothing that I was able to concentrate about as the world remained quite bland without many changes except for the occasional planes that would fly overhead.

The sound of pencils making contact with our wooden desks was both annoying and yet tranquilizing at the same time. Almost as if they were anesthetics, the noises numbed my senses, making it so that I was simply zoning out as I stared at the city outside that was underneath the heavy sheets of gray clouds.

When the bell finally rang, I heard a sigh of relief from Noah as he raised his arms straight over his head and stretched his back. He appeared to be extremely tired as he quickly collapsed on his desk once again which I wasn't sure if that was a good sign or a bad sign.

"How was it?" Loyd asked as he walked over to him.

"Fuck Physics..." Noah whimpered with a few droplets of tears forming in his eyes. "Bye bye vacation..."

"It was pretty hard," Irina tried to comfort him.

"There's something else that's pretty hard," Noah suddenly sat up and said while raising his eyebrows.

"That's sexual harassment," Muria calmly commented. "You will be crucified by her fans if this ever gets leaked to the public."

"Please no," Noah looked over in hers and Irina's direction and begged. "I was just joking."

"I know," Irina awkwardly laughed as she was unaccustomed to dealing with situations like that.

"What about your other classes?" Loyd asked after laughing so as to progress the conversation. "I'm feeling pretty confident that I at least passed on those subjects..."

"If it's only Physics then it's not that bad," Loyd smiled.

"I guess..." Noah sighed. "But just thinking that while I'm retaking the test and spending hours in this classroom while you people are out having fun without me makes me pissed."

"Maybe if you would've passed the test then all would be well," Muria chuckled and said in a mocking manner using her ice-cold voice.

"I...I got nothing," Noah sighed and admitted his defeat. "So, what're your guy's plans for the break?"

"I have some shows that I must go and record," Irina responded.

"I'm thinking of spending time with my sister..." Muria softly whispered to herself and blushed slightly out of embarrassment. However, she lowered her head so as to use her bangs to try and conceal it all but it wasn't enough to hide it from me.

"I haven't decided on it entirely," Loyd smiled.

"Let me guess," Noah peered over at me in a judgmental manner. "You're just gonna stay home for the break, huh?"

"If there's nothing coming up, yeah..."

"Hey, we could all go out and have some fun today," Loyd then suggested. "There's this new place by Nocsinis Station that's supposedly very good. Wanna try it out?"

"I'm down," Noah nodded. "I need to eat away this pain."

"If everyone else is down, then let's see if the others wanna go or not," Loyd said and then typed in the message into our group chat.

"It looks like Zaksus can't go," Loyd commented as he stared at his phone screen at the response. "Says that he needed to go straight to practice for the upcoming Winter League Tournament."

After a bit longer, Luna responded to the message and everybody checked the group chat as well, reading the response.

I'm sorry but I can't go, was her response.

"Looks like something must've came up for her," Loyd said as he slipped his phone away. "I guess it'll just be whoever wants to go in our group."

"I'm sorry," Irina lowered her head and apologized. "I have to go with my father and meet the producer for a show that I will have to be recording."

"That's fine," Loyd smiled in an understanding manner. Then, he looked over at Muria.

"If Irina's not going then..." She seemed somewhat embarrassed to finish her sentence but everybody already knew what she'll say.

"I'm sorry, Muria..." Irina apologized and brought herself closer to Muria, hugging her.

Muria didn't say anything about this gesture of physical intimacy, so I guess she must've gotten used to it by now since there did not appear to be any signs of discomfort or trouble on her end.

"Alevian?" Noah then looked over at me in a begging manner.

"I'm not feeling like it," I said and politely smiled in response.

"Don't worry," Loyd smiled and patted Noah on the back. "I'll go with you so you can still eat away your pain."

"But it's not the same if it's going alone with another guy," Noah sighed. "It's kinda gay... I know!" Noah's eyes suddenly lit up as he looked over and studied Loyd's face. "Alright. You've passed."

"Passed what?" Loyd stared at him with confusion marked on his face.

"I said your appearance passed the test," Noah crossed his arms in a smug manner and responded. "We're gonna go and pick up some girls."

"Wait what?" Loyd exclaimed. "I didn't agree to that."

"It's fine, it's fine."

Noah smiled as he grabbed onto Loyd's wrist and started dragging him towards the door. As he was being dragged away, I heard Loyd sigh and on his face was a fatigued countenance. However, based on my understanding of him, he'll definitely accompany Noah on this trip.

I started walking towards the door as well as I wanted to head home. Muria and Irina were walking slowly while being side-by-side as they probably want to talk before they separate. Well, I guess it's mostly Irina talking and Muria smiling and listening to it all. But anyways, because of that, their pace was extremely slow, and since I wasn't intentionally slowing down my own pace to wait for them, the distance between us increased as I left them on their own and continued towards the front gates of the school.

Nearby me and walking in the same direction as I exited through the front door of the main lecture building and towards the gates were other students who chatted and laughed as they celebrated the start of their vacation. They all seemed extremely invigorated, either they scored well on their exams or they're just genuinely excited to be off from school for an entire month. However, that and what they talked about was none of my business as I continued walking towards the gates with my earbuds in my ear playing music that was on my phone.

"Alevian?"

I heard a voice call my name and when I looked over, I saw that it was Luna who was standing by the front gates of the school. I halted in my steps and took my earbuds out of my ear.

"You're heading home?" Luna asked with a smile on her face.

"Yeah," I responded. "Irina have a job interview she must go to and Muria wouldn't go if Irina's not going. Then, I didn't want to go because I have a bad feeling about it all if it was only us boys."

"So what ended up happening?" She smiled and looked at me with great anticipation as she was interested in what the outcome of it all was.

"Noah dragged Loyd to go out to pick up girls," I sighed and shook my head.

Luna then started laughing. "That definitely sounds like him."

Her laughter seemed to have a healing effect on me as it worked to calm my nerves and offered me a sense of great tranquility. I stood there, smiling as I enjoyed this peaceful feeling, but it wasn't long before my mind soon reminded myself of what I had saw and heard Tuesday night.

Really, it was quite surprising for me to accept that someone like her, the student council president of our school, would be spending time with people that she was with. However, I am in no spot to be judging and I had already decided to keep it all a secret and sealed deeply in the abyss of my heart.

"You're waiting for someone?" I asked, seeing that she was simply standing by the front gates of the school and not leaving.

"Yeah," she responded. "I'm waiting for Erith. Our teacher called her to her office today for falling asleep during the exam so I guess she's getting a scolding right now."

"Why don't you just wait in the classroom?" I asked. "It's quite cold outside."

"I actually like the cold," she smiled and looked up at the cloudy sky. "This is my last chance to enjoy it."

"Right..."

I blandly smiled at the mention of her fate, unable to be truly happy nor act sad before her. There's really nothing that I can do about it all except what is permitted within my role as a companion. Therefore, I wanted to contribute as much as I can within this role.

"You got time this Saturday?" I forced myself to ask her. I looked away out of nervousness since it was my first time asking people out and it was all I could do to make sure that I didn't stutter.

"This Saturday?" Luna frowned. "I'm sorry. I've already agreed to spend time with Loyd."

That's right... I recalled the conversation that I had overheard after the end of the air hockey match at the arcade.

"And I'm not sure if I—"

"Sorry for the wait," a girl's voice called out and was directed in our direction.

Luna and I looked over at the owner of the voice, and I discovered that the owner of the voice was someone that Luna was extremely familiar with and I was too to a certain extent. On Erith's face was a large smile as she walked over to Luna. However, since I was with Luna, Erith looked over at me in a confused manner and waited for Luna to introduce me.

"Erith," Luna smiled and said. "This is Alevian. He's a grade below us. Alevian, this is my best friend Erith."

"Nice to meet you," Erith chuckled after she looked at my face.

"M-me too..."

Is my face that funny that it deserves to be laughed at? I thought in my mind.

"Let's get going, Luna," Erith said as she hooked her arm with Luna's and started walking off with her. "We can't keep the others waiting."

"Fine," Luna sighed. Then, she looked over her shoulder at me and smiled apologetically as she waved with her free hand. "See you."

"See you..." I whispered as I waved back and simply watched as she became smaller and smaller in my sight as the distance between us grew until Luna and her friend disappeared after turning the corner, leaving me standing there alone by the school's front gate.