Sealant

"Ugh..." I tried to speak but the words out of my mouth were muffled by the ambient noise of the busy city.

I reached out a hand towards them as I halted in my footsteps, watching as they walked further and further away from me. A sudden sense of loneliness started to gnaw at me as I seemed to have been left out, despite this supposedly being the three of us walking home.

I peered at the clock on my phone, feeling quite anxious as each second ticked by. I am quite aware of the short time limit that was set for this mission, and it is this short time limit that is making me nervous and unable to act. The pressure is just too much for me to handle.

I sighed as I started walking once again, this time at a faster pace so that I could make up the distance between them and I. Since I didn't know what to say to break into their conversation, I decided that if I were to penetrate the wall, the most effective way seems to be through physical means. Therefore, I must ram my body at the wall and fracture it. That is the reason why I squeezed myself in between the tight gap between the two of them.

I masked my intentions by looking down at my phone with my earbuds in my ear. By doing so, I hope that it creates the illusion that it was all unintentional. However, from the corner of my eye, I could see Muria glaring at me from my left, and on my right, I could see Loyd smiling, probably because he realized what I was trying to accomplish.

"Alev," Loyd said, maintaining that smile on his face, "wanna go and do something before we head home?"

"Huh?" I looked at him, quite confused as to what he was suggesting. However, I soon caught on and nodded my head in agreement.

"Muria," Loyd leaned forward slightly so that he could look over me at Muria. "You wanna go together? I could tell you more about the stupid stuff he did in the past." As he said that, Loyd quickly glanced over me, smiled, before looking back at the girl he was talking to.

"..." Muria was silent as she pondered over the suggestion. "Sure," she responded soon after.

What? It's that easy? This ain't fair. Why the hell are some people born with the natural talent of charisma while people like me just have to rot away? God, this ain't fair.

"It's still kinda early so..." Loyd took out his phone and stared at the screen to check the time. "How bout we go and watch a movie?"

He looked over at Muria and I, showing us his phone's screen.

"I have a buy two get one free coupon for this movie theater," Loyd said, "and the expiration date is today. Wanna go?"

"I'm whatever..."

I looked around at the people who passed us by as we approached the train station. Since it was still an hour or two before rush hour begins, the station was still quite spacious and not as crowded. However, that does not mean the station was dead. In fact, it was still quite busy, with employees of nearby stores standing by in front of the station with flyers in their hands that they were handing out for advertising.

"Let's get on the train before it becomes too crowded."

Loyd ventured into the opened train station and towards the ticket gates. Muria followed after him, and I too started for the ticket gates. We passed through by scanning our phones on the scanner and got on the escalators that'll talk us to the platforms for the elevated railway.

As I waited on the escalator patiently as it slowly brought me up to the platforms, I stared at Muria and Loyd, wondering whether or not if what had just happened counted as joining their conversation. I frowned as I worried that it might've not been enough, and that I will be punished once again for not completing the objective. However, my worries were soon eradicated when I received the notification on my phone.

---

Congratulations! You've completed your assignment on time.

The reward of 30 SP has been added to your account.

Your SP balance is: 75 SP

---

That counts? Well...

I lifted my eyes up from the screen of my phone and past the roof and at the blue sky as I finally arrived at the second floor open air platforms for the elevated railway.

God really could be quite merciful sometimes...

I let out a weak chuckle as I marveled at my luck. But then, I suddenly realized that I had dragged myself into a commitment with the two of them that would eat away the rest of my day. Therefore, that faint sliver of joy quickly escaped my face as I stared at the railway before me with a moody gaze.

From here on, the train ride to the movie theater is probably going to take a while, and don't even get me started on the movie. Watching a movie is going to take a good solid two hours. And if Loyd is still the Loyd I know, he's going to want to eat something after the movie. That'll probably take an hour as well.

I took out my phone from my pocket and opened the main messaging app that I use. Since Loriana is the only person that I message, finding our conversation was extremely easy, the one on the very top. I then proceeded to message her, telling her that I won't be eating dinner at home tonight.

"Train's here."

Loyd's cheerful voice along with the sound of the commute train braking to a stop notified me of the train's arrival. I looked up from the screen of my phone and moved to the side with Loyd and Muria as the door to the train opened to allow the passengers to exit the train. Then, the three of us entered the train car, and luckily, there were seats available for all three of us.

Our seating arrangement was like this: I sat on the left, Loyd in the middle, and Muria beside Loyd on the right. The two of them appeared to be still talking about my past, which somewhat annoyed me, but I've learned from eavesdropping that Loyd has not revealed any of the information that I didn't want him to reveal. Therefore, it should be safe. However, what issue their conversation created for me was that all that I could do was sit there and stare past the opened middle section of the train car intended for passengers to stand and out the window on the other side. As the train left the station, the window revealed the beautiful scenery of the city. Tall concrete skyscrapers lined the blue sky in the distance, and everywhere the eye could go was the urban environment of Palisia. However, even in this concrete paradise, there exists flora in the form of trees planted neatly in rows on the sidewalks and the vegetation in the many small parks that passed by as the train ran on the elevated railway.

I tried to zone out, but it is quite difficult to do so when you hear your name being mentioned once every few seconds.

"Umm..." I finally spoke up. "Why're you guys still talking about me?"

"Sorry," Loyd smiled. "We kinda left you out for a second there."

I mean it wasn't only for a second. The two of you left me out of your conversation—well, despite the conversation being about me—from as early as when we had left school!

"Like don't you two have anything else to talk about?" I said with a bitter smile.

"Well...I've only know Muria for the few hours today," Loyd exclaimed as he glanced over at the girl who sat by him. "So our only point of connection is you."

"I find your past quite interesting," Muria said with a sly smile."It is interesting to know the past of someone who voluntarily shuts oneself into isolation."

"Don't you two have anything else other than this?" I muttered in desperation.

"Talking about voluntary isolation," Muria looked over at Loyd. "You said that Alevian over there wasn't like this in the past. What made him like this?"

"Well," Loyd glanced over at me and immediately back at Muria.

A bad feeling crept down my spine as I realized where the conversation was directed. I have to prevent Loyd from saying it. I have to. This is something that I have kept locked up for four whole years. It is the one thing that drives me, it defines me, and it is the only real reason for my existence at the moment. I cannot let Loyd to possibly ruin it all for me. I can't.

"It all happened when he—"

"Loyd!"

My voice was stern, harsh, and the coldest that it had ever been. I even frightened myself somewhat with the intensity of the threat that was included in my voice. However, that was the last of my worries. My top priority was stopping Loyd, and it would appear that it was successful.

"Even if it was you," I continued, "there's certain things that I can never forgive you for. If you say it, then that'll mean you've betrayed me." I looked at him with a painful, yet threatening glance. "Don't make me do it to you."

"Got it, got it," Loyd nervously smiled so as to calm the situation down further. "I know what you're capable of. I won't say it."

Seeing that nervous and frightened look on his face, I relaxed somewhat after knowing that my secret was safe. I let out a sigh and addressed Muria.

"Muria," I said, "please, for my sake, can you not ask that question again?"

"Huh?"

She appeared to be still in shock by my sudden display as she stared at me blankly with her azure eyes and mouth somewhat open in shock. Upon seeing this look on her pretty face, it eradicated the threatening demeanor I had as I blushed and looked away so as to hide my sudden fluster.

"There's some things that I don't want people to know about," I continued saying, this time, my voice was weaker and more gentle. "So can you refrain from asking about it..."

"If you insist."

Muria crossed her legs and then her arms before her chest as she returned to being the usual Muria, elegant and supercilious, like a flower perched atop of a formidable mountain covered in bone-chilling frost. She's unapproachable and unmovable. Her existence defines calmness as the tranquil snow blows on that mountain, blowing on the lone flower with no one in sight. However, from her voice, I could hear that something has changed about her. She seemed to be more reserved now after seeing a side of me that she probably thought was not possible.

That doesn't matter to me one bit. In the end, she's still that same elegant flower that mocks all who tries to reach her by scaling the frosty mountain.