Project: Socialize (Chapters 1-197)

65. I'm Confident

The meeting concluded after an hour, and when leaving, Irina and Muria seemed to be plagued by a gloomy atmosphere, with their facial expressions lacking in joy and instead filled with uncertainty. The loss of the request forms seemed to have dealt a major amount of damage to them, and the consequences seemed to linger about in their minds as they walked in silence. A frown was the only thing visible on their faces, and their moodiness was to the point that even I felt somewhat affected by it.

The original plan was that after the meeting, the two would head to the theater club and rehearse for the play. However, with their current mood, it's not hard to imagine the negative impact it will have on their performance. Too much was on their mind for them to focus, and that's bad for the play... like really bad.

To break this spell of theirs, it looked like I will need to act.

Once we were at the crossroad in the secondary building where we were to go our separate ways, I looked in their direction, taking in their melancholic aura as they walked away down the hall with their backs turned towards me. Their heads were hanging somewhat low from the incident and I could tell that it must be gnawing on their conscience greatly.

"Hey," I called out to them, causing the two of them to halt in their steps and turn to face me. Upon seeing their defeated faces, I let out a sigh as I placed both hands into my pockets. "Don't worry," I said. "Just focus on the play. I'll take care of it."

Muria looked at me with doubt in her eyes, but as for Irina, she seemed to be comforted by my statement. She's been helped by me before, so she probably thinks I could do it again, which is true. Therefore, on Irina's face a faint smile appeared. She seemed to have slowly regained her vitality, which will definitely leak over to Muria.

"Let's go," Irina hugged onto Muria's arm, bringing her body close to hers. "Alevian will take care of it." She then started dragging the girl off in the direction of the theater club.

"B-but..."

Muria's eyes darted back and forth between me and Irina. She appeared still quite confused as to the situation, but she seemed to have finally accepted her fate as Irina dragged her further down the hallway until the two disappeared into the theater club's prep room.

Seeing that the two of them were finally at their destination, I for some reason felt a strange tranquility in my mind. With a sigh of relaxation, I turned to face the hallway that led to our club room, standing there in the middle of the crossroad alone. On my face was a look of stern seriousness that was mixed with a slight frown of anger. They had messed with the wrong person, and I will make sure they pay for it.

"Let's get down to business," I muttered as I started down the hallway.

My footsteps echoing off the walls of the hallway was the only sound audible other than the ambiance chattering of students preparing for the Festival. However, my brain blocked out that sound as well as the sound of my footsteps as it began processing the situation and formulating my plans.

Since they've committed the act without any planning, I thought, that means the place they'll hide the forms will not be very hard to find. Now, if I were to try and get someone into deep trouble by taking something vital from them, how would I do it without intricate planning and little time? Now, the answer's blatantly obvious.

I rounded the corner and walked towards the spot where I was certain the forms were located.

The only reasonable answer that anyone will have in situations like that is—

I reached in through the frontal opening of the container and immediately grabbed hold of the crumbled stack of papers.

—the trashcan.