GLITCH

Thirst for Friendship and the Unexpected Scene

BLUE TOWN

Tuesday, November 9, 2500 8:31 AM

After four more days, we reached the town of festivals, Blue Town! It's not my first time coming here by the way. I've been on multiple occasions, but I haven't come here for sightseeing. Luckily, we're right on time; the Alexia Festival! The festival is dedicated to the name of their guardian deity Alexia, an archangel who is said to have defended the town from Draco, the chaos dragon ten centuries ago.

Well, not that I have taken an interest to history that much. This time, I'll make sure to savor my freedom! Yay!

"Rylai, you seem excited upon coming here."

Ah.

I cleared my throat and stated while staring at him (he's on my right side by the way) with my blank expression.

"I think you're mistaken Sven."

"Eh…"

"Nevermind that Sven, let's go and find a place where we can stay in the meantime", I said as I started to walk ahead.

"Ah! Yeah…!" he exclaimed while he catches on my pace.

•••

"Good morning to you dear guests, welcome to Cosme Lodge. My name is Raymond Gates."

"Thank you for welcoming us. Say, do you have two available rooms please?"

"Please wait a moment as I'll check if there is", Mister Raymond looked upon the stash of keys in their lodge.

We're inside a lodge a few meters away from the town plaza. Sven is busy mesmerizing the decorations. I guess he's one of those people who love art.

•••

When we're still looking for a place to stay at…

"Are you sure to let me accompany you?" Sven asked while hesitating.

"Yep… I'm super sure about it. Don't worry about the expenses."

"Aren't you annoyed? I'm just nobody. Also, you already gave me an exclusive G-watch and your tech sword. Any more than this is…"

I stopped walking forward and moved backwards instead to return to Sven's side. I faced him, and flicked his nose.

"Excuse me? To me, you're not a 'nobody' Sven. Remember the time that we exchanged the four of us our contacts? You're my friend. What happened to your past that made you in this state anyway?" I nagged as I placed both of my hands on my waist.

"Well –"

"Actually, I don't care. I don't care what happened on your past. I want you to please be mindful more on your present. Unlike your past that seems gloomy for you to be this pathetic; your present will be accompanied by me and the others, so don't be a freaky worrywart will you?"

Wow. I let out quite a steam. Well, I'm not that smooth communicator, so I don't really have something called "friendship" for the last ten years of my life. But this time, I have them now. I felt relieved honestly. In the past, I'm usually alienated from the class or anywhere since I never talked to anyone aside from Miss Syakila and my fellow dorm mates, mostly elderly, matured women and men, and children. Most people find me as a nerd thanks to my everyday lab coat attire, or a snob. But in reality, I wanted to have friends again, about the same age as me. I want to know once more what it feels like having a friend in need or what it feels like when you're taking a stroll with friends and idly chatting about daily lives. So even though I'm in a full blank mode most of the time, the reality is that I'm desperately trying hard to cover the emptiness of my heart. I want to speak, but how? Besides from glitches, I have no interesting topics to speak of in the first place. I…I don't know why I'm hesitating when it seems so easy to speak up my thoughts to someone. Maybe it's my phobia? Perhaps…since my dreadful past that I kept secret even to Miss Syakila keeps haunting me even in my dreams. I want to run away, but I can't.

And then here's Sven, who may have the same situation as me. I don't know if it's more dreadful than I have or not. But I can't feign ignorance after seeing him feeling down. If only I could do something…

"Ah. Yes…I see…you're not like them…you have a noble heart after all", Sven muttered while looking on the ground and having a gentle smile on his face.

"What did you say? I can't hear you."

"Nope. It's nothing", Sven said before laughing.

"Hey! Tell me!"

"Nope. No can do."

•••

"…ma'am? Excuse me, esteemed guest...?"

"Rylai, are you okay?"

When I came back to my senses, I'm grabbed by my shoulders by Sven as he keeps shaking me back and forth.

"I wah I wah will wah will wah never wah be wah fine wah…"

Ugh, I feel sick. Sven keeps shaking me like there's no tomorrow. He did it with full strength that I made me go "wah" every time he shakes. Argh, my shoulders might ripped off!

"Ah, excuse me sir?"

"Yes?"

"I think she'll faint if you keep shaking her like that."

Thank you for the nice save receptionist!

•••

TOWN PLAZA, Blue Town

Tuesday, November 9, 2500 3:30 PM

Sven and I started visiting the food stalls lined up on the street. I love street food!

"You seem so in to this Rylai."

"Hmm…? Is that so? Anyway, want some more barbeque?" I said while handing three barbeques to him.

"Ah… No thanks I'm full."

"No need to be reserved Sven…here!"

"Mugoh?!"

I forcefully plunged the fried chicken leg into his mouth. He munched the meat and with his sparkling eyes, he said it's delicious. That's great to know! I knew that Sven would definitely appreciate street foods!

We're taking our time eating various street foods and playing some games along the way like the whack-a-mole, punching machine, shooting stuff toys and more. After a tiring yet enjoyable moment, we sat at a bench near the water fountain, the center of the town.

"Ah, this feels so refreshing."

"What is…?"

"Hmm…don't mind it Sven. Ah, can I ask you something?"

"Sure. What is it?"

"I…"

"…Rylai? You're Rylai right?"

Isn't that...!?

"Mister Locke…"

I bowed my head to avoid staring at his eyes. Locke Array: a man in his 30's; he has a masculine physique, a bit tanned like me, and has brown eyes and hair that is long enough to reach his elbow. He's wearing a plain shirt and pants, and a one-hand sword on his back. He looks at me with his gentle eyes. I feel a stingy sensation in my chest. This remorse that I tried so much to hide…it's surfacing once more.

"Dear? What are you doing here for…oh? Is that you Rylai? My…! Look how you you'd grown! You're now a dazzling young lady."

A blonde woman appeared behind Mister Locke. She's a fairly-skinned, yellow-eyed individual and like her husband, she's a kind and gentle person. She's wearing a white dress and a flower-shaped hair ornament attached on her silky hair.

"…thanks Mrs. Lyn."

"Rylai… Are you okay?"

"Ah, yes…I'm fine Mrs. Lyn. Why do you ask?"

"Well…you're crying my dear. Are you sure you're alright?"

"Huh?"

I touched my cheeks and yeah, it's already drenched. I wiped it off and ran away from them as fast as I could.

"Rylai, wait!" Sven tried to call me back, but I can't look at the two of them directly.

I'm truly sorry Mr. and Mrs. Array; if weren't for me…

…your son would've stayed alive.