May Peace Grace Us

Chapter 13: Absent-minded

Days come fast unknowingly whenever one is busy with something. Aila had to admit she had greatly missed spending some time with her friends. Due to her busy schedule, she was unable to truly enjoy what the days of peace could bring her.

Her days were filled to the brim. Like she only has four hours to sleep per day. It was exhausting, but she was nevertheless happy and satisfied. Working as a sales lady for eight hours, then afterwards going to her part-time job, when she was done with her part-time job, she then went to her freelance gig on the side.

Her parents were very worried about her and how she suddenly became a workaholic. She has never been this ‘active’ in their knowledge. Even those days she and her friends went and got wild on that trip in the wilderness years ago did not make her this...stimulated. Far as they know, only those related to their friends made their child so energized.

So when her parents confronted her about it, Aila was red-faced like a child who was caught doing bad. It was hindsight on her side to not consider the concerns of her parents. For years in life in the apocalypse, she was more used to being independent in her matters. The constant guidance and monitoring of her parents made her remember the importance of moderation.

It isn’t the age of constant vigilance. Therefore, there is no need to burn oneself before the real fire comes.

So Aila slowly changed her schedule to not let her parents worry. Apparently, they even dragged her friends along with their worries. Once every hour or at least when her friends have time, they will message her to take a rest or advise her to relax. Making her heart warm and happy for a long time.

And thus days came by and the promised day finally arrived. Aila had made sure that their next meeting would be on the semester break. Time where most of them are free and parents are less likely to bother them as a reward for their hard work.

In her memory of this period back then was when they went on an impulsive mountain trip to the next province. It was already practiced that they get on trips to unwind the tension and stress they accumulated during school days. When they were younger, they only went on an out of town trip or slept over at one of their houses. Although Aila is not the most welcome child in their group, thankfully, most parents of her friends are busy people who cannot care for their children 24/7.

And when they become older, they get the taste of trying to go to places farther away from those they are familiar with. This results in them going to an island hopping with only them in attendance, going to the city next to try extreme sports or even going to some cultural area to refresh their minds from science. Truly a fun time they are all looking forward to.

Therefore, going to a mountain out of impulsivity is not a surprising thing for them to do. Only when they encounter something on their way back in her second life.

Just as they were heading down the mountain, heavy rainfall came, leaving them to be stranded there for a day and night. Thankfully, they are stubborn people with great survival skills, else they might really die back then. The experience of first hand seeing a piece of high mountain land sliding down is a sight they will never forget. If there was someone or a populace living there, it was estimated that it would result in a great human tragedy.

Blessedly, there were no casualties back then. Though the authorities have to mobilize some forces to do a search and rescue for the climbers, it could be said that everything has ended well.

Shaking her head, Aila awaited her friends in the playground once again. This time she decided to bring them all to their family rest house to carefully talk about everything they had to talk about. Because talking about it carelessly just anywhere is not conductive, she might even get treated as a mentally retarded person. She does not want that to happen.

Besides, she also wants to show real evidence to support her claims. She even went as far as utilizing the [world] to foolproof her worlds. And if they still won’t believe by then, she will make the [world] do some ‘magic’ to force them to believe. When things go in that direction and they still won’t believe it, she will not wait for the apocalypse to die.

She would commit suicide right there and then. She just cannot imagine a world wherein the people with whom she has shared the closest bonds turn their backs on her. She would rather be erased from existence than to go through that ordeal.

Absent-mindedly swinging on the swing, Bella arrived at one point and sat using the other swing. The girl did not bother Aila with whatever her thoughts might be. Over the years of friendship, they knew better than intruding some personal space they all agreed they needed to have. This is their respect for one another.

And if there is no such situation as Aila has, perhaps they will not go and make her uncomfortable and force her words out. Even if it was for one of their own good, forcing things does not make them happy and proud of what they did.

One by one, each of them arrived. The atmosphere between them is solemn, like they are heading for a battlefield of sorts. Though, in some sense, they knew that something heavy was heading their way. And talking about it might be really similar to going to an asura field.

Aila leads them to the van she has borrowed from a relative. Eugune took the driver's seat like it was his place, while the rest made themselves comfortable at the back. All of this is done in a flowing manner like they had all rehearsed their movements.

Aila could only look at them blankly as they naturally sat and acted like there was nothing serious going on. Then a thought came to her mind. To them it really might just be like a trip they all take on break days. It just happened that Aila was going to say something important on this day. Therefore, making them in a more relaxed state than Aila was.

Though Aila cannot be blamed for her nervousness. She spent months holding a knowledge that is essentially insane sounding to the populace of that time period. She has to stress how she will talk about it, search for anything to back up her words, and she even has to arrange everything on this trip while juggling with her jobs. Her whole mind was so fired enough to not think that everything is still peaceful at the moment. Her mind is full of the future, making her forget the present that everyone is still ignorantly basking in.

“Are you okay Aila?” Alexa asked, as she could no longer ignore the absent-minded friend of hers. “Are you feeling under the weather? I have some medicine here if you are. If you’re not, I suggest you sleep it off in the first few hours of the journey. ”

“I’m fine.” Aila replied as she sorted herself out. “I was only dazed by the lack of sleep lately. Nothing, a quick nap can't be fixed. By the way, what happened to you?”

Alexa was pale-looking more than usual. Her eyes were a little sunken and dispirited. Her complexion was even a little less healthy than what she remembered. The make-up she wore cannot hide her fragility.

“Ah this…” Alexa only smiled awkwardly as she thought about how to answer Aila’s question. But before she could even say the reason embarrassedly, someone else had taken the words out of her mouth.

“She has been losing sleep for a month now, Aila,” Jerome said with a snicker. “There has been an intense fan war on the internet that involved her favorite group for a while now. As a veteran keyboard warrior, she participated in each and every one of them at the expense of her sleeping time. See her timeline to see the truth of my words.”

Not looking at the red-faced Alexia, Aila went and checked on their social media account to see what it was all about. It has been a while since she opened her accounts, so making her quite unaware of whatever is in rage nowadays. If she relies on her previous life memory, she might not even recall that there was such an event happening.

Her previous life was relatively less busier than she was now. But ultimately, she is not a social butterfly nor does she like to scroll on social media during her leisure time. Furthermore, she doesn't like idols for some reason, so it definitely makes her not have an impression of them, even if it did happen in her second life.

“This is simply too ridiculous to last for so long.” Aila could only comment as she more or less got an idea about what was happening. “You and your fellow fans are only making an elephant out of an ant. This is clearly a hope to make their presence known. You guys going rabid over something so small is only wasting time and, more importantly, wasting your life at the rate you are heading.”

Alexa only pouted at Aila’s words and refused to refute her words.

“Hey Felix, did you already know about this?” Aila said as she handed her phone to the black-eyed man behind her seat.

Felix took the phone and read the timeline in a serious manner before he only said, “We’ll talk later.” Then he promptly returned Aila’s phone to her.

With that, Aila knew that their resident reprimander had only heard it today. No wonder it went as long as a month. Other than Jerome, who had the time to check on her, none of them were aware of Alexa's mischief.

Alexa shivered at the short sentence of Felix and slumped on her seat. For all she knew, when they arrived at their destination, she would get a scolding fest only reserved for her. Aila only shows a smile at the other’s plight like a good friend she is.