Winding Down

The sound of the doors to the doctor's office being slid open signaled the end of my pleasant time. Reluctantly, I forced myself to remove my head from her shoulders and sit up straight. I blinked a few times and yawned as I recovered from my drowsy state of mind, and looked over at Luna to see what her reaction would be after what had happened. I was scared to look at first, thinking that she will for sure be troubled by my behavior. I then began to worry what would happen if it was because of that behavior of mine that caused her to hold a disdain for me. But... from what I saw, I think that's not the case.

On her face was a calm expression, and there was also a faint smile. Our eyes met, and at that moment, I felt as if someone was looking through my facade and at the real me that I've kept locked up within. Her personality seemed to be able to melt away at whatever barriers I've erected between us, and I didn't know the reason as to why. Her eyes just seemed to be so gentle and mixed with the gentleness was a playful spirit that she exhibited. Aside from that, there was also this mysterious feeling that her amber eyes communicated to me, one that made me feel quite uneasy.

The curtains were slid open after Irina's voice declared their arrival, revealing the outside world to me once again. The two of them were dressed in their school uniforms now and it would appear that they had washed my blood from their hands. On their faces were a look of concern, and their eyes automatically stared at my left hand and the redness of it that outlined where the stitches were located.

"Thank you," I said, reaching out my right hand towards Muria after seeing that she was carrying my blazer in her arms.

She seemed to be surprised by me since she appeared confused as to what I was talking about. However, after allowing herself a half second to comprehend my intent, she noticed the blazer that she had carried close to her in her arms.

"You're welcome," she whispered quietly as she handed me my blazer.

"How're you feeling?" Irina then asked while keeping her eyes on my left hand.

I slowly moved my injured hand and stared at it. The blood had been cleaned off earlier by the school doctor, exposing the nasty cuts that were on the first joint of my each of my five fingers as well as my palm, areas where the blade of the dagger had came into contact with. Those cuts were closed now by the thread of the stitches. The anesthesia had started to wear off and the pain had returned once again. However, maybe the anesthesia had worn off quite some time earlier but my senses were just numbed by that comforting warmth that I experienced.

"It... kinda hurts," I simply responded as I stared at the stitches. "But nothing unbearable."

I then grabbed my blazer with my right hand and carefully brought my right hand through the sleeve. Then, I tried doing the same with my left, but whenever I were to apply pressure to grab hold of the blazer, the pain would cause me to release the blazer. I tried again and failed, resulting in a frustrated sigh from me.

"Here," Muria whispered as she grabbed hold of my blazer and held it so that I could bring my left hand to the sleeve and put it on.

"Thanks," I muttered as I slowly moved my left hand, opening and closing it to see if the nerves had suffered any damage. Once I was certain that I had not lost mobility in this hand, I smiled. Then, I looked up and noticed Irina with a guilty expression on her face, probably thinking that it was her fault for this injury.

"It's not your fault," I said to her once again in a stern expression.

"..." She remained silent as she stared at the injury.

"Irina," I sighed. "This isn't your fault, and I don't want this to affect you in any way."

"He's right," Muria added. "It's his stupidity for missing your wrist and grabbing the blade."

"B-but I almost stabbed you..." Irina whispered out of guilt. Tears were rolling about in her eyes, threatening to slowly climb out.

"You didn't know," Muria smiled gently at the girl. "If you're really worried about it, I forgive you. So cheer up now."

The way Muria had talked was extremely gentle and soothing. It was probably intentional in order to remove the guilt from Irina's wavering mind and calm it. This was a side of her that I had only recently knew was possible after seeing her interactions with Irina.

After a while, it would appear that Muria's comforting words had taken effect for that look of guilt slowly vanished from her eyes. I tried to help as well by acting as if it wasn't a big deal, which is true since none of this is her fault. Besides, it's not like this injury is very severe or anything. Therefore, after about ten minutes of sitting around in the doctor's office, the four of us left after I accepted the painkillers from the school doctor.

Outside, the school was slowly emptying. Even some students were leaving already. Since it was the first day of the Festival and that there will be a second day tomorrow, none of the decorations were removed, none of the tents were taken down, and none of the classrooms returned to its original state. All that work will be done tomorrow, and after that, there will be a large bonfire in the open space in front of the lecture building where the food tents were. Some students may choose to stick around, which most do for a bit before heading to parties afterwards, but students like me would usually choose to head home.

Since it was pretty late already, without saying anything, we all knew that it was time for us to prepare to head home. I didn't bring my school bag today, but it would appear that the other three did. Muria and Irina had set them in the club room, and Luna had left hers in the student council room. I decided to accompany them since I wasn't in much of a hurry, so we made our way from the doctor's office to the accessway and into the secondary building.

Here, there were students from clubs walking to their own club rooms and retrieving their belongings. They all appeared quite tired, but on their faces were also a happy smile, meaning that they had enjoyed the Festival. The four of us walked in silence down the hallway until we came to a crossroad in the building where the four of us were to head in separate ways, with Muria, Irina, and I heading to our club room which was down the left while Luna had to head to the student council room on the right.

"See you tomorrow," Irina waved at Luna as she started down the hallway alone towards the student council room. "She's such a nice person," Irina then commented. "Kind and pretty too. Is that the type guys like?" Her face was somewhat red as she sneaked a peek in my direction. I wasn't sure if she was blushing or was it just the sun making her face red.

"Maybe," I commented. "Let's go."

The three of us then turned around and started walking in the direction opposite to Luna as we made our way to our club room. As the distance between us slowly increased, I looked over my shoulders and at the figure of the lone girl who slowly walked down the hallway and away from us. There was an eerie feeling of loneliness from me, but I dismissed that feeling, thinking that it might've been a side effect of losing so much blood.

Once we arrived at our club room, Irina slid the door open for us. Inside, Loyd and Zaksus, both dressed in their usual school uniforms, were sitting in chairs, resting. They had their bags on the floor next to their chairs and on their face were looks of fatigue. Their postures both communicated a lazy feeling since they were slouching quite a bit down the chairs.

"You two seemed tired," Irina smiled and commented as she entered the club room and walked over to the table in order to grab her bag. Muria followed after her.

"Of course," Loyd sighed. "I was working from morning until now with only a short break in between."

"I pretty much stayed out there for the whole time," Zaksus said in a sluggish voice. On his face was an extremely fatigued expression as he recalled the long hours of making tieg wraps.

"Why aren't you in the basketball club's room?" Loyd then asked.

"Because if I'm there, the seniors might push their shift onto me," Zaksus laughed weakly. "That's what they'll do."

"You're pretty smart then," Loyd laughed as well after being amused by Zaksus's reason for being here. "It must be nice not having to do anything," he said as he looked at me with jealousy in his eyes. However, due to how tired he was, that jealousy was extremely tame.

"Not as good as you think," I sighed and showed him my left hand.

"What happened?" He sat up and frowned.

Then, I explained the situation to him and Zaksus. As I did so, I glanced at Irina, making sure that she won't start blaming herself once again. However, there weren't any indications from her that she was going to do so. Therefore, I let out a sigh of relief when I finished.

"That sounds pretty terrible," Loyd nodded.

"Damn," Zaksus exclaimed. "Alevian you sure are brave."

"Do you guys have time tomorrow?" Irina then asked. "Muria and I won't have to rehearse tomorrow and only have to report to the theater later on in the day. We would really like to walk around and check out the Festival tomorrow."

"That's fine," Loyd smiled. "I don't need to work tomorrow. What about you, Zaksus?"

"I'm here right now, so I don't either," Zaksus laughed.

"Then it's decided then," Loyd smiled. "The five of us will walk around together."

"The five of us?" I asked after realizing that they had included me.

"What else do you have to do?" Loyd said in a teasing manner. "Spend some more time with the student council president?"

Upon hearing that, I blushed. I wanted to refute him, but I realized that no matter what I say will be spun in the way that is detrimental to me. Therefore, with a sigh, I agreed to their decision.

"Fine," I said, somewhat unwillingly.