Rin tried to check his phone, but it seemed that it had gone flat. "Maybe he had something on and can't come with us anymore." No one us aside from Rin had his contact information, no one suggested communicating with him via Snapchat so in the end we just decided to leave. Suddenly, just as we left the front gates of the school, a sprinting, panting Derrick ran up behind us. Without even a moment of delay he began loudly explaining the circumstances, "So for some reason the house captain were giving this speech and then we had to stay and I really wanted to leave but..." He was speaking so fast it was hard to hear what he was saying.

I stopped listening after a little while. I didn't really care that much about whatever reasoning he had, since I didn't really want him here in the first place.With our entire group now, we began out walk towards the mall. It was a decent distance away from the school, around thirty minutes on foot. We had some casual conversations and we walked past the calming trees and houses. We split into two separate rows in order to fit on the footpath without forcing anyone onto the road. It was a really nice experience, just casually talking and walking shoulder-to-shoulder through the residential area towards the city. I talked with Rin regarding things about the English class we just had, he complained about how the teacher was picking on him and I told him about the story that I wrote.

After a little while, I spoke to Asahi about the swimming carnival. "Good job on getting first place, I'm really competitive you know? I was pushing myself to the limit, yet I still lost to you." I wasn't completely sure if that was a complement or a complaint but she looked pretty happy so we quickly became friends. "I was also really stressed about the results too, I was sure that I had come second." I said. We laughed a little and continued on our way towards the city. As we got to a pedestrian crossing we all grouped up into one clump and waited for the light to turn green.

I could see that Teru and Ichika were talking pretty intensely. I didn't really sense any romantic connection between them just yet, it seemed the author was going to spend a little more time developing their characters before throwing into the deep end of romance. I noticed that Derrick seemed to be shuffling ever-so-slightly towards me, which was somewhat awkward. I was still standing between Rin and Asahi, so he couldn't really get that close to me. After a brief moment, the light turned green and we crossed the road into the the vibrant populated city centre. There were lots of big store with colourful signs and attractive displays. It was really a nice environment to be around.

I had always enjoyed being in a modern-feeling place. The city centre was the culmination of consumerism, however, I liked the feel.

*** "Are you guys hungry?" Asked Teru.

I was a little hungry, although I would've been fine either way. Some of the others thought about it before Derrick announced, "I'm starving, I didn't even have lunch." It seemed that our plan was decided then. There were many restaurants along the street we took toward the mall. There was a high-end Japanese sushi train place called, 'Kento' which looked quite appetising, however when I pointed it out, Derrick stated that he didn't like seafood, although I didn't like seafood either but there were still plenty of other options.

We decided to keep going and eventually we got to a Mexican place, it was quite packed and loud, with lots of bright colours from all the various lights near the front. After discussing it for a little while, we decided to eat there. It was just outside the mall so we would go in after we eat. "Party of six?" Asked the waiter, Ichika had a little conversation with them before we were seated in the corner, with three seats on a big side couch and three chairs. We all sat down and began looking at the menu.

There were a few decent choices, from burritos to quesadillas to nachos. Everyone seemed to be pretty enthusiastic about getting a big pot of nachos, although I've never liked them, I've always thought they had a weird aftertaste. I decided on just a normal chicken quesadilla and a bottle of water. Everyone else eventually made their decision and we all ordered as a group. The waiter seemed to be a little overwhelmed but we were all pretty accommodating.

"So I heard you got a cat, Chloe." Teru was talking to me from across the table, I guess Ichika or someone must have told him. "Yeah, I did, he's named Mittens." Teru chuckled a little as I said the cat's name, I suppose the name really was a little weird. The others were all having their separate conversations, it really was a nice environment. The waiter first brought out all of our drinks. I took a few sips of the ice-cold water, it was nothing special but I wanted to continue eating healthy as I had been for most of my life. We continued to talk about random things, laughing and having fun.

The waiter brought out our food, and we started to eat. I began thinking about my life back in the Side Rooms. I was practically completely devoid of this communal interaction. Our lives back there were in practical isolation, the conditions weren't exactly perfect either. Most people stayed in big groups, with no one caring about any problems that sparked from within the groups. Some of their 'better samples' were kept in separate rooms, our conditions were significantly better, with clean rooms and plenty of things to keep us busy. We were able to request stuff whenever we wanted, although back then, I hardly requested anything.

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