It takes a lot longer than usual since we usually take the bus, but it didn't really matter to me. 

And obviously, it didn’t matter to Tristan either.

“Yo,” I greeted.

“Yo,” Tristan replied.

I came closer to Tristan and we began to walk together.

For a while, we didn’t say anything to each other.

We, or maybe just I, appreciated the world around us.

I took note of the sound of the footsteps of the people we walked past, the feeling of their breeze past my face, and the smell of the smoke from a cigarette.

Although, that last part caused me to cough for a bit.

After a while of silence, I decided to speak.

“Do you think Nishimoya’s okay now?” I asked casually.

I never brought up the Nishimoya situation before, but I knew Tristan would know what I was talking about.

That was just how Tristan was.

“Yeah. From how she was before, she seems to be much happier. Or at least, less stressed,” Tristan replied.

“That’s good,” I said with a silent sigh of relief.

“Would you have done anything if she didn’t start to get happier after a while?” I questioned subtly.

It didn’t take Tristan long to respond.

“No. I didn’t get involved in other people’s business.”

We went silent again for a few moments before Tristan asked something.

“Why did you decide to date Aurora?” He asked.

I didn’t let it show on my face, but I was quite surprised.

‘He doesn’t usually ask me any questions. Especially not ones about relationships. I wonder what’s up.’

“She said she liked me, so I wanted to see where our relationship would go,” I answered.

Tristan nodded in response to my answer, but his facial expression didn’t change.

Looking up, he paused for a few moments and then began to speak again.

“You know, it’s odd. We are pointless. We have no meaning or purpose as beings. Yet most of humanity chooses to reject this. They form bonds that are destined to end. They worry about their jobs even when they’ll soon retire. They believe in myths that have no proof. They believe in beings they have never seen…”

Lowering his head back to normal, Tristan continued his speech.

“That’s because they are afraid. Afraid to confront the truth. I despise that fear. More than anything else,” He said before going silent.

I didn’t respond. I just stayed silent.

‘Man, I despise that viewpoint to its very core. After all, if that’s really true, that means there is no reasoning or design for why I am the way I am. So I’d truly have no purpose. No secret talent. No hidden trait. No reason for being created as the person I am.’

I looked at the ground.

‘I fear that reality. I fear it from the deepest depths of my soul.’

For a while, we didn’t speak again.

I kept my head low, thinking over Tristan’s words in my mind.

Understanding them, deciphering them, and despising them.

This wasn’t forever though. Eventually, something caused me to snap back into reality.

And that thing was Tristan, who had stopped walking.

“You good?” I asked with a raised eyebrow.

Tristan didn’t respond. Instead he walked onto the road, where something was laying.

“Hey, careful. You might get hit by a car!” I tried to warn, but Tristan ignored me again.

Tristan picked the thing up from the street and began walking towards me.

‘Is that a…’

When Tristan stood in front of me, I knew for sure what it was.

It was a black cat.

“He might’ve gotten hit by a car. I don’t think he’ll last for long without treatment,” Tristan said.

I stared at the cat for a moment. 

It was bleeding and definitely looked like he was heavily injured.

“You wanna bring him to a vet?” I asked

“Yeah,” Tristan replied.

I nodded and we both began to look around for veterinarian offices as quickly as possible.

Soon, we found one nearby.

Tristan took the cat in and began to speak with the workers inside while I sat on a sofa they had in the waiting room.

It was a nice and well maintained area, but that also likely meant it was expensive.

As I sat and waited for Tristan to return, I delved deep into my thoughts.

‘How’d he notice that cat? And why did he want to save it? I felt bad for it, but I don’t know if I’d go out of my way to save it. What if the vet makes him foot the bill for it?’

I’m not entirely how long I waited, but eventually Tristan came back.

“The vet said I’ll have to pay for the treatment if it survives so I’ll have to wait until the operation is over,” He said as he sat down.

“You should probably head home, I’ll text you what happens to the cat,” he added.

I shook my head.

“No, I’ll stay here with you until the surgery ends,” I said.

Tristan raised his eyebrow, but didn’t respond back.

To be honest, I didn’t really want to be stuck in the waiting room. But, I felt like I had to stay there for Tristan.

I knew it was unnecessary. Tristan probably didn’t care whether I was there or not.

But I still stayed nonetheless. I was just that much of an idiot.

And we stayed for a while. Like 2 hours? Maybe more.

Eventually though, they called for Tristan and told him the results.

He was gone for a few minutes in which I found myself praying.

Not because I particularly cared for the cat, but because I didn’t want the wait Tristan and I went through to be a waste.

Maybe that was selfish, in fact it probably was.

But I just listed it as another thing to beat myself up for later.

When Tristan came back after about 30 minutes, he came back with a foreign expression.

An expression full of relief.

“The cat’s alive. I’ll come back tomorrow to check on him but everything turned out alright,” Tristan said.

I let out a sigh of relief.

‘Thank god.’

“That’s great. So you ready to get going now?” I asked, full of anticipation.

“Yeah,” Tristan said.

‘Let’s go! Finally.’

And just like that, Tristan and I began our journey home.

Fortunately, this time there were no interruptions.