"Let's face it, lies are what makes the world go round!"

"You think? I mean an average human can't immediately figure out if knowledge is such a lie."

"Mhmm, but if you lie about a lie, doesn't it turn inside out to not make a lie?"

That was our run-of-the-mill video call with my acquaintance, Ala-chan. We usually have sentimental talks very early in the morning, 'tis out of the question if we stayed up late or we just plain woke up early for the sake of doing it. Well actually, we would always stay up late for stuff like this.

All of our talks range from non-sense, theory-making, to talking about our sorrows.

"Hey uh Ala, it's 4 o'clock a.m. already, I'll be resting up now."

"Oh y-yeah I see, I get'ya when you're tired..." Ala-chan added with a chuckle, "Heh, so uh good night, or morning I guess?"

"Good night, thanks for today."

I ended the call, closed the laptop and unplugged my laptop (well it's always plugged in, but the battery might hurt--that happened on my old one, so I unplugged it before I went to sleep) and rushed to bed. The early morning is cold and breezy with early birds chirping in the distance, reminding me to really sleep because there's class later.

But for some reason, I can't sleep.

Well I'm not an insomniac, it's just that I have a lot in mind in bed at this moment. It's like how people complain online nowadays that once you're in bed ready to sleep, it's an ironic time to think about lots what'll happen tomorrow. For pete's sake, it's time to rest up, why think about it now?

Maybe it's just us being too overly-conscious about our image for the next day, who knows maybe I'll become a bully later in school, then be a good samaritan the day after tomorrow, then give out my answers the day after that... That's just how basic—or rather complex—our inconsistencies are.

Just like me, you know what I'll head to sleep.

Remembering when I slept, it was actually 4:30 in the morning, and now having woken up at 6:00 to prepare for class, I got up from my futon (without having to fold and keep it back at my closet because it's tiring) and do all the usual things what an average student would do: take a bath, wear my uniform, and cook my breakfast.

Yes, I do cook, well at the very basic sense, it's just a matter of the power of the rice cooker, eggs, and frozen hotdogs that I'll need to heat up.

When you talk about my apartment room, it isn't all that dandy if you would ask me. It's a 6 by 5 meter single room apartment. One corner of it right now where I am is the kitchen, surrounded by some kitchen counters, an aging but functional stove, and some slightly yellowed cute fridge with letter magnets the former renter had apparently left. Another corner adjacent to the kitchen is a good ol' table with my laptop on top, with two chairs. The opposite corner of the room that of the kitchen is my closet and the spot where I have left my futon, with the center of the room a nice and wide full-height window that's facing the door. In short, it's a really simple room of mine, nothing fancy I would say. I believe in the saying of my Communications teacher, "Less is more."

My breakfast isn't anything fancy either, rice with fried slices of luncheon meat, if anything, I'll never get fed up eating this meal.

I left my dish and cup on the sink, left water on it so that it'll be easy to wash later on. "Later on", that meant I was already rushing off to the university as I hurriedly left my apartment.

Uni is a kilometer away from my apartment, which is a good 10 to 15 minute walk depending on how many times the roads would close to pave way for the trains.

Along the third railroad crossing is where I'd usually meet ways with Ala-chan on the way to uni. Only this time, Ala-chan didn't show up because God knows how she will fight an hour and a half worth of sleep?

Of course, only I can do that, I smirked for an instance on my way to uni.

Upon arriving there, I was literally 5 minutes before classes started, somewhat on-time for me. It was Economics class for the morning, so it's going to be hours load of "fun"!

Stand by, for I have to survive this two hour session.

After that horrendous and usual Economics class, I went down by the cafeteria. While Mondays aren't a great kickstarter for most people including me, it's somewhat a breather of my schedule because I had it vacant for around 90 minutes before the next class.

I sat down on a table close to the corner of the cafeteria. There are really few people at this hour, there are like a few groups of 3 or 4 in the cafeteria spread sporadically with their laptops and papers and what not—probably for their research, next class, or something.

Just as I was about to open up my clunky laptop to do some mundane things like update my light novel progress, do asynchronous tasks of my remaining subjects, a loud voice perpetuated in front of me,

"AKKOCHII!!" Screamed from the distance as the person's approaching in this direction. Surely, people who are in the cafeteria now are looking between me and this loud person.

"Oh what'ya know, it's Ala-chan," I monotonously said, mooning my eyes across the screen without even eye contact.

"HEY, don't ignore me as if we're strangers! Jeez you're quite an impolite person!" She banged the table with her palm, sitting down afterwards. I waved my hands back and forth, "Oh come on I'm not that impolite. I have been recognized with outstanding deportment for a straight record, you must be delusional."

If you're curious, yes, she is miles apart from how we video call to speaking towards her face-to-face in real life.

She settled her books, her bag, and what not on the chair beside her and on the table. Her brown shoulder-length hair was about to look like bed hair—perhaps it's blending into her wavy aesthetic. She banged her head on the pile of books and sighed really loud as she placed her hands on top of her head.

"Well, you look really tired, why even bother going to class?"

"Mnghh, it's school! It's my obligation! I mustn't tilt away from my character!" As if she was giving a speech by Martin Luther King Jr., her hands from her head raised up palm open, and random gestures from there like someone got irritated from touching fiberglass.

"But nobody's forcing you, you could theoretically get the day off today, then recover tomorrow, like you know, sleep is part of one's work."

"But—"

"Oh right, you have the world's wackiest time schedule, not to mention that proves it when we video chatted until 4 earlier, go figure."

"D'oh, AGHHH!" She sat up straight, with a serious pouty face towards me, while here I'm just moments away from finishing my asynchronous tasks and be somewhat free at the end of the day. It's as if someone sat a dog and cat together at this table, with Ala-chan being that one infuriating cat getting jealous of a man's best friend.

"Hey, mind if you get us some chocolate Belgian waffles for us, make it four, two each for us." She handed out cash from her purse whilst arranging her piles of books and stuff from her bag. I sighed, "Not at all, be right back," closed my laptop, then went to the waffle stall

Ala Mann, 19 years old, a year older than me, pursuing Engineering, her character is random of whether or not she'll be girly or tomboyish today, while I saw both today, especially of her white blouse and lilac miniskirt. Envily, she is 5 centimeters taller than me. Almost all of the time in the cafeteria, she'll order a belgian waffle, but the flavors she chooses are more of a mystery. Kinda glad she had to do all the paying so I can get a free waffle, but I kept silent about it 'cause she might get conscious of it.

"G'morning young man, what can I get for you?" The lady clerk asked, which I already knew by face.

"Four chocolate Belgian waffles please."

"Coming right up!" As I placed the money in front, no hesitation to estimate because this is probably the most memorized piece I ever had: how the prices work in this waffle stall, she took it, of course 'tis the exact amount. Come to think of it, Belgian waffles are second to that of food that never gets old for me.

I wonder what the lady clerk thinks of me, a familiar well-known customer without knowing one's name, a VIP if you will. People thinking of me gives me mixed signals: it's either I care or not. This is why thinking deeper is pretty much a jump in the rabbit hole, like making a tunnel (or antipode) from Singapore to Ecuador. You'll get stuck with a lot of speculations and "what-ifs" than with answers, or arrive with half-baked speculated answers.

"Here's your four chocolate Belgian waffles sir," the lady handed down the plate of desserts, then faced away with a plain face. I bowed, took the plate, and headed back to our table with Ala-chan.

"Hmmf, hey you're back Akko!"

"Here you go," I settled the plate in the middle of the table then sat back to my spot. Apparently Ala-chan was busy with his make-up and what not, seems she was doing it for pastime while waiting.

Her eyes were like heads over heels on the freshly baked waffles with its chocolate filling, clapping her hands "YEAH, TIME TO EAT!" As fast as a bullet, without hesitation (even after her mini make-up session), she munched on one of the waffles.

It's still 8 hours into our Monday and I have a lot of things to think about. Talk about the lies theory that Ala-chan (and many more that I probably forgot in our talk earlier in the morning), and my hunch about the clerk earlier. Granted, this is how much of an overthinker I am.

"Hey, I was thinking about our conversation earlier..."

"Hmmpp?" Caught her attention whilst munching her waffle in her mouth.

This is the first time that I was intrigued about our nonsense, theoretical talks. It's brain candy for the most part, but it kinda ticked in my head that it could be the advent of someone's dream of "I wish for world peace".

Ala-chan immediately munched on her two waffles, while I was just about to grab one of mine. She reluctantly reached for her water and drank. I could see her enthusiasm skyrocketed, probably thinking "Oh goodie, is Akko-chan finally interested in my dumb talks?!"

"Oh goodie, is Akko-chan finally interested in my hysterical talks?!" Phew, that was really close, I have about 80% accuracy in her speech patterns. "But I do have'y point, does lying about a lie not make it a lie anymore, or does it still carry the burden of being a lie?"

Thinking about it, knowledge and understanding is pretty loose. We can't verify everything that we have said is true or not. That'll be way too slow that it will surpass an average human's attention span, especially Ala-chan who I know has a knack for having a resilient and rational attention span. Get her to wait in the street in a meet-up for 3 hours and she'll totally wait without an inch of distrust and doubt.

Because in that scenario, for her that would be MY truth having said that Alaa, I'll be late for 3 hours 'cause I have some knack in my apartment, when in reality you were slacking the whole afternoon. What's moot about me is that I have a tendency to my lie to actually slack the whole afternoon and it wouldn't be a lie—

"Well, you have done the truth of the lie in itself, so you pended it not guilty that it wasn't a lie." My mind abruptly stopped, because it does have a logical flaw in itself that a lie can validly lie about itself to become the truth. In the realm of Mathematics, a conditional logical operator states that if p and q are false (p→q), it's true. I have brought that up just in case because Math and Physics are believed to be universally understood.

Not like an alien would sue me in their criminal court...

"Mmmhf!!" Her eyes were in the same wavelength as her enthusiasm, chugging down on her water and wiping her mouth with a handkerchief afterwards, "Shwee (see), exactly! Let's say that I lied about to you that I have a boyfriend, then isn't it human nature to cover up for the lie? I'd be finding a man that could show off to you, holding his hand, smooching his face, showing pictures of us together, fantasizing in front of you how we could be a healthy couple and all!"

Oh god, I can now prove that Mathematics is a universally understood concept.

She does have a point though, I mean what human wouldn't cover up for a lie? Sure it would be casual scrutiny at first, but man, we're the universe's most curious intellectual living beings out there. Surely we won't stop listening to their lies—we certainly ought to find out that truth too, not only to their own version of what would be called 'their truth'.

"Yeah, if it were me, I'd have to support my own claim, in your case, supporting my lie. Of course by lying to me that you have a boyfriend to show, I'd be envious longing for love."

"Either way, lie or truth, you'll feel the same way right; being envious and supportive of our relationship?"

"Hmm, I can say absolutely. So you're saying that what we're all saying are truths regardless?"

"Oh nonono, there are truths to be falsified sometimes, politics is a concrete and convoluted field for that matter. You can't just proclaim you have paid all of your taxes then hostage the tax office to make a falsified record of your clean record, that's another story. Just in case I have crumbled your theory of mind, true and false still exist. It's just that we can blur the line between it: judgement."

You know it's a heated discussion and her enthusiasm levels up when she puts on her glasses.

Gosh I love that indication of one's supremacy and confidence.

"But in that situation, you already have situated yourself in a position of society, so for us who are still at the bottom yet to obtain an identity, lying about a lie makes it a domino foundation in the future?"

"Ping pong!" A mutual bingo, she said. It does make sense, all 800+ or some number of students enrolled in this uni are, well, students. It's our occupation. It's in our age to study, slack off with friends, sleep, and rely on our parents for our allowance. We're still attached to an umbilical cord of some sorts until we become independent and for someone like Ala-chan to become an engineer.

"So it all boils down to you," she pointed at me, "Everything starts with you!" exclaimed with a wink and a thumbs up.

"Sounds like you'd be my human resource director at my future workplace," I rolled my eyes, munched my waffle, and drank a bit of soda.

"Mhmm!" She had both fists on her waist with a big smile, like a confident accountant ready to journal another set of papers. Well I know that Ala Mode is turned on because we're on the same wavelength of understanding.

"You do really like philosophical talks don't you, why not take Philosophy?"

"Well I am," said with a blank face, winked.

Oh no, this is one of her playful tactics again. No no no, I'm certain that she's taking Engineering! But she does always talk in a philosophical brain candy way, so maybe she's pursuing both? Wait can't you pursue both courses in this uni? Nu uh, she's taking Engineering alright! Or maybe she had a crisis in her career and last-minute decidedly pursued Philosophy instead?

Ala chucked, "Hah silly, I'm already set on Engineering, I just like to talk random underminings of society and what not"

My mind completely went abrupt and shut, another game lost.

"Hey I was just kidding, gosh you were darting your eyes back and forth to the point you're already sweating!"

"That's an additional eternal sin coming from me."

And there, we quarreled as usual, even in our primetime video calls we're like this: pointing fingers, blaming on the other. But that's our little world of what I would call "fun". We quarreled for some several minutes until we were completely busy with our own worlds at the table. She had to do some reviews for her next class hence the pile of books and reviewers. While I'm just here munching on my last waffle and resumed my mundanity on my laptop.

The plate of what once was four chocolate Belgian waffles, I had to stand up and return it to a designated place for dirty or used dishes in the cafeteria. By the time I returned to the table with Ala-chan, she was again busy with her nails, and it was 30 minutes to next subject. Can't forget the cafeteria is getting populated and noisier by the minute.

"..."

"Hey Ala, are girls really that conscious of their image, or it's just me over-imagining the way you do your make-up and what not?"

"Hmmm, as nature's icon of beauty, that's an obvious, but," she stopped looking into her nails, "It depends if people are actually overly-conscious about--let's say, if I overly think about what other people think of me."

Rats, I am a whack for an overthinker, let alone be overly-conscious about myself. Like I said, it's a mixed signal for me if I think about the impressions of other people on me. No matter how average I am, self-love can never be separated with care for one's image.

"Hmm if I had to ask, are you conscious of the people around you, maybe a group of ladies there a few tables away might be probably talking about us being a couple or something?"

"H-huh?" She was going beet red and rubbing her arms around, "W-well, not really, I mean we're just friends so nothing like that."

I kind of feel her position too, maybe there are a couple of eyes in the cafeteria that might've gossiped about us for the past hour. Not to mention, we're the only ones here in this table so people can go figure.

"But about your question, I guess I can say I'm somewhat conscious of my image? I tend to imagine people around me like 'Hmm I bet she's a delinquent of sorts—' something like that. Can't imagine what they would say though, but I'm sometimes pessimistic about my impression of them towards me, like big expectations."

First impressions last forever, I guess that sounds somewhat true for most.

While Ala-chan and I have been buddies for a very long time, I do quite recall her saying that her first impression on me was some delinquent, moody, depressing person who always has some frown on his face—someone who could never smile or would take an eternity to finally smile (I kind of developed of looking into a mirror ever since) but in the end, I guess to her I am man of knowledge of some sorts.

"Well at first, I thought you were one of those popular girls because you have a bright personality, someone that's really out of my league to be friends with, but I guess in the end you're someone like me the same level as the dumps of society is, some 'nerds' if they call it"

"See? Even I still remember my first expectation from you Akko! Turns out you're not a sad depressing person wanting to end his life but instead, you're quite fun to talk to... well only if you practice not having to wear a poker all the time," said with an uplifting and encouraging tone.

Now I'm scared why she said all of that so cheerfully, but I digress.

"Well I just don't like having too much circles, I'm not one to talk very much either"