The next morning students woke very early and prepared themselves for the exchange event.
The students were grouped into hundreds. About eight students from every school were placed in a group.
Students from other schools were given the chance to mingle with one another this way.
They were put in busses according to their groups.
According to Atrihea city high school principal, the groups would be visiting different places in the city so there won’t be a crowd in a particular location.
Which meant, when group A was visiting the heart of the city, group B would be in another location at that moment. Same with other groups also.
At the end of the day, they would all visit the same places but at different times.
Gustav was placed in a group with some mixed-bloods from his class who mostly glared at him with contempt, mixed with wariness.
Their group was headed for a place known as Site #47 at the coast of the city.
There were five girls from his class in the group. The remaining three were boys.
Only two of the seven students didn’t glare at him in a weird manner but the same couldn’t be said for the rest.
One of them in particular couldn’t look him in the eyes. She would occasionally turn to look at him then turn her face away in embarrassment.
‘Why am I placed in the same group with him?’ She bit her lower lip in frustration as she wondered.
This was Yuhiko, the same girl that received a beating from Gustav in the dojo.
When Gustav entered the bus with these students, he didn’t even take a single glance at anyone of them.
“No wonder the air smells foul, it stinks of trash!” One of the girls sitting beside Yuhiko voiced while glaring at Gustav.
“Right Yuhiko?” She asked Yuhiko who was absent-minded.
“Hey, Yuhiko,” She called out again after noticing the absent-minded look on Yuhiko’s face.
“I said, doesn’t it reek of trash here?” She asked again while turning to the side to stare at Gustav who ignored her jaunts.
Yuhiko heard that and her eyes slightly widened as she turned her face to stare at Gustav.
Gustav turned his head to stare at her also. His expression was brimming with extreme aloofness as he made eye contact with Yuhiko.
‘I guess this world will never lack idiots… What will you say Yuhiko? How will you respond?’
Gustav leaned his arm against the window side and placed his jaw on his fist as a small smirk formed on his face.
Yuhiko quickly turned her face around in embarrassment and stared at the person sitting beside her.
“Shut up bitch!” Yuhiko shouted out and gave her a slap across her cheek.
Pah!
Everyone was shocked at the sudden development. What was the reason for Yuhiko’s extreme reaction?
Even Gustav hadn’t expected that she was going to react that way.
“Wh-y di-d yo-u sl-ap me?” The girl held her face and voiced out with a look of pain and confusion
“You can see that we’re in a public place, in another city entirely, we’re supposed to be united… Learn to have manners,” Yuhiko said with a look of Justice.
The students within the bus stared at her saint-like expression with a look of understanding.
The Echelon Academy Students in the bus too knew Yuhiko for her Saint like attitude so they also felt it was understandable.
‘She’s standing up for the trash even though he had the guts to ask her out in the past,’ this was their thought process.
Gustav already knew what the situation looked like but he wasn’t bothered.
He only laughed internally.
The students from other schools started wondering why the girl referred to one of their own as trash in the first place.
A girl with white hair walked over to Gustav’s position and sat beside him.
‘Hmm?’ Gustav noticed that she was the same girl that sat beside him during their trip to Atrihea city.
“Hello,” She greeted Gustav in a low tone.
Gustav turned to stare at her for a few seconds before turning back to face the window.
“What do you want?” Gustav questioned with a look of suspicion.
He felt it wasn’t a coincidence for them to sit together twice especially when she was seated in another part of the bus earlier.
Also, he felt that anyone from his class who tried initiating a conversation with him would have some kind of ulterior motive. Another thing was she was also kind of popular in class 3 but she was the type that always refrained from putting her nose in other people’s business. From what Gustav remembered, she was easy-going but also ignorant.
He didn’t have any reason to dislike her but he also didn’t have any reason to like her.
“I just wanna be friends,” She said in a friendly manner.
“I’m Matilda,” She said while stretching out her hand towards Gustav in a bid to shake him.
“I’m… Not interested,” Gustav said without turning to even look at her.
Matilda had to drop her hand back down before she started speaking again.
“Isn’t this city nice… There are a lot of things here that aren’t present in ours,” She spoke with a smile while looking through the window.
The bus was passed through different routes and they had streaked past several flying structures in the process. Some mechanical-looking birds also flew across the air in some parts of the city.
Some trees planted around had purple, red, white and several other colors of leaves causing the city to look naturally colorful.
Gustav was fond of nature too so her words kind of caught his attention but he still decided not to reply to her.
“The combination of nature and technology is beauty at its very peak,” She said with glittering eyes while looking through the window.
“You’re starting to sound like a buzzing mosquito, What exactly do you want?” Gustav asked with a look of displeasure.
“Ouch, that’s a bit mean,” She said with a wry smile and looked at Gustav’s face hoping for some kind of reaction but to her disappointment, Gustav still had the look of aloofness on his face.
“I just want to be your friend,” She said with a pleading look.
“You’ve been attending Echelon Academy for years, it’s a bit too late to try and become my friend… What are you aiming to achieve by being the friend of trash?’ Gustav turned around to face her and stared into her eyes after he threw his question at her.
The look he gave made her flinch back a little,
