Chapter 3 - Discord

The teacher clapped his hands, garnering the attention of the students. All the chattering, muttering, and gossiping were silenced as the teacher made his announcement.

"Alright class, my job obligates me to be happy to introduce you to the two new students that'll be joining us in class today. First of all, we have... Anthony, who's front and center in the back of the class. Say 'Hi', Anthony."

The class whirled around in their seats, greated by a couple of middle fingers and a wily grin. The class turned back with disdain and a couple groans of frustration. The teacher cleared his throat and moved on.

"Nice to meet you to, Anthony. Ahem, anyway, our other transfer student seems to be running lat- Whoop, there she is."

As if on cue, the door gently opened, allowing a tall girl passage through. She gracefully strode in - her long, black hair trailing behind. Her pitch black mask that matched her equally dark themed clothing could do nothing to stop her jade beauty from shining through; earning wide eyes and gasps from guys throughout the classroom. The unfazed teacher continued the introduction.

"Class, I'd like you to meet Ethereal. Please be nice to her. Ethereal, would you like to say anything to the class?"

She stopped in her dead in her tracks at the front of the classroom and faced the class. With a firm grasp of the attention of everyone in the room, she spoke in an unwavering, crystal cold voice exactly what she'd like to say.

"No."

"Alrighty, that makes my job easier. You can sit uhhhh... there."

Tracing to where the teacher was pointing, Ethereal nonchalantly plopped herself in the seat right beside Kuya. In an attempt to practice good manners, the protagonist tried introducing himself to his new seatmate.

"Ahem, good mo-"

"Stop talking to me."

"Alright, lovely."

With all the events out of the way, the teacher began his lesson for the day. Ethereal responded to this by immediently crossed her arms, placing them on her desk, and going to sleep. With the new variables that had been introduced, Kuya began rationalizing what had happened.

'Ah, I know this trope. If this were a web-novel, she'd've been described as jade beauty. Probably the kind that comes from a sect that cultivates ice talents, since she seems so cold and distant against everyone. I wonder if I have a shot with her? I mean, I could talk them more often than others since I sit right beside her-'

A light hit to the back of the skull pulled Kuya out of his mind. Rubbing his head, the protagonist turned around to see what'd happened. An orange haired kid avoided his gaze by staring straight up at the ceiling whilst whistling, while the kids around him stiffled a giggle. With an unamused expression, Kuya continued looking around and spotted a crumpled up piece of paper on the floor. Picking it up and unwrapping it revealed a devastating phrase written inside.

"Fuck you your ugly"

'...this is the most godawful handwriting I've ever seen. I've read poorly translated eastern novels with better english than this.'

The pensive protagonist pocketed the paper to pass into the public waste bin later, and tried focusing on the school lesson. Not even a couple minutes later, another hit to the head snapped Kuya out of focus. Getting increasingly frustrated, he yanked the paper off the floor and opened it up to read what'd been transcribed inside.

"Switch seats wiht me bcause im better than u or else"

Looking back to where Anthony had been seated, "Fatty" made eye contact with his best friend and waved hello from the back of the room. Equally unwilling to sit next to an overly friendly stranger and fed up with getting picked on, Kuya opted for a different option. Grabbing a peice of paper of his own, he wrote a response inside and folded it into a neat little paper airplane. Gently throwing it in the general direction of the group, it glided elegantly through the air and landed at their feet. Now found on the flipside for a change, Anthony picked up the airplane and messily undid it. Squinting at the paper for a few moments, he shoved it into the chest of one of his followers with a request.

"You. What the fuck does this say?"

"Huh? Oh, boss, it says 'no' in cursive."

Dylan leapt to his feet, knocking over a desk and a couple chairs in the process. Everyone turned to see the commotion with a curious look in their eyes. Meanwhile, the teacher was one of the few in the room that looked in disapproval. A sigh eminated from him as he complained aloud.

"As-goddamned-if I'm paid enough to defuse this mess. Ahem, hey class, I think I heard someone release a racoon in the bathroom again. I'll be right back, don't kill each other or something. See you guys, have fun."

The swift and experienced exit of the teacher signaled the begin of the confrontation. The hot headed student was standing inbetween Ethereal and Kuya's desks, eyeing his newfound victim. Anthony abruptly slammed his palm onto the desk, making nearly everyone in the room flinch, as he began provoking his target.

"That's it? You're just gonna tell me 'No'? Look, I'm being real nice for asking, you're not gonna get a better deal than this. Swap seats with me, or else."

"Yeah, sorry. I'm not really feeling lik-"

S L A M

Anthony threw his clenched fist onto the desk in a fit of rage, causing the class to flinch in fright and a stir from Ethereal. In a growly tone, the aggressor gave one last proposition.

"Get out of your seat, or I'll make you."

Looking back at what his future seatmate would be if he accepted the offer, Kuya opted for violence rather than social awkwardness. Looking up at the bully in the eye, he responded calmly.

"No."

After hearing the refute, Anthony's demeanor changed. From gritting his teeth to a chuckle into a belly laugh, squinted eyes and confused looks trained on him for doing so. He snapped back to a deathly still stare. Unbeknownst to anyone, the protagonist's phone lit up with a new notification at the same time Anthony went on his speech.

[To increase immersion, 117,942,84?,???,??? pages of web-novels have been analyzed to procedurally generating cliche dialog linked to the character <Basic Cultivation Bully>.]

"You dare offend this young master? I get it now, you're her boyfriend. You don't want me to sit beside her because you're scared I'll take her from you."

"What? No, she just transferred, how could I be her boyfri-"

"JUNIOR, YOU DARE TALK?! KOWTOW BEFORE ME OR I'LL-"

Before either two could get another word in, an irritated sigh from aside caused them to freeze. Then, a soft spoken but firm voice cut through the chaotic troublemakers.

"Could you all please be quiet, I'm trying to sleep."

Anthony's persobality flipped on a dime as he acted as suavely as possible. He reached out and smoothly clasped her hand, pulled towards him, and kissed the top of her palm. The collective amount of disbelief in the room had reached its limit, signaled by the widened eyes and aping mouths of the students. Continuing his attempt to swoon, he spoke towards her in a gentle voice.

"Girl, y-"

"Ew."

Ethereal yanked her hand out of Anthony's light grip, and groaned in frustration. Shaking her head in displeasure, she began to think of some mildly concerning compromises to the situation.

"This isn't how I wanted to find this out, but it'll work. Both of you want to sit beside me, but there's only one chair. The only way to settle this is through a duel."

Kuya's expression was the polar opposite of his joyous competitor's: confusion and dread.

'I have to fight this guy now because she said so? What kind of bullshit is this? I don't even know how to fight, how am I ever going to win this?!'

Obscured by the events that had transpired, Kuya's phone simply continued presenting it's status of what's to come.

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