Alterations

'As expected, he started spouting bullshit… Sigh...' Chrome sighed in his mind as he was already prepared for such a reaction…

Chrome knew that Fred was bound to start trouble before they even left, as for Krig, he was still somewhat in disbelief but he didn't really bother doing the same…

Just being an 'Ordinary' with low Exos rate didn't really cause him to be the big bully target in school, he was just one of the more popular targets, but it was a different case for Fred, whose number one bully target was Chrome. In fact, Fred's bully life was almost all about bullying Chrome.

As proved by the tons of unpleasant feelings that surfaced in Chrome's mind during the first day of the exchange, and supported by the memory recap that he had gone through the day before, Fred undoubtedly hated Chrome's guts, and he actually had a good reason for that.

Fred's legit reason for hating Chrome was jealousy!

Being the heir of a rich family that transitioned into a rising 'Extra' family after the day of the awakening, Fred was naturally arrogant and never put people in his eyes, he only recognized those of similar social status as equals, anyone below that were all nothing but trash…

As such, after he met Alice in high school, he felt that she must be the one for him, not only was her family of similar status to his, but she was also an extraordinary talent on her own. Her barrier ability and his own 'Metalization' were a perfect 'Sword & Shield' combination, they were simply a perfect match!

However, as if he came to destroy his perfect dream, Chrome, the 'Ordinary' piece of trash, who simply had no presence to speak off was actually the one who received most of Alice's attention, which appeared to be extremely illogical for Fred who couldn't understand how a nobody like that could gain the attention that he didn't.

Since then, Fred had decided to practice his abilities as a bully, setting Chrome as the major target for bullying to vent out which eventually attracted more bullies to follow the trend and do the same…

Unfortunately for Fred, his acts of bullying contributed nothing into making Alice ignore Chrome for being a spineless coward as it instead made Alice care about him more

alongside reprimanding Fred several times to stop his unreasonable acts against Chrome…

This unending cycle of hatefulness and jealousy had produced the current relationship that Chrome, Fred and Alice were involved in, one that didn't seem like it will end anytime soon…

After going through the memory recollection the last day, Chrome had somewhat grasped the situation, so he understood that it was very natural for Fred to act that way, especially since he was triggered by Alice's awkward intimate act towards Chrome.

'This is really troublesome…' Chrome almost sighed out loud as he thought about it once again…

"Well, you see, I'm not obligated to prove myself to you, it's my privilege as a member of the special class to board the bus and join the examination. Whether I have truly awakened an ability or not is none of your business." Chrome replied without holding back, he wasn't obviously going to waste the little energy points that he had to prove himself for a brick like Fred instead of saving them for the examination...

"You… Do you think you could come with us to screw up and embarrass us just because you have the privilege to?!" Fred obviously didn't drop the matter…

"Fred, enough!" the teacher reprimanded.

"But teach…" Fred tried to retort back…

"No buts, let's all get on the bus, the earlier we can arrive, the faster you can confirm if Chrome's lying or not. He will obviously bear some consequences if he just came to play around," the teacher said in a serious tone as he threw both Fred and Chrome a serious glare that seemed to imply 'No more arguing'.

"humph…" Fred harrumphed as he angrily stumped his way into the bus.

"Just don't bother with him Chrome, let's also get on." Bryce tapped on Chrome's shoulder as he also followed into the bus with quick steps.

'That's settled for now at least…' Chrome knew that Fred was likely to be a great obstacle that would stand in his path if he really proceeded just as planned, but he didn't let it get to his mind, after all, there was nothing that he could do to fix this problem other than giving up, which he didn't see as an option at all.

Getting on the small bus, Chrome noticed that Bryce who was waving at him to sit by his side, probably seeking to grow more as friends since they could potentially be fellow students in the near future, so Chrome simply did that and sat on the window seat beside Bryce since there was no certain seat that he wanted anyway…

it didn't take long before the small crowd outside fully boarded the bus, with the last person entering being Alice who seemed somewhat perplexed before she took notice of Chrome and sat on the seat that was exactly behind him…

"Hey, are you alright?" Alice's soft voice reached Chrome's ear as soon as they were all seated as the bus started moving…

'What dump luck did this alter Chrome have…' Chrome really wanted to sigh for the third time as he contemplated the strange circumstances of alter Chrome…

His close relationship with Alice, which was also half the reason why he was constantly being bullied, was also because of an alternation that took place somewhere in this reality's timeline, just like how Bryce wasn't his best friend in this reality.

Alter Chrome and Alice were actually… Childhood friends.

Having read so many novels with such a strange setting, Chrome was also astonished how such a setting had followed him in this alter reality. Could it be that he was just dreaming too hard?

Dismissing this nonsensical thought as he had already confirmed that as wrong, Chrome started recalling and comparing his relation with the two Alices in both realities…

In this parallel reality, it seemed that his father and Alice's father were actually close friends who would always bring both children out together when they were small, encouraging them to be familiar with each other, morphing them into the ultimate pair of 'BFFs' Childhood friends.

That stayed the case no matter what happened as they grew up, with their relationship being this strong, at least that was the case for Alice, which easily explained the strange behavior that Alice displayed a few minutes ago.

Of course, just like Chrome was in normal reality, alter Chrome was also an introvert in heart who was most uncomfortable with girls, as only Alice acted her part while he was just being completely passive.

The disappearance of his parents and the fact that Alice's father had only helped him financially at some points without acting like another father to him just like he did in the past also played a part on alter Chrome's passive behavior who had low EQ and felt like he only had himself to rely on…

On the other hand, the Alice in Chrome's normal reality was nothing more than a normal classmate, the only thing that he could recall about her was that his father once mentioned that he was her father's classmate once, but that was it, there was nothing more.

Chrome wasn't really sure about the details of what changed for his current relationship with Alice to occur, but he really didn't know whether to laugh or cry, should he laugh over having the school's beauty as his close friend? Or should he cry and despair due to the oppression he had endured to this moment thanks to that unwanted attention?

'Whatever, let's just go with alter Chrome's flow for now…'

While Chrome obviously didn't want to act like the tough yet somewhat wimpy alter Chrome, it would be too obvious if he just changed his personality in a matter of days, which could garner enough suspicion.

After all, in this reality, he could be accused of being a person who disguised as Chrome, with there being more than one person with abilities that had that function.

As such, Chrome only planned to try and show the attitude of a changing alter Chrome instead of a completely different Chrome, so it was his best option to glide along alter Chrome's flow while adding some small changes at a time…

"I'm alright Alice, sorry for reacting strangely last time, I was just too excited about receiving the Awakening Pill that I wasn't in my right mind, thanks for protecting me back then," Chrome whispered back to Alice from the side of the chair…

"That's good then, you don't need to worry about it, it's great that nothing wrong happened, I hope you do well during the examination!" Alice positively answered in an encouraging tone…

Clap. Clap.

"Well then class, now that we are on the move, let me go over what you should expect in the following examination…" the teacher said as he stood in the middle of the bus as he clapped to grab the students' attention…