What you see Vs What you get

"Grant!" One of the girls sitting in the front seat of their bus shouted excitedly as she waved enthusiastically towards them both as they walked together into the bus, "You can share with me! We can sit next to each other and make out if you want! That would be so much more entertaining than listening to our boring old teacher drone on about whatever nonsense he has planned for us all day long." The girl said loudly enough that several students on the bus heard her speak.

"I think not," Grant replied calmly but firmly before continuing to speak louder still, "I've already made my choice and would like some quiet time, not drama."

"Oh come on!" She said with a laugh before adding, "I'm just trying to help you out here!"

Mason rolled his eyes as they walked past where she was seated and continued walking down the aisle until reaching an empty spot near the back of the bus where Fiona sat quietly, reading a novel.

Mason could feel a gaze burning through his back while hearing whispers from some of his classmates nearby which caused him to turn around and look back at the group of boys who were whispering amongst themselves while pointing at him.

They looked like typical high schoolers who had been given free rein over what classes or activities they wanted to participate in during their extracurricular time since most people didn't really care too much about anything else except paying for good grades to get accepted by one of the top universities after graduation, especially when it came to sports teams because those kids usually get paid well for playing games for fun.

'Calm your horses, Mason. It's not worth your energy.' He thought as he sat down beside Fiona. She had a sheepish smile as she tried her best not to hold his gaze.

"You guys wake me once we get to the uncivilized territory. I'm not good with such a cheap mode of transportation." Grant called out as he took a seat across from them both and leaned forward against his seat with his arms folded behind his head and legs crossed casually with the air of someone completely relaxed and comfortable with himself even though everyone knew that wasn't true at all and that he actually hated being forced into situations such as this due to how uncomfortable he always felt whenever surrounded by large groups of strangers.

'I'm guessing he joined this trip for a similar reason as I did: Fiona's persuasion,' Mason added silently before turning towards Fiona.

"By any chance, do you know where Tiffany is?" He asked quietly as he glanced up towards Fiona's face briefly then turned away again quickly as though he'd seen something embarrassing there instead.

"You didn't see her as you walked by the others?" Fiona questioned and pointed towards four seats in front of them where Tiffany sat, her head leaning on the window behind her while looking out at the scenery outside of town.

"No, I don't think I did," He replied while glancing at the seat before turning to look at her once more.

"She was in a bad mood after your little discussion and has sat alone without saying a word to anyone," She added with a soft sigh before continuing to speak, "she hasn't spoken to me either even though I politely asked what was wrong." Her voice sounded sad as she spoke.

"I'm not interested in any information about her, just remembered I hadn't seen her, she is one of the few I speak with anyways..." Mason said as he looked back down at his book which he had brought along just for show since he had no intention whatsoever of reading it.

"It's upside down, Mason." Fiona chuckled softly but stopped herself almost immediately when realizing that it might have been inappropriate for her to laugh at his slip.

Mason sighed heavily and closed the cover of the novel with an audible thud and placed it onto the seat beside him with a loud clunk before nodding slowly with understanding but said nothing further for now as they both watched the landscape pass by outside of their windows as they drove along the road leading to the woodlands.

'Kitanai, my stats, please.'

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[Name: Mason Greystone]

[Role: High school student]

[Views: 5002]

[Cash: 100.4 merits]

[Accessory points: 0]

[Inventory points: 0]

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'Fair progress, I guess,' He thought to himself as he stared at his character sheet in disbelief while sitting next to Fiona in silence.

*****

After about four hours of driving down the highway, the driver pulled off onto an exit ramp that led downwards through an area of woodlands filled with trees that grew tall enough that only the tops of their branches could be seen above the canopy overhead while also being thickly covered in leaves and other greenery which made it difficult to tell where one tree ended and another began. The ground beneath them became uneven and rocky as well as having many small streams running across it which caused some parts to become muddy or wet depending on how recently it had rained.

The group had been told ahead of time by their homeroom teacher to bring a change of clothes since this would likely take all day long if not longer since they were going to have to hike for several miles to reach the campsite.

"We're here!" One of the boys shouted out from the front seat after turning around towards everyone else who sat behind him, "Let's see those who will show their true primitive colors first! Who wants to go first?"

Wham!

"Mind your language, young man!" The teacher chastised loudly as he turned back forward and continued speaking over his shoulder, "Please maintain a single file line as we walk down into these woods."

Grant jolted awake, his hand latched on Fiona's wrist as he looked up at her with wide eyes and muttered incoherent words but urgently with panic written clearly upon his face.

"What is it? What happened?" She whispered quickly.

"Please don't leave me," He replied quietly before looking away again.

'Oh brother...' Mason thought to himself while rolling his eyes. 'He must've had a bad dream or something.'

Fiona simply smiled and patted his shoulder, "we should join the others now before we end up getting abandoned halfway through our trip because you decided that I was more important than the rest of the class..." she said softly as though trying to comfort him with soft laughter in the background.

*****

What appeared to be an old logging camp that hadn't been used in years due to its remote location deep within the forest where no one ever went unless they knew exactly where they were going beforehand. The road leading there had been built by a local lumber company decades ago when this area had been cleared for cutting trees for use by nearby towns.

They all raised their heads as they stared at the eerie-looking building which stood tall and proud against the backdrop of the surrounding trees and mountains. It seemed to have once been made of wood which has long since rotted away leaving only a few remaining walls standing tall and strong while the roof of the structure caved inward slightly from age and weathering, giving it the appearance of a giant stone castle or fortress from the outside although it didn't look nearly as impressive from inside as it did from without.

"M... Mr. Hugh," one of the students called out to their teacher, "This looks nothing like the posters we saw on the bulletin!"

"It's not supposed to, Aoi," Mr. Hugh replied calmly but firmly. "This is what we're here to see." He added with a smile before turning towards them with his hands clasped behind his back while saying, "Let's go meet our guide."