"Huaahm"
Cale yawned in disappointment, his math teacher Carlos spoke and taught all the students in class, no one heard the yawn as Cale was in the far back.
"Hmm"
He wasn't paying much attention to class because it was just the first day, it wouldn't really Impact grades or anything like that if Cale didn't pay attention to classes for one day so he just relaxed and made himself at home, waiting for Carlos to finish.
"Cale"
But Carlos seemed to have noticed Cale's boredom, so like a good teacher he was, he gave his student work.
" I want you to solve (a+b)^ 2 - (a-b)^ 2 . Everyone here knows that we are doing simple calculations here and revisiting what you should already know from last year In middle school."
The teacher turned back to Cale, eagerly awaiting for a satisfying correct answer.
"Uh it's... a^ 2 + 2ab + b^ 2 - (a^ 2 - 2ab + b^ 2) = a ^ 2 + 2ab + b^ 2 - a^ 2 +2ab - b^ 2= 4ab"
"And you are correct Cale!" Carlos said with excitement coming out of his voice, but well...It wasn't exactly a good thing for a student to barely know the answer to such a simple and easy algebra question.
"H-hoooo"
'Thank god it was simple algebra'
Cale exhaled, thankful that Carlos didn't ask to solve anything difficult.
'Good thing I remembered I guess'
Looking to his right and seeing a clock high on the wide column.
Tick~
Tick~
A soft tick from a clock made itself heard to the entire classroom.
'10 minutes left on the clock...'
This was the last hour.
Cale didn't know what would happen but he doubted It would be anything like the trial as he has seen himself that the trial meant essentially nothing to the real thing.
'I wouldn't be surprised if that trial was a junkyard'
In all seriousness, the trial that was held did look like a junkyard.
This made Cale wonder even more why Gardenia even held the trial in the first place. He didn't ponder too much on it however since his guesses were likely nowhere close to the truth instead, he focused on something more Important.
"..."
'The medicine that sludge had on him and gave to me. It isn't here'
Cale didn't want something like that on his person, however the sludge-like creature gave it to him regardless.
He didn't even notice the creature closing in on him and placing the dwon in his pocket.
'Does this mean that I can't bring Items outside of Gardenia'
Cale suspected as much, since he couldn't bring anything himself when getting transported to Gardenia like his phone or anything like that.
However he also knew that it was more complicated than that, because Cale was still wearing clothes which shouldn't be possible If nothing could be brought to Gardenia.
'Well I don't have any Information about how It works'
The lack of information was gnawing at his sanity, almost every mystery he has encountered thus far has always been "Oh here. I know you won't understand what all of this information means but take it, you'll find out eventually"
'Call me lazy, but I don't like dragging mysteries'
What kind of novel enthusiast would love getting info dumped every chapter without actually getting closer to the truth. Cale sure wasn't a fan of such a concept where the author was throwing out plot points just for the sake of the plot.
He let go of his recitation of reading preferences and looked anxiously at the clock again.
'8 minutes left before the bell rings...'
Not a whole lot of time but it still was enough to get a breather.
'Wait, now that I have time to think. I should organize the new Information I gained'
In the end, to pass the time, he thought about something he probably wouldn't get due to the lack of information, of course it wasn't a bad thing to think about occasionally.
'Where In the world did that sludge get the dwon from?'
Cale searched and nowhere In the school was there, where someone could buy medicine from, unless it were from one of the cafeterias. Cale didn't direct step towards them whatsoever.
'There also wasn't any Infirmary In the entire school building'
No Infirmary was found here either since the entire building had been thoroughly searched every time classes ended and Cale could explore Gardenia freely.
'How did that Sludge even get the medicine from? no is it even a medicine? or did he smuggle it?'
The 'medicine' looked like a dead worm, that is the most simple description Cale could give it.
'It had barbs on it...'
Barbs littered its skin in grotesque formations, making it seem even less like medicine.
'I know they say the more disgusting and unappetizing the medicine looks the better the effects but...there had to be some limits to that saying'
Its texture was absolutely and utterly disgusting.
'I wouldn't be surprised if a dog found it and ran away disgusted as well as me'
Pinching his nose. Cale came to a swift conclusion.
"Did he...get scammed maybe?"
No one ever said that monsters can't get scammed right?
Rotating his head to the clock anxiously, he waited for the seconds to pass and for the bell to ring, a voice though cut off his attention towards the clock.
"Hey what will you two do after class ends?"
Catrina cocked her head to meet both Cale and Gabriel as she spoke.
"Ehh I don't know... what will you do Cale?"
Gabriel asked curiously, wanting to know Cale's plans first before he revealed his.
"Well normally I would just go back home, but since I have time do you want to go out with me?"
Cale answered bluntly to Catrina's question.
"Yeah sure, I also have a lot of time in my hands. What about you Gabriel?"
"I think I'll have to pass"
Catrina looked taken aback by what she heard, her eyes widening and even Cale was shocked by what Gabriel said.
"What, why? you're always the one who brings us together to go out, what's the sudden change?"
'Catrina, you took the words straight out of my mouth'
"Yeah you're not one to reject hanging out with us"
Cale at least did the courtesy of asking for his reasons, agreeing with Catrina.
"I have Judo classes?"
"..."
"..."
Both Cale and Catrina looked at this man dead in the eyes, slightly disappointed but they couldn't do anything about it. Catrina then turned her attention to her only available friend and opened her mouth to speak.
"So Cale since it's just the two of us now, where do you want to go?"
"Where do you want to go?"
Cale redirected the question back to her.
"Space"
'Yeah, we should go to sp-'
"..."
'Seriously?'
In Catrina's defense, who wouldn't want a trip to space?