"Oh thank you very much, I got into the school at the centre of the city which is much closer to the western end.

The school is called…

H.S. Kolar…"

The conductor who had asked about Abhi's school's name stooped motionless his eyes unmoving. The passengers partaking in the conversation suddenly talked talking and gazed at Abhi with a heavy look, even the people not previously engaged in the conversation turned their necks to look at the boy who said those words.

The eyes that carried a look of pride and even slight envy towards Abhi suddenly turned wary and doubtful. Even though Abhi wasn't wearing a uniform his attire was following a particular dress code only seen among students.

Black formal pants with a formal chequered white shirt and velvet black bow tie, this wasn't the attire necessary at Kolar but was recommended. The characteristic that differentiated Abhi's attire from that of a businessman or a high-class salaryman was the fact that he had no suit on. He wasn't carrying it anywhere either.

Combined with Abhi's youthful looks and, the fact he was travelling in a bus rather than his own vehicle instantly made anyone assume he was a student from high city, but absolutely no one

expected to see a student from the most prestigious school in the country.

The thing about Kolar is that you can't get in it with merit or even money alone. Even if you are a hyper genius prodigy you need to have the proper contacts and connections to get in, and even if you are the son of the president you still need to have top-tier academic and or sports merit to get qualified.

This fact is the reason for Kolar's Infamy yet it is also the pillar of its reputation. But Abhi's sense of "aura" for this prestigious school, seemed to have been diluted due to spending time with its staff and the principal himself.

The unknowing passengers on the other hand weren't accustomed to such a thing. With their knowledge, such a case should be impossible. Even if this unknown child in front of them was a secret genius, he was still a resident of Low City. Essentially the opposite of someone with the status of an average Kolar student.

For the citizens of Low City, Kolar wasn't a Dream school it was genuinely just a delusion. It was nearly impossible to even get a job as a janitor in it let alone a child getting accepted as a student.

In fact, from all the history these passengers knew, only one other kid from Low City, even claimed to go to Kolar, And the story of that kid had ended in tragedy. This made the passengers of the bus instantly start making obscure assumptions about Abhi for various reasons yet not one of them smoked anything. In between the eerie silence and heavy gazes, the conductor tried to confirm what he had just heard.

"Wait, H.S. Kolar? You mean THE HS Kolar?"

"Yessir, I know I was very lucky to get in. I had made an application from Rak-" Abhi weighed down his words and remembered the unnecessary commotion the reveal of his birthplace caused, and chose to not repeat his mistake…" I had made an application from.. another city in my birthplace to the north and got the news of being accepted via letters, so just recently moved down here a few months ago.".

The conductor bobbed his head after gaining a bit of clarity, the gazes were still on Abhi but not as intense. This was the case because the new story they assumed was that Abhi is likely decently well off, and had made a solid application back from his homeplace, he probably knew some bigshots with connections back there or something along the lines.

Stolen novel; please report.

But after moving to Nixtom he might have realized High City is too much for him to afford and decided to temporarily live in Low City. This story still meant Abhi was likely a genius and still incredibly lucky, but his situation wasn't totally hopeless like with every other young man in Low City.

Yet this wasn't enough for Abhi's name to be cleared of any doubt everyone else had, so they just nodded their heads at him and went back to their own thing, only subtly keeping notice of any proceedings.

But as the conductor had already collected all the tickets and was already in front of the bus so he decided to talk for a bit. "That's unbelievable! You a genius or something brother?." He said while smiling.

"Haha, I'm flattered, I just try to do my best," Abhi replied while scratching his head and looking at the floor with a subtle smile on his face.

"Well I'm always around here in the bus trade, let me know if you need any help." The conductor replied as he leaned on a bus railing near the drive while facing Abhi,

"Thank you, I'm truly grateful." Replied Abhi as he was facing the conductor while standing on the topmost stair of the bus's entrance.

The conductor then continued while looking and Abhi with a relaxed expression. "Forgot to introduce myself, I'm Issac D. Snutas, but everyone calls me Naru. What should I call you?"

Suddenly the bus struck a small pothole in its relatively smooth ride shaking awake the zooned out passengers and startling Abhi.

Even tho the bus was moving at a decent speed, the broken doors were only half closed and the entire bus floor was mottled with mud and dirt with broken edges and squeaky seats. So Abhi, who was standing close to the half-open bus door, took some time to brace himself after the impact and stand properly holding onto the railing.

After settling down, both Abhi and the shaken-up passengers, Abhi finally answers.

"Nice to meet you Naru, you can call me Abhi," Abhi replied nonchalantly.

"Ay brother, It's impolite to not state your last name upon your first introduction with someone, take this as a big brother's advice. Trust me you'll need it if you wanna live amongst high society." Naru said with a subtle brotherly smile as he leaned sideways on the railing with his crooked hat but straight eyes and crossed arms.

"My bad, you're right I'll keep that in mind. I'm Abhi Archana." Abhi replied awkwardly.

The cool and relaxed Naru narrowed his eyes a bit, for a few seconds he didn't say anything and the quiet gap was filled with the rustling of the bus's ride and the subtle gazes of the different passengers.

After waiting for a few seconds the narrow-eyed Naru finally asked the question all other passengers were thinking of as well. "Isn't Archana a woman's name? I might just be misunderstanding something here haha. Maybe up in the north, Archana is a common last name. Forgive me for my ignorance."

"Oh no, It's not a last name in my hometown. I actually just use my mother's name as last name because… because of personal reasons." Even though Abhi seemed nonchalant his decision to refraining personal information came from the experiences he had just the day before. He may have felt it was necessary to be open about his identity with his classmates but while talking on a bus with complete strangers who he may or may not meet again protecting his privacy was of high importance.

But these actions also had their own side effects. As Naru had his eyes opened wide, he looked around to see other passengers doing the same as him. Their sense of curiosity quickly got drowned by a sense of fear and oppression after a bit of head nodding, all of them turned to different directions to face away from Abhi. Naru who was leaning against the railing slowly stood up straight and fixed his hat as a drop of sweat trickled by the side of his wary eyes.

By not saying his real last name, Abhi was unintentionally hiding his lineage. This led to everyone connecting a direct parallel to the last student of Low City who had gotten accepted into HS Kolar.

The son of a secret prostitute, who always hid something about his background and lineage. Which was later revealed to be the fact that he was a bastard child of a high-ranking member of the Kolar staff.

The same week this fact was spread by rumours, both the child student of Kolar and his mistress mother had disappeared into thin air…

...