About two hours later the small bus rolled into the gateway of the fabled X Academy. The archway was massive, to say the least. It was almost a hundred meters across the face of the gateway, and at least ten meters from one end of the gateway to the exit facing the academy. Thick stone walls stretched off to each side of the arch, encircling the campus from outsiders, soaring up three stories on top of the gatehouse.
A stuck his head out of the passenger window and stared up at the impressive gate as the old fashioned portcullis slowly clinked upward. About three meters up, it stopped with a loud clang and the van rumbled on through the broken flagstones into the archway.
The sudden shade of the gateway tunnel was cool and a welcome change to poor A, who had suffered greatly from the stifling heat made only worse by the open windows that allowed the dense, heavy heat roll into the tiny van.
"Alrighty," C unhooked his seatbelt and hopped out of the van, "give me just a second to check in."
Both C and B, A noted, were unperturbed by the killer heat of the van, which bothered (and had started to annoy) A. A and B climbed out of the van after him, the former with relief, as his rear end had been on fire from the black chair that had absorbed all the heat of the sun before he'd sat on it, then released it with a vengeance on A's posterior. A blinked several times to get used to the dim lighting of the tunnel, after the glare of the summer sun.
A turned around and faced B to confront him.
"Okay, what is this?" A demanded.
B looked up from pulling out a cigarette pack with a surprised look.
"Hm? What's up?" B, feigning ignorance (or so A thought), responded. He continued to pull out a cigarette and lit it with a pocket lighter. The smoke trailed up from the lit end, causing A to wrinkle his nose in disgust.
"You too?" A momentarily forgot his indignation and the words came out unexpectedly.
B nodded lazily, leaning back against the hot metal of the van, still warm from the afternoon sun. He blew out a gust of smoke, directly away from A. A shook his head to regain his initial train of thought.
"I mean the heat," A started, "Why the hell is it so hot? And why is it only me that's feeling this way?"
"Erm," B droned, "I guess it's kinda warm."
"Warm?! It's -"
A was was about to complete this sentence with a few expletives but at this point C came peeling down the gateway tunnel towards them, and grabbed B. C whispered something rapidly to B, giving quick glances toward the tunnel exit. B's eyes opened wide, and was about to respond, when a silhouette appeared at the tunnel exit. Noticing B's cigarette butt, C grabbed it and threw it on the ground, stamping it out with his heel. Both boys stood up straight and turned to the exit, C still with the butt under his left heel.
A took in this odd behaviour curiously, about to ask what was going on when he caught B's eye. B shook his head furiously at A, who, puzzled once more, turned to face the silhouette approaching them from the tunnel exit.
The shadow approached, revealing itself to be a young lady about their age, who wore thick-framed glasses and was dressed in the school summer attire. Her hair was neatly kept (painfully so, by A's appraisal) and she seemed like the studious and stern sort.
"Heya, pres," C hailed her, with a slight tremor in his voice. His left heel was still grinding the cigarette butt into the ground.
The president glanced at his left foot pointedly, then looked up at B.
"H-Hello, president," B croaked out, almost a whisper, "what brings you-"
"Is that really important?" the president's voice cut through his like a knife through butter, "and if it is, it's because I heard we were getting a new transfer student into our class."
C cleared his throat, "Oh, that's -"
"Is it not reasonable for the president of the student body to greet him," continued she, ignoring the two boys who were positively squirming and actually sweating (to A's delight) under her glare, "considering how few transfer students there are during the school year, and" (here she cut off B, who tried to voice his assent) "considering how few real candidates we have for the student council? Someone intelligent enough to pass the obnoxious transfer tests may prove to be useful, after all."
With this final statement she paused, making her point by staring at B and C. A wasn't sure whether she was enjoying this or simply doing her duty, but his fun was quickly over.
"Well, I'm D," she introduced herself, "President of student council, year 2, same as you."
She held out her right hand mechanically, and A accepted her handshake.
"Our class is the smallest so you've been assigned to it," D continued, "And you are?"
A introduced himself cordially, meeting her gaze without flinching. The trick here, A reminded himself foolishly, is to exert your dominance.
"A?" D mused, "Interesting. Frankly speaking, we don't get very many transfer students, if any at all."
A raised one eyebrow quizzically, but D gave no response, as she appraised him more thoroughly.
He realized she probably couldn't make out the full features of his face in the nearly black shade of the tunnel, so he cleared his throat (a bad idea, he would learn) and asked, "Why not?"
D drew back a little bit, apparently in surprise.
"Well the transfer exams are impossibly difficult," she replied, "While being mostly irrelevant to the curriculum. It takes a real overachiever to pass those."
A noted the slight jab she had made at him, but D offered no further explanation. There was another pause.
She really likes these pauses, A mused to himself.
"Well," D broke the silence once more, "Come see me at the council office, I'll show you how things work around here. Maybe in three hours or so, after dinner. There are some things" - here she glared at the two boys who had been trying to fade into the darkness - "that need dealing with."
B and C gave worried glances at each other, and the latter offered a weak smile that A could barely make out in the dim light of the tunnel.
"Come with me, you two," the student council president ordered, "I'm sure the disciplinary council would like a word with the two of you and your aberrant behaviour."
A this last comment, the two boys in question sullenly nodded their heads together, while A perked up with curiosity.
He cleared his throat again, about to ask what she'd meant by 'aberrant behaviour', but before he could, D interrupted him once more.
"Need a cough drop?" (A was rather shocked by this sarcastic interjection from the solemn girl) "And E will help you carry your trunks to your room," she carried on, ignoring him, "so don't wander away just yet."
With this, she strolled away, dragging along the two boys with invisible ropes, and, to A's clouded mind, two of them disappeared promptly in the sunlight leaving a single silhouette striding quickly away from the tunnel. The tunnel echoed its silence as if nothing had ever been there.
Once A managed to get his voice back from the shocking revelation that he had been one-upped by a girl (and, of course, after a sufficient amount of time had passed after her departure), he huffed angrily and muttered, "well excuse me for trying to speak through you, you gorilla of a woman."
He was about to make more, less-appealing statements about the offensive school president, when another figure appeared a few meters from him down the tunnel. A hadn't noticed her approaching because he'd been furiously kicking small pebbles aside to alleviate his frustration with D. This new figure was definitely short, and obviously female, judging from the two pigtails that spiraled down from either side of her head. She was sporting a school uniform that A assumed to be the gym uniform, though why anyone would wear long-sleeves in this weather was beyond his understanding. The midget (and she was a midget, A rationalized in his mind) hailed him and approached.
"Hi, I'm E. Are you A?" She was cheerfully unaware of the dark turn of events that had occurred here not five minutes ago.
"Yes," A responded doubtfully, "though I was under the impression you were going to help me with my luggage. I guess the president was just being a -"
"Yup!" E's cheerfulness was impossibly bright, "let's go!"
The tiny girl picked up one trunk handle with one of her hands effortlessly and gestured towards the other end with the other.
"You hold that side, I'll take this side," she offered, grabbing hold of the other trunk in her other hand.
"W- Uh- Ah-," A was dumbfounded once more (is this school a zoo or something? was his exact thought), but picked up the back end of the trunks.
"And we're off!" E announced (cheerfully, of course) to no one in particular, pulling both trunks and A along like a train engine.
Everyone here is mentally unstable, A concluded, that is the only logical explanation.
The two headed straight into the blistering heat once more, the glare forcing A's eyes shut. Luckily, E's pace prevented him from actually falling over as long as he churned his legs, so with his eyes tightly screwed shut, he charged right after the tiny girl. After about 5 minutes of, what seemed to A, military training, they arrived at the entrance to another, slightly lighter, tunnel, which culminated in a bright blue door at the other end. A stepped into the shade gratefully, wiping the sweat off his face. E dropped her share of the load and turned to face him.
"Well, this is the boy's dormitories," she announced happily, apparently fine after practically sprinting with a few dozen pounds of weight on either hands in blistering heat. A felt like he was dying.
"Boys only from here on in, so I'll see you around!" she gave him a hearty shove on the back, whereupon he fell over, splaying himself across the top of his two trunks face first. By the time he'd gotten up she'd disappeared into the courtyard.
Once A had sufficiently recovered (and cooled down), he gazed out across the courtyard from the dim entrance of the boy's dormitories. The entire campus was deserted (which was no surprise to him) but he felt a sense of dilapidation, the same sense he'd felt at the train station. Unable to shake a sense of foreboding, he walked out a few steps into the heat and turned to survey the dormitory.
It was dismal. The building was barely a two dozen meters across the front, and only two storeys tall. The shutters on the second storey were half open and on their last hinges, and there was no glass in the windows. The wooden slats (who uses wooden slats for housing anymore? A thought) of the building were falling apart, and the paint was more or less non-existent.
"What on earth-?" A was shocked (once again), and perplexed, "a few hundred guys live here?"
"Well, sort of," came a reply, apparently from his unconscious, "most of them transfer to the other side soon enough."
A swung around, looking for the source of this voice, finally noticing a dark silhouette in the dim entrance of the dormitory. He walked back into the shade, blinking a few times to get used to the low light once more. The figure revealed itself to be a male about his age, well built and obviously quite athletic. His close-cropped hair may as well have been a buzz-cut, and his grin was reminiscent of E. However, he was dressed for the weather, sporting shorts and a t-shirt, both emblazoned with the X Academy insignia.
"Wait," A interrupted him, "let me guess. You're F, right?"
"Woah," F's eyes widened, then settled back into a grin, "Are you a psychic?"
"This has got to be a joke," A moaned out loud, "and a really terrible one at that."
F laughed, somewhat confused, then extended his hand for a handshake. A accepted it grudgingly.
"Need some help with these?" F gestured toward the two trunks he'd previously been sitting on.
A started, startled by his offer.
"Sure, I don't even know where my room is."
F laughed again.
"No worries, we have to sign you in anyway," F said cheerfully, picking up one of the trunks (the heavier one, A noted), and walked towards the blue door, which lay open.
Oh, he must've come from inside, A reasoned, answering the question of how the boy had snuck past him into the entrance of the dormitory, I couldn't see him because it was so dark, obviously.
"Okay then," A said aloud, picking up the other trunk and following him in.
The door shut behind them with a distinct thud at the same time as A's trunk hit the floor. The interior of the building was lavishly furnished, and brightly lit with incandescent lights. The technology was of the 21st Century, but the furniture and design was closer to that of the early 20th. The rich mahogany wood moldings accentuated the cream coloured wallpaper that coated the walls, providing the backdrop for luxurious leather couches and ottomans, made with the same coloured wood. These were situated around several glass tables (again made with the stained hardwood that was most pervasive in this environment), and were all on top of a rich, thick, patterned carpet the covered the entire floor. On the side opposite and to the left to the entrance was a large, golden elevator cluster, while a grandiose staircase with an even grander banister led off to the second storey. A massive chandelier hung above the center of the stairs, though the lighting was provided by incandescent candles rather than flame ones, A noted.
"Well that was... unexpected," A murmured, "The interior is totally different."
F didn't hear him, apparently, and strolled towards the reception counter, which uninhabited. In fact, the entire lobby was devoid of life whatsoever, but A hadn't quite recovered enough from the shock of the lavish interior to notice this, nor the lack of windows.
"Let's see..." F flipped open a book sitting on the counter, clearly a guestbook.
A's uneasiness (which had temporarily been interrupted by the lobby) started to gnaw at him once more, and he was about to ask about the lack of human activity, when F found what he was looking for.
"Here we go! A, room 207," F pointed at a place in the book, but just as A was about to look over at what he was pointing at, F slammed the book shut and picked up the trunk once more.
"My name's in the book?" A asked, a little taken aback at the sudden bang that had complimented the closing of said guestbook.
"Yep, we were expecting you, after all," F winked at him, "transfer student."
Thoroughly creeped out, A nodded slowly, and picked up his trunk once more. He followed F to the elevator cluster, not wanting to be left behind by himself in the stifling silence that rang throughout the lobby.
Wait a second, A suddenly realized, Why are there elevators for a goddamned two floor building? And how the hell does this massive lobby fit into that tiny building?
The elevator chimed as A arrived, huffing and puffing, and tumbled into the lift after his more athletic companion. He looked up and noticed floor buttons going up to the 12th floor.
He was about to say something when the elevator doors opened once more to the second floor, and F ushered A out of the lift to the hallway.
"This way," F chortled, urging A on, "Come on then."
Wait, A groaned in his head, we're not all muscleheads like you and that midget.
F took out a huge ring of keys from somewhere (A's mind was too beleaguered from trying to figure out how the lobby worked to notice this) and opened the door to room 207. He unhooked the key and handed it to A.
"THIS IS YOUR ROOM KEY," F shouted (why is he shouting? A was bewildered), "DON'T LOSE IT THERE ISN'T A BACK-UP."
A nodded wordlessly, taking the key, but just as he was about to question F once more, 207 swung open and an arm reached out and pulled him in.
She slammed the door shut behind him, somewhat unnecessarily and most unceremoniously, apparently unaware of F's presence.
"Bit of a mess out there, isn't it?" she commented nonchalantly.
"Uh, no? The hallway's emptier than the courtyard," A replied, with a bit of bite to it, "What do you mean by a 'mess'?"
D blinked several times, then opened and closed her mouth.
"Erm, well, yes," D stammered, thrown by his statement, apparently, "In any case, there's something I need to tell you."
"Before that," A cut her off again, "my other trunk. You slammed the door on it."
D pointed at the floor behind him.
"You mean that trunk?"
A turned and looked down to see both trunks sitting side by side in front of the door.
F must've shoved them in before the door closed, A reasoned, despite his certainty that he'd seen the trunks outside the door when D had slammed it shut.
He turned to face D again.
"Okay, then. What did you need to tell me?"
She held out a package to him, and he took it. It was his school uniform.
"Dinner is in half an hour, and I expect you to be there promptly, wearing your uniform. I can't help but notice you didn't wear it at the school entrance but because of those two silly boys..." (here she sniffed in disgust) "Also, it's hardly proper to expect a person to change in a public setting like that."
Damn right it isn't, A said aloud in his head.
"In any case," D continued, "Please be there on time. In your uniform."
"Okay, okay, I get it," A sighed, "I fell asleep on the train and arrived before I had time to change into them, sorry, jeez..."
"Well, as long as you know," D concluded, looking at him up and down, "Don't forget to wear it all the time."
Well that's kinda creepy, A thought.
"It's protocol," D added hastily, realizing this, "School rules, et cetera."
"Right," A responded, not even close to convinced, "Protocol."
D nodded, and opened the door to 207. Suddenly, a wave of noise rushed over his head and D struggled to fight through the flash mob of males who inhabited the halls and were either loafing around or, like D, trying desperately to reach the elevators or stairs. The door slammed shut behind her and the room was silent once more, apart from the soft thud as the pile of clothing dropped from A's hands.
What the hell was THAT, A's jaw dropped as he recognized the first signs of life in the entire campus that day. It's not them that's insane, it's me.
Suddenly another knock sounded at his door, and A, unnerved, opened the door once more to see a completely empty hallway apart from a single male standing in front of him. He was of average height, build, and indeterminate age, though definitely within the young adult season of life. His face was average, as was his hair's length, and was so average, in fact, that it was rather odd to look at him for very long without feeling uneasy.
"Well I guess you're G," A recovered more quickly this time, acclimatizing to the odd environment.
"Nope," not-G laughed, "Not even close. You'd think so, with this school being as bizarre as it is. Name's John."
A was thrown for a few seconds, rendered speechless.
Recovering, he started, "Ah, well I'm-"
"Wrong again!" John chortled cheerfully his smile widening, "You're not A."
Not-A opened and closed his mouth several times, unsure of what "John" was saying. He maintained this state for several seconds before John's smile disappeared.
"You're actually -"
