The first thing that we did was head to the dean's office, in order to complete our admission. We crossed the maze-like structure of the school, made of numerous intersecting hallways with doors opening on different classrooms. Passing by, we could see a heterogeneous student population, with ages ranging from kindergarteners to undergraduates. The internal walls were mostly bare like the external ones, with some geometric or floral motifs here and there to decorate and give some colour.

At the very top was located the dean’s office. It was a small study, with a couple of bookshelves and a desk plastered with written papers. The dean was a middle aged man, with few white hairs and a firm handshake. The admission process was mostly a formality, having all the necessary papers already been prepared. After a couple of greetings and him wishing us good luck and a pleasant stay, we left the study and exited the building.

“Ok guys~, let me guide you to your dorms”

Marnie guided us once again through the grass, towards one of the various campus houses. Among all the ones I had seen, this was the nicest one, being surrounded by flowers and having a small garden fountain visible from the entrance. The walls were painted in a pleasant pinkish colours, and every single window had shutters.

“Here is where we two will stay, sweetheart. Choose the room you prefer~” said Marnie, speaking to the visibly excited Faye. From what I had seen, every single dormitory was inhabited by various people. Having one reserved for only two people clearly showed the preferential treatment Marnie received.

“You, come with me!” she called me, already walking somewhere further ahead.

The more we walked, the less people I could see around us. A terrible sense of foreboding struck me. We stopped once we had crossed almost the entirety of the park and reached the side of the mountain, far away from the main building.

“You’ll stay here” Marnie spoke curtly, pointing to the dorm standing in front of us.

It was built in the same style of the other campus houses, but it clearly had been uninhabited for a long time. The dilapidated building had a web of cracks traversing its exterior and a window was broken. Moreover, its location was such that the sun barely illuminated it, being subject to dim light almost permanently.

“Is this really necessary? First the handcar, now this dump as my house?”

Although I didn’t intend to create problems, I thought this treatment was a bit too much.

“Please bear with it, renovations are in programs in the following days” Marnie spoke with slight urgency, probably noticing the vein which had popped up and was now pressing against my temple.

“Can’t I use one of the other dorms like everyone else?”

“The fact you have been registered as a resident doesn’t mean we don’t have to exercise caution. You seem quite sharp, I think you can understand. You are, after all, the sole survivor of a mana storm”

Although I would have liked to retort, I understood where these remarks were coming from. Too little time had passed for them to eliminate any suspicion they had on my state of mind. Nevertheless, I wasn’t too fond of living in this type of place.

“Once all the necessary evaluations have been carried out, please, at least get me a place where I can see the sun. This… it’s too depressing”

Marnie sent me an uneasy look, which seemed to hide guilt.

“... I’ll see what I can do. For now, go inside and have a good sleep. Tomorrow you start and you need to recover from the strain of the last few days”

I answered with a nod and received a pair of keys from Marnie. Bading me farewell with a small smile, Marnie quickly disappeared into the distance. I then entered the dorm. It was exactly as I had imagined: in complete disarray. A cloud of dust greeted me. Stairs gave access to the second floor, but I opted not to even try going there.

I explored the ground floor. There were four rooms: the dust-invaded entrance, a small lounge with a single couch and nothing else, a bathroom which fortunately had everything it needed, and a kitchenette. Except for a few pots and pans scattered around the stove top, only a broken microwave and a sack could be seen. I appreciated the presence of the appliance, but I would have been happier if it had been usable.

I decided to open the sack. Inside of it there were some loaves of bread, jam jars and packs of noodles. Starving, I decided to simply ingurgitate everything without a care in the world. I tried to use the stoves to cook the noodles, but nothing happened. I decided to simply munch the noodles raw. Previously, I would have never attempted something like this, but I was now confident in my stomach capabilities. I suspected I could even digest bark if I wanted to. Although I felt my dignity suffer a blow, I was too tired to care. After the “meal”, if it could even be called such, I collapsed on the couch and lost consciousness.

I woke up the next morning, at the sound of someone knocking on the door. I got up and went to open the door. There was Marnie, handing me clothes.

“Go wash up and put the uniform on. I’ll wait for you in front of the main building. Mind you, it’s the first day. First impressions are important~”

Once I had received the clothes, Marnie turned around and left. Following the instructions, I went to get a shower. There was no soap and the water was cold, but through sheer strength I was able to scrub away any impurity from my skin. All cleaned up and basically reborn, I wore the dark uniform and left the building.

Retracing the way of the previous day I reached the main building, in front of which I found Marnie, waiting for me.

“Where is Faye?” I asked.

“She already started, you two have different schedules. Now, follow me”

Once again, Marnie guided me through the corridors and set of stairs, until we reached a classroom on the third floor. Without opening the door, she turned to me, a serious look plastered on my face.

“John, you have been admitted to the archuman class. The teacher is not “properly'' one of us, but I beg you, please be polite. She is a very nice lady. Also, I want you to keep this in mind: your classmates are archs, but they are different from you. Ok?”

Although I didn’t understand completely, I answered with a nod. Marnie sighed loudly.

“Let’s see how it goes”

She then opened the door, inviting me to enter. Ignorant of what the future held for me, I stepped inside the room.