KEISHIRO

Just when I thought that the school couldn’t be much further, the car made a turn to the left, and right ahead of us, the school gate stood.

I haven’t even got into the school grounds yet, and it made me speechless already. It was enormously huge, probably about fifty meters tall. The whole thing was heavily decorated in a way that screamed extreme magnificence; statues of angels with books on their hands surrounding a roaring lion stood on the very top of the structure, welcoming the seemingly endless stream of students in their chauffeured lavish cars that entered the school compound through the multiple archways on the lower part of the gate. Above the archways, a giant shield that donned school crest hung right in the middle of the gate. On the upper and lower corners, there were two-way balconies with armed guards carrying sniper rifles.

Surely a tourist would’ve mistaken this gate as a historical attraction had the school name weren’t present - it was right below the line of statues and just above the giant shield, carved deeply into the hard surface of the gate with some sort of Greek style typography, along with a Latin prose that means ‘To Be Glorious in Knowledge’...probably - Latin’s kinda rusty since there’s no one to talk to with a dead language back in Japan, and I have no actual interest with it; it’s just one of the many things that the aristocracy forced to drill into my head for hell-I-couldn’t-care-less reasons.

Once we entered the archway area, automatic blockades appeared on both the front and the back of the archway, and then a few military personnel approached with a salute before they conducted a security search - Vierro told me that it’s mandatory for all cars before it can proceed to the school area. Well, considering that members of the royal family themselves were running the school along with the Royal Ministry of Education, they didn’t joke around with the safety measures; plus, they’re housing children from different parts of the world that would’ve cost more than money if they got harmed - including me.

After the officers were done checking the car, Vierro pulled the brim of his black chauffeur hat slightly as he nodded to the officers, whom in return replied with salutes, and drove away.

Ahead of the archways was a large road with endless lines of pine trees on the sides, and several other pathways with roadsigns indicating where it would lead to. Vierro kept driving straight, towards the main building of the school where the view dropped my jaw to the floor; the driveway circled a large round fountain with gigantic statues of lions and angels in the middle, surrounded by a stretch of spouting water dancing fancily in a rhythm. The main school building itself sat on top of a hill with green, slush fields of grass that were separated by wide marble stairs that stretches down to the drop-off area. With its gigantic pillars and roof embellished with reliefs, the structure instantly reminded me of the Parthenon Temple in Greece - only this one was much bigger and shinier, donning the crest of Sterling and the Latin school motto.

Holy. Crap. This place didn’t look like a school at all.

“...Vierro, did Caesar’s Palace just moved to Valenfields?”

Vierro just laughed at my reaction.

As we were approaching the drop-off area, Vierro told me to prepare my things. I scooted to the other side of the car and grabbed my shiny new backpack that’s been sitting near the car fridge. It’s a gift from my father that he had delivered all the way from Manchester to replace the one that I used in Japan; it was a school-issued one and I didn’t need it anymore, so I gave mine to Kazu-kun before I left - he needed a replacement after he broke his school bag last summer.

When the car finally stopped, I was ready to get out when all of a sudden, the car door burst opened from the outside. I was startled for a few seconds until I noticed the presence of a friendly-looking man, dressed in an ivory long-sleeved collar suit standing right beside the door; I realize that he was a doorman until I caught a glimpse of another man in a similar suit, helping a younger child getting out of a car ahead of mine. Right; what the heck was I thinking? In a school that has its own airport terminal and designer uniforms, having some doormen attending students at the drop-off area shouldn’t be too much of a surprise.

The doorman who attended me even peeked into the car with a concerned look on his face, probably wondering why I looked so stupefied over him.

As my ears caught the honking sounds from the cars behind, I hastily lifted my backpack and scooted out of the car.

“Have a nice day, Master Bellrose!” Vierro said, slightly pulling down the brim of his hat as he smiled.

“Thanks, Vierro!”

When I stepped out of the car, the doorman greeted me politely as he beamed a welcoming smile. “Good morning, sir!”

“’Morning,” I replied, “Um, I’m a new student here. Can you please tell me which way the high school section is?”

After he closed my limo’s door, he turned to me and answered my question. “The high school building is on the north side of the main hall. Just head straight into the school area, and you’ll see some signs that’ll guide you there.” he said, gesturing the directions with his arms as he explained. “Oh, and since you’re a new student, once you arrived at the high school building, you should report to the headmaster’s office first and find out which class you’re assigned to.” he added.

I then thanked him as I walked ahead, seeing that another car has arrived on his post and he must attend the passenger immediately.

And so, with mixed feelings between excitement and reluctance, I turned towards the staircase and headed to the route that that I would be taking every morning for the next three years...