I shut my eyes closed, praying that we make it to Itosan in one piece and alive. “Students, its okay to open your eyes,” I slowly opened one of my eyes to which both of my eyes widened.

It was something I never would’ve imagines. It was completely different from Juto, our city which resided in Anoma, our home country. Itosan was way ahead of us, but it seemed they built their buildings like from a older time and it fits the concept. While Juto is filled with skyscrapers on one side and farms on another and you can never understand what the architects were thinking. 

“Professor Lewis, can I live here?” Ysennia asked, raising her hand, “I found my calling,”

“Itosan is a beautiful country but Okai the capital, which we are at and it's housing price range is very expensive to which only citizens at the age of 55 and older live here or those who are rich,” Professor Lewis said, handing us our luggage, “So, get behind that group and wait there until everyone arrives,”

We dragged our suitcase with us to the line before us and waited until everyone arrived. All the professors came to each one of us handing us a bracelet and ended up in the front.

“Okay everyone, we have handed you a bracelet to which you must keep during the reminder of the trip which is two months, this will help us located all of you and keep you in check, so please don't cause any unnecessary problems,” Professor Urban said, “This is a new place for all us and the laws won't be in favor for us, so behave,”

“Urban, don't be like that,” Professor Lewis patted his shoulder, “Now, students we will be heading to the hotel we will be staying at. Soon after, our guide will show us the way to the court and show us the historical monument. So, stick close and don’t get sidetracked by Okai beauty,” 

We followed Professor Lewis and just looked around, just amazed by how Okai looked and how busy the streets were. I felt someone grabbed my arm and I noticed it was Sandra. 

“What’s wrong, Sandra?”

“Don’t you see their appearances? Especially the one with horns and look at his tail!” Sandra squeezed my arm as she pointed out the people

I tilted my head, curious on how people could attribute animal characterisitics. I looked forward, just walking but I would look at the citizens, just amazed of their confidence and couraged for not trying to hide themselves.

“Okay, students. We are here. Were all going to go inside so please be like good children and stay in single file line and don’t wander off,” Professor Lewis smiled at us

We followed them inside and stood off to the side as they communicated with the hotel workers. I looked around, noticing a lounge area with people my age, sitting there and chatting away. I could probably come down here to study and relax.

“Okay, children. We have your room cards, so it’ll be two same sex students in each room,”

“Can you stop calling us children since were in our early 20s?” One of us said

“Okay, fine,” Professor Lewis sighed, “But, listen to our rules and don’t complain or I’ll continue to call you children. So, I have the buddy system right here. We were going to make the whole group sleep in the same room, but though against it since some of the groups have more than two people of the same sexes so it’ll be better to give each of you a room to which each of you can get a bed by yourself. So, behave yourself and don’t make your roommate your enemy,” She unfolded a piece of paper, “Irene and Kiara, Oliver and Erick…,” “Ysennia and Layla. I know you two are close so I decided to keep you two together,”

“Hey, that’s not fair,” Irene said, “Why couldn’t we pick our roommate?”

“Because we don’t want any funny business to happen or for a baby to pop out after nine months,” Professor Lewis smiled at her, before continuing on with the names, “Now, that everyone has a roommate and room. Let’s head off to your rooms and drop off your suitcases so we can explore Okai,”

We went into groups of 10 to get on the elevator, so it took us a while before we could get on and head to our room.

“So, who's in charge of the key?” Ysennia asked, tapping the key on the door and we entered the room, making sure the door closed behind us 

“Well since you have it, you can be in charge,” I said as I set my suitcase in front of the bed beside the door, “Since I got the bed by the door,”

“How about you be in charge?” She handed me the card, “You know how I am, Layla. I'm going to lose this and I'm not a good leader,”

“Ysennia, I'm going to lose this as well, so let's decide on rock, paper, scissors,” I got my hands in position and Ysennia did as well, “On the count of three. One, two… Three!”

“Ah ha! Im the winner!” Ysennia jumped in her spot, “So, here you go. Take good care of it,” She placed the card in my hand 

I sighed, putting the card in my wallet, “Why do I always play against you? I should just admit defeat already,”

“You'll probably win one day, Layla. Don't worry. But we should probably be heading back to the lobby now,” She grabbed her purse and walked to the door, “Come on, Layla,”

I walked to the door, making sure I still had the key and walked out. We went to the elevator and waited before getting to the first floor. We saw the group of students and walked over there, just waiting to be told what to do next.

“Attention students! We have a very important guest for you all,” We looked at the professors and then at the person, they were directing to

“Welcome everyone to Okai, the capital and welcoming area for Itosan. I'm Wesley and I'll be your tour guide for the reminder of the trip. So, I know you may be all very excited to be here, but there are some rules I have to bombard you with,” He smiled at us, “When you are on your own or in the court, please abide by these rules. Any slander or harm to the citizens of Itosan will automatically be a sentence to 3 years in prison and we don't want that. And for the two months, you'll be here. Please make friends here but no romantic ones. It may seem harsh, but we have our own reasons for this,”

“Can we know the reasons…as it could help us understand,” The student lowered their head as Wesley glared at him

“We're deeply sorry about that question, Mr. Wesley. Please his question,” Professor Lewis butt in

He stared at her before plastering on a fake smile, “Why of course. Shall we start our tour?” He turned to us

“Yes sir!”

“Good. Now, everyone stay close and don’t run off as I won't tolerate it,” He turned around and began to walk ahead and we followed after him, in a single file line as we didn’t want to upset him even more

                                                ☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

“This route I'm taking you will help guide you to the court or to the police station. We currently don't use cars, only train systems and buses which operate on solar energy. We used to have the standard gas, but it was bad for the environment and it affected some of our citizens. The city architects tried to make everything a walking distance just like the basics- a grocery store, school, libraries, and attractions,”

“But, I see some cars at the hotel?”

“A few have cars but they have to pay more for it and mostly its the millionaries,” He stopped at a crossing walk, “Make sure you follow the rules when using the crosswalk,” 

We waited there until the white crossman appeared and we continued to follow him. Just walking and sightseeing. I was thankful I wore sneakers and not my heels which were only three inches.

“Wow..,” I stared at court building, just amazed by how tall and wide it was. The exterior designs filled with columns, statures and it looked like they used marble for the exterior. 

“And here we are, the court. If you continue to walk down this way, you'll end up at the police station,” He headed to the door and held it open, “Please head on in and I'll introduce you to a lawyer to which one of you will be working with,”