We had already arrived. During the entire trip, Enma had fallen asleep listening to music, and Ajax was chatting with Mar about trivial topics. I just spent the two and a half hours looking at the scenery. And I wasn't bored; on the contrary, I was memorizing the route... What? I'm not weird. Just productive in my free time. (...)

  I woke up Enma, and we got off the train, along with the rest of the students. They separated us into 6 groups of 30 (fortunately for Enma, we all 4 didn't get separated), and a bus came to pick us up, and we were on the road for another half hour. We were separated, which annoyed Enma a bit (well, although she eventually fell asleep again) and, finally, we arrived at the big, damn, and famous school, full of assholes. Sant Gabriel.

  It was much bigger than I thought. Much, much bigger. It was, literally, a Victorian castle. The doors were gigantic, made of dark brown wood, and very detailed. The walls were made of white bricks, quite old, but very beautiful.

  We got off the bus (Ajax had to wake up Enma first), where a teacher (?) with blonde hair and an extravagant dress welcomed us. They took attendance, and in the meantime, some girls gave us some strange cards. In mine, it said "P36." I looked at my companions' cards. They also had the same card, with the same number as mine.

  —Welcome to Sant Gabriel! —the "teacher" began to say after about 10 minutes. —Welcome to Sant Gabriel! I'm Margaret Van Therdenreich, your principal! — Oh, she's the principal... Why is she wearing such a strange dress? And don't even get me started on the name... It sounds like a German word I don't want to mention —?Saint Gabriel is one of the 7 best schools inside the European Wall! Here, we take care of educating the inexperienced, that is, you, in the field of magic, and how to use it properly, without harming yourselves or anyone else.

  How many times do I have to repeat that I don't have powers? This is already tiring me. I didn't even have a Kinic.

  Kinics are brightly colored symbols that the awakened obtain upon, well, awakening. They can be any color and/or shape. From a very large symbol that covers your back to a small circle on the palm of your hand. For example, my brother has the Kinic in the lower right corner of his abdomen, and it's a bit large, light green in color.

  And now that I think about it, the heart on Enma's face must be her kinic. Or the symbol on Ajax's neck, which I previously mistook for a tattoo.

  Director Margaret Van... What was her last name? Well, let's just call her "the principal," and that's it. The principal continued with her speech, explaining the history of the school and blah, blah, blah, about how she was proud of something or other regarding the students' reputation, more blah, blah, blah, wishing us luck and more.

  Later, they started to take us inside the school. But I wanted to talk to the principal. I was going to tell her that I shouldn't be at that school. As we entered, I looked for the principal. She was going into a building near the gates, with two other girls behind her. I ran towards them, but they closed the door before I could say anything. I was going to say a swear word, but better not.

  I looked back. They were guiding the students towards what would be our temporary home. Bah, I don't care. I'll ask someone later. I knocked on the door several times. No one answered me.

  I knocked again, several times.

  —Hello?! Is anyone there? —I said. But as usual, silence. I tried to open the door, and the bolt wasn't locked, so it opened. How had it not occurred to me before? I entered and found an empty lobby next to some stairs. I chose to go up them.

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  As I went up, I realized that each office was just one floor. Lisa's office. Isabelle's office. Nicholas's office. For about 5 more floors, they only mentioned the names of professors, I think. I was starting to get tired. How had they climbed so fast? I was starting to lose hope. Until I saw, on the 12th floor, the deputy director's office. Then...

  I went up, tired, but a bit faster to the next floor. There it was, on the 13th floor. The principal's office. Margaret-something-or-other. I knocked on the door. There was no answer. I knocked it again, but nothing.

  —What do you want? —I heard a voice behind me that startled me. I turned around slowly. It wasn't the principal.

  She was a very tall lady, about two meters, with very white and pale skin, to the point that her veins were visible. She had orange eyes and straight black hair without bangs, reaching down to her knees. She was wearing a very tight black dress, also black, that covered everything.

  She had a piercing gaze and a cold aura, which made her presence frightening to me. Had I gotten myself into some trouble?

  —Uh... I'm looking for the principal. —I said, pressing myself against the door, nervous, as if I had done something wrong. The mysterious woman looked me up and down.

  —Why? —she asked me.

  —There has been a mistake in putting me in this school. I shouldn't be here. —I said. The woman raised an eyebrow.

  —Explain yourself.

  —I am definitely not a woke person. I don't have any kiniko.

  —... —the woman leaned in a bit, leaving us face to face. She grabbed my chin with her hands, whose nails were long and sharp. Moreover, the entirety of her body was very cold, which I noticed while she touched me. Besides, it seemed like she was inspecting my face—Hmph.

  Wait... That "hmph"...

  —A-are you the same person who answered the phone? —I said, surprised, and a little angry. The woman (I was starting to hate her, by the way) stopped holding me and straightened up, still looking at me.

  —I don't see any mistake. In your body, there is magical energy. —I set aside my anger for a moment when she said that.

  —Huh?

  —You better go down. You have to go to the apartments. They are the cylindrical buildings at the end. The card they gave you is the floor where you live. —she told me, turning around and going down the stairs.

  —W-wait! —the woman stopped and looked at me again.

  —This place is off-limits to students. There was a sign downstairs, but it seems you're so blind that you didn't see it. It would be better if you leave, before someone else sees you and punishes you. Or are you the complete opposite of your brother, Hakami? Learn from him. Oh, and one more thing. Don't tell the people here that "you don't have powers." They would torture you until you couldn't take it anymore. —that gave me chills, and the woman kept going down. How did she know who I was? And she said she knew my brother?

  I went down quickly, not realizing that the woman entered through the deputy director's door. The only positive part of this was that going down thirteen floors was much better than going up. In the end (and fortunately) no one saw me, and I was able to leave.

  I couldn't see the inside of the school before, but it was quite nice. It was a fairly spacious square courtyard, with stone benches and a fountain in the middle. There were several decorated pillars surrounding the courtyard, with a hallway containing several doors, which I suppose led to various classrooms. In the corners, there were spiral staircases leading to upper floors, with a railing, still allowing one to admire the fountain. There were a total of about seven floors.

  I could make out, on the right side, some doorless entrances. I went over there and found three quite tall cylindrical buildings. So those were the residences... I saw that there were signs on those three buildings. One was for the third and final year students, the other for the second years, and the third one, which was further to the left, was for the first years, that is, my course.

  I looked around, and I could see several pools there too, for swimming classes. But I didn't focus on that now. There was no one around, so I assumed everyone was already inside their houses. By the way, that woman said the little card was the floor number, right?

  I took it out of my pocket. It was the P36.

  One moment... 36...?

  —D-do I have to climb 36 floors...? — I said to myself, incredulous. I had already gone up and down 13 floors before! And now I have to climb 36 more?! I wanna have vacations now...