This place is freaking huge!

  Navigating and marking the remaining classrooms was simple, yet tedious. I’d check and recheck the map multiple times, making sure I didn’t get lost in the goliath fortress that’s supposedly a school. It had taken me 10 minutes at most to walk from one of my assigned classrooms to another, an amount of time I’m sure I can reduce with enough repetition of traversing the finalized route. If I can, it could be reduced to 7, maybe 6 if I didn’t take breaks in between.

  The grace period between changing classes had better be generous enough to account for the distance between classes if I have to walk with traffic flow.

  While I was navigating to the remaining classrooms, I noted various landmarks of interest. There was a large courtyard area surrounded and divided by paths. The paths lining the edge of the courtyard shone like they had been waxed, even having an intricate pattern inside a square that repeated around the perimeter. It was symmetrical, with the perimeter being 24 of these squares in length, with the middle of the courtyard’s edges being marked by stone paths stretching from one parallel edge to the other, both of them intersecting at the middle in a plus shape. The corners of the grass sections farthest from the center of the courtyard each have a pillar supporting the ceiling above the paths with intricate patterns, as if intentionally designed to minimize the obstruction of the view for any passersby who had chanced upon such a beautiful location.

  In the grass quadrants divided by the stone paths, only 2 had anything worth noting. In one quadrant is a tree whose shadow covers around 70 percent of the grass square, while the quadrant diagonal has a fountain perfectly in the middle of its section, with the width of the bottom-most section’s walls being wide enough to sit on. Like the courtyard, the fountain was also symmetrical in design, being three series of circles that decreased in radius the further they were from the ground, each having grooves that let water steadily pour from the top to the bottom, each stream almost looking like glass if it weren’t for the near-inconspicuous swaying or bursts of water that shattered the illusion.

  Between the grass quadrants and the 24 squares were some bushes bordering between them.

  Another location was a series of stairs descending to a large pair of double doors. I found it when I had accidentally taken a wrong turn after scrutinizing the map one too many times, confusing myself from the overfixation of making sure I was right.

  Reexamining the map, it wasn’t a location I should’ve seen if I was committed to the route I’d drawn for myself.

  A lot of the halls I had to traverse had red carpet spanning from end to end, cutting off either at entrances or exits, doors, or significant locations in the school, such as the hallway hub or the courtyard.

  These large double doors had a red carpet leading to its base, yet it felt out of the way of the school’s layout. The descent to the door was cloaked in increasingly darker shadows, giving it an ominous vibe.

  I decided not to explore it. Knowing horror movie tropes, exploring it could lead to a gruesome and premature death.

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

  The final location of interest I had encountered while planning my route was more inviting than those Death doors. A giant, circular library with shelves full of books from floor to ceiling, with tables near the center of the room.

  The bottoms of the shelves were level with the library’s entrance, while all the tables were in the cratered section, a few feet below the entrance of the towering archive, with 8 sets of stairs leading to the lowered section, arranged like a spider’s web. Between those stairs were either more tables or sofas for readers to lounge in. In the middle of the cratered section where the stairs would intersect was the library counter, presumably for checking books in and out.

  How would you even get the books near the ceiling? Would a ladder that high even be feasible?

  If me being summoned, Mr. Blonde’s golden orbs, and that golden dragon were anything to go by, this world’s no stranger to ‘strange’ occurrences.

  I noted the locations on my large map before moving to a spot out of the way of foot traffic, hearing the sounds of students ready to leave class. Unlike before, I had more spots to hide from students, so it was easier to get out of their way the second time. After waiting for them to enter their last period, I took this chance to traverse the route a few more times so it’d be committed to memory.

  —

  After traversing the route a few more times, I felt confident about memorizing it, but I produced a miniature version of the map in case I got lost. There was no way I was taking out such a large map every time I was lost.

  It’d help if there weren’t a language so I could better feign understanding.

  Knowing how to speak, read, and write the world’s language would’ve been a nice perk if I had known I’d be forced to attend a school after my reincarnation. For now, I’ll have to utilize my power to enable limited communication with all of my would-be teachers.

  Wait, I’ll have to speak to teachers eventually at this rate! How the hell am I going to face them as a student?

  My unease grew as I imagined potential scenarios of being in their classrooms.

  ‘Are you an idiot for not understanding something so fundamental!’

  ‘If you’re not here to learn, you can leave.’

  ‘You better not hold us back.’

  Ugh… I dread meeting my new teachers already.

  I earnestly hoped that I wouldn’t have to deal with a teacher who’s heavily swayed by their biases. Teachers at the high school level and below tended to be open about their prejudices, while college professors, who knowingly teach adults, are more lax with how they treat their students. I witnessed such treatment as a student, as one of my teachers openly bullied a former classmate of mine, treating them like a nuisance, the designated bad apple.

  I put aside my thoughts for what's to come as I made my way back to the dorm.

  —

  I wonder what it’s like in the other rooms.

  Dorm rooms, though limited in space, still have enough room for a student to express their personality if their respective residents were given the freedom to do so, like an artist given a canvas and paints, paper and pencils, a stylus and tablet, stone and chisels, pottery wheels and clay, an empty wall and cans of spray paint, and other tools any aspiring artist is rich or creative enough to utilize.

  Kiori’s room gave me the impression of him being meticulous and diligent, but his decision to summon me for whatever reason convinced me there’s more to him than being merely a good student. I’m no expert, but I’m fairly sure summoning beings from other worlds without sanction is an extremely reckless decision.

  If that’s the case, then I hope me being summoned before him is the best possible outcome.

  As I navigated the stairs to the floor my summoner’s room was on, I reached for the key I stored in my pocket.

  The pocket was empty.

  Hang on a minute.

  I checked my other pocket, not feeling the key in there either.

  I turned both my pockets inside out. Nothing.

  Fuck!