rakuen | Next stop: Utopia Academy

You're falling, and you can't remember why. It's a sickening feeling that makes your insides lurch; the darkness and the vertigo combine, and all you can think of is a story you heard once, somewhere.

-I remember now. It's a simple story that everyone knows. A legend of a Princess, the Demon Lord who kidnapped her, and the Knight who fought to save her.

The Demon Lord had kidnapped the Princess countless times, but every time the Knight bested his challenges and rescued the Princess.

No matter what tricks and ploys the Demon Lord used, the Knight would always triumph in the end. This was because--

The world tilts on its axis one last time, and the dream slips from your mind as easily as it arrived. A new voice intrudes on your sleep.

"Next stop: Academy Main Entrance. This tramline terminates here; all change. Next stop: Academy Main Entrance. All change."

Sunlight streams through the windows of the long carriage, making the seats almost uncomfortably warm beneath its sleeping passengers. The air is muggy and thick, the atmosphere relaxing. Almost too relaxing; the warmth and the silence make it difficult to immediately muster any kind of reaction or thought. Your nausea settles, slowly. The last of the dream fades.

"We have arrived at Utopia. Repeat, we have arrived at Utopia Academy. Could all passengers please leave the tram, as it is terminating here."

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Hah. The skeptical look on Reiko's face said more than she could ever say out loud. "I was just at Utopia Academy! How did I get on this train? What's going on here?"

She'd already been... wherever they were going? Kotarou eyed the woman with renewed suspicion, but didn't move away. So far, she was his best chance at figuring out a way to escape.

"Looking forward to what?"

The conductor's smile didn't falter at the odd information, she just smiled again and flipped several switches on the dashboard.

"How exciting for you both. You'll be able to help the others, won't you?" She looked down at Kotarou, and added, "Why, Utopia is one of the best academies in the world."

The lack of actual answers was infuriating. "One of the best for him, you mean," she snapped. "Aren't you leaving out a few important details about what it's like there? Or are you not aware?"

"For me?" Kotarou repeated, bewildered and scared. A quick glance back told him that others were beginning to wake up, and he dashed forward so he was in front of Reiko instead of between her and the other passengers.

"Why are there so many foreigners?"

"Yeah, for you, little boy," she said.

Then she turned to look around. Foreigners...? There were a few that she noticed, now that he mentioned it. A lot of people here looked American. (Any classmates she might have had were conveniently hidden by other people.) "That's a good question... Utopia Academy only has Japanese students."

But she had yellow hair. He squinted up at her. Maybe she had foreigner blood?

"- I'm not a little boy," he added, automatically. "You're rude, you know! Not telling me your name."

"You're hardly an adult," she shot back. But he had a point. Grumping a little and folding her arms over her chest, she replied, "Reiko Date. Second year high school."

She turned back to the conductor. "You still haven't answered me! How did I get on this train?"

"I'd hope you got onto this tram from an earlier platform, Ms Date," the conductor chuckled at her own joke, "I have your ticket stub right here."

"Let me see it," she said almost as soon as the conductor had finished speaking. "I couldn't have, I was just in the middle of Exaclan! I was just--"

--jumping in front of Sora to protect her from Shoujou's blow, and then...

She reached up instinctively to rub the back of her neck where she'd been pierced. That had really happened, hadn't it...?

"Of course." With a faint smile, she opened her till and flicked through a pile of tickets.

"Ah, here we are. Date, Reiko. One-way from Utopia Academy to Utopia Academy."

Reiko tore the ticket out of the woman's hand, wrenching her arm so suddenly that it might have just hit Kotarou, and stared at the little slip of paper in disbelief. That's what it said, all right. "What?!"

"Ahh!" Kotarou ducked just fast enough that her arm only clipped the side of his face, but he was too preoccupied staring at the other ticket in the conductor's hand. What did it say? He could make out his own name, and the name of the town they'd been staying in...

"One-way?!"

"You really aren't going to tell us anything else, are you? You... you..." Reiko fumbled for an appropriate word.

Maybe she couldn't. Maybe she was living in despair, in fear of what Iwahijiri would do to her if she went against their wishes. "I see..."

"We will be arriving soon," she added. "I'm sure there'll be someone at the academy who can answer your questions. If you could please take your seats again?"

That was a 'don't ask anything else' line. He recognised it from Nanashi, but he was less willing to shout at this person than he would be at his friend. So, he stuck close to Reiko's side, scowling at the other passengers.

"What did it mean, one-way?"

Reiko frowned and stepped back into the aisle. They weren't going to get any answers here.

"One-way means the train only goes... well, one way," she explained. "It means we don't have a return ticket."

"Train," he repeated, again, glaring around at the machine they were in. Why would they need a ticket to leave? "We can get a horse, can't we? Or we can walk."

"Utopia Academy is on an island. I guess we could swim or take a boat, but that's not really the point. We wouldn't have anywhere to go after that."

"We could go anywhere!" He clenched his fists, not understanding what she meant. He could go somewhere where Nanashi could find him. If they were on an island, how would... "How is Tobimaru going to find me if I'm on an island, huh? I don't want to go to a stupid academy!"

Whatever an academy was.

He really didn't get it, did he. Reiko sighed, trying to think of just how to explain it to the kid.

"I don't blame you. It's not really a very good academy." Even if he was a boy. That wasn't the point, not anymore; at least, that's what Sora seemed to think. "Once we get there, maybe we'll get some answers...?"

Next stop: Utopia Academy

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