Next stop: Utopia Academy

[utopiamods]

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."

Comments

[tenwholeryou]

'Possibly' nothing. During their sleep, Kotarou had managed to slump over sideways with the movement of the tram, and had until that point been fast asleep against Reiko's side. As she moved, he was jerked awake.

And a Kotarou jerked awake isn't a good Kotarou.

"Huh?" He rubbed his eyes. It took him a few seconds to realise that the voice beside him wasn't Nanashi's, but when he did, it was his turn to bolt upright and stare. A woman! Why would-- he glanced around and took in the sleeping people on all of the seats of the strange room. He didn't know any of them. But, first things first; he turned back so he was facing the woman who'd spoken, and pointed at her. Rudely.

"Who are you?"

[myownfuture]

"Who am I? Who are you?" Reiko shot back, her look of confusion turning to irritation. "Don't talk like that to your elders, little boy!" Even if he was a boy and she was a girl, what gave him that right? Sheesh, he was already on the path to male domination. No wonder he was coming to Utopia.

[tenwholeryou]

"I'm not a little boy!" The objection was habit. His growl wasn't. "I'm Kotarou!"

He looked around again, and tried not to panic. It wasn't working. "Tobimaru!" Where were they? They'd been sleeping in the same haybale just minutes ago, he was sure of it. "Nanashi!"

[myownfuture]

Reiko stood up, stretching her arms above her head -- somehow, she felt like she'd been sitting or lying in one place for a long time -- and looked around. "You don't... know where you are, either? Aren't you a new student?"

[tenwholeryou]

Kotarou didn't manage to stifle his look of blank incomprehension in time, but tried anyway. Nope, wasn't fooling anybody. He switched tack.

"What're you talking about? We're in Japan! You think you can fool me just 'cause I'm a kid?"

[myownfuture]

"Of course we're in Japan, kid," she replied. Ugh, he was hopeless. "That's not what I asked!"

She turned to step down the aisle to the front of the tram, as the conductor repeated the message. If this kid didn't know anything, maybe the conductor would.

[tenwholeryou]

"H-hey!" Kotarou scrambled over the seat as she turned to walk away, and dropped to the floor next to her. No way was he staying behind with two other strangers still waking up. "Where are you going? Take me with you!"

[myownfuture]

"I'm going to find some answers," she said. She didn't slow down in the least for the little boy; if he wanted to keep up, he could keep up on his own merits. Or at least stop being so rude.

"Excuse me," she said to the conductor once they reached the front of the tram. "This is... Utopia Academy?"

[utopiamods]

"Coming up now, ma'am, yes." The conductor didn't turn, but she smiled briefly at Reiko and Kotarou in the mirror. "Looking forward to it?"

[myownfuture]

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?"

[tenwholeryou]

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?"

[utopiamods]

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."

[myownfuture]

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?"

[tenwholeryou]

"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?"

[myownfuture]

"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."

[tenwholeryou]

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."

[myownfuture]

"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?"

[utopiamods]

"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."

[myownfuture]

"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...?

[utopiamods]

"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."

[myownfuture]

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?!"

[tenwholeryou]

"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?!"

[myownfuture]

"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..."

[utopiamods]

"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?"

[tenwholeryou]

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?"