Somewhere near the center of the great gray city, a manarail was speeding, taking its passengers to their daily lives.
One such passenger was a young man with sharp features, black hair, and blue eyes. He sat calmly, studying the enrollment letter in his hands in detail.
The surrounding buzz of the crowd and the occasional shaking of the cabin did nothing to hinder his concentration.
Ailanthus Academy of Magic... I am looking forward to it. He was thinking about his coming student life.
Unlike some of his peers, who dreaded any disruption to their comfortable lives, he wanted nothing more than to experience what it was like beyond the family mansion and the safety of the city center.
His name was Cyril Felling, a noble by birth. Usually his peers preferred to mingle at various evening parties and establish all kinds of false friendships with each other.
He never was a fan of such things. It felt pointless and annoying, weak even.
Just as Cyril was thinking about his past, a loud screech was heard from all around.
He frowned and braced himself for possible impact, though nothing dangerous came.
The manarail, making a horrible piercing noise all the while, slowly came to a halt.
Some accident must have happened.
That's great... Cyril, with frustration, leaned back in his seat.
"You are going to be late now. That's very unfortunate." A beautiful, melodic voice called out to Cyril from the side.
He turned his head in that direction and was immediately shocked.
There sat a young woman wearing a business suit, which was still a rare attire in the Empire.
He hadn't seen her board. He hadn't noticed her at all until now.
Cyril was confident that he had seen plenty of beautiful people in his life so far, but none of them held a candle to this woman.
The most striking feature for Cyril was her bright red eyes that seemed to hide something dangerous within them.
Her black hair reached past her shoulders, her nose, smile, brows—everything appeared perfect, maybe even too perfect, giving off a slight feeling of uncanniness.
"It's not a big deal, though, right? It's not our fault anyways~" The woman continued with a warm smile on her face.
Even her voice appeared special, like reaching directly into his heart. It finally shook Cyril from his shock.
"How do you know I am going to Ailanthus?" He blurted out the first thing on his mind.
"Isn't it obvious?" The woman simply replied with a widened smile.
With a jolt, Cyril remembered that he was still holding the enrollment letter in his hands. She must have simply noticed it.
While feeling slight shame for asking a silly question like that, he finally put away the letter in his pocket.
Damn, what is wrong with me? I never felt this way before... He closed his eyes and regained his calm.
No girl in his 18 years of life ever elicited such a reaction from him, even though some have tried hard. It seems spring has finally arrived for Cyril?
No, this must be... something different. He argued with himself.
...
The door to the next cabin suddenly opened, taking his attention.
Some workers passed through, waving their hands and calming down the panicking crowd.
"Everyone calm down. We lost contact with the main manavein and had to make an emergency stop. Don't worry, we already switched to the backup, and the manarail, after a bit of time, will continue as normal."
With confirmation of safety, some people immediately erupted in gossip, venting their frustrations and speculating about the cause.
"I can't be late today! You must start the manarail as soon as possible!"
"It must be these 'Lapis' guys doing trouble again! Can't they just give it a rest already! Why must they be so damn annoying to us regular folk..."
"I know, right! They constantly scream about the evils of using the manaveins, that it corrupts the world or whatever, but all I see is them exploding public transport!"
Finding comfort in having a common enemy, the people soon calmed down.
"All this rabble can do is whine. Since they have no strength, they should just shut up and accept things as they are," the woman said with clear contempt in her eyes.
Cyril stiffened from her rude words. He didn't exactly disagree with her here. When you can't change something, maybe it's better for your mental health not to dwell on it.
But to say such things with a loud voice in a cramped-up cabin was a bit too much.
He carefully looked around out of the corner of his eye. Thankfully, no one seemed to notice her words, everyone was busy gossiping.
"I am not scared of some pitiful everyday man," The woman crossed her arms with her nose raised high.
She is an arrogant one, huh? Cyril thought with some helplessness, though he didn't dislike it.
Perhaps gleaning something from his usually calm face, the woman replied with a shrug. "I am just stating the truth, that's not being arrogant."
"Alright, then. Are you usually so kind to people?" Cyril calmly asked.
The woman turned towards him, and her contemptuous expression was quickly replaced by a warm, almost suggestive smile. "Yes. I am treating people the way they deserve it."
She is certainly a character. Cyril was slightly intrigued by her. He felt an attraction he couldn't quite explain.
"What's your name?" He asked what he usually never asks.
"Hmm..." The woman's expression turned contemplative, even unsure.
"What do you want to call me?" She suddenly asked.
Cyril thought this was her attempt at a joke at first. However her earnest, bright red eyes implied she was being serious.
"...with your name." Cyril replied, his face blank.
"Alright, then." The woman tapped her chin with her index finger in thought.
Then she raised it in the air. Cyril got the illusion that above her a light bulb went on. "Call me Rhamn!" She said with a proud voice.
Cyril nodded, remembering this name in his heart. It sounded quite good in his opinion.
"My name is Cyril," he introduced himself as well.
"I know," Rhamn smiled sweetly and replied as a matter of fact.
She does? ... Right, she saw the enrollment letter. His brain quickly rationalized her words in a reasonable manner.
Suddenly a person sitting on the seat across from Cyril garnered his attention.
It was a middle-aged man staring at him with a weird, concerned look.
"Is there something wrong?" Cyril turned to him with a frown.
"No, no. Don't mind me, please." The man hastily replied with some fear and turned his head to the side, pretending to look at the scenery of countless grey buildings visible from the manarail.
What's wrong with him? Cyril didn't appreciate being stared at like a zoo animal.
He briefly looked over his appereance. Nothing was wrong or eye-catching.
"Don't mind that nobody. Come on, let's talk some more." Rhamn called out, taking his attention again.
He could only throw this matter out of his head and return to talking to this highly memorable girl.
...
Eventually the manarail started again, though it took quite a bit of time.
Cyril was spending it talking with Rhamn about all sorts of random topics.
When asked where she was going, Cyril received an unexpected response.
Turns out she was going to enroll at Ailanthus too.
She is wearing a business suit to the entrance ceremony? He thought with some confusion.
While it was one thing to dress for the occasion, the students were supposed to wear their student uniforms they received some time earlier.
"Do you not like it? I think it's stylish." She twisted her body, letting Cyril take a better view.
"...It looks good," he only replied and no longer stared.
"Then it's fine," Rhamn replied with a weird sense of pride.
Suddenly, through the crystal in the corner of the cabin, a heavily distorted voice grumbled through the name of the station near Ailanthus.
"It's our stop," Cyril quickly said and prepared to get up.
Even though they didn't have to sit in a carriage to reach their destination like the people in past generations, the distance from the city center, where the Tower proudly stood, to Ailanthus on the edge of the city was quite far.
Coupled with the emergency stop along the way, it was already getting dark outside. They definitely missed the entrance ceremony.
In a few moments the manarail gradually and without accident came to a stop, and the metal door of the cabin opened up.
Cyril and Rhamn, along with a few other passengers, got up. They were not the only students here.
After getting out from the cabin, Cyril was greeted with the sights of the academy. The most prominent piece was the ancient-looking castle raised high into the sky.
"This place looks grand. Wonder what it was before the Empire came here," Cyril mumbled out loud and turned to look at his companion, and his face grew shocked immediately.
Not because of her beauty again—during this time he thankfully managed to get used to it—but another student happened to pass right in the place Rhamn was standing.
And instead of asking her to move or, in a more rude fashion, pushing her to the side as some third-rate villain, the student simply walked right through.
Without even noticing her or hitting her in the process, the student passed straight through the red-eyed girl as if she weren't even there.
Then on the way he briefly nodded in confusion to Cyril and sped up, in a hurry to reach the castle.
"What... What was that?" Cyril asked, not sure what to think at the moment.
"What was what?" Rhamn replied. Then, after a second delay, she widened her eyes in realization.
"Oh, how did that weak-looking student pass through me?" Then her voice turned awkward. "…I don't know. It just works this way," she said in a cryptic manner.
Remembering the weird looks he was getting from the man on the manarail, Cyril reached out his hand in an attempt to touch Rhamn's shoulder.
As he expected, but feared at the same time, his hand didn't feel the warmth of flesh but passed straight through.
"Yeah, we can't touch each other. That's a shame," Rhamn replied without acting any different.
What's going on here? Only I can see her? Cyril stood there, frozen on the spot.
As if replying to his thoughts, Rhamn opened her mouth and, with a confused voice, said, "Isn't this quite normal?"
I must be losing my mind...