The sheer size of Alcaster Academy was intimidating.
Back in Obin, the largest building was the shopping mall, and it stood seven stories tall - about thirty metres at most. Pentheholm University dwarved that easily. The campus was ten times as large as the shopping mall, and could probably fit the entire town's population comfortably within its buildings.
Alcaster Academy, on the other hand, seemed to be larger than the entire city of Obin. The orange dome that Nero had seen from his hotel room was almost transparent up close; you could still tell that there was something there, so you wouldn't bump into it, but it didn't really impede the visibility of whatever was on the other side.
The one exception to the transparent glass was a patch of red that seemed to traverse the dome - the Great Red Spot. Senna had explained that the red-stained glass was not actually glass, but a floating mass of purifiers that regulated the air quality within the academy.
At the base of the dome was a huge pair of golden gates, guarded by four stern looking automatons. Through the gate was a brick path that led straight into the heart of Alcaster Academy, surrounded by a neatly trimmed field on both sides.
On normal days, the field would have made for a brilliant place for students to carry out sports or other co-curricular activities. Today, however, dozens of small stations were set up all around the area, manned by the administrative staff of Alcaster. They looked about as excited as the people outside; all of them were surveying the crowd with little smiles on their faces.
"Hey, Ophelia! Nero! Over here!"
Ophelia turned and waved at Senna, who had managed to worm her way to the front of the crowd. Mr and Mrs Katori had elected to tour the city after catching sight of the thousands of people in front of the gates, and promised to meet up with the kids after they were done.
"What time did you arrive?" asked Nero.
"I've been here since 2pm. The crowd's only going to get more and more insane, so we'd better stick near the gates if we want to get evaluated first."
"I don't know if I want to be evaluated first," said Ophelia. She was beginning to look queasy, as though she was back atop the Moon Bridge's viewing gallery. "I'm so freaking nervous; all this stress is terrible for my heart."
Nero was clutching his own arm, regretting the large breakfast he had that morning. It was, as he had said, a huge wasted opportunity to not sample everything the hotel buffet had to offer - and now the copious amounts of pancakes were threatening to make a reappearance.
"Trust me," said Senna morosely. "Been through this four times. It's better to go first and get it over with."
Squeezing through every opening in the crowd, Senna led Nero and Ophelia as close as she could towards the gates. Eventually, they got to a point where there was simply no more free space to filter into, and it was there that they decided to stand.
Past the many heads of hair, Nero spotted a familiar man walking down the brick path of Alcaster Academy and towards the crowd. He raised a hand, and Nero felt the tension in his gut unwind immediately.
The white noise of chattering people had likewise halted. It was the first time that Nero had ever seen an esper directly control other people on such a massive scale - and he suddenly realised why Mr Katori had been so reluctant to send them to Alcaster Academy.
"I do apologise for interrupting your conversations," said Professor Vamoden, the ghost of a grin on his face. "But we have much to do if we are to properly assess all of you on time.
Those of you who are here for the esper appraisals, please form two lines in front of the main gates. For those who are here to support the entrants, you may do so from behind the red lights on the floor."
At his words, thin strips of glowing crimson light lit up along the ground, eliciting a soft round of murmuring.