My jaw dropped and so did the jaws of every other person on the train. At the front of the train was the driver's seat and beside him was the woman, her long hair flowing beyond the chair's headrest.
But that wasn't what caught everyone's attention. It wasn't the extremely curved front of the train or how fast the lady had described it. Everyone turned their heads backwards and beyond our seats was something magical.
A dark space, stretching infinitely. Calling it infinite was probably exaggerating but I had never seen a train so long, and by the faces of others, I knew they hadn't seen one either.
It wasn't split into separate partitions like a normal train, rather, it was one long tube of metal painted in white.
Soon, the calm atmosphere in the train quickly evolved. The train started moving and its acceleration was mind-blowing, coupled with its high velocity.
'Wow so fast.' Everyone on the train was filled with awe as they arranged themselves in their seats, diverting their attention from the longness of the train.
For a moment, it felt like a magic trip; an excursion leading to an isekai of some sort. However, the world was filled with science with little practice of magic.
Magic existed but was practiced to an extent, and as years evolved, it was abandoned. Science reigned, although not exceedingly advanced, and in little time Mages died off without any descendants to tutor.
Now, the only remnant of magic I had seen was this makeshift academy. I saw all these from one of the articles I read a year ago.
Time flew faster than ever and in a blink of an eye, the lady began speaking concerning the end of the trip.
'We're almost there. Get ready to leave.' I could feel the silence from the teenagers who had just doubted the speed of the train.
Everyone seemed quiet, only a few were still fixated on the long extent of the train. Most older teenagers and early adults were asleep on the bus, younger teenagers were either making friends or still amazed by the train while those around my age—the most antisocial—just sat on the bus staring into space.
I think I could remember a few who admired the lady with lustful eyes, sitting at the edge of their seats and letting out a slight smirk. I quickly evaded eye contact, shifting my vision to the walls of the train.
There weren't any windows or any medium of gazing outside except the transparent door and I was too far away from it to utilize it. The trip was also on the verge of being ended.
'Okay, we're here.' The lady's voice resounded, and everyone was brought to an abrupt stop in their thoughts.
Those asleep woke up and the rest fixated at the posteriors of the train picked their jaws up and stood up. The train itself gradually decelerated, causing everyone to slightly lose balance.
The doors automatically opened and the lady was the first to alight into the train station. The others followed her and we all spread into a block formation before her as she led us to a checkpoint after a short briefing.
The checkpoint was large, able to search a large number of people at once. It was automatic, yet required the operations of a human worker. I enjoyed seeing the presence of humans as I preferred magic to science.
Magic had always been interesting to me even though, at the time, it seemed nonexistent.
The entire people walked through the checkpoint; a veil of black strips. Beyond those black strips, was a space. As we entered, a blinding light shone at us.
After that, a few other lights, as thin as lasers, shone through the room. They were like a form of searching mechanism but I doubted their use considering no one had the chance to back any necessity, let alone, harmful objects.
[Object Detected!] A voice echoed through the space, immediately proving me wrong.
'Who could that be?' I searched around, slowly backing away from the group and isolating myself. 'A school shooter? Seems like it to me.' I thought, fear enveloping my heart.
Immediately, chains erupted from the ground leaving the suspect immobile. The rest of us ran with our last hope of life. We were all filled with fear of dying, and I wouldn't let my life end there.
We emerged at the other side of the checkpoint, where the lady awaited us. She looked satisfied, holding a notepad in her right hand in the same fashion a secretary or a journalist does.
'What's she doing?' People murmured in all directions, filling the air with noise and vitality.
'Welcome to the academy. Are you all so dense that you can't notice the scenery behind me?' The lady stated as she smiled gently.
We all turned our gazes behind her, and at first, I sighted a towering building piercing the sky; a skyscraper with a Japanese style of architecture.
It was immensely large and sophisticated like a business headquarters or perhaps, the head of this academy.
It was a large compound, the size of a village. Several shops were situated at the path to the building as cherry blossoms were decoratively placed on the clear path.
In the shops, I sighted glowing bottles and other intriguing vessels that stood out. But with all these shops and architectural wonders, I couldn't help but wonder who built it and where the place was.
'Excuse me? Where ar-' I was immediately cut off by the lady who wore a serious stare, 'I said don't question.'
Everyone else turned their gaze at me, their eyes filled with confusion just like mine but some didn't seem to care while others cared much more than I did.
'Don't worry my diamonds, letters are being prepared and sent to your parents as we speak. They'll know about your situation, however, your location won't be leaked to avoid any interference,' the lady said, her eyes even more threatening at the second part.