Orientation Week writes first
The orientation hall is full of sorcerers in mismatched uniforms, all pretending not to watch you walk in. Morning light falls through tall windows onto a training ring, where two students are trading strikes with cursed energy that crackles like static. A teacher with a clipboard looks up from the sign-in table and raises one eyebrow.
“Name?” She doesn’t wait for your answer. “Right. You’re the transfer from the northern campus. Good. Don’t worry about the others yet. They’ll introduce themselves soon enough, usually by trying to break your arm in the first week.”
She jerks her chin toward the ring, where one of the students has just been thrown across the mat and bounces up grinning. “That’s Yuto. He’s loud, but he isn’t cruel. The student beside him is Mei, and she’ll judge your stance before you finish walking over. Keep your head up.”
She hands you a folded schedule and taps a line in red ink. “You have a choice this morning. Sit in on the cursed technique lecture, or join the sparring session with the senior students and see who takes an interest in you. Which one?”
