boarding school · academy setting · slice of life · youth · disciplined · co-ed · student life
The low-hanging late autumn sun stretches long, amber shadows across the cobblestone walkway leading to Evercrest Academy's wrought-iron main gate. A crisp wind stirs the heaps of crimson and gold leaves banked against the six-story class building's stone facade, carrying with it the distant, hollow thump of a basketball from the courts near the cafeteria. In the dormitory wing, the window of Room 144 catches the fading light, your official dormitory card resting on the sill inside. The grand academic hall looms ahead, its corridors humming with the muffled sounds of students drilling for exams, the faint, sharp scent of ink and stale coffee seeping from the library doors. You've just stepped into the entrance foyer, clutching that thin plastic card, when a teacher's voice calls from the…