Obsidian

Driving up the bumpy single road up the mountain, Hadrian gripped the wheel tighter and took a puff of his cigarette to calm his nerves, trying to calm the anxiety of driving up the steep road going up the mountain surrounded by a forest. 
His luggage secured in the backseat with the seat belt so as to not topple around with the bumpy ride.

Finally, he saw the silhouette of the iron gates through his windshield. The gates were tall and Hadrian could see that it stretches all around the mountain, creating a barrier that separates the school and the mountain and its occupants below. He could feel the humid mist on his face as he rolled down his side window as he drove up to the gate.
He drove up to the side of the gates where he could see the outline of a built-in speaker, he stepped on his brakes and neutralized his stick.

He stuck his head out and craned his neck towards the speaker, hearing buzzing before a gurgled voice spoke from the speaker.
“Your name?” it said, even with the mechanical gurgle of the speaker he could tell that it’s a woman behind the voice.

“Hadrian Gray.” He stated. He heard the echo of fingers typing on the keyboard, before the lever of the gates clang open, and the gates screeched as it opened wide enough for his car to go through.

The voice on the speaker speaks again. “Please head to the main building, Mr. Gray.” He swears he could hear the faint sound of papers being shuffled. “Mrs. Carrow will be waiting for you at the Administrations Office.”
After he had sent his letter of interest, he had also sent an email to the address listed on the letter. 
Mrs. Carrow emailed him back with instructions on how to get to the university via his own vehicle and everything he’d need to bring with him.

He drove past the gate and followed the signs towards the main building, catching a few glancing eyes towards his vehicle, and pulling into a parking spot near the door between two cars.

As he got out of the car, he admired the scenery surrounding him. The Grays were old money and lived in an estate on top of a hill, and this place has the same atmosphere as his estate, just a little bit more woodsy and a lot more trees.
While his home is an estate, this school and its architectural build could be called a castle, but he admits that both share the same stunning ambiance.

Mrs. Carrow is the definition of put together. Her graying hair pulled into a neat bun, a crisp navy blue blazer over a pearl white blouse and pencil skirt the same blue. A sapphire gem on the clasp of her bolo tie added a sense of status to her figure, and the gold chains from her metal framed glasses resting on her nose added to her professional expression. 
Hadrian has seen similar looking people at family gatherings or the occasional auctions he attended.
But compared to other elderly aristocrats, Mrs. Carrow has kind eyes. Blue eyes that look like it has seen some stuff over the years, tired but not exhausted.

As he approaches her, Hadrian can’t help but get reminded of his grandma’am, the one from his dad’s side. She welcomes him to the school and explains the facilities to him, taking her time to show every building on the ground shown on the map and telling him all about it. He silently appreciated her patience. She ends with taking out a pile of books from under, and a key from her drawer, the desk and handing it to him. 

“Now, mister Gray,” she said in the professional but warm tone she had been using. “You may now head to the Dormitory and given a week to settle in, Miss Yamada should already be there waiting for you.” 

He said his thanks and walked out of the office, pile of books and map of the school in his hands. He walked back to his car and put away the books temporarily on his backseat. 
This time he followed the map towards a building that is apparently the Dormitory. The building was equally as large, but compared to the school, the Dormitory building is more like a small mansion but is just as majestic and stunning. 
He counted 10 floors in total in the parking lot.

He walked through the halls of the dormitory building, dragging his luggage behind him into the elevator and pressing the button for the 9th floor. He walked through the corridor, memorizing the route, before finally ending up at his dorm.
Room 971, he stared at the metal sign on the door.
He inserted the key and turned it counterclockwise, and pushed the door open after hearing the click.

He was greeted with a fire, a small fire, but a fire nonetheless.

A girl with black hair and the tips dyed coral pink that is tied in a messy ponytail, like she’s been pulling at it. Her face covered in ash, and smacking a small fire on the floor with a damp towel. He could see tools scattered all over the floor, and odd machinery along with them.
His eyes widened as he stood watching the bizarre scene at the doorway, amusement on his face and body leaning against the doorframe, waiting for the girl to notice him.
After the fire was put out, the girl blew out a breath and her eyes narrowed. She finally turned to him and blinked a few times, before yelping and scrambling to get up, brushing ash and dirt from her jean overalls.
“Hey! Uh, sorry about that, I was trying to make a small robot that will bring me my diet coke but it kinda burst into flames.” she grimaced briefly recalling the earlier incident, her cheeks reddening with embarrassment. Hadrian simply snorted, she seemed to brighten up at his response. 
“Anyway, Hadrian Gray? I’m Mei Yamada, call me Mei.” she held out her hand and he took it, he likes this girl.

She let go of his hand and grabbed one of his luggage and helped him drag it inside, letting him walk past her as she closed the door behind him. “Shoes off, please.” she called out behind her, Hadrian complied and took off his loafers and set it on the shoe rack next to the door, leaving him walking through the room in his grey socks.

“Right, so this is the living room.” she gestures to the area they’re in with her hands, “Two bedrooms and two bathrooms and a kitchen, your room is on the right mine is on the left, the kitchen is over there,” she pointed to the space behind a dining table. “And that door leads to the balcony.” she pointed to the door next to the floor to ceiling window, he could already picture himself smoking a cig tonight.

“Alrighty,” she started, her hands on her hips. “So I’ll just state the general rule of the dorms and all that, since Mrs. Carrow said I should.” she shrugged.
“Your student ID is in your room already, you’ll need it to get into certain buildings and stuff.” she sat down on the sofa, Hadrian chose to stand.
“Common sense stuff, like no illegal drugs and stuff, drink responsibly, yadda yadda…” she waved her hand in dismissal. “No unauthorized leaving of campus, there’s a nurse on ground on the Medical Wing if you need it. Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner is served in the dining hall everyday but you’re also provided with a kitchen in every dorm in case you’re not feeling well to walk. 
I think that’s it, you can read the rest by yourself I’m sure.”

He did end up smoking on the balcony that night, after changing into more comfortable clothes and having a fine dinner of chicken katsu curry, courtesy of Mei cooking that night to “Welcome him” into the dorms.
Mei doesn’t smoke, but she does accompany him on the balcony. They got to know each other better, Mei telling him about her family and her dreams of building her own machine company one day, and he tells her about his family and his upbringings as a child living alongside aristocrats and philanthropists (she was the one who asked, and Hadrian didn’t really mind telling her.) His eyes wander to the tall belltower, he couldn’t see much in the dark but he could see the slight shadow of vines crawling up the tower from the moonlight. “Apparently it used to be a private library for the founder’s son,” Mei said. “It was open for a while up until a few years ago, allegedly some kids found a dead body in the tower and it closed down. Never been reopened since, I don’t think the gate even works anymore.” That had admittedly gained Hadrian’s curiosity, but said nothing.

They shared two fingers of whiskey on ice as well that night, her retiring to bed early and leaving him alone to watch the moon behind the trees. He stares at the abandoned belltower again, his eyes focused on the open archway up top, where the rusty bell hangs un-moving. 

This might evolve into something more interesting  than he originally thought.