School: Infinity Institute
The Infinity Institute is the new kid on the block, academically speaking. Only founded in the late '90s and only really rising as a premier educational program in the last five years, Infinity rivals Ohtori as the rockstar of the Tokyo education scene. Students of the Infinity Institute are viewed with a combination of reverence and fear, because teenagers being what they are, it's not uncommon for Infinity students to let their school's stature get to their heads. That attitude is not fully undeserved, however: The Infinity Institute aggressively and unapologetically frames itself as a school where the gifted can thrive in whatever field they may like, and has the programs to back up that boast. Only the gifted make the cut at Infinity; the school will mercilessly boot students without the talent or drive to succeed...although, occasionally, and usually to the confusion of the student body, the faculty will insist a seeming underachiever is worth their seat.
Infinity's program is designed to facilitate the excellence of its students. The school takes students of any age - from kindergarten through grad school, each grade a floor in the monumental tower that is the Institute's campus. The school has classes in essentially every field, from the philosophies and sciences to sports, entertainment and the professional world, and early on students are encouraged to spread throughout the school's curricula to find where their greatest talents lie. By the same token, the Infinity Institute has an extremely laissez faire approach to student clubs, and will approve essentially anything that can meet minimum membership requirements, no matter how humble, fantastical, or outright silly.
Infinity Academy, unlike the other schools in Tokyo, has a formalized magic program. Appropriately, its day-to-day classes are confined to the 13th floor, the real existence of which is lost in a haze of student rumors. Labs for various specific disciplines as well as occult research extend deep beneath the academy; some say there's as many as six hundred sixty-six sub-basements!
Because of this, those with magical potential are often targeted for recruitment by the Infinity Institute, even if they are otherwise limited achievers. The Infinity Institute is quite aggressive about recruiting magical potentials, and even wizards from outside the region send their children here for a top-rate magical education. This section of the school still has significant backing from the Magic Association, including several powerful wizards on staff and oversight by the local Association bureau chiefs.
Yet, even here, much of the education is done by Souichi Tomoe's inner circle, and the Association's grip is kept in a tight deadlock. Supposedly, one of the sub-basements here leads directly to the belly of Magic Association Headquarters...but as relations with Doctor Tomoe became more tenuous, a Recognition Inhibition spell was cast, obliterating the memory of its location from everyone involved. Probably.
With Infinity's focus on the supremacy of talent over background, and their very recent history, they have a natural and rather intense rivalry with Ohtori Academy, a more upper-crust school with a stronger emphasis on wealth and social status, and a much, much longer history of academic excellence. The Infinity Institute sees Ohtori mostly as overinflated blowhards; Ohtori sees Infinity's students as upstart, overinflated blowhards. Infinity's relations to the Juuban schools are more jocular. Infinity sees Juuban as the lesser sibling, where the people who can't make the cut end up. Some take that as a weakness to be coddled; others, as a fault to be derided. Juuban, appropriately, mostly thinks Infinity is a bunch of stuck-up jerks.
Sub-topics:
History: Infinity Institute - The story of the Infinity Institute.
Classes: Infinity - Infinity's student body!
Student Council: Infinity - The Academic Senate of Infinity Institute.
Clubs: Infinity - Afterschool activities at Infinity Institute.
