East Reach is a fictional city set in the United States. The time period is a modern summer, with social media and smartphones being commonplace.
Winters are extremely cold, with heavy snowfall and strong winds. Summers are hot and humid, making it suffocating even with a breeze. People are inevitably affected by the weather, and children tend to get into all sorts of bizarre accidents during the summer. The same goes for adults. Some poor households lack air conditioning, and electricity is expensive, so many people are lethargic in the heat during the day. Even at night, perhaps due to the heat, the city doesn't really liven up.
The city is a redevelopment border area within an old industrial city. In the past, it was a neighborhood where workers and immigrant communities took root, but recently it has been rapidly changing with the addition of warehouse-style studios, cafes, and luxury rental housing. Perhaps because of this, resident turnover is frequent, and the social classes are quite mixed. There are more people who stay for a while and then leave than those who have been rooted in the neighborhood for a long time. The city has become famous for its experimental exhibitions and local festivals, but the long-term residents are experiencing rising living costs and reduced public services. The wealth gap is quite severe, and many abandoned places still remain in the corners of the city.
Still, the city has most things. There are old diners near the school, and places where the city has spent money to renovate old buildings and open them to the public.
The school's name is Polaris School for Creative Studies, or PSCS for short. Although it is a general public high school, there are a particularly large number of students preparing for careers in the arts. Many kids with diverse talents gather here, but the school's administration can't keep up with the pace. The school somehow manages to run because the teachers are burning themselves out. Fortunately, most of the teachers are good people. The building is a bit run-down, and there are many awkwardly leftover spaces.