The next day was Enrollment Day. Yuriko woke up at her usual time. Unfortunately, she couldn’t make use of the Steps of Torment in her regimen by virtue of the fact that it was across the Gap and more than a league away from the Inn. She did manage to drag Krystal, Mikel, and the twins for the easy run.

“What time does the registrar open?” she asked Kato once they returned to the inn.

“Three hours after dawn,” came the laconic reply.

“Are you coming with me?”

“No. Have fun. Tomorrow the dormitories will finally be open and I want to settle with the inn today.”

“Alright. I’ll transfer half to your account at the Imperial Bank.”

“Sure.”

Enrollment was a simple process for Yuriko since she was part of Sharom’s Elite class. There were only ten slots per year level and her position in it was by no means secure. There was an extensive listing of how one can be evicted from class at the end of each term, chief of which was falling under the specified grade point average or coming in below tenth place in the yearly class ranking which was determined by an aggregate of written exams and practical applications. For this academic year anyway.

In exchange for all of this, an Elite class student was spared the tuition fees, which amounted to one hundred twenty Sovereigns a week, for eighteen weeks per term. That was about two thousand one hundred sixty Sovereigns, or two gold marks, one silver crown and six silver marks. They were also provided with a Zoi Elixir appropriate for their Anima strength for free every three weeks and could buy more at cost.

Yuriko frowned at that. Since she was still at Novice level, the appropriate Zoi to give her wouldn’t have any effect. Her Animus capacity was already above the threshold of even the next one. To advance, all she needed to do was to improve her Facet, something she had made absolutely no progress with for the past several weeks.

Well, she was sure one of her friends could use her allocation.

All she needed to do to enrol was to show up at Sharom’s registrar, sign some papers, and mark them with her Animus signature. It was how she would find out where she would live and when to move in. She would actually have to pay for accommodation but her allowance from Da should be enough to cover it and her other needs. Hopefully.

After breakfast, the nine of them were accompanied by Leader Yoran to the campus.

“Good morning, Leader Yoran,” Yuriko said when she saw the petite militia squad leader. “I didn’t expect to see you today.”

“Good morning to you, too, Yuriko. You can call me Jacqueline. So can all of you, really,” she added to the rest of the group. “I’m no longer your instructor and since you aren’t in Faron’s Crossing’s Militia, we aren’t in the same organisation.”

“Oh, sure Miss Jacqueline.”

“Just Jacqueline is fine, Yuriko.”

“Alright.”

“Now, I’m only responsible for bringing you lot here and to the registrars. After that, how about we all have a nice dinner in town before I take that shudderingly long trip back to the Watchtower?”

“Hooray!” they all cheered. Afterwards, they caught the Circuit Tram to the Upper Ring and were walking down the Academies’ roads to their respective registrars.

“Where are you enrolling?” Yuriko asked Krystal and Mikel.

“Agaza for me,” Krystal replied. “For now, anyway. That’s what my old man wants me to take.”

“Agaza, too, but my dad told me mum wants me to take supplementary classes in Sharom,” Mikel added. “So I suppose we’ll be in a few classes together.”

“Krys, want to share a dorm room?” Yuriko asked hopefully.

She sighed. “Does that mean you’ll be waking me early every day to train?”

“Wouldn’t you have to do the same under Agaza’s curriculum anyway?”

“I know but I don’t have a choice since both my mum and dad want me to go there.” Krystal rolled her eyes then stared hard at Yuriko. “Early morning training, every three days only.”

“Fine.”

“Good, that’s settled. Sure, we can share a dormitory suite. But that’s if we don’t get shuffled anyway.”

“Oh, I didn’t think of that.”

When they arrived near the Central Reserve, they split up to go to the varied campuses. Orrin and Ishika followed Yuriko towards Sharom’s administrative building, while Mikel, Krystal, Zeyn, and Heron headed for Agaza. Millie was headed to Lunette and Braden, of course, headed for Aneurin.

They cut across the Central Reserve, following the somewhat meandering, scenic path that looped around several thickets, over a couple of brooks, and alongside a large meadow with a couple of marble statues.

“The path would probably be shorter if we had gone around instead,” Ishika complained.

“I suppose, but this is a nice route, too,” Yuriko said. They weren’t the only ones on the path even though this was only the first day of the week-long registration period. “Are Maryn and Danika enrolling too?”

“I think so,” Ishika shrugged. “I’m not sure about Janus or the three other cadets but I’m sure Maryn is enrolling in Sharom, too. They should be on the Commuter Tram already.”

“Ah.”

The registration for Yuriko was as simple as she expected. Not quite so for Ishika. She had to go through quite a few hoops to secure her place and submit a letter of credit to cover her tuition and miscellaneous fees.

Yuriko was given a few papers to bring over to the girl’s dormitory complex, the Golden Willow Residences.

“Er, will I have a choice in what type of room I’ll get?” she asked the registrar.

“Well, you’re a student who doesn’t live in the city, so you’ll get priority. As for choice of a room, I’m afraid that’s up to the dorm mistress. You pay for your lodging at the academy cashier, so I suggest you set up an account draft so you won’t be bothered with physical payment every two weeks or so.”

“Thank you.”

Well, here’s hoping that she and Krystal could have the same suite. She waved goodbye to Ishika and Orrin since they were still busy with their paperwork and headed south from Sharom. The girls dormitory was called the Golden Willow and located in the southeast side of the campus. The boys dormitory building, the Wild Oak, was in the northeast.

She followed the Central Reserves circuit road until she found a signpost that pointed out which side road she had to take. It was a wide cobblestone road wide enough for a light hauler to pass through. There were park benches on the side and large acacia trees that provided ample shade.

The Golden Willow was a three-storey, red brick affair. From the look of it, it also had a central courtyard that featured its eponymous tree. She could just see the top of it peeking out from behind the tilted slate tiled roof. That was unusual though; most buildings in the Empire sported a flat roof that doubled as a marksman’s platform.

She headed down the walkway and straight into the entrance hall which was filled with dozens of girls from Yuriko’s age to young adults. The reception counter wasto her immediate left, with maybe a hundred cubby holes with bronze numbers nailed on top. There was a line of first-year girls waiting to talk to the matronly woman seated behind the counter.

“New student?” a woman with a pixie cut asked from beside the entrance. She was solidly muscled, had a truncheon and a Plasma Lancet on her belt, and a no-nonsense look in her eyes. When Yuriko nodded, she continued. “Just wait in line for Dormmistress Aine to attend to you.”

“Thank you.” There were about four other girls ahead of her so Yuriko waited patiently and after ten minutes or so, she was finally at the front. “Good morning,” she greeted.

“Oh, a polite girl.” The auburn-haired woman nodded approvingly. “That’s unusual. How may I help you?”

“Uhm,” Yuriko stuttered, surprised by the woman’s sarcastic tone. “I’m Yuriko Davar. Here,” she held out the packet of permits and papers, “I’m supposed to pick out a dormitory for myself and my friend.”

“Your friend will have to bring in her papers, you can’t do it for her.”

“No, I mean, uh, I hope that my friend and I can be roommates. I understand that dorm rooms are never for a single resident?”

“Let’s see, oh, an Elite Class student, aren’t you?” The woman muttered. “Well, no matter. There are three tiers of accommodations, suite, deluxe, and common. Two persons to a suite, four for a deluxe, and eight for a common dorm. The suite has its own toilet and bath, the deluxe has a common bathroom shared with another deluxe and the common room has a shared facility per floor.”

“Oh, I see. May I know the associated costs?”

“Fifty sovereigns per head for suite, twenty for deluxe, and five for common.”

“Ah, does that include meals?”

“Yes, and some limited toiletries. Here’s a list.”

There wasn’t really much of a choice for Yuriko. She loved taking hot baths and preferred to linger. Sharing the bathroom facilities with just one other girl was preferable to sharing it with eight, or the entire floor for that matter. Besides, she could afford it.

“Suite, please.”

“Very good, I didn’t expect anything else from you Elite class people.”

“May I pick who my roommate will be?”

“Sure, here,” the woman handed over a sheet of paper which asked for basic information, as well as a contract of lease. “Just make sure your roommate can afford the accommodation fees. Otherwise, another roommate will be assigned to you. You may go over the residents’ handbook while you wait.”

“Thank you.”

There were a few long tables with stools in the lounge area. She found a place to sit and started filling up the form. She knew Krystal would take a while still to finish her registration process so after Yuriko finished the form, she cracked open the handbook and started reading. Every couple of minutes, she had to put down the book and look around to stop her head from spinning. The text was a bit too small and couched in barely comprehensible legal language.

There were a fair amount of girls in the lounge room and strangely enough, more than a few boys, too. They were older than she was, of course. The Academies’ curriculum called for ten terms to completion, with two eighteen week terms a year, for a total of five years of specialized education.

The muted buzz of conversion was occasionally overpowered by loud fits of giggling and squealing. Yuriko checked the handbook for visiting hours and found that it was basically the hours of daylight. Further, as long as they were invited and registered at the counter, visitors may stay for as long as no one complains about them.

She’d been reading on and off for an hour before a couple of boys a little older than her approached with a smile. One was about an inch taller than she was, though the other was shorter.

“Hello! You’re a new student?”

“Yes.”

“Oh, what academy?”

“Sharom.”

“Oh, I hope you enjoy your time there then.”

“Yes, thank you.”

“Er…the senior students are holding a welcome party for the incoming freshers, it'll be in a week, on the 84th, at the Central Reserve’s Green at an hour past sunset.”

“We were hoping you would come with one of us?” the other boy said.

“Uhm, I’m flattered, but I don’t really know either of you, so…”

“Oh, we could spend some time together, you know, to get to know each other?”

“Er, I hardly think…”

“Yuri!” Krystal waved at her from the reception counter.

“Oh, excuse me.” She nodded politely and pushed past them. She heard a muffled grunt though she paid it no mind and smiled brightly at her friend. “Took you long enough,” she grumbled.

“Well, there was more to registration than just signing up,” Krystal grumbled. “Anyway, what are our arrangements?’

Yuriko handed over the papers and explained what the woman said earlier. Krystal frowned when she saw the cost.

“Yuri, I can’t afford to pay for that much, not with having to cover tuition and other miscellaneous fees!”

“But, but--bath!”

“Yeah, no. Maybe if I make it into the Elite class next year or reach the top fifty. But I can’t afford to pay for fifty sovies per week on top of the hundred twenty.”

“Oh, all right. I guess I’ll change my application.”

“Don’t!” Krystal grabbed Yuriko’s shoulder. “Don’t move on my account. I don’t mind and it's not as if we can’t visit. Besides, we live in the same building anyway.”

“You sure?”

“Yes, I’ll earn my way there by myself, thank you very much.”

“Oh, alright.”

Yuriko waited for Krystal to fill in the application form--she picked a deluxe room--and they submitted their papers together. They were given the appropriate receipts. Yuriko and Krystal planned to visit the Imperial Bank and arrange an auto-pay process. They were then handed a key, which they imprinted with their Animus signature in front of the matron, and then left to return to the inn to pack. They could move in as early as this evening, though since the inn had been paid for until the next day, she planned to fully enjoy her last day in Shepherd’s Cross.