The Entry Registration Office Schedule

"Three dried fish for one coffee bean? Who sets that exchange rate?"

Sigelica stood in front of the port exchange point, crumpling the exchange slip she had just received. She calculated it twice, then twice more, and finally tried to bargain. The woman at the exchange point pointed to the sign with her abacus beads. "The number on the sign is irreversible, even if the King of Heaven himself came."

She resignedly stuffed the receipt into the innermost part of her wallet, as if hiding some secret stash of money.

The boat docked at dawn. The fog had lifted, and the first thing on the shore was this currency exchange rate board, and the second was cherry blossoms.

Dania stopped on the pier, dragging her suitcase. A petal slowly drifted down onto her suitcase, a small, pinkish-white flake.

She stared at it for a long time, then named it Little Flower.

Zhou Yu turned around, took out his terminal, and took a picture of the petal.

"Place it on the watch list. Before the ship sets sail, be responsible for bringing it home intact."

Dania nodded solemnly, as if she had been given an important position.

He walked at the front, holding a sign that read "Study Abroad Group," with a crooked arrow drawn underneath.

While we were queuing, an old man came over and squinted at the sign.

"A visiting scholar group? What are they here to learn?"

"Study registration," Zhou Yu answered for Dania.

The old man nodded, a look of "it's tough being young these days" on his face, and walked away.

The registration line stretched from the main entrance to the street corner. The caller would call out numbers every few minutes, its static quite loud. When number 137 was called, an older woman in the line, yawning, slowly moved forward.

Sigelica stood there straight. Her documents were neatly arranged in the notebook: her identity page, her school record page, her reserve certificate, all aligned side by side.

The registrar at the window, surnamed Seto, had slightly droopy eyelids, but she was efficient and decisive when it came to getting things done. He glanced at the stack of papers, then looked up at her.

"The materials are complete, and the order is correct. You don't need to come back for additional documents for the first one this month."

"A place with all the rules is a safe place to be." Sigelica puffed out her chest.

"Exemplary applicant." Seto stamped the form with a small seal.

She stared at the stamp for a long time, then leaned closer and asked, "Can this stamp be used to queue up next time?"

"Cannot."

"Then what's its use?"

"Beautiful." Seto covered it again, without even lifting his eyelids.

Chisa's registration was the easiest; her local ID was swiped and it was done. Seto glanced at the background section.

" From the Scorching Cherry Blossom Terrace?"

"Um."

"The cherry blossoms over there bloom a month later than those in Honami."

"Um."

He was sensible and stamped the seal quickly.

There was a small mishap when we arrived at Chisaki.

The monitoring ring was attached to the scanning position, and her information scrolled across the screen. It stopped halfway through, and a line of gray text popped up. The first half was her name, and the second half was locked by permissions, marked with a black padlock.

Chisaki's gaze lingered on the lock for half a second.

"Old record, insufficient permissions to access, won't affect registration." Seto tapped the keyboard twice, and the line of text disappeared. "Next."

"What did that line say?" Sigelica leaned over.

"Expired data." Chisaki carefully put away her documents, her voice as steady as ever.

Sigelica opened her mouth, glanced at her, and swallowed her words.

It's Dania's turn now, and she's in big trouble.

The measuring device was placed on the side. The sensor was pressed against her forehead, and everything was normal for the first three seconds. In the fourth second, the reading jumped out of the display frame, the instrument sounded a long alarm, and all the numbers on the screen turned into question marks.

Seto stood up.

"Retest."

The second reading was even higher. The third time, the instrument shut down as a safety precaution, and the fan weakly spun twice before stopping.

The hall was silent for two seconds. Then, everyone in line behind them craned their necks.

"Exceeding the machine's maximum range by 40%." Seto stared at the screen for a moment, then pulled a summons from the printer. "According to procedure, mark it as pending review. Two weeks later, in the second measurement room, depth measurement."

Dania, clutching her canvas bag, turned to look at Zhou Yu.

Zhou Yu took three steps forward and slapped three items onto the table: an official letter from the visiting delegation, a handwritten schedule, and a densely packed list.

"The official letter proves our legal entry. The schedule proves her itinerary is full, she has plans every day, and she can't leave. This last one is a cost list for the observation period. Accommodation fees, lost wages, and compensation for emotional distress are settled on a daily basis."

Seto rubbed his temples. "Review is procedure. Procedures cannot be bypassed."

"No detours, I'll wait." Zhou Yu put her pen on the form. "Can I eat while I wait?"

Seto stared at him for three seconds, picked up the stamp, and added another one next to the summons.

"Observation period. Your activities are limited to New Honami City for two weeks. You must swipe your card at the nearest registration point once a week." He pushed the summons over, his tone softening slightly. "Don't make it a forced summons. I don't like writing those kinds of reports."

"Pleasure doing business with you." Zhou Yu put away the order form, pointed to the malfunctioning machine, and said, "By the way, this machine needs servicing. It was beeping more pitifully than an alarm just now."

Seto didn't reply, but stamped the document twice as fast.

Before leaving the hall, there was still one more list of visiting scholars' names to be signed. Zhou Yu filled it out one by one, stopping at the last column.

Dania's section, Relationship.

Without a second thought, he wrote down two words: lovers.

Dania leaned closer and looked for a while, then suddenly looked up and asked very seriously, "Xiao Yu, so we're a couple?"

Zhou Yu paused for a moment, then said, "Otherwise, what do you think these past few months have been?"

"It's on the schedule."

He cleared his throat and added three more words after "couple": "Legitimate".

This time, it was two people whose ears turned red.

On the way out of the hall, she kept her little finger hooked between his fingers and never let go.

As I walked along the street towards my accommodation, the cherry blossoms were in full bloom. When I reached the second intersection, a piece of music drifted down from above, soft and gentle, spreading from the distant tower. As if by prior arrangement, the music started playing from every roller shutter door along the street.

"Morning Voice." A shopkeeper yawned as he hung up the sign, "Rainbow Sound Tower. The whole city listens to this to wake up."

Dania stood still and listened to the whole thing.

"The sounds of this city are very gentle." She finished speaking, her brow furrowing slightly. "There's a tiny, off-putting sound at the end. Just a fleeting one. Like someone going up a staircase and missing half a step."

Sigelica and Chisaki exchanged a glance. Neither of them had heard.

Zhou Yu followed her gaze to the tower. The spire pierced the mist, completely still.

Inside the canvas bag, the old-fashioned digital watch remained silent, not a single tick occurring.

If there's no sound, I feel uneasy.

"Let's go to our lodgings first." He took Dania's hand, his tone as usual. "What it wants to say, it will say sooner or later. Let's line up, ahead of it."

Dania thought for a moment, "Xiao Yu, is that noise a bad thing?"

"I don't know," Zhou Yu answered readily. "But good things or bad things, you have to eat breakfast first. That's the rule."

Sigelica caught up from behind, holding up a small handful of change she had just received. "First day of observation, let's have a good meal to calm our nerves. Which restaurant on this street is the most affordable?"

"Ask me," Chisaki chimed in, pointing ahead, "My family owns a coffee shop."

"Isn't your home in Ashihara?"

"We've arrived. Turn left ahead, this Honami Pedestrian Street."

Behind the cherry tree at the street corner, half of a peeling sign peeks out, with a few words vaguely discernible.

The Train Conductor Café.

Zhou Yu paused under the sign and touched the canvas bag again. The digital watch still didn't beep.

He opened the schedule and added a new line of arrangements after the page for Honami City.

Find out which sound it is.