"Hmmm. This should be it, right? Student Dormitory #2."
I stood at the entrance of a white building full of windows and no balconies. It looked about ten floors high. It was part of a collection of 12 Student Dorm buildings, and they all looked the same.
The dorms were located further behind the 7 spires, further away from Misiones and almost at the surrounding forest. From where I had lunch with my parents to here was a twenty-minute journey, give or take a few. On the way, I saw several cars coming back and forth the one and only road, and a bunch of students doing the same. It was a very busy day.
The dorms were even busier. Lost students, like me, walked around trying to find their fateful room. It didn't take long for me to figure out the logic behind the placements. Your building would be assigned based on your year of entrance at the Academy, and separated by boys and girls. I figured they didn't want anyone focusing on the wrong things during your magic training, not that I planned to let it stop me.
In other words, there were six dormitories for male students from their first to sixth years, and another six for female students. Additionally, you'd transfer buildings every year, together will all your classmates. And the most curious of all, the building numbers changed randomly every year.
This year my building number was 2, next year it would be 4, then 6, etc. That wouldn't change. But the buildings themselves swapped their numbers randomly. For instance, Student Dormitory #1, also the dormitory of the first-year girls, was at the front of the compound, while mine, Student Dormitory #2, was at the end, nearing the forest.
To get to my dorm, you had to use the main avenue to get through the facilities at the center of the compound. There were the practice grounds, something like gyms, small laboratories and small buildings for extracurricular activities. End it with the dorms surrounding them on every side. That was the Student Compound.
Luckily, there were older students explaining all of this, otherwise it would be a pain to figure out.
I finally found the number on the entrance and stepped inside. After checking in at the terminal, I got my digital key and went for the elevator.
My room was numbered 405, so I figured it would be on the fourth floor.
I listened in to the conversation of two other boys with which I shared the elevator.
"What was your room number again?"
"Hehe. I got lucky! First floor, third room, 103!" He laughed.
The other student raised his brow and said:
"How is that good? Staying so close to the ground will atract mosquitos and roaches."
The elevator reached the first floor and they stepped out together.
"What do you know? This is the Academy, there's no way it has stuff like insects flying around. What was your room, anyway?"
"Good point. I'm in room 609. Hehe, that's what I call a lucky draw..."
"Ohhh, dude-"
'Thud.' The doors closed.
"Pheww. I'm still a bit nervous to talk with other people. But luckily my roommates are interesting and can help me get over it."
That wish, which a large number of students changing schools wished every year, often remained just that, a wish. For some, it led to lifelong friendships, while for others, the catalyst of great agonies.
The door of room 405 was slightly ajar, so I knocked and entered after a slight delay.
There was exactly one boy inside, and that was the first thing I noticed.
He turned from the window to look at me and gave a slight smile. He was a bit shorter than me, had orangish-brown hair on a bowl cut, and skin darker than mine. He dressed moderately formally, and reached out for a handshake.
"Hi! Nice to meet you! I suppose you are my roommate this year, is that right? My name is Pim, Pim Matthias Sunder." His voice was somewhat high-pitched compared to mine.
I shook his hand, his grip surprisingly tense, and replied:
"Nice to meet you, too. I'm Leaf Westernham." I also smiled lightly. This guy didn't seem troublesome at all.
He nodded.
"So you are Leaf. Westernham... I haven't heard of that surname. Are you perhaps..."
"-a commoner? Yes." That irked me a little every time.
"Oh, my apologies, I didn't mean to offend. I mean it. It's just that I've heard that there were several... commoners... joining this year, and knowing of their fame... I was surprised, is all."
"Do I not look like one?"
"No, well... you do, it's just that I expected something grand from a fabled commoner genius."
"Genius? Oh, that, right. Apparently, I'm not that big of a genius. Just have some talent for magic, is all."
Somehow, being called a genius restored the previous blows to my ego.
"Already exercising humility, huh? I gotta do better. Anyways, hurry up and choose your bed. This one's mine." He pointed at the lower bed of the bunkbed on the right.
From the handbook, I read that there would be 4 people per room, which matched the number of beds, so that meant that two others had yet to arrive.
I briefly analysed the room. It was certainly not very big, and had no places to put some books down or even to place a TV, no space for a projector either without moving the beds.
"It's smaller than I thought. How are four people supposed to study in this room?"
"Oh, we're not, actually. Most of studying happens at the classroom. The rest happens at the library or the labs. Students spend very little time inside their rooms besides sleeping."
"I see... in that case, I'll just take the bed above you."
After weighing my preferences and risks, I chose to sleep above Pim, who seemed like a trustworthy dude.
"Good choice. 'kay, what are you going to do next? Wanna go check the park?"
"The park?"
"That's what those other buildings of the Student Compound are commonly called. It's in the handbook."
"Makes sense. I haven't had the time to read it yet."
"I did. And apparently there are already recruiters for the extracurriculars in the park. I wanted to go check them out."
"Sounds like a plan!"
I left my backpack, which I recovered from my parents' house before coming, over my bed, and followed Pim downstairs.