"You eat so little."
Yu always hated waiting in line. If he had to withdraw money from the ATM or pay a bill or anything else that required waiting in line, he would get up early in the morning to avoid the line and get it done.
But Yu wasn't the only one who didn't like waiting in line, there was a long line in front of the municipality even though it was early in the morning because of people like him who got up early to avoid waiting in line.
"I'm full."
"But you are a bit thin, you need to put on a few kilo. It's unhealthy to be so thin."
Neko, like Yu, had no taste for food and ate irregularly, but while Yu could force himself to eat enough to fill his stomach, Neko ate very little.
"I said I'm full!" Neko folded her arms across her belly.
A little over half an hour later, Yu and Neko entered the municipality and sat on the seats inside, waiting for the registrar to call them.
Ten minutes later the registrar called them into a room. The curtains were wide open to take full advantage of the sunlight.
"What is your name?" the registrar asked.
"Yu Valarfin."
"Here you are, Mr. Valarfin. You may sit down."
There was only one chair in the room except for the one where the registrar sat, so Yu sat Neko down instead.
The registrar took out a rectangular piece of paper the size of a credit card and asked, "Valarfin is your family name right?"
"Yes."
After receiving the confirmation, the clerk wrote the surname first, then the first name on the paper in normal script.
"Can you tell me the date of birth, place of birth, gender, nationality, parents' names?"
"Thirty of the eighth month, twenty years after the Battle of Heroes, Capital Rolderhelm - Guild Quarter, male, human." Even if he had not been born in Rolderhelm that is how he would have registered him.
When he gave the date, he said the thirtieth of the eighth month, which in the First World would have been August thirty. Here, he learned, the thirtieth of the eighth month also fell on August thirty. Although some countries used different calendars, Rolderhelm used exactly the same calendar as the First World's Gregorian calendar.
The similarity in the calendar made Yu realize that other First Worlders had been here before him and that there might still be others like him here.
"My father's name is Yuu, spelled with two 'u's. My mother's name is Helen." The last time he was with his parents, Yu was still a baby. Then his father died in a car accident and his mother somehow died and he was sent to an orphanage with his older sisters.
"Where are they from?"
"Both from Rolderhelm, the Guild Quarter."
"Do you have any other relatives? If so, you have to come back with them later for registration."
"I had older sisters, but they both died like my parents. Other than them I have no other relatives, the only person close to me now is Neko."
"Tell me your sisters' names and the date and place of their birth." The registrar took a separate file, entered Yu's information into it and write a section called relatives.
"They were twins. The older one's name is Ryu and the younger one's name is Myu. Fifteen years after the Battle of the Heroes, thirty of the fifth month. Rolderhelm, Guild Quarter."
The registrar wrote Yu's older sisters on the file, again in normal writing. After writing, he waved his tired hand.
"Now for Neko..." The officer turned to the girl sitting in the chair. "Are you Neko?"
"Yes," Neko replied.
"Do you have anyone?"
"No."
"So would you say this man is the only person you are close to right now?"
Neko looked down before answering, finding it hard to accept the truth. "Yes," she said quietly.
"If he's holding you against your will, you can tell me, he can't hurt you."
"Actually, I'm the one who held against my will." She resented being suspected of kidnapping a child.
Neko shook her head, "This guy can't force me to do anything, I'll tear him to pieces."
Yu swallowed, knowing she meant what she said, and the registrar laughed, thinking it was a joke.
After the officer composed himself, he spoke. "According to the regulations, people cannot be named after animals or places. You need to think of another name."
Yu was surprised when he chuckled slightly, even though they were speaking Turkish, the registrar knew the meaning of the word neko.
"What do you mean it can't be given? My mother gave me that name!"
"Sorry, it's the regulations."
Neko protested, but she could not go against the regulations. As Neko and the officer continued to argue, Yu spoke the name he had in mind.
"Yurine."
The officer and Neko looked at Yu.
"Yu has Yu, Rie has Ri, and Neko has Ne. Yu-ri-ne. I think it's a good name."
"WHY, WHY DOES YOUR NAME HAVE A PART!? IT CAN ONLY BE RINE." Neko shouted so loudly that the registrar had to cover his ears, but he still found Neko's reaction amusing.
"Yurine is a really nice name, so I'm registering Yurine as your sister." Before the officer could touch the pen to the paper, both Neko and Yu shouted to stop him.
"Wait a minute!"
The officer looked up in surprise and looked at the two of them.
"I don't want to be his brother!" protested Neko.
"I wonder if, if there is something like child support in this country, if we could make her my child instead of my sister..." Yu's voice got lower as he spoke, yet the officer and Neko heard every word.
"Uwwwwhat, what, what! What do you mean child! Don't be silly, stupid human!"
Neko turned red with anger, Yu could feel her scratching herself.
"Some places give money in the name of child allowance, and if Rolderhelm has something like that, I mean to get it."
"Those who are registered can receive benefits such as child allowance and old age pension." Neko was about to interrupt, but the officer held up his hand to stop her. "But you are nineteen, how old is this child?"
"I'll be three..." Seeing the officer and Yu looking at her, Neko told her age. The registrar looked at Neko, puzzled.
Yu might have been surprised, but knowing that Rie had created her, and Rie being young, he understood that Neko was younger than she looked.
"Three?" the registrar repeated the word to make sure he got it right.
"Three," Neko confirmed.
"She is a magical girl, that's why there are some differences in her body. Neko, let's show him magic and he will believe us." Yu intervened to convince the registrar.
"Don't tell me what to do!" Neko was angry, but she took out a light and showed it to the clerk.
"I see," said the registrar. Surprisingly, he was convinced very quickly. "So, do you really have no one?"
"I had my mother... She's gone..." Neko lowered her gaze to the floor. Her shoulders slumped.
"I see." The officer who had just been amused by Neko's reactions now felt pity. The officer's pitying look at Neko made even Yu angry, but Neko didn't see the pitying look because she kept her eyes on the ground. "If you have no one else, I will register you as Mr. Valarfin's daughter. In any case, without a guardian you will have to be sent to an orphanage, we can register you as a sister, but if we register you as his daughter you will receive a monthly allowance of one gold coin."
Neko said nothing. The officer took her silence as a sign of approval.
"I need to fill this out as completely as possible, so we will also have to list your mother as married to Mr. Valarfin. Is her name Rie?"
"Yes- WHAT?" Neko's eyes widened at the mention of marriage, she was angry. Yu was annoyed that he was going to take a dead woman into his family.
"Is that really necessary?" Yu asked.
"Of course it won't happen!" shouted Neko.
"I understand your anger, but the law forbids illegitimate unions. If an illegitimate child is discovered, the state takes action. Until now, newborn children have only been registered in churches, but with the new system it will be easier to identify them." The officer's description of the law made Yu laugh. Rolderhelm had not expected something like this.
But when he thought about it, he realized that they were in a medieval world after all, and such rules could be considered normal.
"So, what happens if such a union is detected?"
"The people involved will be fined, and if there is a child, the state may want to confiscate it. If the parents are normal citizens, the child will be returned to the parents after a short court process, but if there is prostitution or poverty, the child will be placed in an orphanage. This is not a problem for the rich, but it is always the ordinary citizens who suffer." The officer answered Yu's question, adding his own commentary.
"Better than illegitimate," the registrar repeated what he had said earlier when he saw that Neko was still angry. "Give the date and place of her birth and the date and place of her death."
"One September, year nineteen after the Battle, Kingdom of Mora, Capital Mora." Neko gave Rie's date of birth.
"I'll register the same birthplace as Mr. Valarfin."
"She was twenty years old... a year older than me."
When she learned Rie's age, the hollow in her chest opened her eyes again. He already knew she was young, but he couldn't help feeling guilty as he learned the details.
"Also died before her birthday…"
"August thirty-thirty-nine, the year thirty-nine after the Battle. Guild Quarter." Yu answered the date of death instead of Neko.
"Do you know his parents, relatives?" Neko dismissed the registrar's question with a shake of her head. "Then I'll register you as Yurine Valarfin and go back to Mr. Valarfin. Put your hand on that ball." He pushed the tennis ball-sized orb on the table to Yu.
Yu put his hand to the colorless orb and nothing happened when he touched it.
"Hay Rhea, is it broken?" The registrar tapped the orb a few times and asked Yu to try again.
"What is this?" Yu asked. The crystal was still colorless.
"To see the type of magic," the registrar replied. He still thought the orb was broken.
"My situation is a little different. I don't have a core, so I have nothing to do with magic."
"Is that even possible?"
"It happened."
"Rhea-Rhea... You touch it." The registrar handed the orb to Neko to test its stability. When Neko touched the orb, green and white lights appeared. "Rhea-Rhea... Interesting."
After Yu's spell type was left blank, it was time for the signature. After Yu signed his signature in Latin script, the officer again placed the paper on a credit card-sized board. He put the board and the paper in a box and pressed the box from above, and when he took the board out of the box, the paper was engraved on the board. Yu's identity card was ready.
Yu's card also had an ID number, 02000YVfin. When Neko's ID card was taken out, she was also given the number 02001YVfin.
"You will go up to the second floor and go to the family office to get your child allowance. Have a good day."
"Good afternoon, good luck."