Back in the park, Tsukuru narrowed his eyes at Shizuka. He then let out a sigh, and tilted his head, his eyebrow raised.
"You had me flagged the second I left the base, did you?" He asked.
Hearing this sent a jolt through Shizuka.
"What?" Shizuka asked, glancing away. "Of course not. I was just…in the area." She said with a nervous laugh.
Tsukuru shot her a look that said "that's horse shit, and we BOTH know it".
Seeing the look, Shizuka let out a sigh, and her shoulders slumped in defeat.
Tsukuru's eyes then drifted over to Layla, who Shizuka was holding by her collar.
"You." Tsukuru replied, causing Layla to look up at him. "I remember you from the Placement Test. You're that Telekinesis user."
Tsukuru then put his hand under his chin, and glanced away, as if he was trying to remember something. "Layla Munrow, if I remember correctly."
His eyes then widened, and he snapped his head back to her. "Wait, what are you doing here?!"
Hearing this, Layla let out a nervous laugh.
"Well, I was…uh…" Tsukuru raised an eyebrow.
"Also 'In the area'?" He guessed, his eyes narrowing. "You've been following us, haven't you?" He asked accusingly.
"Hey!" Layla shot, somewhat offended. "I'll have you know that I was in the convenience store on my own WAY before you and the black-haired boy came in!"
A moment later, Layla's eyes widened, and she clamped her hands over her mouth, realizing that in her anger, she had said too much.
In response to her words, Shizuka slapped her forehead in disbelief and embarrassment.
Tsukuru narrowed his eyes.
"So you've been following us since the convenience store, then." He replied.
Layla glanced away, not meeting Tsukuru's eyes. Though she remained speechless, her actions pretty much announced that he was correct.
It was then that Shizuka walked past Tsukuru, and over to the injured Riley.
She picked him up, and hoisted him over her shoulder, much like how she had done to Mono earlier.
She looked down at her watch. The clock in the upper-right corner read "9:47".
She cleared her throat.
Instantly, both Layla and Tsukuru turned to her.
"Alright, you two." She replied. "Time to head back to school. It's currently 13 minutes till curfew." She replied, causing their eyes to widen. "I'd get a move-on, if I were you."
Hearing her words, both of them exchanged quick glances, before they both made a mad dash back towards the school.
As they reached the gate, the guards were in the process of sealing the gate shut. Tsukuru's eyes became pin-pricks.
"Wait!" He screamed, waving his hands wildly.
The guards looked up at him. The two of them saw the duo of him and Layla running towards them.
But more importantly, they saw Shizuka slowly walking behind them like a predator on the prowl. She had a student draped over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes as she walked.
They both gulped.
Neither of them were suicidal enough to slam the door in HIKIKO SHIZUKA'S face.
They halted closing the gates, and let them all in.
As they entered the building, they all split off into three groups.
Tsukuru ran through the halls looking for Quinn, while Layla headed towards her dorm room, and Shizuka dropped Riley off in the doctor's office before heading back towards the break room.
When Shizuka arrived, she saw the credits rolling on screen, with the bag of popcorn almost empty in Faye's hands.
"Aw, I missed the whole ending!" Shizuka groaned, as she entered.
She slumped down on the seat next to Faye.
The other sergeant turned to her.
"How was babysitting duty?" Faye asked.
Shizuka narrowed her eyes at her.
"It was fine." She replied, reaching for the remote, and returning to the Black Box's menu screen. She scrolled down, until she saw an image that depicted a man in a black shirt and pants, wearing a brown coat over the shirt, and wearing a hockey mask on his face. In his hand, he held a large machete.
"A group of 2 Level 1s beat a Level 2.5." She said nonchalantly, pressing play.
At her statement, Faye whirled around to her, a look of utter shock on her face.
"How is that even possible?!" Faye said in shock.
Shizuku shrugged her shoulders. "Maybe Head General Paul was on to something when he told us to keep a close eye on that 'Talen' boy." She replied.
Tsukuru's eyes darted back and forth, as he walked down the hall. It was a pretty simple task to track Quinn down. Thanks to his new "minimap", those who were considered his "allies" appeared as green dots.
And seeing as how few friends he actually had, as soon as a single"green" dot popped up in his "minimap", that was likely to be Quinn.
However, as Tsukuru passed by one of the school's bathrooms, he noticed something…strange.
The room was completely empty, with the sole exception of a purple dot inside.
Seeing it, Tsukuru quirked an eyebrow in confusion.
He hadn't seen that color yet. But, as Tsukuru pondered on what that color could possibly mean, he then remembered that Quinn was no longer a human. He was a Vampire.
Realizing this, Tsukuru smirked.
'That must be him!' Tsukuru thought, and he pushed the door open.
"Quinn!" He yelled.
Inside, he saw Quinn staring at some kind of System screen as he stood in front of the mirror.
Hearing his name suddenly being called, Quinn jumped in surprise.
"Tsukuru!" Quinn replied, bring his hand to his chest, and trying to calm down his racing heart. "Don't scare me like that!"
Tsukuru glanced at him with a worried look.
"You alright?" He asked. Quinn glanced to the side.
"I'm…alright." He replied. "I guess."
Tsukuru walked over to Quinn, and saw his Status screen. He noticed that Quinn's Agility had increased by a single point since the last time he had seen Quinn's Status Screen.
During the short time that he had entered the bathroom and Tsukuru had come in, Quinn had decided to use the Stat Point he had gained from leveling up.
He considered increasing his strength, in case he ran into more people like Riley, but he figured he could overcome that problem with a good Beast Weapon, like those Gauntlets Tsukuru had let him use. Therefore, putting the Stat Point into Strength would be wasting it.
He had eventually decided that he wanted to become fast and agile, like an assassin!
Tsukuru watched as Quinn stared at his Status Screen.
Quinn, meanwhile, found himself wondering why the System had only given him a single stat point. But, he then remembered back to all those optional Quests the System had given him. Combining Kyle and Riley, Quinn would have been able to obtain two additional Stat Points. If he really wanted to get stronger, this seemed like the fastest way.
However, Quinn was unsure if he could go through with it. Before any of that, Quinn wanted to do some research into the System, and see if there was anything he could learn about it.
He had a direction to follow now, as he knew his System was similar to him being a Vampire. Maybe if he read more into them, he could find a way around drinking blood.
He glanced over at Tsukuru, and saw him poking the air in front of him. Quinn quickly realized that this was Tsukuru interacting with his System.
A few minutes ago, when Tsukuru had seen Quinn staring at his Status Screen, he had decided that he might as well assign his new Stat Point, as well. He flicked his finger up to bring up the System interface, and clicked the first icon.
A rectangular screen appeared to the left of the icon.
[Name Hikiko Tsukuru
Race Human
Level 2
XP 45/200
Title —
Ability Video
Ability Level 2
_____________________
HP 15/15
MC 40/40
_____________________
Strength 11
Stamina 11
Agility 11
[Stat Points: 1] ]
Like Quinn, he too decided to put his Stat Point into Agility, raising it from "11" to "12".
Looking at the two screens side-to-side, he saw that there was a one-point difference between both of their Stats.
Tsukuru and Quinn then exchanged looks.
"So, what do you want to do now?" Tsukuru asked.
Quinn put his finger under his chin, and thought for a moment. Eventually, he spoke up.
"Let's head back to the dorm for now." He replied. "Vorden and Peter must be worried sick." Tsukuru nodded in agreement, and they both left the bathroom.
As the two approached the door to their dorm room, they could hear Vorden and Peter practicing together as they approached the room.
Peter was trying his best to learn the Earth Ability Book the military had given him, while Vorden was tutoring him.
"What took you two so long?" Vorden asked, as they entered the room.
"We got into a fight." Tsukuru muttered, as he passed Vorden, and plopped himself down on his bed.
Instantly, Vorden's face hardened.
"What?" He asked in a sharp tone.
Peter looked up in Tsukuru's direction.
"Was it that same guy from earlier?" He asked, causing Vorden to look at him, eyebrow raised in confusion.
"Yep." Tsukuru replied, as he withdrew his handheld from the System's Inventory, and began to play it.
Electronic sounds and beeps could be heard coming from it as he played.
"The same asshole who tried to extort us from getting in." Tsukuru muttered.
Vorden heard a sound next to him. Looking over, he saw Quinn plop down into his bed next to Vorden's.
"Yeah, turns out he was going to the store at the same time we were." He replied, an irritated look on his face. "Lucky us." He muttered.
Vorden looked from Tsukuru to Quinn, and then heard Peter panting heavily next to him.
He turned to look at him, slightly concerned.
"Maybe we should call it a day for now." Peter suggested, looking exhausted.
Not wanting to push him, Vorden agreed.
With that, the three turned out their lights, and went to bed, leaving the room only illuminated from the light of Tsukuru's handheld.
Ten minutes later, after Tsukuru had played long enough for the System screen announcing that he had finished his Daily Quest had appeared, he turned off the game, placed it back in his System, and went to sleep, as well.
Meanwhile, with Quinn, he was unable to sleep.
His stomach was in a tremendous amount of pain, and he had far too much on his mind.
If what the System had said was correct, Quinn would only have a limited amount of time to solve his problem.
He currently only had 15 HP, and he would lose 1 HP every hour.
However, there wasn't much Quinn could do. It was now officially 10 PM. The school's curfew was in effect. And if he was caught outside, he would be in deep trouble.
Hikiko Shizuka's predatory smile flashed in his mind, and he felt a cold sweat run down his back.
He gulped in fear. With no other choice, he closed his eyes, and hoped that he would figure out a way to deal with his little "blood" problem in the morning.
Eventually, he managed to drift off to sleep.