Raten continued staring at Tsukuru, wide-eyed.
Tsukuru's smirk didn't falter.
Eventually, he spoke.
"Yes, you didn't mishear me, and I didn't mispeak." Tsukuru replied in a nonchalant tone, as if to verify to Raten that there was no chance of a mistake or misunderstanding.
Inside the dark room of Vorden's mind, Raten's and Vorden's eyes both widened.
They looked at each other, with an "Oh, shit" expression on their faces.
In the real world, there was a long pause, a thick tension in the air.
"How long have you…" Raten started before Tsukuru cut him off.
"Since we first met." He replied nonchalantly, with a dismissive hand-wave, as if he was just discussing the weather.
He smiled down at Raten, and tapped his temple.
"Remember that "scanner" thing I told Quinn and Vorden about?" He asked.
There was another pause.
"Yeah?" Raten asked, his eyes narrowing.
Tsukuru smirked.
"Well, I kind of…fudged the details, if you get my drift." Tsukuru said. "While it's true with most people that I only see one image in my System's "scanner", with you, I see three."
Hearing this, Raten's eyes widened.
Tsukuru then pointed his index finger to the left side of his face. "One on the left…" He replied, before then pointing to the right side of his face.
"One on the right…"
He then held his hand up to his forehead, pointing up towards the ceiling.
"And one at the top."
Raten stood there, taking in this new information.
Tsukuru continued.
"It seems that whoever is…"piloting the body" as it were, is always shown on the left." Tsukuru replied, catching Raten's attention.
"Normally, I see Vorden's mug plastered there."
Tsukuru then smirked.
"Except of course right now, as I see your angry-ass looking face in that spot, with you and Vorden switching spots, and him being on the right."
Raten's face then darkened.
"And what about the third?" He asked in a low tone.
Seeing this reaction, Tsukuru let out a sigh.
"Right, Sil…" He muttered, glancing away slightly, a somewhat nervous look on his face.
Inside the dark room of Vorden's mind, Sil momentarily stopped rocking, as he heard his name being called.
"He seemed to be a bit of a…special case." Tsukuru replied, his voice echoing in the dark room. "He's the only person whose image appears as a side-profile instead of a front-facing photo, him looking like he's rocking back and forth in the fetal position."
Back in the real world, Raten glanced away, a sympathetic look on his face.
"Yeah, that's…accurate." He replied.
Tsukuru smiled, before he let out an amused snort, causing Raten to snap his head towards him.
"Damn, those second-years did a real number on you, didn't they?" He asked. "You look like you went through a meat grinder."
Tsukuru's smirk widened, before his gaze shifted to the now-empty hand, the bottle completely gone.
"Or at least, you did."
Raten grumbled in response, as he stood up.
"Yeah, yeah." He muttered. "I got my ass handed to me. Haha."
Tsukuru smirked.
"Hopefully you went down swinging." He replied. "Took a couple of them down with you."
Suddenly, a smirk crept across Raten's face.
He rubbed his lips with his sleeve.
"You better believe I did!" He replied, smugly.
He smashed his fist into his open palm.
"I showed them what's what!"
Raten looked around.
"Hey, where's Quinn?" He asked.
Tsukuru's eyebrow quirked in confusion.
He looked around the room.
Raten was right, Quinn was gone.
But, looking at his System's "minimap", Tsukuru could see that he hadn't gone far.
He was right outside the dorm's door.
Meanwhile, outside the door, Quinn was panting hard.
It seemed that the sight of "Vorden" so bloody had an adverse reaction to the new-found halfling.
It had been intoxicating, and Quinn had feared that if he hadn't left the room, he wouldn't have been able to control himself.
"I really need to find out what's going on with this strange System I have." He panted.
At the same time, Quinn knew he had other problems he had to deal with.
Vorden was perfectly safe.
He needed to get back to the nurse's office before Layla woke back up, because who knows what she might do when she did.
At the same time, back in the doctor's office, Layla slowly opened her eyes.
Layla groaned.
"What happened?" She muttered, holding her head.
Meanwhile, over in the second-year building, General Duke was sitting at his desk.
He had a tablet in his hand, showing Erin's File.
'Level 5 Ice Ability…parents died in a Dalki attack…perfect.' Duke thought with a smirk.
She was a perfect candidate for Truedream: High Ability Level, no backing. No way for this to blow up in his face.
It was then that he heard a knock on the door.
Duke looked up towards the door to his office.
He quickly turned off the tablet, and deposited it in one of his desk's drawers, locking it with a key.
He then glanced back up at the door.
"Come in." He replied.
A moment later, Mono walked through the doorway.
Mono walked until he was standing a few feet away.
He stood stiff in front of Duke, his hands behind his back to a soldier offering a debriefing to his superior.
"Sir, there is something that has come to my attention that I wish to tell you about." He replied.
Duke glanced at Mono with a raised eyebrow.
"Go on." He replied.
"Seeing how Vorden Blade obviously didn't heed our earlier warning, we decided to make an example of him." Mono replied.
"We intercepted him on his way to the canteen in the first-year building at the start of the lunch period and brought him to the assembly hall to…teach him a lesson. We succeeded, but he took down over a dozen second-years, and utterly trashed the place."
Hearing this made Duke grit his teeth.
"Fucking Original…" He muttered under his breath.
Mono continued.
"A short time later, Hikiko Tsukuru's group arrived."
Hearing this, Duke's eyes widened.
"Didn't I tell you to NOT approach him?!" Duke roared, jumping to his feet, and leaning over his desk.
Mono's face remained unchanged. He still remembered what happened the last time he spoke out of term to Duke.
"Actually, he approached me." Mono replied.
Hearing this made Duke's eyes widen.
He just stood there, stunned.
He then sat back down into his seat.
"A Level 1 approached a Level 6?" He asked, glancing to the side. "That takes balls."
Hearing this made Mono's eyes narrow.
"Level 2, actually." Mono corrected, making Duke look up at him. "That's what I came here to tell you about. As he was walking away, I caught a glance of his watch. He's a Level 2.3, now, sir."
Hearing this, Duke shot up to his feet.
"What?!" He yelled in utter surprise. "Wasn't he a Level 1.3 just yesterday?!"
Mono nodded.
"Yes." Mono replied. "He was. I saw it myself."
Slowly, Duke slumped back into his desk.
He brought his hand under his chin, taking on a pose of puzzlement.
"No one advances THAT fast." He muttered.
He looked back at Mono.
"Keep me informed about the situation with the Blade boy. If he keeps causing trouble, make sure he's dealt with!"
Mono nodded, and left the room.
Duke leaned back in his seat, and let out a long sigh.
"If that boy keeps growing like this, he could become a problem for me." He muttered.