Tsukuru bid Sil "Goodbye", and left the library.
As he did, Layla's words echoed in his head.
'I've been watching you, Quinn…'
Tsukuru's eyes narrowed.
''Watching'...for HOW long?' He thought.
He already knew that she was there last night, as Shizuka had dragged her out of the woods with her.
How many other times had Layla been watching them without them knowing.
Tsukuru grit his teeth.
"I have to…look into this." He muttered.
As he walked down the hall, he heard a familiar voice call out to him.
"Tsukuru!" Tsukuru looked up as he heard the voice, and he saw Peter running at him, waving his hands.
"Peter?" Tsukuru asked, quirking an eyebrow in confusion. "What are you doing here?" He asked, as Peter reached him. "Shouldn't you be eating food at the canteen?"
Peter let out a nervous laugh.
"Actually, I don't feel very hungry after everything that went down at the assembly hall." He replied.
Tsukuru's face hardened.
Peter looked from side to side.
"So, have you seen Quinn or Vorden anywhere?" He asked.
For some reason, both Vorden and Quinn had been acting strange lately, and Peter didn't know what to do about it.
His previous school life had been hell, and he had done everything possible to serve those above him.
Now, for the first time ever, he had made actual friends who protected him.
Although Peter had no idea what was going on with Quinn, he had some idea what was going on with Vorden.
It was after whatever had happened in the assembly hall, that he began acting strange.
And no matter who he asked, nobody would give him an answer about it.
Hell, some people even threatened him.
Tsukuru put his hand under his chin in a thinking pose.
"They were in the library a few minutes ago." He replied.
However, it was then that the two of them heard a familiar voice.
Vorden's voice.
As Tsukuru and Peter turned the corner, they saw Vorden just standing there.
The strange part was it seemed like Vorden was talking to himself.
While Peter found this strange, Tsukuru realized that he must have been having an "internal conversation" with the other two.
Tsukuru sighed internally.
'He needs to learn how to have internal conversations WITHOUT speaking in the real world.' Tsukuru thought with a deadpan expression.
"Will you two calm down?" Vorden muttered.
A few moments later, he spoke again.
"I don't care if it hurts the little one's feelings, it's not like Quinn isn't allowed to talk to other people."
Tsukuru raised his eyebrow.
''Little One'?' He thought in confusion. 'Is that like a nickname for Sil?'
They heard Vorden speak again.
"Look, if you get involved and hurt them, I'll never forgive you." Vorden muttered. "I won't let something like last time happen again!"
Just then, they saw Vorden start to walk off.
The bell signalling the end of the lunch period rang, indicating that it was the time for students to return to class.
That's when the library door opened, and Quinn and Layla could be seen walking out.
Tsukuru narrowed his eyes at Layla.
"Quinn!" Peter yelled, as he and Tsukuru ran towards the two.
Seeing them, Quinn turned to Layla.
"I'll meet you in front of the gates once classes are over." He replied, before leaving to join Peter and Tsukuru.
As he joined them, he saw Tsukuru was still giving Layla a suspicious look.
He let out a nervous laugh.
"Well, let's head to class." He said, sweatdropping.
Together the group began to walk to their next class.
As they walked, Peter glanced over at Quinn.
"Hey, Quinn?"
Quinn turned to look at Peter.
"I'm…I'm really worried about Vorden." He muttered, looking down. "Ever since he got back from the assembly hall, he's been acting strangely."
He suddenly felt a weight on his shoulder.
Looking up, he saw that Quinn had put his hand on his shoulder.
Quinn gave Peter a reassuring smile.
"Don't worry, we'll find out what's going on together." He replied.
Peter smiled at him.
The three of them kept walking down the hall, and eventually reached their next class.
When they entered, they all sat down in their regular seats.
Vorden was already there when they arrived, and he turned to look at them.
"Oh, hey, you guys." He said with his trademark smile. "How's it going?"
Peter and Quinn sighed, seeing that at least Vorden was back to normal.
Seeing how he was in a better mood, Quinn decided to ask Vorden a question.
"Vorden, what happened in the assembly hall?" He asked.
Instantly, Vorden's face changed.
It was as if he was trying to hold something back. Vorden clenched his hands for a few seconds, then finally relaxed.
"Don't worry about it." Vorden replied, looking away. "I can handle myself."
Although Peter was fine, now that Peter was back to being himself, Quinn noticed that Vorden still seemed to be hiding something, suppressing something whenever anyone asked him about that event.
As the other students started to fill the room, they began to talk in hushed whispers when they saw Vorden.
However, if Vorden looked at them, they would instantly turn their heads in the other direction.
As the students sat down and talks continued, several words could be heard.
Words like "Monster", "Freak", "Weirdo", "Crazy", and the like.
Tsukuru's eye began to twitch in annoyance.
As far as he was concerned, they were all just nosy busybodies.
It always infuriated him how people always had an opinion about stuff they knew nothing about. NONEOF THEM knew ANYTHING about Vorden.
And yet, they were judging him.
Meanwhile, to Quinn and Peter, it seemed as if the whole school were sharing a secret that they weren't allowed to know, and not even Vorden would tell them about it.
Quinn noticed that the whole class, Vorden had stayed motionless with his head down, not even taking down notes.
At the end of class, Dell projected a screen in front of the whole class
It was a list of names, the names of everyone in class, separated into categories.
"Please take a look and see where your name is." Del replied. "Tomorrow will be the start of your Combat Classes."
As Tsukuru and Quinn looked at the screen, they noticed that each group was different, varying depending on the type of Ability one had. Elemental Abilities, Transformation Abilities, Enhancement Abilities, and so on.
It was then that Quinn noticed that there was a list of names to the side.
The list had his, Vorden's, and even Tsukuru's name on it.
"If your name doesn't appear in any of the lists, it means your Ability doesn't fall into one of the categories, or you're an original with a unique Ability."
Tsukuru laughed nervously at that last part, as it fit him to a "T".
"You are free to choose to go to whichever class you believe suits you best." Del continued. "Students can also switch between classes if they wish. They are not set in stone, but merely the school's recommendation based on your Ability."
The list of available classes was sent to each student's watch, where they were to register for whichever class they would be interested in.
'I wonder which class would be the best for me?' Quinn thought, as he looked over the long list.
After Del's announcement, the class was over, and so the group carried on with their day.
With that, the students all began to pour out of the class.
When the class was empty, Del reached into his bag, and pulled something out.
It was the same Black Obsidian Dagger that Tsukuru had thrown into the wall yesterday.
Del held it up, looking at it in the light.
After his little…"meeting" with Sergeant Shizuka and General Nathan, they had both agreed to let him keep it, as Tsukuru seemed to use them as arrows in a bow, rather than actual melee weapons, him being able to make new ones on the fly.
Del smirked as he looked at it, seeing the glowing, orange sections, and the blade that looked like flowing lava.
Sure, it was only a Basic-Tier weapon, but with Del's Ability, Weapon Enhancement, it was essentially an Intermediate-Tier weapon in his hands.
Meanwhile, the group of Tsukuru, Quinn, Peter, and Vorden walked down the halls.
As they did, Vordened turned to Peter, and offered to help train him in his Earth Ability like he had done last night.
Especially since tomorrow the two of them would be heading to the same Combat Class, the Elemental Class.
Peter turned to Tsukuru and Quinn.
"Do you want to come with us?" He asked.
Quinn waved his hand dismissively.
"Nah." He replied. "I'd just get in the way. Plus, I wouldn't be able to help much, anyways."
Peter was pleased that it seemed like the group had gotten back to normal once again.
It was at that point that Quinn started to walk off.
He stopped, and then turned to Tsukuru.
"Hey, c'mon." He replied. "I need your help with my…thing…with Layla." He said, speaking in code, since Vorden and Peter were in earshot.
Tsukuru rolled his eyes.
"Yeah, yeah." He muttered, showing him away. "I'll meet you at the front gate."
Quinn sighed, and walked off.
Tsukuru let out a deep sigh, and then turned to Vorden and Peter.
"Alright Vorden, let's go." He replied.
Vorden gave him a confused look.
"Where to?" He asked.
Tsukuru's eyes narrowed. "To check something concerning Quinn's new…lady friend."
Instantly, Vorden's eyes narrowed instead.
"Right." Vorden replied, in a low tone.
He then left with Tsukuru, leaving Peter by himself.
"Hey!" Peter called out. "What about tutoring me in my Ability?!"
However, it was no use.
The two were already out of both eyesight and earshot.
Seeing this, Peter let out a depressed groan, and slumped his shoulders.