As they winded down the halls, Tsukuru spoke.
"That girl…" He muttered, catching Vorden's attention. "She was with us last night, as well. When we were fighting Riley."
Vorden's expression hardened.
"She seems to run into Quinn far too frequently for my liking." "Vorden" muttered, but Tsukuru was unaware of which of the three of them was the one speaking, as he was in front of Vorden, and not looking at him.
Tsukuru grit his teeth.
"Agreed." Tsukuru muttered. He led Vorden to the staff area of the school, the "teacher's lounge", if you will. After looking around, Tsukuru grabbed the shoulder of a random military officer. The soldier had a look of irritation, before his gaze locked with Tsukuru's. Then he gulped nervously.
"Hikiko Tsukuru." He greeted, catching everyone's attention. "W-What can I help you with?" He asked.
Tsukuru narrowed his eyes.
"Where is Shizuka's office located?" He asked.
The officer pointed a shaking finger towards the door.
"D-Down the hall." He sputtered. "T-Third door on the right."
Tsukuru nodded, and took off towards the door, Vorden following after him.
When they were gone, the soldier let out a sigh of relief.
As the two traveled down the hall, they eventually came across the door the soldier had mentioned.
Even without that knowledge, Tsukuru would have known this was Shizuka's room.
The door was ominous-looking, with a sticker on the front that showed a simplistic skull design that appeared to be made of dripping blood.
Below it was a name tag, which also appeared to be made in a creepy, dripping font.
It displayed three rows of text:
Hikiko Shizuka
1st-year sergeant
Head disciplinarian
Tsukuru took a deep breath, and pushed the door open.
Inside, the office was creepy, filling the two with chills.
Rather than the rest of the school, this room looked straight out of a haunted house.
It had wooden flooring and walls, and had bloody handprints, and even messages written in blood on the walls
One read "Help!", and another read "Abandon All Hope!".
Like the skull on her door, these were clearly stickers, but it did cause a slight chill to run through the two.
Vorden glanced at Tsukuru.
"Your sister is nuts!" He muttered.
Before Tsukuru could answer, they heard a loud squeaking noise.
As they turned to the desk in the middle of the room, they saw Shizuka turning in her rotary chair, turning to look at them.
Shizuka smirked evilly, as she clasped her hands on her desk.
"Well, well, well." She said in an amused tone. "If it isn't little Tsu-Tsu…"
Her gaze then hardened as she saw Vorden.
"And you've brought…him." She muttered.
Vorden raised an eyebrow in confusion.
Tsukuru let out a sigh.
"We want information about Layla Munrow." Tsukuru replied, causing Shizuka to turn to him. "We, or more specifically Quinn, ran into her…again."
Shizuka's eyes narrowed.
She let out a long sigh.
"That girl seems to have an interest in your black-haired friend, Tsu-Tsu." Shizuka replied in a tone that was no longer full of amusement.
Her words made Vorden's eyes narrow, before she continued.
"I also saw her when you four went on your little…trip…to the second-year building." Shizuka's eyes narrowed, and she tapped a report on her desk.
"And I even received a report that she was seen leaving the training room on the first night of school not long after you and your friend did."
Tsukuru grit his teeth at the insinuation.
"She's been stalking us." He muttered, before correcting himself.
He turned to Vorden.
"No, she's been stalking Quinn."
Vorden clenched his fist in response.
The two left the room, allowing Shizuka to return to her work.
As the two walked back down the hall, Vorden spoke up.
"Your sister doesn't seem to like me very much." He muttered.
Tsukuru glanced over at him.
"Nah, it's not you she hates." He replied, making Vorden raise an eyebrow in confusion.
"She hates your sister."
His words made Vorden freeze in his tracks.
"Excuse me?" He asked.
Tsukuru stopped walking, and turned back to Vorden. He had an amused smirk on his face.
"Does the name 'Vicky Blade' ring a bell?" He asked.
Inside the dark room of Vorden's subconscious, Raten was doubled over, laughing.
"Oh, that's rich!" Raten gasped. "The one time she got to leave the island, she picked a fight with the military! No wonder Hillston prohibited her from leaving!"
Voden made a shushing motion.
"Shh!" He hissed. "You can't say that name in here!" He said, motioning to Sil.
However, Sil seemed not to hear her.
He was too focused on something else.
From what Shizuka had said, this "Layla" girl had been stalking Quinn…his Quinn…since they arrived.
"That girl is a threat." Sil muttered angrily, him no longer rocking, causing Vorden and Raten to turn to him. "I won't let her take Quinn away from me."
Meanwhile, back in the real world, Vorden and Tsukuru returned to the spot they had left Peter.
He was nowhere in sight, so the two assumed he had headed back to the dorm.
Vorden scratched the back of his neck, realizing that he had said that he was going to help Peter with his Ability, and then just walked off.
He let out a nervous laugh.
"I'm gonna…go look for Peter." He replied.
Tsukuru let out a sigh.
"Yeah, well I have to go meet Quinn and our little 'problem' at the front gate." He muttered, glancing away.
Vorden glanced at him.
"What kind of 'personal issues' is she helping him with?" Vorden asked.
Tsukuru glanced at him with narrowed eyes.
Tsukuru let out a sigh.
"It's a…personal issue." Tsukuru replied.
He then glanced around, seeing if anyone was in earshot.
Seeing no one around, he then continued.
"As personal as your guy's little…thing." He added with a whisper.
Vorden's eyes widened, as he realized that Tsukuru was most likely talking about the situation between himself, Raten, and Sil.
Eventually, he let out a sigh of defeat.
The two went their separate ways.
As Quinn stood by Layla at the front gates, he thought about the System.
He currently had 55 out of the required 200 Experience Points for his next Level Up.
45 points had carried over from when he and Tsukuru had beaten Riley last night, and he had received another 10 from completing his two Daily Quests.
He also learned that he could gain Stat Points from drinking blood, even without being prompted to by an "Optional Quest".
Today, Quinn wanted to see what would happen if he drank the same blood twice.
Standing across from Quinn was Layla, her bow still strapped to her back.
Students were allowed to carry their weapons if they had them at all times, on the off-chance of an attack, or if a stray Beast came out of a portal.
Soon, the two heard a voice.
"Hey!" Tsukuru replied, waving his hand in greeting as he approached them.
When he reached them, he scratched the back of his head.
"Sorry I'm late." He replied, feigning nervousness. "I had to…take care of something."
Layla rolled her eyes at him.
Catching this, Tsukuru narrowed his eyes at her.
The three of them then decided to walk to the nearby park that was between the school and the convenience store.
The same one that Tsukuru and Quinn had fought Riley in.
Layla turned to the other two.
"Alright, so how are we gonna do this?" She asked, beaming.
In response, Tsukuru withdrew the syringe of Layla's blood from his System's Inventory.
It appeared in his hand in the same manner as everything he withdrew from his Inventory did, as a mass of pixels that clustered together.
Tsukuru put his hands slightly above the ground, and then activated his Ability.
The sound of electronic interference filled the area, and pixels appeared.
They clustered together into a stand of some sort that was made of two horizontal, flat rectangles with cylinder-shaped supports on either side.
There was a bright flash of light.
When it faded, there was a wooden test tube rack standing on the ground.
The rack had a row of six holes, each for holding a test tube.
Tsukuru turned to Quinn.
"How many test tubes do you want, Quinn?" He asked.
Quinn thought for a second, then responded.
"Two." He replied, holding up two fingers.
Layla watched the two work in shock and embarrassment.
It was clear that she had been hoping that Quinn was going to bite her again, as she wanted to experience that feeling again.
She watched as Tsukuru used his Ability again, this time using it to create two cylinder-shaped, glass test tubes, which he placed in the first two holes of the rack.
Layla's face morphed into a pout.