Shizuka and Leo stood there frozen in the meeting room.
Leo had his sword cut into Shizuka's neck, while Shizuka had an amused look on her face.
Shizuka looked down at Leo, a bewildered look on his face.
After a moment, Shizuka let out an amused laugh.
"What's with the shocked face?" She asked, as she reached up her hand towards her neck, pushing her index finger between her neck and Leo's blade. "Is this your first time seeing the Soul Weapon a Hikiko?" She asked, as she causally pushed her finger forwards, moving the sword away from her neck.
"While we may not be an Original family, we do possess something no one else has. A special genetic mutation that makes our Soul Weapons…rather unique." She looked at Leo with that same amused look, as she continued. "Our Soul Weapons…allow us to become ONE with our Abilities, making up damn near invincible once we master our Soul Weapons."
Leo stood there, stunned as he took in everything Shizuka was saying.
This didn't sound like how he understood Abilities and Soul Weapons to function.
This sounded like straight-up magic.
Leo narrowed his eyes.
'No wonder she's always so nonchalant and uncaring.' Leo thought, as he slowly lowered his sword back down to his side. 'She knows nothing can hurt her.'
Without a word, Leo placed his sword back into its sheath at his side.
Seeing this, Shizuka's smirk widened.
"Well, now that we understand each other…" She said, adjusting her cap, and turning towards the door. "...I'm going to go visit little Tsu-Tsu." She raised her hand up in the form of a backwards wave as she left. "I suggest you do the same with our resident Ice Queen."
Leo stood there, staring at the spot Shizuka had stood in, as she walked out.
His grip tightened around his sword.
"Maybe if I had used…that…things would have been different." He muttered to himself.
Shizuka walked down the halls of the student dormitory, hands behind her back, and humming a tune.
If any from the early 21st century had still existed at this point, they would have easily recognized it as the nursery rhyme "London Bridge is Falling Down", but it sounded…wrong.
It was slowed down, turning it from a cheery tune, to something creepy, fitting an abandoned city.
When she reached the door leading to the room assigned to Tsukuru, Peter, Vorden, and Quinn, she activated her Soul Weapon.
She used the same "Earthen Travel" Skill she had used when she was trailing after Tsukuru and Quinn the night they had left the school grounds to go fight Riley.
She transformed into a pile of loose rock and dirt on the floor, which then slid under the door gap at the bottom of the door.
Once on the other side, she reconstituted herself.
Looking over at Tsukuru's bed, she saw that he was still up.
Smirking, she slowly began to walk over towards him.
Tsukuru was laying on his bed, his handheld gaming console over his head.
While the others had all gone to bed, he had stayed up to play his game for the required ten minutes to complete his daily quest.
He saw the "quest completion" System screen pop up in front of him.
It notified him that his XP had increased from "230/400" to "240/400".
He then saw a large shadow overcast him.
Looking up, he saw Shizuka leaned down over him.
He looked up at her for a second, before letting out a long sigh.
He had come to expect this at this point.
Growing up, Shizuka always had…a knack for being able to get into any room, regardless of how locked or barricaded it was.
Tsukuru turned off the console, and placed it on the corner table next to his bed.
"What?" He asked, rubbing his sleepy right eye.
Shizuka smirked down at him.
"I'm here to inform you that Erin Heyley will be fighting your little 'Summon' tomorrow morning in the assembly hall." She replied.
Tsukuru looked up at her, his expression not changing.
He thought back to earlier today in the Beast Weapons Class.
He recalled that Erin did request to fight his Haunted Knight, and Leo had said he would bring the request to the top brass.
It looked like she had gotten her wish.
Tsukuru leaned back into his pillow.
"Whatever." He muttered, before pulling his blanket over his head.
Shizuka stared at him, him now being hidden under a mattress for a solid minute, before smirking, her face now looking more gentle.
Tsukuru was always like this.
Never wanting to be bothered when he was busy doing something.
She turned away, and began to walk back towards the door.
She then used the same Skill she had used to come in to get out.
Meanwhile, on the floor directly above Shizuka, Sergeant Leo was walking down the hallway of the femalesection of the dormitory.
Thanks to his Ability, he was able to see through walls, seeing the wireframe outline of every student.
He looked from room to room, searching for the outline of Erin Heyley.
Finally, after checking his sixth or seventh room, he finally came across Erin.
He also noticed that the wireframe of that girl with the bow, Layla Munrow, was in this room, as well.
He approached the door, and proceeded to knock on the metal door three times in succession.
In his wireframe vision, he saw Layla approach the door, her apparently being the one who was going to answer the door.
Layla opened the door.
Unknown to Leo due to his blindness, Layla's hair was a mess, and she was wearing a matching set of pajama top and bottoms.
The pajamas were red with cartoonish, bat designs, as well as cartoonish, gray coffins.
"Hello?" Layla said, rubbing her eyes.
Leo looked down at the girl.
"Studen Layla Munrow, I'm looking for student Erin Heyley." He replied in a stern tone. "Can you get her up for me?"
Layla let out a yarn, and nodded.
She closed the door.
However, unknown to her, Leo could see everything.
He saw Layla approach Erin's bed.
He heard something that sounded like a disgruntled argument, before he saw Erin finally get up from the bed, and approach the door.
The door opened once again, and Erin stood in the doorframe, Layla standing behind her.
Unlike Layla, Erin's pajamas were light-blue in color, with dark-blue snowflake designs.
Erin had an annoyed look on her face.
"Can I helpyou?" She said in the same cold, emotionless tone as always.
Leo looked down at her.
"Erin Heyley, your request has been approved." Leo replied, causing Erin's eyebrow to raise in confusion. "Tomorrow morning, you will be fighting Hikiko Tsukuru's Beast in the assembly hall."
Although Erin's face didn't change, a slight brightness could be seen in her eyes.
Without acknowledging the statement, she closed the door in Leo's face.
He stood there for a few moments longer, before walking away.
Back in the room, the two girls went back to their beds.
While Erin's face remained emotionless, inside, she felt a rush of excitement.
'Finally, a proper challenge.' She thought.
Night passed over the base, and soon, the sun rose high in the sky.
The same, trumpeting alarm rang through every room within the student dormitories.
As Quinn woke up, he saw a System message appear in front of him.
[Daily Quest 2 has been completed. 5 Exp has been awarded. Exp: 135/400]
Quinn grumbled as he saw the message.
While he was happy with his growth in strength, the same definitely couldn't be said for his Exp growth.
He was currently only Level 3, and only had two Skills to his name.
It seemed that unlike other Abilities, where they gave you control over something, all of Quinn's Skills were a "one-action" kind of thing.
If Quinn wanted to be on a level playing field with the higher-Level students, he would need more Skills.
After fighting Loop yesterday, Quinn realized that he needed a few things.
The first thing he needed was to get better at fighting.
Although he had been fine at defeating low-Level students, like Kyle, Riley, and Fei, he struggled with high-Level students who actually knew how to fight.
The only reason Quinn had even won yesterday was due to his Blood Bank Skill.
It was the only reason he had been able to fight so recklessly.
He needed to learn some sort of hand-to-hand combat skills.
The second thing was that Quinn couldn't go out fighting students every day.
Yesterday had been a close call, and he was still unsure if Loop knew it was him or not.
If he wanted to keep his identity a secret, he would have to limit himself to only fighting at night, like he and Tsukuru had done with Riley.
Even though he had two different sets of gauntlets, he was still unsure exactly how many students in the school used that type of weapon.
Sooner or later, somebody would figure out who he was.
This led to Quinn's next goal: unlocking his System's shop.
Unlike with Tsukuru, his System's shop was currently locked until he reached Level 10.
He honestly wondered what he would find in it when he finally gained access to it.
From Tsukuru, he knew that his Shop had allowed him to obtain healing potions, and even a Beast Weapon.
But, the System had yet to actually let Quinn down.
When Vorden woke up, he had returned to his usual self.
"Hey, did you get a good sleep?" Vorden asked Quinn when he woke up. "When I finally came back yesterday, you were already fast asleep."
Quinn smiled.
"Yeah, I was pretty worn out after yesterday's combat classes." He replied.
Vorden's expression hardened.
"Yeah, I heard you got into an accident yesterday." Vorden replied. "Is everything okay?"
It was at this point that Tsukuru woke up.
"Yeah, if by 'accident', you mean 'he got two swords stabbed in his gut'." Tsukuru said in his typical, grumpy morning self, as he headed towards the bathroom for his morning shower.
Quinn and Vorden watched him as he walked past, before turning back to each other.
"As you can see, I made a full recovery." Quinn said, slightly pulling up his shirt to show Vorden that the two wounds in his stomach had fully healed. "So, you don't have to worry about it."
Vorden's eyes narrowed.
"I'm serious, Quinn." Vorden replied in a low voice. "If you're being bullied, just tell me. I know you said for us not to help each other because of the second-years, but I can handle myself in a fight."
Quinn smiled back at Vorden.
He couldn't see what Layla was so worried about.
The Vorden in front of Quinn was the one he had grown to like.
Sure, he had some problems, but who didn't?
As Peter woke up, Vorden greeted him too, but Peter said very little back.
'Now even Peter is acting strange…' Quinn thought.
"Is everything alright, Peter?" Quinn asked.
"Huh?" He asked, as if his attention was elsewhere. "Yeah, I'm fine." He said quickly.
A little too quickly, if you asked Quinn.
Quinn and Vorden watched as Peter got into the bathroom after Tsukuru walked out, Peter seeming to be a little spaced out.