As night fell over the military base, the higher-ups among the staff met up inside the typical meeting room.
The group consisted of Head General Paul, General Nathan, General Duke, Sergeant Faye, Sergeant Leo, Sergeant Shizuka, and Sergeant Dillon.
They were also joined with the doctors of the school, Hayley of the first-years and Cecelia Bluegrass of the second-years.
The two doctors were seated at the far end of either side of the table; Hayley seated after Leo, and Cecelia seated after Dillon.
Nathan looked down the table, and his eyes narrowed when he reached Shizuka's spot.
On the table in front of her was a white, metal box with a red cross in the middle, making it look like a first-aid kit.
"Hey, Sergeant Shizuka." Nathan said in a bored tone, catching her attention. "What the hell is that thing?" He asked.
Suddenly, everyone's gaze locked in on the metal box in front of Shizuka.
"Oh, this." Shizuka said nonchalantly, lifting up the box and holding it in front of her.
"It's something Tsu-Tsu asked me to deliver to Hayley." She replied. "I actually had almost forgotten about it."
Hearing this, both her and Paul's eyes widened in realization.
Seeing the looks, Shizuka's face developed an amused smirk.
"Here." She said, as she put the box back on the table, and slid it downwards to Hayley, who was sitting two seats past her.
Hayley reached out her hand, and stopped the box before it slid off the table.
Instantly, Hayley pressed the protruding square in the center of the cross.
The lid popped open, revealing the set of ten perfectly-placed health potions.
"They're so beautiful…" Hayley whispered, as she looked at them.
To her, they looked like priceless diamonds that she wanted to polish until they glittered like stars.
Instantly, everyone else glanced over at Paul with a confused expression, expecting him to fill them in.
Seeing the looks, Paul let out a sigh.
"It's just low-grade health potions." Paul replied. "She asked me to procure a small stockpile from Hikiko Tsukuru for the doctor's office."
Hearing this, Cecelia's eyes widened.
Instantly, she jumped to her feet.
"Hey, what the hell?!" She yelled. "Where's my healing potions?!? The second-years got more injured in that scuffle, anyway! You have any idea how many broken noses and cracked ribs I had to heal?!?"
Suddenly, Shizuka let out an amused snort.
Cecelia narrowed her eyes, and glanced at her.
Shizuka leaned on the table, using her hand on her cheek to hold her head up.
"First of all, the Head General is paying Tsukuru for those healing potions." She replied, before glancing towards Paul. "Right, Head General?"
Hearing this, Paul let out a sigh.
"Yeah, yeah." He said with a dismissive wave. "I'll wire the credits to him for them later tonight."
Shizuka then turned to Cecelia, a wicked smile on her face.
"But by all means, feel free to ask him." She replied.
"But…considering how the second-years have been antagonizing him and his friends all week, I highly doubt he'll agree."
Hearing this, Cecilia puffed out her cheeks in annoyance, and she glanced over at Hayley in jealousy.
Sergeant Faye coughed into her hand, getting everyone's attention.
Seeing as how she and Shizuka were the ones to arrive on the scene at the assembly hall, it seemed that she had taken it upon herself to take charge of the meeting.
"We are here to conduct a meeting on what to do with the small group of second-year students who were involved in the incident in the assembly hall earlier today." She announced.
General Duke snorted, and glanced away.
"The first-year students involved appear to be Vorden Blade, as well as the 100 students making up Del Rowan's homeroom class, as well as Sergeant Leo's Beast Weapon combat class." She continued. "Does anybody want to speak first?"
Instantly, Sergeant Shizuka's hand shot into the air.
Instantly, the whole table turned to face her.
Seeing this, she smiled.
"Well, to understand how things got to this point, you should all know the related context." She replied. "And as far as I know, this all started four days ago, on the first day of school."
Instantly, Head General Paul raised his eyebrow in confusion.
"Go on." Paul replied.
Shizuka nodded.
"Well, it started when I was going on my scheduled snack break after morning classes, when I saw Tsukuru and his roommates being escorted to the second-year building by a group of second-year students."
Shizuka went on to describe the altercation between Tsukuru and Mono, and how Mono had given Vorden his little "warning".
It was at that point that General Duke raised his hand.
They all turned to him.
"If I may, I think that I can add some further context here, Sergeant Shizuka." He replied, looking over at her.
She nodded, and Duke turned to the others.
"If the reports that I have received are to be believed, that was around the time that the student Vorden Blade began attacking the second-year students in his free time." He replied.
He then went on to describe how after the third or fourth attack, the second-years had decided to give Vorden a hand-on demonstration of their power, and had taken him to the assembly hall.
He then went on to further explain how even after the second-years had beaten Vorden down, he hadn't stopped.
"Eventually, their hands were forced, resulting in yesterday's…incident." Duke concluded.
Hearing this, Paul let out a bored sigh.
He sounded like he'd rather be anywhere but here.
"Look, do we really need to watch the security feed?" He asked, slumping forward and supporting himself with his hand under his cheek.
His words made the others turn to him.
"I'm prettysure I speak for everyone here when I say that sitting here watching a bunch of kids squabble amongst themselves is a tremendous wasteof our time."
Hearing his words, Shizuka narrowed her eyes.
"I still want to know the name of the second-year who clawed up my little Tsu-Tsu." She hissed in a low, dangerous tone.
General Duke glanced over at her.
"I'll look into it." He muttered in a bored voice.
He then glanced over at Sergeant Faye.
"Can we just be done here?" He asked.
Sergeant Faye sighed, before pinching the bridge of her nose in annoyance.
"We still need to discuss punishing the second-year students involved!" She replied.
Hearing this, Duke narrowed his eyes.
"Why should the second-years be punished?!" He asked, almost offended. "You heard both me and Sergeant Shizuka! The Blade boy started this! The second-years were just retaliating! This kind of shit happens all the time!"
General Nathan let out a bored sigh.
"Then why involve the other first-year students?" He asked. "It seems like a lot of students got involved in this little spat, and got caught in the crossfire! While I agree that students fight all the time, THIS is a bit much."
General Duke glanced over at him, before sighing.
He put his hand under his cheek like Head General Paul.
"Fine, put further restrictions on the first- and second-year students." Duke gave in. "They shall only meet when necessary. But I will be in charge of issuing punishments among the second-years!"
Hearing this, Nathan rolled his eyes.
"Yeah, sure." He muttered, clearly not giving a shit. He had only brought up the point to annoy Duke. "Whatever."
Sergeant Faye's eyes narrowed.
"I must urge the rest of the Sergeants to take extra precautions. We've had far too many first-years dying this week." She replied, causing the others to turn to her.
"While the students who had died may not cause concerns, Vorden Blade is an Original." She replied. "If his family gets involved, things could get…troublesome."
Hearing this, Duke narrowed his eyes.
"Tch…filthy Original." He muttered.
Instantly, Shizuka snapped her gaze at Duke.
"Watch it, asshole!" She snarled. "My little Tsu-Tsu's an 'Original'!"
Duke scoffed, and waved his hand dismissively.
"He's a New-Gen 'Original'." Duke replied. "It's not the same as those selfish assholes who waited until we were on the brink of EXTINCTION to act!"
Duke's words made General Nathan, and even Head General Paul's eyes narrow slightly in annoyance for a moment.
Duke's hatred of Originals was prolific among the military.
Suddenly, Hayley stood up.
"What about the strange cases of students arriving at the doctor's office injured with strange bites on their necks?" She asked. "Has there been any reports of Beasts escaping from one of the portals?"
Paul let out another sigh.
"Hayley." He replied, causing the girl to turn to him. "We've checked, double-checked, and triple-checked. There are no wild Beasts on the base. Even using the radar, we weren't able to detect anything that wasn't created by Hikiko Tsukuru."
Hayley bit her lip, and sat down.
She glanced to the side.
'If it wasn'ta Beast, then just what caused those bite wounds?' She thought.