As soon as General Nathan heard those words, his heart froze,
He felt like he was having a heart attack.
"Does…Does Sergeant Shizuka know?" He asked, a deep pit forming in his stomach.
Instantly, Sergeant Faye narrowed her eyes.
"No, and we're trying to keep it that way." She replied.
There was a long pause, a thick tension in the room.
"How the hell did this even happen?!" Nathan yelled. "What about the security feed?! And what about the guards that were supposed to be posted at the Portals?!"
Sergeant Faye let out a long sigh.
"The security cameras were down for 'maintenance'." She replied. "As for the guards, apparently, there was a…scheduling conflict. When the guards changed shifts, their replacements never arrived."
Hearing this, Nathan's eye twitched in annoyance.
He only knew one person both stupid enoughto pull this stunt, as well as having the influence to make it happen.
'Duke…' He thought angrily. 'You're gonna get us all KILLED!'
Nathan let out an irritated sigh as he slumped down hard into his seat.
"You know, I had to fight tooth and nail to get those security cameras in thefirst place!" Nathan yelled. "What's the point of pissing off the Originals just to get them if shit like this is going to happen?!"
The Original Families had a big say on what went on in the school, and what didn't.
Although it was compulsory for everyone to go to one of the military schools for two years at the age of sixteen, the Originals were powerful people in the outside world.
During the war, the Big Three families had emerged, each of them possessing an Ability as great as the others, and all three rivaling the military.
The structure of the world had changed, and money hardly meant anything anymore.
As such, a new system was put into place.
The "Credits" system.
Those who were strong and able to contribute to the world earned Credits.
An example of this was those who could kill high-Tier Beasts and obtain their Crystals to make Beast Gear.
While those too weak to complete such a task were treated as trash, and an utter waste of space.
Of course, the Original families hated the idea of the military spying on their children, concerned that they might try to learn their secrets.
Originally, when the military had first brought up the idea of security cameras, both Burnie Sunshield and Grimm Graylash had vehemently opposed it.
However, strangely enough, Mona Bree was uncharacteristically enthusiastic about it.
To the point that she made a huge stink over it, and threatened to cut her support to the other factions, and banning them from any planet under her banner.
The fourth and final member of the Big Four, Jack Truedream, who was allied with the military, didn't seem to care either way.
Eventually, the security cameras passed with three "for", The Military Faction, the Truedream Faction, and the Bree Faction, and two "against", the Sunshield Faction, and the Graylash Faction.
Nathan let out another sigh.
"What about the other two?" He asked, picking up his cup of coffee, and taking a long sip. "Who are they?"
Sergeant Faye thought back to the briefing that she, and a small group of officials had been given last night.
"The first one in a student by the name of Quinn Talen." She replied.
Hearing the name, Nathan's eyes narrowed.
"Him again." He muttered.
Nathan had heard reports of the Talen boy.
Usually connected to reports about Tsukuru, as the two seemed to always be together.
However, there were also reports of him being connected to various students who had been injured or even killed, in the case of Brandon Richardson.
Plus there was the fact that he seemed to be the "instigator" in that incident last week in the assembly hall between the first and second-years.
"And the second one is Vorden Blade." Sergeant Faye replied.
Instantly, Nathan's eyes widened, and he spat out his coffee.
Sergeant Faye watched, as Nathan coughed a few times.
Then, he turned to her.
"Himagain?!" He asked in a gravely voice, his throat still recovering from his coughing fit.
After the incident last Friday, Nathan decided to look into Vorden's family and background a bit more.
And if they were to find out about this, it would be bad news.
"Make sure his family doesn't learn anything!" Nathan replied. "We have to keep this a secret for as long as we possibly can!"
***
In the canteen, Hikiko Shizuka narrowed her eyes as she watched the students.
Her gaze snapped to a particular table in the "Level 1" section.
Normally, this would be the table where Tsukuru and his roommates would eat.
However, today, only that brown-haired boy with the Level 1 Earth Ability was sitting there.
She watched him meekly eat his breakfast, him acting suspiciously more timid than usual today.
'Where the hell is Tsu-Tsu?' She thought.
Soon enough, breakfast came to a close, and the students all headed off towards their homeroom classes.
Once their teachers had taken a head count, the students would split off into their groups, and head off towards the Portal Outing.
Or at least, that had been the plan up until last night.
As Del's class started, Layla glanced back towards the back of the room.
She noticed that the seats where Tsukuru, Quinn, and Vorden would normally sit were strangely empty today.
However, Peter was sitting in his seat.
He had his head down, and was looking at the ground.
Curious, Layla walked back towards the back of the class.
"Hey, Peter, do you know where Quinn and the others are today?" She asked.
However, Peter had completely ignored her.
Hey, Peter.." She said, as she reached out, and put her hand on his shoulder.
She could feel his body shaking slightly.
"I didn't do anything!" Peter snapped.
Layla looked at Peter, confused.
"What?" She asked. "I just wanted to know if you knew where Quinn, Tsukuru, and Vorden went. Did they not come back to the dorm room last night?"
Hearing her words, Peter sweat even more.
"Uh…yeah, they were there when I went back." He said, his voice shaking and him refusing to meet Layla's gaze. "I don't know why they haven't come to class this morning."
Layla noticed that Peter seemed to be acting…particularly strange today.
Eventually, she decided that this was nothing for her to worry about, and went back to her seat in the front.
'They wouldn't miss today, right?' She thought, as she sat back down. 'We're meant to go out on the Portal Expedition..'
Just then, Del entered the room.
However, he didn't have his usual cheery face on, and instead, he had a bland, serious expression.
"I regret to inform you that today's Portal Outing has been canceled." He replied. "At least, for the time being."
Upon hearing this, a bunch of students began to grumble and complain.
"What?!" One shouted. "But I wanted to test out my new Beast Weapon!"
Another one piped up.
"Yeah, I was hoping to kill my first Beast!" Another replied.
"QUIET DOWN!" Del shouted, instantly silencing the class.
They had never seen Del like this.
"This isn't permanent, but for the moment, the school's staff is busy with another matter, and until they are free, we will be unable to send you through the Portals!"
A certain student raised his hand.
Seeing the student, Del palmed his face, and sighed.
"Yes, Hubert?" he asked in a deadpan tone, putting special emphasis on the boy's name.
"What's the matter they're dealing with?" He asked.
"Don't you think if I could tell you, I would have?" Del asked in a flat tone.
The class then continued as normal.
A few of the students were still annoyed, but there was a big question on everyone's mind.
Just what had happened that would require them to cancel the Portal Expedition?