The others all watched on, incredulous as the two "women" continued their tug-of-war match, with Tsukuru in the middle.
"Hands…off!" Shizuka yelled, tugging harder. "I haven't gotten to see him…in the last… three days! You get to see him…whenever you want!"
The Harpie also increased her exertion.
"That is…besides the point!" The Harpie retorted. "What part of…'You're suffocating him'...don't you get?!"
"Just to make sure I'm nothallucinating, we are all seeing the same thing, right?" Del asked. "A Sergeant and a humanoid Beast…fighting over a student."
The others continued to stare.
"To be fair…That is the most domesticated Beast I have ever seen." Hayley replied
"Well…" Sergeant Faye replied, causing the two to turn to her. "Hikiko's file does say that he comes from the Bree Family's main planet. Maybe this is…normal for them?"
Back with Shizuka and the Harpie, Tsukuru's body began to glow light-blue. This caused them both to look down. Tsukuru's body began to turn into glitching pixels. A moment later, he glitched out of existence.
With the force that they were pulling on now gone, the inertia still present in the two girls caused them both to fly in opposite directions. They each fell on their backs several feet away.
A moment later, Tsukuru glitched back into existence in his still-vacant seat at the table.
The others all turned to him as he took in several deep breaths, his lungs greedily sucking inoxygen.
"Jesus…Christ!" Tsukuru muttered.
Back where she had landed, the Harpie jumped to her feet. She then lunged towards Tsukuru's location, using her wings to glide through the air.
"My liege!" She replied as she reached him. "Are you alright?"
Tsukuru nodded.
"Yeah." He replied. "Yeah, I'm fine."
It was at this point that Hayley had come over to the table to give the three boys a general check-up.
"Huh, you look a little bit different since I saw you last Friday." She replied.
Quinn's eyebrow raised in surprise.
"You remember me?" He asked. He honestly thought that Hayley was like the rest of the base. Only seeing the students as numbers.
Hayley smiled.
"Of course I do." She replied. Her smile then widened. "I also remember that time you brought that girl into my office."
Hearing this, Quinn looked away, embarrassed.
Vorden clenched his fists, realizing that there was only one girl Hayley could be talking about. Layla.
"Boys your age sure do grow quickly, don't they?" Hayley replied, still smiling. "Why, you almost like a man,already."
She didn't know why, but as she was touching his arm, she could feel his bulging muscles. His body was toned for his age, and a certain feeling was coming over her a bit.
"Hm…looks like the Charm effect is working." The voice of the man replied in Quinn's head. "It's a shame that you didn't save up all your Stat Points and put them into your Charm Stat. If you had, she would have confessed her love to youright here and now."
At first, Quinn thought that he was joking. But he then noticed that Hayley was taking a rather long time for his check-up. Especially compared to Tsukuru and Vorden.
A moment later, Hayley snapped out of her trance and took her arms away. She then glanced over at the two empty plates near Vorden on the table. She could see that they had the same red sauce and cheese residue as the plates on the picnic table in the clearing.
"Well, I see you've all already eaten." She replied. "Guess that means that you don't need a Food Pill."
It was then that Tsukuru heard footsteps approaching him from behind.
"Tsu-Tsu." Shizuka replied.
Tsukuru turned to face her and saw a rather tense look on her face.
"We have…a problem."
She reached into her breast pocket and held out Ian's dog tag.
Seeing the platinum-colored dog tag, Tsukuru's eyes widened just like how Shizuka's had when Hayley had shown them.
"Oh…shit." Tsukuru muttered.
The other two boys looked at the dog tag, as well.
While Quinn had never seen a dog tag on anyone other than Tsukuru, Vorden knew exactly what it was.
"Wait, Ian was a member of one of the Big Four?" He asked, surprised. "He never said anything about that."
Maybe it was a good thing that he never let Raten kill him.
Tsukuru's face fell.
"Not just any member of the Big Four." Tsukuru replied, a tone of despair in his voice. "The TruedreamFamily."
Hearing this, Quinn's eyes widened. The Truedream Family. Even he had heard about them. They were the Big Four Family with the closest connection to the Military. They were also led by a man who could…take away someone's Ability.
"Is that a problem?" A voice replied from a fair distance away.
The others all snapped their heads towards it and saw Leo re-entering the room. He was carrying something heavy over his shoulder. And Quinn was instantly able to tell exactly what it was. Ian's corpse. Quinn could smell the sweet fragrance of the blood. It was calling to him.
Thinking fast, Quinn drank some of the blood from his System's Blood Bank. A System message popped up in front of him.
[Skill Blood Bank has been activated. 10 milliliters of blood have been consumed.
Blood Bank: 90/100ml ]
After consuming the blood, Quinn no longer felt like he had the urge to go grab Ian's corpse off of Leo's shoulder. However, the sweet smellremainedin the room.
Tsukuru narrowed his eyes at Leo.
"Very." He replied. "You remember how I said that Truedream would be visiting the Base in a few months?"
Leo nodded.
"Due to this, that timeline has been greatly accelerated." Tsukuru replied. "He'll want to come personally to the base to investigate. And while he's here…"
Leo's eyes narrowed as he realized what Tsukuru was implying.
"He'll take his 'gifts' with him." Leo replied in a low tone.
The reactions of the others in the room were mixed upon overhearing the conversation between Tsukuru and Leo. While Quinn, Vorden, Hayley, and Del looked confused, Faye and Shizuka had their eyes narrowed.
Shizuka turned her gaze towards Tsukuru.
"Tsu-Tsu…" She replied in the same tone a parent used when calling a kid who was in trouble.
Leo's face hardened.
"Relax, Sergeant Shizuka." He replied, causing Faye and Shizuka to look at him. "I made him tell me." Leo then turned his attention to Tsukuru. "And like I told Student Hikiko, I'll take full responsibility."
Quinn's gaze shifted back and forth between the two Sergeants, who were currently glaring at each other.
"Wait, what's going on?" He asked.
Instantly, Sergeant Faye and Sergeant Shizuka snapped their heads towards him.
Quinn tensed instinctively, seeing their hardened looks.
"Quinn…" Tsukuru replied.
Quinn turned towards him and was stunned when he saw the nervous look on his face.
"Please, just drop it. If I told you too…you'd probably be thrown in the dungeon upon our return…"
Quinn's eyes widened.
Tsukuru then turned away.
"Besides, it doesn't concern you anyway." Tsukuru replied. "No one in our immediate friend group will be affected by Truedream's visit. Vorden and I are Originals, Layla's only a Level 2, you don't even have an Ability, and Peter's a Level 1."
Tsukuru narrowed his eyes.
'The only one who's really in danger is Erin.' Tsukuru thought. 'And it's not exactly like we're super CLOSE or anything…'
It was then that Del spoke up.
"Can we just leave already?!" He asked. "We've found the kids, let's find the damned Portal!"
The Harpie then turned towards them.
"Yeah, let's get out of here!" She added. "I never want to see this place ever AGAIN!"
The others all turned to her, stunned. Del was understandable, but the Harpie was a Beast.
Faye let out a sigh, and then turned to the three students.
"Alright, you three." She replied, causing the three boys to turn to her. "As we head back, I want a detailed report of what happened. Although we have already heard the other side of the story, I want to hear yours to make sure they match up."
The three boys exchanged looks. Then, they turned back to Faye.
"You mean, you already know that someone pushed us into the Portal?" Vorden asked.
Faye's eyes narrowed.
"Yes, we know that a second-year pushed two of you into the Portal." She replied, staring directly at Tsukuru.
Seeing the look, Tsukuru let out a nervous laugh.
"If I had to guess, General Duke is dealing with his punishment as we speak."
Hearing Faye's words, the eyes of all three boys widened, as they all thought the same thing.
'Wait, a Second-Year?!'