A moment later, the sound of electronic interference could be heard. Oscar turned towards Tsukuru, as the noise was coming from him. As he did, he saw him…well, the closest thing Oscar could compare it to was Tsukuru turning into a hologram. His whole body began glowing light-blue, and his body began to pixelate. A moment later, he glitched out of existence.
Seeing this, the eyes of all of the higher-ups in the room widened.
Meanwhile, a few feet away, Shizuka had just about reached General Duke.
As Duke saw her beginning to swing her rapier, he began to see his life flash before his eyes.
However, it was at that point that the sound of electronic interference could be heard again. Tsukuru glitched back into existence behind Shizuka and grabbed the back of her top.
Shizuka, mid-way through her swing, felt someone grab her, pulling her back slightly. This caused her to miss Duke's neck by mere inches.
Duke stumbled backwards from the shock. He then began breathing heavily, his hand clutching his chest. He looked like someone recovering from a heart attack.
The whole training room went dead silent. No one dared to speak, and the room was quiet enough that one could hear a pin drop.
General Nathan's jaw dropped. He couldn't believe what he just SAW. One of the students that Duke had orchestrated being sent to a Red Portal Planet…had stopped him from being killed.
Shizuka's eyes became pinpricks. She immediately snapped her gaze back. She wanted to see which dead idiot dared to get between her and her quarry. But her gaze softened somewhat when she saw Tsukuru grabbing her top.
"Tsu-Tsu…" Shizuka growled. "What are you doing?!"
Tsukuru grit hit teeth, furious about what he had just had to do.
"You can't kill him, Shizuka!" He yelled.
Shizuka's eyes narrowed.
"Oh, I very much can, Tsu-Tsu!" She growled back.
"Shizuka, if you kill him, you'll just allow someone even worse to take his place!" Tsukuru replied. "The only thing worse than a corrupt leader is a power vacuum!"
Shizuka's eyes became pinpricks again.
"I don't give a fuck about creating a power vacuum!" She growled.
Tsukuru racked his mind trying to think of some way not to have Duke killed. He frantically began searching across the whole room. And then, as his gaze came to Leo, he zeroed in on the corpse on his shoulder. Ian's corpse. The corpse of a member of the Truedream Family. Instantly, Tsukuru's look of panic turned to a look of malice.
"Shizuka…" Tsukuru replied, causing her to look at him in confusion. "I think I have an even better idea. Something that, given the type of person Duke is, would be even worse than death."
Shizuka's expression shifted from confusion to malice.
"I'm listening." She replied.
***
On the other side of the room, Oscar's face was stern.
'It appears that this one also has a mind for politics…' He thought, before a slight smirk crept across his face. 'That'll serve him well in the future.'
His eyes then narrowed. He glanced over at Sergeant Faye.
"Did that boy just teleport?" He asked.
Sergeant Faye's eyes narrowed.
"Yes, he did." She replied. "I was…informed by the guards stationed at the school gate that he could do such a thing, but this is my first time witnessing it myself."
Oscar narrowed his eyes at Tsukuru, who was currently holding Shizuka back.
'The power to create objects, summon Beasts, and even teleport.' Oscar thought, his smirk widening. 'He'll be useful in the upcoming war.'
***
Back over with Shizuka and Tsukuru, Tsukuru gestured for Shizuka to kneel down. As she did, he whispered something into her ear. And as he did, a wicked smirk crept across her face.
'Oh, that is brilliant!' Shizuka thought with malicious glee. She then turned her head back towards Duke.
Duke, seeing the look on Shizuka's face, paled. He slowly began to step back away from her.
'And…given his relationship with Truedream, it'd be the ultimate KARMIC JUSTICE!'
Slowly, Shizuka placed her rapier back into her sheath. As she did so, everyone in the room let out a sigh of relief. Well, all except Nathan, who was looking forward to seeing Shizuka end Duke.
"Don't consider this a mercy, General Duke," Shizuka said, with a sickly-sweet smile on her face. "When you find out what your new punishment is, you'll wish that I had killed you!"
***
Near the front of the room, General Nathan stared at the corpse on Leo's shoulder. He then glanced over at Faye.
"This may sound hurtful, but while I didexpect you to bring back a body, I expected it to be the corpse of the Talen boy," Nathan replied, looking straight at Quinn. "Not some rando."
Quinn gritted his teeth in annoyance at Nathan's words.
In response to Nathan's statement, Head General Paul turned to Sergeant Faye.
"Yes, Faye." He replied. "Is there a reason you brought back a corpse with you when all three students are alive?"
Sergeant Faye let out a sigh and reached into her breast pocket. She removed a beaded necklace with a dog tag attached. A platinum-colored dog tag.
Seeing the dog tag, the eyes of the five who hadn't been sent to the planet widened. They knew exactly what that meant. And even worse, as if to prove that there couldn't possibly be any chance of confusion or misunderstanding, the word "Truedream" was carved into the back of the tag, written in big, bold letters.
"Oh…dear god…" Paul muttered.
Sergeant Faye let out a sigh. The others all turned to her.
"Alright, like I said…" She replied before pointing toward Vorden, Del, and Tsukuru. "You, you, and you. You're free to go." She then turned towards Hayley. "Hayley, you finish up whatever you need to do to 'check over' Quinn." Finally, she turned to General Nathan. "General Nathan, we were going to debrief you, but it looks like this is going to turn into yet another meeting. Especially given our…hitch-hiker."
Hearing Sergeant Faye's words, Tsukuru looked back at Quinn.
"Actually, I think I'll stay with Quinn." He replied.
The others all looked at him. The room remained quiet for a moment.
Near the front of the room, General Duke crossed his arms.
"Oh, just let the brat do what he wants." He muttered, glancing away. "If he wants to spend his last day off watching while some Level 1 gets patched up, let him."
General Nathan glanced over at him.
"You're only saying that because he saved your life," Nathan muttered.
Duke clicked his tongue in annoyance.
"That remains to be seen." He muttered, remembering Shizuka's words.
Eventually, Paul let out a deepsigh. He had a tired expression on his face.
"General Duke is correct," Paul replied, waving his hand dismissively. "Let Hikiko do as he wishes. It saves us the trouble of having to track him down for this week's Glathrium deposit."
Hearing Paul's words, their eyes all widened in realization. Due to all the…craziness that had happened lately, they had almost forgotten that technically, Tsukuru had never given them this week's supply of Glathrium. Due to him being trapped on a Red Portal Planet.
Hayley smiled.
"That's fine." She replied. "After all, I think I'm due for another box of those Healing Potions, as well."
Oscar glanced back at Paul.
"'Healing Potions'?" He asked, his eyes narrowed.
Paul shrugged.
"Yeah, he supplies us with those, too." He replied.
They were all stricken from their musings as they saw Del make a mad dash towards the door before he then sprinted down the hallway. It was clear that he did not need to be told twice.
"Behold, our great and fearless homeroom teacher," Tsukuru muttered. "Did that guy really fight in the Dalki War?"
Oscar sighed.
"As hard as it is to believe…yes." He replied. He then turned around to the others. "Alright, everyone, chop chop!" He said, clapping his hands. "To the meeting room!"
Paul, Nathan, Duke, Dillon, Leo, and Faye all nodded. Hayley, Quinn, Vorden, and Tsukuru watched as they all walked out of the room.
The three boys exchanged looks.
Vorden eventually gave them a gentle smile.
"I'll see you guys back in the dorm room later." He replied.
Tsukuru and Quinn both nodded.
Vorden gave them a two-finger salute, bringing the fingers to his temple, and walked out.
Hayley then let out a sigh and turned to the last two remaining boys.
"Well." She said with a smile. "Shall we head down to the doctor's office?" She asked.
The two boys nodded.
Tsukuru dismissed his three active Summons: The Haunted Knight, the Harpie, and the Metal Slime Spawn. The three Beasts broke apart into pixels before vanishing completely.
However, Tsukuru then looked over and noticed that Shizuka was stillin the room.
"Uh…" Tsukuru replied, somewhat stunned. "Shouldn't you have left with the others?" He asked. "Did you…need something?"
Hearing Tsukuru's words, Shizuka's smile only widened.