Tsukuru waved a dismissive hand at Gobkiko and Rakshara. They both bowed their heads and broke down into pixels.
Then, the remaining three people at the table, Quinn, Vorden, and Starrk, began to get up as well.
Tsukuru reached down onto the floor next to him and retrieved the "backpack" that was still holding Galina.
He slung it over his back.
With that, the four of them headed off towards their morning classes.
Sergeant Faye's eyes remained locked on Quinn's retreating body as the boys left the canteen.
***
As the boys walked down the hall towards Del's class, they noticed that just like in the student dormitory, the students all turned to stare at Starrk.
"Why is everyone staring at me?" Starrk asked, his eyes narrowed, and a tone of irritation in his voice.
Tsukuru glanced back at him.
"You're the only one here not wearing the school uniform," Tsukuru replied. "So you kind of stick out like a sore thumb."
Eventually, the four of them made it to their homeroom class.
As they walked through the door, Del's eyes widened when he saw Starrk walking into the room.
"Wh-Who the heck are you?!" he asked in a startled voice.
Starrk stopped for a moment and looked back lazily at Del.
"I'm with him," he replied, lifting his hand slightly and pointing at Tsukuru.
Without waiting for a response, Starrk walked past Del and continued towards the back of the room, where Vorden, Quinn, Tsukuru, and Peter were getting into their normal seats.
As Tsukuru put his "bag" down on the floor next to him, Galina instantly hopped out and landed on the upper-left corner of Tsukuru's desk.
A slight thump was heard, due to her immense weight, causing Tsukuru's desk to shake slightly.
Starrk walked right past the kids and leaned against the back wall.
Del let out a sigh.
"Alright, let's just continue where we left off," he muttered. He pulled out his lecture book and flipped it open to a page marked with a bookmark.
Del cleared his throat.
"Now, as I was saying yesterday, the over two decades of fighting from the Dalki War had left Earth ravaged. Most of the landmass had either been destroyed or had sunk to the bottom of the sea. Due to this, the Human race was in dire need of new landmasses. And thus, the process of colonizing Beast Planetsto create off-world shelters began."
Del's class continued, with him explaining the process of classifying Beast Planets into their three colors, as well as how shelters were created on these planets.
Most of the students found this incredibly boring, as it was something that they already knew.
In fact, the only person who seemed to be paying particularly close attention to Del was Starrk. And that was only because he was exceptionally new to this world, and thus, found this information immensely interesting.
To those bored out of their minds in the classroom, time seemed to slow down to a crawl. However, eventually, the morning classes ended with the same shrill ringing bell that had been heard in the canteen.
The students then all got up and headed backto the canteen so they could eat lunch. After they returned, the day's afternoon classes began.
Finally, at roughly around three in the afternoon, the day's classes were finally over, and it was time to head off to their Combat Classes.
Vorden waved Tsukuru and Quinn "goodbye", and he headed off towards the Elemental Class.
After waiting a few minutes for Voden to get a head start, Peter left as well. He didn't want to be alone in the hall with Vorden. Especially not since Vorden had thrown that book at him. He was afraid that next time, it would be his fist.
As Tsukuru, Quinn, and Starrk headed towards the door, they were soon joined by Erin and Layla.
Instantly, the gazes of the two women zeroed in on Starrk.
"Who's he?" Erin asked. It was a typical "Erin" response, short and to the point.
Tsukuru let out a sigh.
"That's a…long story," he replied, glancing away. "But essentially, he's one of my…' Summons'."
Starrk's gaze met that of the girls.
"Hey," he replied, cracking his neck.
Hearing his words, Quinn's gaze turned to Starrk. It had been the same greeting Starrk had given him and Logan yesterday.
'Is that the only way he knows how to greet people?' he thought.
Erin's gaze drifted down to the sword shoved under Starrk's black sash.
"You know how to fight?" she asked bluntly.
Starrk looked down at her.
"I'd like to believe so," he replied in a dry tone.
Tsukuru let out a sigh and shook his head.
"Let's just go," he replied.
With that, the group of now five headed out of the classroom and towards the exit of the main building.
As they reached the door, Quinn stopped for a moment to retrieve his compact umbrella. He popped it open and placed it over his head.
Erin gave him a look as she saw the umbrella. It was a look that announced to the world exactly what she thought of his aversion to sunlight.
The small group walked together for the short distance between the two buildings.
As they entered the auxiliary building, Quinn retracted the umbrella and placed it back in his bag.
When they reached the door leading to the Beast Weapons Hall, Erin placed her thumb against the scanner.
A few moments later, a beep was heard, and the door opened.
As the group walked inside, Tsukuru accessed his System using mental commands, equipping his Basic-Tier Black Obsidian Daggers, as well as his Intermediate-Tier Cave Spider Chestpiece.
Pixels began to envelope his chest, as well as appear in both of his hands. There were three consecutive flashes of light, and the pieces of Beast Gear manifested.
Tsukuru felt the solid metal of the gear in his hands and on his chest, and felt the Beast Energy flowing through him.
A moment later, a set of three overlapping System messages appeared.
[Basic-Tier Black Obsidian Dagger equipped.
+3 Strength, +4 Agility
Strength: 11 [+3]
Agility: 15 [+4] ]
[Basic-Tier Black Obsidian Dagger equipped.
+3 Strength, +4 Agility
Strength: 11 [+6]
Agility: 15 [+8] ]
[Intermediate-Tier Cave Spider Chestpiece equipped.
+4 Strength, +6 Armor
Strength: 11 [+10]
Armor: 6]
Tsukuru's eyes narrowed, seeing the last System message.
'Looks like 'Defense' got replaced with 'Armor',' he thought.
This just further reminded him about how he still hadn't checked all of the changes from Reiju's "recallibration" of the System.
"It's more fitting, isn't it?" Reiju asked.
'Yeah,' Tsukuru replied, looking back. 'I guess it is."
Layla then turned to Tsukuru.
"Hey, Tsukuru," she replied, seeing the chestpiece. "Where'd you get the armor?"
Tsukuru glanced over at her.
"They same place you got that bow that sucker punched me yesterday," he replied.
Layla's cheeks turned slightly red as she remembered that "accident" from yesterday.
"Sorry about that," she apologized again.
Tsukuru smiled at her.
"I told you, it's fine," he replied.
Starrk raised an eyebrow in confusion.
"Wait, how can a bow sucker punch someone?" he asked.
Instantly, the posture of both Tsukuru and Layla stiffened.
However, before they could answer, Sergeant Leo's voice boomed through the room.
"Attention!" he yelled.
Almost immediately, the students all turned their attention to him.
"You all know the drill by now!" he replied. "Grab your weapons, and split off into pairs!"
Starrk then watched as multiple students began to walk off towards the rows of weapons lining the walls of the room.
Additionally, Erin drew the sword at her side out of its sheath, and Layla removed one of the Bows on her back.
The group of four around him then began to split off in different directionswithin the large hall.
As Erin walked, she was soon stopped by a group of three boys who had appeared in front of her.
They all had evil smirks on their faces.
Looking down at their watches, Erin saw that they were all Level 4s.
"Oh, what's this?" one of them asked in a sneer. "Not gonna have a match with the little runt?"
The smirk on the boy to his right widened.
"She probably knows she'll just lose again," he replied with a snicker.
"You may have been hot shit before, girlee, but now we all know you can be beaten!" The final boy sneered as his smile widened. "If that little runt can beat you, there's no reason that we can't!"
Erin's eyes darkened.
Immediately, she took on a fighting stance.
"Try not to waste my time," she replied coldly. "I hate fighting weaklings."
The smirks on the three boys all turned to looks of pure and utter rage. They all raised their weapons in preparation to fight.