Faye's eyes darted back and forth between the six"people" surrounding her. She had multiple swords, blades, arrows, and claws pointed at her.
'Perhaps this was a…poor choice of action,' she thought.
Even if she did have that "Blood Armor" Skill, she was still unclear about its durability. Surely, suffering repeated attacks over and over again would wear the Skill down.
However, a moment later, Tsukuru raised his right hand.
"It's all right," he replied, looking at Faye with a smile. "She's not stupid enough to…do anything RASH. After all, Shizuka knows that she's the last person I've been around. So if anything does happen to me…"
A bead of cold sweat ran down Faye's cheek.
She still remembered how much of a foul mood Shizuka's been in all the previous times something has happened to Tsukuru. Be it him just being injured in that incident in the assembly hall, or him going missing on another Planet.
Tsukuru's smirk widened.
"Besides, even if she did try something…I could just teleport away," Tsukuru replied, looking Faye right in the eye. "And she knows that as well."
Hearing his words, Faye ground her teeth. She had completely forgotten that he could teleport! It made her holding him like this completely pointless.
Faye let out a sharp exhale of air through her nose and released her grip.
Tsukuru then fell back to the ground on his feet.
His face still bearing a serious expression, Starrk slowly began to pull his sword away from Faye's neck.
Soon, the others followed suit, lowering their weapons and relaxing their posture. A moment later, they all began to break apart into pixels in sequence. Until only Starrk remained.
Tsukuru looked up at Faye, that smile still on his face.
"As for Quinn…" Tsukuru replied, catching Faye's attention. "His secrets are just that. HIS. It is not my place to spill them."
Tsukuru's eyes then narrowed.
"And even if they weren't, I still wouldn't just tell you," he replied. "Would you go spilling military secrets to just some random person you crossed on the street?"
Faye's face hardened.
"So what you're telling me is…that you don't trust me," she replied more as a statement than a question.
***
Back in Logan's room, Quinn hesitated for a moment.
He had only just met Logan.
And while he seemed like a nice guy, and he was Tsukuru's brother, every killer or crazy person had seemed nice at one point or another.
"Hey, don't look at me like that," Logan replied, seeing the hesitation on Quinn's face. "Don't you think that if I were going to turn you over to the military to be dissected over this 'System' of yours, that I would have done so with Tsukuru by this point?"
A slight smile appeared on the edges of Logan's face.
"Don't worry, I won't be telling the military or the government anything," he replied. "I'll be honest, Quinn, I don't really care about you. I care about whoever's been putting these Systems in people's heads. And to find that person, I need the help of you two."
Logan's smile widened slightly.
"And I'm not planning on letting anyone take you two away before I do."
***
Back in the storage building, Tsukuru and Faye continued to stare at one another.
"It's not that I don't trust you," Tsukuru eventually replied. "Rather, I don't know if I can trust the one pulling your strings. I know almost nothing about the other Vampires. So I have no idea if you are an ally or a threat."
Faye's eyes tensed slightly at Tsukuru's words.
He had a point. Even she didn't know much about the Vampire Settlement. She only knew the incredibly small amount of information that Muka had given her.
"That being said…" Tsukuru replied, snapping Faye from her thoughts. "I will at least answer your two questions. In regard to your first question…"
Tsukuru put on a weary smile.
"Neither me nor Quinn even know what these 'Families' that you speak of even are," he replied. "In fact, you're probably the only one out of us three who does."
Tsukuru then glanced away.
"And as for your second," he replied. "Quinn is here for the same reason every other kid on this base is. For the mandatory two years of training."
Faye's eyes narrowed.
"But the draft only applies to humans," she replied. "Not Vampires."
Tsukuru turned to Faye and gave her a smirk. It was the kind of smirk that read "Are you sure about that?"
It was a look that told Faye that there was an essential missing piece to this puzzle. And the fact that she knew that Tsukuru wasn't going to tell it to her infuriated her to no end.
***
Back in Logan's room, Quinn was finding Logan's words kind of scary if he was being honest with himself. However, he appreciated that he was at least being honest with him. Unlike with other people, whom Quinn could never really tell what they were thinking, Logan was completely transparent. The kind of person one could "read like an open book".
'Maybe that's the reason that he and Tsukuru get along so well,' Quinn thought.
Eventually, Quinn let out a sigh.
"Unlike with Tsukuru, my System has certain Skills that I am somehow allowed to use in the game," Quinn explained. "Tsukuru theorized that the VR Pod treats them as part of my body's natural abilities, like being able to throw a punch or jump."
Quinn then glanced to the side.
"Although I do have an Ability," he added.
He then activated his Shadow Control Skill, causing his shadow to begin to rise from the ground.
He used it to manifest a shadowy hand that he used to wave at Logan.
Logan's eyes widened upon seeing the strange shadow hand. If it wasn't for the fact that he was already sitting down, he would have fallen down from shock.
"What is that?" Logan asked, before turning to Quinn. "Was my hunch correct? Are you an Original?"
Quinn smiled.
"Not quite," he replied.
"I just happened to stumble across the Ability Book. Do you happen to know what happened to me recently?" he asked.
Logan's face remained unchanged.
"You mean the whole thing with the Portal Incident?" Logan asked. "Yeah, of course I know. I don't think there's a student in the First-Year who hasn't. Stories have been spreading across the school like wildfire."
Logan glanced away.
"Normally, I don't really care that much for gossip," he replied. "But seeing as how Tsukuru was involved in it, it did pique my interest."
He then turned back to Quinn.
"Why?" Logan asked. "What does the Portal Incident have to do with your Ability?"
Quinn let out a sigh.
He then went on to explain what had happened on the Red Portal Planet. About how he had "found" the Shadow Ability Book, and how the book had disappeared when he had learned it. He also told Logan about Vorden's plan.
"Anyway, for some reason, my new Ability doesn't seem to register on the wristwatch," Quinn concluded, raising his arm holding his wristwatch towards Logan and pointing to it. "That's why I need you to hack it."
A thousand thoughts began to race in Logan's head as to why this might be the case. He wasn't especially interested in the Ability itself. That kind of stuff didn't really pique his interest. But he did want to know the reason why.
"The watch itself is a simple fix," Logan replied. "Making it simply display a different number is child's playcompared to that voice command program Tsukuru had me put in his watch."
Logan's eyes then narrowed.
"However, seeing as how I'm doing this favor for you, I was wondering if you could do a favor for me, as well," he replied.
Logan turned and glanced behind him, towards the human-shaped tube connected to his computers with wires.
Quinn started to sweat as he saw where Logan was looking. He was worried that he might end up being experimented on after all.
Seeing the look on Quinn's face, Logan rolled his eyes.
"Oh, don't start," he muttered. "That tube is for the game. My request is this: will you let me put your Shadow Ability in the VR Game?"
Back in the storage building, now that Tsukuru had finished making the picnic table, he was using it as a place to put the Beast Daggers on as he made them. He had honestly lost count of how many Beasts he had actually killed on the Red Portal Planet, but he assumed that thirty was a good estimate.
However, since he could only create a small amount of daggers at a time, this would most likely take a while.
Behind him, Sergeant Faye watched him work.
However, Starrk was now significantly closer to them. Just in case Faye tried another stunt.
"I actually had a suspicion that Student Talen wasn't a part of the Vampire Families," Faye replied, her eyes narrowed.
"Oh, yeah?" Tsukuru asked, glancing back at her. "Why's that?"