Logan's eyes slowly fluttered open back in his room on Military Base 2. The first thing he saw was Tsukuru sitting on his bed, face buried in a book.
Logan's upper torso rose, and he stretched his arms.
"Ahh," he muttered as he stretched. "That was a goodnap."
Immediately, Tsukuru's eyes snapped from his book to Logan.
"Well, look who finally decided to join the world of the living," Tsukuru muttered in a passive-aggressive tone.
Just then, a "hiss" could be heard from the back of the room. The two boys both turned their heads towards the sound and saw Logan's VR Pod begin to open.
A moment later, Quinn walked out.
"Have fun with your little training simulation?" Quinn asked as he placed the bookmark back in his book and closed it. The book then took on the likeness of a light-blue hologram before it broke apart into pixels. The book then returned to the Inventory in Tsukuru's System.
Despite Tsukuru's obviousjab, Quinn had a smile on his face.
Tsukuru then glanced down at his wristwatch. In the upper-right corner, it read "20:01".
"Tch," Tsukuru muttered in visible annoyance. "It's already fucking eight."
Hearing this, Quinn's eyes widened. Immediately, he brought his own wristwatch up to his chest. Looking down at it, he saw that Tsukuru was correct. They had around two hours left in the day before curfew.
'Guess I was in the VR Pod for quite a while,' Quinn thought.
Tsukuru rose off the bed, causing it to creak.
"So, you ready to go?" Tsukuru asked, before an amused smirk crept across his face. "Or do you wanna jump back in that Capsule until some soldier forcibly rips you out of it, and hauls us both back to our room?"
Quinn let out a nervous laugh, and felt a cold sweat run down his back.
While it was clear that Tsukuru was joking, Quinn didn't put it past the military to actually do something like that.
"Nah, I'm good," he replied, rubbing the back of his neck. "Let's head back to the room, I guess."
However, it was at that point that Logan got up from the bed.
"Hey, before you guys go…" he replied, as he walked back over to his desk. "...I finally got that little 'commission' of yours done."
He lifted up a sleek, stream-lined metallic-silver helmet with a translucent, light-blue visor that reached halfway down the visor.
Seeing the device, a widesmile crept across Tsukuru's face.
"Ah, thank you," he replied. He got up and walked towards Logan. But as he reached for the helmet, Logan pulled it away.
"20,000 Credits," he replied.
Instantly, Tsukuru's eyes widened.
"What?!" he yelled. "Why?!"
Logan's face remained unchanged.
"I spent over a week working on this," he replied. "And a 'commission' implies that I will be compensated for my time. Besides…"
He then jabbed a thumb back at the VR Pod next to his computer.
"These things normally cost 100,000 Credits," Logan replied. "Be glad I'm only asking for a fifth of that."
Tsukuru's eye began to twitch.
"I only have 17,000 Credits, jackass!" Tsukuru retorted, holding up his wristwatch to show the "17,850" in the screen's lower-right corner. "You're the one with access to Aunty Laura's bank account!"
Logan stared at Tsukuru for a moment.
"Well, I guess I'll just have to take that, then," he replied.
Tsukuru gritted his teeth in anger.
He tapped his wristwatch against Logan's and transferred all of his Credits to him. He watched as the number began to get smaller and smaller. Until it eventually zeroed out.
"Some brother you are!" Tsukuru snarled, violently ripping the helmet from Logan's grasp.
"C'mon, Quinn," Tsukuru replied. "Let's get out of here."
Quinn just stood there, slightly confused at what had just happened. He remained there in his stupor until he felt a weight around his arm that snapped him back to reality.
He turned to his left and saw Logan holding his arm at the forearm.
A small swarm of mechanical spiders was crawling down Logan's arm onto his own. The spiders looked so real that Quinn would have been fooled if he hadn't seen the light refracting off their reflective surfaces.
The spiders swarmed over his wristwatch, obscuring it for a moment.
"So," Logan replied, looking up at Quinn. "What exactly do you want your wristwatch to display?" he asked.
Quin thought long and hard about it for a moment. Eventually, he decided that he wanted the display to be able to switch between Level 1 and Level 6 whenever he tapped the screen three times. He still wanted to keep his secret for a little bit longer.
"Alright, it's done," Logan replied.
Quinn watched as the mechanical spiders slowly retreated back up his arm, down Logan's, and into his sleeve.
Curious, Quinn tapped the screen three times in quick succession. Instantly, the number changed from "1" to "6".
Quinn smiled, and tapped it another three times, reverting it to normal.
"Thanks, Logan," he replied.
Quinn then walked over to the front of the room, where Tsukuru was still grumbling. He had long since dismissed Starrk and Galina, leaving him on his own.
Once Quinn reached him, Tsukuru violently swung the door open. The two of them then left the room.
Logan watched as the two boys vanished from his sight.
He then glanced down at his watch, where his already impressive3,000 Credits had increased by a further 17,950, bringing it up to a whopping 20,950.
The sides of Logan's mouth curved up into a slight smile as he saw the number.
"That's for almost breaking down my door," he replied.
It had been a huge painexplaining to the Sergeant who had come over to inspect his door after Tsukuru's last visit about why it looked like General Duke had just used it as a punching bag.
So having Tsukuru transfer such a huge amount of Credits to Logan was him getting payback.
***
Back in the hallway, Tsukuru stomped as he walked, and he was grumbling under his breath.
Quinn looked at him with a confused expression.
"What's the helmet for?" he asked.
Tsukuru turned his head towards Quinn, and Quinn felt his heart jump.
Tsukuru still had a look of pure rage on his face.
"I'll tell you when we get back to the dorm room," Tsukuru said in a low tone. Though Quinn didn't know if that was because he didn't want to be overheard or if it was just because he was angry. "Besides, we have to talk anyway."
Quinn's eyes narrowed slightly.
"So, you learned some things from Sergeant Faye when she took you away to do that thing the military 'needed help with'?" Quinn asked.
"Yeah," Tsukuru muttered. "You could say that."
Eventually, the two reached the dorm room.
As they did, they saw that Peter was currently outside again.
When they entered, they saw Vorden laying back on his bed. As he heard the door open, he looked up at them.
"Hey," he replied with his trademark smile. "You guys were gone a while."
Tsukuru let out a sigh.
"Yeah," he muttered, glancing over at Quinn. "Logan gave Quinn a personal server in the VR Game to practice his new Ability, and he was in there for almost the whole afternoon."
Quinn had a somewhat sheepish look on his face.
Instantly, Vorden bolted up from his bed.
"So, you guys found him?" Vorden asked, excitement in his voice. "Did he 'fix' Quinn's watch?"
Quinn scratched his cheek.
"Actually, he found us," he replied. "And I decided that I want to keep my secret for a little bit longer."
Quinn held up his arm with his wristwatch facing Vorden so he could see it.
"But I had him add a feature so I can switch my Ability Level for when I need to use my Ability," he replied. He tapped the screen three times, and the number changed from a "1" to a "6".
Quinn then glanced over at Tsukuru.
"Anyway, what did you learn from Sergeant Faye?" he asked.
Tsukuru's eyes narrowed.
Five minutes later, all three boys were sitting on their respective beds, looking towards one another.
"Alright, so apparently, the Military sent a salvage team to that Red Portal Planet we were on to recover the supplies that I made while we were there," Tsukuru explained, before his face then hardened. "However, with the exception of Sergeant Faye, they were all wiped out."
Both Quinn's and Vorden's eyes widened.
A tense silence filled the room.
"Did…Did Sergeant Faye say how?" Quinn asked.
"The official story is that they were killed by a Beast Horde," Tsukuru replied. "But…this is only Sergeant Faye's cover story."
Vorden raised an eyebrow.
"Then…what really killed them?" he asked.
Tsukuru glanced over at Quinn.
"Something with glowing red eyes, an aversion to sunlight, and a thirst for Human blood," he replied.