As Shizuka showed the students around the school, Del trailed behind her, looking like a lost puppy. Tsukuru heard the same fools who had been falling over themselves over Erin during the test were all doing the same over Shizuka. Tsukuru honestly wasn't surprised, given that Shizuka was rather attractive, looking like the "supermodels" of old.
'Poor saps.' Tsukuru thought, giving the one closest to him a look of pure pity. If only they knew that every man who had ever had…a relationship…with Shizuka had sworn off women entirely. At least…that was the ones not currently locked up in insane asylums, their minds completely broken by Shizuka.
It took a special kind of lunatic to be able to handle Shizuka's…personality. And Tsukuru doubted there was a single man in existence who was that fucked up in the head. As Shizuka walked around describing various places in the vicinity of the academy, Del turned back to the students.
"You should all get to know each other as much as you can." He replied. "After all, you will all now be classmates for the foreseeable future." All of the sudden, everyone started to chatter amongst each other as they were shown around the school.
However, both Quinn and Tsukuru's eyes narrowed as they noticed something. The Level 2s were trying their best to befriend the Level 3s, while the Level 3s were doing the same to the Level 4s.
"Fools." Tsukuru muttered bitterly with Quinn standing to his left and Peter to his right, with Peter walking slightly slower than Tsukuru so he remained behind him. They were the only three students in the Level 1 bracket in the group. "The higher Levels have always seen the lower Levels as dirt. Why would that change now?"
He looked back, and then suddenly stopped. "Hey, what the hell?!" He asked Peter in an annoyed tone. "Why are you standing behind me?!?"
Peter looked away, nervous. "Well, you're the highest Level among us Level 1s, so I thought you should be the leader." He muttered. Tsukuru's eye began to twitch. He looked over to his right, and sighed in relief when he saw that Quinn was standing shoulder-to-shoulder with him.
Quinn suddenly stopped, causing Tsukuru to stop in response, with Peter stopping behind him.
"Hey…" Quinn replied, looking around. "When did we get pushed to the back of the class?" He asked.
Tsukuru's eyes widened, as he looked ahead. It was true. There were so many students in front of them that he couldn't even see Shizuka or Del. Tsukuru whipped around and looked behind him. The only student in sight was Peter. He snapped back around to the other students.
"Son of a-!" He muttered under his breath, before stopping himself, and letting out a sigh. "Whatever!" He replied. "It's not like this is anything new to people like us!" Quinn let out an equally annoyed sigh.
"Yep," he muttered.
Tsukuru looked around. "Looks like Vorden abandoned us too." He muttered, narrowing his eyes. "Figures, I should have known."
Quinn's eyes widened in surprise, before he quickly looked around. Tsukuru was right, Vorden was nowhere to be seen.
"Hey!" Suddenly, a voice could be heard in front of them. All three snapped their gazes in front of them, as they watched Vorden push his way past the students in front of them. "There your guys are!" He said, as he reached them. "Man, suddenly, all of those students just started jumping all over me." He said, scratching the back of his head.
"Next thing I know, I look to my side, and you guys were all gone!" He put his hands on both Quinn's and Tsukuru's shoulders, his left hand on Quinn's, and his right hand on Tsukuru's. "C'mon, let's look around together, friends!"
Tsukuru and Quinn shared a glance, signalling to each other that they had the same thought. They both thought that Vorden was a very strange person, but in a good way. Peter looked up.
"What..What about me?" He asked, his voice now full of hope. Vorden smiled.
"You're coming with us, too." He replied cheerfully. "Do you see anyone else other than us back here?" In response to this, Tsukuru glanced to the side, a melancholic look on his face.
"Nope, it's just us." He muttered in a dejected tone, making Quinn and Peter glance over at him. "Looks like we're the only Level 1s in this whole group of fifty. Lucky us." He said the last part in a sarcastic tone.
Hearing this, Quinn clenched his fist. "That only means we have nowhere to go but up!" He replied. Hearing him, Tsukuru's face morphed into a slight smile.
"Yeah." He replied, slightly cheering up.
The four of them continued the tour at the back of the class as Shizuka continued the tour. At one point, she looked back and noticed that Tsukuru, the black-haired boy with the curly hair, the…Blade boy…, and the brown-haired boy who had been given the Earth Ability Book were nowhere in sight. Shizuka grit her teeth in annoyance. She turned to Del.
"Change of plans." She snapped, causing him to jump slightly. "You continue the tour. I'm going to the back of the group." She said, as she began walking through the group, pushing students to the side if they didn't move out of her way on their own.
Del continued where Shizuka had left off, leading them around the school. He showed them to a battle arena, where there was similar testing equipment to those in the wasteland for the test, as well as several square platforms. It was at this point, Shizuka reached Tsukuru's group. She tilted her cap, as she looked down at him. "Should have known you'd get pushed to the back." She muttered.
Shizuka walked behind Tsukuru and Quinn, so she was standing behind Tsukuru. "C'mon, let's go." She said in a cheery tone, as she draped her arm over Tsukuru's right shoulder. As the tour continued, the group was shown their homeroom classes, battle classes, sports room, and all sorts of other facilities. As they walked, Vorden gave Shizuka a wary glance.
Inside the dark room of his subconscious, Vorden sat in the chair while Raten leaned over his shoulder.
"The way she acts around him reminds me of how Hillston acts around Sil!" Raten shouted.
"Yeah." Vorden replied, looking back at him. "I noticed."
Meanwhile, Sil remained in the far corner, rocking in the fetal position.
"Don't mention that name!" He snapped. The two glanced back at him.
"Sorry, Sil." Vorden replied.
Back in reality, Del continued to provide an explanation for each and every facility they had visited. However, neither Quinn nor Tsukuru seemed that interested. However, Quinn seemed to have his interest piqued when they reached the library.
"As you can see, the library here is split into three floors." Del explained. "First years only have access to the first floor. Second years can access the second floor, and the third floor is for authorized military personnel."
Quinn was interested in the library, as it contained books that weren't available to the public. And possibly, maybe one of them just might be able to glean some information about his Ability, though he honestly hoped it would be on the first floor. Tsukuru glanced over at him.
"What, are you a bookworm?" He asked. Quinn glanced back at him with an annoyed look.
"I'm hoping one of these books will have some information about my Ability!" He hissed quietly. Normally, Quinn would have been more tight-lipped. But he knew from that System message he had gotten when he and Tsukuru shook hands that Tsukuru had a System like him.
Tsukuru raised his eyebrow. He knew from his System that Quinn didn't have an Ability. Unless…
'Wait…' Tsukuru thought, realization dawning on him. 'Does Quinn think the SYSTEM is an Ability?' Tsukuru glanced around. There were far too many people to talk about this here. But he decided to put that conversation in the back of his head for later.
Suddenly, Quinn's eyes widened, as he realized something. Suddenly, his head snapped back to Tsukuru.
'Wait…HE wasn't weakened by the sun!' Quinn thought, remembering how well Tsukuru had done on the tests. He did as well as Quinn would have done, if Quinn's stats hadn't been halved by being in direct sunlight. 'Does that mean…that my weakness to sunlight…ISN'T related to the System?!'
Tsukuru looked over, and saw Quinn staring at him. Tsukuru raised an eyebrow in confusion. Eventually, the tour ended just outside the dorms.
"...And this is where you'll be living during your stay here." Del explained. "Once you drop off your things, feel free to explore the academy. There will be no lessons today, so enjoy your free time and make sure to be in your room before curfew."
Del walked around handing each student a slip of paper which displayed their room numbers. However, when he reached the back, Shizuka put up a hand to stop him. Del froze, unsure of what to do. Eventually he stepped back.
The group only had a second to be confused, before Shizuka wrapped them all in a big hug in her arms, with Vorden on the far right, followed by Quinn, then Tsukuru, and finally Peter on the far right.
"I get the feeling that you're all already the best of friends!" Shizuka said in a happy tone. "Therefore, I've decided that you'll all be boarding together!"
They all exchanged glances. Shizuka let them all out of the hug. Well, all except Tsukuru, whose shoulder she wrapped her arm around. "You three go make yourselves at home." She replied, before turning to Tsukuru.
"You, on the other hand, have a meeting with Head General Paul." She replied, poking his nose with her finger. "The Head General was quite impressed with your little glathrium knuckle that you displayed during the strength test!" Tsukuru's eyes widened.
"Wait!" He tried to scream in protest, as Shizuka dragged him away. The other three watched the display as the two departed.
"Damn." Vorden muttered, as the two vanished from sight. "That girl is…something else."