Tsukuru walked down the hallway away from the body of the beaten Kyle.
Minutes later, Tsukuru finally caught back up to Quinn and Peter.
He heard Peter talking.
"Hey, let's go to the doctor." Peter suggested. "I'm sure the military must have a healer who can patch…that…up." He replied, looking at the gash on Quinn's hand from Kyle's attack.
Quinn looked down at it. It was pretty deep.
But before Quinn could respond, Tsukuru made himself known.
"That sounds like a great idea." Tsukuru replied, causing the two to turn to him.
He then turned to Peter.
"Why don't you head back to the dorm, Peter?" He asked, before glancing at Quinn. "I'll take Quinn to the doctor."
Peter didn't make any argument. Tsukuru was a Level 1.3, making him less likely to be targeted, and Peter really didn't want to stay out in the hall any longer. He was also worried that somebody would link them to the injured Kyle down the hall and come for revenge.
"Okay." Peter muttered weakly, before rushing off in the direction of the dorms, making sure to cover up his wristwatch as much as possible. He didn't want to run into another bully.
Once he was out of sight, Quinn let out a deep sigh.
"Huh" Tsukuru said, causing Quinn to turn to him. But when he looked, he saw that Tsukuru wasn't looking at him, he was looking at his hand. "Would you look at that?" He said in an amused tone, with his hand resting under his chin.
Curious, Quinn looked down at his cut hand, and examined it closely. Something strange was happening.
He and Tsukuru literally watched as his hand healed in real time. Though it looked slow, in reality, it was incredibly fast, as they watched his skin scabbing over and healing in a relatively fast amount of time.
"Makes me wonder if my System can do that." Tsukuru mused.
Immediately, Quinn opened his Status Screen.
On the "HP" section on the screen, he saw his HP slowly go up. It currently read "8/10".
Eventually, the wounds on his arm and back healed as well, leaving only rips in his shirt behind.
The "HP" section on Quinn's Status Screen now read "10/10".
"Hm, interesting." Tsukuru replied, catching Quinn's attention. Looking down, he saw that Tsukuru was staring at his Status Screen,
'Wait, he can SEE it?' Quinn thought, surprised.
Tsukuru's gaze shifted from Quinn's Status Screen, to Quinn, himself.
"It seems like your Stats are all the same as mine." Tsukuru replied.
Before Quinn could respond, a new System screen opened in Quinn, though Tsukuru could see it as well.
[HP: 10/10. Your HP has fully recovered. Your hunger grows.]
Tsukuru glanced up at Quinn.
"You think that means your System uses food to heal your wounds?" Tsukuru asked.
"Makes sense." Quinn replied. "The energy has to come from somewhere."
Quinn did feel himself getting hungry, almost as if he had missed breakfast. When he got a minute, he'd have to get a bite to eat.
Tsukuru turned to look at him. As if reading his mind, he activated his Ability.
A System message appeared in front of him.
[Skill Video Creation has been activated.]
The sound of electronic interference filled the hall, and translucent, light-blue pixels appeared in Tsukuru's hand, the light coming off the pixels illuminating them and the spot they were standing in like a flashlight.
The pixels clustered together in the form of a rounded rectangle. There was a bright flash of light, blinding them both.
When it faded, Tsukuru was holding a rectangular, brown wrapper.
"Here." Tsukuru replied, reaching his hand out towards Quinn. "Take it."
Cautious, Quinn took the rectangular wrapped. As he ripped open the wrapper and pulled it down, a brown chocolate bar was revealed.
Without a thought, Quinn began scarfing down the candy bar.
However, despite him wolfing it down, it seemed as if his hunger wasn't waning in the least.
Tsukuru looked up at Quinn.
"You ready to head back?" He asked.
Quinn looked down at him.
"Actually, there's one last thing I want to do." Quinn replied. "I need to check something."
Tsukuru walked by Quinn's side as he navigated his way through the school. Because they all had an early day tomorrow, most of the students were already in bed, leaving the halls pretty much empty.
Eventually, they stopped outside the training room.
"Ah." Tsukuru mused with an amused smirk. "Yes, it did seem like your performance in the test was…rather lackluster." He put his hand under his chin. "It was almost like something was…supressing your Stats."
Hearing this, Quinn grit his teeth in annoyance. He didn't need to be reminded of how his Stats were halved in the sunlight.
They both walked through the door.
The training room was an oval-shaped room that was completely void of people. It was also filled with things such as giant mechs, shooting targets, and other various machinery.
They walked past a variety of testing equipment, until they reached the metal drum used for the Strength test.
Unbeknownst to the two of them, Layla had also snuck into the training room, before they had entered. She had come to test her archery skills, and she usually trained at night when she felt nervous, and she couldn't help but worry about tomorrow.
When she heard the training room door open, she had immediately hidden behind one of the giant mechs.
Suddenly, she saw the two boys walk in her direction.
Then, she noticed something.
'Those two…' She thought. 'It's the boy who rejected the Earth Ability Book and the boy with the Creation Ability.' She recognized them instantly, even though she couldn't recall their names.
Layla continued to watch as they approached the metal, drum-like device.
"Let's see…" Quinn muttered as he whirled his arm, warming up.
He pulled his fist back and prepared to hit the drum full-force. When his fist collided with the drum, the machine beeped, and a digital number began to appear. The number began to slowly climb, before landing on "10".
"Seems like I was on the mark." Quinn said with a satisfied smile.
Behind the mech, Layla also noticed his new score.
Confused and curious, she began to follow the boys, staying hidden to learn more.
Next they walked to the holographic spike machine, the one used for the Agility test.
Quinn managed to last twenty seconds before he was hit, which was exactly how long Tsukuru had lasted during the test, and had earned him a score of "10".
Now that Quinn had confirmed his results, he glanced over at Tsukuru in a look that said he was done.
Tsukuru shrugged, and the two walked back out of the room.
Meanwhile, Layla, who had stayed hidden the whole time, had seen everything. She couldn't understand why the boy with the black, curly hair would hide his strength in the school, as a low Ability Level would make one the target of bullies.
Layla only had one thought as she watched them leave.
'That boy…' She thought. 'He could be useful..' She decided from then on that she would keep a close eye on the boy.
Quinn and Tsukuru retired in the dorm room.
When they arrived, they found that Vorden and Peter were already fast asleep.
While Quinn simply climbed into his bed and went to sleep, Tsukuru stayed up.
Flicking up his finger, he brought up the System's UI. He opened his System's Inventory, bringing up the Inventory screen.
As he pressed the first square on the grid, the one holding his handheld gaming console, he received a message prompt, asking him if he wanted to take it out of the System's Inventory.
He thought "yes", and pixels appeared in his hand. The pixels clustered together, in the form of his console. There was a flash of light. When it faded, Tsukuru was holding his gaming console.
Tsukuru powered it on, and began playing. About ten minutes later, a System screen popped up in front of him.
[Daily Quest has been completed. 10 XP awarded. XP: 70/100 ]
Seeing the screen, Tsukuru nodded, and turned the gaming console back off.
He thought about putting it back in his Inventory, and the System prompt appeared.
Tsukuru thought "yes", and the console began to break apart into pixels.
Once it had completely disappeared, Tsukuru went to sleep, as well.