Tsukuru walked down the hall, a smile on his face.
As he walked, he brought his wristwatch up to his chest, and looked down at it.
He saw the number "20,750" displayed in the lower-left corner.
'Despite my overabundance of credits, I have no intention of wasting my credits renting hours in the VR room.' Tsukuru thought. 'Especially seeing as how the Battle Arena doesn't save my progress.'
Tsukuru looked straight ahead.
'I also have no intention of purchasing a big, BULKY capsule that'll take up space in the room.' Tsukuru smirked. 'I have…another idea…'
Tsukuru began walking through the dormitory, going up floor after floor until he reached the very top.
This was the "VIP" section of the dormitories, similar to the "penthouse suite" in a hotel.
As Tsukuru passed room after room, he just saw that each room had a digital device mounted to each door, which displayed a name in a digital font.
Tsukuru passed room after room, until a familiar name was seen on the digital device.
"Logan Green".
As Tsukuru stood in front of the room, his mind flashed back to a memory from roughly a week ago.
It was right after Tsukuru had unlocked the System.
***
"Logan!" Tsukuru yelled from the doorway as he flung Logan's door in the Green Family Estate wide open.
Instantly, Logan's eyes shot open.
Life-like mechanical spiders that would be indistinguishable from real spiders if it wasn't for their reflective surfaces gathered around his hand and forearm.
They merged together, and formed a futuristic cannon of sorts.
Logan swung his hand out towards the door.
The cannon whirled, as it lit up green.
A concentrated beam of green light shot out, missing Tsukuru's head by mere inches.
Slowly, almost mechanically, Tsukuru's head turned.
There, right next to him, was a black scorchmark in the white wall of the room, forming a perfect circle.
"Did…Did you just shoot me with a fucking laser beam?" Tsukuru asked, in a voice that was somewhere between astonished and incredulous.
Logan, in response, merely pushed the goggles back down on his face. "I told you before not to sneak up on me!" He retorted, as he turned back in the seat.
***
Slowly, a smirk crept across Tsukuru's face.
'I guess it'd only be politeto knock this time…' Tsukuru thought with a malicious undertone.
He brought his hand up to the side of his face, and activated his Video Creation Skill, imagining creating a replica of one of his Intermediate-Tier Knight Gauntlets covering the raised arm.
Instantly, the sound of electronic interference could be heard, and pixels enveloped his hand down to his forearm.
The pixels clustered together into the shape of the gauntlet.
There was the typical flash of light.
When it faded, Tsukuru's right hand was covered in the Beast gauntlet.
Tsukuru smirked, and wrenched his arm back.
Meanwhile, in Logan's room, he was busy tinkering with one of his inventions when he suddenly heard a loud "BANG", followed by vibrations that shook the room.
A second later, another"BANG" followed.
"What the hell?!" Logan yelled, as he swung around to look at his door.
When he did, he saw that in two places, and the metal had been dented forward, as if multiple cannonballs had been shot at his door from close range.
Then, Logan heard a voice.
A very familiar voice.
"Hey, Logan!" Tsukuru yelled from the other side. "KNOCK, KNOCK!"
Tsukuru's words were followed by a third impact with the door.
In response, Logan sent one of his mechanical spiders scurrying across the floor.
It climbed up the door.
Logan then used his Ability through the mechanical spider, using it as a conduit, to open the door.
The door swung open.
Logan saw Tsukuru standing in the doorway, a smirk on his face.
And on his right hand, he saw a gauntlet that looked similar to the one worn by his "Phantom Knight".
"Are you nuts?!" Logan shouted.
Hearing this, Tsukuru smirked.
It was very rarely that he got to see Logan actually show emotions.
"Sorry, I didn't want to get shot at again." He replied.
Hearing this, Logan's eye began to twitch.
"You little…" he muttered.
Still smirking, Tsukuru walked into Logan's room, shutting Logan's door in the process.
Looking around, he saw exactly what he expected to see.
Piles and piles of things that could only be referred to as "junk".
Nothing but piles of scrap-metal, as well as things such as little gadgets, model spaceships, and all sorts of controllers.
And, in the very back of the room, he saw a computer that had a human-sized metal tube attached on one side, and a VR Pod attached to the other.
Tsukuru walked until he was ten feet in front of Logan.
He then placed his hand in front of him, stretching downwards.
Instantly, the sound of electronic interference filled the area, and Logan saw pixels begin to appear in front of Tsukuru.
The pixels clustered together into the shape of what was known as a "rotary chair", a chair with a singular platform on the bottom instead of legs, with a set of five wheels attached, allowing the chair to roll around.
There was a flash of light.
When it faded, there was a black rotary chair between the two of them.
Tsukuru took a seat in the chair.
He looked forward at Logan, his right hand resting on the right arm rest while his left hand was under his cheek.
"It's been a while, hasn't it?" Tsukuru asked, an amused look on his face. "Since we last had a little…chat?"
Hearing this, Logan rolled his eyes.
His very tired-looking eyes with bags under them.
"Please tell me you didn't almost break my door downjust to have 'a chat'." Logan muttered, looking slightly annoyed.
Hearing this, Tsukuru smirked.
"Aw, what's wrong?" He asked. "Can't rip yourself away from your little machines to talk with your own brother?"
Hearing Tsukuru's words just made Logan's eye twitch more and more.
A moment later, Logan let out a sigh.
"Fine." Logan muttered. "Let's…'chat'."
Hearing this, Tsukuru smiled.
Over the course of the next ten minutes, Tsukuru proceeded to tell Logan everything he had been through since arriving.
He described the Power Level Placement Test, his first confrontation with Mono, his stabbing Riley's hand with his dagger, him and Quinn beating up Riley, the altercation in the forest, his Combat Classes in the Beast Weapons Hall, his Haunted Knight's fight against Erin in the assembly hall, and finally concluding with the fight between the first-years and the second-years in the assembly hall.
The only things he left out were all the "vampire" things with Quinn.
Through the entire thing, Logan's face remained emotionless.
When Tsukuru was done, Logan let out a long sigh.
"You really can't go for more than five minutes without getting into trouble, can you?" He asked in a deadpan tone.
There was another pause.
Then, Logan spoke again.
"So how's your…'System' thing?" He asked.
Hearing this, Tsukuru smirked.
"It's going absolutely great!" He replied, spreading his arms wide. "I'm now Level 5, and I'm a Level 3 Ability User with five Skills, two Summons, able to create a whole handful of Beast Gear, and my Haunted Knight is now an Intermediate-Tier Beast!"
Tsukuru's smirk then widened.
"Actually, my System is what has actually brought me here today." He replied.
Logan's eyes narrowed.
"Why am I not surprised?" Logan muttered in a deadpan tone. "What, do you want me to hack it, or something?"
Hearing this, Tsukuru scoffed.
"Oh, please." He muttered. "No real gamer like me would stoop so low to use things like hacks or cheat codes!"
Tsukuru glanced back at Logan's VR Pod.
"I came here to ask you to…make something for me." He replied.
Logan raised an eyebrow.