A few minutes later in the bathroom, Tsukuru turned off the water and stepped out of the tub. He then proceeded to dry off, put on his deodorant, comb his hair, and put on a new set of clothes.
Since it was a school day, Tsukuru was required to wear his military uniform. But like usual, he had his blazer unzipped, allowing the shirt underneath to be seen.
Like most of his shirts, it was pure black with an image in the center.
The image of this shirt showed the same old man in the robes as the "fireball"shirt. However, this time, he was missing his staff.
Instead he was kneeling on what looked like the top of a mountain, standing on his left knee and facing towards the left side of the image. Hoisted over his shoulder was a comically oversized ROCKET-LAUNCHER. He had his left hand wrapped around the trigger guard, and his right hand wrapped around the side of the rocket launcher, holding it steady. He also had his right eye looking through the scope of the rocket launcher. His mouth was open, as if he were in mid-scream.
The shirt had two lines of text, one above the man and one below him. The line of text on the top of the image read "When you're out of Spell Slots, but not out of OPTIONS", while the line of text at the bottom read "I cast .50 Caliber Magic Missile!".
Tsukuru then walked out of the bathroom.
As the door opened, the three occupants of the room all turned to him.
Quinn and Vorden stared at Tsukuru's newest shirt for a moment.
"Don't you have any normal shirts?" Vorden asked.
Tsukuru rolled his eyes at Vorden's question.
He didn't even dignify it with a response.
Tsukuru then walked over towards Starrk and Galina. He placed his hands close together and activated his Ability. The sound of electronic interference could be heard, and soon, pixels began to appear between his hands. The pixels clustered together into a rather strange shape.
It was flat at the very back, and the sides were rounded in a shape that resembled a bulging half-circle. Attached to the back of the flat section, there was a set of two shoulder straps.
Starrk narrowed his eyes, seeing Tsukuru's strange Ability at work.
There was a bright flash of light. When it faded, the object could then be seen. It kind of resembled the "joey add-ons" for old bowling bags. However, while those had been intended to be placed over the handles of old bowling bags, Tsukuru had converted this one into a wearable backpack.
Starrk's eyes widened, seeing the strange backpack that Tsukuru had just made from nothing. Despite coming from a world full of Shinigami who all had abilities so strange that they could almost be called "magic", he had never seen anything like this.
Though, as Starrk thought about it for a second, he really shouldn't have been surprised. After all, Tsukuru himself had told him that he could create sentient beings, as was the case with all of his "Summons". His being able to create other things wouldn't be out of the realm of possibilities.
"Alright, Galina," Tsukuru said with a warm smile. "Get in."
Galina leaped off of Starrk's lap and into the air like a mortar round. As she descended, she fell perfectly into the large opening at the top of the "bag".
Tsukuru let out a sharp grunt, and his arms jerked down slightly at Galina's sudden weight.
'Man, maybe I should start investing Stat Points into Strength,' Tsukuru thought.
Tsukuru then swung the "backpack" around behind him and slung it onto his back.
On his back, Galina wiggled in the enclosure until she was looking out of the see-through mesh of the front panel.
"Ah," Tsukuru replied in relief. "That's so much better."
Carrying Galina on his back was far better than carrying her on his shoulder.
Quinn looked over at Tsukuru in his corner of the room. As he did, he saw Galina staring at him through the opening on the front of the bag.
Over the course of the next twenty minutes or so, both Quinn and Vorden took their showers.
Afterwards, they began heading down the halls of the student dormitory and towards the exit.
As they walked, everyone would turn and stare at Starrk walking next to Tsukuru.
He was far too old-looking to be a student. Additionally, he was the only person there not wearing the Military Base's uniform.
Once the group of four reached the entrance of the building, Quinn reached into his bag and retrieved his compact umbrella.
He clicked the button on the side, and it popped open.
Quinn placed the umbrella over his head, and the group proceeded to walk out of the building.
***
Over in the canteen located in the main building, Sergeant Shizuka and Sergeant Faye stood side-by-side near the back of the room, watching the students begin to pour in.
The second Faye had stepped through the Portal and back into the Base, she had immediately noticed that everybody smelled different. It wasn't that they smelled bad; it was more like how members from a different hive of insects smelled off to one another. It was a "you're an outsider" kind of smell.
It only further reinforced how Faye was no longer Human.
However, around ten minutes later, a new scent filled Faye's nostrils. Unlike with every other person she had come across since returning to the base, this smell didn't scream "outsider". It was a much more familiar scent. In fact, just smelling it made Faye's mind subconsciously flash back to memories of the Ninth Family castle.
Instantly, Faye snapped her head towards the door.
A moment later, the group of Tsukuru, Quinn, Vorden, and Starrk emerged from the door.
The group made it a full three steps before Quinn came to a sudden stop.
A strange smell had filled his nostrils.
It was quite an unusual smell, something that he had never smelled before. And for some reason, the smell was completely differentcompared to everybody else around him. And Quinn had no idea why.
Immediately, Quinn began to look back and forth, searching for the source of the strange smell.
Then, his gaze locked on Sergeant Faye.
And judging from the stern look she was giving him, she could smell the same thing.
'Quinn Talen,' Sergeant Faye thought. 'So it was you. Looks like I was right on the mark.'
Noticing that Quinn had stopped, Tsukuru turned to him.
"Quinn?" Tsukuru asked in confusion. "Quinn, what's wrong?"
Unfortunately, Quinn was so preoccupied with his own thoughts that he hadn't even heard him.
'Why does Sergeant Faye smell so weird?' he thought. "And…has she always smelled like this?'
Quinn then shook his head.
'No,' he thought. 'If she had, I would have noticed it when she arrived at the assembly hall a few weeks ago.'
Quinn tensed his eyes as he focused on Sergeant Faye.
He then activated his Inspect Skill, causing a System message to pop up in front of him.
[Name: Faye Dallum
Race: Blood Knight
Ability: None ]
Quinn's eyes widened as he saw the information.
'I thought that Sergeant Faye had the Super Speed Ability?' he thought. 'Why does it say that she has no Ability?"
Quinn then paused in his thoughts.
'Wait, what the heck is a 'Blood Knight'?!'
As Quinn was reading the information, the voice of the blonde-haired man piped up in his head.
"That's quite a rare Subclass," the man replied. "In fact, I don't think I've ever actually seen one before."
Quinn glanced back.
''Subclass'?' he thought. 'What's that?'
The voice remained quiet for a moment. As if it was trying to figure out just how much information that it could give.
Eventually, it responded.
"Not every person who becomes a Vampire ends up being a full Vampire like you are," the voice replied. "We call these deviations 'Subclasses'. For example, the 'Halfling' stage that the System was programmed to evolve you into before you became a full Vampire was a Subclass."
There was another pause.
"Also, given how she currently has no Ability, she must have been created only recently," he replied.
Seeing as how Quinn seemed to be unresponsive, Tsukuru glanced over to where Quinn was staring.
However, all he saw was Sergeant Faye and Shizuka in their typical position overlooking the students.
Nothing seemed out of place.
However, he did notice that Faye seemed to be staring quite intently in Quinn's direction.
'What the hell is going on?' he thought in confusion.
"Uh, Tsukuru?" Reiju replied. "You might want to take a look at your System's Minimap."
Tsukuru's face scrunched up into a look of confusion, before he then followed Reiju's advice.
As his gaze drifted over to the corner of his vision where his Minimap was located, his eyes widened.
There were now twopurple dots on the screen.
One was located to his left, indicating that it was Quinn…and the other was standing to the left of a green dot on the screen. Additionally, its placement on the screen, as well as the presence of a green dot next to it, inferred only one thing.
Sergeant Faye…was a Vampire.