Tsukuru stared wide-eyed in shock at Sergeant Faye.
'But…how?!' he thought. 'Was she always a Vampire? Did I just never notice?'
Tsukuru would be the first to mention that he didn't always keep an eye on his System's Minimap. But he was sure that if Sergeant Faye had always been a Vampire, seeing her purple dot on his System's Minimap would be something that he would have remembered.
It was then that Tsukuru remembered something. It was an interaction that he and Vorden had while they were watching that movie during their first weekend on the base.
***
"Hey, by the way, we ran into that sister of yours, as well as another woman in the convenience store," Vorden replied, looking over his shoulder at Tsukuru and Kujaku seated in the row behind him. "She seemed really surprised that you weren't with us."
Tsukuru scoffed, and rolled his eyes.
"Yeah, I ran into her on the Base," he replied. "What, was she stalking you, hoping to run into me, or something?"
Vorden's smile widened.
"Nah," he replied. "It seemed that she and that friend of hers had decided to stop at the store to get some ice cream. It was just pure chance that we ran into each other."
***
Tsukuru's eyes narrowed. The "woman" Vorden was referring to had to have been Faye. They seemed to always be together. And, seeing as how he knew that Vampires couldn'teat sweets from Quinn's actions after becoming a Halfling, that meant that Faye had to have still been Human at that point.
But if that were true, then what happened between then and now to make her a Vampire?
As Tsukuru continued to stare at Faye, his System's "Scan" Skill automatically activated. The System's "vector" appeared over her head, and a line extended out to the left of it, leading to a square showing an image of Faye's face. Information was then shown beneath it.
[Name: Faye Dallum
Race: Blood Knight
Ability: None ]
Tsukuru raised an eyebrow, seeing the new information.
''Blood Knight'?' he thought. 'What kind of Vampire is that?'
It was then that the voice of his mother rang in his head again.
"Wait, what do you mean, 'Vampire'?" she asked. "Like the 'Dracula' kind?"
Tsukuru glanced back.
'You made video games as a living,' he thought in response. 'You cannot tell me that you've never heard of a Vampire.'
Tsukuru heard something that sounded like a scoff.
"Of course I'm familiar with Vampires," she replied, sounding almost insulted. "But I never thought that they actually existed."
'Why not?' Tsukuru thought. 'If aliens actually exist, why can't mythical creatures like Vampires?'
Reiju had to actually think about that for a second. The way Tsukuru put it, it kind of made sense.
After all, how many decades had humans spent looking for creatures like Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster?
It was at this point that Vorden, who had been standing to the left of Quinn, turned to them.
"Hey," he replied, snapping them both out of their thoughts. "What's wrong with you two?"
The two boys exchanged looks.
"We'll…we'll tell you about it once we sit down," Quinn replied, a bit of nervous sweat on his forehead.
"Yeah," Tsukuru replied, before glancing to the side, his eyes narrowed. "It's a bit too…public standing right here in the doorway."
With that, the three of them head across the canteen towards the Level 1 section.
As they walked, they noticed that Sergeant Faye's eyes were following their every movement.
Eventually, she felt a sharp jab in her rib.
Or at least, she would have if she had still been Human.
It seemed that her new Blood Knight body automatically responded to any form of physical trauma, as her new Blood Armor Skill instantly activated. It hardened to blood in that part of her body, and a slight clang was heard.
Faye glanced over to her right, a look of minor annoyance on her face. As she looked at Shizuka, she could still see Shizuka's elbow jabbed into her side.
"I told you, we'd get him after the Beast Weapon Class," Shizuka replied. She was one of the few people in Tsukuru's inner circle who didn't know about Vampires. And as such, she had assumed that the reason Faye was staring at them was due to the two of them needing to have Tsukuru recreate the "salvage supplies" from Pioletic.
Shizuka pulled back her arm and held it up against her chest.
"Geeze, are you wearing Beast Armor under that uniform?" she asked, as she began to rub her elbow with her other hand.
Faye glanced away.
"You should always be prepared," she replied, acting as if Shizuka's assumption of her wearing a chestpiece under her uniform was true. It was much easier than explaining the real reason.
***
Back with the group of Tsukuru, Quinn, Vorden, and Starrk, they had finally made their way to an empty table.
Tsukuru slipped off his "backpack" and placed it on the floor next to him as he sat down at the very end of the table, on its south side. To Tsukuru's right sat Starrk. And directly to Starrk's left was Vorden and Quinn.
Tsukuru placed his hands out in front of him on the table, looking as though he was trying to push something away.
He then activated his Ability.
The sound of electronic interference filled the table, and soon pixels began to appear. The pixels clustered together into an utterly massive rectangle, looking to be the same size as a tray that you would see in an all-you-can-eat buffet. Sitting on the rectangle, there were twenty-one rounded triangles. They were arranged in seven rows of three.
There was a bright flash of light. When it faded, a large metal tray could be seen. Positioned on the tray, there were twenty-one white rectangles with a strange, dark-green film underneath them. This film extended upwards on either end, not too dissimilar to how it looked when tape was wrapped under something.
Additionally, white the white triangles appeared to be one solid object at a glance. Upon closer inspection, it was revealed that they were actually made out of packed rice.
Tsukuru then stretched his left hand out in front of him.
"Summon," he replied, as he imagined manifesting his Summons in specific locations.
A few moments later, the sound of electronic interference once again rang through the air around the table.
Then, pixels began to appear in the two empty chairs to the left of Tsukuru on the table.
The two groups of pixels clustered together into the humanoid shapes of Kujaku and Sylvia,respectively.
Moments later, there were two flashes of light, and the two Summons manifested.
The Harpie and the Dark Elf looked around, not sure where they were.
"Alright," Tsukuru replied, causing everyone to turn to him. "I've made enough food for everyone to have three. Breakfast is served."
Almost instantly, Kujaku, Sylvia, and Starrk all clapped their hands together.
"Thank you for the food," they all replied, performing a Japanese ritual designed to thank the contributor and honor the ingredients.
With that, the three of them reached forward and reached for one of the rice balls.
Vorden stared at the three eating for a moment and then glanced over at Quinn.
Quinn honestly didn't feel hungry. Really, he never did. Besides, even if he did want to try some of Tsukuru's food, not only would it probably not taste good, but it would more likely than not actively harm his body.
"Hey, aren't you gonna eat, man?" Vorden asked.
Quinn turned to Vorden and gave him a look.
"Oh," Vorden replied after a moment, realizing his mistake. "Sorry, man."
Quinn gave Vorden a slight smile.
"It's alright," he replied.
Feeling slightly embarrassed, Vorden then glanced back at the others. He saw that now Tsukuru was eating the rice balls, as well.
Vorden stared at the group of four eating and felt his own stomach rumbling.
"Hey!" Raten yelled from behind Vorden in the chair in the dark room in his subconscious. He violently shook Vorden's shoulder to get his attention. "What the hell are you just standing around waiting for?! We're starving here!"
Vorden let out an annoyed sigh.
"Alright, alright," he muttered back. He reached forward and grabbed a rice ball from one of the untouched rows.
He brought it up to his mouth and took a big bite out of it. The rice was slightly salty and seemed to have a bit of garlic used as seasoning. However, a moment later, Vorden's eyes widened. A sweet, savory taste had just filled his mouth.
Instantly, he looked down at the rice ball in his hand.
Through the bitemark-shaped hole in the top, he could see pieces of orange chicken. The pieces of chicken were also covered with a glaze of an orangish-red sauce.
'There's chicken in these?!' he thought in astonishment.