Starrk walked over to the set of four doors and pushed the two knobs outwards in opposite directions. As he did so, the four doors folded inwards on hinges, each set of doors forming a sort of "V".
This revealed a sort of "closet" area. It had a long line of white outfits, each identical to the one Starrk had worn. In the dead center of the closet, there was a dresser with three drawers.
Seeing it, Starrk smiled.
***
Back on Military Base 2, Shizuka finally made it back to her room in the staff dormitory.
She opened her door and sat down on her bed with a sigh.
Afterwards, she laid back onto the mattress.
However, at that exact moment, there was a frantic knocking on her door.
Instantly, Shizuka's eyes narrowed.
She got back up from the bed and made her way back to the door.
As she opened the door, she saw a pair of young women wearing the Military Base's uniform, shaking like leaves.
The girl on the left held an abnormally long wrapped present in her arms.
'Why…Why did we agree to do this?' she thought.
***
Earlier that day…
The duo of Tsukuru and Vorden had stepped outside to get some air between their morning classes.
It was one of the few times that the two were actually alone together, as Quinn had decided to stay in the classroom. He still didn't know how badly the sun was going to affect him now that he was a full Vampire.
Tsukuru let out a groan as he leaned against the side of a pillar.
"I swear, if I have to go through another one of Dell's boring-as-dirt lectures, I'm going to go jump through another Portal!" Tsukuru complained.
As Vorden got up from pulling his drink out of the vending machine, he flashed Tsukuru his trademark smile.
"Yeah, well, if you do, you're on your own getting back," he replied. "Maybe with you gone, I'll get more time to spend with Quinn."
Tsukuru let out an amused snort.
"Yeah, yeah," he muttered.
Suddenly, Tsukuru's eyes narrowed.
He heard voices coming from nearby.
As Vorden flicked open the tab of his drink, he saw Tsukuru walking away out of the corner of his eye.
***
A few feet away, Tsukuru saw a pair of low-ranked female privates, currently on their break.
The two were clearly friends, as they were happily conversing amongst themselves.
However, as soon as they saw Tsukuru approaching them, they became dead silent. They knew exactly who this boy was. Sergeant Shizuka's little brother.
"Hey," Tsukuru replied, a smile on his face. "You two want to make an easy 1,000 Credits?"
The two women stared at Tsukuru.
On one hand, their sense of self-preservation was screaming at them to run away from Hikiko Tsukuru like he had the plague. Lest they suffer Sergeant Shizuka's wrath. But on the other hand, 1,000 Credits was a significant amount of money. Especially given their pitiful paychecks from being so low on the totem pole.
The two girls exchanged looks.
"Wh-What do you need?" one of them asked nervously.
***
Back in the present, Shizuka stared at the two girls. Then, her gaze drifted down to the present.
As she did, a look of annoyance crept across her face.
"You are either incredibly brave or incredibly stupid," she replied in a deadpan tone.
One of the girls gulped.
"Ser-Sergeant Shizuka," the girl replied nervously. "We…We were instructed to give you this." She extended the present outtowards Shizuka.
Shizuka's face changed from its deadpan expression to a look of skepticism. She was not usually one to be given gifts.
"Oh?" she asked, an eyebrow raised in interest. "And, pray tell, just who is this from?"
The woman holding the present gulped even harder. Her heart was pounding in her chest. She felt as if she was staring down a tiger…while wearing a necklace made of raw meat.
"Y-Your brother," she replied.
Instantly, Shizuka's eyes widened.
"Really," she replied.
Slowly, she reached out and took the package.
'Why didn't Tsu-Tsu just give me this while we were together in the conference room?' she thought.
She looked up to ask the two privates more questions, but they were long gone. It seemed that they had bolted as soon as they had delivered the package. A trail of dust could be seen leading down the hall.
Shizuka let out a sigh.
She ripped off the tag and brought it to her face so that she could read it. She could instantly tell that it was Tsukuru's handwriting.
Hey, Shizuka, I found this in my System Shop and thought that it would be perfect for you. While it may not be useful for combat, seeing as it's only Intermediate-Tier, you should find it quite useful in your "interrogations".
-Tsukuru
Shizuka's face scrunched up in confusion, and she ripped off the wrapping paper and pulled the lid of the box off.
As she looked inside, her eyes widened.
In the box, there was a rather strange-looking rapier. While its handle looked completely normal, its guard looked like a hornet's abdomen. Additionally, the entirety of the blade's length was slotted into a long, narrow sheath that appeared as though it was made out of wood. However, the "wood" was old and rotting in select places, revealing what looked like the honeycomb of a beehive underneath.
Slowly, Shizuka reached into the box and pulled out the sword. She released her grip on the box, letting it fall to the ground.
Shizuka brought the rapier to her chest and slid the first few inches of the blade out of the sheath.
As she did, her eyes became even wider.
The blade looked like one of the scariest things she had ever seen. It Like the long, barbed stinger of a wasp straight out of a nightmare. It had sharp thorns on both sides going in either direction that looked like the thorns of a pricker bush.
Slowly, a malicious smirk crept across Shizuka's face as she slid the blade back in the sheath.
She couldn't wait to try this weapon out in her "interrogations".
***
Back in his room in the castle, Starrk finished putting on a fresh,clean newoutfit.
"That feels so much better," he replied.
Now freshly showered and in a new set of clean clothes, Starrk was in a significantly better mood than when he had walked through that enormous door into the castle.
He walked over to his new bed and plopped himself down.
"Ah," Starrk mused, folding his arms behind his back as he enjoyed the softness of the mattress. "This is more like it."
With a smile on his face, he then closed his eyes and went to sleep.
***
Night came and passed over Military Base 2, and eventually, it was morning again. The trumpeting alarm blared across the student dormitory, filling every room.
Slowly, Tsukuru, Quinn, and Vorden all opened their eyes. A few of them, Tsukuru especially, groaned as they did.
Like usual, the first thing Quinn saw was the usual System message.
[Daily Quest 2 completed. 5 Exp received. Exp: 40/100.]
However, Quinn wasn't the only one who had received this message. For a System message had popped up in front of Tsukuru.
[Daily Quest 3 completed. XP received. Exp: 55/8000.]
'What the heck?' Tsukuru thought. But he quickly shrugged it off to him just still being half-asleep.
Just as the three boys were pulling themselves out of bed, they heard the sound of the door slamming shut.
The three of them all turned to it.
None of them had to say or ask anything. They all knewwho and what that was. Peter leaving the room.
"Well, he certainly was in a hurry," Starrk's voice replied from Tsukuru's side of the room.
Instantly, all three of their eyes opened. They all snapped their heads in the direction of the voice. There, propped against Tsukuru's desk, they saw Starrk sitting on the floor, legs crossed, with Galina sitting on his lap.
"Who are you?!" Vorden snapped, getting ready for a fight with this man that he had never seen before, who was now sitting in their room.
Tsukuru let out a sigh.
"Cool your jets, Vorden," Tsukuru replied in his typical morning voice. "He's with me."
Tsukuru got out of bed and stretched his arms above his head.
"Alright," he muttered as he began walking towards the bathroom. "Let's get this shit over with."
The three people in the room watched as he slumped into the bathroom like a zombie and shut the door.
There was a long silence in the room.
"Seems that Lord Tsukuru isn't a morning person," Starrk replied, causing Quinn and Vorden to turn to him.
"No," Galina replied from Starrk's lap. "No, master is not."