Instantly everyone snapped their attention to Sergeant Leo. One would think, due to Leo being blind, that he would be unaware that he had suddenly become the center of attention.
And yet, from the almost imperceptible amused smirk on his face, he knew all too well.
"Your suspicions are indeed correct," Leo replied. "The student who was using that weapon…was Hikiko Tsukuru."
General Duke ground his teeth.
"Fucking…called it," he muttered.
Sergeant Faye then turned to Head-General Paul.
"That still doesn't explain where he got it from," she replied.
Hearing this, General Duke let out a condescending scoff.
"Where do you think he 'got it from', SHIT-FOR-BRAINS?!" he snarled. "Obviously, he created it with his Ability!"
This time, Shizuka was the one who let out a scoff.
"If anything, you're the fucking idiothere, General Duke," she replied.
Duke whipped his head over to Shizuka, a vein popping on his forehead.
He glared at Shizuka with a look of sheer fury in his eyes.
He had hated this bitch since the second they had first met.
Ignoring Duke, Shizuka turned her attention to Sergeant Leo.
"That Beast Weapon," she replied. "What Tier would you say that it is?"
Leo's clouded eyes glanced back at her.
"Intermediate-Tier," he replied.
Shizuka turned her attention back to Duke.
"There, you hear that?" she asked. "If little Tsu-Tsu was truly capable of just creating Beast Gear out of NOTHING, then why wouldn't he make that weapon King-Tier, or hell, Advanced-Tier at the very least? If he could just pop out Beast Gear like you just implied, what would be stopping him from walking around with Emperor-Tier or even Demon-Tier equipment?"
Duke's fists tightened, as he felt his anger starting to boil over.
Taking in Shizuka's words, Paul glanced over at Paul.
"Did Hikiko say anything about how that weapon was made when you took it?" he asked.
"He said that he had it made using some of the Intermediate-Tier Beast Crystalshe obtained on that Red Portal Planet," Leo replied.
Hearing this, a slight smirk crept across General Nathan's face.
"Sounds like if anyone here's to blame for the creation of that weapon, it's you, Duke," he replied.
Duke turned to him, his eyes blazing.
"Excuse me?" he growled.
Head-General Paul glanced over at Duke with a hard expression with narrowed eyes.
"Indeed," he replied. "If you had kept a better leash on your students, student Hikiko would have never been pushed into that Portal. That's the only reason that he had such easy access to all the Intermediate-Tier Crystalsthat he used to forge the weapon."
Sergeant Faye's eyes narrowed.
"But, that still begs the question," she replied, causing the others to look at her. "Who made that thing? As we've already discussed, it's out of the wheelhouse of any forger Student Hikiko could have found on the Base.
Shizuka's smirk widened.
"I think I might have an idea," she replied.
The others looked at her, eyes widened.
Shizuka glanced over at Head-General Paul.
"Head-General, are you familiar with Tsu-Tsu's connection with the Green Family?" she asked.
***
Back in the Student Dormitory, Logan once again, let out a violent sneeze.
Tsukuru turned to him.
"Am I going to need to take you to the doctor's office?" he asked.
"I'm fine," Logan said in a sharp tone.
Tsukuru stared at Logan for another second, then an amused smirkcrept across his face.
"You know, they say that 'if you find yourself suddenly sneezing, it's because somebody is talking about you'," he replied.
Logan let out a scoff.
"You know that I don't believe in that superstitious nonsense," he replied.
Tsukuru let out a snort.
"Yeah, you wouldn't, you fucking android," he replied.
Logan shot Tsukuru an annoyed look.
"Isn't it time for you guys to be heading back to your dorm?" he asked.
Tsukuru and Quinn both brought their wristwatches up to their chests, and looked down at them.
Over in the right-hand corner, they could see that the clock read "20:38".
Though Logan was just annoyed at Tsukuru's comment, and was trying to get them out of his room, he did have a point.
"Yeah," Tsukuru replied. "You're right."
He looked up from his watch, and over to Quinn.
"You ready to head back, Quinn?" he asked.
Quinn nodded, and began walking towards the door.
Tsukuru did the same.
After a few steps, he stopped and looked over his shoulder at Galina.
"C'mon, let's go, Galina," he replied.
"'Kay!" Galina said with an overly-enthusiasticlook on her face, her eyes closed and her right arm stretched high in the air.
As Tsukuru and Quinn headed out the door, Galina skipped behind them, her arms extending out by her sides.
As Logan watched the three leave, he could help but find it interesting how this "Galina" really didact like a CHILD.
Although, her looking cute, was greatly diminished by the loud "bangs" and small dents in the floor that were left in the "girls" wake as she excitedly skipped about.
Logan had half a mind to throw her onto a scale to see just how much she weighed to be able to cause that much damage with every movement.
***
Back in the meeting room, Paul raised an eyebrow.
"Really," he replied.
It was clear from his tone that this was news to the Head-General.
General Nathan let out a sigh.
"Oh, that's right," he replied in a casual tone, acting as if he had just remembered something trivial. "Hikiko Tsukuru's personal file said something about that."
The others all turned to him.
"Apparently, after Hikiko Reiju died in a battle with One-Horn, he was taken in by the Green Family."
General Duke's eyes widened for a moment, before a look that was a cross between irritation and rage came across his face.
"You idiot!" he yelled, slamming his fist onto the table, causing it to shake. "You knew that little shit had connections to the Green Family, and you didn't think to tell us?!"
Inside, Duke was seething.
The Green Family was a highly-influential family. Everyoneused their technology.
Including them.
He was now thankful that he hadn't actively tried to cause trouble with the brat. For even if he could somehow get past Shizuka, he would have unknowingly attracted the ire of someone even higher up on the food chain.
Nathan gave Duke a bored look, the kind one gave someone when the answer was obvious.
"Quite frankly, I didn't see the need," he replied.
He then jabbed his finger down at Shizuka.
"His sister is already on the base," he replied. "What kind of idiot would try to start shit with himknowing that?"
Sergeant Faye narrowed her eyes.
"Apparently, the same 'idiot' Second-Year who is currently still rotting in the school's DUNGEON," she muttered in a passive-aggressive tone.
Her words made a beat of sweat go down everyone's backs.
The whole "Portal Incident" was a pretty fresh wound for all of them.
Sergeant Dillon looked at Sergeant Shizuka was a confused look on his face.
"I'm afraid that I don't follow," he replied. "What does Student Hikiko Tsukuru's connection with the Green Family have anything to do with how this strange Beast Weapon was created? Don't they make, you know, software and electronics?"
Shizuka let out an amused snort.
"For the most part, yes," she replied. "But Logan Green is a bit of an odd duckling among the Green Family."
Shizuka then turned to Sergeant Faye.
"Faye," she replied, causing the girl to turn to her. "Do you remember where Tsu-Tsu said that he and that 'Talen' boy were GOING when we went to go grab him to make all that 'salvage material'?"
Sergeant Faye raised an eyebrow in confusion.
"He said that they were going to…go see Logan in the VIP Dorms…"
Halfway through her sentence, Faye's eyes widened, as hearing her own words made her realize the answer.
Shizuka's smirk widened.
"Exactly," she replied, before then turning back to Sergeant Dillon. "While most of the Green Family spend most of their time developing computer programs, Logan has a…certain fondness for MACHINES. He spends all of his time creating gadgets and mechanical marvels. His love of machines is so well known, that among the Green Family, he is referred to as 'Logan the Tinkerer'."
She then turned back to Paul.
"And seeing as how everything is powered by Beast Energy these days, it's only natural that the same is true for Logan's inventions," she replied. "In fact, he has developed his own special 'fusion technology' that he uses for it. I've seen it myself, and it's not too dissimilar to my mother's Ability."