Back in Logan's room, he was trying to get back to work on his work bench, but he had suddenly let out another sneeze.
As he wiped under his nose, Tsukuru's words from earlier flashed in his head.
***
"You know, they say that 'if you find yourself suddenly sneezing, it's because somebody is talking about you',"
***
"I swear, if I ever find out who's talking about me so much tonight, I'm going to blast them in the most painful, least lethal spot on the Human body," he muttered.
***
Back in the meeting room, everyone's eyes were wide in shock.
As one of the heroes of the war, the Ability of Hikiko Reiju, or "Queen Machina", was almost universally well known.
Due to this, everyone in the room knew exactlywhat Shizuka was implying.
Paul's eyes narrowed.
"So you're saying that this…'Logan Green'," he replied. "He was the one who made this weapon?"
Shizuka smirked.
"It's the most likely answer," she replied, stretching her arms behind her neck and leaning back in her chair. "After all, compared to how complicated the stuff that kid normally makes, something like that would be relatively simple."
Paul's face tightened, as he took in this information.
He then glanced back at the Scordana Gunblade.
"That still doesn't explain the irregular weight of this weapon," he muttered.
Leo glanced over at him.
"It's due to the material that was used to make the weapon," he replied.
General Nathan looked at Sergeant Leo with a confused look.
"What do you mean, 'the materials'?" he asked. "Isn't it just made out of Glathrium, like all Beast Gear?"
Leo smirked slightly.
"Yes, but it's a very special KIND of Glathrium," he replied. "Student Hikiko said that it was made using a special high-density composite alloy made of Glathrium, as well as something called'Tungsten'."
Paul's eyes tightened upon hearing this.
'Tungsten,' he thought. 'If memory serves, that's the same type of metal that armor-piercing rounds were made of back in the era before Beast Weapons.'
General Duke, meanwhile, had a different reaction to Sergeant Leo's words.
He once again jumped out of his seat.
"That's ridiculous!" he yelled, slamming his hand down on the table. "We spent years experimenting with Glathrium. Mixing it with other metals just made the final product weaker! The levels of durability between pure Glathrium and Beast Weapons is a perfect example of that!"
"Oh, I wouldn't be so sure about that," Sergeant Leo replied with a smirk.
General Duke snapped his head over towards him.
"By the time that I had decided to confront the boy, he had already finished his fight with Student Heyley," he replied. "With my Ability, I noticed that the Beast Energy emanating from her weapon had been significantly weakened. Additionally, the girl lamented about how her Beast Weapon had seemed to be damaged as a result of their fight."
Duke's eyes widened from hearing this.
Seeing Duke's look, General Nathan smirked in amusement.
"An 'inferior final product', huh?" he replied. "Sounds like this Glathrium Alloy is even stronger than pure Glathrium."
Sergeant Faye raised an eyebrow in confusion.
"Wait," she asked, turning to Sergeant Leo. "So Student Erin Heyley is walking around with a damaged Beast Weapon?"
Sergeant Leo cracked a smile.
"It's not 'damaged' anymore," he replied. "Student Hikiko seemed to repair it after their fight."
Nathan snapped his attention from Duke to Leo.
"Excuse me?" he asked. "He repaired a Beast Weapon? How?"
Leo gave Nathan a look that said that the answer was obvious.
Nathan continued to stare at the blind Sergeant for a moment, before he finally took the hint.
"Ah," he replied, a tone of realization in his voice. "Right. With his Ability."
Duke let out an annoyed scoff, and looked away.
The more he heard about that boy's Ability, the more it annoyed him that he couldn't get it for Truedream. With an Ability that useful, Truedream would be ecstatic. It might even convince him not to take away Duke's Ability.
Sergeant Dillon then turned to his General.
"General Duke," he replied, causing the man to turn to him. "Perhaps we should procure a sample of this Glathrium Alloy. That way we could test its effectiveness ourselves."
Head-General Paul's eyebrows furrowed.
"Actually, that doesn't sound like a bad idea," he replied, placing the Scordana Gunblade back down on the table.
Due to its weight, a noticeable "clink" was heard.
The others all turned to him.
Paul brought his wristwatch up to his chest, and looked at it.
In the upper-right corner, he saw "20:48" displayed on the clock.
"There's still an hour left until curfew," he replied, before turning his attention from his wristwatch, and towards Sergeant Faye.
"Sergeant Faye, you are the fastest among us here, are you not?" he asked. "Go bring the boy here."
As Head-General Paul was unaware of what had actually happened on the failed Retrieval Mission on Pioletic, he didn't know that Sergeant Faye had been turned into a Vampire.
And, as such, he was under the false assumption that she still had her Super Speed Ability.
Sergeant Faye's face hardened.
She rose up from her seat, and gave the Head-General a salute.
"Yes, sir," she replied.
The others all watched as she made her way to the door, and walked out.
***
Back in the Student Dormitory, Tsukuru and Quinn were now back on the first floor of the building, and were making their way back to the dorm room.
Following behind Tsukuru was the pair of Starrk and Galina.
After having been talked to by Tsukuru about how much noise and damage her "skipping" was doing to the floor due to her weight, she was now walking like a normal person.
Though she still had her arms out at her sides.
Just as the group of four was about to turn another corner, Tsukuru's watch began to beep erratically.
The group came to a sudden stop, and Tsukuru brought his wristwatch up to his chest.
When he looked at the screen, his eyes widened.
He could see an incoming communication, with Sergeant Faye's name on the screen.
Tsukuru and Quinn exchanged looks.
Sergeant Faye was the only member of the higher-ups who knew that Quinn was a Vampire. Because she was one herself.
So they had no idea if she was calling Tsukuru about something that was school-related…or Vampire-related.
Eventually, Tsukuru decided to answer the call.
"Yes?" he asked in a cautious tone.
A moment later, Sergeant Faye's voice crackled through the speaker.
"Student Hikiko Tsukuru," she replied in an authoritative tone. "Your attendance has been requested by the Head General. Please make your way back to the main school buildingas soon as possible."
Sergeant Faye then ended the communication, causing Tsukuru's wristwatch to return to its "stand-by" mode.
Tsukuru and Quinn just stood there for a moment.
There was a pause, reminding the two boys about just how quiet the Student Dormitory was at this time of night.
"Welp," Tsukuru replied eventually, causing the other three to turn to him. "Looks like I've been summoned."
He then glanced over at Quinn.
"Guess you'll have to head back to the dorm room on your own," he replied.
Quinn smiled.
"Yeah," he replied. "Looks like it. Guess I'll see you when you get back."
Quinn then began moving down towards the hallway.
Tsukuru remained rooting in spot for a moment.
Then, he let out a sigh.
He turned to Starrk and Galina.
"Alright," he replied. "Let's go see what Sergeant Faye wants."
Galina tilted her head in confusion, unaware of who "Sergeant Faye" even was. Due to her child-like state, she rarely, if ever, paid any attention to the going ons in the school around herself and Tsukuru.
However, Starrk was a different case.
Not only was he an adult, but he had served in an army before.
As such, he narrowed his eyes in suspicion.
Together, the group of three headed back towards the front entrance of the building.
***
A short while later, Sergeant Faye could be seen standing in front of the clear double-doorsleading into the school.
She had an intense look of concentration on her face, as she scoured everything outside of the school building.
Despite it already being dark outside, Sergeant Faye's vision was anything but impaired. In fact, she seemed to be able to see things even clearer in the dark than during the day. It had been like that ever since she had returned from the Ninth Family Castle.
A moment later, she saw three shadows begin to approach the main entrance.
As the figures got closer, they came into focus.
And although Sergeant Faye recognized two of them, being Student Hikiko Tsukuru and that "Coyote Stark" individual, she had never seen the third figure before.
Sergeant Faye had to rub her eyes just to make sure that she wasn't seeing things.
'Is…Is that a child?' she thought in confusion.