When the trio of Tsukuru, Galina, and Starrk finally reached the door, Sergeant Faye pushed it open.
Tsukuru noticed that Sergeant Faye seemed to have a particular interest in Galina.
Sergeant Faye on the other hand, was finding it hard to comprehend exactly what she was looking at.
It looked like a nine-year-old girl, but at the same time, it didn't look organic.
To be perfectly honest, it looked like a mass of some semi-liquid material, such as mud or even soft clay that had been molded into the shape of a little girl.
Her curiosity temporarily overriding her sense of professional boundaries
She reached down and poked Galina in the forehead.
Galina's body felt slightly cold to the touch, and her forehead pressed inward slightly from the impact, before bouncing back out like a piece of silicon or rubber.
Sergeant Faye narrowed her eyes.
'It kind of feels like a gel,' she thought.
Unable to help herself, she poked Galina's forehead AGAIN.
"First a walking suit of armor, now a sentient slime mold," she muttered. "These 'Beasts'of yours are unlike anything I've ever seen before."
Just as Sergeant Faye was about to poke Galina for a third time, Galina swatted her hand away, an annoyed look on her face.
To Sergeant Faye, it felt as thought her hand had just been hit by a squishy, silicon, stress-ball.
Though she did notice that it had a certain heft behind it, like getting smacked by an oversized plushie.
Galina's "smack"finally managed to knock Sergeant Faye back to her senses.
Her eyes widened, as she realized what she had just done.
She stood back up with her back straight, and coughed in her hand, a look of clear embarrassment on her face.
"Student Hikiko Tsukuru," she replied, turning to him. "Please, follow me."
She began walking down the hall.
Tsukuru's eyes narrowed, and he followed after her, followed by Starrk and Galina, the latter of which was now holding her right hand against her forehead, as if nursing a bruise.
Sergeant Faye led the through down a winding maze of hallways, including going up a flight of stairs.
Eventually, they stopped in front of a certain door.
The door was completely blank, lacking any name, number, or identification.
However, Tsukuru could see around sixdots on his System's Minimapbeyond the door. Three of the six were green, indicating that they were allies, two of them were gray, indicating that they were neutral parties, and the last one was red, indicating a hostile entity.
Sergeant Faye opened the door, and the residents insidethe room all turned towards the group of four, them all hearing the door open.
Inside, Tsukuru saw Head General Paul, Sergeant Leo, Shizuka, General Duke, that one guy who was with Duke when the two of them had retrieved him and Erin for that "demonstration" match between Erin and Artoria a few weeks ago. There was also a man that Tsukuru had never seen before. A man with dark skin and sunglasses, sporting an afro.
Slowly, the group of four entered.
And as they did, the individuals inside all snapped their heads towards Galina.
Paul raised an eyebrow in confusion.
'Is that…a little girl?' he thought.
"Um, Student Hikiko?" he asked. "Why is that girl…which I assume is another one of your 'Beasts'...holding her FOREHEAD?"
Galina's eyes narrowed.
"So that no one else will poke it!" she shot back in an irritated tone. "It's annoying!"
The others all turned to Sergeant Faye, eyebrows raised in confusion.
In response, Sergeant Faye's cheeks flushed slightly, and she glazed away.
Ignoring their looks, she made her way back to her seat.
Seeing her sit back down, General Duke let out a scoff.
"You know, for someone with Super Speed, you sure did drag your feet getting BACK HERE!" he muttered, arms crossed over his chest.
Paul glanced over at Duke, giving him a warning look.
Seeing the look, Duke grumbled under his breath.
"So, Sergeant Faye said that you wanted to see me?" he asked, walking closer. "About what exact-"
Tsukuru's sentence was abruptly cut off, as he saw his Scordana Gunblade resting on the table in front of the Head-General.
His whole body froze, and he felt his heart jump.
"...Shit," he muttered.
'Maybe giving that to Sergeant Leo wasn't such a good idea,' he thought.
Head-General Paul cleared his throat, snapping Tsukuru back to attention.
"Student Hikiko, Sergeant Leo has informed me that this weapon was created using a special Glathrium Alloy you created using your Ability," he replied, his voice and posture screaming "all-business". "We've all agreed that we would like to procure a sample of it for testing."
Tsukuru's eyes widened as he heard Paul's words.
It reminded him that he still had that "cube" that was left over from when Logan had created the initial Scordana Gunblade.
He had actually been meaning to see if he could pawn it off on the Military for some quick cash, but, with him having spent all afternoon in the System's Battle Arena, he hadn't gotten around to it yet.
Now, it looked like he didn't need to.
Tsukuru thought about taking that chunk of the high-density Glathrium Alloy that was currently in his System's Inventoryout of it, and pixels began to form in his hand.
As the others all watched the pixels begin to cluster into the shape of a cube the size of a ripened apple, they all noticed that the stereotypical "electronic interference" noise that always followed Tsukuru activating his Ability was completely absent.
Once the cube had fully formed, the glowing light of the pixels died down, leaving a pitch-black metal cube in Tsukuru's hand.
Tsukuru then activated his Video Stasis Skill on the cube.
This time, the sound of electronic interference didfill the room.
The cube became enveloped in an aura of glitching pixels, before it then took on the likeness of a translucent hologram.
The "hologram" began glitching, as if it were being disrupted, before glitching out of existencemoments later.
The next second, it glitched back into existence on the table in front of Head-General Paul.
Paul immediately picked it up, and began examining it.
It quickly noticed that it was easily twice the expected weight of a cube of Glathrium this size.
Tsukuru continuedlooking at the Head-General.
"So, was that all you needed, Head-General?" Tsukuru asked, while still maintaining the level of respect one would expect when conferencing with a Head-General.
After all, Tsukuru had no reason to be rude.
The Head-General hadn't done anything to him directly since the school year began.
In other words, he didn't view Paul as his ENEMY.
And given how his dot appeared green in the minimap of Tsukuru's System, the feeling was mutual.
Paul looked up from the cube to Tsukuru.
"Sergeant Shizuka has led us to believe that the one who forged this weapon was a student by the name of 'Logan Green'," he replied."Is this correct?"
Tsukuru shot a quick glance over at Shizuka before turning back to the Head-General.
"Well, I don't know if 'forged' is the right word, but yes," he replied, confirming everyone's suspicion. "Logan is the one who created it."
Paul gave Tsukuru a long look.
Then, he turned his attention back to the cube.
"That will be all," he replied. "You can return to your dorm room, Student Hikiko Tsukuru. Curfew will be beginning in…"
He glanced down at his wristwatch.
In the upper-right corner, the digital clock read "21:28".
"...a little over a half an hour from now."
Tsukuru nodded, and began to walk away.
He hadn't made it five steps before a voice stopped him.
"We have spent years trying to see if Glathrium could be improved," General Duke replied, his hands clenching into fists so tight, his arteries could be seen. "How were you able to do what we could not?!"
Tsukuru just stood there, silent for a moment.
Eventually, he spoke.
"To be perfectly honest," he replied. "I've pretty much given up trying to understand and explain away my Ability."
He turned around, a hard look on his face.
"As far as I'm concerned, my Ability boils down to 'if I can think it, I can create it'."
Without any further words, Tsukuru continued making his way to the door.
As he passed Galina and Starrk, they soon followed.
But, before she did, Galina gave Sergeant Faye one last annoyed look. She made a childish face at the Sergeant, sticking her tongue out at her.
The group all watched as the three individuals walked out the door, shutting it behind them.
General Duke scoffed, and folded his arms.
"What a bullshit Ability," he muttered, looking to the side. "In the hands of a child no less."
Paul let out a sigh.
"I think we're pretty much done here," he replied.
He then turned to General Nathan.
"Have the Homeroom Teachers all been informed?" he asked.
Nathan gave him a bored look.
"You mean about the school's classes being cancelled tomorrow?" he asked, before folding her arms behind his back. "Yeah, I sent out a memo earlier this afternoon. They'll most likely tell them tomorrow during homeroom."