As they walked, Tsukuru noticed that Shizuka had herded him in a direction that was notably away from the dormitory.
"Uh, Shizuka?" He asked, glancing over at her. "Where are we going?" Instantly, he noticed Shizuka's face hardened. It was as if the mere question was something she found insulting.
"It seems that teacher of your, Del Rowan, completely forgot about a few things when he was giving the tour." She replied. "Specifically, that you all needed to go to the supply store to get your own uniforms."
Shizuka led Tsukuru out of the gate, and down towards the city.
Once there, she led him towards a plain-looking white building, and pushed him inside. Inside, it appeared to be a clothing store, of sorts. There was a single woman standing behind the counter.
Hearing the bell above the door chime, signalling someone coming in, she turned to them. The woman appeared to be in her early twenties, wearing a form-fitting version of the military outfit. Seeing them, she let out a weary sigh.
"Man, I really hate new arrival day." She said in an exhausted tone. "It keeps me swamped all day long."
She walked over to the two, and reached into her side pocket. She pulled out a white tape measurer, and pulled a length of it out. "Hold still, please."
Tsukuru stood there, his arms spread for the next few minutes, as the woman measured every part of him, as if she was making a suit for a custom doll. Eventually, the woman stepped back away from Tsukuru, and put the tape measurer away.
"Hm…puny little pike, aren't ya?" She asked in an amused tone. Instantly, Tsukuru snapped his head up towards her.
"Hey!" He retorted. The lady glanced over to her right, at a row of folded uniforms.
"Lucky for you, I still have some size small in stock." She muttered.
Hearing this made Tsukuru's cheeks puff out in indignation.
Walking over, she grabbed one of the uniforms, and walked back to him. "Here, try this on." She replied, pushing the uniform into his chest.
Shizuka walked up behind him, and began pushing him towards one of the changing rooms, him struggling the whole way. Shizuka pushed Tsukuru in the room, and closed the door behind it. Tsukuru heard the door lock from the other side.
"Uniform…" Tsukuru grumbled. "What was even the point of me packing clothes if they were just gonna make me wear this ugly-ass uniform?" The outfit consisted of a navy-colored, long-sleeved, zip up blazer with patches of grey, alongside a pair of navy pants with the same gray patches.
Tsukuru put the clothes on, but kept the blazer unzipped, showing his green, "motherboard" shirt underneath, and wore his trademark black-and-blue hoodie over the uniform in an act of defiance.
Tsukuru then walked over towards the discarded pants on the floor. He held his open hand on top of the pants, and thought about placing them in the System's Inventory. Instantly, a System message appeared.
[Would you like to place Pants in the System's Inventory?
[Yes] [No] ]
He mentally thought 'yes', and the pants began to break apart into pixels. When they were completely gone, Tsukuru then banged on the door three times.
"Alright, Shizuka!" He yelled in an annoyed voice. "I'm in the damn monkey suit, so open the door!"
Instantly, he heard the door unlock. He grumbled incoherently under his breath, and walked out. As he walked out, Shizuka threw a folded towel at him, hitting him in the face.
"Oof!" Tsukuru let out a groan. He looked up at Shizuka with an annoyed look. She, however, just looked amused.
Tsukuru grit his teeth, and gripped his hands around the towel, imagining placing it in his System's Inventory. The same System prompt appeared, asking him if he wanted to place the towel in his Inventory.
Tsukuru thought the word 'yes', and the towel began to break apart into pixels. As it disappeared, the woman raised her eyebrow. Shizuka turned to her.
"Ability." She replied. Hearing this, the woman sighed. Together, the woman and Shizuka looked at Tsukuru in the outfit.
"You know that blazer's supposed to be zipped up, right?" She asked, her eyebrow still raised. Hearing this, Tsukuru let out a grumble. Shizuka then turned to her.
"Oh, it's fine." She replied. "It's not like he's drastically breaking the dress code."
The two women then walked to the front. Shizuka pulled a plastic card out of her breast pocket, and slid it across a card scanner. An electronic beep was heard, and
the woman looked at the screen.
"You're all good." She replied. Shizuka nodded, and walked back to Tsukuru. She placed her arm on his shoulder, and led him out the door.
Shizuka then led Tsukuru back to the dormitory. As Tsukuru opened the door assigned to his group, he saw that Quinn, Vorden, and Peter had all claimed a corner of the room, leaving only the bottom-left corner for him.
"Whatever." Tsukuru sighed, his voice causing the other three to turn to him. "I'll take the last spot."
They all stared at him in his new uniform. A second later, Vorden burst out laughing. Seeing this, Tsukuru's eye began to twitch.
"Yeah, laugh it up, Vorden." Tsukuru replied in an annoyed tone. "But you're gonna have to wear the same thing!"
Hearing this, Vorden stopped laughing. Tsukuru walked past them.
Tsukuru walked over to where the desk was by his bed. He flicked up his finger, accessing his System. The row of icons appeared. He pressed the one showing his silhouette, and pressed the tab labeled "Inventory" when it appeared to the right of the icon. The Inventory's grid appeared.
He pressed the first square on the second row, the one showing his anime figurines. Instantly, a new grid appeared on a screen, overlaying the first. This one had the entire first three rows filled, each square showing a different figurine. He systematically began withdrawing each figure from his inventory. Each time he pressed one of the squares, a message appeared.
[Would you like to withdraw Anime Figurine from the System's Inventory?
[Yes] [No] ]
He thought 'yes' to every screen, causing each figure to appear one-by-one in his hand. He placed each one in a row on the left side of his desk, purposely leaving him a big enough space that he could still sit down and work, if needed, before moving to the next figure in the grid to remove.
When he was done, there were eighteen figures arranged on the left side of the desk. The figures were arranged in a square of three rows of five, and a final row of three. The slot in the grid they had occupied on the System's inventory screen was grayed out, meaning it was now empty. Looking up, he noticed that the first square, the one meant for his handheld gaming console, was also grayed out. He narrowed his eyes, and pressed it. A new System message appeared.
[Would you like to place Handheld Gaming Console back in the System's Inventory?
[Yes][No] ]
'Yes' He thought.
Far away, in Tsukuru's room within the Green Family mansion on the planet Animus, his handheld console, still laying on his desk, began to break down into pixels, which then faded away.
Back in the dorm room in Military Base 2, Tsukuru watched in satisfaction, as the square for his handheld lit back up. A new System message appeared.
[Handheld Gaming Console has been placed in the System's Inventory.]
Tsukuru smiled, and dismissed all the System screens.
"Are those…are those action figures?" Vorden asked. Tsukuru slumped his shoulders, as if the following explanation was something he was growing tired of repeating.
"They're figurines." He corrected.
Vorden coughed in his fist, trying to pretend the previous conversation hadn't happened, worried he had accidentally offended his new roommate and friend without meaning to.
Quinn turned to Tsukuru.
"What took you so long?" He asked. Tsukuru glanced over at him.
"After I finished my little 'meeting' with the Head General, Shizuka dragged me to the supply store." He explained. "Apparently, our homeroom teacher just assumed that we knew to go there."
Quinn, Vorden, and Peter all exchanged looks.
"You think…we should go there too?" Quinn asked. Hearing this, Tsukuru let out a sigh.
"I'm pretty sure you'll get reprimanded if you don't." Tsukuru replied.
Over the course of the next half hour, Tsukuru had led the three down the same path Shizuka had taken him out of the gate, down into town, and into the supply store.
Just like with him, the woman inside had taken the measurements of the three boys, and had handed each of them a uniform to put on. She had also handed each of them a towel. However, unlike him, each of the three boys had to pay for their supplies out of their own pocket, using the 10 credits that had already been preloaded on their cards.
As they walked back through the gates, Vorden turned to the others.
"So…What do you guys want to do?" He asked. Peter was the first to turn towards Vorden.
"I still have to finish unpacking, so I have to go back to the dorms." He replied meekly. "But you guys don't have to wait for me. Feel free to go out and explore."
Quinn spoke up next, causing them all to turn to him.
"I was planning on going to the library." He replied. "But you two might find that boring."
Tsukuru and Vorden exchanged glances. Tsukuru shrugged his shoulders.
"Nah." He replied. Vorden scoffed.
"Please, I can make anything fun. Besides, I haven't read a book in…" Vorden paused for a moment. "Actually, I can't remember the last time I read a book." Tsukuru chuckled.
As the group of Quinn, Tsukuru, and Vorden arrived at the library, they noticed that on the first floor of the library, they saw that it was bustling with students, with multiple desks spread out where students were sitting. In the center of each desk was an orb.
As Tsukuru stared at the orb, the System's vector appeared on top of it. As normal, a line extended from the left, before going up and leading to a square that showed an up-close image of the orb. Below the square, text could be seen by him.
[Isolation Orb
Item
Effect: Produces a sound-proof barrier that isolates the sounds within its interior.]
"Ah." Tsukuru mused, causing the other two to turn to him. "So those orbs prevent those inside from being eavesdropped on." Vorden looked at him, surprised.
"Yeah, that's right." He replied. "How did you know that? I thought they didn't have those in public schools."
Tsukuru turned to him with a smirk.
"I'll explain everything once you get a seat." He explained, glancing around. "That way I don't have to worry about…being overheard." Vorden and Quinn both gave him a puzzled look.
The three spread out, and began searching for books. Quinn picked up as many books as he could about Abilities.
Meanwhile, Tsukuru picked up a book called "Dragon's Revenge: Reincarnated as a Human". Raising an eyebrow, he quirked his eyebrow in interest.
Flipping through the pages, he discovered that it was a book about a great red dragon, named "Sen", reincarnated as a human boy with red hair during a medieval time of knights and magic. However, the name of the protagonist gave Tsukuru pause.
His eyes widened in shock and surprise. He brought his eyes closer to the book, just to make sure he wasn't seeing things.
"Ray…Talen." He read out loud, before glancing over at Quinn, who was still walking around from shelf to shelf, a comically large stack of books in his hands. "Well, I'll be damned." He replied, with a smirk. "What are the odds?"
Tsukuru met back up with the two at a desk. As he entered the barrier, he heard them in conversation.
"What's with all the books?" Vorden asked, staring at the huge stack in Quinn's hands. "Looking for something in particular?"
Quinn was silent for a moment, before he spoke.
"I was trying to decide which Ability I should get, since I turned down the school's offer." He replied.
"Oh right, I almost forgot about that." Vorden replied. "Honestly, I thought you might have been an agent of Pure. Turns out you just didn't want to be one of the military's dogs." He said with a smirk. "Well, is there anything in particular you're looking for?"
Before Quinn could answer, Tsukuru made himself known, slamming his book on the desk and sitting down.
Both Quinn and Vorden turned to him. While Quinn had a huge stack of books about abilities and Tsukuru had his single book, Vorden looked as though he had just picked a book at random.
As they sat down, Tsukuru looked at Vorden.
"Alright, you wanted to know how I knew about the Isolation Orb, right?" He asked. Vorden nodded. Tsukuru smirked. "That's simple. It's because…I have a System."