As Layla and Tsukuru walked back into the hall from the training room, Layla finally answered Quinn's call.
"Yeah, I'm here, Quinn." She replied with a gentle smile. "Where do you want to meet up?" She asked.
However, the answer they received is not what Layla had expected.
"Agh! Damn sun!" Quinn muttered.
Layla stopped walking, standing there now stunned.
Tsukuru, meanwhile, was trying not to laugh.
"Quinn?" Layla asked again. "You alright?"
A moment later, Quinn responded.
"Yeah, I'm fine." He replied. "It just seems like this stupid sun bothers me more and more every day! Just meet me by the school entrance, like usual."
Quinn then ended the call.
As soon as he did, Tsukuru no longer held back.
He burst out laughing.
"BWAHAHAHA!" He replied, his eyes squeezed shut, and holding his abdomen.
Layla glanced over at him.
"Real nice friend, you are." She muttered.
Tsukuru waved a hand dismissively.
"Oh, don't be a stuffed shirt!" He shot back. "It's not like he's gonna burst into flames!"
Elsewhere, Quinn was walking down from where the VR Room was located, and towards the main entrance.
Due to being in direct sunlight, his Stats were currently halved, as he knew from the familiar System screen that had popped up the second he had walked outside, leading to his outburst.
As Quinn walked, his body was covered in sweat.
Even since he evolved into a Halfling, the sun seemed to bother him even more.It wasn't even that hot outside, yet Quinn felt as if he had just gotten out of a sauna.Not only that, but he was starting to develop a ringing headache.
Finally, he made it to the front gate.
There, he saw Layla waiting.However, to her immediate left, he saw Tsukuru.
Quinn stared at Tsukuru for a moment.
"What are you doing here?" He asked.
In response, Tsukuru shrugged his shoulders with an amused expression.
"What's wrong?" He asked, the amusement still in his voice. "Don't want a third wheel on your little play date?"
In response, both Quinn's and Layla's cheeks flushed.
Layla glanced to the side.
It was then that Quinn noticed the large black bag over Layla's shoulder.
'That must be heavy.' He thought.
"Do you…want me to carry that for you?" He asked.
Although, due to his Stats being halved by the direct sunlight, he was hoping she would say "no".
Layla smiled.
"It's okay." She replied. "The bag is lighter than it looks, and I'm using my Ability to make it even lighter."
Quinn momentarily pondered whether he should push the issue, and be a gentleman, or to just listen to Layla.
Eventually, he decided to just let Layla keep carrying the bag.
The three of them walked out of the school grounds, and went to the same place they had gone to the last time Quinn wanted to "experiment", the park connected to the forest.
As they looked around, they saw a few students messing around, playing with their Abilities, as well as a few military personnel relaxing on benches.
As the group passed them, the military personnel all stared at Tsukuru as they passed, none of them daring to even breathe.
Seeing this, Tsukuru slumped his shoulders, an annoyed look on his face.
'Yeah, cause I'm sure Shizuka's gonna discipline you from breathing too deeply in my presence!' He thought bitterly.
Looking around, Layla smiled.
"Peaceful, isn't it?" She asked.
Quinn smiled.
"Yeah, it's kind of nice." He replied.
Then, his face hardened, as he remembered all the news stories, as well as Del's lecture on the first day about how the Dalki War could re-ignite at any time.
"But who knows how long it will last?" He asked. "That's why I need to get stronger."
It was then that Layla put the bag down on the ground.
The bag made a heavy "thump", and made the ground shake.
This caused both Quinn and Tsukuru to turn to her.
Looking at Layla, she seemed to be a bit…strained.
It seemed that having her Ability active for such an extended period of time had tired her out somewhat.
Layla unzipped the bag, and began removing its contents.
There were all sorts of things inside, such as hats, scarves, sunglasses, and the like.
Strangely, they all seemed to be black in color, as well.
Tsukuru let out a chuckle, causing Quinn to turn to him.
"Putting that all on may block out the sun, but with how heavily black absorbs sunlight, you'll be roasting like a Christmas pig inside of it, Quinn." He said, glancing over at him.
Layla then pulled out a few bottles.
Looking at them, Tsukuru saw that they were lotions and sun cream.
Seeing this, Tsukuru was unable to hold back a snort.
"Seriously?" He asked, causing Layla to glare up at him.
The last thing Layla pulled out was an umbrella.
Like the clothes, it was also black.
Seeing the umbrella made Quinn's eye twitch in slight annoyance.
"You had an umbrella this whole time?" He asked through grit teeth. "Why didn't you give me that before we left the school grounds?!"
Quinn's words made Layla freeze, his words making her think for a moment.
Quinn had a point.
In fact, Layla had packed so much stuff that she had actually forgotten that she had packed an umbrella until after she was unpacking everything.
Unable to come up with a response, Layla let out a nervous laugh, and looked away sheepishly.
Seeing all the stuff, Tsukuru raised an eyebrow.
"What happened to 'there's nothing wrong with saving credits'?" He asked.
Layla narrowed her eyes at him.
"I got it all off of the marketplace, so it was dirt cheap!" She huffed in retort, her cheeks puffed out indignantly.
The 'marketplace' was the online store that was used all around the world.It sold your everyday items, such as food, clothes, and all sorts of other things.From what Tsukuru had learned from old history books, there was a wide assortment of similar services like it in the old world.
However, unlike with those services, where you ordered something, and then had to wait weeks for it to be moved from a warehouse to your location via moving trucks, with the introduction of Teleporters, items could be teleported to use within seconds as long as you could afford them.And even if you couldn't afford one of these Teleporters, you could always go to a "collection point" to retrieve your purchased items.
In fact, the school had one of these "collection points" for students to use.Also, in addition to selling conventional items, the marketplace also allowed people to buy and sell Beast Gear, as well as Ability Books and Skill Books.
Layla and Erin had used this themselves to sell the assortment of Basic-Tier Daggers Tsukuru had given them.
As shown by her new bow and special arrows, Layla had used the credits from selling the daggers to buy new Beast Gear from the marketplace.
The only thing you really needed to use the marketplace was a military ID, which all the students had, albeit it being a temporary one for while they were on the base, or you had to be a "Traveler".
"Travelers" were people who didn't work for the military, but worked for a private company.They were sort of like "adventurers" from fantasy novels.
"Travelers" made a living of going into Portals to explore new worlds, or to hunt down rare and hard-to-find Beast Crystals for buyers who had a particular interest.Even if you couldn't get a Beast's Crystal yourself, if you had enough money, you could commission an Adventurer to hunt it down for you.
Layla smiled, as she turned her head towards Quinn.
"So what do you want to try first?" She asked, still holding the container of sun cream in her hand.