Shizuka had noticed that Faye seemed to be behaving weird ever since her return from Pioletic. But she had assumed that it was just nerves. She did lose eight men, after all.
But, this? How did she end up puking just from taking a food pill?
***
Meanwhile, Faye found herself teleported into the doctor's office. She let out a groan as the two soldiers helped her into an empty bed.
"What the hell happened?" she muttered.
Suddenly, she saw a shadow overcast her.
She looked up and saw Hayley looking down at her.
"That's what I would like to know," she replied.
"I…" Faye replied, glancing away. "I think I ate a bad food pill."
It was a miserable attempt at a lie. But right now, it was all that she could think of.
Hayley looked down at her for another minute before she then let out a sigh.
She reached out her hands towards Faye. She placed them onto Faye's stomach and began to activate her Ability.
A green energy began to envelope Hayley's hands, and Faye felt a soothing sensation enter her body.
A few minutes later, Faye no longer felt nauseous.
"Thank you," she replied, looking up at Hayley with a weak smile. "I feel much better now."
However, not even a moment later, Faye then felt a deep hunger begin to form in the pit of her stomach.
And she knew that it could only be one thing.
Her Bloodthirst.
'But, how?' Faye thought. 'I just had some blood this morning!'
She shouldn't need to drink more blood for another two days!
Suddenly, Faye's eyes widened with realization. Muka's words echoed in her head.
***
"If you get injured, you'll need to consume blood much faster."
***
Faye gritted her teeth. When she had thrown up, there had been blood in her vomit.
'Oh, come on!' she thought in irritation. 'That couldn't have counted!'
However, judging by the deep hunger she could now feel in her gut, it had. Her puking up blood had counted as an injury, and now she needed to consume Human Blood. And the sooner the better.
'I need to get out of here as quickly as I can,' she thought, as she subconsciously glanced over at a slight bulge in her inside breast pocket. It was where she kept her Blood Flask, but she couldn't just pull it out in front of Hayley.
Faye slammed her head into the back of the bed, a look of deep annoyance on her face.
Hopefully, it wouldn't take too long for Hayley to finish checking her over so she could discharge her.
***
Back in the canteen, now that the commotion was over, everyone was returning to their own businesses.
As Quinn looked up from his plate, he saw that Tsukuru now had a book in front of him. It seemed that now that he was done eating, he had decided to use the rest of their time in the canteen to do some reading.
However, it looked different from the book that Tsukuru was normally reading. In fact, the book's cover almost seemed familiar to Quinn.
Then, Quinn's eyes widened in realization. He had seen that book before.
"Hey, Tsukuru," Quinn replied, causing Tsukuru to look up from the book and at him. "Isn't that the book that one on that weird shelf in the Storage Container?" he asked.
Vorden raised an eyebrow in confusion.
"'Storage container'?" he asked.
"Yeah, there was a storage container hidden inside the Storage Hanger on the shelter on the Red Portal Planet," Tsukuru replied, as he went back to reading. "It was essentially just a big room filled with Earth Ability Books and Skill Books."
Tsukuru's eyes then narrowed.
"However, there was this weird ornate shelf all the way at the back," he continued. "I found this book on it."
Vorden blinked a few times.
"Wait, so the military just left a storage container full of Ability Books and Skill Books on a Red Portal Planet?" he asked in surprise.
"It just goes to show how much of a rush they were in to abandon the place," Tsukuru replied, as he turned a page. "Besides, the thing only had books that went up to Level 3, anyway."
A minute later, Tsukuru's eyes widened, and he choked out a laugh.
"What?" Quinn asked, tilting his head.
"It's nothing," Tsukuru replied quickly, composing himself. "Don't worry about it."
However, behind the book, Tsukuru was still grinning.
'Looks like Vampires aren't the only ones with problems involving the consumption of human food,' he thought, as he shot a glance over to the spot in the canteen where Shizuka was now standing alone.
In the book, he had just gotten to a scene where Gary's best friend, Tom Green, had given him a chocolate bar, with Gary eating it resulting in the same thing that had happened to Faye.
Vorden continued to stare at Tsukuru.
"So…what's the book about, anyway?" he asked.
"It follows the adventures of a boy named 'Gary Dem'," Tsukuru replied. "A teenage boy who became a Werewolf in an era before Abilities. However, in place of them, it seems that the Humans of this era found a way to combine Humans with the DNA of Beasts, creating something called 'Altereds'."
Quinn gulped.
"A human…with the power of a Beast?" he asked.
Vorden narrowed his eyes.
"That sounds kinda like people with the Beast Transformation Ability," he replied.
***
Back in the doctor's office, Faye opened the door and walked out. She let out a long sigh.
'I can't believe I did something that stupid!' she thought, mentally kicking herself. She had completely ignored her body's instincts, and look where it got her. Almost exposing her secret, not even a day after her return!
She walked into an empty bathroom and fished the Blood Flask out of her inside breast pocket.
As she popped the lid off, the sweet smell of the blood inside wafted into her nostrils. The smell seemed to make the deep hunger she was feeling get even worse.
Faye brought the flask up to her lips and tilted it back. She took a quick swig of the flask's contents.
She felt a sweet sensation filling her mouth as the blood went down, as if she was drinking a sugary drink, and her hunger slowly faded.
After a few moments, she removed the flask from her lips and put the cork back on.
Faye looked down at the flask, and her eyes narrowed in irritation.
'So much for that Blood Resistance Skill,' she thought bitterly. It was supposed to make her immune to poisons and disease. Did the Skill not work when she had consumed the Food Pill because it technically wasn't a poison?
Faye placed the flask back in her inside breast pocket and walked out of the bathroom and back towards the canteen.
***
Back in the canteen, Shizuka's gaze shifted from table to table. Every once in a while, her gaze would linger on Tsukuru's table in the "Level 1" section.
'You know, when I told Tsu-Tsu that he should make a concentrated effort to 'make friends', I didn't mean that literally!' she thought in amusement. But at least this way, she didn't have to worry about him ever being alone again.
Shizuka then heard footsteps approaching her. Looking over, she saw Faye walking up to her.
"You alright?" Shizuka asked, her eyebrow raised with a suspicious look on her face.
Faye let out a sigh.
"Yeah, I'm fine," she replied. She reached into her pocket and pulled out her box of Food Pills. "I think my box just had a few bad ones in it."
Shizuka gave Faye a look that told her that she was unconvinced.
However, a moment later, a shrill ringing filled the canteen, causing Shizuka to look up from the ceiling.
***
Back in his seat, Tsukuru looked up at the ceiling as well.
"Oh, looks like breakfast is over," he replied.
Tsukuru held out his hand and activated his Ability.
The sound of electronic interference could be heard again, and pixels appeared in his hand. The pixels clustered together into a long rectangle.
There was the usual flash of bright light. When it faded, Tsukuru was holding a laminated paper bookmark.
He slid it between the two pages of his book and then closed it shut.
He then imagined placing the book back in his System's Inventory, and the usual System prompt appeared.
Tsukuru thought "yes" to the prompt, and the book began to change. It turned glowing light-blue like a hologram, and it then broke apart into pixels.
"Alright," Tsukuru grunted as he slowly began to stand up from his chair. "Let's go."