Sergeant Faye watched as the group at Tsukuru's table continued to eat the rice balls.
After the two "Summons" of Tsukuru each finished three each, Tsukuru made a gesture with his hands, and they broke apart into pixels. A moment later, a new set of two appeared.
It was the same two that she had seen carrying that chair for Oscar during the "meeting" a few days ago, but their appearance was noticeably different. Specifically, the clothes seemed to have significantly more coverage.
Faye also noticed that the Talen boy wasn't eating any of the food.
She narrowed her eyes.
'Does this mean that we can't eat regular food?' she thought. And by "we," she meant Vampires as a whole.
Tsukuru glanced over from his table and saw that Sergeant Faye was still staring at Quinn.
When he saw her eyes narrow, he mistook this for suspicion.
Quinn had not yet told the two of his roommates about the whole "smell" thing, so as far as Tsukuru knew, Faye only had a suspicion that Quinn was a Vampire.
"Maybe if Quinn actually eats something, it will throw her off his scent,' Tsukuru thought, completely unaware just how ironicthat manner of speech was.
However, the problem was just what Quinn was supposed to eat? If their interaction on the Red Portal Planet, when Vorden had been eating Tsukuru's leftover lasagna, was anything to go by, normal food was pretty much poison to Quinn.
However, Tsukuru then thought of something. He remembered how Quinn had mentioned that one of the foods that hadn't tasted bland to him while he had been a Halfling had been cooked meat. Taking his recent evolution into account, maybe Quinn could still eat meat, but only if it was exceptionally rare.
Tsukuru placed his hands in front of him on the table and activated his Ability.
The sound of electronic interference could be heard again, causing the others to turn to him.
They watched as a mass of light-blue pixels began to cluster together between his hands, forming a large circle roughly the size of a plate. The interior of the circle was filled with a pile of chunks of varying sizes and shapes.
There was a bright flash of light.
When it faded, there was a white, ceramic plate on the table in front of Tsukuru. Covering the plate was a pile of chunks of pink meat, indicating that it was raw.
"Hey, Vorden," Tsukuru said, picking up the plate by the corner and holding it up. "Mind passing this over to Quinn?"
Vorden took the plate and looked at it.
"Is this…raw meat?" he asked.
"Yeah," Tsukuru replied. "There's an American snack called 'Steak Bites'. It's similar to things like French fries and mozzarella sticks. This is essentially the same idea."
Vorden continued to stare at the plate.
"Doesn't eating raw meat make people sick?" he asked, somewhat worried.
"Normal people, yes," Tsukuru agreed. "But, for someone like Quinn, eating cooked meat would probably make them sick."
Vorden glanced over at Quinn.
Tsukuru then narrowed his eyes.
"Sergeant Faye hasn't stopped staring at us since we walked in," he replied. "If you go the whole breakfast without eating something, Quinn, she'll just get even more suspicious."
Vorden raised an eyebrow in confusion.
"Just what is up with you two and Sergeant Faye this morning?" he asked.
There was a pause.
Eventually, Quinn spoke.
"She's…like me," he whispered in a low tone.
Even in a low whisper, and them being alone on this table, Quinn dared not say the word "Vampire" out loud.
Quinn reached over and grabbed the plate.
Vorden was almost surprised at Quinn's strength. But then, he remembered that Quinn wasn't exactly Human.
"Tsukuru has a point, though," he replied, as he placed the plate in front of him. "If I'm never seen eating around here, people might start asking questions."
Quinn picked up one of the pieces of pink meat and looked at it.
'At least my body isn't telling me to reject it, like with the Rattaclaw blood and Tsukuru's lasagna,' Quinn thought. 'That's a start.'
"The worst thing that could happen is that I have to spend a few minutes in the doctor's office due to food poisoning," he replied.
Quinn then opened his mouth and tossed a bite inside.
A moment later, Quinn's eyes widened.
The meat tasted delicious. Normally, when he ate meat, it tasted extremely salty. As if it had been dropped into a container of salt. However, this meat felt as if it was melting on his tongue.
Tsukuru and Vorden stared at Quinn, waiting to see what happened.
A moment later, Quinn hand lashed out and grabbed another piece.
The two then watched in stunned silence as Quinn began to scarf the food down.
"Well, looks like that answers that question," Tsukuru muttered.
"Uh-huh," Vorden added. "You feeling alright, Quinn?"
"Better than 'okay'," Quinn replied, as he continued eating like a madman. "I think this is the best meal I've ever had."
Vorden then glanced over at Tsukuru, an eyebrow raised.
"Just what kind of meat was that?" he asked.
A wide smirk crept across Tsukuru's face.
"It's something from my home country of Japan," he replied. "Premium Grade Wagyu Beef. And it's supposed to be the best meat in the world. In fact, a single pound of it costed over $30 in the old world."
Upon hearing Tsukuru's words, Quinn's hands froze.
A part of him told him to spit it up, while another part of him told him to just ignore it and keep eating.
Seeing Quinn's reaction to his words, Tsukuru rolled his eyes.
"Oh, don't act like that," he replied. "I told you before, money has no meaning to me."
***
Back with the two Sergeants, Faye continued to watch as Quinn was now eating whatever was on that plate like it was going out of style.
'Hmm, guess we can eat human food,' she thought.
Faye then reached into her pocket and pulled out a small box. It contained a twelve-pack of military-issue food pills. She had taken it with her before the mission, but she hadn't actually had any since she had become a Vampire.
She had been too afraid to.
As she stared down at the box, he felt a pit forming in her stomach. It was as if her body was almost warning her not to eat it.
However, she then shot one more glance over at Quinn.
'He doesn't seem to be having any problems,' Faye thought. 'Why should I?'
She reached into the box and pulled out a tiny pill, pinching it between the tips of her index and middle fingers. The pill was roughly the size of a pea and was a glossy, dark-green color. In fact, it looked like one of the "fish oil" pills from the old world.
Faye tilted her head back and opened her mouth. Then, she dropped the food pill in.
The second the pill started to go down her throat, her eyes widened.
Instantly, she began to choke wildly. It was as if she was choking on the pill.
'Choking?!' Faye thought frantically. 'How can I be choking?! The pill's the size of a pea, and it dissolves on contact!"
Hearing her choke, Shizuka immediately spun around to Faye.
"Faye!" she yelled, fear in her eyes. "Are you alright?!"
However, Faye didn't answer. Or to be more specific, she couldn't.
The next thing Faye knew, she had dropped to her knees. Shizuka watched in terror as her closest friend began heaving.
A moment later, Faye hurled all over the floor, blood on her vomit.
Shizuka's eyes widened to the point that her pupils were pinpricks.
"FAYE!" she yelled.
Shizuka's hand whipped up to her chest, and she jabbed her finger into the screen.
"I need a teleporter in the canteen now!" she yelled into the speaker. "We've got a Sergeant down!"
***
Back at their table, Tsukuru, Vorden, and Quinn all turned towards the commotion going on on the other side of the canteen.
"Huh," Tsukuru muttered as he saw Sergeant Faye still kneeling on the floor. "So that's what happens when a Vampire eats human food."
Quinn gulped.
He was now suddenly intensely glad that he hadn't decided to eat that lasagna back on the Red Portal Planet.
The group continued to watch as a pair of soldiers then teleported on either side of Sergeant Faye, pulling her up.
Tsukuru found himself wondering if the school had a dedicated squad just for teleporting people, or if it was the same two guys every time.
A moment later, Faye and the two soldiers vanished.
Meanwhile, Shizuka stared down at the pool of Faye's bloody vomit. She had never seen somebody have such an adverse reaction to taking a Food Pill.
'Faye…' Shizuka thought, her eyes narrowing. 'What the hell happened to you?'