The Harpie looked back at Tsukuru on her back, still as a statue.
Reaching back with one hand, she grabbed the back of his hoodie.
Using her other hand, she gently pried his arms around her sternum apart.
She then grabbed him off of her back and held him up in front of her, holding him up at eye level, her claws wrapped around either bicep.
"My Liege?" She asked, as she looked him eye-to-eye, worry on her face.
Her eyes widened, a look of pure terror appearing on her face.
"My Liege?!" She cried, as she began to vigorously shake him up and down, trying to snap him out of his current state. "My Liege, are you alright?!?"
The Harpie kept shaking him in desperation, until she felt a hand wrap around her right wrist.
Looking down, she saw that Tsukuru had his hand wrapped around her arm, him trying to pry it off of him.
"I won't be…if you keep keep…shaking me like a maraca!" He replied in a dizzied, clipped tone.
Instantly, the Harpie's eyes widened.
She dropped Tsukuru like she was touching a hot stove.
Tsukuru fell to his feet, and he began to stumble.
He brought his hand to his head.
Looking around, the whole world seemed to be shifted on its axis, with Tsukuru seeing multiple copies of everything in his line of sight.
"I'm fine!" He replied, as he began to walk around. "Just…gotta get used to the landing!"
However, to the soldiers around, it looked like the walk of a heavily drunken man, Tsukuru stumbling around dizzily.
Eventually, Tsukuru fell flat on his face, looking like an old drunk passing out.
The Harpie's eyes widened.
"My Liege!" She yelled in worry.
The Harpie flapped her wings, propelling herself into the air, and flew down to his side.
She put her hand on his shoulder.
'This is all my fault!' the Harpie thought, dejected. 'If I hadn't tried to show off, this wouldn't have happened!'
Slowly, Tsukuru stood up, the Harpie's hand sliding off of his shoulder as he did.
"I'm fine!" Tsukuru said, still holding his head. "Just…got a little dizzy…"
Tsukuru stood there in place until the ground no longer looked like it was tilting to him.
He then walked forward, the Harpie following after him, a saddened expression on her face.
A few feet away, a man in his early twenties sat at the theater's ticket booth.
He had long, brown hair and had hazel eyes.
He also wore a blue uniform with a matching blue cap on his head.
As he sat in the booth, he had a bored expression on his face.
As he looked ahead, he saw a woman approaching him.
The woman had long, red hair and light-blue skin, as well as bird claws in the place of hands, and feathered wings growing out of her arms.
The girl had a depressed look on her face.
The man raised an eyebrow in confusion.
Suddenly, he saw two hands reach up from below the booth, and begin to lift a boy's body up.
The boy had long, blonde hair and blue eyes, and wore a custom black-and-blue hoodie over his uniform.
The man looked at the boy, the bored expression still on his face.
"Can I help you?" He asked, leaning with his hand under his cheek.
"I'm looking for a group of three students." Tsukuru replied, eyes narrowed. "Two Level 1s and a Level 5."
Instantly, the man's eyes narrowed.
He instantly recognized the group the boy was referring to.
Two rather unimpressive-looking boys, one with black, curly hair and one with brown hair and glasses, and a blonde-haired boy who was built like a TRUCK.
The man let out a sigh.
"Oh, those three." He muttered, before turning back to the boy. "They went to screening room 3."
Hearing this, Tsukuru nodded.
"Two tickets for that area, then." He replied.
Hearing this, the Harpie's eyes widened.
Instantly, she snapped her head towards Tsukuru, a look of deep surprise on her face.
The man rolled his eyes.
"That'll be 10 credits, please." He muttered.
Tsukuru thought about withdrawing the credit card linked to his student account from his System's Inventory.
He had placed it in there as soon as he had gotten it, to ensure that he never lost it, and that it never got stolen.
The man behind the counter raised an eyebrow, as translucent pixels began to appear in the boy's hand.
The pixels clustered together into the form of a rectangle.
There was a bright flash of light.
When it faded, the boy was holding a grey, plastic card.
It was the generic, mass-produced cards given to the students on the base.
Tsukuru slid the card into the long, horizontal slot in the metal card scanner attached to the outside of the ticket booth.
As he did, a computer screen inside the ticket booth flickered to life.
Taking up the whole upper-left corner of the screen was Tsukuru's student photo.
Filling the screen beneath the image was various rows of information.
Name: Hikiko Tsukuru
Age: 16
Sex: Male
Hair Color: Blonde
Eye Color: Blue
Ability Level: 2.3
Ability: Original
Affiliation: Military, Green Family
Designation: 1st-Year Student
Homeroom Teacher: Del Rowan
Combat Class: Beast Weapons
A moment later, a ding was heard.
"You're all set." The man replied with a bored tone.
He ripped two orange tickets off of the long reel, and handed them to Tsukuru.
Tsukuru took the two tickets in his hand, and jumped back down to the ground.
He turned to the Harpie.
"C'mon, let's go." He replied.
The Harpie nodded.
"Yes, my liege." She replied, as she followed after him.
As the two entered the theater, they saw a large snack booth.
It was lined with various forms of candy and sweets.
It also had a large drink selection, and a large popcorn machine on the side.
Tsukuru walked up to the booth.
The worker, a woman in her early twenties with long, blonde hair and wearing the same outfit as the man at the ticket booth, looked down at Tsukuru.
Like the man selling tickets, she had a bored expression on her face.
"One large popcorn." Tsukuru replied. "I'll also take two medium sodas, and a box of those and those."
Tsukuru pointed towards a translucent paper bag filled with multi-colored cubes made up of a soft, gummy candy, covered in white specks, as well as a plastic bag filled with small, chocolate "cups" with ridges along the sides.
The girl wrung up his order without a care in the world.
"20 credits." She replied.
Hearing this, Tsukuru grit his teeth.
'No matter how many years go by, the shit at movie theaters will always be expensive…' He thought bitterly.
Like before, Tsukuru slid his card into the card scanner.
As his hand was outstretched, he could see his credit balance displayed on his wristwatch drop. It decreased from "20,800" to "20,770".
Tsukuru activated his Ability, causing the sound of electronic interference to fill the area.
Hearing it caused the woman's eyebrow to raise.
Then, she watched as the food and drinks became enveloped in an aura of glitching, translucent pixels.
As Tsukuru lifted up his arm, the food and drinks began to levitate in the air. He folded his arm back, causing it all to float in the air towards him.
Tsukuru placed the two bags of snacks in his hoodie's pocket, and then moved the two drinks over towards the Harpie.
She grabbed the two drinks, holding one in each hand.
Tsukuru then brought the bag of popcorn to his chest, and deactivated his Skill.
As the popcorn began to fall, Tsukuru grabbed it with both hands.
Tsukuru and the Harpie then began to make their way towards the theater's line of auditorium doors.
When they reached the door labeled "3", Tsukuru grabbed the door, and turned it to the side.
An audible chunk was heard, and Tsukuru pressed the door open.