King, visibly worried about Takumi, who was left behind due to the beloved coach's issues with their small unit's tactics, glanced at his comrad still on the battlefield, being slowly boxed in, and then turned his gaze back at the instructor, still holding Gloria tightly by the forearm as she probably held him and loudly, energetically replied to the scolding in the way he imagined a professional soldier would:

"Sir, I am most sorry Sir, but could i please ask permission to leave the knife sheathed on my person for i feel extremely uncomfortable without it! 'Tis not a crutch but something i've mistakenly considered a viable tactic for use during this course! I shall act most proper and honorably from now on and until the end of the excercise! Additionally, could i plead for Takumi to be granted the same short rest we've just received, sir?! He is put into a very unfair circumstances by being separated from his team!"

@Keksalot@TheHangedMan

Back on the quadrangle, people were starting to get frustrated with Takumi, and he'd attracted a small mob of people that were determined to catch him. There were about ten of them, a mix of upper and lower years, and had been trying to push him into a corner before surrounding him. One of them in particular was getting closer and closer to tagging Takumi.

Takumi noted that the coach removed his backup from the field, allowing his tail to build up in Gloria's absense. Apparently the coach felt the need to test him in problem-solving.

Now, this would take good timing.

Takumi cut the ghoststep and let the closest student come closer, barely three steps away.

Now you flinch.

His right hand fished out the glock from the holster and snapped high, firing off three rounds in quick succession straight upwards (Сrack! Crack! Crack!) ; then he dropped the gun, catching it by the barrel in his gloved left. Crouching low he used the pistol in his hand as a hook behind the closer student's knee, and jerked sharply to himself (with the intent to topple) while launching his own body in a sideways rolling motion.

Pablo smiled at the twins; they were clearly smarter than he thought they were. But, then again, the reverse applied...hopefully. Walking up to Luis' side, he spoke to the twin who was showing him wads of cash, making a counter-offer, smiling:

"If you think we have a price, let's think the same of you! Here's another proposal - if you guys come here and allow yourselves to be tagged, I'll go into business will you; my Noble Arm can grow any plant in existence as long as I have a seed, any plant at all! Surely, you know what plants can be grown for money, right?" Pablo was not, by any stretch of his imagination, using his Noble Arms, just advertizing them. Nor was he outright saying that he can grow weed, tobacco, or other easy money-makers with his plant-based Noble Arm; that was just an implication.

@TheHangedMan

@KindledBeast@TheHangedMan

Jessalyn’s Arm was almost in Grey's grasp when out of the blue a teacher appeared. She jumped, retracting her arm and placing her weapons back into their hyperspace. She frowned, when the teacher explained to them classes were practically done for the day. ”I see, that truly is a shame. Thank you for telling us, of course.”

She chewed on her bottom lip, before turning to accept Grey's offer. ”I'd love to, if you'll be my guide.” Her full lips turned upwards flirtatiously, and she sent him a wink. He was pretty good at casual sweet-talking, and it made Jessalyn wonder how many girls he had back home.

@SunsetRoses
"I'll certainly do my best, but be warned I'm prone to getting lost." Grey said with a smile while he walked in stride with the girl. "So where are you from Jessalyn?" he asked honestly intrigued by the girls accent, he was keeping his eyes on where they were walking noting the progress they had made. Every time they walked past a fire evacuation plan sign, he noted all the exits and the grounds in general. One thing intrigued him though a large, I've just purposefully messed up the Quadrangle. Grey smiled, "I wonder if that's where they have their duels or training?" He questioned himself mentally. Without fully realizing it he had began to steer his and Jessalyn's course toward the quadrangle.

@KindledBeast

”I was born and raised in Nigeria. Dit is werklik 'n pragtige plek.” She commended, transitioning from English to Afrikaans with ease. Speaking in her native tongue was one of her many relaxants, so she didn't mind if it confused people.

”Where are you from, Grey?” She asked, trying to regain his attention. Though she focused mainly on him, sometimes she would follow his eyes to signs and take note of them. She noticed they were making some turns in their basically straight path, and paused for a moment. ”Where are we headed?”

The day wasn't mandatory for schooling, but she had planned to meet her teachers. Grey relaxed her though, it was something about his calm attitude, and so she continued following him.

@SunsetRoses
"Oh wow that's rather exotic, did you experience much obstacles? Also I'm Ukrainian, I was born in Kiev." As Grey spoke he took a step closer to the girl, while reciting a rhyme in is head. "There was a crooked man, and he walked a crooked mile. he found a crooked sixpence upon a crooked stile. he bought a crooked cat, which caught a crooked mouse. and they all lived together in a little crooked house." A charming smile found it's way to his face, "We're going to the quad." he said with a slight wink, trying to lock gazes with Jessalyn.

@KindledBeast

Jessalyn thought of his origin in full, wondering what he had done previously in his Country, before being shipped off here. She had been forturnate, and wondered if he had the same ease. When he brought up obstacles, the scars on her face began to burn irritably. ”No, I was one of the lucky few. I did know many with obstacles though.”

She watched him take a step closer, which made her heart pound and her curiosity thrum. They had been flirting, but not enough for him to make a move. His charming smile and wink were no longer reassuring, because her suspicion had been fully aroused. She knew he hadn't been thinking she was an easy score, had he?

She took a tentative step to the side, increasing her pace so she was ahead of him. Her smile returned, and she glanced back at him. ”Oh yes, a quick spar would be lovely. Race you the rest of the way?”

She planned on getting there ahead of him, and disguising herself. It wasn't the most fair tactic, but she wanted to prove herself in a fight. Without waiting for his response, she rushed ahead, drawing out her fans as she moved. With a flick of her wrist, her fans bloomed and she fluttered them for an extra burst of speed.

@SunsetRoses
As the girl distanced herself from Grey a much different demeanor showed itself, his eyes becoming more narrow and a devilish grin finding it's way to his face. He spoke in a low tone knowing no one could hear him but just enjoying himself, "And so the hunt begins." He walked at a steady pace much slower than the girls. He was whistling a old folk song he had heard as a kid from the local drunkards. He made his ways to the door and exited slowly looking at what appeared to be a class training on the quad, he slowly made his way to a appropriate viewing area and watched the class fully forgetting about the girl.

The instructor rolled his eyes, before nodding. "Very well, keep it on if you want, but no bringing it out. For that matter, I advise you to do the same with your other classes."

That was when he heard the crack of a gun. Okay, now he was well aware that he said no Noble Arms, and not, "no weapons, period" but he would've appreciated a little common sense. This was a game of tag, not a gladiatorial arena, for Christs sake! Pinching the bridge of his nose, he blew his whistle.

"Takumi! Here, now!" he shouted. Really, sometimes these kids took things too far. The Academy didn't have a strict regulation on weapons -- what was the point? -- but that didn't mean that they were allowed to bring them out at every turn. Not to mention some of the parents of these students would absolutely freak if they realized just how prevalent holding a lethal weapon was here, regardless of their status as Arms Masters. If that happened that would turn into a headache with lots of PTA's that he was so glad he did not have to deal with. That was the principals job.

With Pablo, the twins shook their head in refusal.

"Sorry, no can do! We don't give trust funds," they said, smiling apologetically, suddenly, one of the twins turned her head, and waved her hand, "hey, big sis!"

Over to their right, just a short distance away, was Nishka. The twins had spotted her making a run for it around the quadrangle.

@Keksalot-@SunsetRoses-@KindledBeast-@Letter Bee-@Altasaire-@Eklispe

"Okay then," Pablo cocked his head, before turning to Luis.

"You know what to do, right?" he asked. 'What to do' was, of course, throw Pablo again.

@TheHangedMan, @banjoanjo

((Sorry if it was short))

At first, he was just confused.

“Uh, lunch? That’s great and all but you do realise it’s just a game, right? It's not that big a deal.”

His demeanor did a kamikaze as soon as he noticed the fat wallet. So these bastards were the kind of spoiled brats that bought their way out of everything. He despised these sorts of people, the kind who trampled on others to get what they wanted. The kind that abused their power and escaped the consequences of their actions with a swipe of their credit cards. The kind of people like his step-dad. They were starting so young now. These kids were using their money to win a game of freeze tag of all things. Luis shuddered to think of what they would do in the future with this sort of attitude, the things they would try to get away with.

To say Luis was pissed would be an understatement. He was fucking livid. It took everything he had not to dropkick his way through those gutless barricade bastards while Pablo was attempting to negotiate. Frankly he was pretty glad that his offer was turned down. Now no one would hold it against Luis if he gave those pampered brats what was coming to them.

He grit his teeth and spoke tersely.

“Of course. The Nishka Manoeuvre. Let’s go.”

He interlocked his fingers and lowered his hands to knee level, intending to launch Pablo over the barricade. Luis had regularly bench pressed much more than Pablo’s weight, so it wouldn’t be very difficult to lift him. As soon as Pablo was in the air, Luis would take a few steps back from the barricade and make a running tackle towards the human wall. It would serve as both a distraction and an attack. If it was a contest of strength Luis would undoubtedly make a worthy opponent, even if it was 6 against 1.

@Letter Bee @TheHangedMan

[Collab between HangedMan, Altasaire, Progenitus, and Keksalot]

Takumi slowly picked himself up from his roll, removed the gun back to where it was, and walked up to the instructor.

"Yes, sir?"

The instructor gave Takumi and strange look, before sighing. "Alright, Takumi, care to explain what you're doing using a gun in a, I repeat as I did for your friend, game of tag?"

"You have deigned it necessary to remove my support, sir. I could not ask for further instructions due to the field's... configuration, so in absense of further orders I tried to fullfil the one you gave to the running teams — "to get tagged as little as possible" to the best of my ability, since it seemed to me that you attempted to challenge me in atypical problem solving and lateral thinking. To that end I used the resources at my disposal, using the pistol as a non-harmful tool of psychological warfare and a non-body extension to be able to act upon people boxing me in without being frozen, sir. Should I have used a flashbang, sir?"

Takumi turned fractionally to Gloria, giving her a slightly quizzical look.

"I should note that it was rather effective, and I wasn't tagged yet, sir."

King chuckled quietly at the notion of the flashbang but immediately took hold of himself after a stern gaze from the instructor.

Gloria coughed, before stepping forward:
"Sir, ve see veapons brandished on te regular basis in tis school, yet te amount of damage populace sustains is minimal. Ve assumed ve could use veapons and, uh, movement tactics as a deterrent and stalling tool, since tis field is devoid of any cover or concealment, vhich does not leave us many oter options: ve did not vant to endanger oter teams to save ourselves. - she pointed with her tumb at teens haggling with their wallets out - And ve are not te only ones trying unortodox metods, as I can see from 'ere."

The instructor withheld sighing for the n'th time. It wouldn't do to look too frustrated with them. "Okay, the main problem here, really, is the use of tools. I know I only said no Noble Arms, okay, but there is also the implied understanding as per school rules of not using other tools as well," he said, staring at Takumi. "Using the resources you have at your disposal is something I can accept, but this isn't the time for it. I laid down ground rules, you simply have to maked do with them."

"Understood, sir!" King barked, then immediately inquiring:
"Question, sir! What constitutes a tool?!"

Takumi shrugged.
"I probably wouldn't have escaped otherwise, skill or no. Permission to rejoin the exercise, with clarified instructions, sir?"

"Of course, though for the record, Takumi, I would've excused you had you gotten tagged." He turned to King, after a moment. "Anything that you can take off painlessly from your body," he said bluntly, "In all honesty though, just use a little common sense."

"Then should we disrobe completely for this excerci~" King spoke when the instructor finished the first part of his sentence. "Ah. Yes, excuse me."
Gloria facepalmed silently.

"This also means cutting yourself a bit with the knife first works," — noted Takumi wryly. "Are those hagglers going to get a similar treatment, sir?"
"Money is painless to remove, I guess..."

"I'm not haggling!" King turned to Takumi. "I'm asking!"

Takumi pointed at the people trying to out-bribe each other instead of saying anything else.

The instructor looked at the kids. He was about to say yes, up until he realized one thing. The instructor began laughing, and began waving a hand dismissively. "No, no, they're fine. Hahaha, smart sons of b- er, yeah."

"So," King inquired, his head tilted to the left slightly and his fingers interwined, "Knives are not okay, but bribery is"?
"Twenty-first century at it's finest."

"Look closer, they haven't given a single peso," he said, with a grin. "Empty promises. Just words, nothing else." Sure enough, the kids were simply popping their wallets open, spouted promises, and never actually took out a bill or coin.
"Hrm. Could ve use non-combat-rated veaponry too as an intimidation factor ten?" - scratched her chin Gloria.

"I fail to see how weapons are non-combat, but like I said, no tools . . . used, anyway," he said, with a non-commital grunt.

Gloria shrugged:"Permission to demonstrate te example of non-combat weaponry, sir?"
" A weapon with no wounds inflicted is functionally the same as a wallet with no money paid, sir."
"I think Gloria means that."
"Still a tool, so I fail to see how it's different from our situation, sir. And, more pertinently, I'm pretty sure we're out of ten minutes. Are we going to go on, sir?"

The instructor looked at the watch in his hands, before nodding. He gave Takumi a sly glance. "You didn't plan on getting called out here to avoid being tagged, did you boy?"
"I didn't, but if I did, it would have been a viable plan to deal with the situation while having limited resources at my disposal, would it have not?"
Takumi is calm and doesn't emote much.

The instructor grunted and looked at his watch for a few seconds. His mouth mimicked counting down slowly. Five, four, three, two, one . . .

A loud whistle blew through the air, and students halted in their tracks.

The twins confronting Pablo and Luis froze as they suddenly launched themselves at them, and skittered back several times in fear, before freezing as the whistle sounded. Sighing in relief, the two smiled at each other and high-fived. "Sorry, big brothers, but it looks like today isn't your lucky day," one twin said cheekily.

The instructor stepped up, and called the students together into five lines. He then further divided them, with one line looking a lot less spirited than others. "Okay, so the teams that got tagged. There'll be a penalty for-"

He paused, abruptly turning his head. A man dressed in military garb approached him.

"Wait, take five you guys," he said, waving off the class. The two spoke in hushed voices, and the instructor grimaced. With a nod of understanding, the instructor gave a sharp salute, and returned to the class.

"Well, guys, looks like classes are going to be cancelled earlier than announced. Effective immediately, all classes are dismissed from today up until tomorrow. Also, students are advised to wait in the school for their guardians to pick them up, if no such guardian is available, you are to take a school bus which will bring straight you home. Do not under any cirumstance continue to loiter outside of the school. Class dismissed, and be safe on the way back."

What he wasn't telling the class; a senator living close by had just been killed. His home was missing a few important documents, specifically, documents relating to a bill regarding A-rank Arms Masters in the Philippines. This, compounded with the recent terrorist bombing, had raised the alert level exponentially. The murdered senator was not an easy person to get to, especially when he had other Arms Masters under his employ.

"We'll continue with the exercise next week," he said.

The class collectively smiled. A scant few would probably follow his advice, seeing it as dull or boring. The issue of the terrorist bombing would practically be a none issue for them -- at most, this was simply them being allotted a day free of classes.

---

After class was dismissed, a more than a few students were dismayed to find that they were not allowed to be let out of the school unless they were being fetched. Others chose to wait for there drivers, while others spent some time playing basketball in the courtyard, and in general just loitering about, where they could.

The lights inside of Stadium Three was open, and it so were the schools gyms.

@Keksalot-@SunsetRoses-@KindledBeast-@Letter Bee-@Altasaire-@Eklispe-@M127-@Eklispe

The Quadrangle

"Luis," said Pablo, "can you meet me and possibly Reinhard in the library in five minutes? Bring anyone you trust as well; I want to investigate this." And by 'investigate this', Pablo wanted to know what threat caused this abrupt shutdown; it was obvious that the city's security situation was declining. He knew that Luis had no obligations to him, but was hoping that mutual curiosity and a nascent 'bond' with each other would get him into his group. Once Luis had given his reply, he would go to Reinhard, asking him the same question. Then, he would go to the library.

The Library

Pablo would look at anyone who followed them here.

"I'll call my dad to come here and serve as our legal guardian, as well as inform us of any news that the teachers aren't telling us. Then, he'll drive us to Guerrero Street, where I plan to look for plot threads that lead to the Hammer or Disablers."

@TheHangedMan, @banjoanjo, [@Eklipse], @M127

"I would prefer a meeting point outside of school property. Whatever is happening, the school or rather its students seem to be a possible targets, otherwise they would have just continued normally. And if that is the case, I don't want to be anywhere near school property."
Reinhard let his spear float next to himself in the air while answering Pablo's question.

Later, in the library, Reinhard mostly remained close to the walls. He didn't show any easily readable signs of tension, but he was always leaning against walls or bookshelves in locations where he predicted intruders wouldn't look, shoot or breach.
"I would prefer to get out on my own, and follow you from a safe distance and height. The vehicle with multiple students in it would likely make for a target, if my assumptions are correct."

"I would prefer a meeting point outside of school property. Whatever is happening, the school or rather its students seem to be a possible targets, otherwise they would have just continued normally. And if that is the case, I don't want to be anywhere near school property."
Reinhard let his spear float next to himself in the air while answering Pablo's question.

Later, in the library, Reinhard mostly remained close to the walls. He didn't show any easily readable signs of tension, but he was always leaning against walls or bookshelves in locations where he predicted intruders wouldn't look, shoot or breach.
"I would prefer to get out on my own, and follow you from a safe distance and height. The vehicle with multiple students in it would likely make for a target, if my assumptions are correct."

A nod at that, as Pablo tried to hide his disappointment at Luis not being there, or at least, not being visibly there.

"That is probably for the best," he said.

@Altasaire
Grey grew tired of watching the students and was just standing up as the teacher dismissed the students, "Now I can actually have fun." He thought to himself as he made his way to a small group of students. He chose one student in particular to address first. "Hello, I don't believe we've met, I was late so I didn't get to meet very many people." Grey tried to be as formal as possible. His demeanor was very relaxed and unguarded, he let his guard down for a few moments looking between the members of the group.

@KindledBeast

"Hi! You a first-year?"- Takumi asked, putting freshly summoned Vox Vulgaris into its sheath with a practiced motion. It clicked, snapping in place, and Takumi did a practice turn to check for snags and for people who might be watching him to break maintained visual contact.

Luis had successfully knocked through about two of the taggers before the whistle blew. He clicked his tongued annoyedly, ignoring the glares from the students he decked. Next time he saw those twins, he wasn't gonna waste his opportunity.

"Luis," said Pablo, "can you meet me and possibly Reinhard in the library in five minutes?"

The muscled boy shook his head ruefully.

"Apologies mi pana, got a prior engagement. Maybe afterwards. Catch ya later."

He relayed his phone number to Pablo before leaving for the locker rooms to get changed. Man, if he knew that tomorrow's classes were cancelled too, then he would have saved his extra studying for later instead of enduring the unholy raucousness of his classmates. He waited by the gate, hoping that the bus to the city wouldn't take too long. He took the folded note from his pocket, given to him by his landlord the day before.

It read in flowery handwriting: "The piano arrives tomorrow. If you could take it up to my apartment for me, I'll compensate you well. A. Castillo"

Luis had planned to transport the upright Petrof to Mrs Castillo's top level apartment by using the service elevator, but it had conveniently broken down the night before. Therefore, Luis decided to turn to Nishka. He knew that she would greatly appreciate his landlord's reward. He had done a few errands for her in the past and it had always been worth it.

Luis sighed and stared to the sky. He wouldn't be surprised if Nishka decided to ditch because of the freeze tag game, but he sincerely hoped otherwise.

@Eklispe