Eye see what you did there!

To say the double period PE was a waste of time would've been an utter lie. Where John wanted to train at least one skill in the beginning, he ended up with training six skills at once:

Parkour, Lv.5

Transreceptive Eye, Lv.6
You can now communicate to people through your Bond. People can only communicate with you if you instigate the communication.

Acrobatics, Lv.4
New moves unlocked: Cartwheel, Side Roll, Handstand

Buzzing Hummingbird, Lv.2

Observe, Lv.7
You can now see the Relationship Status of people you Observe

Physical Resistance, Lv.6

He didn't really plan to increase Physical resistance, but due to his split concentration he more than once landed on a wall or the floor in an unpleasant way that made him lose a total of 25 HP, which wasn't really too bad, but it really wasn't the best thing... Observe he leveled up for a different reason, simply because he wanted to see how his various actions might affect the people around him and their view towards him. Surprisingly, he gained the most RP with people when he faceplanted in hilarious ways and only gaining a smidgen if any at all when he did something cool. Was this what people said when they claim they want a 'funny partner'? His spamming of Observe also revealed some other information about his classmates. Most of them barely knew him and didn't even acknowledge him up until now, gaining him some positive scores, with some rare exceptions.

There was also a girl by the name of Anna Klein that John hadn't ever been aware of really who had the highest RP with +75. Did he do something for her at some point, or was she just a generally friendly person? She certainly did look friendly, with a curvy body that most girls likely called 'chubby', but guys wouldn't even mind. John could see in her eyes that she certainly was of the mindset embedded into girls that they had to be 'slim and athletic' to get a guy, mostly lacking confidence in her eyes... He thought about helping her with her problems, at least a bit, but for now, he had to save his Mana for what was coming after school. Maybe he could help her in the coming days when his schedule wasn't as reliant on Mana...

By now the period was over, and coach Conroy dismissed all of them with words about how everyone wouldn't actually reach any goals if they were as lazy as they are.

'Always the motivational speaker,' thought John while changing back into his school uniform. Coach Conroy obviously cared only about his own success as a coach and didn't really bother with the actual teaching of the rest of the students... Pity, because the class today showed that he could make it as quite a good teacher if he'd actually have given a damn about it. Oh well, not like he was the only teacher that was like this.

Taking the opportunity of having nothing to do except changing his clothes, John tried his new ability with the Transreceptive Eye to communicate with Astrid. Sending out his thoughts through the Bond somehow, he sent her, 'Hey, don't be alarmed that you hear me, I'm actually in the changing room by the gym. It's a skill I got through my powers, and it connects you with me because of the sex we had... I totally forgot before to say where we meet after school, so I guess we should meet in front of the school? You should be able to answer through this connection as well, maybe try to concentrate on the feeling you get when you hear me?'

Since he had no idea how it actually sounded when he used that skill he had no clue how she could respond, but not a moment later he heard her voice in his head as well, "A, don't do that without warning me! I got startled when I heard your voice. B, that sounds like a really useful skill and C, sounds good, I'll meet you there once the class is over."

Okay, it was a weird feeling, indeed; it felt like there was a tiny intercom somewhere in his head, but it could be really useful if you didn't have the time to write someone via phone, like in the middle of a battle. This would mean that John had to be bonded to everyone on his side in a battle to communicate with, but seeing as how he's just about to get into some adventuring with two girls he's bonded with, that didn't sound like the biggest problem.

Once he was done changing, John quickly left the changing room, not giving Frank any time to gloat and make fun of John as he just entered when John picked up his alibi bag and left through the other door leading to the rest of the school, disappearing into the crowd of students filing out of the school.

Outside, he was quickly able to find Astrid, standing next to one of the benches outside, attentively looking for him. He could see that she still wasn't comfortable around large groups of people (not like he expected her 'recovery' to change anything about that), but she was clearly less panicked by the large masses. As she saw John, she quickly did what John did to her before: grabbing him by his arm and pulling him into a direction without saying a word, the direction being away from the school. John thankfully already knew where they were going, so there was no need to explain it anyway.

Off to the vet, they went!

The trip went quite uneventful, no sudden Barriers popping up and no weirdo sneaking up on them. On the way, they mostly talked about Astrid's and John's shared interest: Literature. Sure, John mostly talked about fantasy books and smut, but to at least some of them, Astrid had some knowledge, nothing newer than six years though because of obvious reasons. Their route took them east of the school via the closest bus stop. As they exited the bus, John knew that they weren't that far from the Treasure Cove, but Astrid directed him in another direction where they soon reached the curious combination of pet shop and veterinary clinic. In big letters above the entrance stood the name of the store: Bugs, Bunnies and Beyond.

The ground floor of the building consisted solely of the storefront for the pet shop, only hinting at the existence of the veterinary because of a message in the windows, stating that the vet was on the second floor and could be reached through the shop. That was quite the devious way to set up things since now people who already had pets would need to go through the store to get to the doctor and maybe find something for their animals.

As they entered the store, John could see that the store was pretty much exactly what he expected, a shop for pets and various accessories for pets, but the range of offered animals and accessories was something he did not expect. There were things for every animal John could think of, even up to things like saddles and horseshoes (Springfield had some really avid horseback riders and a big thing for races). At the clerk's desk, he could see one of the Valkyries, Anja if he remembered correctly, the one who gave John the spear, wasting time on her phone while customers roamed the shop.

Astrid and John approached her as she put her phone away, greeting them both, "Ah, Astrid, good to see you back, your mom already waits for you upstairs. And I see you made a friend. How's it going with the spear? Can you even carry it yet?" she asked, looking at John.

"Oh yeah, I can even fight with it, no problem," answered John with a big grin.

"Wow, that was quick. It took me weeks to get the strength to properly carry that thing. You really must be something... Guess it's no wonder why Brunhilde has thrown her eye on you, huh? She always finds the weird ones. Now, I've wasted enough of your time. Go up there; I think Brun should be done by now as well."

After bidding short goodbyes, they went up the stairs where they were met by a glass door with the printing, 'Petra Gjoskenholm, Veterinarian, Small Animal practices, Exotic Animal practices, Farm Animal Practices'. Behind it was a clinic with a very modern and minimalistic design. The rooms were bright, and each of them glowed in another color. At the reception desk next to the door sat Brun with another girl, already waiting with a bored expression on her face, "Finally, took you two long enough... So, let's see mom and then we can bounce!"

At that point, John interjected with a question, "Actually, I might have something your mom should look over for the time being because I can't make heads or tails of it. Is she free right now?"

"Yeah, she should be available right now, not a client for the next hour. What do you have? I'm gonna assume it's something that falls under the 'exotic' category, knowing you?" answered Brun with a raised eyebrow.

John had to sheepishly laugh at that point and curiously looked at the other girl that sat at the reception, "Maaaybe... But I think it's better to talk about this in private."

And with that, Brun stood up from her spot at the reception and led him and Astrid into one of the rooms.