He hesitantly offered his hand to the girl lying on the ground. "Hey... I'm Jaune."

The girl smiled. "Ruby." She took his hand.

That was when pink spiritual handcuffs slapped themselves over their wrists.

Ruby stared in shock before she gasped with delight. "Oh my gosh, you're my soulmate!" She gasped again, but in horror. "Oh my gosh, you're my soulmate! What will Yang say? What will Uncle Qrow do? Oh, Dad is going to be furious!"

While she was rambling, Jaune mentally groaned in frustration. 'Knew I shouldn't have done that.'

"Oh, none of that matters! We're soulmates!" She grabbed his hands and got real close. "Do you like cookies and/or strawberries? What's your opinion on weapons, specifically scythes and sniper rifles? Can I see your weapon, please?!"

'Curse my sense of sympathy.'

"Wait, do that later. We have to find where everyone else went quick. Come on!" Ruby held onto his hands and ran with her Speed Semblance.

'Urgh, I think I'm going to puke again.'

"Yang, guess what! I found my soulmate!" Ruby showed off the transparent pink handcuffs attached to her wrist.

Yang blinked in confusion and shock. This was the last thing she expected to hear when she waved her sister over. She looked over the boy, who was staring at the ground and sounded quite sick. Wait, sick? "Hey," Yang growled in realization. "You were the one who puked over my shoes!"

Jaune looked up to her. "Sorry, motion sickness."

Clang!

Yang looked at her wrist. Pink handcuffs. And the chain was connected to the boy's own handcuffed wrist. She grumbled. "Well, I guess I can forgive my soulmate. But just this once."

"Hey, no fair! He's my soulmate!" Ruby objected. "I saw him first! Stop trying to steal him away already!"

"Sis, I don't make the rules." Yang looked to the boy again, who was blankly staring at his wrist. She couldn't blame him. Still, this was a golden opportunity. "Hope you're fine with us sharing, 'cause you're getting a two-for-one sister package deal."

Jaune gave her a blank stare. "Uh huh. Sure."

"Hey, act more excited." Yang playfully patted his cheek. "We're not that bad."

"Aw man, today's just full of ups and downs," Ruby complained. "Get into Beacon, explode in the first two minutes. Find my soulmate, then my sister takes my soulmate! Can't I just get something nice without something bad happening?"

Yang held up a hand. "First of all, I didn't take him. We're sharing now. Second, what was that about you exploding?"

"You!" Ruby, Yang, and Jaune turned to see a white-haired girl stomping towards them.

"Protect me!" The blonde sister held her arms out, but blinked when Ruby instead jumped into her/their soulmate's embrace. "Ouch..." Yang figured Jaune had the same idea as her when he didn't even make the attempt to catch her. Yang watched as this new girl berated her sister about her apparent explosion. She finally stepped in when Ruby got a pamphlet shoved in her face.

"Look, uh, it sounds like you two just got off on the wrong foot. Why don't you start over and try to be friends, okay?"

"Great idea, sis!" Ruby cleared her throat. "Hello, Weiss! I'm Ruby! Wanna hang out? We can go shopping for school supplies!"

"Yeah!" Weiss said with obviously fake enthusiasm. "And we can paint our nails and try on clothes and talk about cute boys, like tall, blonde, and scraggly over there!" She pointed at Jaune.

"Okay, a maybe to the nails and clothes, but he's off limits!" Ruby hugged Jaune and showed off her handcuffs. "This is my soulmate."

Weiss blinked in shock. This young dunce had a soulmate? She took a good second look at him. Tall, blonde, and scraggly, indeed he was. In terms of appearance, he looked fairly average. What caught her attention though was the look on his face. He looked resigned, so done with everything. His eyes looked like they were begging for anyone to put him out of his misery.

"My soulmate too, by the way." The other blonde said as she too displayed her handcuffs attached to the blonde boy.

"Oh, I forgot to introduce them to you too. This is my sister Yang, and my soulmate's name is Jaune."

"Our soulmate."

Oh wow. Two soulmates? With one being that exploding dunderhead and the other with her sister who looked like a harlot? No wonder this Jaune looked so defeated. He must've spent years with those two, getting caught in their shenanigans. Weiss gave him the most understanding of looks. "You have my sympathies."

Jaune groaned. "Of course." Huh? What did he mean by that? And did someone touch her hand just now?

"NO! You can't be soulmates too!" Soulmates? She looked at her wrist. Pink handcuffs. The chains leading to... Jaune. "You're not stealing him away! Yang was enough!" Ruby exclaimed.

"We're sharing sis."

Jaune interjected softly, "I didn't agree to that."

Weiss could only stare in shock. Her soulmate... had two other soulmates! Harems were extremely rare. Very few ever formed in Remnant's soulmate history. She didn't think that someone like her, the heiress to the Schnee Dust Company, would ever get involved in one. Was it too late to back out? Weiss looked at her apparent soulmate once more. His despaired face conveyed it all to her. No, she couldn't abandon her soulmate, even if this relationship would become a polygamous one! The only thing left to do was beat those two girls. 'Just because they saw him first, doesn't mean they're his number one! I'll show Jaune I'm better than this child and her hussy sister!'

A cough was heard through the auditorium. The four teens and everyone else in the room turned their attention to Headmaster Ozpin, standing in front of the microphone, with Professor Goodwitch by his side. "I'll... keep this brief," Ozpin said as he and Goodwitch scanned each face in the room. "You-" Two pink chains shot out and hit a single figure. The Headmaster stared at the boy with two new chains. "-shall come to my office after initiation." With that, he made his leave. Goodwitch could handle the rest as soon as she was done choking on air.

Jaune facepalmed. Ruby, Yang, and Weiss felt their souls leaving their bodies. 'The Headmaster and Goodwitch too!?'

Later that night...

The boy stepped out of the bathroom, revealing his blue onesie and bunny slippers. Naturally, one passerby in the boy's locker room couldn't help but remark. "Nice outfit dork."

Clang!

"Thanks," Jaune said dryly as he walked passed another one of his soulmates.

Jaune heard a guy cheering up the flabbergasted teen, "Congrats Cardin! Wait, isn't that the guy who's soulmates with Ozpin and Goodwitch?" Ignoring the rest of the conversation, Jaune got his sleeping bag and made his way to the ballroom. Luckily, he found an empty spot in the middle. He put his bag down, slid himself inside, and closed his eyes, welcoming sleep's embra-

"Hey Jaune! I hope you don't mind if I sleep here with you." Jaune opened his eyes to see Ruby lying down on her own sleeping bag and she was awfully close to his left side.

Before he could retort, he felt another person on his right. "I apologize Jaune, but I'm ashamed to say I couldn't prevent Ruby and Yang from intruding upon you tonight."

The last one made her presence near his head and "whispered" into his ear, "She caved in when I let her have my spot at your arm."

With a flushed face, Weiss slapped her hand over Yang's mouth. "Shut up! Don't tell him that!"

'Urgh, the sooner I fall asleep, the better.' He closed his eyes once more and tried to relax. Quite difficult when Yang was playing with his hair while Ruby and Weiss got as close as possible to him.

Ruby whined, "Aw, you're going to sleep already? I wanted to talk some more."

"You should follow his example," Weiss said with a huff. "Or don't. It makes no difference to me whether you're ready. I intend to be fully prepared for tomorrow."

"Hey, is that a onesie you're wearing?" Yang rhetorically asked with a teasing smile as she took a peak inside his sleeping bag. "You know, if you get hot, you can always take it off to cool down. I'll even help if you ask nicely."

Ruby chided, "Don't be gross Yang!"

"Absolutely not!" Weiss growled while sporting a blush. "I won't allow you to harass Jaune like that!"

"Make such suggestions again and I'll forbid you from taking Initiation, Miss Xiao Long."

"Wait," said a confused Ruby. "Why are you here Professor Goodwitch?"

The professor placed a sleeping bag next to them. "To prevent anyone in this... harem from engaging in any elicit activities. Clearly I'm needed."

'She just wants to be close to him,' the girls thought jealously.

'Oh good. Just what I needed,' Jaune mentally snarked. It was bad enough with the sleeping bag triangle. Now he was boxed in from all sides, with Goodwitch at his legs. 'I can't sleep like this.'

"Wait Jaune, where are you going?"

"Jaune, don't leave me because of this filthy girl's mouth!"

"Hey Lover Boy, I was just kidding!"

"Does he... not like older women?"

Jaune dumped his sleeping bag next to a random person. "Mind if I sleep here?"

Said person stopped furiously writing in her notebook to answer in monotone (despite her red face), "Yes actually."

Jaune blinked. "Oh. Okay, sorry to bother you."

Clang!

"...Okay, you can stay. I'm Blake, by th- Hey, where are you going?"

'Forget this place. I'll just find a janitor's closet or something.'

Mwah! Mwah! Mwah! Mwah! Mwah! Mwah! Mwah! Mwah! Mwah!

Mwah! Mwah! Mwa- Beep!

His kissing alarm would always be annoying. He forced himself out of the janitor's closet and performed his morning duties. He ignored the hyperactive ginger and her black haired (with a single pink strand) friend, who appeared quite dead on the inside, as they too got dressed, brushed their teeth, ate breakfast, and went to the weapons locker room for Initiation.

Meanwhile, Weiss was staring at Pyrrha Nikos. Yes, THE Pyrrha Nikos. Four time Mistral Regions Tournament winner in a row. Top of her class at Sanctum Academy. Had her face on the box of every Pumpkin Pete's Marshmallow Flakes cereal box! When Weiss heard that she was attending Beacon Academy, she was giddy. With Pyrrha by her side, they could become unstoppable school celebrities, unrivaled in grades and combat! It was the perfect plan!

'But teams are made up of four people, and no doubt that little milk carton and cow are going to team up with my Jaune. I can't leave him alone with those unruly sisters! Forgive me Pyrrha. Our brilliant future is but a fading dream now. Please understand. I must look out for my soulmate's, Jaune Schnee's, best interests.'

"Excuse me, can I help you?" Huh? "You've been staring at me for quite some time now," Pyrrha said with a nervous smile.

"Oh, my apologies!" Weiss bowed her head. "I was just... thinking what could've been."

"Excuse me?" Where's a distraction when you needed one?

She felt a bump from her side. "Oh. Sorry."

"Jaune!?" Weiss turned to him cheerfully. "Were you looking for me?"

"Actually, I was-"

"Did you see Ruby and Yang first?"

"Well, no, but I-"

Weiss didn't listen to the rest, for she sported a victorious smirk and gloated mentally, 'Hah! Take that little girl and big-boobed blonde bimbo! This proves Jaune prefers me over you!'

By the look on her face, Jaune could clearly see he lost her.

"Um, is she alright?" Weiss snapped out of it and both she and Jaune focused on Pyrrha.

"Apologies. I was lost in thought."

'Clearly,' Jaune thought dryly.

"Anyway, I like to introduce my soulmate. This here is Jaune."

'Oh crap, better leave while I can.'

"Jaune, this is Pyrrha Nikos."

He was already walking away. "I don't care."

Clang!

'Damn, I was too careless.'

As Weiss stared with an open jaw, Pyrrha took a look at her transparent pink handcuffs. She looked back to Jaune. Pyrrha narrowed her eyes and smiled. 'I must make him mine!'

While he was hurled into the Emerald Forest, Jaune had clasped his hands together and closed his eyes, silently praying to any merciful deity watching him that he would not be partnered up with any soulmat-

He suddenly found himself speared to a tree. The javelin stuck in his hoodie looked exactly like the one that Nikos girl had on her back when they were in the locker rooms. "Guess she's one of those girls." Jaune took hold of and removed the javelin from his hood. Once he safely landed, he stabbed the weapon into the grass and immediately ran away from the area. He stopped after a solid thirty seconds of running. He found himself in a grassy field. Jaune crossed his arms and laid out his options. "Ruby, Yang, Weiss, the girl with the bow on her head, Cardin, and Nikos. They are definite no's. Are there any safe options? Hmm... No. Damn. I really hate this partner system."

Hiss!

"Look out!"

Jaune quickly dodged to the side, the white head of the King Taijitu barely missing him. Jaune unsheathed his sword just as the snake came back to him, jaws wide open. The very moment before it could take a bite of him, Jaune jumped as high as he could and aimed his sword downward. The blade easily stabbed straight into the snake's skin when he landed. Wasting no time, he gripped tightly onto his sword and ran along the body. He ran all the way from the King Taijutu's white snake to the black one and upon reaching the black head, Jaune retracted his sword from the body and stabbed the snake's red eye. The Grimm writhed and swung its head to fling him off to no avail.

"Jump off! I'll finish it!" Jaune listened to the voice and leaped off in time to watch a boy his age deliver a palm strike directly in the middle of the snake's head, causing it to explode. Which caused the upper part of its black body to split in half. At the death of its conjoined twin, the white snake retaliated against the two.

It met a similar fate.

Jaune sheathed his sword. He turned to his ally. It was the same black-haired boy with the single pink strand from this morning. "Thanks."

"You're welcome." The boy suddenly raised his eyebrows in realization. "It seems we're partners. My name is Lie Ren."

"Jaune Arc."

There was the familiar sound of metal.

Ren looked at his new handcuff. He bowed to his new soulmate. "I'll be in your care."

Jaune groaned. "Let's just go find those Relics."

The two walked in silence through the Emerald Forest. Ren walked while cupping his chin in thought. 'Should I practice the mitsuyubi pose? Is that too formal? How about "Dinner, bath or... me?" No. That should be reserved for when we get closer. I wonder what Jaune likes.'

'At least this guy's quiet and not pestering me. That's one upside. Yeah, one upside to a million downsides. Ugh, the day basically started and I already want it to end. We better find those Relics soon.'

"Those appear to be the Relics." Convenient. "Two people there as well." Well, as long as they weren't anyone he knew.

THUD!

"Alright, it was you Lover Boy! Miss me?"

Dammit.

"Get off him Yang!" The weight disappeared from his shoulders. "Are you okay?" He turned to his savior.

Oh. The random girl with the notebook. Just. Great. "Hey, what gives Blake?" Yang frowned at her partner. "I was just cuddling up to my soulmate. Nothing wrong with that, right?"

In response, Blake brandished her handcuffs. "He's my soulmate too."

"Mine as well." Both girls turned to Ren, the boy showing off his own handcuff.

Blake's face went red. 'Headmaster and this new boy!? I need to write this down later!'

Yang thought in intrigue, 'Ruby, myself, Weiss, Professor Ozpin, Goodwitch, Blake, and him. Man, when we're all older, I can already picture us having a huge org-'

"Heads up!" At once, each of the teens looked upwards to see a flailing Ruby falling from the sky. "Hey, someone catch me already!" Since he'd rather not get covered in blood from the impact, but not wanting to catch her either, Jaune instead focused on Ruby and subtlety used his Semblance. "Augh! Ow gosh that- actually didn't hurt at all." The girl picked herself up. "Guess I'm tougher than I thought."

Dumbfounded, Blake asked her partner, "Did your sister just fall from the sky?"

"And came out of that unscathed?" Ren added.

"I-"

The sound of growling and trees falling grabbed their attention. Emerging from the woods was an Ursa... which soon dropped dead. "He's here somewhere. I know it." The girl riding the Ursa retrieved her weapon lodged in the Grimm's neck and got off her ride. "Help me keep looking Nora."

Her orange-haired partner jumped off the dead Grimm bear. "You got it!" She then muttered under her breath, "Crazy."

"What was that?"

"Oh nothing, just wondering who those friendly looking guys are." Wait a second. "Ren!"

"Jaune!" The two eagerly rushed towards the boys.

Ren allowed himself to be hugged. Pyrrha did not notice that she ended up hugging a different blonde. 'Well, that'll buy me a couple seconds. I should get a Relic in the meantime.'

"Someone get this crazy girl off me!"

The girl spun Ren around. "Hey best buddy!"

"Hello Nora," the boy said, not at all bothered.

"So what adventure did you get up to while I was gone? Because I had an adventure of my own! I was surrounded by Ursai, dozens of them, and just when I was about to lay the smack down on them, my partner, Pyrrha over there, jumped in, screaming her head off and cut off almost all of their heads, and then she hitched a ride on one of them, and then I hitched a ride too, we introduced ourselves, the Ursa became broken, I saw everyone, and now we're here!"

"That's nice."

"Yep! So what were you doing?"

"I found my soulmate."

Nora froze and gasped in excitement. "No way! That's awesome. Who are they? Who's the one who's your destined life partner?"

"Over there."

She turned around and gasped once more. "The white girl falling from the sky?" Ren grabbed her head and turned it. "Oh that guy. He's cute I guess." She gave Ren an enthusiastic grin. "Can I help teach you your "wifely duties," or husband in this case?"

"You can watch me practice."

"Only if you make me pancakes."

"Sure."

Nora clenched her fist in triumph. "Yes!"

"Hey, if you two are done," the two turned to Yang, who was busy helping the others against a giant Nevermore. "We could use some help!"

"Aw yeah, smashing time!" Nora unleashed her grenade launcher.

Weiss, who also had a safe landing earlier, interjected, "No. There's no point in wasting time fighting. Our objective is right in front of us."

"She's right," Ruby agreed. "Our mission is to grab one of these Relics, and head back to the cliffs."

"Then let's get going," Jaune joined. "Anyone who hasn't taken one yet," Jaune held up his chess piece Relic. "Do so now."

"Wait Jaune, is that a white rook?"

He hesitantly answered to Weiss, "Yeah?"

"Ruby, get the same piece as him!"

"Oh, good idea." Before she could go, a hand grabbed Ruby's cloak. "Ouch!"

Yang smirked. "No way sis. If anyone's getting a matching piece with Jaune, it's gonna be and my partner. Right Blake?" The disguised cat faunus immediately agreed by holding onto one of Jaune's arms and giving a deadly glare to the others.

"As if I'll allow a wench like you to match Jaune," Weiss shot. 'Ruby is bad enough.'

"Well, that's mean. Aren't we soul sisters?"

"Don't remind me."

"I do apologize," Pyrrha said with an insincere smile. She showed off her chess piece while gripping tightly on her weapon. "But I already claimed this piece."

Ruby whined. "Argh, no fair! I want that piece!"

"Pyrrha, I have the upmost respect for you," Weiss said diplomatically. "But I must ask that you relinquish that rook."

Yang cracked her knuckles. "Not if I take it from you."

Blake nodded along and readied herself with Gambol Shroud as she thought, 'Hmm, Pyrrha Nikos is giving off a obsessive lover vibe. Schnee and Yang are showing signs, but not quite there yet. Just mere signs of jealousy.'

Ren stared at the five girls in thought. 'I can already tell that being with them will be quite troublesome. At least they'll be less chaotic than Nora.'

'What's up with them? Why do they want to be with Ren's soulmate. Wait, are they all his soulmates too? Wow, never thought I'd see that. Hey, wait a second. That guy! Aren't Ozpin and Goodwitch his soulmates? Is Ren in a harem?'

"Can you all please get a chess piece already!?" Jaune yelled in exasperation as he pointed up. "That Nevermore is still on us!"

Ruby ceased her pouting. "Oh right." She quickly ran to the one of the altars, grabbed a white knight piece, and came back. "Alright, let's go!"

Jaune pointed in the direction of their goal and ran ahead. "This way!" The remaining seven teens followed after him. Eventually, they reached a ruins area, but the Nevermore that had been chasing them was already there, waiting for its prey. Jaune hid behind a stone pillar and he narrowed his eyes at the Grimm. He turned to his side, finding his partner and the six others hiding in the same spot as him. 'Really?' Jaune sighed and addressed them all, "What are your weapons, Semblances, and other abilities you have?" As the group informed him, the Nevermore waited, its eyes trained on the hiding humans. It had decided to wait for them to appear. It waited. It waited some more.

Its patience broken, it gave a screech and blasted its sharp feathers at them. The pillar broke apart, but the group already ran out and scattered. Nora aimed her grenade launcher at the oversized bird and fired. The grenade exploded right in the Nevermore's face. Sustaining damage, it made to retreat. However, it soon met blade slashes on its skin, for Blake had flung Pyrrha with the ribbon attached to Gambol Shroud and Weiss launched Ruby with her Glyphs. Both Pyrrha and Ruby stabbed their weapons Milo and Crescent Rose into the back of the Nevermore's neck. The Grimm shook, turned, and spun, but the two held on and unsteadily veered the bird to a nearby pillar. As they reached it, Ruby and Pyrrha removed their weapons and jumped back onto land, and Yang and Ren leaped up to take their place. Yang threw her hardest punch with her shotgun gauntlets and Ren threw an Aura palm thrust at the back of the bird's head. The combined attack shot the Nevermore straight to the ground. The two safely jumped off and the bird fell right to where Jaune stood, his sword glowing with Aura. When the Nevermore got close, he jumped and swung. His sword easily decapitated the Grimm.

The corpse started to smoke and dissolve, but Jaune didn't care. He simply sheathed his sword and made his way to where the cliffs were, ignoring his soulmates who had rushed to him and praised his plan for working. 'Can this day end already?'

"Jaune Arc. Lie Ren. Pyrrha Nikos. Nora Valkyrie. Blake Belladonna. Ruby Rose. Weiss Schnee. Yang Xiao Long," Ozpin listed off to the eight in front of him and to the other soon-to-be Beacon students in the auditorium. "Normally, you would be two teams of four, with the people you collected matching Relics with." At that, Pyrrha shot Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang a smug look, the four instantly feeling annoyed. "However, seeing your performance in the Emerald Forest and acknowledging Mr. Arc's soulmate situation, I've instead decided that you eight shall form a single team." At this, Jaune mentally groaned while the others had satisfied faces, although Pyrrha's was slightly strained. "From this day forward, you will work together as JWNPRBRY. Lead by Jaune Arc."

Nora cheered, "Alright Fearless Leader!"

"Good job Jaune!" Ruby congratulated with a hug.

Yang winked. "Nice Lover Boy."

"I'd expect nothing less," Weiss commented with pride.

Blake smiled at her leader. "Well done."

"Congratulations!" Pyrrha said as she clung to his arm after seeing what Ruby did.

Ren bowed. "I'll follow you always."

'Seriously, knock it off.'

"Now," Ozpin got their attention. He gestured to his assistant standing nearby. "Miss Goodwitch here shall lead you all to your dorm room. Jaune Arc, as I said yesterday, follow me to my office."

'No! He's probably going to do things to him in private!' Pyrrha internally raged.

'Ooh! He's probably going to do things to him in private!' Blake thought with a blush.

Jaune dully followed the Headmaster as Goodwitch escorted his team to their room. The two walked in silence out of the auditorium, through hallways, and got inside an elevator. They soon arrived at his office. Jaune stepped out and observed the simple room with rotating clockwork gears at the ceiling. "You may be wondering why I brought you here," Ozpin ventured as he fiddled with the Scroll on his desk.

"A bit."

"Well, I wanted to introduce you to someone."

"That's all?" Jaune asked with a frown.

"It's more important than you realize." Ozpin stood back and to Jaune's side. The teen looked at the scroll on the desk, which was making a call. The person on the other line answered.

"I never thought you would call."

"As did I," Ozpin replied.

"What is your business? And who is that boy with you?"

Clang!

Ozpin smiled. "He's our soulmate."

"...Well, I think this calls for a truce."

"Agreed."

"Prepare for my arrival."

"Already done."

"Excellent. Tyrian! Watts! Hazel! Prepare your bags! We're going to Beacon!" The call ended.

"...Who was that?" Jaune finally spoke.

"You'll meet her in a few days. She'll introduce herself then." Ozpin gestured to the elevator. "For now, let me show you to your room."

"I wanna sleep with Jaune!"

"He's sleeping next to me!"

"Nuh uh! I'm sleeping next to Lover Boy! Back off!"

"Is it not the most logical choice for me, his partner, to sleep next to him?"

"No one is sleeping with Jaune besides me!"

"..." Blake was indisposed. She's lying on the floor, bleeding from the nose at the thoughts in her head.

This was what Jaune saw as he entered his room. He sighed. "What's wrong Fearless Leader?"

He answered to the questioning Nora with a deadpan. "Just reminded of home."

"Aww, you're homesick already? Don't worry!" She gave him a pat on the back. "We'll have this place feeling like home in no time!"

'That's what I'm afraid of.'

"They're really going at it at who gets to have their bed next to you. Even Ren. Having a soulmate sure is something huh?"

"Yeah..."

Wait a second.

Jaune slowly questioned, "Do you not have a soulmate?"

"Nah." Nora showed off her blank wrist. "Haven't met my life partner yet. But they're out there somewhere! I gonna find them someday, and we're gonna be the greatest pancake eating, sloth loving duo in the world!"

For the first time in a long time, Jaune's face lit up. "I hope you find them someday. Maybe they're closer than you think."

"Then I'll be on the lookout! Mind if you help out Fearless Leader?"

"I'd be honored." He watched Nora dance away in glee. He didn't see the rest of his team nor the room he was in. He could only see the orange-haired beauty. "Nora," he whispered to himself. "you're the one."