-Two weeks later-
Roxas couldn't help but grimace as he watched on. Both Jaune and a student Roxas had been told was named Cardin were up on the stage commenced in a duel as per the norm for a class of Ms. Goodwitch's. The Fight wasn't particularly interesting, but out of the two unimpressive fighters, he could tell that Jaune was the lesser.
The leader of team PRJR was leaning on his sword panting from exhaustion as his opponent, the leader of team CRDL stood unscratched resting his weapon of choice, an intricate steel mace whose end sported a set of thin strips of metal that curved inward surrounding the bar giving the object its blunt like properties, on his shoulder.
Roxas watched as Jaune picked up his sword and with a painfully slow charge came rushing at his enemy. His swing was so slow that Cardin was able to clumsily sidestep the attack and counterattack with his own heavy weapon aiming his attack at Jaune's side where his shield just happened to be. The piece of armor came flying off as Jaune was knocked away, rolling on the floor as he did. To the boys credit, he was on his feet again almost immediately and came charging once again with his blade up high in both hands.
To Roxas he looked so very slow, and while he understood that he was building power by bringing his arms up, he also knew that he was completely telegraphing his attack to the point that no fighter in the world would be caught off guard by his swing.
Instead of sidestepping like he had done before, Cardin decided to raise his Mace horizontally and stop the attack. Roxas could see Jaune pushing all of his weight onto the blade, trying to force it down onto his opponent. Roxas knew this wouldn't work as it wouldn't give Jaune the momentum enough to actually deal any damage if it actually managed to push down enough to reach Cardin, not to mention it left him open for-
"Oooooouuuch" Roxas heard Ruby exclaim as he cringed from Jaune being abruptly kneed in the stomach. This time Jaune fell to the floor, abandoning his weapon and holding his stomach in the fetal position.
"Oh boy," Pyrrha muttered, her eyes unblinking and obviously nervous as Cardin raised his mace over his head staring down at the helpless form of Jaune.
Just before the mace fell the authoritative sound of Glynda Goodwitch filled the air "That's enough."
She stepped forward and between the two fighters, Roxas noticed that Cardin looked particularly annoyed as she spoke "Students, as you can see Mr. Ark's aura has now dropped into the red. In a tournament style duel, this would indicate that Jaune is no longer fit for battle and that the official may call the match."
Turning to Jaune who was just barely starting to rise to his feet she said "Mr. Ark it's been weeks now, Please try to refer to your scroll during combat. Gauging your aura with help you decide when it is appropriate to attack or it is better to move onto a more, defensive, strategy." He pulled out his scroll as the woman spoke, looking down at the device with what looked like disappointment "We wouldn't want you gobbled up by a beowolf, now would we?"
Roxas was close enough to hear Cardin murmur under his breath "Speak for yourself…" causing the Nobody's eyes to peel.
Turning to the rest of the class Glynda announced "Remember everyone! The Vital festival is only a few months away! It won't be long before students from the other kingdoms start arriving in vale, so keep practicing! Those who chose to compete in the combat tournament will be representing all of Vale."
Just as she finished her final word the sound of the school bell rung. Ruby, Roxas, and Pyrrha all waited as Jaune made his way down the steps and quietly joined the group as they all made their way down to lunch.
The team sat down again with team RNBY before commencing in the usual chatter that he had grown so accustomed to. This time Nora was telling a story about some sort of dangerous exchange with some ursa or beowolves, Roxas wasn't paying attention. Instead he had his eyes trained on Cardin and his team sitting a table away and just a few feet down the walkway from his group. He could see that they had surrounded a young woman sitting at the table with brown hair and bunny ears and appeared to be mocking her for her Faunus heritage. The history book he had read had told him in detail the plight of the Faunus people and he had immediately empathized with them, hating that a group of individuals were being treated like less than people for what made them different.
"Excuse me, I'll be right back." He spoke softly with a determination in his voice as the conversation began to shift from Nora's story to Jaune and his bullying problem with Cardin. Roxas had heard for weeks now about how Cardin had been picking on his team leader, but had yet to see it happen in person and hadn't known how to feel as a result. Now that Roxas was seeing the bullying first hand, it was different. He rose from the table and quickly made his way over to the group by the name of Cardinal.
By the time he got there Cardin had begun to tug on the girl's ears as she cried out in pain, asking him to let go. Roxas reached out and seized the boy's wrist and with a cold stare said "Let. Go. Now."
With wide eyes and a shocked expression he quickly released the Faunus who took the opportunity to briskly walk away with her tray in her hands, as she passed Roxas he could see her mouth the words 'thank you'. Roxas nodded before turning his attention back to Cardin who had begun to stand up.
"Who do you think you are?" he asked with a scowl, now towering over Roxas who had released his arm. The rest of team CDNL had leaped over the other side of the table and had boxed Roxas in.
"Do you want to find out?" Roxas asked dangerously, summoning the Oblivion to his hand. He could see out of the corner of his eye the rest of team PRJR scrambling to their feet along with team RNBY, pronounced Rainbow standing up and preparing to back him up if need be. It was obvious that Cardin saw this too as with a head jerk he motioned for his team to go; as they began to walk away Cardin called back to Roxas "I'll be seeing you again when you don't have all your friends with you!"
Roxas remained silent and merely frowned at the four as he watched them leave before returning to his table. Sitting down again next to Ruby he heard her exclaim "Whoa Roxas, I didn't see that coming."
"Huh?"
"You standing up to Cardin like that…it was cool Roxas." she smiled.
"Oh...I just don't like bullies I guess..." he stated with a hint of uncertainty. He didn't actually know exactly what had possessed him to head over and confront the school bully. Something in his gut had just felt right doing it. Something told him that he once let a friend of his be bullied like that… he hadn't done anything to stop it then, he didn't want to let it be the same now.
"That was very brave. In hope you know we would have had your back had things gotten physical." Pyrrha said reassuringly.
"Thank you." Roxas nodded.
"You have the full support of my team too! Right guys?" Yang called out turning to the rest of her group.
Blake was the first to confirm the claim "Absolutely, I hate guys like them." Roxas could tell from the look in her eyes that she was very upset about how they had been treating that Faunus.
Nora cheered "RIGHT!" as Ren calmly nodded his head with a pleasant smile.
"Thanks guys. I appreciate it." Although Roxas felt like he wouldn't need much help with that team considering their unimpressive displays of skill during Combat training, he did like knowing he had friends he could rely on. Over the last few weeks of getting to know this school he had become increasingly comfortable with his lunchroom group. Although he wouldn't say he was particularly close with any of them, even Ruby who seemed to talk to him the most, he was beginning to actually enjoy hanging out with them. He would even try to crack a joke from time to time in conversation, although he wasn't very good at it he had to admit.
The group ate peacefully for the remainder of the lunch period, talking amongst themselves about school work and other topics of interest. Ruby consulted Roxas on what he planned to write about as his social studies topic for the essay due at the end of the week. Nora made a big stink about Ren not making as many pancakes as he used to. Yang struck up a conversation about combat tactics with Pyrrha who eagerly obliged; and Blake kept to her novel, reading contently.
The rest of the evening continued as normal, Roxas found that he was the first to arrive back at the group dorm and decided to write an entry in his journal before everyone arrived and they began their study party, Pyrrha's idea.
Day 375:Feeling Normal
I'm finally starting to get used to the life here. Classes are easy as long as I pay attention and homework isn't too hard. I do think the idea of homework is strange though. Shouldn't all we need to learn be taught in class? Why are we given additional assignments to be finished on our free time? From what I've experienced students here get very little time outside of class to do anything, so homework just wastes more of that time, or should I say my time?
Speaking of which, I've been feeling rather cooped up as of late. I never thought I would say this but I miss traveling world to world defeating heartless. Due to how little time I have between homework and sleep I haven't gotten a chance to leave the school even once. I want to explore more of this world past Beacon Academy.
Roxas heard the sound of Someone entering the door and quickly shut his book.
"Roxas? Whatcha doing?"
He smiled at the sound of Ruby's voice as he turned around to face her "Nothing much, just writing."
"Writing? In that journal of yours?" she ask walking over to him.
"Yeah,"
"What do you like to write about in there? Do you ever write about me in there?" she asked with wonder in her eyes.
"Sometimes. I just write about day to day things. How life is like here and stuff. I do my best to write in it every day, but sometimes I forget."
Ruby laughed as she kicked off her shoes and laid back on her bed, staring up at the ceiling. Roxas thought it looked comfortable, so he pushed his Journal under his pillow and did the same in his.
"I once tried to write a diary," she laughed "I got like 3 entries in before completely forgetting about the thing."
"Yeah?" he asked, not entirely sure why she was telling him this.
"Yeah, I didn't really have much to say back then. I mostly just wrote about boys and stuff I think. I'd probably have more to talk about nowadays."
Roxas furrowed his brow "Why did you write about boys?"
Ruby giggled "You know how preteen little girls are. They fangirl over their crush or the newest boy band and all that. I'm ashamed to admit it, but that was me for a little while."
Roxas looked over at her with a confused expression "I honestly don't. Should I know about that?"
Ruby turned to face him with an equally confused expression "Well, I guess it's possible for a guy to not know about that stuff. Ever had any sisters?"
He shook his head. Would Larxene count?
"Oh, well that's not too bad."
Roxas took note as the conversation again lulled into a silence as he couldn't find the right words to say with a single question filling his mind "What do you mean by 'crush'?"
"Ruby's eyes grew large "Are you kidding me?"
He again shook his head, he began to consider if what he had asked had been an obscene question.
"You've never had a crush? You know when you like-like someone." she said appearing somewhat embarrassed, Roxas couldn't distinguish why.
"Like-like someone? Is that different from just liking someone? I like you and Pyrrha and Jaune, does that mean I have a crush on them?"
Ruby suddenly burst out laughing as Roxas grew increasingly frustrated "No- hehehe- no it's not the same. It's like... it's a liking that means you want to be with them more romantically. Like on a date or something."
"Oh." Roxas uttered as he finally began to comprehend the term of 'crush'. He knew what the dictionary definition of romance was, but he had never felt the urge nor did he understand the feeling per-se.
"...? So wait you've never had a crush?" Ruby asked with what Roxas could detect was disbelief.
He shook his head for the third time "No, I've never had someone like that I don't think."
"Wow." she looked genuinely surprised to Roxas "So I guess none of your friends have ever gotten that close huh?
What does she mean by that?
"Is a crush a closer form of friendship?" he asked with new questions arising from her statement. Just as he thought he had begun to understand the term she threw in a comment that completely derailed his thinking. He had never connected friendship to romance in any way, Instead he had assumed that romance was its own separate category since he'd had friends before but never felt a romantic connection. If a crush was related to romance, and a friendship somehow related to a crush, did that mean that friendship had some sort of correlation to romance?
"Well it can be." she giggled again, that embarrassment seemed to have quickly passed as he could tell she was genuinely getting a kick out of explaining this to him "Sometimes a friend becomes a crush, sometimes it can be someone who doesn't even know you. It all depends I think."
Roxas sighed and laid back onto his bed exasperated "This doesn't make sense to me. So a crush can be anyone?"
"Pretty much." she said with a grin.
"Great, I'm totally confused." he said with a tired sounding tone.
"Sorry!" she said with a genuinely apologetic tone "It's just kinda hard to explain I guess. I've never really had to explain it before, everyone pretty much just figures it out on their own by going through it I think."
"Oh..." Roxas began to put the pieces together in his head, taking a guess as to why he wouldn't understand "Does having a crush have anything to do with your heart?"
Ruby seemed to think about it for a second "Well it's not like you love the person just yet, but yeah I guess it does have something to do with it."
"Oh." he said in much calmer, quieter voice, the pieces coming together in his mind "Well that makes sense then."
Ruby stared at him confused "Why?"
Just then Jaune came into the room with several text books in hand and Pyrrha following shortly behind "Alright friends! Let's get this study party on the roll! Pyrrha brought snacks!"
She smiled and lifted the couple bags of chips in her hands.
"We've got a big assignment for Grimm studies due in a couple days and I think we can get this done tonight if we work hard! Let's do it!" he announced with a confidence Roxas was somewhat shocked by.
Ruby seemed to have forgotten her prior question as she leapt off the bed at the chips shouting "I WANT! I WANT! I WANT!"
Roxas chuckled as he too rose from his bed "Alright, let's get this done."
Roxas departed from his last class with sagging shoulders. He was feeling completely exhausted from the night before as Jaune insisted that they complete their assignments so that it wouldn't hang over their heads throughout the week. This meant that the group collectively had to stay up well into the 3rd hour of the morning to get it done. However to the boy's credit all of their projects did appear quite pristine by the end of the session, Roxas admitted that his would have been much worse without Jaune's help.
He also felt like Jaune was trying to find every way he could to try and be a leader outside of battle. Roxas took note of every time they were placed in a team setting how he seemed to stumble over his words and often times his very own feet, leaving the real fighting to himself, Ruby and Pyrrha. Thankfully usually Ruby would step to the plate when this happened, issuing out good suggestions or taking notice of a weakness that Roxas hadn't seen before. He had to give credit to the young scarlett that she had a knack for that. Although there had been very few instances for the team to act as one, during their time in class with Ms. Goodwitch Jaunes performance as a leader hadn't been very impressive.
I shouldn't jump to conclusions just yet, it's only been a couple weeks, maybe Jaune will become a good or even great leader... eventually.
Roxas stopped his train of thought as he heard the sounds of what seemed like a person crying. Following the noises he turned the corner and saw the young woman with the bunny ears from before a little ways down the hall. She was curled up with her knees to her chest and her head down and shrouded by her hair as she wept. Roxas frowned as he watched on, trying to decipher just what might be wrong before arriving at a conclusion.
This better not be because of Cardin...
Roxas quickly began to approach to see if he could do anything to help but before he reached her another girl sat down next to her. She had dark black hair and a similarly black bow atop her head. Roxas recalled her name was Blake as she wrapped an arm around the girl's shoulders and pulled her into a hug. Blake lifted her head and ,made eye contact with Roxas down the hall, her amber eyes meeting his blue. Roxas unsure of exactly what to do lifted his hand with a thumb up as if to say a silent 'you got this?'
Blake smiled and nodded before mouthing the phrase 'thank you.'
The Nobody smiled back with a nod and quietly made his way out of the hall and continued his trek to his dorm. He was glad that someone was there for her with the seemingly awful way some people treated Faunas. If he found out this was because of Cardin he planned to seriously teach that kid a lesson, one that did not involve sitting down at a desk for hours.
He felt a vibration from his uniform pocket and quickly pulled out his scroll. He found a message from Pyrrha saying that they were all planning on going down to Vale and getting away from the school for a bit and to meet by the front doors in a few hours. Roxas immediately grew excited at the prospect of seeing what sounded like a town or city of some sort. His exhaustion quickly dissipated as he lifted his head and-
"Did you find him?"
"No he wasn't there! What do we do?"
"Are you sure? You checked everywhere?"
"Yes! I check everywhere! He was nowhere! We should have just brought him where we were told to!"
"Relax, we still got this, get over there, everyone else, do the same."
"...okay."
Roxas woke up with an exploding pain originating from the side of his head, he could already tell that a bump was forming there.
"Owwwww..." he tried to lift an arm to rub at the spot but found his arms and legs bound by rope to the wooden chair he had been placed on "What the...?"
Fear began to set in as his eyes quickly darted about the small room. It was poorly lit with only a single bulb hanging above his head casting light that reached the gray walls but failed to illuminate the dark corners of the square room. He quickly realized that he must have been knocked out and brought here. He wondered why his aura hadn't protected him, but determined outside of a combat situation and feeling off guard at the time his battle sense must have left him vulnerable.
"Looks like we caught you without your little friends to protect you, Roxas." Sounded a familiar voice. From the left corner emerged Cardin, a smug look of someone who thinks they've won written all over his face. One by one The rest of team CDNL stepped out from the dark corners of the room and surrounded him.
"You shouldn't have messed with us kid, now we're going to teach you a lesson on who is and isn't the big dog around here." the bully said as he leaned over, staring Roxas in the eyes.
Roxas smiled "How funny, I was thinking the same thing." just then he gripped the ropes tying his hands together and utter the spell "Fira."
With a little bit of pressure Roxas pulled his arms free from the burning bindings and quickly faced his palms towards Cardin's shocked form "Firaga!"
The explosion was deafening and sent both occupants flying backwards. Cardin grunted as he was slammed against the wall, meanwhile Roxas had crashed into the two who had been standing behind him. They both fell to the ground and Roxas found himself on his side struggling to remove the ropes at his feet as he quickly fumbled with the ties.
He felt the toe of a heavy boot strike him square in the face causing him to cry out in pain. Grimacing, he looked up and found the last standing member of team CDNL, he identified him as the one with the mohawk, was rearing his foot back to land another kick. Roxas growled as he lifted a hand and spat "Aero!" the gust of wind sent the punk spinning into the Cardin who was just barely recovering from the massive explosion, only to be flattened against the wall for a second time.
Finally unwinding the twisted rope he rose to his feet, rubbing his jaw slightly as he did so. Thankfully he could feel that his aura had kicked in and protected him from most of the impact, but that didn't mean it didn't hurt. He made slow strides towards the boy with the brown hair who was pushing his team mate off of him as Roxas approached.
He summoned the oblivion to his hand and began to drag it against the cement behind him, his blue eyes trained on the armor clad student who began to lift his mace in a ready position "Just because you caught us off guard doesn't mean you'll be able to take all of us on! C'mon boys!"
The rest of his team groaned as they scrambled to their feet, still surrounded, Roxas smiled. The room was restrictive for sure, it barely spanned 10 feet in length and width, but the Nobody wasn't worried.
"Oh really?" he said as his cheerful demeanor faded into a dark scowl "Prove it."
He could see the rest of team CDNL looking at each other nervously, obviously unwilling to engage this enemy, all but Cardin who stared down Roxas with a look of deep anger.
"I'm gonna break that smug face of yours!" he shouted before charging toward the young Nobody. The others all roared as they charged too, raising their weapons as they did so.
Roxas darted forward, catching the mace mid swing with the end of his keyblade and with a swift movement violently ripping it out of the young man's hands. The mace flew and crashed into the head of the one with the mohawk who immediately crumpled to the ground. Roxas didn't know the guy's name and frankly he didn't care as he still had two fighters charging him from behind. Roxas spun around and found the dark blue haired boy wielding a long Halberd able to swing at him first, using the weapon's long reach to bring it down like an axe on Roxas's head. Roxas easily deflected the wild attack before rushing forward, preparing his swing as the boy was struggling to recover, leaving him completely vulnerable.
Just before he could let loose his attack he found himself intercepted by the blonde one wielding what appeared to be a sword whose handle resembled the end of a revolver? Roxas could tell that this fighter knew more about his weapon then the others as his movements were swift and his strikes were fast as well as precise. Roxas found himself parrying and striking with neither giving any ground until he managed to sidestep a lunge that left the boy open. Roxas stepped forward and slipped his keyblade just inches away from the blonde one's stomach before gripping the handle tightly with both hands and driving all of his force into the swing, sending the kid flying across the room and against the back wall where he crumpled to the ground.
Roxas could hear the whizzing sound of something splitting the air just behind him and instinctively ducked down, watching as the mace he had thrown across the room earlier swung harmlessly over his head. The young Nobody spun around, using the momentum to rake his keyblade across the unprotected stomach section of Cardin's armor.
He doubled over clutching his stomach almost immediately, dropping his mace in the process and leaving only one fighter left standing.
Roxas turned around and saw the silver haired boy standing with his Halberd nervously raised in a ready position.
Roxas could see the fear in his eyes "Do you really want to do this?" he asked raising his keyblade with one hand.
He watched in surprise as the student shook his head with wide, terror filled eyes. Roxas chuckled "Alright, I'll… I'll just pretend I got ya." Roxas put a half hearted swing that lightly tapped the boy's armor. In response the boy crumpled to the ground, the look on his face was one of gratitude as Roxas turned around, facing Cardin who was slowly rising to his feet while still clutching his stomach.
He was breathing heavily as he gasped out "I… hate!... You!... so much!"
Roxas brought his keyblade just inches away from the boy's face "You started this Cardin. If I see you picking on anybody ever again, I won't be so forgiving next time. Got it?"
Cardin's scowl slowly turned to a look of worry as Roxas brought his keyblade closer and closer to the bully's throat. Just as the blade began to press itself against Cardin's neck the boy called out "Okay! Okay! I get it!"
"Good." the Nobody said as he lowered his weapon "I'm going to go now. And in since you guys aren't going to tell anybody about how I beat you all up, I'll think about not saying anything about you guys kidnapping me."
Cardin growled as he said "Fine, whatever, just go already." he pressed his back against the wall nearest before slowly sliding down it to a sitting position, grimacing still from his injuries.
"Good." Roxas stepped over the unconscious form of the mohawk friend and made his way to the door. Stepping outside he found himself just outside the the main building of beacon, the night air cooling his skin. Looking back at the structure he had emerged from he realized he had been locked in the supply shed with these heathens.
"...wow..." Roxas saw on the side of the building sat a large pile of gardening tools and extension cords all hastily piled up as Roxas presumed that using this place had been a last minute decision made by the leader of team CDNL. An empty cement room sure was a lot more intimidating than a gardening shack.
Roxas wondered to himself if he should tell someone about what just happened. He was certain that kidnapping wasn't allowed in this world considering the well structured rules and obviously developed infrastructure. This place was a very advanced economy and these kids would probably receive a severe punishment for what they had attempted to do.
He tossed the idea around in his head for awhile. Sure that would get rid of them probably, and they were a nuisance to the school as they did seem to bully a lot of people, but did that mean Roxas should rat them out? They were attending a school to train them to become huntsmen that would one day protect the world... so he knew that their hearts were in the right place even if their actions were sometimes questionable. The young blonde decided against the idea ultimately, sure they had done some wrong but he decided that no person was truly without evil in their past, he knew that from experience. He had to believe that people deserve second chances, that everyone should be allowed at least a few mistakes...
Otherwise, how could he accept himself?
Plus this meant that he could hold this over their heads as leverage if ever he wanted to blackmail them in the future…
Roxas pulled his scroll out of his back pocket. Surprised that they hadn't taken the device during his unconsciousness, and looked at the over 20 messages littering his screen.
"Oh crap..." he mumbled under his breath.
The first 5 were from Ruby asking where he was and if he was tagging along with them to Vale. The next couple were from Jaune and Pyrrha asking if he was coming or not and that they were all waiting for him at the front doors. The next few were again Ruby as she told him that they were going and again asked why he wasn't responding. The next couple were hours after and included a concerned Pyrrha mentioning that she didn't see him at the dorm when they came back and that Jaune and Ruby were out looking for him. Another message from Jaune asking why he wasn't responding-
Just then the scroll began to ring and he saw that it was Ruby. Looking at the time he realized it was just about to be 4 in the morning before he answered it.
"Hello?"
"Where were you!?" half shouted a concerned Ruby "We all thought you got eaten by a Grimm or something!"
Did she stay up all night trying to get a reply?
He briefly checked his missed calls to see that he had a missed call from her scroll every hour or so.
"Sorry," he said only slightly offend that they thought he would be taken down by some random Grimm "I got into a little trouble and was 'tied up' dealing with it. I'm okay now though."
"Huh?" he could hear the tired in her voice "What were you ~YAWN~... doing?"
"Roxas silenced a small chuckle "Don't worry about it. Things are okay now. Get some rest. I'll be up in a little bit."
"Where are you?" Roxas could hear the sounds of the girl's sheets as she began to climb into bed.
"I'm just outside in front of the school. I'll be back in a little bit."
"Oh,okay... I'll be...ZZZ"
Roxas's lips pulled into an easy smile "Goodnight Ruby." he said before hanging up the scroll. He looked up at the waning moon above him and sighed. Classes were going to start in just a few hours and he wasn't even in bed yet.
It was going to be a long day.
Author's Note: I was actually going to include a lot more in this chapter but found that character interactions and the short battle scene towards the end consumed more time than I predicted. The scene between Ruby and Roxas had actually be a spur of the moment inspiration and hadn't been planned at all haha, but I suppose that can be said about a lot of things.
I want to address the fact that Roxas was knocked out and that his aura didn't protect him from the impact as it normally would, I know there will be some saying that it was unbelievable. I don't believe a character's aura is something that is always turned on as I think that would be exhausting after a time. Yes it can be turned on almost immediately in a dangerous situation, but it is a force that slowly drains as the user takes damage so I imagine that it has to recharge during a character's down time outside of combat. That would be the situation that Roxas found himself in just before he was KO'd! Lol.
Either way, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter and will post a review or deliver a PM detailing your amusement and/or concerns as the story progresses. I am truly appreciative of the fact that you all take the time out of your day to read my story as I know you really don't have to. It makes me so happy when I find that someone took the extra time out of their day to post a review and tell me how I did. It makes this seem worth it to know that I am causing what appears to be genuine enjoyment out of this story and I hope I continue to do so in the future.