After all the airships landed and they were allowed to off board them, Gongenzaka wanted nothing more than to make sure that his and all of their bags arrived safely (especially the weapons). He then wanted to go to the main hall where they would all hear a welcome speech by none other than Headmaster Ozpin. After that, they could have the whole day to explore the Academy with no rush until the initiation.

Too bad Yuya, Yuzu, and pretty much everyone else had different ideas.

The landing lane kind of a mess, in between people rushing to the front door and pretty much ignoring the safety instructions given by the control room. As soon as they were at the front entrance of the school, students from the other ships had rushed to talk to everyone who had been in the same flight as Reiji Akaba.

At first, it wasn't as bad since Sawatari had gladly welcomed and hogged all of the attention and questions from them, but as soon as people realized the extent of his exaggeration and outright lying, they started to hunt down the other passengers. Fortunately, Yuzu was able to tell which people had the intention of surrounding them and get to "spill the beans," as Yuya liked to put it, and Yuya was able to help leave them behind.

So far, everything was good, people didn't seem to know they had talked face to face with Reiji (for once he thanked the heavens for Sawatari's lies for leaving them off the story.) and in his opinion it was never too soon to put in practice one's abilities.

Now if only he could convince them to check their luggage.

"Would you look at this place!" said Yuya on one side, eyeing the campus. There were no doubts he was drawing a map in his head, and contemplating how difficult it could be to sneak off when necessary. He took a deep breath then and exclaimed, "This place has nothing on Signal Academy!"

"Look at the Tower!" said Yuzu on his other side. "And the beacon! It's just as beautiful as the pictures." He didn't doubt her, and the part of him that had researched every scope of history and information of the Academy along with her wanted to agree…except that from where he was standing, he only saw a faint green glow. He supposed it was better to look at during nighttime; at the moment, it was only a green lamp in the distance.

Also, he knew that if he left Yuya and Yuzu to their own devices they would spend the whole day exploring and probably miss the welcome speech; especially Yuzu, whom he knew by experience, could get herself lost by admiring every detail of the structure.

"I'm glad that you're enjoying yourselves, but we really need to check our luggage…" he said, attempting to bring forward their attention.

"Oh, come on! There's plenty of time!" said Yuya from the top of the Statue poised right at the center of their path.

"Really? Well I guess you guys are right. After all, I'm sure that nothing bad would have happened to our weapons." Now Yuya was standing next to him. "Nor could we possibly be late toHeadmaster Ozpin's speech." As soon as she heard him she seemed to deflate, and walked back in their direction.

He smiled widely at them. Nobody could say that the man, Gongenzaka, didn't know his friends.

"Now that's more like it," he said as they neared the off-boarding lane with all the bags and backpacks and even some furniture (some students hadn't bothered to heed the Beacon's letter advice it seemed). They noticed that the lane was mostly deserted so they could pick up their stuff with no hassle.

"Well well. Look who was deemed worthy to make an appearance." They heard Sawatari say from behind them.

Very well, scratch the no hassle part. They could still handle him perfectly well, rather than a large crowd of classmates on par with their abilities.

He heard Yuya groan as he went to talk to the personnel on the airships.

"What is it Sawatari?" asked Yuzu with a barely contained growl in her voice. She was still pissed at him for earlier.

"Now, milady, what's with that unsavory attitude? It doesn't befit a Beacon student." Of course, only he could say such things to her and think of it as a compliment. Yuzu merely rolled her eyes at him.

"Don't play dumb with me," she said. "I can't believe you're even trying to speak to us, after what you did on the way here."

"Oi, Yuzu I found your weapons!" screamed Yuya from the other side. "I'll bring it to you, but, Gongenzaka you bring yours. I can't possibly carry it all myself."

Gongenzaka enjoyed the way Sawatari's face turned white when he heard that, and probably decided he didn't want to deal with their group fully armed.

"Oh…well I'm gonna get going now. See you later, hehe," he said from the distance.

"It serves him well," said Yuya, handing Yuzu her shield and sword, which she promptly attached them to her wrist and waist respectively. "What did he want now anyway?"

"He wanted to see if we knew were Reiji Akaba had gone to," replied Yuzu. She probably heard him mumbling or something.

"Why would we know that?" asked Yuya, truly puzzled.

Because he had talked to him rather than stared in awe at him? Or because he introduced himself to them in obvious interest? Or because he and Yuzu had defended him from Masumi's accusations of buying his place here? Those were the answers at the top of Gongenzaka's mind. Well, maybe the last one was a stretch. Yuzu hadn't been defending him; she was defending the integrity of the Academy and Professor Ozpin. It just so happened that the talk included Leo Corporation and, by extent, him.

And that he apparently agreed with them about it.

He would be lying if he said he wasn't a tiny bit interested on why one of the richest persons in the world and soon to be a CEO would be in anyway interested on becoming a huntsman. Not that there wasn't merit to the idea; Gongenzaka would give him that much. Still, it seemed such an anticlimactic path for someone who had his life resolved from the moment he was born.

Well, as long as he wasn't some snotty rich boy, looking for the fame and glory attached to the Hunter profession, he had no place into questioning his reasons, and neither had anyone else. And he definitely had been smart to make a disappearing act as soon as they landed.

Once he retrieved his weapon and was assured that the rest of their luggage would be put in the main hall at night, he went to join his friends again.

...

The Amphitheater was another great piece of architecture that needed to be carefully studied.

Those were Yuzu's thoughts as soon as they reached it.

It was a dome covered in glass, and wooden bleaches on the high side, and it seemed like the place had controlled illumination depending on the different purposes of it, assembly hall, dueling arena, announcements etc. recited Yuzu in her head, while admiring the circular stage at the far front of the room. It even had some ornate backdrop which she wanted to put her hands on. She would have to wait since the large crowd had assembled in front of the stage; all of them waiting around for the assembly to begin.

She couldn't wait to see Ozpin in person.

"It seems to be a rather large group, isn't it?" a feminine voice said next to her. Masumi, again.

She didn't want to give Masumi the satisfaction of being right. Every year there was about forty to fifty (give or take) students admitted into the Academy, which sounded like a really small number, but when you took all them into a closed room, they seemed much more numerous than they really were.

"Maybe." She tried to see if Yuya and Gongenzaka were near so she could strike a conversation with them instead of the company present, but she saw Gongenzaka talking and admiring the workmanship of another boy's weapon. It looked like a regular sword, but Gongenzaka looked too enthralled by it to be just that.

Yuya, on the other hand, had not been so lucky and somehow was now trapped in what appeared to be a one-sided conversation with Sawatari, who kept talking about his so-called accomplishments in LDS, no doubt stretching the truth until it couldn't fit in the room anymore.

"Looking for an escape route?" asked Masumi with a bemused tone. She was now looking in the same directions as her and giggled slightly when she saw where her friends were. "Wow, feeling abandoned yet?" she asked.

"What do you want, Masumi?" said Yuzu in defeat. No, she did not feel abandoned. The three of them were free to meet new people any day.

"Just trying to start a conversation," said Masumi in a huff. "Don't be so salty."

"Ok, have you apologized to Reiji Akaba yet?" she asked. "If you do, I may consider the offer."

"Oh? You noticed?" Masumi asked. "Good for you. But you ought to be angry at Mr. Loose Lips over there, aren't you?"

"Oh believe me, I want to throttle him." She glared at Sawatari across from them, but he was still engulfed in his 'conversation' with Yuya. "But other than being an über talkative idiot, he's harmless. You were the one who dared to bring into question the selection processes of Beacon Academy, not him."

That's right; to hell with Reiji! And screw Leo Corporation! That's why she was so 'salty,' as Masumi put it.

"Oh, don't be so dramatic," she said while flipping her hair to the side. "Of course I don't think such things. You ought to be better at reading the atmosphere."

"So? Was it just for fun? Did you enjoy ruining someone's reputation before the first day of school?" she demanded through clenched teeth. This wasn't making anything better; if anything, it was worse.

"Reiji Akaba hardly needs my help for that. Now you can thank that to Atlas yellow press and his parents' shady business practices." Masumi was serious now. "I just needed people to believe itfor a couple days. That's all."

"Believe in Leo Corps over powerful influence, that is." Yuzu raised an eyebrow. Of course Masumi would want people to believe that LDS, her school, had influence on Ozpin.

"Good, so I don't have to spell it out for you."

She couldn't believe this girl, nor could she believe she had considered a possible future friend earlier that day, especially when she had been so nice to Yuya.

"Did you at least mean it? About Yoko being you heroine?" If Masumi wanted to play influence, she could do that too, and she begged to Yuya in her mind to forgive her for this.

Masumi actually looked offended. "I didn't plan this from the moment I saw you guys in the skyport, you know?" She looked to the side for moment before adding, "And my respects were sincere." The tone of voice was low, but it sounded genuine.

Yuzu wanted to say: 'Well, she would never approve of what you did,' but she couldn't muster the guts to do so. Besides, she wasn't cruel enough to make Masumi feel deflated about her idol; instead she held out her hand once more to her.

"Ok then," she started. "I think we started with the left foot then." Masumi looked at her as if she had lost her head, but she took her hand anyway.

"People like you would never last a day in LDS, you know?" Masumi said smiling, sincerely for once.

"Right back at you. Signal Academy doesn't take too kindly to people like you," Yuzu responded. Masumi merely shrugged as if saying 'fair enough' and kept smiling at her. Well that wasn't so bad; she could do this. And if she ended up on the same team as Masumi, it wouldn't be the end of the world.

She saw Yuya coming over her way, having finally noticed who she was talking to. Unsurprisingly, Sawatari was following behind, who just didn't seem to get the hint. Rather than let him outright ask if there was anything wrong (do you need help?) she merely made a reassuring gesture, not wanting to continue the dispute.

Then Gongenzaka neared as well, with the brown-haired boy from before, and a purple-haired guy she hadn't seen before. The former wore a dark long sleeved shirt and pants under a tan jacket, and the latter wore a short jacket the same hue as his hair, with an asterism shaped pin on it, and white pants under it. She noticed both of them wore the LDS pins on their jackets.

"Oi, Yuzu!" started Gongenzaka. "Know Yaiba Todo and Hokuto Shijima" said as he put his hands on each shoulder of both of them (she had to admire them for not even flinching at its weight).

"Yuzu Hiragi," she said. "Nice to meet you." Before she could continue, a sound came from the microphone at the podium. 'Finally!' she thought and there at the stage was Headmaster Ozpin.

Yuya, on the other hand, didn't really understand Yuzu's dreamy smile at the man on the podium. Sure he knew about Ozpin, who didn't after all? But looking at him he couldn't help but to feel…disappointed? No, that wasn't the word. Underwhelmed fit better. The man of legends and war hero didn't match the figure of a middle-aged man with scruffy white hair and a dark green suit, walking with a cane. Of course he could walk without it, Yuya could tell, but it still seemed odd to him, to match the mental image of THE Ozpin with the one he was seeing now.

It didn't seem to matter to Yuzu, Gongenzaka or anybody else who all looked intently at him from their spot, as if a spell had been put on them.

"I'll...keep this brief." He heard him start. Well at least his voice seemed enough for taking seriously.

"You have traveled here today in search of knowledge…" He gave what it appeared to be an appreciative look at his audience, but it looked vacant and disinterested."…to hone your craft and acquire new skills-and when you have finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people."

Well at least his words seemed to be encouraging.

"But I look amongst you, and all I see is wasted energy, in need of purpose-direction." Ok, never mind the 'encouraging' part. "You assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far." That was something he could agree on, but it would be easier to swallow it if it wasn't because he sounded like he was reading from an old speech draft which he no longer felt appropriate for the current audience.

Yuya looked around himself and right on cue found serious faces and obscuring ones on many of the student's faces, no doubt feeling deflated at such a welcome. Man, this dude was either worse than him at creating a 'mood' (as his dad called it) or he was incredibly good and this was an intended reaction. Heck if he knew.

Ozpin left the stage and Glynda Goodwitch occupied his place at the mic.

"You will gather in the ballroom tonight; tomorrow, your initiation begins. Be ready. You are dismissed." Quick and to the subject, Yuya was already beginning to associate her with that description. It was certainly better than what Ozpin said, in his opinion that is.

The auditorium was left in silence for a good minute before anyone commented on anything.

"Well, that was…interesting?" said Sawatari, apparently unable to stand any type of silence for too long. And it worked; the lull was broken and people started to vacate the place.

"That was something." Said the purple haired guy – Hokuto was it?

"I guess he looked kind of…off?" Gongenzaka tried too, and the look on his face was one of disappointment, not that he would voice it; not about Ozpin.

"It's almost like he wasn't even there…" said Yuzu in a small voice that could pass as a whisper. Yuya looked over at her, finding her hunched over. He immediately felt bad for her. Ozpin was her hero, and she had been looking forward to see him in person for the first time in her life from the moment they were accepted into Beacon.

Whatever she had been expecting, it certainly hadn't been that sorry excuse of a speech.

"Well, what you gonna do, right?" joked Yuya, trying to lift the mood. "Hey Yuzu! Let's go look at that Shining Beacon you were talking about earlier." That's right; that green shiny thing on top of the tower. Yuzu had been delighted by it when they had arrived.

"Right! I, the man Gongenzaka, didn't have the chance to take a good look at it!" He then let out a loud cackle that startled even some of the other students that stuck around. And it served to snap back Yuzu's attention from the now empty podium.

"Yeah…" She looked at them and gave them a forced smile. "I mean, of course! And don't you even think about ditching the other places too." She said now with a renewed enthusiasm. "Of course we can start with the Shining Beacon. We should also visit the gardens, and I can't wait to check the library! Did you guys know that it contains the records of every huntsmen generation since…"

At this point Yuya felt like backing down and forget he ever proposed the idea (although exploring the garden was a good one), but looking at Yuzu rambling on with Gongenzaka, whom at this point was actively listening to her and even providing some of his own trivia about the academy, he couldn't bring himself to actually regret it. It was certainly better than Sawatari's own ramblings, and looking over his shoulder, he noticed the blond had started to pester Masumi and the other two LDS boys. He found that this was his chance, and so he left the auditorium.

...

Reiji's afternoon after the welcoming speech had been mostly uneventful. He toyed with the idea of touring around the academy, in order to get familiar with the school grounds, but it held little to no appeal to him; not when every one of the areas he was actually interested in had at least one group of people around. Some of them were, no doubt, still hunting around the school looking for him.

Hunt, he had to chuckle a little at the irony.

At the moment, he had found a temporary refuge at the large library, and it was a great place. It was filled with more knowledge and information than he could have wanted. But the best part of the place was that it was deserted; for the most part, that is. Sure, there had been a couple of students who had given it a quick glance at the entrance, but they went off for another place in the academy. Reiji had never considered he would feel thankful for the lack of studious habits of other people.

Of course, he had to hear laughter in the distance as soon as the thought crossed his mind.

"Yuya! This is a library. We have to be quiet." He heard a loud girl's voice say. He knew that voice; it was the same pink-haired girl from the airship.

"Look who's talking. I'm surprised the place didn't rumble just now." And of course her equally loud red-haired companion, well it was only two people not so bad…

"Both of you are being loud"…And of course their other tall friend, who considering his booming voice from before was making a much better job at whispering than the other two. "Now shut it. We may disturb other people."

"What other people? This place is deserted." He heard…Yuya grumbling. "Look, HEY-" Someone's hand must have been put on his mouth because he could hear faint noises of struggling. They were now at the bookshelf next to the one he was.

"It is still question of manners, Yuya," reprimanded the girl.

Something seemed to have called their attention because they stopped advancing; good. He closed his eyes and concentrated on the hard surface of the shelf he was leaning against; the corner was dimly lit so it wouldn't take much to transport himself to the other side of the library, and as he felt his body being covered on shadows he prepared to jump…except the concentration was broken when he heard a strangled noise.

"What is it Yuzu?" asked Yuya.

"I thought I heard…something." He felt his eyes widen at this statement, but refused to step out of his corner, even as he heard steps coming around the shelf to stand right across from him. "Um, guys, nothing not-human can sneak into the Academy, right?" She sounded scared.

"You mean Grimms? No, not beyond the Beacon Cliffs" He heard Gongenzaka say, still on the other side. "Although, sometimes teachers could bring them into the classes for educational purposes, I think?"

"Oh, ok then. Sorry. It was nothing." He was sure she held his eyes for a moment; even if he knew it impossible and went back to her friends.

He released a long sigh and stepped out from around the corner. This was ridiculous. Those were his classmates, and they had talked in the flight here, so why was he hiding? 'Out of habit,' responded a voice in his head. Well, it had to end now. Coming to this school was supposed to be a new chapter in his life, not a continuation of the already traced paths.

"Um…" He looked at the sound coming from behind him. It was …Yuya, 'Call them by their names,' the voice said again. Instead he asked:

"Are the others still with you?"

"Noooo..." Of course Reiji knew they were still there "...Maybe? Okay, yeah." At least he looked ashamed of lying, even if it wasn't that great of a lie anyways.

He gestured for him to follow. He had nothing to lose, he said to himself

"Hey guys, look who I found! Or, who found me. I don't know…" He was scratching the back of his head now looking at the girl (Yuzu, he remembered now) and the tall one (Gongenzaka right?).

"Hello." He really couldn't think of anything better to say.

Yuzu and …Gongenzaka looked at each other and then to him. Reiji was used to examining looks, to curious ones, even to scornful glares, but he really couldn't begin to guess what type of looks were the ones they were giving him now.

"Oh, Hi! So… Are you… lost or something?" asked Yuzu, smiling now to him. He denied it but she kept talking. "Actually, I think it's late so maybe we should head off to the ballroom to put our sleep bags." They started to leave but Yuzu stopped in her tracks and turned around to give him another smile; this one was obviously forced. "Um, you can walk with us, you know?" It didn't look like she wanted it though, and there it was that look again.

"Yeah, no problem for me," said Yuya. Gogenzaka nodded his head in agreement.

He pondered if he should tell them he knew the way to the ballroom; that there was no need for guidance. But he didn't know if they would listen to him. Even if he was in no rush to sleep, the library closed at eight, so he would have to leave in fifteen minutes anyway. So, he decided to follow after them.

They were nice people, although they were a bit over the top, especially the red-headed one- Yuya. Reiji needed to start assessing his classmates if he didn't want to end with the short end of the stick when the teams were made. Establishing connections was never a bad thing and one of the few things he picked up from his father that he never considered to get rid of.

When they reached the entrance of the ballroom, Yuzu opened the doors very slightly, peeking in between the crease. He mouthed something that could be "coast is clear".

Yuya then sighed and entered with an overly loud 'Hi, everyone.' For a span of a couple minutes, he heard some noises, which apparently called up everyone's attention (if all the shouts and cheers were anything to go by), and then felt a strong hand pulling him behind Gongenzaka. Yuzu was counting down with her hands, and shoved them both into the room.

The push effectively made them both step into the room, where chaos welcomed them. The push also made him come to a realization; because it was only then that it hit him - that look. It was the same look you would give to a lost puppy you couldn't keep, but didn't want to leave it in the rain, so you take it home with you anyway.

They had felt sorry for him.

So sorry I have no excuse for the late update of this T.T, I literally had it on my drive for weeks and forgot while writing the trailers.

Thank you for you patience with me AnimeGirl 144 ^^, the RWBY gods shall bless you with lots of R&R and followers

By the way for those who still don't know, the first chapter of the short prequel "Tales of Remnant" is already up, so go check it up ;D