Pyrrha giggled.

Jaune had a pretty good guess on why she giggled. But none of them talked about it -Pyrrha didn't try to explain it. Jaune ended up watching her from behind as they marched downstairs; noticing how her long ponytail bounced softly against her back, or how she moved her crutches like her own two legs, one step at a time. She made it looked so effortless.

"How's your ankle?" Jaune asked, not after clearing his throat a couple of times –making sure he didn't turn out squeaking or awkwardly whispering.

"Not too bad, I guess." Pyrrha replied, hopping a little further at the last step. She lowered her bandaged ankle to the floor, giving it a light press. "..but still not quite right."

"Does it hurt?"

Pyrrha tried again, kicking her bad foot. "Kind of. I think I'll be stuck with these two for a bit longer," she said, unwillingly agreed with herself as she leaned on her crutches.

Jaune only nodded, unable to retract himself from the growing awkwardness between them. Pyrrha seemed to notice this as well, and again, she giggled. "I know, I know."

"Yeah," Jaune agreed, "I made things awkward, huh?"

"Better than saying nothing at all." Pyrrha smiled, treating it like it was nothing. As if all that happened on the rooftop earlier was just Jaune accidentally stepped on her bad foot or something.

"Do you have more classes today?" he asked, trying to be polite. He hated himself for trying to be polite. Goddammit Jaune, just be normal.

"I don't think I have- - wait, let me check my schedule," she said, checking her scroll. On the top of her screen, she noticed her energy stat shifting between 75% and 89%, which was weird seeing how far the gap was between the numbers. Pyrrha tried to feel her own presence, taking a deep breath, but nothing seemed to be different. "Yep. That was my last class. Want to catch up with Ren and Nora? I bet they're still in the cafeteria."

They spent the rest of the afternoon trying to forget their rooftop conversation. Alhough, it was actually Jaune and himself, because Pyrrha didn't even seem to be bothered at all. Maybe it was just Pyrrha being the kind of person that she had always been, Jaune thought. The one who always made sure he felt okay, even when she was not. But in this case, she really was okay. She read in the library as usual, she talked to Ren and Nora without mentioning anything, she smiled to him, she laughed at his dry jokes, but Jaune kept feeling like digging a hole somewhere beneath the school building and bury himself.

Ren was helping Nora wiping the strawberry milk off her Magnhild when Jaune got an idea-something to prevent him from burying himself anytime soon.

"Guys, you know I'm not qualified for the tournament, right? I mean, not yet," Jaune slipped himself between Ren and Nora, while cautiously glancing at Pyrrha, who was busy taking more tissues from the bathroom. She was the one who knocked over the milk.

"Aw, don't feel bad Jauney. Maybe at the next festival!" Nora said, still too busy inspecting all the curves and the tiny nooks all over her Magnhild for any drops of strawberry milk.

"Hey, that's not what I'm trying to say. Though, you might be right.." he said, moving to the edge of Ren's bed. "I'm saying, do you guys mind training with me? Just for tonight?"

"Why..? You said you.." Ren started but Jaune quickly made a zip movement with his finger. Ren looked surprised, and Nora was flat out confused watching them playing codes with their eyes. "..she found out. Things get awkward. Help me out, please?"

"Help you what?"

"So I won't say or do stupid things in front of her."

Nora let out a little gasp, but Jaune couldn't tell if she was insulted or excited, "You want us to be the third wheel?"

"No, it's nothing like that." Jaune immediately said, because it wasn't the right term to describe it. "It's not like it's a date or anything! Geez, Nora. I just.. want to make things right again."

"You're being weird." Nora decided, as she got up to return her Magnhild. "..but I think it's the right kind of weird. Don't you think so, Ren?" she nudged his arm, to make sure the boy would agree with her. Ren nodded, but looking sorry for Jaune because he might have a clue of what happened between them.

"So are you guys going to help me? Please?"

Nora smirked, "I guess in a way, I'll be helping two birds with one stone."

"That's not the correct phrase." Ren commented.

Nora pinched his cheek, "Uuuuh why can't I hate you, Ren?"


"You've been hanging out with Pyrrha and Jaune a lot lately. Are you guys having an assignment together or something?"

Blake knew Yang could be sharp sometimes, but actually, if anyone in her team was to be suspicious of this, her first guess would be Weiss instead of Yang.

"No. It's just Pyrrha asking me to help her with Jaune's training." she replied it with the best poker face she could produce. No intonation, no anything, just a straightforward and logical answer to stop Yang.

"Oh," Yang sounded surprised. "That's new, but good for him. Good for you too, Blake, for branching out."

"What do you mean branching out? Our team and their team hang out all time." she bookmarked the book 'Aura: Uncovering Myth and Mysteries', her reading mood suddenly gone. Besides, the book didn't really provide any new insights or information that could help. She was stuck.

"Yeah, you're right. Ozpin should have just meshed us all into one group instead of two."

"You're crazy. No one will be able to sleep at night with the eight of us together in one room. No, make it seven of you. Count me out."

"Wow Blake. You're so hot and cold."

"Hot and cold, huh?"Blake instantly returned to the thoughtof Pyrrha's case. If her theory was right, all Pyrrha needed to do was just wait. Because her polarity was never gone in the first place.

"Yang?" she called, as Yang skimmed over the pages of the books in front of them, probably half-dead by then. It was clear that the only reason Yang was excited to come to the library was because Ruby brought the Remnant board with her. "Yang, have you ever experienced anything.. irregular with your semblance?"

The blonde girl happily turned away from the book, even though she seemed to be at lost with her question. "I don't think so. I can always project them as strong or as light as I want it to be in my attacks. It's always been ok. Why?"

"Nothing. Just curious." Blake mentally took a note. "Then what happens when you're sick or not feeling well?"

"I don't know. I rarely got sick. Ruby got a fever once though. She couldn't play with her Crescent Rose and was very upset. But I didn't notice anything weird. Seriously, Blake. Why are even you asking these? Are you experiencing something irregular with your semblance?" Yang turned suspicious, as expected.

Blake shook her head, "No, it's just something I read from a book and I can't get it out. Aura theories."

"Why are you even reading those? You're doing fine!" Yang grabbed the book away from her, putting it neatly on top of the stack of books next to them. "Let's get out of here, I'm not going to watch you turning into a zombie again. One day, you're gonna get killed from reading too much."

"Honestly, I always thought it would be the grimms."

"Not funny, Blake."

"Hey, just one more question," Blake said, as Yang led her out of the library. "Was Ruby still fast when she was sick? Her speed, I mean. Did it fade or weaken?"

Yang stopped just to give her the 'are-you-serious' look. "She didn't even leave the bed, okay? So I didn't know. If you ask me one more time, I will seriously think there's something wrong with you, Blake."


With all the blankets, the snacks and those flashlights, it was quite hard to think of that night as a group training night. Pyrrha, especially, found it odd to see Nora and Ren joining without their weapons. Both of them just sat on the blankets, talking to each other, while Jaune did all the warming up by himself.

"What's the occasion again?" she rowed herself closer to Nora, and Ren, who looked unusually tired at that moment.

"Team practice!" Nora said proudly. "You and Jaune go first."

"I thought we were going to do, at least two on two..?" she looked confused, "How is this team practice when you and Ren aren't participating?"

"Oh you know, we just have a slightly different role here. But trust me, it's going to be a great team practice! Ah, maybe team bonding is more accurate. Hmm, what do you think?"

"Different role? You mean, are we going to practice defense and offense? Are you guys on defense, is that what it is?"

"Hmmm… a little more passive than defense maybe? We're going to be your spectators!" Nora pushed her, motioning to go back to her spot across Jaune. Ren sighed a little too loud next to her.

Pyrrha turned to Jaune for a clue. He only put on an awkward smile as he positioned his sword against her.


Hello guys, I'm back! (My presentation went well~^^)

There's not much going on in this chapter, maybe because Chapter 7 was pretty intense,

so this chapter serves as the cooler- - - /what am I talking about/

But I hope you enjoyed this one~

Leave your thoughts at the review section, comments/critics are welcomed :)

Thank you for reading!