I really don't have much to say this chapter so I'll just get to writing it.
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"Wait, you mean you're having lunch with that Winter chick?" Ryuji asked in surprise when Akira made the announcement some time after breakfast.
"I called her up last night." Akira said, "I want to see her view on her life... And I did ask Haru before I made the plan."
Haru smiled happily, the last thing Akira wanted was to make his girlfriend think he was cheating on her.
"That would explain why Haru's going with him." Yusuke mused.
That was Haru's terms for Akira to have lunch with Winter, she wanted to make sure Akira didn't end up flirting with her.
Akira shuddered at the memory of why Haru was like that. The night before Valentines day he ended up having a nightmare of where he was dating all of his female Confidants back in Tokyo... He still occasionally flinched whenever Haru glared at him even in the slightest.
"This is a good chance for us to see how Winter views her family." Morgana said, "Based on what we saw in Jacques's Palace, Winter is viewed as nothing more than a puppet and his in on the Atlas Military."
"Judging from the severed strings however..." Makoto said, "I don't think Jacques has as much control over her as he would like."
"Jeez, I'm hating this guy more and more by the second." Ryuji groaned.
"Ann, see if you can find someone who is willing to buy this stuff." Akira said sliding Ann's old school back over to her, inside it was several silver plates and other similar expensive tableware.
"It's amazing how we don't even notice you breaking things open anymore." Futaba noted, "Still I think you broke open more than what's in the bag."
"Most of them had those Dust Crystals in them." Akira said, "No real point in selling those."
While this conversation was going on, Futaba was scrolling through data on her Scroll, "Hmm..." She hummed with a raised eyebrow.
Ryuji moved to ask what Futaba was humming about when there was a knock on the door. "Wonder who that is?" Ryuji muttered standing up to get the door.
When Ryuji opened the door, he jumped back, "Whoa, Schnee!?" Ryuji shouted in surprise and a bit of alarm.
"Hello against mister Sakamoto." Winter said politely, "May I come in?"
Ryuji blinked for a moment, before nodding. "Uhh, yeah sure." He said stepping aside.
Winter walked past Ryuji and entered the main room, taking a look at all of the assembled Phantom Thieves as she did, "Hello." She said, "May I ask who you all are?"
Ann was the first to respond. "Ann Takamaki." Ann said, introducing herself and standing up to shake Winter's hand.
"It's nice to meet you miss Takamaki." Winter said shaking her hand.
"Yusuke Kitagawa." Yusuke said standing up.
"You're the one who painted my sisters newest portrait correct?" Winter asked, "A well done likeness."
"Makoto Nijima ma'am." Makoto said.
Winter gave her a nod.
"My names Haru Okumura, I'm Akira's girlfriend." Haru said, "I recall Akira mentioning that I was joining you."
"Ah yes, and I understand." Winter said with a nod, "You don't really trust me to be around your boyfriend alone. Understandable I suppose."
"Actually it's more the other way around." Futaba said closing her scroll, "Akira's got a bit of a record for getting girls attracted to him."
"Not intentionally of course." Akira pointed out, "Anyway that's Futaba Sakura, she's practically a sister to me as her father is like a father to me."
"I see." Winter said with a nod as she looked over them one last time before turning to Akira and Haru. "Well then, I've arranged for a table for three at a Mistralian restaurant, shall we be going?"
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The way to the place Winter has suggested was a fair distance from the apartment the group lived in.
About halfway through the second block after they had left, Akira and Haru stopped upon seeing a pair of Faunus huddled in the snow, Winter stopping herself a few feet after noticing they had stopped.
"Akira? Haru?" Winter asked.
Akira didn't respond, instead looking closely at the two Faunus. Two girls, presumably a mother and daughter, were in the lowest level of the snow wearing little more than thin shirts usually worn indoors, the only sensibly warm thing the had on were tattered scarves around their necks, but the rabbit ears that poked out from their blue hair had no such form of protection and were covered in a thin layer of snow.
"W-what d-do you w-w-want from us." The mother said, stuttering from the cold.
Instead of directly answering, Akira pulled out roughly 3,000 Lien from his pocket and held it out the the mother and daughter, "Take it, find somewhere Faunus friendly and get you and you daughter some warm clothes and something to eat." Akira said warmly.
The ten year old girl looked at the money Akira held out before looking at him, "You're just gonna take it back from us." She pouted clutching tighter to her mother.
Akira didn't remove his hand, instead he simply slid it into the mother's arm before standing up and walking off.
He barely caught the mother saying 'Thank you.'
"I'm surprised you'd do something like that." Winter said when he came back, "There aren't many people who'd help out the Faunus like that."
"Me and my friends have always been the kind to stand up for those who are too scared or helpless to do so themselves." Akira said.
"How so?" Winter asked.
"Perhaps we should take our seats first." Haru said as the trio arrived at the Mistralian restaurant.
[With Futaba]
"That's weird." Futaba mused looking at her scroll, more specifically the plans of Atlas academy.
"What's up?" Morgana asked as everyone remaining, that being Ryuji, Makoto, and Yusuke, turned their attention to her.
"Well, I'm looking up the layout of Atlas and... Something doesn't seem right." Futaba said.
Yusuke, Makoto and Ryuji all gathered around Futaba to look at what she was looking at.
"Uhh... What's the deal with the blueprints?" Ryuji asked.
"It looks like they've been doctored." Yusuke said, catching some details.
"How can you tell?" Ryuji asked, not seeing how he'd know.
"Well, Futaba's brought up the whole blueprint, and the supposed lowest level of the Academy is still more than a fair distance from the bottom margin compared to the others." Yusuke said, "Plus the cut off on the elevator is off by a margin, as if it were recently added into it."
"What you think is down there?" Morgana asked, now very curious.
"Judging from the fact they cut it from the blueprints I'd say something valuable." Futaba said, "And not in the monetary sense."
"So... it's like a Treasure then?" Ryuji asked, starting to sound excited.
"That might be a good way of putting it actually." Makoto said, "It's not supposed to be on the blueprints so whatever is down there is as valuable to Atlas as a Treasure is to a Palace."
"Should we think about stealing it?" Ryuji asked.
"Not anytime soon." Futaba said, "We'd need to find a way to infiltrate the academy as a staff member and gain the trust of the general to the point we'd be told about what's down there."
"Rats." Ryuji muttered.
"However..." Futaba said, "I've noticed that more than half of the current Atleasian army is nothing more that machines. Seriously, has no one in Remnant heard of Terminator? Does it even have an equivalent here?"
"So all we need to cripple Atlas is a virus." Makoto said with a frown.
"And with how much peace has reigned over Remnant, I doubt Atlas has done much to their firewalls." Futaba said.
"Atlas seems like the most dangerous of the kingdoms, but it's strength is also its weakness." Yusuke said, letting out an amused chuckle at how...poetic that almost sounded.
"Yep." Futaba said, "And it shouldn't be too hard to use the CCT Tower in Atlas to reveal ourselves to the world!" she grinned. It was time to make some preparations.
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Okay so, I know this took a while to get out, but really the Phantom Thieves aren't going to be in Atlas too long so I just can't think of much for them to do that doesn't involve settling in seeing as I plan on having them leave soon.
Anyway, in case you haven't seen it yet, anyone who is running a standard (Non-paying) membership on the Rooster Teeth site can go and see the first episode of Volume 5, and boy does it drop some bombshells... and a couple of laughs.
Seriously, Qrow when he's absolutely hammered is hilarious XD
