Man oh man, Guilty Gear Xrd Revelator has yet to lose its charm despite the past month or so. And here I'd been worried that the further I got into MOM mode, the more frustrating it'd be to continue on with it. And to some extent, I wasn't entirely wrong – damn self-destruct function and the AI's rabid dog actions during it – but so far it's been a hell of a lot more fun and easier to play as opposed to Xrd's MOM mode. Now if only the AI wouldn't block so damn much near the end of every match…
Heh, that aside, sorry for the wait; work picked up in pace plus I finally started looking around a bit for a job in my field, admittedly a fairly low level one for me to see if this is really something I'd want to do the rest of my working life. Sigh… I really am an indecisive bastard.
Whelp, onto the chapter!
Chapter 11
"Begin again!" Glynda proclaimed for the students to hear.
Many groaned painfully in response, as most of the class had to first pick themselves up off the floor in order to ready themselves again.
The normally stern and nigh-unbendable combat instructor actually sympathized with the students a bit.
It was the beginning of the new week and with it came the introduction of the new lesson plan for virtually all of her students, even the older ones that were to graduate this year – provided they keep their grades up, of course.
Having talked it out amongst the rest of the faculty, Glynda had decided that most of the damage the students had taken during the Forever Falls incident was mainly due to a lack of both environmental awareness and lack of skill in regards to fighting multiple enemies all at once.
So to this end, Glynda (and Jaune by extension) had come up with something to try and correct these two 'weaknesses.'
Wearing extremely thick blindfolds that also went around the ears a fair bit, virtually every student was rendered blind and their hearing left slightly muffled as they were all spread out across the thankfully spacious combat arena.
All of the students having been paired up, they were to spare with one another like this until the end of class.
The idea behind this was mainly to make them improve their usage of their other senses in order to help themselves be more aware of things in their surroundings. However, given that they were first and foremost unused to moving with blindfolds on, let alone fight with them, the students were all proving to be more than a little clumsy in how they moved around.
It especially didn't help that they were all fighting with their weapons drawn and as such, whenever a gun was cocked or a blade hissed through the air, virtually everyone else would nearly jump out of their skin since they'd often ended up mistaking the attack to be coming for them.
It was enough to make Glynda sigh many times throughout the day thus far. While she admittedly had been taken aback by the many Grimm in Forever Falls, she'd held her ground with a fair amount of ease, relying on more than just sight alone to keep the waves of Grimm at bay back then.
While she wasn't exactly expecting her students to master this in a single day, she'd been perhaps hoping for a little more than what she seeing right now.
She was very reluctant to admit that perhaps the standards of hunters had fallen a bit since she had become one. For ever since the start of this exercise, she'd bore witness to Nora accidentally smashing a fellow classmate with Magnhild while her sparring partner hadn't even been close to being hit, another student awkwardly swiping at his sparring partner, Yang completely missing her opponent with her haymaker and young Ruby Rose leaping into the wall after overestimating the distance.
And this was just to name a mere few of the things that had occurred, never minding the accidental(?) gropes that had taken place.
And on that note, Glynda couldn't help but quirk an eyebrow in slight worry when she recalled how hard that girl had suddenly been panting after grabbing her sparring partner's breast…
Well, back on track now.
"Ms. Schnee, try to take into account the sounds that are closest to you," the blonde woman said as calmly as she could, witnessing as Weiss missed her mark with Myrtenaster, evidently mistaking the sound of a scuffing foot several yards away for that of her opponent's.
The heiress didn't get the chance to reply when her opponent then used the missed strike to launch one of his own with his bo-staff, the attack actually connecting with Weiss' side.
Glynda merely moved on.
Initially, she'd wanted to teach the students both this and how to properly combat many enemies in accordance to their own combat styles, but now in hindsight she was glad that she didn't; if the students had tried to all gang up on another with these blindfolds on, things would've been disastrous to say the least.
As far as honing their unarmed skills go, Glynda recalled that tomorrow Jaune was to be teaching them all some more tactics that could be used. From what she and him have discussed on that in regards to this new collective lesson plan, Jaune wanted to first teach them the tactics and have them practice it a bit before having them wear the blindfolds again.
And now that she thought of the young man, she looked off to the other end of the arena, seeing him stoically observing some of the students closest to him.
Somehow, that is.
Now that she thought of it, given his lack of sight, just how sharply honed were his other senses? Was it enough to fully compensate for his blindness? He certainly had no trouble moving around at all nor knowing who was approaching him at any given moment.
Just what did he think of this situation?
Well, putting such thoughts aside for the moment, Glynda couldn't help but actually hum now as she walked further along, seeing something that rather surprised her.
Facing off against none other than Pyrrha Nikos was Blake Belladonna. And the two young women were doing surprising well when compared to the walking dangers their classmates were currently posing with their actions.
The redhead of team JNPR moved as gracefully as ever, but very slowly and more importantly, cautiously. In the few spars she'd taken part in thus far, she'd moved without hesitation, naturally flowing from one action to the next. Here, she clearly calculated every single step she took, her expression fierce yet nervous as she quietly took one step forward, Milo held in a defensive position.
Blake, on the other hand, was not quite as focused on the matter, for she seemed considerably more at ease with this exercise. While still hardly moving at her full speed, the sole Faunus of team RWBY – really now, just who was she trying to fool with that bow, Glynda silently wondered – circled around Pyrrha at a steady pace.
It was clear that she knew more or less where Pyrrha was at, but refused to go on the offensive just yet until more certain.
And that moment came not even a few seconds later when Pyrrha shifted her stance a bit, the armor she wore clinking slightly with the movement.
And so Blake pounced without even the slightest of thoughts, swinging a sheathed blade at Pyrrha. Slicing through the air audibly, Pyrrha heard it judging by the twitch of her right ear and raised Akouo in time to deflect the blade before swinging Milo in retaliation.
Glynda quirked both eyebrows now in genuine surprise.
While Blake's swing had been on the verge of missing Pyrrha's side, it still had been far more accurate than many other attacks she'd seen the other students perform thus far. Pyrrha's block in turn had been almost spot-on thanks to the size of her shield and her following counter had been just a few inches short of cutting off part of Blake's hair, the Faunus having not even attempted to dodge and instead only leaping back after Pyrrha's missed swing.
Both girls gripped their weapons tightly and managed to face one another despite the blindfolds, evidently aware of the other's presence now.
Glynda was most impressed and a little intrigued.
While Pyrrha's actions could be explained by her raw natural talent, Blake's receptiveness to this exercise thus far was a little tougher to explain. The Faunus was well-trained for a first year and plenty talented, but she was no prodigy like her sparring partner or her team leader. And her records don't show her attending any kind of combat instructional school like Signal… meaning she was either entirely self-taught or had received training unofficially. If it's the latter, then that would bring up the question of who had taught her…
Glynda hummed quietly to herself, her gaze switching in between Blake and Jaune, who now could be seen speaking softly to some of the students closest to his position.
Looks like there were more than a few mysteries to be solved this year.
Some time later, class ended and with this came the shuffling of all the students as they left the arena, groaning from various levels of pain, embarrassment, and relief. The training today had been a train wreck for most of them and they weren't particularly eager to continue the training again next time around, its now permanent status in class notwithstanding.
However, Blake wasn't exactly amongst this massive number of reluctant students.
For her, while the training was certainly going to be a harsh one to complete, she understood its purpose and couldn't have agreed more with it; many of them certainly could afford to be more aware of their surroundings, take advantage of more than just their sense of sight.
Then again, the B of team RWBY couldn't help but wonder if this not-quite-like-nor-dislike of the training could be attributed to her… checkered past, she supposed she should call it.
Having grown up more or less on the street and later having engaged in many illegal activities and crimes as part of the White Fang, the young woman had long since come to rely slightly on more than just her sight to get by. After all, just because she couldn't see someone sneaking up on her didn't necessarily mean no one was attempting to do so.
Yes, in hindsight perhaps this is why she had noticeably less trouble than other students adapting to this training, though being completely removed of her sight was certainly a new experience for her; those blindfolds were thick.
Blake was roused from her thoughts suddenly when she and her friends began to leave the arena, being some of the last few of the students to do so due to how many of them there'd been.
And her eyes couldn't help but narrow all on their own as she saw Jaune and professor Goodwitch standing by the arena's exit, bidding the students goodbye.
Just as she was about to pass the two by, she put her head down instinctively and strayed a bit to the right, placing herself closer to professor Goodwitch while also using Yang, who was standing to her left, as something akin to cover.
Something that right away she knew the blonde brawler noticed.
"Something wrong?" Yang even said just as they'd left the arena several seconds later.
Blake inwardly sighed and waited half a minute before responding, noticing in the process that Yang's question had also drawn the attention of Ruby and Weiss, both of whom looked a little roughed up from accidents earlier in class.
"…It's nothing really," Blake said, not wanting to tell them the real reason.
That being Jaune himself.
From the very beginning, she'd always felt something off about that guy and it hadn't just been her either; she'd noticed other Faunus perk up nervously whenever he'd passed by, their own personal feelings towards the young man aside.
At first, she'd been willing to shrug aside the uneasiness he inspired instinctively in her, but after witnessing the aftermath of the Forever Falls incident, where the disintegrated remains of uncountable Grimm literally painted the area black, she'd started to act much more cautiously around that man.
It was quite late of her to think so, but…
Jaune wasn't normal.
He just wasn't normal at all.
While he was certainly skilled enough to be made a part of the faculty, the sheer ease with which Yang and Weiss have recounted seeing him tear through the Grimm was unnatural. Surely, even other professors here would've had some level of difficulty doing so, right? So why had he been able to do so with such unnerving ease?
"It'd been unreal… he was tearing through them like paper!" Yang had said once, not very long after the incident a week back.
"Every single movement of his had no wasted energy. Everything he did had appeared to have a purpose," Weiss had admitted a week ago once they'd been all out of harm's way and able to assess the situation.
For the normally cheerful and fight happy Yang to go all wide-eyed like that and the normally still-somewhat-arrogant Weiss to easily admit to the man's skill level told Blake a lot about Jaune, if only about his power and more… unsettling side given how viciously he'd apparently torn through the opposition.
He was dangerous.
And unfortunately for her, while she'd like to keep such a thought to herself for the time being, her team didn't seem intent on letting her answer suffice for them.
"Yeah, that's a lie," Yang said casually, making Blake inwardly twitch at how she'd said. To think despite having known each other for only a brief time, the blonde was already easily capable of seeing through her deflections.
"Even a blind man could see you're being bothered by something," Weiss remarked.
Blake visibly twitched at that.
"Yeah! I bet even Jaune could tell!" Ruby said obliviously.
Blake twitched yet again.
"…Oh, it is about him, isn't it?" Yang said with a slight smirk. "Aww, don't tell me you're shy around him."
Blake bowed her head in embarrassment. Just how could she have been figured out yet so misunderstood about him so easily?
And so for the next five minutes, she had to spend it all explaining to her team just why she didn't have a crush on the young man.
Perhaps this was now another reason to avoid him entirely.
Jaune held back a sneeze.
Felt like someone had been talking about him. Maybe Blake Belladonna, he wondered?
The reason why she came to mind first was because it'd been fairly obvious to him that of all the students, she'd been keeping a certain distance from him, at least in the wake of the Forever Falls incident.
With his Aura Vision, it wasn't all that hard to see her grey colored aura often hiding behind the light gold aura that Yang Xiao long had whenever he was in sight.
He wondered why this was though…
Perhaps she senses something amiss.
Mhm, in hindsight yeah, that would be the most obvious thing now. Must be because of her sharper than average senses. Or rather that inherited sixth sense of hers too. Same thing must go for all of the other students with such a thing too.
Alas, there wasn't much he could do about that, despite his wanting to. He wasn't really sure just what Blake thought of him, but she was probably right about him on parts, in which case her attempts at staying out of his 'sight' was understandable.
Not quite effective, but understandable.
That said, he did wish she'd stop. He really didn't mean any harm to her and the others if that was her main reasoning for avoiding him. But as life would have it, this wasn't exactly something he could just go around telling her or anyone else… that'd just lead to certain questions being asked that he'd have to tiptoe around and that'd only prompt more questions that he'd be unable to answer.
And even if he did, a majority of people would deem him crazy or at least delusional in some respect.
And would likely prompt some kind of interrogation from some certain individuals…
…Much like the one looking at him.
"Are you feeling alright, Jaune? You look like something is weighing heavily on your mind," Glynda said as she folded her arms across her chest.
The two of them were currently remaining behind in the arena simply to collect their individual thoughts before taking their leave.
And it would seem his thoughts had been like an open book to some extent. "Just worried if this training will end up being too much for them…" He motioned towards the exit that the students had all left through. "I know it's the only the first day, but I hadn't been expecting so many to do so badly."
A brief memory of earlier came to mind at that instant, Cardin having accidentally smashed his own toe with his mace.
He watched as Glynda's head, portrayed by a beautiful purple aura, nodded in agreement. Her green eyes, appearing more like green emeralds to Jaune thanks to his Aura Vision, softening. "I share your concern. But it must be done. Otherwise the students would only have the hard way to learn in the future… and while we cannot coddle them, I'd rather do everything in my power to avoid having that happen."
Jaune nodded in agreement. If Glynda only knew, truly knew, what was out there… the sometimes stern, sometimes soft woman would be training the students nearly nonstop to prepare them for the inevitable.
But that was why he was here at Beacon, watching over his sister aside. Hell, if anything, keeping an eye on his sister was perhaps one of the better ways to stay on top of what was to come.
After all, there was always that one chance that they'd come for Jeanne… even if the girl would likely never know why, should such a thing happen.
"…That being said, can I ask you something, Glynda?" Jaune eventually said just as the two of them had finally been about to leave the arena.
His thoughts on the current situation sorted out for now, there had been one thing about Glynda that had been somewhat bugging him, but over the past week, he'd kept on forgetting to ask or was otherwise distracted.
Glynda paused in her walking, her heels clicking loudly to Jaune's ears. His Aura Vision aside, his other senses had been sharpened considerably to help him compensate for his genuine lack of sight.
He could literally hear the blonde woman quirk an eyebrow in confusion. "Of course," she said, however.
"Just why did you hold back during the incident?" Jaune then asked after receiving the okay.
The following silence was brief, but no less deafening. "I'm sorry?" Glynda couldn't help but say in response.
Jaune scratched the side of his face a little nervously. "While I was only able to get a 'glimpse' of your way of fighting before I went off to help the students, I couldn't help but notice how stiff your movements were… like you were consciously forcing yourself to fight in a way that you weren't quite used to… not to mention how odd your usage of aura felt."
"I see," was the crisp reply. Glynda sighed, a not particularly bad sound to Jaune – she sounded less angry and more along the lines of surprised still. "Well, you're not wrong in a way; I've changed how I've fought over the past years. For you to be able to tell though… I suppose I still have a lot to learn."
"But why?" Jaune asked.
He could tell Glynda had narrowed her eyes. "…The way I used to fight isn't necessarily suited to protecting others nearby."
Now it was Jaune's turn to quirk an eyebrow, but alas he had nothing to say to that beyond: "Why's that?"
Glynda didn't answer, not immediately. And when she did… "I'd prefer to keep that to myself for now."
She began to walk again, her heels clicking a little more loudly than they'd been before. It made Jaune wince a little. He'd gone too far with his questioning.
"Come along, Jaune. We need to discuss if any revisions should be made to the training," Glynda called out.
"R-Right…" he muttered as he walked off after her.
Looks like there was a lot more to everyone here than even he'd originally thought. He just hoped that whatever else people had in store would be enough to make a difference.
Some odd hours later, at night now, Roman took a long drag of his cigar, puffing out some rings of smoke as he leaned back in his chair.
For the past hour, he'd been keeping himself busy by going over the plan several times, telling his little helpers – those damned idiot White Fang goons – how it'll be playing out.
And so far, to both their ears as well as his own, the plan had been fairly sound. The SDC was supposed to be dropping off their large Dust shipment in just a few days as he – and by extension, Cinder – had been aware of originally at precisely 9 at night, its unguarded state meant to fool any normal would-be Dust thieves into thinking it was just some late night shipment of random and valueless supplies.
When it arrives, a bullhead was to quickly arrive onto the scene a few minutes later and drop Roman along with his crew, who'd then crack open the shipment and start hauling out the crates of Dust to be airlifted away. A smaller and more mobile bullhead would then simultaneously arrive to take Roman and his forced-upon helpers to safety.
Fairly simple and effective – easy in and easy out all in the span of maybe five minutes if things proceeded a little slowly.
So why was the master thief feeling so worried right now? Easy: because this all seemed a little too perfect.
Seriously, an unguarded shipment from the SDC arriving at such an isolated pier at such a convenient time in the night? If it wasn't for the fact that he knew the Schnee family to collectively be arrogant, Roman would've considered this a huge trap in the making.
Still, for these facts to even exist, it still felt really off to him. He was probably being a little too paranoid here, but he supposed there was always a chance the Schnee had secretly gone to Vale's police or even worse some huntsmen to keep a watch over the shipment from afar.
Grunting as he mulled this possibility over, Roman tapped Melodic Cudgel on the floor a few times. Finally, the tapping ceased and he flicked his cigar away with his other hand. "Neo," he called out.
And in the blink of an eye, his accomplice and even his friend arrived into the room with the sound of breaking glass – a telltale sign of her semblance being used.
Having appeared in the air, the short and petite young woman flipped through the air and landed gracefully on the edge of the table, legs crossed and her umbrella currently being leaned against her shoulder.
She smiled almost coyly at Roman, silently asking him what was on his mind.
Said man eyed her for a moment as he collected his thoughts. "That damned woman doesn't have you scheduled for anything soon, right? And our other 'business venues' are in order?"
Neo nodded in response to both questions.
Roman couldn't help but grin a little viciously. "How do you feel about coming on a quick trip with me in a couple of days?" Nothing like being too safe, right?
The smirk Neo now had plastered on her face was answer enough for him.
Ruby, having been in the middle of a late night snack now, couldn't help but shiver as chills coursed down her spine.
Maybe her unintentional self-injury from earlier was having an effect? She knew she shouldn't have used her semblance like that during training – jumping into the wall at Mach speeds really hurt!
As the chills came to a stop, however, the young leader of team RWBY couldn't help but hum a little in thought. Well, that certainly had been a sudden thing. She sure hoped it didn't happen again.
"For the last time, I don't like Professor Arc! Now will you stop with the comments?!" Blake suddenly said at a surprisingly high volume, nearly making Ruby fall out of her bed in surprise.
The young girl couldn't help but giggle nervously a little. Ever since the end of their final class, Yang had been mercilessly teasing Blake about liking their new and mysterious kick-ass (assistant) professor. And it was finally beginning to evidently wear down Blake's patience.
"Well, I'll stop once you explain why you're trying to avoid him~" Yang replied with that same playful grin Ruby had long since been accustomed to. Her older sister really knew how to mess with people sometimes.
Blake looked less than amused by Yang's grin, even less so than Weiss who was clearly wishing the two of them would quiet down. Ruby couldn't help but marvel at how well she was able to read her friend's/partner's expression in such a short amount of time, completely unaware that anyone with half a brain would be able to see her growing irritation.
"Because that man isn't normal!" Blake finally retorted, Ruby wincing a little as she saw the B of her team clearly fed up for good with Yang.
"W-Well yeah…" Yang said, actually looking a little cowed by how loudly and even viciously Blake had said that. "I mean, he is a part of the faculty and a lot of them don't seem all that there in the hea-."
"That's not what I meant," Blake hissed. "You and Weiss of all people should be able to see it! He isn't… he isn't quite a normal person at all!"
"W-What do you mean?" Ruby finally said now, squeaking a little when Blake turned her increasingly tense gaze towards her.
"Haven't you noticed how the Faunus students tend to give him a wide berth often?" Blake said.
"What of it?" Weiss now said. Was it just Ruby's imagination or did the heiress sound a little snappish at that comment for some reason?
Blake now rounded on the heiress with a steel piercing glare, making Ruby worry if a possible argument was suddenly going to break out over something. "All Faunus have heightened senses and this allows them to sort of detect when something is wrong."
"Like how dogs and other animals get nervous around things we can't see?" Yang suddenly said, her playfulness now gone. "Like in a horror movie or something?"
Ruby blinked a little. Did Blake's bow just move?
"…Somewhat like that," Blake said through gritted teeth. "Look, the Faunus students and even some of the human students tend to give him a fairly wide berth whenever he passes by. He may be a 'hot topic' among others and stuff… but they wouldn't do this without some kind of reason!"
"Uuuhhh, Blake?" Ruby dared to speak again. She even hesitantly raised her hand as if she were in class. "Does this have to do with you said earlier in the school year?" She just had to ask this; memories of when Blake had commented on the new faculty member being 'off' had come back to her just now thanks to her words.
"It does… and while I'd been content to simply make that comment earlier on and leave things be, now it isn't the case anymore," Blake replied. She looked down and sighed. "…He's dangerous. I don't know how or why… but he's some kind of threat, I just know it."
Such words were enough to render their dorm deathly silent, Ruby looking to see her normally loud and fussy partner and lively sister exchanging glances, the two of them looking unsure of what to even think. Ruby was more than certain she was sporting a similar expression as well.
"Well," Weiss then said, breaking the silence. "Let's indulge you a bit here – let's say that this man really is some kind of threat. If you and other students could tell, then surely the other members of the staff could tell too… in which case, why let him remain here?"
"Yeah," Yang said slowly, agreeing with Weiss by nodding along. "And just who would he be a threat to, Blake? From the looks of things so far, the only people who have to worry about him are the ones that try challenging him to spars." She said those last several words with an uneasy smile, trying to alleviate the heavy atmosphere.
Ruby watched that smile vanish when her words had no visible effect. "But in all seriousness, I think only the Grimm would have to worry about him," Yang said now, her lilac eyes seeming to look off into the distance as the memories of that incident likely came back to her.
Ruby couldn't help but nod in agreement… and secretly wish she'd been there to see him in action. He must be a real beast if her sister, normally hard to impress, could look like she did right now, with such a far off look in her eyes. Same thing goes for Weiss too, the snow white haired girl looking equally perturbed by whatever memories must be replaying in her mind right now.
Another sigh from Blake got Ruby's attention and she turned back to look at the normally quiet girl of the team. "I can understand that… but even then, I – and clearly, others – can't help but feel that he's dangerous in some respect."
"Well, you're going to need to clarify what you mean by 'dangerous.' Otherwise, how else will we know how to respond to what you're saying," Weiss retorted.
Blake opened her mouth to speak, only to stop partway, a strangled sound being released for a moment before looking down. Ruby could only look at the girl in worry when this occurred. "…I wish I knew just how to do that," Blake ended up muttering.
This only made Weiss sigh, partially in annoyance yet also equally in some kind of relief. "Well, then until you can define 'dangerous' for us, we should call it an end to this discussion for now." Huffing, the heiress threw herself surprisingly ungracefully upon her bed completely. "We have another long day in store for us, so we should stop with this nonsensical talk and get to sleep!"
As her partner immediately tried to get to sleep, Ruby could only look to her sister for some kind of help, only to see the buxom blonde shrug ever so slightly, her expression one of confusion and worry.
Then looking back at Blake and seeing the almost indignant expression on her face, Ruby had no doubt in her mind that to the B of her team, this talk was far from nonsensical.
And far from being over.
Despite what time it now was, Jeanne was still up as opposed to her much more diligent teammates – Nora included, amazingly – who were already sound asleep in preparation for the long days of training ahead.
Tossing and turning lightly while dressed in her onesie, the blonde eventually had enough and sat up in her bed, her hair that was normally pulled into a massive braid flowing everywhere, like some kind of blonde blanket.
"Darn it…" she muttered as quietly as possible to herself, not wanting to wake her teammates.
She was so excited about this new training in combat class, in spite of how painfully hard it was, to be able to sleep properly.
But there was more to her current predicament than just this. It was but an almost unconscious feeling, but it was one that she was somehow aware of nonetheless.
Something was bugging her, plain and simple. This was undoubtedly the true reason why she couldn't sleep right now.
"Muuuu, if only Jaune was here…" she mumbled tiredly. Back when they were both young kids, whenever something had kept her up like this, she'd always go to his room and snuggle against him until she finally fell asleep in his arms. It should be noted that this was a 'thing' that had persisted well until they were both in their early teens. Such was how much she was spoiled by Jaune.
And with how she was currently feeling, the blonde leader found herself wanting to do just this.
Unbeknownst to her, at the very same time she had this urge, Pyrrha's peaceful sleeping expression developed into a grimace.
This want of hers aside, Jeanne couldn't help but ponder what to actually do though. No matter how much she'd want Jaune to literally be right beside her right now, such a thing was impossible; she was aware of how odd it'd be to others given their ages and sibling relationship, never mind the fact that he was now a(n) (assistant) professor while she was a student.
With this in mind, the leader of team JNPR now had the dilemma of deciding what to do to pass time until she felt genuinely sleepy. Alas, given what time it was plus the fact her friends were asleep, her options were extremely limited.
Well, since she was up though, she might as well head to the bathroom really qui-.
Jeanne, having been getting out of her bed to do so, suddenly froze as an unknown sensation washed over her.
Their dorm had only the one window, which was currently open to let in a gentle and cool breeze from outside. Immediately, Jeanne altered her course to all but literally stick her entire upper body out of it.
Eyes wide, her mind alert, the blonde leader looked off into the distance carefully.
Just what the hell had that feeling been? It'd almost felt like someone had been looking her way and not in a pleasant way.
That was how it had felt like… but it hadn't quite been exactly the same.
Spending a whole minute looking around, Jeanne reluctantly pulled herself back into the dorm and all but tiptoed to the bathroom.
Had she looked on for another five seconds, she might have spotted a very small Nevermore fly off from one of the trees that her dorm directly faced.
And done! Whelp, up next is one of the chapters I'd actually been really eager to get around to writing! Hope I'm able to write it out as well as I'd been envisioning!
On a related sidenote, does it seem like things are moving a little fast to you guys? If so, then don't worry – it'll be a while longer before things really begin to let loose.
Until next time, everyone! Take care!