Seth was still internally kicking himself. Not only for his hormonal teenage fantasies over Blake Belladonna, but for the fact that he let these idiots manage to sneak up on him in the first place. He honestly had no idea how he could have been swindled by these buffoons into dropping his guard and let them drug him the way he presumed they must have, resulting in him having this splitting headache and exhausted body.
He was an assassin for God's sake. An agent of the night, who should forever be unseen one with the shadows. But ever since these morons had come into his life, he seemed to be losing his edge.
"Yo, Seth?" Naoto asked. "You okay there? You were spacing out... again."
"Forget it," Seth said. "Let's just find somebody already and figure out what happened to us last night. The sooner I can get out of here, the better." He said this as he opened up another door, only to find yet another empty dorm room.
For the past several minutes, Naoto, Kanji, Seth, and Yumi were all looking throughout the Iwatodai Dorms, where they found themselves waking up that morning. All of whom with splitting headaches, sore bodies, and the inability to remember how they got there or what precisely happened to them the night prior to make them all feel so awful. The working theory suggested by Carmine Prime was that they had all somehow gotten drunk the night before, and they were all suffering from a hangover.
Naturally, this theory wasn't entirely believed by most, considering that many of those that would normally never have the desire to drink were all feeling equally awful as those who were deemed as possibilities, like Carmine or Lilica. But at the rate they were going, they really had no other ideas. Which is why they were searching desperately throughout the dorm building in the hopes of finding somebody who might have the capacity to remember the night before.
"What's stopping you from just leaving now?" Kanji asked Seth. "Wouldn't be the first time you just up and vanished on us."
"As I said before," Seth said, opening yet another door, "I want to figure out who had the audacity to drug me last night. So that way I may send them to a world of despair." He punctuated by slamming the door upon finding it empty.
"That's a bit excessive Seth," Yumi said, far more gentle in her search. "I'm sure nobody meant any harm. It was most likely just somebody along the lines of Yang-chan or Yosuke-kun messing around."
"That still doesn't excuse it," Seth said. "I am surprised that you of all people would be willing to forgive such a blatant act of irresponsibility, Yumi."
"While I am certainly not," Yumi said, "I would be scarce to say that I would 'send them to a world of despair'."
The shinobi and the assassin shared a long, hard stare at one another. Both were had so many parallels yet some blatant differences as well. While both were so firmly cemented in their training and lifestyle, they both had some clear breaks in their respectful understanding of their dedication. Particularly when it comes to the manner in which they fulfill their tasks.
Yumi would have at one point in life been willing to kill her enemy, and even would if it were a violently evil individual, Seth walked the line between good and evil far too much for her willingness to tolerate. So Seth was naturally at odds with her, unflinching in his steely resolve to "do what's necessary" and his belief in "the ends justify the means".
Naturally, both Naoto and Kanji saw the two of them delivering their cold/shadowy auras that sent chills down the spines of the young Bloodedge and Persona user, telling them clearly that a fight may break out if left unchecked.
"H-hey you two," Naoto said. "L-let's not go doing anything rash now."
"He's right," Kanji said. "Let's just find somebody else, okay? Seein' that this is the same dorm building that Mitsuru-san, Akihiko-san and the rest used when they were younger, one of them is probably here."
"I would be inclined to agree," Yumi said. "I should think that Mitsuru-san would be able to inform us on our current situation." Seth merely nodded, stoic as ever. At least they were both agreeing and not at each other's throats any longer.
Naoto and Kanji both let out relieved sighs as they continued on their way. He came upon yet another dorm, opening the door and looking inside. He was half expecting to find yet another empty room at the rate that he was going, only to find a most disgusting smell on the other side!
"Oh sweet merciful crap!" Naoto exclaimed, holding his nose and ducking down before he could even see what was inside!
"What's up Naoto-sa-?" Kanji asked, Yumi walking beside him, before they both caught a whif of the smell emanating from the room themselves. Both recoiled and held their own noses, doing everything in their power not to vomit! In their current state, each and every one of them were a hairpin away from throwing up on the floor from anything that may gross them out!
"Holy fuckin' shit!" Kanji cursed. "What died in there!?"
Naoto kicked the door open, before the three collectively stepped away, Seth waiting on the sidelines so as not to find himself in their situation. On the other side, they saw a bowl laying on the ground with some... thing inside! It was impossible for them to tell what it might have once been intended to be, but what was clear was that it was not safe for human consumption any longer. Not exclusively from what looked suspiciously like a layer of mold comfortably growing on the surface.
"What happened in there?" Naoto asked. "And why is that dangerous element sitting inside?"
Through the darkness of the unlit room, they soon focused on a figure laying inside. It was Mai, laying upside down off of the bed in the room, a goofy smile on her face as a trail of drool was coming off her. Of course, the four outside the room thought.
From nearby, they also caught sight of Heart and Noel sitting beside the bed, head's resting against each other as they also slept peacefully.
"How the hell can they sleep in there with that... thing with them?" Naoto asked.
"No clue," Kanji said. "But frankly, from what I've seen with Mai-san's ability to eat, I don't think anything would be enough for me to want to understand her."
"And knowing Noel," Yumi added, "and the fact that she makes these things, it's safe to say she's utterly nose-blind to them."
"And in that pink haired menace's case," Seth said in reference to Heart, "it's very likely she focused on ignoring it out of the kindness of her heart."
"Well that's all fine and good," Naoto said, "but how do we get inside?"
The four all looked to one another with very, very reluctant expressions on their faces.
"I mean," Naoto said, "we should ask those three about what happened to us. But we very well can't go in there with that landmine in our path."
"No way in hell," Kanji said, "am I going anywhere that Mystery Food... Death Dinner... atrocity thing, that's been allowed to ferment overnight!"
"Not a single evil from the Hollow Night," Seth added, "could ever compare to that thing. And I know that my mortal soul is not mighty enough to venture forth in there."
"I agree with Seth," Yumi added. "That concoction is as foul as any yoma that has ever been born. Constructed from nothing but only the most unholiest of evils that the sheer ignorance of mankind could conjure up. Even with the fierceness of my shinobi training, I know myself well enough to know that I would be incapable of making my way in there and being able to survive."
"Well there is no way I am going anywhere closer to that thing than I am right now," Naoto said. "Fine! I think it's for the best we just leave them be and see if we can find anyone else. I mean, finding out what happened to us isn't worth... you know... anything that thing can do to us, right?"
"Totally," Kanji agreed.
"Certainly," Yumi added.
"Undoubtebly," Seth said.
"Right," Naoto said. "Alright, let's continue looking."
For the next several pegs or so, they came upon just more empty rooms. Which, to be honest, didn't surprise any of them. With the knowledge of the eldritch abomination in the room they just left, it made the most sense that each and every person present wanted to get as far away from that thing as they could. In fact, the four would be surprised if they could even find anybody on the floor they were currently on.
But eventually, they did find another occupied room on their floor. In this room, Akatsuki was standing directly in front of the door... while sleeping. Yes, somehow, the War Demon was able to sleep while standing up, somewhat protectively, in front of the door.
"Well there's something you don't see every day," Seth said dryly.
Behind the sleeping Akatsuki, they could see Jaune and Pyrrha fast asleep in the room, with Yomi grabbing onto Jaune's waist as she had her head laying in his lap.
"What an odd group," Yumi said, rubbing her chin.
"Well let's see if we can wake them up," Kanji said, walking up to Akatsuki. He shook Akatsuki by the shoulder, until the soldier's eyes opened wide!
He socked Kanji right in the gut, before slipping and falling flat on his back!
"Akatsuki!" "Kanji!"
Yumi went to Kanji's side as Naoto tried to help Akatsuki, whilst Seth calmly walked inside the room.
"My body..." Akatsuki said. "My head... I feel so... weak... and broken..."
"So..." Naoto said. "I take it you don't recall what happened to you, in that case?"
"N-not remotely," Akatsuki replied. "Are we under attack?"
"Not exactly," Naoto replied. "I'm afraid it's something... far more stupid."
Seth knelt down in front of Jaune, raising a brow at the sight that lay before him. He roughly shook Jaune by the shoulder, causing the Huntsman to look up at him with a fretful look on his face.
"S-Seth...?" he asked. "W-what happened?"
"We were hoping you might have the answer to that question," Seth replied.
"Ugh!" Jaune said, holding his head. "Oh... why does my head hurt so much?"
His jagged movements caused Yomi to shift on top of him, her eyes slowly opening. Jaune looked down, face becoming radiant at the prospects of having her clutching onto him so tightly.
"Oh, hello there," Yomi said. "Good morning."
"Uh! Well! What the?" Jaune said. "T...thank you?"
"I don't suppose you have any better idea as to what happened?" Seth asked.
"Huh?" Yomi asked, sitting back up. She suddenly clutched her own head, groaning in discomfort. "W-well now that you mention it..." she said. "I feel dreadful. Everything is just a blur."
"Shame," Seth said.
His attention turned to Pyrrha, who hadn't shifted remotely from all the noise. He shook her shoulder next, causing her to look at him. "S-Seth?" she asked.
"Yes," Seth replied. "Pyrrha, do you recall anything from the night prior?"
"W-what...?" Pyrrha asked, before clutching her own head. "Ngh! I-I don't know. I feel horrid."
"I take that as a 'no'," Seth said. "This whole situation is growing more ridiculous by the moment."
"I don't understand," Akatsuki said, now able to stand. "What happened to us?"
"That's what we're trying to figure out, unfortunately," Naoto said. "So far all of us, plus Carmine and Lilica are in the same boat. All of us feel like shit and can't remember a thing."
"We are endeavoring to figure out the cause of this situation," Yumi said. "But so far the only other people we have found were Mai-san, Noel-san, and Heart-chan. All of whom were... unattainable."
"I too would like to know why I feel this way," Pyrrha said. "But I'm sorry, I don't think I'd be of much help."
"Same," Jaune said. "I feel like crap. Moving alone is gonna be a struggle."
"Likewise," Yomi added. "I am in desperate need of some sprouts to recover from this."
"There's no shame in that," Naoto said. "Akatsuki, do you think you can come with us?"
"I would," Akatsuki said, "but I think it'd be preferable if I stay with these three until they have sufficiently recovered from this ordeal. I can recover fast, so I will task myself with monitoring them."
"What a gentleman," Yomi said, fanning her face dramatically.
"Thanks Akatsuki-san," Kanji said. "Uh, Carmine and Lilica are in the foyeur still. So if you could see how they're doing, it'd be appreciated."
"Yeah," Naoto said. "Get yourselves some coffee and rest up. We're gonna keep looking."
Akatsuki saluted like a true soldier, as the other four made their way out. At least they found some more friends to wait up for them, but the bad news was that they were still no closer to finding out what happened to them than they started. But at the very least, they figured out that this was far from an isolated occurrence.
Akatsuki was a trained soldier, so getting him drunk was gonna be a real fight to the bitter end. Jaune and Pyrrha were far too innocent to ever do anything so callous. And Yomi prided herself on being a lady, so she would certainly not willingly do something so un -ladylike.
"Well this is certainly getting curiouser and curiouser," Naoto said, as the group made their way to the second floor.
"Don't know about that," Kanji said. "I was gonna go with something more along the lines of, 'shittier and shittier'."
"While I may not be as eloquent," Yumi said, "I agree with Kanji. This whole situation is getting more aggravating."
"Well," Naoto said, "so long as we keep looking around, at the rate we're going, we have to find at least somebody that can help us out a bit more."
Upon reaching the second floor, the group began once more looking through whatever door they came upon. Same as before, they were having a hard time coming upon anybody else, with most doors leading to empty rooms. That is, until Naoto opened up one door only to find himself jumping out of his skin once again at what he found inside!
Naoto (Shirogane) was holding Sun by the collar of his shirt, handgun raised in her other hand as she looked at him with murderous intent! Her hat was off her head and she was wearing a simple white dress shirt as opposed to her over the top, Sherlock Holmes style of attire. "You filthy, uncouth, little troglodyte!" she said angrily. "I've half a mind to shoot you where you stand!"
"W-what with the, huh?" Sun said, looking like he was still half asleep!
"Woah! Woah! Woah!" Naoto yelled, as he and Yumi ran over to pull Naoto off of Sun, with Kanji holding the Faunus upright as he nearly crumpled to the ground!
"Easy there, Naoto-kun!" Yumi told Shirogane. "There's no need for this!"
"Seriously," Kurogane added. "W-what's the problem?"
"This piece of filth got me drunk, that's what!" Shirogane replied. "Such dirty, uncivilized, rude behavior must be punished by force, in a way that he will never forget!"
"I dunn... what-?" Sun asked.
"Naoto-san," Kanji said, "do you really know that he got you drunk?"
"I found him laying beside me as I awoke!" Shirogane said. "And you can clearly see that he's still intoxicated and everything!"
"The only reason I look that way," Sun said, "is because I literally just woke up! From you trying to strangle me, might I add!" Indeed, he was suddenly far more coherent and able to stand on his own.
"W-...what?" Shirogane asked.
"Yeah," Sun said. "I'm not remotely drunk. In fact, I think I'm among the 1% of us who didn't get drunk last night."
"Wh - so - huh?" Shirogane said, her brain seeming to be malfunctioning.
"So I take it," Yumi said, "you did not, in fact, get Shirogane drunk last night?"
"No," Sun said. "I figured out what was happening pretty early on, so I decided to just sit on the sidelines and watch as everything went down. Because, you know, I thought it would be funny."
"Does that mean," Seth asked, "that you actually know what happened to us last night?"
"None of you do?" Sun asked.
"You said it yourself, Sun," Naoto said, "somehow each and every one of us, save for you and a few others apparently, got drunk. How and why, we have no idea. In fact, none of us even remember what we were doing here to begin with."
"Huh," Sun said. "I suppose that makes enough sense given what happend to you all last night."
"So do you think you could tell us exactly what that was?" Kanji asked, somewhat impatiently.
"Sure thing," Sun said with a shrug.
/Previously:/
"This night is gonna be awesome," Sun had said earlier that night, as he watched Ruby and Heart animatedly smack Ragna's shoulders numerous times as they had just lost a match of Mario Kart to the Bloodedge after he was able to beat them upon getting thrown into a game by Yang and Mitsuru. The entire round had been very energized with Jaune, Hibari, Makoto, Yang, Hyde, Saki, Kanji, Asuka, Celica, Yukiko, Noel, Homura, Pyrrha, Yosuke, Lilica, Yu, Katsu, Weiss, and Chie all freaking out as they watched the game persist.
The New Year's Eve party at Iwatodai Dorm was going off with a rounding start. Team RWBY, JNPR, and SSSN from Remnant, Hyde, Linne, and Vatista from their world, who managed to swindle Carmine into coming, Noel and her group, who managed to drag Ragna with help from Celica, Heart with her friends Saki, Lilica, Weiß who bought Scharlachrot, the whole of the Investigation Team, and the ninja girls from Hanzo, Gessen, and Homura's team all gathered up to take part in the meeting.
Naturally, nobody could have anticipated the trouble that was going to crop up that evening. But, sure enough, one particular sadist was looking to make the night a little more... eventful. This would turn out to be Haruka, one of the members of Homura's Crimson Squad. Desiring something interesting to occur that would make this New Year's a night to remember (ironic, given what would occur afterwards) she did something that nobody would see coming.
Naturally, the Queen of Executions Mitsuru demanded that everyone behave themselves during the countdown to midnight and assured that adult supervision would be on standby at all times between herself, Akihiko, Yukari, Daidoji, and Ragna (who was, as typical, a reluctant party). This demand for patience was helped by recollections of the party at the club where a majority of the adolescents were "drunk off of atmosphere" and embarrassed themselves.
Whether it be from being a former member of Hebijo or a current renegade, Haruka was not determined to let the night go off without anything to help things be a bit more "engaging" and desperately searched for a means of enjoyment that at the very least would satisfy her. Thankfully, in the time that had gone by, she had somewhat found a kinship with the Gessen Academy student Shiki in her desire to find the means to maek the night more eventful than if they had just been left to their own devices.
So, the two made plans between one another to make the night enjoyable, without getting the ire of the adults watching them like hawks. And naturally, it all boiled down to one thing: alcohol.
They knew that nobody would ever allow them to bring alcohol to the dormitory. They decided that it would need to be stealthy if it were gonna happen at all. Which, given the fact that they were shinobi, shouldn't be too hard.
So, the two had decided to sneak in their own supply of alcohol for the party. They only needed to know if there was one last person that would join their operation. Which, at the moment when the party was going off, was watching them with a skeptic gaze. Because, while she had denied, was obviously fully aware of the situation.
"So," Yang said, sneaking over to the two as they had broken off from the rest of the group for the front desk, "you two are still gonna go down with this?"
"Sure enough," Haruka said. "This party is gonna be way too dull without a little spice. Who knows? We may even get a bit of action out of it~"
"You have fun with that," Yang said. "I'mma just hang out with those who you don't drug."
"I'm, like, totally bummed you didn't agree with this, Yang," Shiki said. "I would've thought you'd be down with it."
"Nah," Yang said. "I'm just gonna do me. I just want to play with people who're gonna know what they're doing and what's happening."
"Fair enough," Haruka said with a shrug. "If you say so. But you're not gonna stop us, right?"
"I won't stop you," Yang said. "But just don't go getting me into trouble when they inevitably figure out that you tried to drug them."
"We'll keep that in mind," Shiki said with a shrug.
"How're you even gonna get everyone else to drink?" Yang asked.
"Oh," Haruka said smugly, "we have ways."
Yang watched with a raised eyebrow as the two ninjas made their way forward. Using her puppet bot, Haruka dragged the cooler filled with sodas and drinks that was once sitting by the sofa, that nobody else noticed due to being consumed by watching the game again, in a vain attempt to see Team RWBY's Rose Red and the Extraordinary Rare Maiden attempting to beat Ragna in a Mario Kart course, only to struggle once more against his disinterested skill.
Delivering a high-five to each other, Shiki and Haruka began going through all the juice or soda bottles and cans and began spiking each and every one of them. Yang managed to swipe a drink of her own before it got spiked, as she casually watched them with her perpetually raised brow as they obsessively spiked every drink with enough alcohol that they could, before resealing them all. Yang was honestly wondering how they would reseal the cans, but they were able to with Haruka's puppet effectively welding the caps shut.
Eventually, once they were satisfied, Haruka snuck the cooler back to the sofa before it was missed, before delivering another high five to Shiki and sneaking their way over with their own drinks. Yang let loose a sigh, before sitting back with the group, waiting for the other shoe to drop.
The first one seemed to be Blake, who had opened a bottle of juice almost the moment the cooler had been returnd to its spot. She got tipsy not even a full few minutes after taking a few swigs. The next thing anyone paying attention knew is that she began getting a little... comfy with Sun.
Blake suddenly began rubbing up against Sun as they sat on the sofa, which naturally, the blonde haired faunus noticed. "Uh, Blake?" he asked. "Are you okay?"
"I feel great," Blake said bluntly, her cheeks flushed, though not from embarrassment. That much was clear from her stone cold expression. "Why are you asking?"
"W-well," Sun said, as she inched her face closer to his, "it's just you've never gotten this... close to me before."
"Do you mind?" she asked.
"W-well, I mean-" Sun stuttered, unable to find his words. "It's not to say I'm not happy, I'm just... y-you don't typically do-"
Blake suddenly grabbed him by the side of his head. "You know..." she said. "Your eyes are so fucking blue..."
This caught Hyde's attention from nearby, turning around to see his friend acting somewhat unnatural. "Blake?" he asked.
"Shut up Hyde," Blake said. "I'm paying attention to Sun..."
Sun was definitely confused, as he looked down at Hyde, who could only give a clueless shrug. The Huntsman-in-training looked down at Blake's hand, at the bottle that threatened to fall from her grip. He slippd it out of her grip, her attention so intently focused on his face as she inched closer and closer to him that she didn't even notice. He gently pushed her back, taking a whiff of the drink inside.
"Alcohol?" he wondered. His attention was taken, however, when Blake began kissing his hand he was holding her back with.
Both Hyde and Sun jumped in surprise at the intensely intimate activity that Blake was partaking in! They were snapped from their frozen stupor, however, as Haruka and Shiki knocked them aside! They had noticed when Blake was acting a bit more tipsy and was watching it with entertained expressions, as it was everything they were hoping for. But spotting Sun was onto them, they promptly knew they needed to take care of the situation, or else they would risk losing everything!
"Shut up," Haruka said firmly.
"Wait! What're you doing?" Sun asked.
"Dude," Shiki said. "Both of you totally need to just drop this whole thing. This night is gonna, like, become totally awesome so long as you don't go tattling on us!"
"Did you get Blake drunk?" Hyde asked firmly. "Did you spike her drink?"
"That's besides the point," Haruka said.
"I think that is entirely the point," Hyde said.
"Guy," Yang said from nearby, "it's best to just drop it. It'll be less trouble."
"Yang!" Sun and Hyde said. "You knew about this!?"
"Of course I did," Yang said. "They asked me to help. I didn't, so don't go freaking out or nothing, but I know that it's just gonna be less trouble if we ride this thing out."
"But... Blake is drunk," Hyde said. "Isn't she your best friend?"
"Yeah," Yang said. "But I can't deny that part of this is pretty funny. Like this part."
Before either could ask, Blake suddenly grabbed Sun from behind and put her face up against the back of his neck. "You left me," she said. "I don't think so."
"Oh jeez," Sun said with a defeated tone.
"Have fun Sunny," Haruka said, returning to the foyeur.
"And remember," Shiki said, following her, "no telling~"
"So..." Hyde said, "what do we do about this, exactly?"
"Hold her for a second," Sun said, tossing the stumbling Blake on top of Hyde, before he could protest, and headed for the front door.
"No!" Blake said, pushing Hyde roughly in the face! "I don't want you! Get off me!"
"Glad to know you like me so much," Hyde said sarcastically. He was half-expecting Sun to just leave, but instead he pulled out one of his nun-chucks and shot into a nearby tree. Seth came tumbling out, screaming in pain!
"Hey Seth," Sun said, "do you think you could help me with something?"
"You shot me in the freaking kneecap!" Seth yelled. "What makes you think I'll help you with anything!?"
"Well that's just what you get for spying on us," Sun said casually. "Now get in here. I need help."
Seth managed to drag himself into the dorms, looking at Sun with a deadly glare. "Keep an eye on Haruka and Shiki for us," Sun said. "We gotta keep an eye on Blake for awhile."
"What's wrong with her?" Seth asked.
"The less you know, the better," Sun said.
Seth merely shrugged, stepping into the foyeur as Sun and Hyde propped Blake up and carried her to a room to rest off her drunkness. Blake shot Sun a seductive look as they walked.
"You sure you don't want me to leave you two alone?" Hyde asked, feeling immensley uncomfortable with Blake's current state.
"You leave me alone with her," Sun said, "and I will never forgive you."
"Fair enough," Hyde replied.
Unfortunately, leaving Seth alone proved that it was a terrible idea. Because minute one, Shiki strut over to the assassin and handed him a drink. Totally unaware of the spiked liquid, he took it and began to drink, feeling like he could use something. And of course, Yang didn't bring it up to Seth whatsoever, as she was genuinely entertained with the prospects of seeing him get drunk.
From there, in the several mintues that had gone by, things only spiraled further and further. The others in the foyuer all got drunk relatively quickly as they drank from the spiked soda and juice. And this became really apparent as Sun and Hyde came back, having sufficiently ensured that Blake would sleep off her drunken state.
"Hey~ Hydey~"
"Oh sweet merciful Amaterasu," Hyde cursed, finding Ruby flopping onto the floor right in front of him, her face as red as her iconic cloak.
"Okay," he added. "Guessin' that Seth didn't do his job in keeping an eye on Haruka and Shiki, eh?"
"Nope," Yang said from nearby.
"You're awfully casual with your little sister bein' drunk off her ass," Hyde said.
Yang gave a shrug again. "So long as she doesn't get hurt and nobody takes advantage of her - Hyde - I'll allow it. Besides, it wasn't like she ever would have willingly gotten drunk at any point in her life moving forward. Best to at least let it happen once and be done with it."
"You know," Hyde said, "I don't exactly know how to take the fact that you slipped my name into that sentence during the part where you mentioned people taking advantage of her."
"I have no idea what you are referring to, mister," Yang said.
"How many people are gone?" Sun asked.
"Kido!" Seth's voice yelled. He then stumbled out from behind the couch with an Eliminator in one hand and another can in his other. He was barely able to stand as he prepared to attack Hyde. "I'm gun kill ou now!"
"No!" Ruby said, managing to get back on her feet, reaching for Crescent Rose from behind her but unable to grab it to save her life. "I won't let you kill him! He's mine!"
"Well there's one," Yang said, as both Seth and Ruby desperately tried to attack each other to no real avail!
"You know," Sun said, rubbing his chin as he watched Seth fall completely off his feet. "I was actually hoping something like this would happen."
"Seriously?" Hyde asked.
"Yeah," Sun said, rubbing the back of his head. "I mean, he needs to loosen up some, yeah?"
"No," Hyde said. "Well, yeah he should. But not like this!"
"You... damn... kids..."
That put everyone present, even the drunk ones, quite on edge as they all turned to see Ragna standing at them with his own flushed face, marred by the rueful expression on his face! The Black Beast aura covered his body as he pointed angrily at them. "None of you can ever shut the fuck up, can you?" he said. "Has it seriously come to the point where I'm gonna have to beat some sense into you?"
"N-n-n-n-n-n-no!" Hyde stuttered. "N-n-none of that Ragna!"
"Boy, calm down!" Ruby said, sounding quite happy despite the looming presence of death staring at her! "No need to get all angry."
"Ruby! No!" Sun said.
"Don't talk down to me you damn brat!" Ragna yelled.
That is, until a judo chop to the back of his neck came from a very peeved looking Mitsuru! "I don't think so," she said. "You have to learn to calm down, Ragna-san."
"Why are you always on my case you bitch!?" Ragna yelled. "Just leave me the fuck alone already!"
Everyone watching balked at the words spilling from Ragna's mouth! As Mitsuru continued to stare Ragna in the eye, they all felt the temperature in the room drop, knowing full well that unbridled rage was going to be unleashed at any moment! That is, until her face suddenly turned quite saddened, her eyes becoming very glassy.
She grabbed Ragna by the collar and began shaking him roughly, dramatically crying! "Why can't you ever just be happy!?" she demanded. "You're always so rough and rude and crass and it takes astronomical effort for me to get you to actually enjoy yourself around me! Do you hate me!? Do you hate me or something!?"
The others watching all looked so utterly confused by seeing the normally srong and unflinching Mitsuru Kirijo broken down like a rejected school girl was... well quite surreal.
"Well," Sun said. "That came out of nowhere."
Ragna finally grabbed Mitsuru by the hands and kept her from shaking him. "It's not that I hate you, calm the fuck down," Ragna said.
"No! You hate me!" Mitsuru said. "You never want to be around me!"
"What the fuck are you talking about?" Ragna asked. "I come over basically any time you ask."
"Only when I have to beg you!" Mitsuru yelled again.
"No," Ragna said. "I just don't let myself be around people almost at all."
"Because you have this death wish mission of yours!?" Mitsuru yelled. "I don't want to have another friend die again so you can just drop that insanity now before I'm forced to hurt you!"
"You talking about that Shinjiro guy again?" Ragna asked. "How many times do I have to tell you I'm not him?"
"Not just him you imbecile!" Mitsuru yelled. "God! Why do you have to be so much like everyone I've lost!?"
"I don't fucking know!" Ragna yelled, gripping her arms tight! "Just... just stop making me feel guilty for shit I had nothing to do with."
Mitsuru now looked hurt, but in a different way. "No," she said. "No, I don't blame you for anything. I don't want you to feel guilty. I just..."
She leaned forward and touched their foreheads together. "I just want to do better with you than I had with the people I've lost," she said. "I care about you too much."
"You're so lonely Ragna-san, even if you don't know it. I can tell. Whenever I see you standing without anyone else it's like... it's like you're the loneliest creature on any world. Why can't you just let yourself be happy?"
And then Mitsuru's body went limp, falling right asleep in Ragna's arms. He picked her up without a speck of effort, despite his own drunkness, walking right past Hyde, Sun, Yang, Ruby, and Seth without so much as a glance at them.
"Well that all just sort of happened," Sun said. "We didn't even take part in that whatsoever."
"I agree," Hyde said. He heard sniffing next to him, looking over to see Ruby crying in a very over the top manner!
"It's so beautiful!" she said, flopping over to Hyde with her arms over his shoulders. "Oh, my OTP is coming together at last! Yang I'm so happy!"
"I know Rubes," Yang said, patting her back as her little sister still lay slouched against Hyde. "I know."
"Well if that's what happened with these four," Sun said, "what about the others?"
"I don't think they're going to be any problem," Yang said, pointing to the sitting area. Sure enough, sitting in there was Weiss crying animatedly on top of a table, with dramatically crying Saki, Linne, Ikaruga, and Yumi all sitting around her.
"What in the name of Dust happened there?" Sun asked.
"Weiss asked Yu if he was single," Yang replied, "and when he said 'no' that all happened."
"Why did he say 'no'?" Hyde asked. "He is single!"
Yang shrugged. "Maybe he didn't know who he was talking to?" Yang asked.
"Because," Yu said, emerging behind Sun and Hyde right the duece out of nowhere, "my heart is not so easily claimed by definitions of single or taken!"
Sure enough, Yu was wearing his glasses and his sword was by his side. Hyde and Sun had no idea why he got so dramatic when he was any kind of drunk, but it was quite intimidating. And certainly made them question their masculinity.
"My romantic inclinations are in a state of questioning," Yu said. "And I cannot allow myself to be claimed by any maiden at this current state of time."
Hyde gestured towards Weiss. "Even when that causes the girl you are questioning your infatuations with to become so depressed?"
Yu blinked, before looking back at Weiss. "Goddammit, you're right," Yu said.
"You're such an idiot sometimes! You know that?" Hyde asked.
"Don't make me cut you," Yu said, gesturing at Hyde with his sword.
"Just go help her stop crying," Sun said, waving his hand at her.
"Okay," Yu replied. He slid over towards Weiss, tapping on the table to get her attention. "My fair Schnee," he said. "I apologize for making you feel so miserable."
Next thing that anyone knew was there was a white blur that shot up and smacked Yu so hard he crumpled on top of a sofa! "You damn well better be you disgusting waste of space!"
"Well that escalated damn quickly!" Sun said.
"Whoo!" Yang said. "Get him sister!"
"You're enjoying this far too much!" Hyde said.
Yu recovered by rubbing his face, before Weiss grabbed him by the collar, picking him up off the couch and pulling his face up to hers. "After all the seductive tactics you've used against me," she said, "you have the gaul to tell me you're taken? Are you begging for me to summon a Grimm and have them play tug of war with your entrails?"
"Well," Yu replied, "to be completely honest, I was actually saying that for the sake of being able to potentially get in a relationship? I needed to be left anonymous for the sake of understanding my own romantic inclinations."
"No level of vocabulary is going to save you from the pain that will be necessary for me to even think about forgiving you," Weiss said.
"If it's any consolation," Yu said, "I find this powerful state you are in quite attractive."
Weiss seemed to soften her glare as she lay her head against his chest. "Why do you have to be so strikingly handsome?" she asked.
"It's talent," Yu replied. "Pure talent."
They both collapsed to the couch, the girls that had once been weeping with Weiss clapping in delight!
Hyde let out a dramatic sigh. "At least they're managing to solve these problems by themselves," he said.
"Yeah," Sun said. "Glad that we don't have to play mediator with any of these guys."
Ruby began crying once again, throwing herself at Hyde... again. "My BFFs are coming together! I'm so happy!" she cried.
"Hey, wait a second,." Yang said. "Where did Seth go?"
The others looked, before finding Seth had decided to give up trying to pay attention and had curled himself up on top of the desk. "Well," Sun said, "at least he's staying out of trouble."
"Hyde," a voice said, causing the In-Birth in question to jump in surprise, finding Vatista standing right next to him.
"O-oh, Vatista," Hyde said. "Uh... can I help you?"
"No," Vatista said, "but I was hoping to have helped you by placing most of the inebriated individuals to different rooms for their own safety."
"Really?" Hyde asked.
"Yeah," Yang said. "She wanted to help out, so I told her she could do that."
"So you were actually helping," Sun said.
"Yup," Yang said.
"Glad to see you're at least being somewhat helpful," Hyde said.
"I took Mai, Noel, Heart, Yukiko, and Chie and moved them aside," Vatista said, "after they created a very lethal supply of antimatter in the kitchen area."
"Wait a second!" Hyde said. "They were cooking while drunk?"
"Not at all," Vatista said. "They were not inebriated in the slightest, but I chose to move them aside once they were finished, in order to move them away from the local populace."
"Good idea," Sun said, recalling the terrible creations they could make.
"Okay, with that done," Hyde said, holding up a sleeping Ruby in his arms, the Rose Red having passed out forever ago, "let's see if we can finish things up here. I have found myself getting really tired of all this and just want to rest."
/Now:/
"From there," Sun finished explaining, "we just about gathered up everyone else and put them all to bed. Hyde took Ruby while Yang, Vatista and I did our best to ensure nobody would end up hurting themselves."
"W-well..." Shirogane said, drinking her coffee while massaging her brow to stave off a growing headache. She and the others were now sitting around the living room table, drinking coffee to fight off their hangovers, with Akatsuki standing dutifully nearby. "That is remarkably responsible of you, Sun-senpai," Shirogane said.
"Hey," Sun said, "while I might look and act pretty irresponsible, I actually can be pretty level-headed when I want to."
"A-and how did you end up staying in the same room as I?" Shirogane asked.
"You ended up getting so drunk you were attempting to 'interrogate' a sleeping Carmine when you thought he stole your gun... which you were still holding," Sun replied, which only caused the Detective Prince even more embarrassment.
"And if you were moving all of us to different rooms," Kurogane said, "why did Yumi, Carmine, Lilica, Kanji, and I all end up asleep in the living room?"
"We ended up getting too exhausted to bother with everyone," Sun said. "You realize how difficult it was to restrain Shirogane alone, right?"
"We can imagine," Kanji and Kurogane said.
"Yeah," Sun said. "So, we couldn't grab everybody. So sue us."
"At least we know who to blame for getting drunk," Yumi said. "So when I get my hands on Shiki I will ensure that she is fiercely disciplined."
"Good luck with that," Sun said. "By the by Kurogane, here's your phone."
"Oh, thanks," Naoto said. "I was wondering where that went."
He began going through his messages, sure enough, coming upon those that were from his chat room discussing the party from the night prior. No pictures were taken that would have lead to any clues, the ones taken just being blurs and smudges as they must have been taken during when it was in his pocket or pressed against an object or finger. "Wait, why did you have this?" he asked.
"Lilica tried to eat it," Sun replied.
Before anyone could ask, that moment, the leader of the Crimson Squad also came into the room, Homura walking awkwardly inside looking for a coffee. "Sweet merciful crap," she said. "My head is killing me."
"Well, the first one awakens," Kurogane observed. "Hey Homura, have you found Haruka by any chance?"
"Say what?" Homura asked. "Oh, yeah. She's in my room."
"Good to know," Kurogane said.
As the group slowly continued reassembling themselves, fighting off their hangovers, Carmine eventually found the strength to leave, vowing to never get wrapped up into the group's shenanigans again. Sun eventually found his teammates and aided them in waking up, with Kanji opting to take a shower to remove the marker that was still on his face, which he only later discovered was made by Lilica.
Ragna and Mitsuru eventually emerged from the rooms, both looking exhausted.
"Hey you two," Kurogane said. "How're you feeling?"
"Lousy," Ragna replied, grabbing himself some coffee.
"I... apologize for anything I may have done last night," Mitsuru said.
"Don't... don't worry about it," Kurogane said. "It wasn't your fault."
"Who the hell got us drunk last night?" Ragna asked.
"That would be Haruka and Shiki," Kurogane replied.
"And where are they?" Ragna asked.
"Ragna," Mitsuru said firmly. "Don't even think about hurting them."
"I'm not planning on it," Ragna said. "Just scare the living animal Jesus out of them to the point they never even consider doing anything like that again lest I rain down the fires of Hell on top of them! And - Oh God! My head. Anger did not help my case at all!" he said this as he crumpled to his knees.
A few more minutes went by, as more and more people slowly emerged, each and every one of them rubbing their aching heads. Slowly but surely, everyone was figuring out the situation that had befallen them last night, before groups began to disperse. Team JNPR and Team SSSN and the Hanzo girls + Daidoji returned to their respective schools, Noel, Mai, and Celica (upon safely separating themselves from their room) returned back to their agency to report in.
Kurogane stuck around to see the situation through to the end, with Yumi waiting up for the Gessen girls to get themselves back together, so she may punish Shiki obviously, with Homura doing the same with Haruka.
"You know," Yumi said, rubbing her chin. "I was wondering something."
"What's that?" Kurogane asked.
"There appears to be a few missing," Yumi said. "Like, where is Weiß? Or Scharlachrot for that matter?"
"I can explain," Vatista replied, emerging directly behind Kurogane and Yumi, scaring the crap out of them!
"Why the hell does she keep doing that!?" Seth said, speaking up for the first time in what must've been an hour!
"Yukari took Weiß and Scharlachrot back to the Celestial Union," Vatista replied, "relatively early into when everyone else began to get inebriated, for fear of what might happen if Scharlachrot got drunk herself. Yang took Akihiko away at approximately 2:00 AM after he finally succumbed to his own inebriation. And Hyde took Ruby Rose to the roof."
"Oh, well that doesn't sound-?" Kurogane began, before cutting himself off. "Wait, the roof?"
"Correct," Vatista said.
"Why did he take her to the roof?" Yumi asked.
"I believe," Vatista said, "Hyde said something along the lines of 'stargazing'."
Kurogane and Yumi looked to one another, before another realization befell them. "Wait," Kurogane said, "what about Yosuke and Makoto?"
"They were not present last night," Vatista said.
Yumi and Kurogane raised a brow. "What?" they asked.
"Correct," Vatista replied. "Yosuke Hanamura and Makoto Nanaya were not present at the party last night. They merely showed up for the first twenty minutes, before leaving."
Kurogane and Yumi looked to one another with wide-eyes and baffled looks. Where the heck did they go?
Eventually, Shiki and Haruka were brought before the group with their heads hung low.
"We're sorry," they said. "Please forgive us."
"I've half a mind to beat you both senseless with my blood arm!" Naoto said in irritation.
"Don't you worry," Mitsuru said. "I can assure you that these two will be sufficiently punished for this incident."
"Hey! Who gave you the right to punish us!?" Haruka said. Mitsuru gave Haruka a skeptical look, with the power that radiated off of her enough to have her hold her tongue.
"As punishment for drugging us all," Mitsuru said, "I will expect the both of you to clean at least a good majority of the Kirijo Group's private jets."
"Most of them!?" Haruka and Shiki said. "How many of them are there!?"
"At least twenty," Mitsuru said. "Of the ones I expect you to clean."
The girls hung their heads in shame again, knowing full well that nothing they said could be enough to stop this punishment coming. And so, the two shinobi spent the entire day and most of the night cleaning the jets that Mitsuru laid out for them. And as a result, they knew from then on to never try to mess with the group in such a way with Mitsuru around.
Yellow Epilogue:
Earlier that morning, at 2:00 AM according to Vatista, Yang found herself walking Akihiko back home, with the Hungry Wolf leaning against her as a base. She had initially wanted to throw him into a dorm room like everyone else, but he was very very adamant in his drunken state that he would prefer being put back in his dojo. So, Yang thought it was only right to oblige.
Yang honestly didn't mind. She was more than happy to help the guy she liked. And being there as a level for him was something she honestly didn't mind.
"Y'know Aki," she said, "I'm all for wanting to get back to training as soon as you can, but don't you think it'd be alright just to rest for the night? I mean, come on, it's New Year's."
"Nah..." Akihiko said. "I'm gonna train quick as I can... I'm not gonna be weak... I'm never gonna be powerless again."
Yang smirked. "I know how that feels," she said. "And I can respect it. Say, tell you what? How about I stick around and train with you in the morning?"
"Heh," Akihiko laughed. "I can always rely on you to train, huh Yang?"
"Yeah," Yang shrugged. "Sure enough."
"We'll be there for each other. We can trust each other to be there to help ourselves become stronger."
Red Epilogue:
Seeking shelter from the storm downstairs, Hyde chose to take Ruby up to the roof and monitor her until she fell asleep. Trying to do so was like expecting a peppy dog to stay still. But, eventually she relented.
She found herself laying against Hyde's chest as he sat against the wall to the entryway back downstairs as she continued to rest.
"Hyde," she said, "thank you for being there for me. You're always protecting me."
Hyde raised a brow. "I don't recall anytime I have ever protected you," he said.
"Yeah you have~" Ruby replied. "Like when Yosuke and Chie were bullying me."
"I thought we established that they were actually trying to hurt you," Hyde said.
"I know," Ruby said. "But I still like that you helped me."
Hyde rolled his eyes, looking at the stars with Ruby in his arms.
"Hyde..." Ruby muttered, sound as if she were falling asleep.
"Yeah," Hyde said. "I'm here."
"When I'm with you... I feel safe..." Ruby said.
"I'm happy to hear that," Hyde said.
"But I want... to protect... you..." Ruby said.
"Maybe one day you will," Hyde said.
Black Epilogue:
"Ugh, lord almighty," Blake cursed.
"You gonna be alright there?" Sun asked.
"Fine," Blake said. "I'll be fine. Just bitter that I don't get the chance to get my hands on Shiki or Haruka for putting me through that indignity."
"Ah, whatever," Sun said. "They were just messing around."
"Really?" Blake asked.
"Hey, don't blame me," Sun said.
Blake rolled her eyes. She was walking down the streets of Vale with Sun by her side, well after he had initially left with the rest of his team.
"You know Sun," she said, "I'm surprised that you came all the way back to Iwatodai Dorm to walk me back."
"Hey, I felt like it," Sun shrugged.
Blake raised a brow and gave a smirk at him. "I'm surprised to find you acting so gentlemanly," she said.
"Hey! I can be a gentleman," Sun said.
"I know you can," Blake said. "You more than proved that at the dance."
Sun smiled proudly, as he continued to walk. As they did, however, Blake suddenly stopped dead in her tracks. Sun looked at her, catching a light twitch in her bow as her ears seemed to be picking up on something. She then pulled out Gambol Shroud in its ribbon-gun form, throwing it into a tree and pulling Seth tumbling out!
"Seriously dude?" Sun asked. "How many times are you going to be doing that?"
Seth pushed himself back up, caught in Blake's weapon, as he caught the black haired faunus looking intently at him. "Why were you following us?" she asked.
Seth found himself biting his tongue, a light blush coating his features. How in the world was he supposed to have the stomach to tell her that he wanted to make sure she was safe getting back home? Doing that would practically be admitting his shameful infatuation with her.
"Just... doing more research," he said firmly. "It's none of your concern."
Blake clearly looked unsatisfied with that response. "Well if you're going to come this far," she said, pulling Gambol Shroud back together, "you might as well come with us the rest of the way. And maybe I'll consider letting you go afterwards without having you do any more as punishment."
Seth merely gave a sigh, knowing better than to question the Black Shadow Cat while she was in this state. Sun caught his exhausted look, smiling smugly at it. He through an arm over Seth's shoulder as they walked dutifully behind her.
"Don't you worry man," he said. "I've been there."
"I have no idea what you're talking about," Seth said.
"Sure thing bud," Sun said. "But give it time. You and me hangin' out a bit, I think we'll begin to see eye to eye."
"Don't hold your breath," Seth said.
"Both of you hurry up!" Blake called over her shoulder.
"Yes ma'am," both boys said.
White Epilogue:
Weiss and Yu were waiting in the dorm, still recovering from the night before. Neither one of them said a word as they enjoyed their coffee and fought off their agonizing hangovers, neither one of them determined to leave the building for the majority of the day.
"We never speak of what occurred this night," Weiss said.
"Whatever you say, Miss Schnee," Yu replied.
"That's what I thought," Weiss said firmly.
A/N: And so, after a week of development (minus two days where I physically could not write anything because of work) we have the second part to our New Year's Day celebration! And it has become one of the longest chapters I have ever written!
I'll admit, this chapter has totally exhausted me. The ending just kinda fell apart on me, but I hope it's at least somewhat enjoyable. Everything past the explanation for what happened was just a whole lot of "aw crap! Now I gotta wrap this thing up!" Still, I liked what I included, including the hints for Makoto and Yosuke (don't you worry now, they'll have their long time again!). And some epilogues to give myself a pat on the back for setting up Team RWBY's pairings, which I'd been working on for far too long with this.
I have enjoyed quite a bit of writing for this thing. Coming up with a lot of the different situations for the characters was just so funny to me. Figuring out what may have happened to each different character was enough to put a goofy smile on my face each and every time. I was really happy with some of the drunken fits that I got to show in this, and I hope you enjoyed it too.
As per usual, I feel like there was more I could have done, but I got really tired. In short, I hope that this was worth the wait.
Review Time!
To SolarS: I feel like the least that is said about the RWBY ships is for the best, and I was hoping that Seth's crush on Blake would be enjoyable, and I am determined to tease him with it further. Also, don't go asking me about Touhou Project as I am no better about remembering names from that either.
To Mystech Master: I feel like that using RWBY to give the finger to Japanese sexism is a terrific idea and I will pocket that one, and trust me, Valentine's is gonna be a minefield, so the amount of information you gave me has certainly helped immensely already. Also, all your other suggestions are great too.
To fernandamichelleraya: Glad to have your feedback, and that idea actually seems somewhat interesting. I have been intending to go back and do a follow-up chapter with Ruby hanging out with Hazama, and I figure that idea would slip seamlessly into it. I can totally imagine Jaune, Hyde, and Yu going into full-blown anal rage over the idea of Adachi hitting on our precious baby girls, so thanks a million for that one! XD
To Neptunia56: At this rate, I think it'd be impossible for me to pull in P4 Dancing All Night at one point, so I will totally do something like that in the near future, don't you worry!
To Naoto Redgrave: It's always real in Cross Tag Character Collision! (In all seriousness, thanks for the comment.)
To Kamencolin: We didn't go full Hangover territory, and it's a good thing we had some sober guides keeping these guys from unleashing full blown chaos.
And to the guest who commented, yes please watch Hangover, but it's not safe for kids. Just be aware.
To Will DeGrave: Well, Naoto's phone didn't really have that much importance in it after all. Really, the most that it would have done was just explain why everyone was there in the first place, which as I discovered would have been explained by Sun anyway, so it was basically redundant by that point. And yes, I do keep a list of all suggestions I get! Or, most of them at least. (And if you mean for me to draw artwork for it, I am an abysmal artist as I am now, so I unfortunately cannot do that. But I would positively adore it if anybody could do artwork for things like the Halloween costumes from that chapter, or certain character interactions! That would literally make me the happiest person in the world!)
And to the guest that suggested Katsuragi teach Penny and Lambda: Yes. I could totally picture her and Kagura teaching some of the most innocent characters sex ed! XD
Anyway, thanks as always for reading! Let me know your thoughts! And have a fantastic evening! I'll see you all next time!